Movies for children-sensory friendly films at AMC

AMC theaters have what they call sensory friendly films where children can move around, not be expected to be totally quiet, the sound of the movie is not quite as loud and over whelming as normal, and the lights are not totally off.  

The movies are on a Saturday morning, about every 6 weeks or so.  I went to one with my grandson and was not sure what to expect, would there be kids running around, screaming, etc, but the experience was great.  Yes, a few children asked questions in louder voices, but nothing was disturbing anyone.  Also, nothing in the theater advertised the fact that this showing was any different than any other.  

They also don't have all the previews, just the movie, which sure helps little ones who are done by the time the previews are over.  I loved that the sounds were not as loud , it was not too quiet, just not blaring. Movies can be long, loud, and too much for preschoolers with or without sensory issues, so I strongly recommend checking this out.  The next movie scheduled is "The Croods, on April 6, which looks like a fun one for the kids.  http://www.amctheatres.com/programs/sensory-friendly-films

Trinity Preschool Activities for Friday, March 22, 2013

We are on school break until April 2nd. Enjoy your time off.  


Willow Room: MWF class

We read "Hey Diddle Diddle" by Melissa Everett and "The Pizza that we made" by Joan Holub

We asked the children "Do you have the letter O in your name?"

We made a "pretend pizza' using a round piece of paper for the dough , then we added red paint (with some glue mixed in)  for sauce and put paper toppings.  We had dry erase markers at the easel with alphabet stencils.

We also made our own real pizza for snack.the nursery rhyme 

We did "Hey Diddle Diddle", "The cool bear hunt" and " the sleeping bag chant" for music.

We talked about the letter O and the sound it makes.  We  looked at objects that begin with the letter O.


Maple Room: morning class

We read "Little cloud" by Eric Carle and we read "The foolish tortoise" by Eric Carle too.

We made collage pictures from the papers we painted on Monday and cut up on Wednesday for our Eric Carle inspired art.

We had blue paper with white and silver paint with textured brushes to make cloud pictures.

We did "list of dances", "The freeze dance", "sticky bubble gum", and for music today.


We did Letter V activities on the dry erase boards.  
We played a letter sounds game and "Which letter did I take from you?
  

Maple Room- afternoon class

We read "If you give a dog a donut" and "If you give a cat a cupcake" by Laura Numeroff

We are painting with green peppers today and at the easel we have paint with small size paper.

We did "The March song,

We had magnet wands and magnetic alphabet letters in the sensory table today.  The children would use th wand to "catch" some letters and tell us what letters they were. 

Oak Room: Pre-k class

"Franklin plays the game" by Jonathan London was our story today, we also read "We are in a book" by Mo WIllems (an elephant and piggie book)

We looked at the inside of balls today.  

We rolled tennis balls that had been dipped in paint back and forth in a box to paint a picture.

At the easel, we painted tennis ball shapes with the color yellow.

We had fun creating buildings with our new straw connector building materials. We also had small legos out and magnetic dress up dolls.

We used rhythm sticks and tapped them to the beat of the music.  We also tapped out the syllables in a word (door- one tap; umbrella - three taps)

We asked the children "What is your favorite sport?  We did a graph of the answers, the children put their name on the graph under their favorite sport.

We read the letter Y book and thought of words that start with the letter Y. We made a list of the words.

Stay & Play:

We read "Tiger can't sleep" ( a book on a CD) by S.J. Fore

We painted with yellow paint and roller brushes and we then used stampers dipped in red and blue paint.

We did "Over the deep blue sea" and "I changed my mind" ( a fast and slow song- using maracas)

We had fun with the straw building set with connectors and the K'nex builders too.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Thursday, March 21, 2013

Willow Room:  MWF class

We read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" by Eric Carle and "Hickory Dickory Dock" by Jeffrey Fuerst

We asked the children if they were wearing the color brown?

WE used number stampers on a clock shape and glued a mouse on it for Hickory Dickory Dock.
We painted bear shapes with cocoa powder and white paint.

We made our own home made pizza.

We did "Hickory Dickory Dock" rhyme, "Couch Potato Pokey", and "Brown Bear Brown Bear" for music time.

We did a 5 little pizza rhyme today too.

Maple Room: Thursday class

We read "Llama Llama misses mama" by Anna Dewdney

We did Bear hunt and chicken dance for music time.

