Each child in the preschool has their own color that I used for their name tag. I also found color-your-own-stickers at the Dollar Tree and colored one for each student using their color. For example: Dick was blue, his name tag said DICK in blue letters and he had a blue race car sticker. Jane was pink, her name tag said JANE in pink letters and she had a pink butterfly sticker, and so on.
(these are not real names of children in the classroom).
I placed the sticker on the right hand of each child. Their name tags had been placed on the floor in a circle. I directed the children to find the name tag that matched the color of their sticker. Then I asked them to have a seat after they found it. The kids did a great job finding their matching color!
After all children found their name tag, I taught the children how to say hello in Latin. Salve, Salvete (plural). Then we made the Sign of the Cross, making sure they used their right hand, which had the sticker on it. We said a short prayer (Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I love you. Save souls.) and ended with the Sign of the Cross.
Then I pointed to a piece of poster board that had stickers on it that matched the stickers on the children's hands. The first color was red. So I asked the children, "What color is this?" They answer red. Then I asked, "Who has the red fire truck sticker?" The red child raises his hand and I direct him to come up to the poster board and place his name tag next to the sticker. (The name tags have velcro on the back) Then we sing the "Name" song, which is sung to the tune of "Bingo Was His Name-O". But instead of spelling bingo, I spell out the child's name. This can get tricky with kids who have really long names! :) As I spell out the child's name, I point to the letters on his/her name tag.
Then we move on to our letter of the day. We started out by reading
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. We will read this at the beginning of each class. You know how kids love to read the same book over and over again and this book is really fun to read! :) After that, we sing the ABC song, then repeat, this time stopping at the letter we will be learning. Since this was our first day, we learned about the letter A. We sang a song about how you always start at the top when writing your letters. I got this song from the
Handwriting Without Tears preschool CD. Then I wrote a big A and a little a on my little dry erase board. I also passed around a sandpaper A for the children to trace with their fingers and then we "built" and A using the
wooden pieces from Handwriting Without Tears. I also told them that every letter makes a sound and that A says "Ah" as in "Apple".
We also discussed how important it is to "Always Ask" permission before taking something that isn't ours or before going somewhere. I got these adorable coloring pages from a
blogger named Kimberlee and they were drawn by one of her talented children.
Then we talked about St. Agnes and how her name means lamb like the Agnus Dei. I found a beautiful coloring page of St. Agnes from another
blog.
I'll be back to tell you more about our day!
Art: Inspired by Navajo Sand Painting. Wow! What a week! Sand in every corner, glue on every finger, and eyes intent on art! The sand art project suggested by Catholic Schoolhouse this week was quite the success. Things went more smoothly than I expected, and the children enjoyed the project more than I hoped. My little perfectionists were begging to take glue and sand home with them. What a joy!
