November and December at Trinity Preschool

My apologies, as the holidays get busier, I find less time to do the BLOG. If I don't get it done at school, I take the TIDBITS home, but I time sometimes gets away from me.

A recap of recent events:

We did many Thanksgiving themed activities and topped it off with our version of a Thanksgiving feast. The younger classes made homemade pumpkin muffins to share at snack and the older kids brought something in to make a friendship mix to share. We made corn muffins and joined together for a special day.

Now during the month of December we try to minimize too much Christmas overload and keep our routine pretty normal, but we do some special songs and activities to celebrate the season as well. In each of our classes we set up a pretend bakery and all the children have their own baker's hats. We use this theme as a bake drop for making home made Christmas cookies, baking some ornaments out of clay and having fun pretending to be bakers.

Our art this month in all of our classes is a little more "craft" oriented, we make some ornaments, some presents for our parents, and some decorations for our rooms. We will have classroom parties where the children will sing some songs and we will enjoy some special refreshments together. We encourage you to come and invite any family members you feel would enjoy this event. Information has been sent home from the classrooms.

I will resume the BLOG in January, other than some occasional notes. Have a wonderful Holiday season.

Activities for Monday, November 15, 2010

We played outside again today. It was a cool, crisp fall morning. We enjoyed the leaves on the ground.

Willow room:

Which color leaf do you like? was our quesiton today. We read "Turkey Trouble" by Wendy Silvano

We glued feathers onto a turkey shape.

We sang a turkey feathers song, learning about colors. We did the Turkey Hop too.

We played with the muddy pigs again, we had pretend hay in our sensory table.

Maple Room:

We read "Arthur's Thanksgiving" by Marc Brown

We did corn cob rolling painting. We rolled corn cobs back and forth in a box. We had Dab a do's at the easel.

We sang the November song, alphabet sounds, and there's a dog in school.

We did letter "G" activities.

Oak Room:

We read "In a people House" by Theo LeSeig and "The little house" by Virginia Lee Burton

We did Thanksgiving stampers on our vests for our Thanksgiving feast.

WE sang Turkey int he red barn and come and buy a pumpkin.

We are talking about the letter "J" this week.

We have a puppet theater in our dramatic play area.

Activities for Friday,, November 12, 2010

We played in the gym today with trikes, balls, basketball hoop, hula hoops, and the rocking alligator.

Willow Room:

We read "Does a cow say Boo?" by Judy Hindley and our question today was How are you feeling?

we used cardboard boxes and feeder corn dipped in paint. The children needed to roll the box back and forth to make the corn move and paint eh paper. It was quite a challenge for some of the children to just roll the boxes and not grab the corn. It makes a great print.

We sang "Hello everybody, yes indeed", Couch Potato Pokey and "I like my hat"

We used a mixture of cornstarch and water with brown color to look like mud. The children played with little piggies in the pretend mud.

Maple room:

We read "The great turkey race" by Steve Metzger

We wove some placemats for our Thanksgiving feast.

We had paint and brushes at the easel.

We sang "The November song", "Alphabet sounds", "sticky bubble gum", and "turkey in the brown straw."

We practiced writing letters A-F. We did a story prompt today about how to cook a turkey.

Oak room:

We read "Come over to my house" by Theo Lesieg

We did a building project with packing peanuts and colored glue. We had out a color matching puzzle and number pegs

We did some turkey rhymes and "The turkey hop" for music.

We finished up with the construction toys in our dramatic corner.

Activities for Thursday, November 11, 2010

Willow Room:

We read "The little Pink Pig" by Pat Hutchins

We finger painted with chocolate pudding, we made piggie prints.

We sang Take a bean bag and turkey in the red barn

We had fun on the playground raking leaves

We had cornstarch with brown color in it to look like mud, we played with pigs in the mud. We also had feeder corn and we picked the kernels off into our sensory table.

Oak Room:

We did a different version of the three little pigs, called "The three little wolves and the big bad pig" by Eugene Trivizas

We cut out a house shape and glued pictures of furniture inside. We had turkey shapes and glitter paint at the easel.

We sang "Two little blackbirds" and "little bunny foo foo"

We had large waffle blocks in the dramatic corner and we pretended we were constructing houses.

Activities for Wed. Nov. 11. 2010

Another beautiful day to be outside.....what a great day! We raked leaves.

Willow Room:

We are having fun with our farm and our question today was "What does a farmer do?" We read a story called "The little pig" by Pat Hutchins

We fingerpainted with chocolate pudding (to look like mud)

We played with muddy piggies- toy pigs in a mixture of cornstarch and water to look like mud.

We did the bean bag boogie using bean bags, and turkey in the red barn, a rhyming song.

the children also used their fingers to remove corn from the cobs.

Maple Room:

We read "Sometimes it's turkey, sometimes it's feathers" by Lorna Balian

We had paint and stampers to make our vests for our Thanksgiving feast.
We had turkey stampers at the easel with glitter paint and brushes.

We sang the November song, I'm a little turkey, turkey feathers and pass the turkey.

We did letter "F" activities and we did some water play using eye droppers and sponges.

Oak Room:

The children acted out the Three little pigs story using puppets.

We did journal work for the letter I, the children wrote the letter and drew a picture of something that starts with the letter I.

They are enjoying our construction zone.

Activities for Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2010

We played outside and used rakes to rake up the fallen leaves. We had fun!

Willow Room: T/TH
We read "Who took the farmer's hat?" by Joan Nodest
Our question was "What do farmer's do?

We glued leaves to paper plates to make a fall wreath.
We used special pine needle paint brushes at the easel.

We sang "There is a dog in school", but we sang it about farm animals
We also sang The turkey hop and Little fish

We added a horse to our farm corner.


Oak Room:

We did a felt board story of "The three little pigs"

We painted with potato mashers to look like bricks, we used red and white paint.

We sang "Today is Monday, and One little pig went out to play.

The children are very busy exploring our construction zone- check it out.

Activities for Monday, Nov. 8, 2010

Wow, what an autumn we are having, after the chilly weather last week, we are back to beautiful weather. We played outside today!

Willow Room: MWF class

We had a guest reader today, the librarian from the Mt. Prospect public library came to read some nursery rhymes and classic stories to our children. It was great.

We glued leaves to paper to make a beautiful fall masterpiece. We had paint at the easel with real handmade "pine needle brushes".

We sang "There's a dog in school" (it is an alphabet song where the children pretend they are various animals and sing the alphabet song in that animal's language, ex. woof, woof)
We also sang When I was a little fish and the turkey hop.