We did a math addition game, and played the Eric Carle ABC game.
We did an activity with blocks, each child got two blocks and they took turns adding them one at a time to our tower to see how tall we could make it.  We kept count and did it over and over.

Oak Room: Pre- K class

We read "Berenstain Bears Go out for the team" by Stan and Jan Berenstain
and we read "Watch me throw a ball" by Mo Willems (an elephant and piggie story)

We dipped golf balls in paint and put them in a giant box with paper.  Two children worked as a team to roll the box back and forth to make the balls move.  
We had basket ball shapes at the easel and orange paper.

We had a treasure chest counting box, number puzzle pictures and a new stray connector building toy.

We did "Here's a little bird" and action rhyme, and "Underneath the broomstick" for music time.

We asked the children "Do you have the letter Y in your name?

We did a sorting board, we sorted balls by how we use them, with our hands, our feet, or a stick.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Willow Room: MWF class

We read "Pizza Man" by Virginia Walter

We asked the children "What is your favorite pizza topping?"

We glued numbers and a mouse on a clock shape for "Hickory Dickory Dock" nursery rhyme.
We did dab a dot painting on pizza shapes.

We did Hickory Dickory Dock", "Brown Bear, Brown Bear", and "Couch Potato Pokey" for music time.

We did a "Five little pizza's rhyme  

Maple Room- Morning class

We read "Papa, please get the moon for me" by Eric Carle

We cut up the papers we painted on Monday and we will use them to create an art picture on Friday.
We had moon shapes with glue and stars at the easel today.

We did "The March song", "Tap your toe and follow me", Bean Bag boogie, and "take your bean bag" for music time.

We did letter V activities, upper and lower case V, words that begin with the letter V today.

We skyped with someone in Poland.

Maple Room- Afternoon class

We read "Itsy Bitsy Spider" by Keith Chapman

We wrote and drew a picture of things that start with the letter N.  We had paint with roller brushes at the easel.

We did the "ABC song", "Today is Monday", and played "a matching game" for music time today.

We are learning about the letter N, we read the letter N book, and we did The wheels on the bus with the letter sounds.

Oak Room- Pre- K class

We read "The great ball frenzy" by Janet Stevens

We did letter Y pictures and words  in our journals
we had lady bug letter matching puzzles out, a letter Y puzzle and we took the children in small groups to play a game called "Land of learning board games".

We did "Get ready, get set, let's dance" and " I can dance" ( a movement activity where they need to sit still and dance alternately)
We did the estimating jar, how many golf balls are in the jar.

We explored the sounds balls make and we tried to guess which ball it was by the sound it made.  We also dropped two balls at once to see which would bounce higher.

Stay & Play:

We read "Franklin's secret club" by Paulette Bourgeois

We painted by squirting paint from bottles and we also had sponge top bottles.  Then we used paint brushes to move the paint around.

We did "Count and Move", "animals exercising" and "Your face will surely show it" for music time.

Some of the children made treadmills out of blocks and ran for miles.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Tuesday, March 19, 2013

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

We read "Mary had a little lamb" by Ira Trapani today.

We talked about the color grey and asked the children to tell us something they see that is grey.

We glued cotton balls onto a lamb shape for our Mary had a little lamb nursery rhyme. We will put them on our bulletin board.
We had watercolors at the easel.

We did "Mary had a little lamb" song, "list of dances", "The elephant", and "count and move" for music time today. 

We did a color bird rhyme today too.

Oak Room:

We are learning about balls this week.  We read "Froggy plays soccer" by Jonathan London and "I am invited to play!" by Mo Willems

We painted with ping pong balls that we dipped in paint and put in a large pretzel container.  We rolled it back and forth across the table to a friend. 

We did the "Pirate song", "silly sally", and "Herman the worm" for music time today.
We took two rubber balls and froze one.  We then bounced them to see which one would bounce the highest.

We brought in big rug cardboard tubes, and some shorter ones too.  We rolled balls down the tubs to see how to make them go farther, how to catch the balls from rolling away, and which kind of ball rolls the farthest.  

Trinity Preschool Activities for Monday, March 18, 2013

We did a tornado drill today with our morning classes.

Willow Room- MWF class

We read "Mary had a little lamb" by Ira Trapani

We asked the children "Do you have the letter N in your name?"

We painted with the shaving cream and glue mixture (two parts shaving cream/1 part glue) to cover a lamb shape.

