September 30/October 1, 2015 Wednesday/Thursday

Below are some photos from Thursday's class.  (I wanted them at the end of the blog but this is where they appeared.)  Wednesday's pictures are at the end of the blog.  Technology is a challenge for me!:)

It is starting to feel like fall!

Please know that we will be going outside to the play yard until it turns REALLY cold!  Dress your children appropriately!

Choice Time:  On Wednesday, it was picture day and we stayed inside.  The three choices for the children were:  tabletop easels, play dough, and a game called "Jump the River."  On Thursday, we went outside.

Circle Time:  We read the story "The Very Lazy Ladybug."  In this story a ladybug was so lazy that it wouldn't learn how to fly.  When it wanted to move from place to place, it had to catch a ride from someone else.  Ask you child to name some of the animals that gave the ladybug a ride.  (kangaroo, tiger, bear, alligator, monkey, turtle, and elephant.)  When the ladybug got a ride from the elephant towards the end of the story, it just so happened that the elephant sneezed and that caused the ladybug to have to finally learn to fly!

Snack Time:  On Wednesday, Ellie brought goldfish and apple juice for snack.  Thank you Ellie! On Thursday, Huey brought goldfish and apple juice.  Thank you Huey!

Choice Time:  All of the centers were open to play.  On Wednesday, no painting because of picture day.

Also on Wednesday, Sahasra's mother, Maheswari,  was our classroom volunteer.  Thank you Maheswari!  On Thursday, Mason's mother, Nicole helped us at the end of our day.  Thank you Nicole!

Below are some of the toys and things the Wednesday class played with. 

 

September 28/29, 2015 Monday/Tuesday

Here is what we did today:

Choice Time:  We went outside for Choice Time on Monday.  On Tuesday, it rained and we stayed inside.  Our three choices on Tuesday were tabletop easels, play dough, and a game called, "Jump the River."

On Tuesday, we did School Pictures during Choice Time. 

Circle Time:  We passed around two cicadas for the children to see.  The cicadas were dead so we could actually hold them and look closely at their wings and eyes and everything.  They are sort of creepy bugs to look at so not everyone wanted to participate.:)

We also read the story "Ten Little Ladybugs."  This was a simple story that the children enjoyed and it allowed them to read and count along together as well.

Snack Time:  On Monday, Colin brought Teddy Grahams and Apple Juice.  Thank you Colin!  On Tuesday,  Holden brought Chex Mix and Chocolate Milk.  Thank you Holden!

Center Time:  All of the centers were open and there was painting available at the easel.  (No painting on Tuesday due to Picture Day.)

On Monday, Sahasra's mother, Maheswari was our volunteer helper.  Thank you Maheswari!  On Tuesday, Mason's mother, Nicole was our volunteer helper.  Thank you Nicole!

Have a great day!  We hope to see everyone at the Open House on Tuesday!

Enjoy the pictures of the cicadas below!

September 23/24, 2015 Wednesday/Thursday

Here is what we did today:

Choice Time:  We went outside for choice time.

Circle Time:  We read the story, "Butterfly, Butterfly" by Petr Horacek.  In the story, a girl named Lucy saw a beautiful butterfly.  She played with it, and chased it all around the garden until it flew away.  Lucy then went on a butterfly hunt.  She saw many, many things and finally in the end, she saw the butterfly again.  You can ask your children to name some of the things Lucy saw:  earthworm, spider, green beetle, ladybugs, snail, caterpillars, dragonfly, and a bee.

Also, on Wednesday, we were able to see a Monarch butterfly that hatched out of it's cocoon.  The butterfly belonged to the 4-year old class and they let it go on Wednesday.  So, Thursday class, please show your children a picture of the Monarch below or go on a Monarch hunt with them.  I can't guarantee I will have a real one to show them at school!

Snack Time:  On Wednesday, Aubrey brought apples and milk.  Thank you Aubrey!  On Thursday, Gus brought bananas and chocolate milk.  Thanks Gus!

Center Time:  All of the centers were open and there was painting at the easels.

Below are two pictures.  One is of the Monarch that emerged from the cocoon and was released on Wednesday.  The other one is of the pop-up butterfly from our book.

September 21/22, 2015 Monday/Tuesday

Here is what we did:

On Tuesday, we had a fire drill.  We learned how to line up under the exit sign, follow the teacher in a line to the safe spot in the parking lot, and then wait for the teacher to count everyone to be sure everyone made it out safely.  (We will practice this with the M/W class next month.)

Choice Time:  We went outside for choice time.

Circle Time:  We read the story, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar."  This was an Eric Carle book that started with an egg, that hatched into a caterpillar, that ate a lot of food, that spun a cocoon, that tuned into a beautiful butterfly.  Some questions to ask your child:  what foods did the caterpillar eat?  (apple, pears, plums, strawberries, oranges, chocolate cake, ice cream, pickle, Swiss cheese, salami, lollipop, cherry pie, sausage, cupcake, and watermelon and finally a leaf.)  and also, what did the caterpillar do after eating all of the food?  (spin a cocoon) and finally, what did the caterpillar turn into  after he spun the cocoon?  (a butterfly).

