Trinity Preschool Activities for Friday, October 11, 2013

Oak Room: 5 day pre-k class

We read "The growing story" by Ruth Krauss

We did a page in our "all about me book"  We did the favorite color page, the children drew a picture in their favorite color crayon.

We did "Spaghetti legs" and we played a letter matching game, upper case and lower case letters, the children come up and press a buzzer after they find the match.

We asked the children "What words start with the letter "E"? As they thought of words, we add them to the list.  

We did an experiment with color today.  You draw with a black marker on a white paper towel and then brush it with water and let it sit.  The colors that are in black will separate out.  Each child got to try it.

Maple Room:  MWF class

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

We used eye droppers to put water colors onto paper towels.  We had leaf shapes at the easel with paint.

We have a large puppet of "The old lady who swallowed..." and we have props she eats, we used this today.
We did "the October song", "5 little pumpkins smiling at me", "Ten in the bed", and "Tommy Thumb" for music time.

We played a color memory game, which color is missing?  

Willow Room- MWF class

We read "No sleep for sheep" by Karen Beaumont.  We talked about what we knew about farm animals.

We painted with corn cobs.  We had painting with brushes at the easel. 

We did an apple rhyme "Tasty colored apples"

We did "Over the deep blue sea", "Everybody has a face", and "Tommy Thumb" for music. 

Stay & Play:  

We read "Grizzwold" by Syd Hoff

We mixed cornstarch, powder paint and vinegar and used the substance to paint our pictures.

We got a race track out and built it with the kids, they had fun making the cars go fast.

We did "We are the dinosaurs", we move to the music with maracas pretending to be dinosaurs.  We also did a ladybug color rhyme.

Color experiment in pre-k class

We did a great color science experiment with cups, paper towels, and food color. It is fun to see how the colors and water travel from one cup to the other.

Take 3 cups and put paper towel linking one to the other.  Add blue in one cup and yellow in the second cup.  The middle cup has no water and no color added.  The color will seep up and fill the middle cup. 

Looks like orange, but it is yellow food color. 

You can see the blue and yellow traveling up the paper towel toward the middle cup, this takes time.

closer view

closer view

You can see the green in the middle cup.  It started out with no water in it either, just dry paper towel.

another look at the middle cup with the new color

The water in all three cups is at the same level and the middle cup now has combined color.

We decided to add some new cups to see what would happen.

Another view of the additional cups.

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

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, October 12, 2011

We had fun watching the leave float to the ground today and to hear them crunch under our feet. We ran and slid on the slide too.

Stay & Play:

We read "I love you, Blue Kangaroo!" by Emma Chichester Clark

For art we wet paper with a sponger and then drew on it with chalk.

We sang along with the "Little Bunny Foo Foo " Book

We had out dry erase boards with markers - the children could draw or write and then erase it.

Willow Room: MWF class

We asked the children "Do you like apple pie?" We read Apple Farmer Annie" by Monica Wellington

Creative art- we used fun foam paint brushes in unusual shapes to paint our pictures today. We used fall colors of paint.

We had watercolors at the easel.

We sang 5 little apples
And we danced to the song "List of dances" by Jim Gill

We baked our own individual apple tarts today and had them with our snack.

Maple Room:

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

We made leaf prints- we painted on real leaves with watercolors and made a print of the design.

We used the letter "A" stampers with paint at the easel.

For music we did our October song, 5 little pumpkins on a gate, 5 little pumpkins, Ready, set, dance, Alphabet forwards and backwards.

We played a number recognition game of which number is missing 1-6
We did letter A activities

Oak Room- Pre- K class

We read the book "Even more parts" by Tedd ARnold

We worked in our journals, we wrote words that start with the letter E and drew pictures too.

For music time, we did an activity song, "Come and get a smiley face", "When I was a little fish", and "Hands are for clapping"

We did a science experiment today: Making markers bleed different colors with water. Did you know that colors are made up of different colors? Take a Black marker and put a mark on a paper towel, add some water and see which colors "bleed" out of it. Do the same with a green marker- what colors "Bleed " from it? We have the results hanging in the hall.
Try it at home with other markers.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Friday, May 13, 2011

We have had a couple of warm days and today started out nice and warm, but the temperatures dropped about 10:00 a.m. so it was a little cool on the playground. The children ran around and had fun anyway.

BLOG INFORMATION: They had trouble with the BLOG site on Thursday, so I didn't get to write about Thursday's activities, I am going to skip to Friday.

Willow Room: MWF class:

We read the story "The Rainbow Fish" by Marcus Pfister. We talked about the letter "V" and asked if anyone has a "V" in their name? Three children do!

For art today, we made "mini oceans". We added blue hair gel to a baggie, then put in some little plastic fish and glitter. We taped it shut and it was our pretend ocean.

You can also make an ocean in a bottle. Add some water, blue food color and some mineral oil. Tape the top on tight, (Or glue it one) and when you tip the bottle back and forth it will look like waves in an ocean. The oil and water don't mix.

We planted our Radish seeds today. We gave our grassy heads haircuts.

We did a lady bug rhyme and color song for music today.

Maple Room: MWF

We read "The Tiny Seed" by Eric Carle

We planted grass today and the children love doing science experiments, so when they ask questions, or wonder about something, we try to jump on that "teachable moment" to follow up. Today, we put dirt, grass seed and water in a cup and put in on a sunny window sill to grow. One of the children asked what would happen if we put it int he dark, another asked what if we didn't give it any water, and another child asked what if we gave it sugar water. So we made three more cups of grass seed.
1. Dirt, grass seed, water, and put in the dark cabinet.
2. Dirt, grass seed, NO Water, and put it on the window sill
3. Dirt, Grass seed, and sugar water and put it on the window sill.
We will see what happens!

If your child asks a question like "What if..., what will happen....etc. See if you can do an experiment to find out. Good science words. PREDICT, OBSERVE, RECORD RESULTS, TALK ABOUT RESULTS.

We had tulip shape stencils and rollers at the easel.

We had soapy water in the water table with cups, water wheels, sieves, and scoops.

We played a small group game using numbers.

We practiced writing the letter Z and words the children thought of that start with the start with the letter Z, zoo, zebra, zipper, zucchini.

We sang The May song, Sticky Bubble Gum, and Bumble bee

Oak Room:

We read "Clifford's Spring Clean up and Clifford and the Grouchy Neighbors both by Norman Bridwell.

We painted with dish pot scrubber. We love to paint with unusual objects.

We had out a patterning board game, and a some nursery rhyme sequencing cards. They had to put the cards in the correct order.

We did "Ready set, let's dance", (do the swim, the pony, twist) and a circus balloon's
color rhyme- each child will brought one balloon up the board for the clown.