We had alphabet stencils and colored pencils at the easel.

We did "Mary had a little lamb" , "count and move", "list of dances", and "If you're happy and you know it." for music time today.


Maple Room- Morning class

We read "The mixed up Chameleon" by Eric Carle

We painted with roller brushes, paint brushes and paint scrapers for a project that we will do all three days this week.  Today, they painted paper with colors, Wednesday, they will cut the paper into pieces, and Friday they will use it to make a collage picture- like Eric Carle does.

We had fat and thin brushes at the easel with paint.

We did "The March song," and "Can't sit still" for music time.

We skyped to Australia today.  We found out it was late at night on the same day and they are in a different season than we are.

We did letter V activities.  

Maple Room- afternoon class
We read "Don't forget the oatmeal" by BG Ford

We cut out circles and painted with oatmeal.
We had watercolors at the easel

We did "Little fish- let's go swimming", "tap your toe and follow me", "five little monkeys sitting in a tree", and "bean bag boogie" for music time.

Oak Room- Pre- K class
We are learning about balls of all kinds this week. We will paint with balls, and roll various kinds of balls down ramps to see how they roll and which goes faster.

We are learning about the letter Y this week.

We read "Froggy plays T- Ball" by Jonathan London

And "Can I play too?" by Mo Willems
We painted with tennis balls, cut in half crosswise..

We did "Bean bag boogie", "deep in the jungle", "Don't wake up mama" ( a book on tape) for music today.

Stay & Play

We read "Uncle Lester's Hat" by Howie Schneider

We drew with markers on a paper towel and then we used paint brushes dipped in water to paint over our drawings, the colors from the markers spread out.

We did musical spots, when the music stops, put our hand, elbow, etc. on a spot. Follow the directions in the song.

We have dress up, dolls, iron boards in or dramatic play area.  We have purple play sand in the sand table.

Construction dramatic play in preschool

When we do our construction theme, we also do The three little pigs, and talk about how they built their houses.  

Construction vest made from felt and bright yellow trim 

We add a number of building materials and clear a large space so the children are able to get creative with their building.

We do a construction themed bulletin board.

We put PVC pipe, rubber tubing and connectors in our sensory table.  We add water at times too.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Friday, March 15, 2013

Willow Room; MWF class

We talked about St. Patrick's Day, an Irish holiday that is widely celebrated.

We read "The Luckiest St. Patrick's Day Ever" by Teddy Slater.

We asked the children "Can you name a food that is green?"

We used corks dipped in yellow glitter paint to make "gold coins".
We painted shamrock shapes with cookie cutters dipped in paint.

We did The Leprechaun song, Late Last Night, Everybody has a face, for music time today.

We had a hunt to find the Leprechaun's hidden gold.
We made a list of words that begin with the letter M.

Maple Room- morning class

We read "The night before St. Patrick's Day" by Natasha Wing

We made a sweet collage.  We used sweetened condensed milk as the glue to hold colored tissue paper on a rainbow shape paper.
We had green paper with glitter paint and green tissue at the easel.

We did the March song, and 5 little shamrocks.
We had a mysterious message left by a leprechaun and we went on a hunt to find him and his gold.  We followed clues that led us around the building and never found him, but when we came back to our room, we found he had been there, left a mess, and left us some gold candy coins.  We used some boxes that we decorated and we made a special "trap" to see if we can catch him.

We did letter U activities on a dry erase board.

Maple Afternoon class


We read "The night before St. Patrick's Day" by Natasha Wing

We made a sweet collage.  We used sweetened condensed milk as the glue to hold colored tissue paper on a rainbow shape paper.
We had green paper with glitter paint and green tissue at the easel.

We did the March song, and 5 little shamrocks.

We had a mysterious message left by a leprechaun and we went on a hunt to find him and his gold.  We followed clues that led us around the building and never found him, but when we came back to our room, we found he had been there, left a mess, and left us some gold candy coins.  We used some boxes that we decorated and we made a special "trap" to see if we can catch him.

Oak room- Pre- K class

We read "Moon Plane" and "If I were an astronaut"

We worked on designs to make our spring quilt for our classroom.  We did bubble wrap painting and then made a print on paper.  We then stamped cookie cutters in a flower shape on top of hte bubble wrap design.  We used bright colors and say Welcome Spring!

