Trinity Preschool Activities for Thursday, May 17, 2012

Willow Room- T/Th class

We read "Fidgety Fish" by Ruth Galloway

We asked the children "Do you have a fish at home?"

We wrote the children's name on a white paper with a white crayon- then the children painted over it with watercolors.  The watercolors don't stick to the crayon, so the name magically appears.

We had painting at the easel.

We did "Went to the pet store" song and "Put your finger on" for music time.  

We let one of the butterflies go today.  We watched as it flew away.

Maple Room:

We read "How groundhog's garden grew" by Lynne Cherry

The children made their own "oil" paints today.  They mixed dry tempra paint and dish soap. The result looks like oil paint.  Then they painted great pictures.

We did "Down around the corner", pretty flowers, and the May song for music.

We did a listening lotto game.  We listened to words on a CD  and tried to figure out rhyming words and beginning sounds.

We had the new magnetic ramps in the room, we had fun exploring them.

Oak Room:

We read" Ella, of course!"  by Sarah Weeks (an umbrella story)

We painted on an umbrella shape and sprayed water on it (like rain)

We did bug sorting, ans some word puzzles

We did "jumping and counting" by Jim Gill

We did a graph of how many buttons do you have on your clothes?  

Trinity Preschool Activities for Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Stay & Play:

We read "The duckling gets a cookie" by Mo Willems

We did a group painting project, we played a variety of kinds and tempos of music and the children walked around the table moving to the music and painting on a mural. We ended up with a brown blob of a painting, but they sure had fun creating it and that is what matters!

We did a lady bug rhyme where we talked about colors. we also danced to the music we used for art- different tempos and we used scarves.

Willow Room- MWF class:

We read "Fidgety fish" by Ruth Galloway

Our question today was "If you do not have the letter Z in your name, can you think of a word that begins with the letter Z?"

We wrote our name using write crayons, then painted over it with watercolors to reveal our name.  

We painted at the easel with green peppers to make a flower print.

We sang "Went to the pet shop (to buy a fish)", Put your finger on, and the pirate song.

We played with water that has bubbles in it; with fish, and plastic fish, ducks and a lot of other fun water toys.

We trimmed our grassy heads too.

Maple Room:

We read "Mortimer's First Garden" by Karma Wilson and "From caterpillar to butterfly" a great book about the transformation.  JER 595.789 HEI  (at the library)

We did a cutting and gluing project to make sun flowers.  We painted with real sun flowers at the easel and with ferns.

We did the May song, The freeze dance using new bell ribbons on sticks, (we also did jingle bells with them); and  we did The shaker hop with them too.  we also did the Alphabet letter sounds song.

We practiced letter sounds.  
 

Oak Room:

We read "Flap your wings" by PD Eastman

We planted a paper garden- we spread thick black paint on paper (paint mixed with salt) and then glued on flowers made from crumpled up tissue paper.

The children are really enjoying the magnetic ramps with the marbles.  It is great to see how much thought they put into where to put the blocks to block the path and where the marble goes then.

We did some rubber band designs on geo boards.

We did Shaking everywhere- a Jim Gill song, and colored flowers using props for music time today.

We had the estimating jar, how many bugs?

 

Trinity Preschool Activities for Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Willow Room: T/TH class

We talked about our mom's coming to school last week.

We read "The three little fish and the big bad shark"

We looked at our butterflies and our growing plants.

We did fish in fish bowls.  We added blue hair gel and fish stickers with glitter into baggies and sealed them shut.  The we added a fish bowl frame.

We did The bean bag alphabet rag for music.

We gave haircuts to our grassy heads and we had water play in the room.

Oak Room:

We read "Franklin plants a tree"  and "I'll fly away" by David Kirk

We painted with green peppers cut in half crosswise.  they look like flowers.

We did deep in the jungle with the drums; Old Mc Donald had a band and let's play in a band using instruments.

We talked about  nocturnal animals as a review of our earlier learning this year.

We cut our grass today on our lawns of our houses.

 

Trinity Preschool Activities for Monday, May 14, 2012

Stay & Play: 

 We read "Animal Masquerade" by Marianne Dubuc

We experimented with paint, we had paint in small egg carton cups and we mixed some with salt, some with corn starch and some with flour to see how it changed the consistency.