Maple Room:

We also had the librarian read to us today, she read Nursery rhymes and classic stories.

We painted with spools to make designs on a band that we will turn into headbands for our Thanksgiving feast.

We began learning about the letter "F".

We sang some nursery rhymes today and we sang the November song.

Oak Room:

We are starting "The three little pigs" and we work on it all week. We tell the story several ways all week, the children act it out and we retell it.

today for art, we cut out three house shapes. The children glued straw on one, paper bricks on a second and sticks on the third to represent the three little pigs houses. We used pig stampers to add pigs to our pictures.

We sang 5 pigs in a house, 5 pigs go to town.

We are talking about the letter I.

We changed our dramatic play corner into a construction zone.

Activities for Friday, Nov. 5, 2010

We play outside again today.

Willow Room: MWF class

Can you find my breakfast? and we asked the children "what did you eat for breakfast today?"

We had stencils and chalk instead of markers. We made animal prints using brown paint that represents mud. This was a group activity. The animals "walked" all over the table top.

We sang " put your hands inside the circle", Bingo songs with a dog puppet, and skinnamarink

We added some farm stuffed animals to our barn.


Maple room:

We read "Run, Turkey, Run! by Diane Mayr

We painted with feather dusters and at the easel we had glitter water colors.

We sang the November song, Alphabet sounds, and 5 little turkeys

We practiced writing our letters A-E.

Oak room:

We read "Sam and the firefly" by P.D. Eastman

We used ABC stampers to make words in the sky like the story. We used white paint on black paper.
We had a "spiders counting game", and bead stringing.

We sang ABC sounds songs, and "get ready, get set, Let's dance"

We practiced writing the letter "H" on our dry erase boards.

Activities for Thursday, Nov. 4, 2010

We played outside today.

The children's librarian from the Mount Prospect Library came to school today and read to the children. She read several stories and nursery rhymes.


Willow Room:

We used tempra paint and farm animal stampers to make a beutiful picture. We had stencils and markers at the easel.

We sang "Old Mc Donald had a farm" and "sticky sticky bubble gum."


We added a barn to our farm corner.


Oak Room:
We did a group art painting project bu painting on a large sheet of paper using shower puffs.

We had some tube connectors out, mosaic picture pieces, and a locking doors puzzle.

We sang the opposites song, and did some dancing songs.

We talked about words that start with the letter "H"

Activities for Wednesday, November 3, 2010

It was a little rainy today so we brought trikes, balls, the see saw and other toys out in the gym for gym time today.

Willow Room: MWF

We read "Does a cow say Boo?" by Judy Hindley

Our question today was "Which farm animal would you like to be?

We used farm stampers and tempra paint at the table and stencils at the easel today.

We sang Old Mc. Donald had a farm and stick, sticky bubble gum.

We added a pretend barn to our dramatic play area- our farm. Tht was so much fun.

Maple Room:

We read "The Thanksgiving Bowl" by Virginia Kroll

The children painted on bubble wrap with paint brushes and the we made a print of it. we will turn them into the cob for corn on our bulletin board.

We had paint/glue and leaves at the easel with special pine needle paint brushes.

We sang the November song, 5 little pumpkins, Turkey in the straw, Today is Monday, and we dd the freeze dance while wearing jingle belts.

We did some letter "E' activities and we did an ABCDE guessing game.

Oak Room

We read "Owl Babies" by Martin Waddell

We wrote in our journal notebooks - we are on the letter H, so we wrote the letter and drew pictures of words that begin with H.

We had out some number activities, "H" puzzles, shape links.

We are talking about nocturnal animals, so we did some opossum rhymes today and we sang the song "I like my hat" using bean bags.

We did an ABC chant and sorted pictures by beginning sounds, (A-H)

We are also working on evaluating the children for conferences.

Activities for Tuesday, November 2, 2010

It was a cool, bright fall day so we played on the playground today. We enjoyed playing in the leaves that have fallen from the trees.

Willow Room- T/TH class

We read "When the leaves blew in" by Steve Metzger

We sang Old Mc Donald had a farm since we are starting our unit on farms and farm animals.

We brought many new materials in the room that have to do with farms, and we are changing our dramatic play area into a farm.

We painted with watercolors on coffee filters, we will turn them into turkey tail feathers to decorate our room.

We had alphabet letters at the easels.

We sang animal action, and a good day song using farm animal puppets.

We still have leaves in our sensory table for the children to enjoy crunching.

Oak Room

We read "The bravest of the brave" by Shutta Crum

We put a piece of paper into an empty pringles can with marbles dipped in fall colors of paint. We shook the can around and it made a beautiful painting design on the paper.

We sang the ABC song, and silly dance contest. We are talking about nocturnal animals and the letter H this week.

Activities for Monday, November 1, 2010

Today was the perfect fall day, cool, crisp air with the sun shining and no wind! We enjoyed our time on the playground today.

Willow Room- MWF class

We are starting our unit on farms. We asked the children today "Who lives on a farm?"

We read the story "when the leaf blew in" by Steve Metzger

We did Old Mc DOnald at our second circle along with the weather and the days of the week.

We painted with watercolors on coffee filters. We will turn them into turkeys.

We had alphabet letters at the easel.

We sang animal actions, and a good day song using puppets.

We are changing our dramatic play area in to a farm. We had a big farm puzzle out and we brought a lot of new materials in the room that are farm themed.

Maple room:

We read "Thanks for Thanksgiving" by Julie Markers

The children cut out feather shapes for our Thanksgiving turkey that we have posted in the hall. The children told us what they are thankful for and we wrote it on our feathers. They are posted in the hall.

We sang the November song, and the months of the year song.

We did some letter "E" activities.

Oak room

We read "Don't laugh Joe" by Keiko Kasza

We cut feather shapes and wrote on them what the children said htey were thanksful for. We added them to our turkey shape in the hall.
We sang Turkey in the brown straw, Bear hunt, and silly sally.

We are talking about the letter "H" and nocturnal animals.

Activities for Thursday, Oct. 29, 2010

We played outside, it was windy, but fun!

Willow room- T/Th class

We read "Pumpkin Time" by Kathleen Zoenfeld and we sorted our names by color today. Then we compare how many of each we have. This sorting activity helps the children learn to recognize their name and since we use different ways to sort them, it helps them learn about various attributes.
At our second circle we did a "3 little pumpkins" rhyme.

We made pumpkin prints using real pumpkins with orange glitter paint. We had black stamper cat shapes and black glitter paint at the easels.

