Back in the room we enjoyed some center time.
Our day was anything but ordinary! We began with a parade and ended with a party. We managed to squeeze some science, art, and play dough time in between. We also had our first visit to the indoor playground. After scrolling through today's pictures I realized I only got 4 from the parade! I think the girls did a wonderful job for their first parade. They all looked adorable! Back in the room we enjoyed some center time. With the playground being so wet after the rain we decided to use the indoor playground. The girls loved climbing up the structure and exploring creative ways to side down. After some play time we returned to the room for a science experiment. We filled a large clear plastic tub with water and experimented with sinking and floating. We were amazed time and time again at how our predictions were often not correct. We were particularly impressed that the heavy pumpkin floated and the very light paperclip sank. For art we painted pumpkins with fun spiky ball rings. They made wonderful textured imprints. Some play dough time! We finished with a little fall party. A huge thank you to our party hosts. The craft, lunch and unique dessert were so much fun and the girls really enjoyed having their mom's join us. Thank you all! Thank you for all the effort that went in to costumes, parade treats, and our first party. It made for a memorable day for the girls. I hope you all have fun this weekend. I am looking forward to next week. We will be studying Owls and I have a very special science project planned for Friday. It's going to be another exciting week.
Today seemed like a whirlwind! We had so much going on. Before we even made it our our room this morning we stopped for individual photos and a class picture. I can't wait to see the proofs. Once we made it to the room we washed hands and got straight to business with a bunch of new pumpkin themed centers. Our favorite had to be hammering golf tees into a real pumpkin. Our playground time was very special today. The church was having a new air conditioning unit delivered and while we were outside we had the opportunity to see them set up for the big installation. The crane was huge and seemed to keep growing. Ms. Amanda was on the playground when the unit was lifted and shared a few photos with us. Back inside we decorated our treat bags for Friday's Fall Parade. We also took turns painting pumpkins on the easel. Our morning came to an end with some scissor work. All of our fine motor activities are helping build our hand strength. These scissors can be tricky for little hands to open. Several friends are still putting their scissors down in between cuts to open them for the next cut. As our hands grow and our strength is developed this will become a much easier task. Friday will be another busy one! Please drop your daughter off as usual in car line, fully dressed in her parade costume. You can then park and make your way to the second level where the parade will take place beginning at 9am. Parents will be seated along the perimeter and the students will parade around for all to see. Feel free to bring a treat to drop in the children's bags as they pass. I will either give you their treat bags at the end of the parade or put them in their totes. The treats are for home.
The girls are welcome to wear their costume all day as long as they can manage the bathroom on their own. If you prefer to change them into play clothes you're welcome to stop by the room for a quick change after the parade. We will still be having Motor Skills so make sure to have sneakers. Our party will begin around 11:55, once we are finished with Motor Skills. A lunch of fruit and bean and cheese tacos plus a special dessert/craft will be provided by our hosts. You are all welcome to join us at noon in our room. Otherwise pick up will still be the same at 12:30pm. Please reach out with any questions. The girls had a fun filled morning. We enjoyed center time, several stories, monster art, Chapel Time, and a cool science experiment. The playground again provided so many opportunities for us to hone our gross motor skills. Back inside we were busy making Symmetry Monsters. We squeezed paint on one half of a sheet of paper then folded it and pressed the two sides together. When we opened it we discovered a beautiful design. Both sides were mirror images and symmetrical. We added as many wiggly eyes as wanted to complete the Symmetry Monster. Once we cleaned up the paint, we moved right into science. Today we blew up balloons using a chemical reaction. The children each filled a balloon with some baking soda. We then poured some vinegar into a large, clear plastic bottle. We stretched the balloon over the bottle opening and held the balloon upright, pouring the baking soda into the bottle. The chemical reaction of the baking soda and vinegar was instant and exciting to see in the clear bottle. As the bubbles caused by the reaction popped, the carbon dioxide released was trapped in the ballon causing it to inflate right in our hands. This was thrilling for our little scientists. Once we tied off the balloon the girls had a chance to decide what kind of monster face they wanted me to draw on the balloon. We patiently waited at the table and watched each classmate have a turn. Then we took our balloon monsters to the carpet for some fun. Our final activity of the day was a sticker color sort on a vertical surface. The girls each received a sheet of stickers and were asked to place the correct color sticker on the corresponding colored monster. Once they were finished with their stickers they could come wash their hands for lunch. They did a great job! Another great week is in the books! Next week brings our study of pumpkins. Picture Day will be on Wednesday morning and our Fall Parade and Party will be on Friday. It is sure to be another exciting week! I have a few short video clips I will be posting in the Group Chat. One is center time where the girls can choose what they would like to do and the other is a little bit of our Chapel song. The girls were singing it all day long!