We have new green playdough.  Some wooden dress up dolls with magnetic clothes, and farm animal building sets.

We did gravity and rocket ship run for music time.

We asked e children what words they can think of that start with the letter X or have an X in them.

Today was the last day of our space unit, we learned so many fun facts and had fun with our space themed dramatic play.

Stay & Play:

We read "My crayons talk" by Patricia Hubbard

We did glitter watercolor paint, using 5 colors, with small brushes.

We did "Carl the clown", a color rhyme and "Get ready, get set, let's dance", for music time.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Thursday, March 14, 2013

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

The itsy bitsy spider by Keith Chapman- a story on CD.

We are talking about the color black, and we asked the children "Are you wearing black today?"

We painted small paper plates black and we will turn them into spiders.
We used little shoes to paint black patterns.

We did "Itsy Bitsy Spider, Monkey see, monkey do, jump up, turn around for music time.

We did the itsy bitsy spider felt rhyme.

We are enjoying rice in our sensory table.

Maple Room- Thursday class

We read "Llama, llama Red pajama" by Anna Dewdney

We did Bear Hunt, and Jump up, turn around for music time

We practiced writing our names, and we played a game with two large dice.  We rolled the dice and we counted what number was on the dice, then we marked that number on a graph.  We then counted up how many one's, two's three's etc and compared which number was rolled the most.  We did this whole series three times and looked also at comparisons between each time.

Oak Room:

We read "Little Cloud" by Eric Carle

We dripped paint with an eye dropper onto blue paper.  Then we folded it in half and had the children tell us, "What does your "cloud" look like?  

We had translucent legos at the light table.  We had a turtle shape matching activity and a magnetic puzzle out today.

We did Jump to Jupiter, a shamrock felt board rhyme, and some extra music today with instruments.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Wednesday, March 13, 2013

3/13/13- Do you see the pattern in the date?  

Willow Room- MWF class

We did "The Itsy Bitsy  Spider" by Keith Chapman
We painted small paper plates black and added eyes and legs to look like spiders.  We had a large footprint shape at the easel with design roller painters.

We did "Itsy Bitsy Spider", "Jump up, turn around", and "Seven little letters" for music time.

We did a felt rhyme of the Itsy Bitsy Spider.  We introduced the letter M and looked at objects that start with the letter M 

Maple Room- Morning class

We read "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs" by Judi Barrett

We painted with green peppers cut in half cross wide- they look like shamrocks.

We had shamrock cut out shapes at the easel with green glitter paint and rollers.  When the children roll over the shape, the shamrock shows up.

We did The March song, Jump Jim Joe, Freeze dance, and The hokey pokey

We did letter U activities , the letter U book, and words that begin with the letter U. 

Maple Room- afternoon class

We read The Alphabet books - letters L and M

We worked in our alphabet books on the letters L and M today.

We had dab a doo painters at the easel.

We did The March song, ABC letter sounds song, chicka chicka ABC

We did letter L and M activities 

We spent extra time in the gym today. 

Oak Room- Pre- K class

We read "Oliver who would not sleep" by Mara Bergman and "Zoom, Racket Zoom" by Marget Mayo

We worked on our journals, writing and drawing something that starts with the letter X.

We did "down around the corner at the donut shop", ABC letter sounds song, and "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly" 

We read a book about the letter X

Stay & Play

we read "Franklin's class trip" by Paulette Bourgeois

We painted with watercolors. We painted stampers with a brush and then pressed them onto paper.

We did "The bean bag boogie", and "May there always be sunshine"

We did a lot of building with farm blocks and built creatively with the bristle blocks.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Tuesday, March 13, 2013

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

Our color this week is white.  We read "It looked like spilt milk" by Charles Shaw
We asked the children "Are you wearing white today?" and "Can you think of something that is the color white?"

We used Q-tips and small foam sponges and white paint to make our own spilt milk pictures.  Then we added white glitter to our pictures.  We asked the children "Based on the story "It looked like spilt milk, but it wasn't spilt milk ....it was...." we asked the children  What do you think it looks like?" and wrote their answers down on the pictures.  

We did "Twinkle, twinkle, little star, Jack and Jill, Bean Bag Pretend, and we used rhythm sticks to the song, "I can hammer".


Oak Room- Pre-k class

We are finishing up our unit on space and the planets this week.  The children have a space facts book that is going home.  