We did "Poison ivy" by Jim Gill and used maracas to dance along.

We had fun with some new floor puzzles and a magnetic ramp with tunnels, and marbles.

We had our snack outside as a picnic and spent some extra time playing outside.

Wilow Room: MWF class

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

Our story was "The three little fish ad the big bad shark" by Ken Geist

We made little fish bowls for art.  The children squeezed blue hair gel into a baggie and we added some glitter and little fish.  We sealed it up and added a fish bowl frame around it.

We had alphabet letter magnets at the easel.

We did  The bean abg alphabet rag song using bean bags and the ABC song.

We had water play today and we have a picnic area set up in our dramatic corner.

Maple room:

We read "What makes a rainbow?" by Betty Ann Schwartz

We made rainbows with only three colors- red, yellow and blue, then we covered the paper with wax paper and smooshed the colors together.  

We made rainbows at the easel with dab a doo painters.

We did Tap your toe and follow me, can't sit still for music time.

We did a "Where is the rainbow hiding" color game and a rainbow rhyme.

Oak Room:

We read "Mortimer's First Garden" by Karma Wilson and "Llama llama red pajama" by Anna Dewdney

We cut out sun flower shapes and added a stick to the shape.  Then we stuck it in a cup that we planted sun flowers into.

We got to use some new magnetic ramp toys and some new floor puzzles.

We did animal actions, Tommy thumb is up, and two little butterflies.

 

Trinity Preschool Activities for Friday, May 11, 2012

We had a wonderful day celebrating all of the mom's.  The children sang songs, gave their mom's (or grandma's) the special present they made for them and then we all had cookies and punch together.  

Trinity Preschool Activities for Thursday, May 10, 2012

Willow room:

We changed our schedule up today since we had our Mom's Tea at 11:00.  We did not go outside or to the gym, we had choice time and prepared for our party.  The children did a great job singing the songs they worked so hard on for the moms.  We enjoyed cookies and punch together too.

Maple Room:

We read "The tiny seed" by Eric Carle 

We did painting by wrapping ping pong balls in foil; dipping them in paint and rolling them in a box.

We did some springtime songs today. Bugs in the garden, and 5 little flowers.

We did a rhyming game, they were given a piece with a picture and they had three choice to chose the rhyming picture from.

Oak Room:

We read "No roses for Harry" by Gene Zion

We did the second part of the mural- we painted black in all the white spaces left from our painting.

We did an ABC chart: we cut pictures to glue in a square with the beginning letter sound.

We practiced for Mother's Day program/

We did a group activity matching pieces together : "What goes together puzzle"

 

Trinity Preschool Activities for Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Stay & Play:

We read "Too many Frogs" by Sandy Asher

We drew on coffee filters, then we painted over our drawing with glitter watercolors.

We did Bean Bag Alphabet tag, shake rattle and roll, stop and go and turn around song for music today.

We played chutes and ladders game.

We had fun with the animal doctor office in the Oak room.

Willow Room:MWF class:

We talked to the children about mom's and asked them "What do you like to do with your mommy?" We looked at items that start with the letter X.

We did the " The Hungry Caterpillar" story using felt pieces.

We painted with dish scrubbers and mixing colors.

We had magnetic colorful sticks at the easel for the children to use to make shapes.

we practiced our Mother's Day songs.

We had sand and design rollers in the sensory table.

We gave our grassy heads a hair cut.  We checked on our growing plants.

We are watching a giant crab sponge grow in water- it is a little thing, and when in the water, it grows larger. 

We have a picnic and bbq set up in our dramatic play area.

Maple Room::

We read "A seed in need" by Sam Goodwin

We used mesh pot scrubbers and real flowers to paint with today.  The children used the flowers and pot scrubbers to make prints and added pom poms and stems with paint to make flowers.

We painted with real flowers at the easel.

We practiced our songs for Mother's Day program on Friday.

We did letter Z activities .

We are also doing some experiments with lima beans and sunflower seeds.  we put some in water, some in a dry area, and we are going ot see what happens.

Oak Room:

We read "Miss Spider's Tea Party" and we read " Are you my Mother?"

We did a group mural painting project.  We painted on paper with pastels and we will add some black after it dries.

We reviewed the 5 senses 

We practiced our Mother's Days song.

