Our silent auction catalog is now posted

http://trinitypreschoolmp.org/

We have our 16th Annual Silent Auction fund raiser this Sunday morning (bidding ends approx. noon).  We raise money to buy classroom and playground equipment  for our great not for profit preschool.  Please join us to bid on the great items we have in our auction.  If you can't join us, you can place a bid by email the preschool. 

Trinity Preschool Activities for Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Willow Room:

We read "Snow" by Cynthia Rylant

We asked the children to look for something white in our room

We fingerpainted with "white"- white fingerpaint,  white glitter, white shaving cream, white salt, and white powder paint.

We sang hokey pokey, and little fish for music

We used dry erase markers at the easel- the children really love that.

Oak Room:

We read "Dog in Space" by Nancy Coffelt and "Happy Birthday Moon" by Frank Asch

We made paper mache' planets by using balloons, newspaper and flour glue water mixture.  The children love this messy, messy fun project.  Once they are dry, we will paint them to look like the planets and we will hang them in our room for our space adventure.

We did The Planet song, Late last night, for music and we played the number game of which cloud is the airplane hiding behind?

We are talking about the letter U and we are talking about the planet Mercury.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Friday, February 17, 2012

Stay & Play:

We read Curious George Dinosaur Discovery

We did crystal painting by using liquid starch and water colors

We did stomp, stomp clap, wiggle in my toe, teddy bear and two little blackbirds for music.

We did a group game of space


Willow Room:

We asked "Who brought you to school today?
We read "The letters are loose" by Lisa Campbell Ernst
We looked at objects that start with the letter I at 2nd circle.

We made icicles by dripping white and silver paint down an incline easel at the table. The children used eye droppers to drip the paint and watch it run down the paper.

We did the Hokey pokey, face the facts, clap, clap, clap, if you want to.

We played with the parachute in the gym today. We loved it.

We worked on two different big alphabet puzzles with several children. This was a great, cooperative group project.

Maple Room:

We read Alphabet under construction" by Denise Fleming

We did a gluing activity, a letter collage. At the easel we had alphabet stampers and paint.

We did The February song, the colors song, and today is Monday.

We played outside!

We did letter P and words that start with the letter P on dry erase boards.

We had a cornstarch/water mixture some call it oobleck, some call it goop. We call it FUN!

We did a number recognition game- "Which number is the hammer hiding behind?"


Oak Room:

We read "If I were an astronaut" by Eric Braun
and I am a stat By Jean Marzollo

For art- we dipped star shapes in glue and sprinkled glitter on them.

we did a space match game and a space board game.

We did a robot rhyme, and the robot song, dance like a robot.

We played outside.

We talked about words that start with the letter T

Trinity Preschool Activities for Thursday, February 16, 2012

Willow Room:

We talked about the color pink today. We looked for pink things in our room.

Oour story was Chameleon's colors by Chisato Tashiro

We did a color mixing experiment inn our second circle time today- we made orange, green and purple (secondary colors)

We used fun brushes to paint with red and white to make pink.

We had watercolors at the easel.

We sang I like my hat, and Put your finger on

We have a kitchen/home set up in our dramatic corner.

Maple Room

We read "Building a house" by Byron Barton

We added objects to a classroom cardboard house.

We did kid picks for music- Sticky bubble gum, bear hunt, February song, December song, and Months of the year.

We did a rhyming and sorting game today.

Oak Room

We read Bamboo and Friends, The moon" by Felicia Law and Walking on the moon.

We glued round objects to a paper plate. Then we covered them with foil and pressed around the round objects to look like moon craters. (see pictures on our facebook page)

We had a space magnetic board game, a magnetic color maze, and a stringing activity.

We did "Jump to Jupiter" with ribbons, and "T for two" by Jim Gill

Trinity Preschool Activities for Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012

Stay & Play:

We read "My crayons talk" by G Brian Karas

we used yellow paint and roller brushes,and sponge stampers in blue paint.

We did the color song by Hap Palmer, and we did dancing songs with maracas

The children had fun exploring the oak room's space station.

Willow Room:

We asked the children if they have a letter I in their name? I is our letter this week.
We read "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin

We did the letter tree from Chicka chicka boom boom

We used fun brushes- painting with red, yellow blue and white.

