It's been awhile... i'm still here, I promise!

I know, it's been awhile. I seem to do these streaks where I write, write, write and then stop for a month. Well - lucky for you I'm back on the writing streak!

First off i've been attending some really interesting conferences lately. I would like to tell you how interesting this conference topic is... Preschoolers and reading. My company has been working with David Matteson (http://dmatteson.com/) to create a reading program for the center. If you haven't read his work any teacher, parent or person concerned for kid's future could learn a lot of information from him. It's well worth registering for the site. I've been doing this program in my classroom for over a month now and the kids are absolutely enthralled with the whole concept!

Lately in my classroom the kids have been all about the glue. They want to glue anything and everything and if they can paint on top of the glue it's even better! Here's a project I haven't done with this room in particular but have done in the past. SHELLS !!

 The kids adore the fact that they get to paint something they haven't painted before. They have all handled shells (because they're in my sensory area & we do live in Washington) but having the opportunity to paint on the shells is very exciting.

To keep with the gluing theme i've developed a great Art area. The area consists of two tables. One table is for the art products (paint, buttons, straws, glue, bells, markers... the list goes on forever!). I usually limit it to about 10 different types of art medium but find about 15 things by the time we're done because the kids will add things from the shelves. I put the stuff on the table with some paper, this is the prep table. The kids will walk over, get their paper and materials and happily collage away at the other table. This works out so well because they don't have the opportunity to argue over items. If David has the sequins and they aren't available on the able then Suzi will just have to wait until they are returned. It's a great lesson in patience, while enjoying some wonderful creativity. I also find that the short walk between tables will diffuse some anger when Suzi is going to ask David for the sequins. Those few seconds just seem to help the words come out much nicer! I love to hear those kind words among my preschool friends!

Please remember it's the process that the kids use to make the collage that teaches the important things, if the product turns out to be one big sticky mess please think about the glue that was squeezed to make the sticky mess, or the pincer grip used to pick up those super small sequins. These are so important in the later development of the children. The product might not look like it belongs on Lakeshore Learning's Website, but the things learned by creating the product are irreplaceable.

Speaking of fine motor.... I just purchased these tweezers at Discount School Supply (www.discountschoolsupply.com). They are GREAT for those writing muscles!