Introduction

Introduction

Assessing student learning is something that every teacher has to do, usually quite frequently.  Doing a pre-assessment of student's knowledge and regular progress assessments are essential in guiding and directing all lesson plans and student activities. At
A Y’z Choice Preschool we want to help each student build a solid foundation for their  future learning and academic life. Our program is geared toward helping children develop habits of observation, questioning, experiencing, and listening. Our desire is to inspire love and enthusiasm for learning.


If you are interested in reading more about skills and experiences that children should have  before entering kindergarten you might want to look at these articles:

• http://www.education.com/magazine/article/kindergarten-readiness-secrets/
• http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/what-to-expect-grade/ready-kindergarten
• http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/what-to-expect-grade/preparing-kindergarten 

Our kindergarten prep class is geared to help support parents prepare their child for the future. We will focus on motor skills (both gross and fine), literacy, math, and science as we explore our world.

To help you get a better feel of how things are set up, let's take a look around the room. Dr. Seuss is the inspiration for the decorations in our room this year. We have Truffula Tree accents, Dr. Seuss quotes, and posters.

Here we have our cozy listening center. There are a variety of stories on tape for the children to listen to as they relax in a bean bag chair.

A functional wire cube unit provides storage space for free play toys, writing center supplies, and the art center supplies.

A few of the dress up clothes that enhance and sometimes define dramatic play.

This bulletin board is an extension of Dr. Seuss' book by the same name. The idea came from http://buggieandjellybean.blogspot.com/2012/03/happy-birthday-dr-seuss.html,we are still working on completing the paper mache balloons and baskets. Each student will have their own hot air balloon and basket.

In class, and as a homework assignment, we have discussed some actions that will make everyone feel save and wanted in our classroom. The students came up with six things that would help everyone to feel happy and safe at school. The next step is to find cute clip art and post our classroom expectations. This bulletin board is on the back side of our reading and math bookcase. On top are puzzles that the children do as we wait for all of our classmates to arrive.

The top two shelves house a rotating variety of math games and manipulatives. The bottom shelf is where the students can find books, games and puzzles that will encourage their growing literacy skills.

Colorful bean bag chairs provide a cozy place for the students to cuddle with a book. There are pointers to use as they point to the different information on the posters.

On the left shelves are some of the craft supplies needed to complete our masterpieces and Play Doh tools. The glass on the fireplace as served as a mirror as the girls have put on fashion shows or pretended to be a "Rock Star" and performed for their "audience." The table is where we do our small group work.

Even though preschoolers can't tell time we refer to the clock regularly as we go through our busy schedule. The outside circles help us figure out the minutes.

Our class meetings are held in this corner of the room. We greet each other here each morning, share our homework assignments, sing our "Yak, Yak Bird" song, read a story, use the wall chart to help us count to twenty, and discuss each day's schedule.

Continuing around the room, we come to our Science center. The science center is equiped with magnifying glasses, binoculars, magnets, our observation clipboards, balancing scales, magnet games, and of course books about science. On top of the bookcase is a "Homie Pot" for our class plant.

As we finish our tour around the room we come to another literacy station where the students work with magnetic letters to form words to help with letter recognition. This is set up as an extension for the book "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr., John Archambault, and Lois Ehlert.

Our classroom is filled with learning from top to bottom. On the ceiling we have all the capital letters on the owl post-its and recently we have added all the lower case letters on star post-its. To play this game we put a bean bag chair in the middle of the floor and take turns shining our flashlight on a letter and identify the letter, for example "I have the lower case g."

On the carpet we have a spider web, idea came from http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2011/10/spider-web-gross-motor-activity.html. We use it to maintain balance as we walk along the strings of the web and not fall off. While walking we have had to stop and pick up different objects that have gotten caught in our web; alphabet letters, lollypop spiders, and even toys.

Outside we have a barometer that helps us know not only the temperature outside but also how to dress when we go outside to play. I am in the process of creating a chart with pictures that will show the children what type of clothing is appropriate for outdoor play according to the temperature.