Trinity Preschool Activities for Friday, January 24, 2014

Willow Room- MWF class

We read "Alphabet Adventure" by Audrey Wood

We glued alphabet cereal onto a paper shaped liked a soup bowl.  We painted with textured squares at the easel.

We did "Marching around the alphabet", "Lettercise" and "Late last night" for music today.

We did "Red mitten, red mitten, What do you see?

We thought up words that begin with the letter C.

Oak Room- Pre- K class

We have been doing activities and reading about "Goldilocks and the three bears" 
Today we read "Who's been eating my porridge?" by M. Christina Butler

We drew pictures for our three bears books.  (The children dictated the story as they remember it to us and we will type it up for a class book)

We did 5 bears rhyme ( a counting up and counting down activity) and we did "Get ready, Get set, Lets Dance"

We thought of words that start with the letter Q.

We did a group time activity of sorting items into "Hot" and "Cold" 

Maple Room: 

We read "The Hat" by Jan Brett

We used a textured shelf liner paper to create pictures.  We made prints using purple and blue glitter paint.  We had hat shapes at the easel with textured block painters.

We did The January song, 5 snowmen jumping on the bed, Way up high in the snowy tree.

We did letter K activities.

Stay and Play:  

We read "If it's snowy and you know it" by Kim Norman

We did an art activity using colored "Bleeding tissue paper" and stamp pads.  The children placed small pieces of the tissue paper on white paper and then dipped a stamper in water. They then push the stamper down on top of the bleeding tissue paper.  The color transfers through from the tissue onto the paper.  

We did "Let's pretend" using ribbons, "I like my hat" using bean bags and then we balanced bean bags on our bodies in various ways.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Thursday, January 23, 2014

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

We read "the MItten" by Jan Brett

We asked the children to find something in the room that is the color blue

We painted with textured mittens and various shades of blue.
We painted with textured pads that look like little carpet squares.

We did "The Mitten" to the tune of Farmer in the Dell
This is the way we get up in the morning and Late last night

We did "Red mitten, Red mitten, What do you see?"

Oak Room- Pre- k class

We read "Goldilocks Returns" by Lisa Campbell Ernst and "Goldilocks has chicken Pox" by Erin Dealey

We used ice cubes that were made with tempra paint and water mixed to paint pictures.

We did "Sleep Bears" Where is Red bear? (a color rhyme, stand up and then pretend t go to sleep)
We also did a musical ABC match - match the upper and lower case letter and then press the buzzer.

We asked the children "Does your name have the letter Q?"

We did a sorting activity, is it hard or is it soft?


Maple Room: Thursday class

We read "The Great Monster Hunt" by Norbert Landa and Tim Warnes

We practiced writing our names and we made letters out of different things we could find in the room.  Then we made each letter using our bodies.  

It is freezing outside! Help for cabin fever!

When school is closed and the weather is too too awful to go outside, it is often hard to keep young children busy and give you a few minutes to yourself.  Here are a few ideas that might help....at least for a few minutes at a time. They can help make this a special time instead of a trying time and make some memories for "What we did when it was so cold they had to close all the schools".  

