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Planting Trees with Children and Families

Our outside play areas were in need of shade, so what better way to fix it then to have a family night tree planting party with BBQ.

The Sacramento Tree Foundation came to our school with 32 donated trees and staff to help our families plant a tree with their child. 

We live in an urban forest.

The Sacramento Tree Foundation's mission is to grow healthy, livable communities in the Sacramento region by building the best regional urban forest in the nation. We are leading the effort to plant 5 million trees in our region. 

You can also find us in the Appeal Democrat

Tree planting at Yuba City's Richland Housing tree, yuba, city - Appeal-Democrat

Fairy Dust Teaching: A Dash of Power E-Course

Dash of Power E-Course

You can never have too many tricks in your bag of tricks when it comes to classroom management.  That is why I am taking an E-Course on Classroom Management called a Dash of Power.

Fairy Dust Teaching: A Dash of Power E-Course: Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times ...

Remember a good teacher is made by the teacher next door.

So come on over and check out the class description.  I hope to see some of you over there at a Dash of Power E-Course.

Check out the link below

Word Walls In Preschool

When creating a print-rich environment word walls are a fun and effective learning tool in any preschool classroom.  Being exposed to a print-rich environment is a critical component to early literacy.  When children see words on a wall that have meaning to them, it helps them become excited about words and helps them to understand that word are important.

Word wall will help children learn

*        The names of letters (letter recognition)

*        ABC Order

*         Letter Sound

When creating a word wall remember that it should be at eye level of the children.  You can put your word wall in a Group Area where information can be added on a regular basis.  Remember that words from a theme or lesson plan work the best.

Our word wall goes along the back side of the children’s cubbies.  It is not in front of my group area but instead it runs down the whole side of my circle area.  The small blue strip of carpet is a walk way area for the children to move in and out of the circle area. 

The first words under our word wall are the words that go to the song Alphardy by Dr. Jean.  As we sing this song we use a pointer and point to each letter say the word and then the letter sound.  We are now in October and I have to say that I have a class size of 32 children and more than have of the children can say the letter and letter sound in random order.  I have never had this success so early in the year.  I have to say I love this song.  My staff teases me and says that it is my theme song.  I guess there is nothing wrong with that.

Next we have placed all the children’s name under the letter that their name starts with.  When I talk about a letter they know who start with that letter they will shout out A is for Arianna and Ashlie.

Sing To Learn CD by Dr. Jean

  Song: Alphardy

As we use our word wall we will be build vocabulary by using the word wall.  We will find opportunities to use new words through out the day that are related to the theme or story of the day.  We will have the children say the word again and use it in a sentence.  We then will encourage the children to use the new word through out the day.  The children will then help put the new word under the corresponding letter that it starts with (leaves under the letter L)