We sang "pass the pumpkin" where the children passed the pumpkin around in circle and stopped when the music stopped. We also sanf 5 liitle pumpkins.

We made a special snack using orange colored cream cheese, on bagels with raisins for jack-o-lantern eyes.



Oak Room:


We read "Nothing at all" by Denys Cazet
We also read "Flip Flop saves the children"

We made scare crow type masks from paper plates- the children held them up to hide behind when the parents came to pick them up from school.

We had estimated how many pumpkin seeds were in our big pumpkin and today we counted them. Estimates ranged from 1 to 1000. There were 530 in our pumpkin. Then we used the seeds for an activity, we had pumpkin shapes with numbers and the children placed 10 seeds on the pumpkin with the number 10.

We also had out 4 letter word puzzles.

We sang "This old man" for music today.

We practiced writing the letter "G" on our dry erase boards.

Activities for Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2010

We had another very windy day, but some classes went outside and some stayed inside to play.

Willow Room- MWF class

We read "Clifford's 1st Halloween" by Norman Bridwell

Our question was "D you have a pet?"

We made pumpkin prints using a real pumpkin and orange glitter paint.

We had black cats and bats at the easel for making prints.

We played pass the pumpkin- the children passed the pumpkin around the circle and stopped when the music stopped. We also sang On Halloween, On Halloween and 3 little pumpkins on a hill

We turned our snack into pumpkin bagels and ate them....yummy

Maple Room:

We read Froggy's Halloween by Jonathan London

We used leaf shape cookie cutters to make prints with paint and glitter.

We had pumpkin shapes at the easel with orange paint and glue. We added some construction paper face pieces to add to the pumpkins.

We sang the October song, down around the corner at the pumpkin patch, pass the pumpkin and the Month's song.

We did a classroom experiment with a large pumpkin. Will a pumpkin sink or float? We made guesses at what we thought it would do and then we put the pumpkin in a large tub of water to see what would happen. We also put many other things in the water too, to see if they would sink or float. Some were smaller than a pumpkin, some were heavy and some were light weight.

We then carved a face in our pumpkin. The children voted on the features of the face.


Oak Room;We read "The little old lady who was not afraid of anything." By Linda Williams

We did pumpkin prints at the easel and we worked in our journals at the table- letter G words.

We had a graphing activity out today and number pegs. the children did a lot of building with blocks.

We did some spider rhymes and pumpkin rhymes.

we asked the children if they had a letter G' in their name.

Activities for Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2010

We stayed inside on this windy, windy day! We played in the gym with tunnels, trikes, an alligator see saw, and some tossing games.

Willow Room: T/TH class

We read "This is not a pumpkin" by Bob Stoake

Our questions was, "Have you ever carved a pumpkin?"

We made jack-o-lanterns (using paper pumpkins and paper pieces cut from paper to make a face)

We sang 1,2,3,4,5 little pumpkins
If you are happy and you know it
Hands are for clapping

We carved a real pumpkin. It was fun to see the seeds and insides. We got to feel it and smell it too.

Oak Room:

We read The pumpkin Patch by Margaret Mcnmara

We made jack-o-lanterns, we used orange paper and made cuts in it, then we added a black paper handle.

We sand pumpkin in the brown straw( a rhyming song), a jack-o-lantern went out to play, and pass the pumpkin.

We are talking about the letter "G" (and we had grape juice)

Monday, October 25, 2010

We went outside today to enjoy another great day on the playground.

Willow Room- MWF class

We read "This is not a pumpkin" by Bob Stoake

We asked the children if they had ever carved a pumpkin? We also carved a real pumpkin today. We talked about how it the "feel", "smell" and what the insides of a pumpkin look like.

we made paper jack-o-lanterns using pumpkin shapes and cut out face pieces.

We sang 1,2,3,4,5, little pumpkins
If you're happy and you know it
Hands are for clapping

Maple Room

We read "The little old lady who wasn't afraid of anything" by Linda WIlliams

We made prints on paper using real pumpkins cut in half.

At the easel we had pumpkin shapes with stampers

We sang 5 little pumpkins, scarecrow scarecrow can't sit still, we acted out a pumpkin song, and we sang the October song.

We practiced writing the letters we have learned so far, A,B, C, D and we spelled two words we can spell with those letters, Dad and Bad.

Oak Room:
We read "Stellaluna" by Janell Cannon

We made bat prints with blue paper and a bat shaped stamper dipped in black paint.

We sang "Come and buy a pumpkin" and "5 green and speckled frogs".

We are beginning to talk about the letter " G" and we are also starting our unit on Nocturnal animals (which are animals who are awake and active at night instead of the day)

Activities for Thursday, October 21, 2010

We went outside again today and enjoyed the playground.

We had a visit from Fire Man Jim from the Mount Prospect Fire Department. He talked about fire safety, put on all of his fire fighter gear and told the children that fire fighters are there to help them if there is ever a fire. He showed them how his voice sounds different and he looks different, but he is there to help. He let the children feel the material of his suit and gloves and touch his helmet.

Willow Room: TH class

We read about Fire fighters today, our story was "Firefighter Ted" by Andrea Beaty

We asked (before our visitor arrived) Have you ever seen a fire fighter? What does a fire fighter do?

We made paper fire fighter helmets and at the easel we put dots on a dog shape.

We sang "Hurry, hurry drive the fire truck", "The cool bear hunt", and "Brown Bear".

We used small pumpkins and Mr. Potato head pieces to make "Mr. Pumpkin heads".

Oak Room:

We read "The busy tree" by Jennifer Ward

We used water colors to paint on leaves and then pressed a paper on top to make a print of the leaf pattern.

We had snap together number cubes, a magnetic alphabet maze out and bead stringing.

We sang some fall rhymes songs, zip-i-dee- do- dah- a beginning letter sound.

Activities for Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2010

Yea! another beautiful fall day on our playground. All classes went outside.

Willow Room- MWF class

We read "It's pumpkin time!" by Zoe hall and we asked the children if they bought a pumpkin .

We had orange chalk and black paper at the easel. At the art table we painted with orange paint with flour mixed in it to make a puffy paint.

We sang and danced to stomp and clap. We also did a phonics song called "the alphabet sound song" and we sang 5 little pumpkins.

We had pumpkin stampers at the free art table.

Maple Room

We read "The falling leave and the scarecrow" by Steve Metzger

We did marble painting, by placing a paper and marbles dipped in glitter paint in a box. The children rolled hte box back and forth to move the marbles and paint a picture.