1. Bring some snow in the house.  We do this at school too, we just get a shovel full of snow and put it in a plastic tub, on a large tray, or even in the kitchen sink.  You can put a large bath towel on the kitchen floor, add a plastic tub with a small amount of snow and give your child some kitchen utensils, measuring spoons, cups, etc.  Find some mittens and enjoy.  
2. Snow science:  Bring in a bit of snow and do some experiments with it.  Put the same amount of snow in 3 or 4 cups and place them in various places and watch how long it takes it melt.  Put one near a window, one near a heater, one outside, maybe one in the refrigerator.  Have your child think of places to put them.  Set a timer (5 min), check them and record the results on paper.  Set the timer again and keep recording the results.You can also note how much water ends up in the cup vs how much snow was in there. Before you start, ask your child what they think will happen to the snow; make a prediction, then observe and record the results.  This is a very hands on way to teach some great science concepts.  
3. More snow science;  Do a similar experiment with water, put one cup inside and one outside, see how long it takes to freeze.  Record your findings every 5 to 10 minutes. Again, have your child predict what they think will happen, then observe the results and record their answers.  
4. Ice and Salt: Clean out an empty milk container (or any freezable container) and cut it in half.  Fill it with water and put it outside to freeze.  Bring it in and dump the ice out of the milk container into a large bowl.  Give your child an eye dropper or paint brush and a cup of salty, salty water (or salt in a shaker) and as the put it on the ice, it will melt.  You can add food color to the water too. 
5. Rice- sensory play:  You can use rice, or beans in a tub with scoops, cups, etc for some great sensory play.  If you put a large sheet or towel down, it will contain the mess a bit. 
6. Salt trays:  Put a layer of table salt on a small cookie sheet and let your child draw pictures or alphabet letters with their fingers in the salt.  
7. Kitchen sink full of water:  Kids love water and one of the easiest ways (besides letting them play in the tub- maybe even in their bathing suit) is to fill the kitchen sink with soapy water and give them all kinds of plastic dishes to wash.  
8. Cars and or balls, with  tubes or ramps:  If you have an old cardboard tube from wrapping paper, carpet rolls, or a mailing tube, it makes a fun activity for kids.  If not, make a ramp with anything flat, and lean it against the couch or a chair.  Roll cars or a balls through the tube or down the ramp.  Try various heights, and again, let your child make predictions of what will happen.  You can even measure how far each item goes and record which goes farther.  Will a lower ramp make the ball roll farther or will a higher ramp work better.  Is it better on carpet or a tile floor.  Think of different ways to try it.  
9. Kids love forts:  Build a fort with couch cushions, or just throw a blanket over a table and kids love it.  
10. Make home made play dough: (our recipe is on this BLOG, just search play dough).  Fresh warm play dough is the best!  If you don't have cream of tarter, it will still work, or try a different recipe. Again, use fun kitchen utensils with the play dough.
11. Bake or cook:  Make some cookies, or some home made pizza
12. Kids love to dress up, get out some old clothes, hats, fabric, etc.
13. Check out this blog for a lot of the fun things we do at school that could work easily at home too.  You can search by typing in a topic or look at the labels on the side and find something that intrigues you.  

Good luck, spring is less than 2 months away!  

Snowman bulletin board

These adorable snowmen are made with a mixture of shaving cream and glue on a snowman shape.  The children then add pipe cleaners, raisins, buttons, ribbons, etc to decorate their snowman.  We have them on the bulletin board in the room and also up in the hall.  This is my kind of snow!  

Tacky the Penguin Bulletin Board

Tacky the Penguin

The children used dab a dot painters to paint white paper.  They cut out the rectangle shape and glued it onto a black background shape.  They then added the eyes and noses to make their penguin.  Such a cute bulletin board.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Willow Room- MWF class

We read "The Mitten" by Jan Brett

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

We painted with textured hand mitts,  and we had stencils, and colored pencils at the easel with stencils that are the letters A,B, C and pictures of things that start with those words.

We have a clothes line in the room with real mittens.  The children used clothespins to hang mittens form the clothes line.

Our sensory table has ice and shaving cream in it.  

We did "Teasing Mr Sun" , a snowman rhyme

We did "if you are happy and you know it", "Face the facts", and "I'm a little snowman" for music today.

Maple Room:  MWF class

We read "The mitten" by Jan Brett

We cut out mittens for our class book on mittens.
We had snowflake stencils at the easel with roller brushes.

We did letter K activities, and we talked about evaporation.

We did the January song, and we did the mitten song, using the parachute as a prop.

Oak Room: Pre- k class

We will act out the story of the Three bears.

We read "The quiet Quail"

We are learning about the letter Q and we worked in our journals on words and pictures that start with the letter Q.

We had a bear, house, and girl stampers at the easel and the children used them to do the story of the three bears.

We did "Teddy Bear, Teddy, Bear, Turn around", "Stick to the glue", And "Your face will surely show it" for music today.

Stay and Play:

"Little Fern's First Winter" by Jane Simmons

We did crayon rubbings on a snowflake, then painted over them with blue and purple water colors.

We did Mr Snowman needs....., Come and get a smiley face, and Pass the snowman....Brrrr

Trinity Preschool Activities for Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Willow Room- MWF class

We read "I love you blue kangaroo" by Emma Clark

We asked "Do you have the color blue on your clothes today?"

We used blue glue, and we pasted blue objects on the blue paper.

We used powdered paint with liquid dish soap and we painted using thin brushes.  We painted with the color blue.

We did "Tap your toe and follow me", "Over the deep blue sea" and "Hello everybody" for music today.

We hung mittens on a clothes line using clothes pins.

We had shaving cream and ice cubes in the sensory table.

We did a snowman rhyme about the snowmen teasing Mr. Sun.

Oak Room: Pre- K class

We read "The three bears" by Byron Barton and "Beware of the bears" by Alan Mac Donald

We rolled a tennis ball that was dipped in paint on a shape of a bear.

We did "One little bear went out to play" , "Herman the worm" and "Sticky Bubble Gum"

Trinity Preschool Activities for Friday, January 17, 2014

Willow Room- MWF class

We read "ABC Jamboree" by Giles Andrae
We asked "What is your favorite animal?