We had watercolors at the easel.

We did "I like my hat", "Put your finger on" and Sticky Bubble Gum" for music.

We changed our dramatic corner into a kitchen, with dolls, ironing board, food.

Maple Room:

We are doing our construction unit and today we read "The house that Max built" by Maxwell Newhouse

We did a group painting project that we will cut building shapes from for our bulletin board. I posted pictures on another BLOG posting of smash, roll, scrape painting.

We did "The February song, construction song, button factory, brown bear, Jump up turn around, list of dances for music today.

We did letter P activities, we also did number 1-10 memory game of find the hammer hiding behind the letter.

We read Jack's House" by Karen Beil

Oak Room:

We read "There's no place like space" by Tish Rabe about the solar system

We cut out rocket ship shapes and painted them with red and blue water colors for our bulletin board. We have a picture of each child with a space helmet on like they are in the space ship.

We have out some new space themed puzzles, the letter T puzzle and our dramatic corner is now a space station.

We learned some new space songs, "The planets revolve around the sun" and we used maracas to sing "Purple people eater."

We changed our attendance name tags to astronauts.

School Fund Raiser

We will be having our Silent Auction next week, Sunday, Feb. 26 to raise funds for the preschool. We have the catalog posted on our web page - a partial listing of items as we will continue to get more in this week. We will also have some items available to preschool families starting on Tuesday as a "Buy it now".

Bottle Brush Painting in the Willow Room

As you can see, we love to find new, fun objects to use for painting at our school. Here the teachers took baby bottle brushes and the children dipped them into paint and brushed back and forth across the paper. The result not only mixes two colors, it provides a unique texture and also gives the children a new experience. It feels different to paint with a bottle brush, vs a paint brush.

Smash, mash, scrape, and roll group painting process

We added drops of paint and the children did a big group art project where they used a variety of objects to move the paint around the paper. We had flat scrapers, big plastic tubes, and some flat smashers we made by adding a handle to a flat piece of plastic. They were able to use large muscles to push, squash, roll the paint all around the large sheets of paper. Great way to use recycled objects in art.

Flowers art- using celery to make flower prints

We cut off the bottom portion of the celery and keep it connected. Dip it in paint and press onto paper- for added fun, add a vase shape cut out. The end result looks like a vase of flowers. We have the children give these to their parents for Valentine's Day, but it is a great Mother's Day idea too.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Monday, February 13, 2011

Stay & Play:

We read "Corduroy's lost and found" by Don Freeman

we used glitter paint with new paint brushes, and speical home made mesh brushes.

We used sorting cards by color. We played a game with inch cubes and a grid board. The children rolled a dice and put that number of cubes on their board.

We used rhythm sticks with a multi-cultural CD

Willow Room-MWF class

We read "If you'll be my Valentine" by Cynthia Rylant

We used bottle brushes to paint pictures today.

We sang "Love grows 1 by 1 and the letter sounds song

We put all the the children's Valentine's bags out on the rug and each child took a turn walking around the circle and put one Valentine in each friend's bag.

We talked about the letter H and looked at objects that start with he letter H. We talked about the sound H makes and thought of words that start with that sound.

We ate our special Valentine treat- a vanilla, heart shape cookie we decorated with frosting and sprinkles.

Maple Room:

We read Franklin's Valentines by Paulette Bourgeois

We baked special Valentine heart shape cookies from scratch today. We had heart shapes at the easel.

We used our music time today to pass out our Valentines. Everyone sat in a circle with their Valentine bags and the children took turns walking around the circle passing out a Valentine to each friend.

We did letter P activities

Oak Room:

We read "Froggy's First Kiss" by Jonathan London and "Arthur's Valentine" by Marc Brown

We made our Valentine bags with stampers and heart shapes

We did the song, "Come and buy a Valentine" where each child comes up to "buy" a Valentine. We also did the ABC letter sounds song

We talked about the letter T.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Friday, February 10, 2012

Stay & Play:

We read "Queen of Hearts by Mary Engelbriet

For art: We had heart shape paper and rolled "prickly rubber balls" back and forth in a box with glitter paint over the heart paper. We sprinkled glitter on top.