We had acorn shapes with paint and corks at the easels.

We did letter "D" activities today.

We sang and danced to "underneath the broomstick" ( A limbo dancing song), and 5 pumpkins on a gate, 5 pumpkins, and the October song.

Oak Room:

We read "Red leaf, Yellow leaf" by Lois Elhert

We wrote in our journals today, we drew something htat begins with the letter "F"

We finger painted at the easels.

We sang "Herman the worm", Hello, My name is Joe" and "Itsy Bisty spider"

We read a book about the letter "F".

Activities for Tuesday, October 19, 2010

All the kids went outside to the playground today again. We are loving this great weather.

Willow- T/TH

Our story today was The "Bumpy little Pumpkin" by Margery Cuyler

For our second circle we did "The pumpkin song"

For art today, we tore strips of orange paper and glued them onto paper plates cut into pumpkin shapes. We had black paint and orange paper at the easels.

We did the "Freeze dance" and used streamers to dance along to the music. We sang "Pumpkin in the red barn", a rhyming song.

We had leaves and pine cones in our sensory table and we counted hte pine cones too. We danced again with the catalpa pods during choice time.

Oak Room

"Autumn's First Fall" by Steve Metzger was the story we read today.

We did a fun art project today that we will turn into fall leaves. We first colored brown paper with fall colors. Then we painted over it with brown paint (which won't stick to the crayons). After it dries, we will crumple it up and cut them into leaf shapes.

We danced to a song called "animal actions".

We guessed which objects were hidden in the bag that start with the letter "F".

we ad a magnetic board game out today where we sorted people, places and things.

Mr. Apple Worm song

Have 5 apple shapes and a worm shape cut out of flannel (or paper). You could even use real apples.

(The tune to this is 5 little monkeys sitting in a tree)

Place 5 apple shapes out and sing:

5 little apples sitting in a tree, teasing Mr. Apple worm "You can't catch me, you can't catch me"
Along comes Mr. Apple Worm (slowly move worm shape around apples) as quiet as can be......
CRUNCH! ( and grab and remove one of the apples.) Now there are only 4 apples.

4 little apples...... repeat until all apples are gone.

The children enjoy this, especially if you really emphasize the CRUNCH.

Activities for Monday, Oct. 18, 2010

We played outside on the playground today. Let's keep this streak of nice fall days going!

Willow Room: MWF class

Our story today was called "Piggies in the pumpkin patch" by Mary Peterson

We asked the question "Are you a boy or a girl? and graphed the results.
During our second circle we did the apple worm rhyme, which I will put in a separate blog posting.

Today for art, the children cut strips of orange paper into little pieces and glued them onto a paper plate shaped like a pumpkin. we will use them to decorate our bulletin board.

At the easels we had orange paper and black paint with paint brushes.

We did the freeze dance using streamers to dance and freeze to the music. We also did "pumpkin in the red barn", which is a rhyming song. we ran out of time, so we ended with singing the ABC song.

We had leaves and magnifying glasses in our sensory table. Some of the children explored the properties of magnetic wads, seeing what they would stick to around the room.

We did dancing to music shaking catalpa pods.


Maple Room:

We read "There was an old lady who swallowed some leaves" by Lucille Colandro .

We made beautiful leaf prints today using real leaves and water colors. They are outside out classroom in the hallway. They children really enjoyed this project, some made several of them.

We had paint and brushes at the easel.

We sang "brightly colored leaves, October song amd 5 little pumpkins.

We worked on some letter "D" activities.

Oak Room:

We read "The falling leaves and the scarecrow" by Steve Metzger

We painted on bubble wrap with fall colors of paint. Then we pressed a piece of paper on the bubble wrap to make a print. We will cut them into corn on the cob shapes for our bulletin board.

We sang "Way up high in the apple tree", and "Leaves falling down"

We are talking about the letter "F"

Activities for Friday, October 15, 2010

Another beautiful day to spend some time on our playground! All classes went outside. Please remember jackets.

We practiced a fire drill today (the Willow room was already outside on the playground so they did not practice evacuating)

Willow Room: MWF class

We read a book called "The apple pie tree" by Zoe Hall. We asked the children what they like to eat that is made with apples.

We used pine cones to paint; we rolled them in a big empty plastic pretzel container. We did finger painting at the easel using our finger tips.

We sang "Hello everybody" " walking shoes," and "the Apple tree".

We looked at a seed pod from a catalpa tree. We shook it and heard the sounds of the seed rattling inside. We even used them as instruments during choice time as we sang and danced to music.

Maple Room-

We read "The Legend of spookey the square pumpkin" by Joe Troaino

We made pumpkin lanterns, it was a cutting project, the paper is folded in s a special way and when they children cut on the lines, and you open it, it becomes a lantern.
We sang "The October song", "5 little jack o lanterns (with actions), and "4 little leaves"

We practiced writing the letters we have learned, A,B,C in upper and lower case.

We had time to sit and do some of the table fine motor language and math games with individual children today.

Oak Room:

We read "The growing story" by Ruth Krauss

We finished up our "All about me books" we had the children draw a self portrait and also colored a picture using their favorite color. We bound the books and sent them home today.

We had out some activity cards called "My home" with words and pictures on them. The children use dry erase markers to write the words.

We had out the sound puzzles and some bugs to sort by color, or type.

We sang "Zip-i-de-do-dah- a letter sounds song. And "leaky umbrella" using maracas. We used our dry erase boards to write the letter "E" today.

Activities for Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010

All classes went outside for large motor time today!

Willow Room- T/TH class

We read "Hands are not for hitting" by Martine Agassi

Our question today was "How are you feeling today? The children placed their name under the face of their emotion.

We made "apples" at art today, we glued seeds and a star inside an apple.

We had finger painting at the easel.

Our music today was "Hello everybody", "The apple tree" and walking shoes"

We looked at a catalpa pod from the catalpa tree. We shook it and heard the seed inside rattle. we also used them as instruments during choice time as we sang and danced to music.


Oak Room:

We are working on our all about me books, so we read "I can do it myself" by Diane Adams .

we finger painted and then we made the children's handprints for our books.

We had a farm building block set out, and ABC puzzle where you had to complete the alphabet to make a picture. We also had the letter "E" puzzle and books out today.

We did the "rock and roll Freeze dance" using jingle belts. The children wear the belts and dance to the music; then "freeze in place" when the music stops.

We asked "What words start with the letter "E".

