Back to School!

Hi Parents! I hope everyone is doing well. We are over the H1N1 virus and our house is disinfected... I guess that means it is time to start preschool again! We will start school again this week- don't forget the Halloween parade on Thursday (4 year old class) and Friday (3 year old class) at 11:15!

Also, since I had to cancel class last week, November's tuition will be $65.00 (4 year old class) and $25.00 (3 year old class). Tuition is due next Tuesday (11/3- 4 year old class) and next Friday (11/6- 3 year old class). Can you believe it is November already?

Cornbelly's!

We had a great time on our field trip! I want to say THANK YOU to our parent helpers- you were great!

We saw some joke-telling chickens, raced rubber duckies, went in a small corn maze, went on a hay ride, and got to pick pumpkins from the pumpkin patch. There was so much to do there, but we only got to do a few things. I hope your preschooler had fun!

The singing/joke telling chickens.

Going in the "Snake" Maze

Sorry we were late getting back- thank you for understanding! :)

Our school t-shirts are here!

Hi everyone! I have our school shirts, but I wasn't able to deliver them... so, for tomorrow's field trip, we will just put your school shirt over whatever shirt you are wearing. It would be great if you could wear a long sleeve shirt, and we'll put the new shirt over the top! Thanks! They turned out really good- I think you will like them!

See you tomorrow for the FIELD TRIP!

The Firestation!

We had a great time on our field trip to the firestation today! Thank you so much to our parent helpers... we couldn't have gone without you!

When we got back to school, the kids told me their favorite parts:

Jena: looking at the boats

Gage: seeing the trailer

Carly: the fire truck

Evan: seeing the boats

Jacob: the hoses

Makayla: the boats

Tayvin: the hoses

Abby: the fireman

Avry: the boats

(the boats were actually wave runners the firemen use to rescue people on the lake... I guess the kids were really impressed with them! :)

Remember, there is no school next Friday! See you in two weeks!

Witches and Frankenstein!

Today we got to make puppets! I let the kids choose between a Witch and a Frankenstein. I was surprised that they all picked the Witch.... Frankenstein was actually my favorite! :) Doing an art project like this can get a little wild and crazy- especially with preschoolers- but the kids did a great job! We ran out of time, so your child should have brought home arms and hands for the witch... I told them they could finish at home!

We had a great week! Can't wait for our field trip on Tuesday! Our t-shirts should be done today, so I will drop them off as soon as I can. If your child can wear their shirt on Tuesday it will help us keep track of everyone! Thanks!

Field Trips!

We have two fun field trips scheduled! Our 4 year old class will be going to Cornbelly's on Tuesday, October 12. We have enough parent helpers, so we just need everyone's permission slips back and we will be ready to go! On the 12th, please leave your child's booster seat on my porch when you drop them off at school. Everyone needs a booster seat for the field trip! I am hoping to have our class t-shirts ready to wear to the field trip. If they are ready, I might drop them off at your house Friday or Monday!

Our 3 year old class will be visiting the Saratoga Springs Firestation on Friday, October 9th. We also have plenty of parent helpers for this field trip! Please bring your permission slip back this week and leave your booster or car seat on my porch. If you could put your child's name somewhere on the car seat, it would help! Our t-shirts have been ordered too, so we'll see if we get them back in time to wear on Friday!

RED Day!

Today in our 3 year old class we learned about the color RED.

TWO people wore RED shoes!

We had lots of RED shirts, RED bows and RED flowers, too!

Don't forget to wear something BLUE next Friday!

Breakfast with a Book

Thank you so much for sending breakfast this week- we had so much fun reading our books while we ate our cereal! We'll have to do it again sometime soon!

Apple Art

Today we worked on an apple art project to go with the apple poem we learned last week. They turned out great! (and I am excited to have a project on the bulletin board!) We had a great day today!

First Day of School for Three Year Olds!

WOW! Today was our first day of school with the three year olds and they are JUST SO CUTE! AND they have a lot of energy! We had fun writing the letter A, learning a new song and poem, coloring the number 1, having pretzels for snacks, talking about school rules, and making a magnet clip. It was busy and fun!

Thanks for sharing your child with me! I love love love it! :)

Have a great weekend!

Second Day of School!

When I said I was going to update this blog more often when school starts, I wasn't kidding! Our second day of school was just as exciting as the first! The kids seemed a little more comfortable, and maybe a bit more "chatty". :) We are still working on the rules, and I know they will get better and better at being in school. If your child says he or she had "to change their card" just know that they did a quick time out and then tried harder to follow the rules. We have a great class and it is going to be a fun year!

Today we learned our "A" poem:

"Way up high in the apple tree,

Two little apples smiled down at me.

I shook the tree as hard as I could-

Down came the apples

MMMMM they were good!"