The cooler temperatures were a welcomed change of pace this morning. The girls had so much fun with our new theme. We are discussing feelings all week with the theme "Happy Monsters". We read several books, played some new games, went on a monster hunt, and enjoyed a visit from the local fire house. This group of girls are becoming masters at peeling their own oranges. After we returned from the playground we gathered for circle time. Tootsie brought a fun monster headband for us to try on and we did our best monster impersonations. Then we read a book about a monster who was trapped inside the pages of the book. We took turns following the directions to try and get the monster out of our book. We shook the book, tipped it to the left, right, blew on the monster, tickled his toes, spun him around, and screamed to frighten him away. It was a fun interactive story that I am sure we will need to read again on Friday. Next Ms. Amanda came into our room asking for our help. It seemed as though some monsters had been spotted in the building causing mischief and she needed our help to find them. So we headed out to see if we could help her locate all 10 missing monsters. We worked together to find them all! After the exciting Monster Hunt we noticed the fire truck out the windows so we headed on down to check it out. The firemen were very nice and spoke to us about what to do in case of a fire. One of our Monkey friends showed us how to Stop, Drop, and Roll. We even learned how to call 911. Once they were finished with their presentation we got to tour the fire truck, walk through it and even take a photo sitting on the front bumper! Back in our room we worked on a lacing project. The girls had the choice of lacing a bracelet or necklace. I was pretty impress with how well they were able to manipulate the small beads. Our morning concluded with our second birthday celebration of the year. Friday we will wrap up our Happy Monster Week with an exciting experiment. We will be blowing up balloons with a chemical reaction! Can't wait to see what the girls think of that! We will also be talking about symmetry and making colorful symmetry monsters for art. See you all Friday!
We had another very busy morning. We enjoyed time in the bat cave, spray painting outside, a science experiment, and a special visit from a storyteller. Our outdoor time provides some great opportunities to work our gross motor skills. The girls love to swing, climb, balance on garden borders, and even climb UP slides. Back inside we gathered with the Giraffe and Zebra classes to share chapel time. Each Friday we gather with the song "Come, Let Us Worship". One of our praise and worship songs this month is called, "Absolutely Nothin'". The girls are loving it and I caught them singing it throughout the day. You might notice them singing along to this catchy tune at home and wonder where they heard it. The link is below for both songs. Today we listened to the story of Noah and God's promise to never destroy the Earth by flood again. After chapel we returned to the room for some art. Today we decided to take art outside. We spray painted bat silhouettes. While each girl had her turn at the spray paint, the others had water bottles which they used to water the plants in the garden. Squeezing those water bottles make for a nice fine motor workout! As our art was drying outside we headed in for some science. Yesterday, I had mixed some baking soda and water into a moist paste. I hid mini erasers in the shape of bats, spiders, and webs inside and allowed them to dry overnight. The girls were tasked with freeing the "gems" inside. They could used vinegar and pipettes to "melt" away the baking soda. I did tell them that if they found a surprise inside they were allowed to keep it. Most chose to put their treats in their lunch box for safe keeping. We cleaned up and headed to the special guest Storyteller. Last year the Tobin Arts Center piloted this early education outreach program and we were fortunate enough to be one of the test schools. Our staff was so impressed with the quality of the program and the developmentally appropriate material we were excited to welcome them back this year. The focus of today's presentation was to tap into the children's storytelling and imagination. "Ms. Pocket" came and told the girls a wonderful, interactive story which required their participation and use of their imaginations. I think they all enjoyed going on her adventure. On our way back to the room we stopped for a quick photo opportunity. Next week we will be talking about feelings as we dive into Happy Monsters Week. The firefighters will also make their visit on Wednesday. I'm looking forward to having all the girls back together. We missed our friends who were traveling this week.