 

Trinity Preschool Activities for Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Willow Room- T/TH class

We read "Jack's Garden" by Henry Cole was our story today.  We asked the children if they have a garden outside at their home?

We used eye droppers to paint coffee filters which we will turn into butterflies.

We practiced our songs for Mother's Day- we are excited to sing our songs for our mom's on Thursday!

We planted radishes and talked about the parts of a plant and what it needs to grow.  We also cut our grass heads- it had grown so long already!

We brought in the light table and letters and shapes to explore.  We have some new math toys in our room too.

Oak Room:

We read "Planting a rainbow" by Lois Ehlert and "What makes a rainbow?" by Beth Ann Schwartz

We made rainbow pictures; the children put paint on paper in the order of a rainbow (ROYBGIV- Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, (indigo) and violet).  After they put the paint on the paper, we pressed a clear plastic plate on the paper to blend the edges of the colors.  They came out great.

We practiced our Mother's Day songs.

We also read "Llama, llama Misses Mamma" by Anne Dewdney

We are reviewing things we learned about this year so today we talked about the planets again.  We read "There's no place like space"

Trinity Preschool Activities for Monday, May 7, 2012

We used some of our new equipment in the gym today since is was a rainy day and we could not go outside. We have a balance beam, ball toss, tunnel, and had fun trying them out. 

All of our Luna Moths have opened up! A few Luna Moth facts!  They only live one week- they have no mouths and do not eat or drink.  You will occasionally see them in nature this far north, but down south you see them out at night.  They are nocturnal, they like the dark.

Stay & Play:  

 We read "The wonderful book" by Leonid Gore

We used sponge brushes to paint a light green on paper, then used butterfly and flower shape cookie cutters with dark colors of paint to paint on top of our background.

We did "rock like this" and used our new ribbons sticks.

We also did "Two little blackbirds" and opposites rhyme

We enjoyed some of our new equipment in the room- a lego playland set, 3 letter puzzles and some clay.

Willow Room:  MWF class

We read "Jack's Garden" by Henry Cole

We asked the children if they had ever planted a garden?

We made butterflies using coffee filters and watercolors with eye droppers.  We will make them  into the wings of the butterflies.

We had colored magnetic popscicle sticks at the easel to make pictures and shapes.

We practiced our songs for Mother's Day.

We planted a carrot and an onion and we talked about the different parts of a plant as we examined a marigold flower.

Maple Room:

We read "The Fox and the Springtime Blossom" by Julia Rawlinson 

We planted in clear plastic cups so we can see the roots as they grow.

We had flower stencils at the easel.

We practiced our Mother's Day songs.

We did letter Z activities. 

The highlight of our day was that our Luna Moth can our of the cocoon during class and we got to watch.  It makes a hole in the end of the cocoon with it's front legs and pulls itself out. It is all small and shriveled up when it emerges.  It took the cocoon and spun it over and over and around and around for quite awhile. Then, the moth climbed up the side of the mesh house and stayed there. Slowly the wings dried off and opened up, but it still looked pretty shriveled up at the end of class.     

Oak Room:

We read "Because a little bug went ka-choo!" by Rosette Stone

We painted on coffee filters to make flowers.

We practiced our Mother's Day songs, we also did 5 little flowers and the May song.

We planted some more seeds in a root viewer.  We are so amazed at how much our radish seeds we planed last week have grown and the grass we planted in a stocking is sprouting.  

We are reviewing some of the things we learned this year.  Today we talked about how the bears woke up from their hibernation all winter.

 

Art and Bulletin Boards for Preschool Fish Theme

Bulletin board for under the sea

Whales, made by adding fish shape foam pieces to blue hair gel in a zip lock bag taped to back of hole in whale shape the children cut out.

The children painted the blue background as a large mural group project, and added confetti pieces to fish and sea horse shapes.

This was painted by rolling a large piece of paper in a box with tennis balls dipped in paint.  They were then cut into fish shapes.

The children painted the mural backdrop and we added the paper plate fish, and the star fish to create and under the sea scene.

We read the story "Swimmy" by Leo Lionni and each child used a stamper to make red fish with one black fish like swimmy.  We then put them all together in the hall as a display.