Today we read "Moon Rabbit" by Natalie Russell and "Minnie and Moo go to the moon" by Dennis Caset.

We colored the pages in our planets book.

We did 5 little astronauts floating in space, stick to the glue and we played a rocket ship color guessing game. 

Andy the astronaut hides behind one of the colors of space ships and the children take turns guessing which color space ship he is hiding behind.  This is a favorite game at our school and we change it up to fit various themes.  You can also have numbers on the space ships, or a shape or an alphabet letter.

We did the mystery bag with the letter X today.  

Trinity Preschool Activities for Monday, March 11, 2013

Willow Room: MWF class

We read the story "It looked like spilt milk" by Charles Shaw.  We did an art project that tied in with the book, we used eye droppers to drip white paint onto dark blue paper and then folded over the paper and pressed on it to make the paint spread evenly and the same on each half.  When we opened it, the children said what "it looked like" and we wrote it on the paper.

We did Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" for our rhyme today.
We asked the children "How many buttons are on your clothes today?"

We painted start shapes at the easel.

We did twinkle, twinkle little star, shine, shine , shine, I can hammer, and Shake a friend's hand" for music time today.  We also used rhythm sticks today.

We talked about the letter L and the words that start with the letter L.

Maple Room; morning class

We read "To market, to market" by Anne Miranda

We fingerpainted with pudding today.

We had paint at the easel.

We did the March song, the Months of the year and the alphabet sounds song.

We skyped with someone in Iowa city today.

We did letter U activities and we did the estimation jar.

Maple Room- afternoon class

We read "To market, to market" by Anne Miranda

We fingerpainted with chocolate pudding and we had paint at the easel.

We did list of dances, one little shamrock smiling, smiling, and we did the book Ice cream bear on a CD for music time.


Oak Room:

We read "Curious George gets a medal" by H.A. Rey

We also read "Moo Cow Kaboom" by Thacker Hurd

We made the cover for our planet books, we painted them with planet stampers.

We did list of dances for music and we also talked about which planet we would like to visit.
We are learning about the letter X this week.

Stay & Play:

We read "clocks and more clocks" by Pat Hutchins

We dripped paint onto a tray and then made a print of it by pressing paper on top of the paint.

We did "Purple people eater"- a dancing song that we used ribbon bells  dance with to the music, and we did The goldfish for music time today.

We had dry erase boards with markers as a special table activity today.

Space unit activities for a pre- k room

Our pre-k class has fun learning about space and the planets.  We turn our dramatic corner into a space center with a control panel, rocket ship, and space suits with jet packs and space helmets.  We add some special building toys that are space or rocket related and read stories about all the planets, the sun and the moon.  We learn about stars, and have fun doing art projects too.  I think the space unit is one that the children and the teachers find to be really fun.  I have posted some of those pictures in this blog earlier. A fun creative activity we did that encourages the children to think about what they are creating or think afterward of what it reminds them of was to make their own planet with colored sand and glue.  The children cut out a circle shape and squirted glue on it, then they chose the colors of sand to sprinkle on top.  When it was done, they named their planet.

What is the moon full of? a literacy art connection for our space unit.

This moon is full of rocks.

We read a book called "What is the moon full of?" and then let the children make their own picture showing their vision of what the moon is full of.  We also did fun thinking activities like what would you want to take with you on a trip to the moon.  Answers varied from a blanket to snacks.

Who knew the moon could be full of rainbows?  

Trinity Preschool Activities for Thursday, March 7, 2013

Willow Room

We read "Chameleon's colors" by Chisato Tashiro
We asked the children "Are you wearing the color orange today?"

We painted with hair picks and combs to make cracks on an egg shape.
At the easel, we painted carrot shapes orange.

we did Humpty Dumpty, hands are for clapping, as I was walking to town for music time.

We are enjoying our pizza shop in our dramatic play corner.

Oak Room:

We read "What next, baby bear! by Jill Murphy

We made paper bowl space ships.  We painted with glitter paint and glue and added squares for windows.

We did some magnet exploration activities and a space matching game.

We talked about taking a pretend trip to the moon, "What would you bring?" some of the answers were:
books, clothes, bouncy ball, bagel and cream cheese, jet pack, telescope, pillow, stuffed animals, blanket, kitchen, cake, dumbo, fish, shoes, snacks.

We did The robot song for music time.