Activities for Wednesday, October 13, 2010

The Willow Room stayed inside due to some nearby passing storms, but by later in the morning, the storm had passed so the Maple room and the Oak room classes went outside to the playground.

Willow Room- MWF class

We went to the gym today and played with tossing games, a rocking alligator, some tricycles, and had so much fun.

Our story today was "Apples and Pumpkins" by Anne Rockwell. we graphed which kind of apple we like best too, red, yellow or green. We did an apple worm counting flannel board game too.

We used apple shape sponges to make prints on paper. We had watercolors at the easels.

We danced to "The list of dances" by Jim Gill and also by him "may there always be sunshine"

Maple Room- MWF class

We read "The mouse and the apple" by Stephen Butler

We used eye droppers to drop two colors onto paper towels to make a third color. We used Red, Yellow and Blue. We will make them into leaf shapes for our bulletin board.

We had leaf shapes at the easel.

We sang The October song, Leaf song, and a-p-p-l-e
We danced to List of dances, and under the broomstick

We played outside.

We did some Letter "C" activities and we played a rhyming game.

Oak Room:

We read the second book in the series "Even more parts" by Tedd Arnold

Today was a journal day, we traced a picture of something that starts with the letter "E" and practiced writing the letter.

We sang "Come and get a smiley face", "Hands are for clapping" and "When I was a little fish"

we took the children in small groups to play a game and we measured and weighed all the children today.

Activities for Tuesday, October 12, 2010

We played on the playground today. We looked at the leaves falling off the trees.

Willow Room:

We are talking about fall, apples, pumpkins and leaves. We read "apples and pumpkins" by Anne Rockwell
we asked what color apple do you like? We did apple sponge painting prints, we made red apple shapes on black paper.
We had watercolors at he easels.

We did "The list of dances" and "the apple tree song"

We used our new orange playdough with pumpkin shape cookie cutters.

Oak room:

We read "Parts" by Tedd Arnold

We did marble painting to make covers for our books.

We sang "Old McDonald had a band", using instruments; "pirate song" and "Today is Monday"

We are talking about the letter E this week.

Activities for Friday, October 8, 2010

Yea! We loved the beautiful day we had to enjoy again outside!

Willow Room- MWF class

We had the children guess how many seeds would be in the red, yellow and green apples. We read the story "10 apples up on top" by Theo Leseig Some of the children brought leaves that were changing colors in to show us.

We used corks to make prints that looked like apples on tree shape paper. We had paint brushes at the easels.

We sang "Way up high in the apple tree" and "Face the facts"

We added some scissors to our paper cutting int he sensory table. We have new orange playdough. While we were outside some of the children played ring around the rosie.

Maple Room:

we read "The biggest pumpkin ever" n=by Elizabeth Bennett

We made paper bag pumpkins- we stuffed lunch bags with paper, painted them and put on faces.

We sang The October song, played a musical "buy the apple game" and sang a funny fall song.

We practiced writing our letters we have studied- on dry erase boards- "A and B"

Oak Room:

We read "Rain" by Manya Stojic. A story about sing all 5 senses in the rain.

For art, the children painted a picture, then sprayed the picture with a spritzer bottle filled with water so see what the rain would do to our picture.

we had out some shape sorting puzzles, sound puzzles, and we played a game sorting pictures according to the 5 senses.

We did the list of dances song for music. We practiced writing the letter D

Activities for Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010

What a beautiful day! We enjoyed our outside time in our playground again today.

Willow Room: Terrific 2's and 3's class

We read "Apple Farmer Annie" by Monica Wellington

We crunched up tissue paper and glued it onto apple shapes. We will use them to decorate our room. We had magnetic alphabet letters at the easel.

We sang "The fish song" and "Put your finger on"

We baked apple tarts today, we pressed dough into a muffin shape and added apple pie filling with cinnamon. We enjoyed them at snack time today. YUM!

Oak Room:

We are finishing up our unit on senses, and today we talked about our skin and sense of touch. We read "The skin you live in" by Michael Tyler

We also made a list of words that start with the letter "D"

We guessed the objects in a mystery box by feeling them, we had sound puzles, and a birthday cake puzzle out today. We sang a senses song, and "Toe, leg, knee"

For art today, we painted glue inside a stencil shape. Then we sprinkled the glue with colored sand to create a picture with texture.

Activities for Wednesday, October 6, 2010

We had a beautiful warm day to enjoy the outside playground again today.

Willow Room- MWF class

We read a story called "Apple Farmer Annie" by Monica Wellington. We asked the children if they like to bake? One of the children brought a mini pumpkin to show the class and another brought some leaves.

We baked apple tarts, we pressed some dough into muffin tins and added some apple pie filling and cinnamon sugar.
We glued tissue paper all crunched up on apple shapes to hang in our room. We had magnetic letters at the easel.

"List of dances", and "the fish song" was our music today.

Maple Room: MWF class

We read a story called "Applesauce Season" by Eden Ross Lipson

We cut and peeled apples today and made home made applesauce. We did dab a doo stampers at the easel.

We sang October song, A-P-P-L-E, and Way up high in the apple tree.

We did letter "D" activities today too.


Oak Room:

We were talking about our sense of touch. We read Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb

we worked on letter "D" pictures in our journal, and we did a graph about whether they had a letter "D" in their name.

We had out some texture puzzles, and touch and feel books.

We had a mixture of cornstarch and water and played with the unusual texture of this combination.

Activities for Tuesday, October 5, 2010

All classes went outside today to enjoy the beautiful fall weather.

Willow Room: T/TH class

We told the story of "A little red house with no doors and no windows and a star inside" which ends up being a story about an apple. When you cut an apple crosswise you will find a star inside. we used the cut apples to make a print. The star shows up on the paper.

We had markers at the easels.

We sang "sticky bubble gum" and "Tap your toe and follow me"

We filled our sensory table with colorful paper and we got to tear it up into little pieces. Tearing is a great fine motor skill and is a pre-cutting skill too.


Oak Room:

We read "Ten apples up on Top" by Theo LeSieg

We drew a picture of ourselves on the bottom of paper and then we used an apple shape stamper to stamp some apples on top of our heads like the story.

We played a game about how many apples up on top; we had a picture of a boy and a girl and the children rolled a dice and added that number of apples to the top of the heads.

we sang "Where is the worm hiding?" "Deep in the jungle" (with drums for a beat), "come and pick an apple"

We are talking about the five senses and the letter "D".

Activities for Monday, October 4, 2010

We were able to go outside to enjoy another beautiful fall day. It was crisp and cool, but sunny and bright.