Everyone was excited to be back at school this morning. The girls were pleasantly surprised to find the kitchen area had been transformed into a bat cave, full of plush bats, bat books, and a flashlight to read in the dark. All of our table centers were also bat themed. We always enjoy our outdoor time! Back inside we gathered on the rug for some story time. Tootsie brought a bat head band that I wore while reading our story. Everyone loved it so much they wanted a turn. We learned that bats are not birds. They are mammals like us and they are the only mammals that fly. We also discovered that some bats like to eat fruit but most prefer insects. There was even a picture in one of our books of a bat eating a mouse! Bats are nocturnal so once we finished our story we headed to the art table to paint the moon. The fun did not stop there. Next, we made Bat Slime. Each of the girls helped mix up our fun sensory concoction. We added some bat glitter and enjoyed some gooey play. We finished our morning with some scissor work. We put the efforts of our labor in our totes to bring home. Friday we look forward to more Bat fun as well as a visit from the Tobin Arts Center. They are sending a storyteller to help us explore our imagination. See you Friday!
We were a little disappointed that the fire truck did not get to visit today. The truck had to go in for maintenance so they have rescheduled for October 19. We didn't let that stop our fun for the day. We worked on easel painting, "dissecting" spiders, and celebrated our first birthday of the year. During center time each of the girls had a chance to paint on the easel. We were painting white spider webs on black paper. Some of the girls were so into it the entire paper was painted white. Art at this age is so much more about the experience than the final product. Outside we enjoyed exploring the play structures, swinging, and collecting acorns. On our way in we discovered a cricket. We HAD to stop and check him out! Tootsie brought us a very exciting experiment. We were presented with spider parts (pompoms, pipe cleaners, and wiggly eyes) that were stuck in gelatin. Our job was to dig out the spider parts and put them back together. This was a wonderful sensory experience as well as reviewing the parts of the spider. We learned spiders have two body parts, the head and the abdomen, 8 legs, and several sets of eyes. It is always fun to see who will dive right in and who will shy away from something like this. I was proud that everyone tried the activity. Some were definitely more into it than others. As I was cleaning up I noticed the girls had made their way to the circle time area. One had passed out the dots we sit on and had gathered the rest of the group. Then she used the felt board to lead everyone in "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." They were playing school right in front of me as if I wasn't even there. Then a second child stepped up to take the lead. I was just standing in the corner giggling to myself and yet so proud. Motor Skills with Ms. Amy met outside. The girls had a great time. After lunch we took some time to celebrate our first Owl turning 3! Spider Week was a hit. Next week we will be learning all about Bats. We will also have special storyteller from the Tobin Arts Center visit. It should be another fun filled week. Enjoy the weekend!
Welcome to Spider Week! The girls enjoyed a variety of new centers when they arrived this morning. We also welcomed another new student to the class. I think we all settled in really nicely and had a fabulous day! There were several different skills the girls were working on during center time "PLAY". We were patterning with different colored spider rings, lacing spider webs, retelling/acting out a familiar story with the felt board, counting spiders with 1:1 correspondence, and even strengthening our grips by squeezing water out of sponges with a lemon juicer. The dramatic play area was also busy with baby activities. Outside we enjoyed a cool morning of climbing, running, and swinging. These girls are fearless climbers. Ms. Rebecca even got in on the action today and I was able to click a picture of her enjoying the slides! Back inside we gathered for circle time. Our class puppet, Tootsie, brought us some cute little spider puppets which we used to help us sing, "There's a Spider on the Floor". We followed Tootsie's directions and moved the spiders as she instructed, on the floor, our knee, tummy, arm, hair, back, even our face. It was so much fun. Tootsie also brought us some fun spider glasses which she let the girls model. At the art table we read a story called, "Aaarrgghh! Spider!". The spider webs in the book are beautiful and full of glitter. We thought it would be fun to make our own glitter spider webs. So we took a box lid and layered in our paper. We squeezed on some paint and glitter glue. Then we shook the box top full of marbles to create one of a kind spider webs and topped it off with a spider. They look beautiful hanging from the classroom ceiling. One of our friends made the class some wonderful play dough. We enjoyed hiding spiders in the dough and trying to dig them out. We also used scissors to cut and wooden sticks (as knives) to slice the dough. Looking ahead to Friday, we will have a visit from the fire department. We will also be "dissecting" spiders. Wait until you see what that is all about. This will also be the first Friday of the month so please wear your preschool t-shirt. It will be fun if we are all matching! See you Friday!
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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
March 2024
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