We did some cute actions with the poem and then got to work on writing the letter A. Your child should have brought home their "A" worksheet. If they didn't finish at school, have them finish tracing the a's.

We also worked on a "First Week of School" book that will be sent home tomorrow and celebrated a birthday. Life is busy in preschool!

With the weather being so nice, we may be outside at the end of class. We will usually be on the south side of my yard, just come through the gate and we'll be there!

Thanks so much for sharing your preschooler with me!

First day of school!

Our first day of school finally arrived! We had a great time today and I am excited for the year! We talked about rules and why they are important- we read the book "The Day the Awful Aardvarks came to School" and talked about what rules we need in our class. Here is what we came up with:

1. Be good
2. One person talks
3. Be a Super Sitter
4. Be safe
5. Be kind

We'll keep talking about the classroom rules and will work on them everyday! :)

We also decorated our "Poem Folder" and added our first song/poem to it. Have your child sing you the song we learned:

"Today is a wonderful day, for I am going away!
Not to the circus, not to the pool-
Can't you guess? I'm going to school!"

And last, but not least we made a "homework clip" to stick on your fridge or magnet board. You can clip up your newsletters or the papers your child brings home from preschool!

We had a great day- can't wait for tomorrow! :)

Our Classroom

Our classroom is finally ready! It turned out so cute...if I do say so myself! (hee hee hee!) I love it!

Out with the Red, In with the Blue!

I have been getting our preschool classroom ready over the last week or so. The first thing I wanted to do was paint over the red I had in our computer room and go with a light blue- I thought blue would be 'calmer' for the kids than bright red! After a thick coat of primer, we were ready to start the 'real' color...

Lucky for me- I have an awesome helper!

Ty is so excited to help with "his" school!

I love how the blue turned out- it is going to be such a cute classroom! I'll post more as it comes along!

Update and Themes for the Year

Thanks for visiting! Sorry it has been awhile since I updated. Just after I got started on my preschool, I got called as the Young Women President in my ward. So, for the last 2 months I have been figuring out Young Women's and preschool has been put on the back burner. BUT, it is summer now, and it's time to get everything going because fall will be here before we know it!

I am excited to announce that both classes (4 year old and 3 year old) are FULL! We are going to have such a fun year and I am looking forward to getting to know your sweet children! There are 10 students in each class. I think that will be the perfect balance of plenty of kids to play with/ not too many to get wild and crazy! :) Please turn in your registration forms a.s.a.p. or if you need a form, email me at bedingfields@gmail.com

I have also decided on the THEMES for the year. The 4 year old class themes are:

September: It's All About Me!

October: We Love Fall

November: We are Thankful

December Christmas Around the World

January: We Love Winter

February: Friendship

March: Fairy Tales

April: We Love Spring

May: Families

The 3 year old class themes are:

September: Getting to Know YOU

October: Apples and Pumpkins

November: The First Thanksgiving

December: Christmas Traditions

January: Weather

February: Love

March: The Great Outdoors

April: Bugs

May: Mommies and Daddies

I love teaching themes. We will base our literacy, math, art projects, music and poetry around the theme each month. So fun!

Welcome to Smarty Pants Preschool!

Welcome! I am so excited you are here!

About Me:

I am a stay at home mom who is finally ready to jump back into teaching! I graduated from UVU in the teacher education program with high honors in 1998. I specialized in early childhood education and love working with young children. I taught first grade in Provo School district for 6 years and decided to stay home after having our second baby. Baby number 3 arrived shortly after, and I have been home ever since.

With one of my first grade classes

After having my children in several different preschools, I decided that having my own would be a wonderful way to be able to stay home and still indulge in my love of teaching and creating. Being creative was one of my favorite parts of being a teacher! I also love helping children learn to love reading and love being at school.

About My Family:

I have a wonderful husband who is a project manager for a steel construction company. We have been married for almost 12 years. We have three children- an 8 year old girl, a 5 year old girl and a 3 year old boy. We love to do things together as a family- hiking, snowshoeing, camping, and gardening just to name a few!

About Smarty Pants Preschool:

I am offering two classes for the 2009-2010 school year.

My four year old class will be Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Tuition is $75.00 per month. There is also a $20.00 materials fee that includes a T-shirt. We will work on developing beginning reading skills, alphabet, numbers, music, friendship, art and kindergarten readiness. I will only accept 10 students in this class.

My three year old class will be held on Friday from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Tuition is $30.00 per month. There is also a $15.00 materials fee that includes a T-shirt. We will work on alphabet, numbers, colors, friendship, art and reading readiness skills. I am accepting 10 students in this class, but there are only 8 spots left!

Please call or email with any questions you may have-

Marci Bedingfield (801) 734-0776

bedingfields@gmail.com

Thanks for stopping by!