The children in our Pre-k room spent a few weeks learning about fish, under the sea, water, whales, turtles, and more.  We made many, many projects, only some are shown here. We made turtles using tissue paper and turtle shapes, we made jelly fish out of paper bowls, and we made sand art creations too.  We also used a salt clay with sea shells, small stones, pieces of sticks to make a sea shore creation.  We brought in shells, sea urchins, and starfish to look at.   

Trinity Preschool Activities for Friday, May 4, 2012

Stay & Play: 

We read "Mushroom in the rain" by Mirra Ginsgurg 

we used chalk on paper for art.

We did "If you are happy and you know it", "Couch Potato Pokey" and "Over the deep blue sea" for music

We brought in some new toys that arrived today-  Duplo tubes, clics, and flexibloxks. 

We also divided the children into two rooms to have choice time, then joined together for snack, music and outside time.

Willow Room: MWF class

We read "One rainy day" by M Christina Butler

We asked the children if they have the letter "W" in your name?

We painted with fun designs on "flip flops"- they look like flip flop shoes and you slip your hand where your foot would be. 

We practiced our Mother's Day songs for music..

We are having fun with the new toys in our classroom.

Maple Room:

We acted out the story of "the carrot" an old folk tale.  We also read "The big turnip" by Tatiana Zunshine

We used cookie cutters in flower shapes to make prints and we had tulip shape paper at the easel with textured brushes at the easel.

We practiced our Mother's Day songs.

We took a look at roots of plants and talked about the roots and what they do for the plants.

We put our egg carton caterpillars in our paper chrysalis to transform into butterflies. 

Oak Room:

We read "Butterfly House" by Eve Bunting

Our Luna moth opened as we arrived in class today.  We were excited to watch this.

We made "houses" today.  We have a cut off orange juice container and added a house shape to the back.  We will plant grass int eh orange juice container to be our front lawn.  We also made snips in green paper that we will attach to the front to look like grass.

We did some number games, - we used snap together number bugs and some shape matching turtles.

We just changed our room around and are enjoying exploring the room in new ways.

We are playing with modeling clay- this has a different feel than playdough and is great for developing the fine motor muscles in the fingers.

Our dramatic corner is now a veterinary clinic. 

We did an opposites match-  each child has a picture on a puzzle piece and has to find the other person with the opposite picture piece.

We practiced our Mother's Day songs.

We made a surprise picture together, each child had a numbered wooden stick with a piece of a picture on it,  they came up in order and added it to the board to create a whole picture.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Thursday, May 3, 2012

Willow Room- T/TH class

We read "The best nest" by P.D. Eastman 

We looked at some real nests too that had fallen out of trees.

We painted with these fun painters that have designs on the bottom of tools that look like flip flops.  You put your hand where the foot would go.

We practiced our songs for Mother's Day.

We have 2 containers in our sensory table- one has sand, water and plastic fish.  The children can catch the fish using a fish net.  We have a second one with dirt and rubber bands cut to look like worms.  we have tweezers to catch the worms.

Maple Room:

We read "Giraffes can't dance" by Giles Andreae 

We painted with back rollers we dip in paint and roll back and forth across paper.  They make a cool design and they also make a fun noise.

we played musical chairs and did animal action songs for music time.

We did a shape sorting activity.

 

Oak Room:

We read "Daisy- Head Mayzie" by Dr. Seuss

We did a special drawing for moms.

We did a math activity- we used measuring cards with small unifix blocks.  

We did a construction activity with dissolve-able  packing peanuts.

We practiced our Mother's Day songs.

We did a graph of how many letters are in everybody's name.

Field Trip Today

We went to the fire station for a field trip today, it was a great day!

Trinity Preschool Activities for Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Willow Room: T/TH class

We asked the children "Do you like carrots?" 

We did "The giant carrot story" using props

We made flowers out of doily's and watercolors.

We practiced our Mother's Day songs

We planted our grass seeds and we also planted carrot seeds.

Oak Room:

We read the story "Where does the butterfly go when it rains?"  The story doesn't tell us, so we need to figure out our own answer.

We also read Munch Crunch Caterpillars

We made hand prints, then we fingerpainted on trays.

We practiced our songs for Mother's Day.

We used some new bell sticks with ribbons attached for music, they are fun.  We danced with tehm and rang the bells.

We planted different kinds of seeds in a glass container and will watch the roots grow.