We played with a giant tube (the heavy duty cardboard one that comes in carpet) and cars. The children take turns putting the cars in and seeing how far they roll. We try different heights to see how it makes a difference. What kind of cars rolls further?

We did music with instruments: "I play the band" and we did the song and dance to "Over the deep blue sea"

We played a small group game.

Willow Room:

We read "Never Mail an Elephant" by Mike Thaler

We asked the children if they have the letter H in their name?

We did the weather and days of the week.

We decorated our Valentine Bags to hold our Valentines we pass out on Monday-
At the easel we had doily's and we painted them using a tiny brush.

We did the snowflake song and used paper snowflakes to float down. We also did cool bear hunt, and "put your finger on"

We glued pictures onto our H chart. We did building with the big foam blocks.

We had snow today, so we caught some snow on black construction paper and looked at them with magnifying glasses before they melted.

Maple Room:
We read "The giant Hug" by Sandra Horning

We did celery prints. First we glued a vase shape onto paper- then the children used celery ( cut the whole bunch of celery crosswise about 3 inches up from the bottom- use the cut edge dipped in paint for this project). The celery cut this way looks like flower prints.

We used the celery tops for paint brushes to paint at the easel onto heart shape paper.

We also used the celery to do a science experiment- celery and carnations. We colored some water blue and red and put carnations and celery in some to see what would happen. We could see the white flowers start to turn color by the end of the morning. We are leaving them over the weekend to see what it will look like on Monday. We made predictions of what we think will happen. We will see.....

We did "The February song, Animal Action, Dancing Scarf blues, I changed my mind (with ribbons), Freeze dance, and 2 little blackbirds.

We did letter O activities, on the dry erase boards. We read "The post office book" by Gail Gibbons


Oak Room:
We read "When the library lights fo out" by Megan McDonald

We did the patterning page in our math books we are making. We also did number pages for 1-10

We had out a magnetic shapes book, a letter S puzzle and magnetic letters.

We did Beethoven's 5 finger play (from the new Jim Gill CD) Two little blackbirds ( rhyme)

We talked about what words start with the letter S?

Trinity Preschool Activities for Thursday, February 9, 2012

Willow Room: T/TH class

We read "The day it rained Hearts" by Felicia Bond

We painted today using heart shape cookie cutters dipped in red and magenta paint. At the easel we had red and blue paint to make purple pictures.

We added items to our purple car of our train.

We sang "Skinnamarink", "Love Grows", and "Stinky cake"

We talked about how red and blue make a new color- purple.
We played the memory game the children love, which color honey pot is the bee hiding behind. The children guess a color and we look to see if the bee is there.

Maple Room:

We read "Never mail an Elephant " by Mike Thaler

We did finger painting with shaving cream and red glitter paint.

The children got to pick the songs today and they chose: "Bear Hunt, Sticky Bubble Gum, Months of the year, November song, December song, and February song.

We played some small group games, Chutes and Ladders and High Ho Cherrio and a number recognition game.

Oak Room:

Goldie Socks and the three "libearians"" by Jackie Mims Hopkins

We did two pages for our number book- we worked on one to one correspondence. The children stamped one dot in each square on the page.

We also did a page on patterning- glued colored dots in a pattern.

We did a color sorting activity.

We also had out a matching game, of upper and lower case letters.

We did "I changed my mind" (a fast and slow dance) and Looby Loo- a rhyming song.

We asked the children if their name has the letter S in it.

We did a number activity- we gave each child a card with a number on it and the children had to line up in the correct numerical order.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Wednesday, February 7, 2012

Stay & Play:

We read "I am not going to get up today! by Dr. Seuss
We painted with popsicle brushes

We did "Bean Bag RAg" "Put your thumb in the air" "May there always be sunshine"

We set up croquet in the hall and took the children out there in small groups.

Willow Room:

We read "The day it rained Hearts" by Felicia Bond

We asked the children "What do you love the most at school?"

We used red and pink glitter paint and heart shape cookie cutters. We dipped the thicker part of the cookie cutter into paint that was spread on a sponge, then pressed it onto paper.