We painted using golf balls by rolling them around in a box.
At the easel, we painted ball shapes with rollers.

We did Button Factory. Hand dance and he more we get together for music today.

We did a Dear Old Frosty rhyme and built "Frosty the snowman as we did the rhyme"
We made a list of words that start with the letter B.

Oak Room- Pre- K class

We read "time to sleep" by Denise Fleming and "Bears in Bed" by Shirley

We wrote the children's name on a large piece of paper.  Then we squeezed glue on the outline of their name.  The children then added collage items to the glue to write out their name in sequins, pom poms, buttons, yarn, etc.

We did "I can dance" and "clap if you want to" for music time.

We did letter P words.

Maple Room: MWF class

We read "Sadie and the Snowman" by Allen Morgan

We cut out snowmen shapes for a "Big snow"picture.
We painted with different size brushes.

We did "The January song" and we did "The bear hunt" with instruments

We did Letter J activities.

We put out salt trays and the children wrote their names and other words and letters on the tray with their fingers.

Stay and Play:

We read "Snow Friends" by M. Christina Butler

We mixed powder paint with dish soap in small cups and painted pictures,  They combination of soap and paint, looks like oil paint.

We did "leaky umbrella" using maracas, and "underneath the broomstick" ( a Limbo dance)

We played the game Uno. 

Trinity Preschool Activities for Thursday, January 16, 2014

Maple Room- Thursday class

We read "Emma Kate" by Patricia Polacco

We wrote our names with our fingers on a tray covered in salt.  This is good for a few reasons, first, for children who have difficulty holding a pencil, this gives them the control to make the letters, and secondly, it is a sensory experience which helps the mind remember the shape of the letter.  Try it at home, just pour some salt onto a cookie sheet.

We played number "basketball", they had to find the number paper and scrunch it up and shoot it into the basket.  

We did "The January song, "Alphabet sounds", "The button factory", and "the Pirate song" for music.

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

We read "All you need for a snowman" by Alice Shertle

We asked "Are you wearing the color red today?"

We painted snowmen with a mixture of shaving cream and glue.  We piled the mixture onto a snowman shape and then the children added raisins, buttons, ribbon, etc. to decorate it.

At the easel we painted with red paint and red objects on shapes of things that would be red ( strawberries, apples, lady bugs, hearts, etc.)

We did a "5 little snowman rhyme", we did "I can make a snowman", "the snowflake song", and "everybody has a face" for music time.

Oak Room: Pre- K class

We read "The bears in the bed and the great big storm" by Paul Bright and Jane Chapman

We used thread spools and colorful paint to paint bright pictures.

At the easel we had spools that have wire handles through them so they roll, and we rolled them up and down on paper at the easel.

We did "Five bear cubs rhyme", "ZZZZZ! ZZZZ!, Snort", (we used rhythm sticks to tap out the words to the song, and we did "The tempo marches on" (we moved around the room tapping sticks to the song)

We asked the children "does your last name or yoru first name have hte letter P in it?

We took the children in small groups to another classroom to play BINGO Bears.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Willow Room: MWF class

We read "All you need for a snowman" by Alice Schertle

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

We painted snowman shapes with a mixture of shaving cream and glue and added pipe cleaners for arms, raisins for eyes, and ribbons and buttons for decorations.

We did "I can make a snowman" "Snowflake song" and "Everybody has a face" for music time.

We also did a 5 little snowman rhyme

Maple Room: MWF class

We read "Geraldine's Big Snow" by Holly Keller

We used thread spools dipped in white paint and then sprinkled silver glitter on top.  It looked like sparkly snow.

We had snowman shapes with paint at the easel with paint.

We did "The January song", "Toe, Leg, Knee", "White snowman" and"I'll be wearing" for music today.

We did letter V activities and played a "What letter is missing game"  (We put several letters out on the board like ABCDEFG, then take one away, and they children have to guess which one is gone.).

We had baking soda on a tray and the children used eye droppers to drip vinegar mixed with liquid water colors onto the baking soda.  It bubbles as a reaction between the vinegar and the baking soda.

Oak Room: Pre- K class

We read "Bear snores on" and Bear's New Friend" by K Wilson and J. Chapman We also read the letter P book.

We worked in our journal notebooks on words and pictures that start with the letter P.

We did Five finger play and Five smiles/frowns and some hibernation songs for music today.

Stay and Play:  

We read "Owl Moon" by Jane Yolan

We used the hand mitts that have different textures on the palm to paint with today.  They children wear the mitt and dap at the paper with their hands to make the print.