We asked the children "Does you name have the letter W in it?"  

Trinity Preschool Activities for Friday, March 8, 2013

Willow Room- MWF class
We read "The snowy day" by Ezra Jack Keats

We asked the children if they have the letter L in their name?
We painted on foil sheets with bright colors, then made a print by laying a piece of paper on top and pressing down.

We did walking shoes, teddy bear teddy bear, and put your finger on for music time.
We looked at objects that start with the letter L and talked about the sound the letter L makes.


Maple Room- morning class

We read "Pancakes, Pancakes,!" by Eric Carle

We made pancakes from scratch today.
We had circle shapes with paint and purple and brown circles to add to make chocolate chip and blueberry "pancakes".
We did The March song, Down around the corner at the Pancake shop, shake your sillies out, (using shakers), "Hot pancake" using a spatula and The silly dance contest for music time today.

We did letter T activities on the dry erase boards.

Maple Room: afternoon class

We read "If you give a pig a pancake" by Laura Numeroff
We had paint and brushes at the table and we had circle shapes to look like pancakes with paint and blue and brown circles to add for blue berries and chocolate chips.

We did The march song, down around the corner at the pancake shop, shake your sillies out (using shakers) "hot pancake" using a spatula to pass the pancake, and silly dance contest for music time.
We read "If you give a pig a party" by Laura Numeroff too.

Oak Room:

We read "What is the moon full of" by Shulamith Oppenheim
We read about the planet "Pluto"- A dwarf planet.

We drew pictures of "what do you think the moon is full of?" they are hanging in the hall.
We had a transportation sorting board, air, land, sea.
We did pass the astronaut- when the music stops the person stands up who has the astronaut and says "blast off"

We did a sorting activity too, the children decided whether the picture was something in a house, food to eat, or clothing to wear. 

We thought of words that start with the letter W.

Stay & Play: 

We read "Franklin is messy" by Paulette Burgeois

We did a group art project using letter and number stampers on a large sheet of paper.

We did Stinky cake and as I was walking to town for music.

The children enjoy the space dramatic corner.  It will be here for one more week.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Wednesday, March 6, 2013

We did vision and hearing screening today.

Willow Room: MWF class

We read "The great nursery rhyme disaster" by David Conway.  We are learning about nursery rhymes.
Humpty Dumpty was our rhyme today.

We asked the children "Have you ever gone sledding?" and we talked about sledding and the big snow we had yesterday.

We glued humpty dumpty back together again.  We painted with hair picks and hair combs at the easel.

We did The "humpty dumpty rhyme", "hands are for clapping", and as "I was walking to town" for music time.

We thought of words that begin with the letter K.  Our dramatic corner is a pizza shop.

Maple Room: morning class

We read "Don't forget the oatmeal" by B.G. Ford

We made shopping lists- a cutting project and we decorated shopping bags with stampers and paint 
We did the March song, and we acted out the three little pigs story.

We did letter T activities and we skyped with someone in Pennsylvania today.

We changed our dramatic corner to a grocery store.

Maple Room- afternoon class

We read "The ice cream king" a book on CD by Julie Downing

We wrote the letter K and grew something that starts with the letter K in our journals.

We did watercolors at the easel.

We did "The letters on the bus", "this old man", and "what does this letter sound like" game for music time.

We read The letter K book, the letter K mystery bag, the letter K chart, and did a snow, snow, snow book on cd.

We have our dramatic corner set up at a grocery store now.

Oak Room: Pre- K class

We read "What the sun sees, what the moon sees" by Nancy Tafuri and "Space Boy" by Leo Landry

We did W pictures in our journals.
We had blue and green paint on circle shapes to make earth at the easels.

We had some magnet activities, a peg board, and graduated lock shape sorting activities out today.

We did "The purple people eater" ( and used maracas) ,"The planets revolve around the sun", "the w song", and the "March song" for music time.
We read a book about the planet Uranus.  We did the estimating jar, how many farm animals are in the jar?

Stay & Play:

We read "Franklin's bad day" by Paulette Bourgeois

We glued pieces of tissue paper to create a picture by brushing glue over the tissue paper.

We did "Put your finger on" and "can't sit still" for music time today.

Construction theme dramatic play in the Maple Room and construction thene Bulletin board

The children did a large group project of painting big sheets of paper with cool rollers that had  designs and patterns on them.  Then we cut them into different size rectangles for buildings.  The children added yellow squares and rectangles to make windows.