We had a variety of stencils at the easel, alphabet, snowman, stars, and the children used dry erase markers with them.

We sang "skinnamarink", "Can't sit still" and "stinky cake" for music today.

We looked at objects that start with the letter G and talked about other things that start with that letter.

Maple Room:

We read "Mailbox Magic" by Nancy Paydar

We made bags for our Valentines, we used heart shape Stampers and paints

We had heart shape stencils and paint with brushes at the easel.

We did The February song, H_E_A_R_T , "Dog in school", "Animal Action", " The Freeze Dance while we wore the bell belts.

We did letter "O: activities and find the letter and a shape recognition game



Oak Room:

We read "Curious George visits the library" by Maargaret and HA Rey

We also read "Corduroy lost and found" by Don Freeman

We worked on our journals today on the letter S. We drew picture and wrote words that start with S.

We did Late last night, Jump Jim Joe, Sticky Bubble Gum and Down by the station for music today.

We watched a volcano erupt for science. We made a volcano out of old playdough and we added baking soda and vinegar so it bubbled.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Tuesday, February 7, 2012

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

Our color is purple and so we asked the children to find something purple in our room. We read "Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson

We did a color rhyme called "Carl the clown"

We made a Valentine wreath with foam heart stickers and we had heart stencils at the easel.

We used bean bags and did "Take that bean bag" and we did "Finger boppin"

We are enjoying the corn cob pieces in our sensory table and we have a top on it with holes in it so we just reach through into the sensory table.


Oak Room:

We read "Library Mouse" by Daniel Kirk and by the same author "Library Mouse- A friend's Tale"

We made post cards to send home na dwe walked down to the office to mail them. We wrote a special message to our family and drew a picture.

We talked about how authors write books and illustrators make the pictures for books. The children then wrote a story and drew pictures for their story too. They loved it and did a great job.

We did "shake your ribbons in the air" and "the wheels on the bus" for music.

we did the guessing bag for the letter S. The bag has items in it of things that start with s and the children try to guess what might be in there.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Monday, February 6, 2012

Stay & Play:

We read Go Dog Go!" by PD Eastman

We did "twist painting"; We dripped paint on paper and used these plastic disks that we added handles to to Twist back and forth.

We did "Rhythm in my fingers" (a Jim Gill chant song) and "The finger band has come to town" (we acted out instruments)

We enjoyed the dramatic corner library. We played with dinosaurs and built enclosures with blocks, we also did group puzzles.

Willow Room:

We read "The Jolly Postman" by Janet and Allan Ahlberg

Do you have the letter G in your name?

We also did a Valentines Rhyme- 5 Little Valentines

We made heart wreaths with sticky hearts. We used a heart shape stencil at the easel to make stamps.

We did "Take that beanbag, and finger boppin for music today.

We are having fun with our post office, we have heart shape cookie cutters in our playdough.



Maple Room:

We read Mr Griggs work" by Cynthia Rylant

We made our own mailbags for the post office.
We used letter stampers at the easel.

We did the February song and we played "Pass the envelope" .The children sat in a circle and passed an envelope around the circle; when the music stopped, the child holding the envelope opened it and told everyone what letter was inside the envelope.

We did letter N activities.

Oak Room:

We read "DW Library Card" by Marc Brown

We made Love Bugs. We cut out lady bug shapes with wings and we used cork to make prints for the lady bug dots. It has a special message inside.

We did on the count of five, stomp, stomp, clap, and we are going on a lion hunt for music time.
We are talking and learning about the letter S this week.

Tubes of fun! Magnetic fun.

We saw this great idea using paper tubes that had been painted and had magnets attached and we decided we liked the idea of clear tubes so we made these. The tubes are plastic holders for Florescent light storage (I got them at Menards by the lights- about $4.00 for one 7 or 8 feet long) .
I bought the longest they had and cut them into various lengths with kitchen shears. The ends are not not sharp, but I just made sure they were smooth. We hot glued magnets (we found the best deal on magnets at a hobby/craft store) onto the back. Put two magnets on each tube, or they tip as the balls go through. The black caps you see came on the tubes and at first we were going to discard them, but they are a great addition-first they keep the balls from going all over and they can also create a challenge for the children in placing the magnetic tubes. We used a variety of small balls, and we put a tub to catch them when they went through. On another day, we added other types of balls, and we tried feathers with an air pump to push the feather through. We plan to try other objects as well, a square block, water, etc. This has been a great addition, and the children use some scientific reasoning to figure out placement. They also need to cooperate as there are usually several children working with them at once. I also think it would be a fun way to paint!