Willow Room- MWF class

We are talking about apples in our class. We told a story about The little red house with no doors and no windows but it has a star inside. The story is about an apple! If you cut an apple crosswise, you will find the seed pockets inside form a star. We then used the cut apples to paint with today. The star shape shows up in the pictures.

We asked the children if they haad ever seen a house that had no windows and no doors!

We also had some fun snipping paper and gluing it at the free art table.

We sang "Sticky, bubble gum", and "Tap your toe and follow me" for music today.


Maple Room:

We are talking about apples this week, and we read a story called " Little Mouse and the Big Red Apple by A.H. Benjamin and Gwyneth Williamson

We did tearing paper and gluing it onto an apple shape. We had glitter water colors at the easel.

We added some corn to our sensory table with scoops and cups.

We are learning about the letter "B". We do puzzles, stories, songs and other activities each week to study the letter.

We sang "the alphabet letter sounds song", "Today is Monday" and we sang our "October song".

Oak Room

We also did the "The apple story about a house with no doors or windows and a star inside" today.

We made applesauce, the children brought apples today and we peeled them, cut them, and cooked them to make delicious applesauce to eat with our snack. We also did a taste test of apples to see which one the children liked best. We compared the apples everyone brought in and saw that some are red, green, yellow, bigger, smaller, shaped in various ways too.

We sang "A-P-P-L-E" (like BINGO, but with the apple word), and "Way up high in the apple tree" .

We are talking about the letter "D" this week.

Activities for Friday, Oct. 2, 2010

All classes went outside Friday.

Willow Room- MWF class

We read "A color of his own" by Leo Lionni and our question today was "What is your favorite color?"
One of the children brought a big leaf in to show the class.

We did a group art project using do-a dot stamp painters - we used the stampers to fill in the circles we painted last week.

We had apple shape stencils and rollers at the easels.


We sang "couch potato pokey" "sticky bubble gum" and "Tommy Thumb".

We saw 25 geese when we were outside on the playground.

Maple Room:

We read "The apple pie tree" by Zoe Hall

We made apple trees today. We used tree shapes and stamped "apples" using corks. We used apple shapes with letter "A" stampers.

We sang "The October song", "Months of the year", and "Way up high in the apple tree"

We practiced writing the letter "A" today.

Oak room:

We read The "Noisy way to Bed"

We are talking about our sense of hearing and we decorated paper plates , stapled them together, with beans inside to make shakers. We used them later int eh morning for our music time. We danced and moved to the music with our shakers.


We also did a musical ABC matching game using upper and lower case letters. The child matched the upper and lower case letter, then rang a bell when they were done.

We did a guessing game with sounds on a tape. We practiced writing the letter "C" on dry erase boards.

Activities for Thursday, September 30, 2010

All classes went outside today to play on the playground.

Willow Room:

We read "Here are my hands" by Bill Martin

We painted with textured mittens. The mittens have different textures on the palms, the children wore them and painted. We used primary paint colors.

We had painting at the easels too, we used empty thread spools on rollers.

We sang "2 little black birds" and we did the "Hokey Pokey dance"

We had many children enjoying the free art table, we had a lot of creative gluing going on.


Oak Room:

We read "Little Blue and Little Yellow", a cute story by Leo Lionni anout how blue and yellow make green.

We are talking about senses and we use our sense of sight to see colors.

We cut out a circle shape and painted with yellow and blue paint to create green.

We had a light table out today with colored transparencies so we could use two colors to create a third.

We experimented with color mixing, we used liquid colors and took two to make a third; each child got to try it for themselves.

We did a Carl the clown color rhyme at music.

We are talking about the letter "C"; and we sing songs about it and read a book about the letter "C". We also put out some letter alphabet puzzles.

Activities for Wednesday, September 29, 2010

All classes went outside for this beautiful fall day.

Willow Room- MWF class

We read "We're different, we're the same" by Sesame street. Our question today was "What color is your hair?"

We painted at the easels with rolling thread spools, and we painted at the tables with textured gloves.

We had a variety of sorting activities out today, plus our playdough and our free art table. The children enjoy the block area and the house corner too.

We sang "2 little blackbirds", "The hokey Pokey" and "Little Fish"

Maple Room:

We read "ten apples up on top" by Theo LeSieg

We made "apple sun catchers" The children spread glitter glue on pieces of waxed paper, then added small pieces of tissue paper to the glue. we will frame them with an apple shape and tape them onto our windows. Make sure you check them out.

We had apple stencils with paint and rollers at the easels.

We sang "A-P-P-L- E" "Bean Bag Boogie", "Pass the Apple" (like hot potato) and "Today is Monday"

We did some Letter "A" activities too.


Oak Room:

We read "Arthur's eyes" by Marc Brown as part of our senses unit.

We worked in our journals today, we were writing the letter "C" and drawing pictures of things that start with the letter "C"

We sang "Brown Bear," and "Bear Hunt"

We are talking about the letter C" and the 5 senses.

The children are very interested in building with the blocks, and we also put a light table in the room with colorful items. They were exploring how putting two different colors together made a new color and also some of the unusual visual patterns.

Activities for Tuesday, September 28, 2010

We played outside on the playground today.

Willow Room: T/Th class

We read "I'll always come back" by Steve Metzger

We painted with some fun texture stampers at the table and had stampers at the easels too.

We had some airplane counters out today and some counting keys.. We enjoyed playing with our playdough and we also really like to play with the house corner. Our teacher read us some more books during choice time.

Oak room-

We read two books today, "Nosy Rosie" by Holly Keller and "The Nose book" by Al Perkins. We were talking about our sense of smell today, so we painted with smelly things today, coffee, koolaid, lemon lime scented things.

We are still talking about the letter "C".

We did "the bean bag boogie", "Tommy thumb is up" and "how are you feeling?" for music today.

we played some small group games today too. The children really enjoy building with the blocks and adding extra props to their structures. They get quite creative with their building and work well together as a group to make buildings.

Activities for Monday, September 27, 2010

All classes went outside to the playground today.

Willow Room: MWF class

Our Question today was "Who brought you to school today?" Our story was Can I help?" by Marilyn Janovitz

We painted with texture painters and had stampers at the easel.

We sang "Head, shoulders, knees and toes song", "Everybody has a face", and the "Sneezing song".

We talked about how we all help to clean up our room at clean up time.