One of the teachers made the cool construction vests out of felt and we have plastic construction hats with each child's name one it.

We add a large variety of building materials, tools, cones to our dramatic construction set.

We add a road and cars to our city.

We add PVC pipe and rubber tubes with connectors to our sensory table for our construction theme.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Monday, March 4, 2013

Willow Room- MWF class

We are learning about nursery rhymes now in class.  Today we learned Jack and Jill.
We have our dramatic corner set up like a pizza shop.  We also read the story "Pete's a pizza" by William Steig

Do you have the letter K in your name?

We painted by tilting a box back and forth with a prickly ball dipped in paint.  It made a nice print on the paper.

We did creative painting at the easel with long brushes.

We did the Jack and Jill song, dancing, and marching around the alphabet.

We did shaving cream and corn starch combined to make a sensory experience of "snow" in our sensory table.

We talked about the letter K and brought in objects that start with the letter K.  We discussed the sound the letter makes, and thought of rhyming words.  We did our nursery rhyme, Jack and Jill.

Maple Room: morning class

We read "The true story of the 3 little pigs" by Jon Scieszka

We did finger painting using shaving cream with green paint mixed into it.

We had house shapes and water colors at the easel.

We acted out the story of the three little pigs

We did letter T activities and the estimation jar.

Maple Room- afternoon class
We read "Berenstain Bears, Too much junk food" by Stan and Jan Berenstain

We did roller painting using clememtine oranges for the things we rolled around int he paint.
We had roller brushes and int at the easel.

We did "Stick to the glue", "Dog in school", "freeze dance", "Silly Sally" and "Come and get a smiley face" for music time.

Oak Room: Pre- K class

We read "The sun is my favorite star" by Frank Asch
and we read "Sunshine"  Alice K Flanagan

We also read Papa, please get the moon for me!  by Eric Carle

We cut out circles and added sand with glue.  The children will make their own planet and name it too.

We watched a Magic school bus movie about space today.  It was excellent.

We are learning about Saturn today.  We are also learning about the letter W. 

Stay & Play:

We read "The bear who didn't like honey" by Barbara Maitland

We painted on crinkled foil and then made a print of it on paper.

We did "All the fish" and "If all the raindrops" for music.

We did parachute activities in the gym and played with the hockey nets.

We had a farm set, writing boards, and space play today. 

Space bulletin board, and other space Our attendance chaideas pre-k class

Our attendance chart where the children add the astronaut to the rocket ship when they come into class.

We blast off to the moon

Simple game made with a space theme. 

We dipped star shape cookie cutters into glue and sprinkled glitter on top of the glue.  

We learned about constellations and then the children added star stickers to black paper to create their own constellations.  Hard to see in the picture, we used a yellow pencil to outline it. Then the children told us what they thought it looked like. 

Space theme in pre- k class at Trinity Preschool

The white paper is the frame work of our rocket ship and we have steering wheels , and head sets in there for the astronauts.

This is mission control, and we add computer keyboards and head sets .

We made jet packs with empty juice bottles hooked onto a felt vest. We added some silver embellishment and flame s made out of felt.

This is the mission control with an added graphic of the planets.

The children made paper mache planets and painted them to reflect the colors we think of the planers being. They are hanging over our group time area with a yellow balloon as the sun.

Side view of the rocket ship

Another view of our rocket ship.  

Trinity Preschool Activities for Friday, March 1, 2013

Willow Room:

We read "Green as a bean" by Karla Kuskin

We did a group art project.  We painted sponges with brushes and then gently pressed them onto a large sheet of paper.

We had water color pencils and slick stix crayons.

We did a bean bag song , and 2 little blackbirds for music time.

We made our letter J chart and thought of J words.

Maple Room: morning class
We read "My lucky day" by Keiko Kasza
We illustrated our three pigs stories.  We had shamrock shapes at the easel that we painted.
We did the March song, the months song and we acted out the story of the three pigs.
We also had three boxes that were made into house shapes and we made them into a house of straw, a house of bricks and a house of sticks.

Maple Room: afternoon class

We read "Alphabet Mystery" by Audry Wood and Chicka 123 today.

We dd truck painting on large pieces of paper with paint and at the easel we had green paper with rollers and paint.

We did The March song, the months song for music time.

