Healthy snack Ideas for your child's snack day

Healthy Snack Options

Yogurt

Cheese, meat, crackers

Granola bars

Pudding

Jell-O

Cheese sandwiches

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches

Trail mix

Fruit

Carrots with/without dip

Celery

Pretzels

Raisins

Muffins

Hard boiled eggs

Beef sticks

Please list any other healthy snack ideas you may have!

ABC Recognition Activities

Ideas for Teaching Letter Recognition

· Look for letters in print while driving: Business signs, License plates, Street signs · Look for letters in stores and restaurants: Menus, Signs, Packaging · Look for letters at home: Books, Packaging, Appliances, TV, Mail, Toys, Cookie cutters, T-shirts · Cut out letters from old catalogs and magazines. · Play with refrigerator magnets. · Play with alphabet puzzles and games. · Paint letters on fingernails with a nail polish marker. · Make an ABC photo album using plastic sleeves - one pocket for each letter. · Fish for magnetic letters out of a tissue box using a paperclip on a string. · Sing the ABC song while child points to letters. · In the car, waiting room or home, play I spy with my little eye something that starts with · Guide older siblings on how to play school. · Use the library's books on tapes. · Draw letters in mashed potatoes, applesauce, pudding, etc. · Make letters out of green beans, rice, corn, play dough, etc. · Have your child say the name of the letter while tracing it. · Write the letter down and have the child say the letter. Then have him write a line of the letter saying the letter every time. Helps handwriting skills also! · Read alphabet books. Point to letters in simple words. · Play with a MagnaDoodle, Talk and Learn, spelling machines, computer games, etc. · Make or buy a large letter rug or bedspread for your child's bedroom. · Use sports jerseys to practice reading numbers as you watch & play games together. · Have place name cards at the table with everyone's name. Change places often. · Play flash card games. Start with the letters your child already knows then add new ones one at a time. Use the letters in child` s name as a basis to build on. ~~~1. Let your child keep the ones s/he knows. Count them, study a few more, then reshuffle all the cards and play again. Make a big deal out of the new amount of keepers. ~~~2. Start with the ones your child already knows and add the corresponding upper or lowercase letter (If your child knows B add b and add E if your child knows e.) Turn the cards over and play memory by matching the upper with the lowercase. ~~~3. Match upper and lower case letters on 3x5 cards. ~~~4. Use cards with corresponding pictures that identify with each letter in the alphabet.   Do you have any additional activities to share?

Back to school for another wonderful year!!

Exciting News:  Here it is!  The official blog of Shining Stars Preschool!  I hope you all find this to be a very useful tool to help you be a piece of our classroom puzzle, and to keep you informed of important things that are happening!  Please let me know if there is anything you would like to see added to our blog.  Please make sure to send your child's permission slip right away at the start of school, so I can post pictures to our blog!    Thank you all for allowing me to come and visit you at home this week and last.  I love how excited the kids are, and it makes the transition into school so much easier!  All of the kids will do great on the first day!  I really appreciate your time and listening ears.  It was my pleasure to visit with each and every one of you.  I am so excited to work with you this year, and make preschool a memorable experience for you and your kids!

Coming Soon:  We will be setting a date for our parent meeting to discuss the Creative Curriculum that we use, as well as our Gold Assessment.  Watch for that in the next few weeks.  Also, I will be sending home two book orders the first week of school.  We use Scholastic Firefly and Seesaw.  I am thinking about starting the online ordering system, but would love some feedback.  Would you rather submit your own order online, or send me a check with your orders?  I am open to both ways, just let me know your preference!  You will also see our monthly family project coming home in September  Each month, I'll send home a "homework assignment."  It will be a fun project that you can work on as a family, and then send back to school for a hallway display.  The kids are always so proud of their work!

Week 1:

Theme:  Welcome to Preschool and Friends/Family
Letter:  A
Number:  1
Color:  Blue
Shape:  Circle