Maple room:

We read "The little red house with no doors or windows" by Caroline Sherwin Bailey

We made apple prints with red and yellow paint, and at the easels we had Sponge stampers

We sang "The September song", and "alphabet sounds"

We are starting to do a letter each week. We started talking about the letter "A" this week. We do different activities each day to help us learn the letter, the sound the letter makes, and words that start with the letter.


Oak room:

We read "Arthur's nose" by Marc Brown

We popped popcorn in an open popper and let the children watch, we then played with the popcorn with scoops and measures. We also added some powder paint to popped corn and used it for our art project. We glued the colorful popcorn onto paper. We sang "5 little popcorn kernels in a pan" and "Today is Monday"

We started talking about the letter "C".

Activities for Friday, September 24, 2010

All classes went outside to the playground today. We are enjoying the fall weather and getting outside as much as we can.

Willow Room: MWF class

The story we read today was "I'll always come back!" by Steve Metzger. Our question today was "Do you like to paint or play with play dough?" We used the answers to make comparisons about how many preferred each activity. We did the weather and the days of the week at our second circle time.

We did a whole class group art project today. We had a large piece of paper taped to the table and we made "circle prints" using different sizes of open circles dipped in paint.

We had alphabet magnetic letters at the easels.

For music today we did "The freeze dance" using ribbons as we danced to the music and "froze in place" when the music stopped.

We had out a new game today, it was a turtle shape matching game. We had out some rubber bugs that can be sorted in various ways, but today we sorted them by color. We also had out some colorful keys to be sorted.


Maple Room: MWF class

We read "If you take a mouse to school" by Laura Numeroff . We did our calendar and weather activities, which we do each day. We use some of the information to do some graphing activities each day as well.

For art we had a tearing and gluing activity. Tearing is the first step in the cutting process and is great fine motor work to develop the finger muscles.

We sang "The September song", "months of the year", "can't sit still" and "brown bear".

We made an alphabet caterpillar today, everyone got a letter to add to the caterpillar.

Oak Room:

We read Buzzy's Boo Boo, by Harriet Ziefert, a story about getting hurt and needing a band aid. We do calendar and weather activities each day.

We had the children draw a picture of a time they got hurt and we added a bandaid to the picture too.

We had a body puzzle out, and a wooden ABC puzzle too.

We sang some Bean Bag songs, - "bean bag train", We balanced bean bags on our head, foot, back, etc as we moved around the room.

Activities for Thursday, Sept. 23, 2010

All classes went out to the playground today.

Willow Room:

We read "I like me" by Nancy Carlson We did our daily "Hello song"

We did gluing small colorful squares of various sizes and shapes onto paper. We had glitter paint at the easels.

We sang "Cool Bear Hunt", and "Put your finger on".

We had some wet sand in the play ground sand box and we tried to catch bubbles from the bubble machine.

Oak Room:

We read "You can't see your bones" by Harriet Ziefert. We looked at x-rays and we had a picture matching game out, where we matched bugs bodies to their x-ray 's.

We sang "The body parts game" and "Spaghetti legs"

We glued Q-tips onto body shapes to look like our bones and we learned we have 206 bones in our body.

Classroom activities for Wednesday, September 22, 2010

The rain was done, so we were able to get all classes outside on the playground. Remember to send jackets or sweaters on these unpredictable fall days.

Willow Room:

We read "I like me!" by Nancy Carlson. We talked about the weather and the calendar and we asked the questions "How are you feeling today?" for our graphing activity.

At art, we glued different color squares in various sizes and textures. We had red, yellow and blue glitter paint at the easels.

We sang "Cool bear hunt", "Put your finger on" and "wheels on the bus"

We enjoyed playing with the doll sin the play house area.

When we went out to the playground we saw the geese that were outside our fence today. We also looked up high at the airplanes.


Maple Room:

We read "Quick as a Cricket" by Audrey Wood. This is a great story about how sometimes you feel strong, sometimes, weak, and sometimes you just feel both ways at once.
We drew pictures of ourselves (self portraits) and we looked into mirrors to check out what we looked like. We talked about parts of ourselves, and our eye color and our smiles too.
We had paint and paper with a negative space ( a hole cut out of the paper).

We Sang "The September song", "12 days of school"," Everybody has a face", "The freeze dance" (we danced with scarves) and "Today is Monday".

We did a graphing activity today, we graphed eye color and hair color (physical awareness)

Oak Room:

Our book was "Hurty Feelings" by Helen Lester; a story about how easy it is to have hurt feelings and how we sometimes need to get over it. Sometimes we take things that are said as mean, when they are not. We also read "Walter was worried" by J. Seeger

We worked in our journals today on pictures that start with the letter "B". We had fall colors of paints at he easels. We had out some table games today, and some color and pattern matching blocks. We also had out a magnetic color maze

We sang "If you are happy and you know it, and we talked about feelings, they had a card with a happy face and a sad face and we asked questions, "How you would feel if...." They held up the face that best represented their feelings.

We talked about emotions today.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Both classes went outside today. We had a warm windy day.

Willow Room:

Our youngest group is still adjusting, but we have fewer tears and more happy times.
We read a book called "My crayons talk" by Patricia Hubbard

The children love playing in the rice table, and they were also busy at the free art table drawing with markers. For art today, we painted with fun kitchen utensils. We like finding unique things for the children to experiment with when they do art. We had chalk at the easels today.

For music we did "over the deep blue sea", "Tommy Thumb" and "If you are happy and you know it."

Oak Room:

We read Me and my friend" by Mercer Mayer

We made a picture today of them and their favorite things, like family, toys, color they like. We are doing a unit on "All about me"

We sang "Herman the worm", "If you're angry and you know it" and "Elephants on a tight rope".

We are talking about the letter "B" and today our B activity is trying to guess the objects that are hidden in the bag that start with the letter "B".

Monday, September 20, 2010

All classes went outside today. Please remember jackets or sweaters on cool days. We go out if the temperatures are above 40 degrees and it is dry out.

Willow Room: MWF class:
We had a great day today, no tears from anyone. Everyone has finally realized this is a fun place to be and mom and dad will always come get them to go home.

The children used unusual objects to paint with today, we used an old hand bell, potato mashers, and other fun kitchen utensils. We love to experiment with different objects to create paintings. We had some creative gluing materials at the free art table. We had chalk at the easels.

We read "Bear Shadow" by Frank Asch and we asked the question, "Do you have long hair or short hair?" We use the answers for some math activities, such as which has more? long or shirt hair, how many more? We will ask a question each day. We also started doing some basic calendar and weather activities which we will do each day.

We sang "over the deep blue sea", "If you are happy and you know it" and "Tommy Thumb". The children enjoy music time.