We have found the magnets sometimes pop off when they stick to another tube's magnets, so please use supervision to make sure no young child puts any magnets in their mouths

Hearts- Valentine's Day Preschool Art

We did two art projects to make pretty hearts. In one the children had a heart shape they taped to the paper (folded over tape and stuck to back of heart). They then placed them all over their paper and painted around them. When they removed the heart, they had a "shadow" of the heart.

The next project we did was to tape an open heart shape onto paper and the children used dab a dot painters to dab and dot all over the whole paper. When it was done, we picked up the heart shape to revel the negative space. We put them both on a paper to display. Very pretty and fun.

Preschool Dramatic Play- Library fun

In our Pre-k room, the dramatic corner has been changed into a library. We have books the children sort into the right spots, a computer keyboard, stampers and paper, and each child has their own library card which the children sort into a filing system alphabetically. They check out books, write their name that they checked out a book and return them too. Each child got to come into the office to borrow a book for their class library. They said the topic they wanted and the teachers helped them find a book.

Sensory table top with holes

We saw this great idea online about making a top for the sensory table that has holes cut out so the children can reach through, set things on top and have another level of exploration with the sensory materials. We have a great guy here who can make anything and he made us two tops, one clear and one not see through. Each give the children a different experience. We do not use sand inside, but we use other materials the children can scoop, measure, explore. We do have sand outside so the children get to use it there. This new top is great. It was interesting too when the children discovered the funnel fit in the hole without dropping through. We have many fun projects planned with our new tops.

Preschool Dramatic Play Post Office

We have purchase some cute accessories for our dramatic play post office and we have made many. One of the teachers made cut postal worker vests the children can wear as well.

We expand on these as well, with sorting activities, putting ABC on bins and alphabet letters on envelopes. You can sometimes get old envelopes from a card store and we save junk mail too. Great way to recycle old mail. We also do some patterning activities, the children have to match the pattern on the envelope to the correct mailbox. We put out pencils, paper, and stampers too.

Sand and Water table idea

I added a link to another BLOG. This is a great idea for not only school's water tables, but to do at home as well. Get a big tub, put a foam pad in the bottom and add soap and water. I can't wait to try it at school.

SAND AND WATER TABLES: GIANT SPONGE - NEW AXIOM

SAND AND WATER TABLES: GIANT SPONGE - NEW AXIOM

Trinity Preschool Activities for Friday, February 3, 2012

Stay & Play:

We read "Stuck in the mud" by Jane Clarke

We used special stampers that fit on our fingers and dipped them in finger paint.

We did "Late last night", Sunshine song, and Looby Loo" for music today.

We played Bingo in small groups, and we did a Carl the clown color rhyme.

Willow Room: MWF class

We looked at objects that start with the letter F

We read "One winter's day" by M Christina Butler

We played a snowman game- (learning about size)

We did animal foot prints (for the letter F) on a big sheet of paper- a group project.

We sang "five green and speckled frogs", "Love grows by 1" and "skinnamarink"

We are enjoying our post office in the dramatic corner.

We have ground up corn cobs in our sensory table and today we had a cover with holes cut in it over the table, so we could reach through the top.

Maple Room:

We read "Tortoise brings the mail" by Dee Lillegard

We did a great project using negative space. We put a heart shape cut out on the paper and did dab a dot painters all over, then we removed the heart and had the shape appear! Plus, the heart we removed had the paint on it too.

We had heart shapes with tissue and glue at the easel.

We sang The February song, Down around the corner at the mailbox, Dog in school, Little Fish, and Jump up turn around.

We did letter N activities on our dry erase boards.

Oak Room:

We had our pajama day today! We came to school in our pajamas.