Oak Room: Pre-k class

We talked about gravity today.
We read "Wilbur's space machine" by Lorna Balian

We did balloon drop painting using a weighted balloon- to demonstrate gravity
We made marshmallow and toothpick creations ( to make space stations), we had out some farm building blocks, and number bugs- you put the correct number dots together with the numerical number to create a bug.

We did "gravity"- using scarves.  We sang the planets revolve around the sun while we walked around (revolved) in a circle below our planets we made hanging by the ceiling.
We did a balloon rocket experiment.  We had a balloon attached to a straw that was threaded on a string the was tied up high.  We blew up the balloon and let it go and it shot up to the ceiling. We did a countdown down from 10 - 1 before we let it go. Then we let go of a balloon that was not attached to the string to see what it would do.

We talked about words that start with the letter V.

We talked about gravity and demonstrated how if you drop two items at the same time, they will hit the floor at the same time.  Then the children got to try it.

Stay & Play

We read "Franklin has a sleepover" by Paulette Bourgeois

We fingerpainted today.
We did a kitten lost her mitten rhyme, May there always be sunshine and sticky bubble gum for music today.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Thursday, February 28, 2013

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

we are learning about green this week.

We read "Green Eggs and Ham" by Dr. Seuss
We painted with green peppers and green paint
We had magnetic 3 D shapes at the easel.

We did Please pass the peas, Tommy thumb, and Couch Potato Pokey for music time.

We did a green mitten rhyme today and we glued googlie eyes onto the frogs we made the other day.

Maple Room:

We read "A fly went by" by Mike McClintock

We played a number Go fish game and we did a rhyming words activity as a group

We did Herman the worm and on the count of five for music time.

Oak Room: 

We area continuing our space theme.  We read "I am a star" by Jean Marzollo, "Dora the Explorer"- little star and we talked about constellations.

We put stickers on black paper, then we connected them with a yellow pencil to show the outline.  We had each child say what their star constellation looked like and we wrote that on the paper.

We played a space board game, a space matching game, and the letter V puzzle today.

We did "Blast off" song, and actions using a numbered rocket ship, and a felt board rhyme called 5 little stars.

We weighed "moon rocks" and "earth rocks" and talked about the difference   Moon rocks weigh less ( we used foil rocks).  
We asked the children if their name has the letter V in it.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Willow Room: MWF class

We read Jeremiah Jellyfish flies high" by John Fardell

We asked the children "Have you ever seen a jelly fish?
We glued white circle shapes and wax paper strips to make a jelly fish.
We did Jelly fish for the letter J.
We painted jelly bean shapes at the easel with watercolors.

We did "Lettercise", "Clap if you want to" and "Jump up, turn around" for music time.

We introduced the letter J and J items today.

We did a science experiment to see what would float and what would sink.


Maple Room: Morning class

We are doing a whole series on the 3 little pigs and today we read the "Three little pigs" as retold and illustrated by Yuri Salzman

We made our house of bricks today.  We sponge painted on a tri fold display board to make our house of bricks.

We had house shapes at the easel with red squares of paper to look like bricks.

We did "The February song", "The mitten song", "Two little blackbirds" and "Tap your toe" for music time.

We did letter S activities and we skyped with someone in Iowa.

Maple Room- Afternoon class

We did Letter I and Letter J alphabet books today
At the art table we did our letter I and Letter J pages for our alphabet books
We did Chicka chicka boom boom trees with alphabet letter stampers at the easel.

We did the chicka chicka boom boom book on CD by Bill Mrtin

We also played a chicka chicka boom boom game and had the tree out with letters to attach to it.

Oak Room:

We read "Space cats" by Doug Cushman and "moonbear's pet" by Frank Asch

We worked on our alphabet journals, we drew pictures of things that start with the letter V and wrote the letter V. 

We played a space bingo game

We did "Old Mc DOnald had a band, cool bear hunt, and the planet song for music today.

We read a book about the letter V and read the Earth book about our planet.

Stay & Play:

We read "Franklin's School Day" by Paulette Bourgeois

We painted using powdered paint and water.  We dipped the brush in water, then in powdered paint and then onto our paper.  The colors are vibrant, and we have to remember to do it int he right order. We used our special home made table top easels.

We did Cool bear hunt, and a color snowman rhyme for music time.

We are loving the space center in the Oak classroom
We watched a video of a real space launch.