The last day is always bittersweet for me. I am excited about the summer and time with the family but I am also going to miss these sweet faces each week. We have all grown so much this year. We have learned to identify some letters. Some of us get super excited every time we spot our first initial, or those of our classmates, in environmental print. We can count and sort, make simple patterns, and arrange objects in size order. We have come leaps and bounds with our fine motor skills, cutting, lacing, and holding a pencil or paintbrush. We have learned to be independent with simple tasks such as using the bathroom, washing our hands, opening our lunch, and cleaning up after ourselves. We have learned to play with others, imagine, role play, and grew real friendships. I would say that is a successful year. Our family picnic was a lot of fun as well. Thank you all for coming and making this day so special for your child. The children enjoyed this family time very much. Thank you for the blessing of another year of teaching. Enjoy a relaxing summer and lots of family time. These years go by so quickly. Step back and enjoy them to the fullest! God Bless you all.
We were blessed with the most perfect day for all of our outdoor adventures. We were able to enjoy nature, explore the outdoors, read with flashlights in the dark, and play in a campground! Our first stop was reading in the dark. We enjoyed a story around a campfire, used flashlights in the tents to read, and listened to the insects chirping in the backround. Next we headed out doors. We went over to the meditation garden and enjoyed a nature hike. We were on the look out for different plants, insects, and birds. We were excited to spot some deer scat, a couple of beautiful butterflies, and some very busy bees! After our nature hike we stopped off at the playground. There were several sensory tubs for us to explore. Both a mix of wet and dry ones. We enjoyed a lovely snack of trail mix under the shade of the trees. After a little playground time and our last music class of the year we were back at it exploring a room full of rocks! We painted rocks with water, weighed rooks, and found our initials on rocks. Our day ended with a trip to the campsite. We played a little dress up, built a campfire, made pretend smores, and checked out the tents. These little campers should sleep well tonight!
I can't believe our last day is Friday. Information about our school wide family picnic went home in the totes today. Park over by the playground for easy access to the picnic site. Wow! Your little superheroes are going to sleep well tonight (so will I)! We had the best time trying all the superhero activities the other three year old teachers had set up for us today. We enjoyed exploring new rooms and attempting various feats of strength. After spending some time in our own room and enjoying snack together, we headed over to the Amigo room where we climbed through tunnels, leaped small buildings in a single bound, and decorated some popsicle stick superheroes. Our next stop was the Frog room. We enjoyed a superhero story, made some Hulk Slime, and went on a hero scavenger hunt. We must have been really busy because I only caught two pictures while we were there. On to the Racecar room! We enjoyed several stories, played with superheroes in the sensory tub and block area, crawled through caves, and scooted around following various paths to the different adventures. Great day had by all! I am still trying to wrap my brain around next week being the end of our time together. We have learned so much this year. I couldn't be more proud to have witnessed the growth in each of these owls. It is a real privilege to have worked with your families. We will celebrate on Wednesday with Camping Day. We will be spending some time outdoors so be prepared with bug spray and sun screen. We plan on taking a nature walk, visiting a campsite, reading in the dark with flashlights, making trail mix, and creating some natural art projects. See you then!
We had the best time playing together today. Our room was full of superhero games and of course the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Pizza Parlor. There were capes to dress up with, pizza toppings to sort, a variety of books to share, and several superhero learning activities. I was super impressed to see this one friend, who had accidentally dumped over the tray of pizza toppings, sit down and painstakingly sort peppers, mushrooms, and pepperoni into the proper spot on the tray all on his own. For art we made superhero masks that will dry and be used for play on Friday as well as some Spider Man inspired weblike marble paintings. We even tried our hand at "sewing" or lacing our initials. This is a tricky fine motor activity. With some guidance most of the children were successful. Friday will be our 3 year old classes' celebration of superheroes! We will be rotating from room to room, checking out where we might be next year and exploring a host of superhero activities. Come dressed as your favorite hero/princess and be ready for the fun! Wear sunscreen and bug spray if the weather looks like it might cooperate. Lunch is not provided so be sure to pack one for your little hero as usual. See you then!
The days and weeks are flying by! Hard to believe we only have two weeks left together. Today we continued our bird study, painted masterpieces, and strung some Cheerio bird feeders for your yard. The little owl counters became a fascination of a few children today. At first children were stacking them in equal rows. Then one child decided to see how high he could stack them. Pretty soon other children became interested in helping steady the growing tower. Then it got to the point that the builder couldn't reach the top of his tower. I stepped back to see how they would resolve the problem by themselves. One child suggested using the chair to reach. Another suggested the table. Of course the table is a more exciting method. So the table it was. He climbed up carefully and was overjoyed at the tall owl tower he was able to complete. Love how these students were able to cooperatively problem solve! That seed we scattered outside our door was discovered by a pair of cardinals nesting in the garden. They were so much fun to watch coming and going all morning. Today we read a story called "Little Green". It is about a boy who watched a humming bird outside his window and painted strokes similar to the birds movements. We enjoyed the story so much we decided to try a similar painting. We put on some instrumental music and broke out all kinds of colored paints and silently painted what we heard. This was so much fun most of the children painted multiple paintings and did a fantastic job. This is something we never could have attempted at the beginning of the year but as we have grown so has our attention span and interest in painting. Bravo little artists! Our morning concluded with some homemade bird feeders. It was funny to see the kids eat more Cheerios than they strung! Enjoy your weekend! Happy Mother's Day!