When the children arrived two of the teachers were still asleep! The children were not sure what to do, so they tip toed quietly around so as not to wake the teachers! After a few minutes, I decided they needed to wake up, so the kids woke them! We did fun, special activities all day.

We read "A pocket for corduroy" by Don Freeman

We cut out an overall shape to make corduroy bear.

We had an opposites puzzle, and animal sorting trays out today.

We asked what starts with the letter R?

For our special sleepover party, we watched a DVD of Corduroy the bear.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Thursday, February 2, 2012

Willow Room- Terrific 2's and 3's

We asked the children "ARe you wearing green today?"

We read "Postal workers deliver the Mail" by Carol Greene We talked about what happens at a post office.

We glued letters on to envelopes. We will use them to decorate our room. At the easel we painted with red and pink glitter paint.

We sang "Please pass the peas," "Put your hands up in the air" and Brown bear.

We have a pretend post office in our dramatic corner.

We have ground up corn cobs in our sensory table.

Maple Room:

We read "Double TRouble GRoundhog Day" by Bethany Roberts

We did shadow painting, the children taped heart shapes to paper and then painted around the edges. Then we removed the hearts to create a silhouette of the heart shape.

We sang Take that beanbag, bean bag boogie, and throw the bean bag.

We did 'Where is the rainbow hiding game" and a letter memory game- Which letter did I take from you?"

Oak Room:

We read "Diamond int he snow" by Jonathan Emmett

We did incline painting, we had trays on an angle and used eye droppers to drip paint on the paper at the top and let it run down the paper.

We have a library set up at the dramatic play area.

We did a song, "Poison Ivy" by Jim Gill, we used maracas to pretend to scratch ourselves.

We did a number game- which cloud is the plane hiding behind?

We asked the children if their name has a letter "R" in it.

Pre- K experiment- Dancing Popcorn kernels

Dancing Popcorn Kernels

1 cup water
1/4 cup vinegar
popcorn kernels
food coloring (Optional)
1 teaspoon baking soda

We talked about what the children thought would happen to the kernels. Some thought they would pop like popcorn.

What did happen. The kernels stayed on the bottom until the baking soda was added. It fizzed up over the top of the jar. When the fizz settled, the kernels were coated with bubbles, and rose to the top. Then they moved up and down like they were dancing. After a while they stopped, and we added a little more baking soda and they started dancing again.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Wednesday, February 1, 2012

The Oak room kids played outside since they go out last and it was warmer, the other classes played inside today.

Stay & Play:

We read "A visitor for Bear" by Bonny Becker

We drew pictures using oil pastel crayons

We did 5 little ducks song and book, We also did a color bird song- name something else that color.

We have a pretend library in our classroom and the children all enjoyed exploring that today. We also played a small group game- an ABC matching game.

Willow Room; MWF class

We asked if they have the letter F in their name?

We read "The post office book" by Gail Gibbons

We talked about it being a new month, did the weather chart.

We glued the letters of our names onto envelopes for our bulletin board.

We had watercolors at the easel.

We sang Please pass the peas, Brown Bear, and Tommy Thumb for music today.

We have a pretend post office in our classroom.

We have ground up corn cobs in our sensory table with funnels, scoops, shovels, cups, buckets, and more.

Maple Room:

We read "Franklin's Neighborhood" by Paulette Bourgeois

We did a cutting project. We cut out house shapes for our neighborhood bulletin board.
we had paper cut to look like a postage stamp at the easel and the children painted their own stamps at the easel.

We did The February song ( for our new month), Month's song, Herman the Worm, Tap your toe, When I was a little fish, Sticky Cake, and Skinnamarink

We started our post office in our dramatic corner today

We did Letter N activities and we played a winter version of" what is missing"?

Oak Room:

We read "The magic school bus sleeps for the winter"

We worked in our journals- we drew pictures of things that start with the letter R

We began our library in the dramatic corner. We sorted books and put our library cards in ABC order. Each child has their own class library card.

We did a lady bug matching game, find the partner with the matching number of dots. My toes are starting to wiggle song.

We read the letter R book, we did a science experiment today too. ( see picture and BLOG post on it)