We did "Dear old Frosty", "Freeze Dance"and Stop and Go- and used bells for those and we did "Tommy Thumb" for music today.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Oak Room- 

We read "The hat" by Jan Brett

We drew a picture on black paper with white crayon.  The we brushed water with epsom salt in it all over the paper.  When it dries, it will have a sparkly look to it.  Like a snowy night.

We went on a bear hunt.

The children followed picture clues and foot prints to track down the bear.

Each child had a map like this with clues to look for on the bear hunt.  All around the building.

We found the bear hiding in our "cave" in our room and holding a special treat for us.

We did a "My kitten's mitten rhyme"

We talked about how a bear stores fat.  We did an experiment where we felt how cold ice cubes felt.  Then we held a plastic baggie that was filled with lard (fat) and put the ice cubes in our hands on top of the lard.  We could not feel the cold ice through the layer of fat.  The animals have a layer of fat to help protect them from the cold weather.

We have corn cobs ground up in our sensory table today.

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

"My crayon talks" by Patricia Hubbard was a story about colors that we read today.

We asked the children "What is your favorite color?

We finger painted using red paint.

We painted snowflakes at the easel using silver glitter paint.

We did "Come and join in the game" "Circle game" using colored circles and "Tommy Thumb" for music today.

We did a color mitten rhyme.
We made pretend snow using a powder mix you add water to and it poofs up into snow.  It is not cold, but it has a fun feel. We added penguins and polar bears to it too.

Please bring in small items to add to our color train- things that are red, but that you don't want back.  We will attach them to our color train we put in the hall.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Friday, January 10, 2014

Willow Room:  MWF class

We read "Alphabet Mystery" by Audrey Wood

We are beginning to learn more about letters and today we started with the letter A.  We asked the children "Do you have the letter A in your name?"  We graphed the results. We talk about the sound the letter makes, and we looked at items that start with the letter sound. 
We will make a picture chart of things that start with the letter A, please bring in small pictures of things that start with the letter A for our chart.

We did a group art project, we had a large sheet of paper and letter stampers.  We also thought of words and used the letter stampers to create words on the paper.  

We used dot painters to make designs on paper at the easel.

We made a real snowman in our classroom!  We dressed him with a scarf and hat and gave him a carrot nose. We watched him all morning to see what would happen. (pictures posted on Trinity preschool mount prospect on face book).

We also brought snow in from outside and dripped water colors with eye droppers to make rainbow snow.

Oak Room: Pre- K class

We read Snowmen all year" by Caralyn Buehner

The children cut circles out of white paper and glued them onto a dark blue paper.  Then the children used markers to add details to the snowmen pictures.  When they were all done, they used a q-tip dipped in white paint to draw snow around their snowmen.  

We did 5 little snowmen rhyme, some hibernation rhymes, and tap your toe and follow me for music time today.

We continued to learn about the letter O.

we brought in dolls to our dramatic corner and doll accessories.  They children loved acting out taking care of the babies.

Maple Room: MWF class

We read "Tacky the Penguin" by Helen Lester

We did a cutting project and used dab a dot painters to paint on it.  We will turn them into penguins.
We had snow flake stencils at the easel with roller painters.

We had ice blocks and water colors with eye droppers to drip paint onto the ice blocks.

We had packing peanuts in our sensory table (looks like snow) and we had matching pairs of mittens (paper ones).  The children would find the pairs and use clothes pins to attach them to a clothesline. Great fine motor fun as well as matching fun.

We did letter I activities, acted out a 5 little penguins rhyme and played a winter version of "What's missing?"

We did The January song, Winter song, 5 little snowmen teasing Mr. Sun  for music today.  

Stay and Play:  

We read "Danny's first snow" by Leonid Gore

We strung packing peanuts onto pipe cleaners to make a snow flake.

We did "I can dance" and "opposites" for music time.

The children did some amazing block building creations today, and enjoyed they pizza shop in our dramatic corner.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Monday, January 13, 2014

Oak Room: Pre K class

We read "The Mitten" by Jan Brett and we talked more about hibernation.


We used eye droppers to drip paint onto a mitten shape, the we placed the matching mitten on top and rubbed over the paper. When we opened them up, they made a matching pair.

We have a tent set up in the room like a cave for the animals to hibernate in. We cut out bear foot prints and taped them to the floor leading to the cave.

We brushed water colors on top of ice chunks.

We did "Come and get a mitten", "The mitten song" and "Cat lost a mitten" for music today.

Willow Room: MWF class:

We read "Ice cream Bear" by Jez Alborough

We talked about flavors of ice cream.