Next week is Superhero Week! Feel free to dress in superhero/princess costumes or t-shirts both days. I will have a class supply of superhero capes to share. We will have a special rotation on Friday where we will visit the other three's rooms and check out their superhero activities. Our dramatic play area will also double as a pizza parlor all week. Pizza is the food of choice of my favorite heroes, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! See you next week! This morning we learned all about birds! We enjoyed counting birds and sorting them by color. We also built birds nests with blocks, enjoyed painting bird houses, and laced feathers with beads. At one point we had a bit of a spill from the sensory tub. This week it is full of bird seed. So we swept up the spill and scattered the seeds outside our door. We are hoping to attract a few birds to watch up close. We checked the window all day but the birds hadn't discovered the seed yet. Hopefully they will be around on Friday. During our circle time we played a special game. I had a mystery bag full of birds. Some even had a chip inside that when squeezed chirped. We matched our stuffed birds with pictures of the real deal. We discussed how even though they are all birds they have differences. Just like us. God made birds unique too! We then dumped out the building blocks and got busy building nests for our birds to rest in. We also spent some time painting very special bird houses too. Once these are dry they will be sent home. The children took great care in choosing colors and meticulously painting every inch and even the inside in some cases. I am so proud of their hard work. We finished our day with a quick little lacing activity. We work so hard of fine motor skills all year. This task would have been pretty tricky for some at the beginning of the year but at this point we are all experts! Today we used feathers instead of string to lace with beads. What a fun little twist!
More bird activities planned for Friday. Looking forward to seeing you then! We were bug hunters today! We started out with some pretend bugs in the morning and then after lunch we set out in the garden hunting for roly-poly bugs. In between we visited the Art Museum, made some gorgeous paint splattered butterflies and worked on our scissor skills. We found all kinds of insects. Everything from butterflies, ants, and ladybugs to roaches! On our way back to class we stopped by the Art Museum to admire all the wonderful work. We have some pretty talented students at Oak Hills Preschool! Back in our room we were inspired to make some one of a kind butterflies. Our time together concluded with a bug hunt in the garden for roly-poly bugs. We turned over rocks and poked in the mulch to find these friendly garden dwellers. Each child had a little box to take their insect home and place him in their own garden. Next week we will be learning about birds. Perhaps we will take a nature walk and see if we can spot some of the birds found on campus. Until then, enjoy your weekend and thank you all for the generous gifts and sweet words this week. You sure know how to make a teacher feel loved!
Our room was a "buzz" with fun today! We explored many different types of insects. Although not a bug, I brought in earthworms to explore as well. Some of my young friends were less than thrilled about touching worms but by the end of the morning most were helping find new homes in our garden for our wiggly new friends. For art, we painted with rubber worms. This was a nice introduction to the real deal. We dipped our "worms" in paint and made worm trails all over our papers. Next, we had a discussion about how we were going to meet real worms. Worms are nothing to be afraid of...no teeth to bite us, no feet to scratch us with and they move pretty slow. We also discussed how they are God's creatures and we need to handle them with care and respect. We wanted to be careful not to scare or harm the worms. Some of the children were determined not to touch a worm. I assured them looking was just fine. No one had to touch. Now I couldn't exactly expect the children to touch a worm if I wasn't willing to could I. So I dug in to the container and pulled worm after worm out for the children to visit with. Overheard today... "I'm not touching a worm!" "Eww, he's cold and squishy." "Look, he's my friend." "Oh, it tickles!" "Look! He's running away!" "Awe, he is a cute little guy." "I wonder how old he is." "Mine is trying to climb out!" "His name is Wormy." "Which side is his head?" This wonderful exploration lasted a good half hour. Lots of giggles, squeals, and bravery. After lunch we went out to the garden and found these worms a more permanent home. And they deserve some peace after putting up with all of our poking and prodding. Looking forward to some more fun Friday. Don't forget to wear your school t-shirts.
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Why Blog?Here you will find little snippets of our days together. When my children were in preschool and would come home I would always ask, "So, what did you do today?". All they ever said was, "Played." That didn't tell me much. I hope this blog will be a place to share what we have done and help you ask more directed questions of your child. You will see first hand just what we do after you kiss your little one goodbye in the morning. It will also be a great place to visit and see just how much your child has grown and learned throughout the year. Archives
May 2023
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