We are enjoying having your children with us in our class.

Maple Room:

We read "Franklin Goes to School" . Music was "There's a dog in school", "The September song" , and "jump down turn around". We also used potato mashers and other fun cooking utensils to paint with in class today and the children did a lot of free art too. We did a number sequencing game at second circle, everyone got a stick with a number and part of a picture on it, we put them in order to create the pictures. The block area and kitchen were hot spots today.


Oak Room:

We read a book by Jamie Lee Curtis called "I'm gonna like me".
We used a mirror to look at ourselves and make a self portrait. We used yarn for hair, looked at what we were wearing to add clothes and we look great. The pictures are hanging in the hall, outside our room, see if you can guess which one is your child.

We sang "Animal Actions" and some other body movement songs.

We are talking about the letter "B" this week. We do a different activity each day to help reinforce the understanding of the letter "B".

Classroom Activities for Friday, September 17, 2010

Willow Room:

The children are getting used to school as this was their first full week. We had some tears, but they all end in jut a few minutes and I am confident they will be coming in fine in just a few more days. They will not even remember they once were scared. The teachers have done a wonderful job getting them all to feel comfortable and safe. the children really enjoy going outside and also seem to love music time. We have been lucky to have good weather this week so we could get outside. They really enjoy their outside time.

Today in the Willow Room we read a book called "Yes we can" about some friends who started out not being very nice to each other, but then they learned to play together nicely. We did gluing for art today and had dot painters at the easels. We did some cooking in the play house and played with the trains too. We had a great morning. We always enjoy the music.

Maple Room:

We read "Going on a bear hunt" by Helen Oxenbury, but before we could read the book we had to go on a book hunt as our book was hiding. We found it mixed in with the the puzzles, so we were able to read it. We sang two different versions of the "Bear Hunt song"

We used dot type painters to make "bear stomping prints" for art. The children were also busy building with the blocks, painting at the easel and making their own creations at the free art table.

It is nice to see them all so busy and involved. We enjoyed going out to the playground again today. We have fun in the sand, running around, and going down the slide.

Our class was busy in the dramatic corner today, making phone calls and taking care of babies. The block area was also a popular spot today.


Oak Room- Pre-K

We continued our series of "If you..." books by Laura Numeroff. Today we read "If you give a Pig a Party" and we had the children work on our version of the story, "If you give a snake a ...."

At the art table we we gave the children some tempra paint, and cornstarch. They mixed the paint and cornstarch and painted their picture. The cornstarch give sit a different consistency and also a different look when the picture dries.

We had out some table activities including writing names on magnetic boards, and a counting activity with wooden rings. The children also enjoy making creations out of Legos.

We are beginning to learn the alphabet, we work on upper and lower case, practice writing the letters, think of words that begin with that letter and learn the sound the letter makes. This week we started with the letter "A".

We worked on learning letter sounds with an ABC sounds song. We enjoyed the playground again today.

Preschool BLOG

Hello,

We are beginning our BLOG for this school year. I missed the first few days as we were busy helping our littlest ones feel comfortable at school, but I think we are finally getting there.

I will update you on what each classroom is doing and highlight a few of the activities. You can also check the "TIDBITS" that is posted outside each classroom. I hope you enjoy the hearing about our day at school.

Activities for Monday, April 26

All classes went outside today.

Willow Room: MWF class

We read "Planting a rainbow" by Lois Ehlert and asked the children if they have ever planted a garden?

We planted grass seeds today. We had painting at the easel today with colors cantaloupe, magenta, and green apple.

We had out puzzles, a vocabulary classification board, a fun foam building board, an alphabet maze and a number game.

We are practicing our Mother's Day songs and we did children's request songs.

We have fake flowers in our sensory table, we read a second book today called Show me your smile.

Maple Room:

We read Clifford's Spring Clean Up by Norman Bridwell

We made flowers out of egg cartons.

We practiced our Mother's Day songs. We are learning about the letter "U".

Oak Room:

We read "Because a little bug went Ka-choo!" by Roseta Stone

We were working on a special picture today- you will have to wait to see it.

We sang our ABC sounds song and we practiced our Mother's Day songs.

We changed our dramatic corner into a housekeeping corner.

Activities for Friday, April 23

Willow Room: MWF Class

We didn't read our story today because the children spent so much time having great discussion time.

We looked at x-rays and we made our own x-ray pictures by using Q-tips as bones on black paper.

We practiced our Mother's day songs and we did the honey ppot game at music time. We played outside.

Maple Room:

We read "Mouse's first spring" by Lauren Thompson

We made something special for a surprise at art today, you will have to wait to see it later. We had stampers at the easel.

We sang our April song and practiced some songs for mother's day.

We practiced writing our letters on our dry erase boards.

We played outside.

Oak room:

Today was our beach day! We had so much fun with all of our beach day activities.

We sat on our beach towels and listened to "Froggy learns to swim" by Jonathan London

For art today we used stencils and put glue inside the stencil; then we sprinkled colored sand onto the glue adn moved the stencil.

We had water tables int eh room with cups, fish, and nets. We had a sand tub with wet sand and molds to make shapes in the sand.
We had magnetic fishing in tubs of water.

We sang underneath the broomstick, played beach boys music"surfing song" and we used the parachute with beach balls and balloons in the gym. We ate snack in the gym on our beach towels.

We played a guessing game "Whats' in my beach bag?

Activities for Wednesday, April 21

Willow room- mwf class

What makes a rainbow? by Betty Ann Schwartz was our story today. We asked the children if they had ever seen a rainbow.

We made rainbows out of colored popcorn. We took plain popcorn and shook it in a bag with powdered paint. We had small broken pieces of crayons at the easel to help strengthen fine motor muscles.

We practiced our Mother's Day songs and we sang the pirate ship song. We played in our doctor's office and our flower shop.

We played outside today.

Maple room:

we read Michael Recycle by Ellie Bethal

We talked about earth day today. We turned off the lights for some of our morning and just used natural light from our windows. We made a rolled beads necklace for earth day using recycled materials. At the easels we painted on newspaper!

We sang our April song, and 3 r's (reduce, recycle and reuse)

We are beginning to learn our addresses.

We played outside- thank you earth!

Oak Room:

We read Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle

We did a watercolor process for a surprise project.

We had some colored linking shapes to arrange in a pattern out today, a lego building project, and duplo blocks out too. We also had out magnetic fishing games.

We played match the fish- a color changing story.

We had our estimating jar out today.