We used the back massage rollers with white tempra paint on black construction paper.  It looks like snow at night.

We painted snowflakes at the easel, we used white paint mixed with epsom salts, it makes the paint glisten.

We made pretend snow using the special powder that you add water to and it poofs up into a snow like look, but it is not cold.  We added confetti snowflakes to it too.

We talked about our letter A chart and we thought of words together that start with the letter A.  

We did "the Sammy song", "Tommy Thumb", and "circle Game song" for music today

Maple Room: MWF class: 

We read "The snowy day" by Ezra Jack Keats
We did ice cube painting, with frozen watercolors 

We had snow lfake shape paper with blue, purple and silver glitter paint at the easel.

We did letter J activities, we played a roll a snowman dice game ( the children roll the dice and add to the snowman the part that matches the number on the dice), 

We did a mitten matching activity with the paper mittens in the sensory table.

We did "The January song", "Pass the snow ball", "R-O-L-L-O, the snowman", and "5 little snowmen" for music today.

Stay and Play:
A perfect snowman By Preston Mc Daniels

Roll painting, we painted on a clear tennis ball canister and rolled it on paper to make prints.

We did "Dear old Frosty", "Come and get a smiley face", "The freeze dance" using hand bells "Tommy Thumb" "R-O-L-L-O  the snowman"

Trinity Preschool Activities for Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Welcome back- we have missed having everyone at school and this cold, cold weather has not even allowed for the kids to get out and have fun in all of the snow we have gotten.  We bring snow inside for the children to explore in our sensory tubs!  That is a great way to have fun with snow without getting so cold.

Willow Room- MWF class:

We read "The Hat" by Jan Brett
We asked the children "What color hat did you wear to school today?"

We glued yarn, fabric and pom poms on to a hat shape.
We colored with chalk on blue paper at the easel.

We did "I like my hat", "Couch Potato Pokey" and "Finger Poppin" for music today

We did a felt rhyme "My kitten's mittens".

We played with real snow in our sensory table and wore mittens.

Our dramatic corner is now a grocery store.

Oak Room- Pre- K class

We read "A little bit of winter" by Paul Stewart and "What do you remember" also by Paul Stewart

We worked on the letter O in our journals.  At the easel, we are painting paper plates brown to make bears for our bulletin board of bears hibernating.

We did "going on a bear hunt", "animal action", and "dog in school" for music today.

We are beginning to learn about hibernation .  We did our letter O word chart and we looked at items in our mystery bag that start with the letter O.

Maple Room: MWF class

We read "Diamond in the snow" by Jonathon Emmett

We did "icicle painting, we had slanted easels and traced our hands to make trees.  Then we dripped pale blue paint down the paper, like icicles on our trees.

We had water colors at the easel.

We did "Sticky bubble gum", "snowman, snowman", "Tap your toe and follow me", "The January song", and "Little Fish" for music today.

We did letter I activities.  

Our dramatic corner is now a pizza shop.

We brought snow into the classroom to play with it.

Stay and Play:

We read "Katy and the big snow" by Virginia Lee Burton

We drew with white crayons inside a snowflake stencil on white paper.  The we brushed blue glitter water colors over the top. The crayon shows up as it resists the water colors.

We did a rhyming song card sing a long, and we did the song B-O-O-T-S.

We had clay instead of play dough.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Thursday, January 9, 2014

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

We read "The hat" by Jan Brett

We asked the children "What color hat did you wear to school today?"

We glued fabric, yarn and pom poms to a hat shape.  We colored with chalk on blue paper at the easel.

We did "I like my hat", "Couch potato pokey" and "Finger Poppin" for music today.

We did a flannel board rhyme called "My kitten's mitten

We played with real snow in our sensory table -we wore mittens.

Our dramatic corner is now set up as a grocery store.

Oak Room- Pre- k class

We are learning about hibernation and having fun with bears.  We read "Tracks in the snow" , "Big Tracks, Little Tracks" and the letter O book.

We cut out cave shapes and glued them onto a piece of paper.  Then we took animal foot print stampers and stamped them on the paper.  We added some cotton for snow.

We put some snow in a cup and watched how long it took to melt and how much water was left in the cup when it melted.  

We dripped water colors into a tub of snow. 

We did "Dancing scarves blues" (using scarves) and we did some hibernation rhymes.

Maple Room- Thursday class

We read "Snow Friends" by Christina Butler and Tina Mac Naughton

We practiced writing our first and last names.  We had a snowball throwing contest- which one goes the farthest?  ping pong ball, cotton ball, real snow, sponge ball?  

We did "The January song, There is a dog in school, Twinkle twinkle little star, Little fish, and Sticky bubble gum.