We also were able to view a real cocoon today.  The real cocoon was green.  The one in the story was brown. 

 Snack Time:  Angel brought bananas, goldfish, and juice for snack.  Thank you Angel!  Cael brought cheese, crackers and juice for snack on Tuesday.  Thank you Cael!

Center Time:  All of the centers were open and there was painting at the easel. 

Below is a picture of the cocoon we looked at today.

Enjoy the beautiful day!

September 16/17, 2015 Wednesday/Thursday

It was another busy day!


Here is what we did:

Choice Time:  We went outside for Choice Time.  We discovered that buckeyes roll just as well as the wooden balls down the pvc ramp.  (And the teachers don't care if we lose a few buckeyes:)

Circle Time:  We passed a bucket of acorns and a bucket of buckeyes around the circle for the children to look at. We read the story, "Busy Squirrels" by Melvin and Gilda Berger. After we read the story, we answered the following questions:  What do squirrels drink?  What do squirrels eat?  Why do squirrels hide nuts?  When do squirrels find nuts?  How do squirrels keep warm?  You should ask your children these same questions.  See what they learned in school!

Snack Time:  On Wednesday, Andon brought cheese sticks and juice.  Thank you Andon!  On Thursday, Brogan brought juice and cheese for snack.  Thank you Brogan!

Center Time:  All of the centers were open and painting was available at the easel!

Have a great day!

September 14/15, 2015 Monday/Tuesday

We are busy at preschool!

Here is what we did today:

Choice Time:  We went outside to play.  While we were out there, we saw some spiders.  They had been very busy spinning their webs.

Circle Time:  We passed around 2 bug catchers with spiders in them for the children to look at closely.  We read the story, "The Very Busy Spider."  This story was about a spider who spun her web on a farm.  While she was busy spinning, several animals tried to get her to play with them.  She did not stop spinning until she was done with her web.  After that, she caught a fly and fell asleep.  This story had several repeating phrases.  The students were able to guess the words that came next and several of them thought they could actually "read" the book themselves after we were done.

Snack Time:  On Monday, Addison brought goldfish and juice.  Thank you Addison!  On Tuesday, Ben brought veggie stix and juice.  Thanks Ben!

Circle Time:  All of the centers were open and there was painting at the easels.

Here are the bug catchers we looked at with the spiders in them:

Here are some paintings done by both the M/W class and the T/R class-masterpieces!

September 9/10, 2015 Wednesday and Thursday

Our first Cooking Day/Birthday Day!

Here is what we did:

Choice Time:  On Wednesday and Thursday, we went outside to play for Choice Time.  There was water in the pumping stations.  There was sand in the sand tables.  Many of the children enjoyed the pvc pipe marble run.

Circle Time:  We read the story, "I Am Helping."  It was Little Critter Story by Mercer Mayer. We read it 2 times.  The first time we simply read it.  The second time we tried to focus on the pictures on each page in order to find the little mouse.   We also did some counting and some singing before we got ready for snack.

Snack Time:  We peeled our own bananas and drank milk for snack.  We sang Happy Birthday to Paxton on Wednesday and Topher and Gus on Thursday and watched them blow out their candles.  Everyone got a brownie.

Center Time:  All of the centers were open and there was painting available at the easels.

It was another great day at preschool!

Below are pictures of some of the toys that several of the children played with on Wednesday during Center Time.  (I did not rearrange any of the toys.  The children lined them up and stacked them up as they appear in the pictures.)  On Thursday I forgot and left my phone at home so sorry about that.

September 8, 2015 Tuesday

 Above are a few pictures of some toys that the children played with on Tuesday.  As you can see, they were very busy!


Welcome back to preschool!  We hope everyone had a great Labor Day Weekend!

Here is what we did today:

Choice Time:  Because it was raining outside, we stayed inside for Choice Time.  3 activities were offered:  musical instruments, tabletop easels with markers, and magnets.

Circle Time:  We read the book "I Love School!"  This book highlighted some of the many toys and activities that children love at school - blocks, dolls, art, outside time, counting, music and snack to name a few.  Ask your child what things they love to do at school!  After our story we did some counting.  Addelyn was our helper and she helped us count 5 butterflies into our counting container.

Snack Time:  Addelyn brought peanut buttter and crackers and chocolate milk for snack.  Thank you Addelyn!

Center Time:  All of the centers were open and there was painting at the easels.

It was a great day!

September 2/3, 2015 Wednesday/Thursday

Today your children went to their first day of preschool by themselves!

Here is what they did:

Choice Time:  The children played outside today.  There was water in the pumping stations. There were 2 sand tables.  And there were many other outdoor toys for the children to play with.

Circle Time:  We sang "Rise and Shine."  We danced to the song "Stop and Go!"  and we read the story, "Hands Can."  This book had beautiful pictures of young children doing things with their hands.  The opening picture was waving hello and the ending picture was waving goodbye.

Snack Time:  We had graham crackers and juice provided by the preschool.  We learned how to wait at the table to be excused.  And we also learned how to get up from the table, push our chairs in, throw our napkin in the garbage, and put our cups in the black tub.

Center Time:  The painting easels were open at the art table along with all of the other center toys.

Have a great weekend and see you all next week!