Eggstra Special Day

You guessed it! Lots of fun with plastic Easter eggs. First off though, we had Music Class. The kids always enjoy the Music Lady!

Next, we explored our plastic eggs and how they interacted with water. Beforehand, we put small amounts of food coloring in each child's egg. They were put in groups of two each and shared a bucket of water. They put their eggs in and were instructed to see if the eggs would sink, float, bubble, etc. Soon they discovered the water turning colors! They noticed the holes in the bottom and top and watched how the water poured out of the egg. So much fun!

Next, we went to the art room. This time, the eggs had tempera paint and liquid starch inside. We taped one end up so the holes would not drain the paint mixture. The kids were instructed to keep the eggs closed and use them as paint brushes. They did so and decorated some sweet little construction paper Easter eggs.

Mrs. E. also read a book to the kids. It was all about the Easter bunny. How he walks on two feet vs. four, etc.

Have a super spring break. We will see you in a week!

What Is Inside An Egg?

We started the day with a tornado drill. The kids learned where to go in the event that the weather in our area is favorable for a tornado. Just past the inside gym, there are a set of steps leading to the parish worship hall. Our designated spot is a storage room surrounded by four walls in the center of the building. They all handled this drill very well.

We followed the drill with Music Class. Next, we did a little sight word review. The kids tossed bean bags that had a sight word safety-pinned to the bag. They tossed the bags into a bowl. Whichever bag landed in the bowl they got to name. If more than one bag landed in the bowl, they could choose. Some kids even took the challenge of reading ALL the words that landed in the bowl. We should tell you that while it is not a requirement to read before leaving preschool, many of our kids ARE! We just can't believe this group of kids. If your child is not quite there, no worries. It'll come. They are all practicing recognizing the letters and "making their sound". Super job guys and gals!

After the sight word practice, Mrs. E. taught the kids about different characteristics of a story. They learned about the "setting" and the "characters". Each child colored some characters (bunny, person, squirrel, etc.). Then, they got a "placemat" which was an illustration of the woods. When Mrs. E. then read a story, they got to place their characters in the setting. We were amazed at how well they grasped this information and pulled it all together to participate in the story.

Lastly, we broke off into smaller groups and studied a hard-boiled egg. Mrs. E. had the kids cutting out the "parts" and putting them together. There was the shell, the white part and the yolk. We had real eggs in the classroom that we cut down the center and the kids were able to observe and apply their newly-gained knowledge to the egg in front of them.

Mrs. Sapp's group first made some observations with their eyes. We recorded how large we thought the egg was and then recorded the actual size. Next, we weighed the egg and compared it's weight to that of 13 jelly beans. The plan was to switch groups but we ran out of time. Perhaps on Friday we will be able to switch!

Have A Super Thursday!

All About Spring

This week -- the last before our Spring Break -- will be spent talking about ... spring. What else would we learn about? There will be discussion about the weather; about flowers; about new babies; and more. Today we had a "letter review" vs. a new letter to study. The kids practiced writing the days of the week. It was tedious work but they all did it with no complaints. Some went a step farther and not only traced their letters but wrote them on their own, too. Impressive.

Our number today (because we haven't done that in a while) was 5. They love to go up to the dry erase board and try to write it themselves. A tricky number but they got it.

We played a little game that is like musical chairs. There were letters taped to the bottom of the chairs in the clasroom. We arranged them in a circular design. We played some music, when it stopped they took a seat. We called on a few kids at a time to identify the letter under their chair. Just about everyone got their letters. There were a few that needed a lil help. Just keep working on these over the summer.

We got some scissor cutting in today when we worked on an Easter egg decorating project and a 5 little jellybeans project. These went home today.

Finally, we had a little Easter egg race of sorts. The kids worked with three plastic eggs. Mrs. Sapp took them apart. The kids had to race (10 seconds) to put the matching tops with the bottoms. They had fun with this one.

Don't forget to put something in your plastic egg from last Friday and bring it in on THIS Friday. We have a little activity planned.

Also, there will be an Easter egg hunt at school on Friday. Mrs. McCarthy is organizing and we thank those that are able to contribute.

See you Wednesday.

Finishing Off With Numeroff

The kids really enjoyed all the Laura Numeroff books we read this week. As you know, our letter of the week was "L" so we celebrated by reading and learning about Laura Numeroff. We read: If You Give A Pig A Pancake; If You Give A Pig A Party: If You Give A Mouse A Cookie; If You Give A Dog A Donut; and If You Give A Moose A Muffin.

Today was Moose A Muffin. Mrs. Sapp talked to the kids about the moose for a minute. She even explained to the kids that a moose's antlers are about 36 inches long, each. So she put two yardsticks up to her head and moved about the room knocking things over and bumping into lights, etc. She even tried to enter and exit the room wearing "antlers". The kids got a kick out of this and we decided we could NOT have moose as a class pet.

We also made our own blueberry muffins. The kids helped us figure out how to make them. We also decided that the directions on the box could be really helpful. They even knew we needed to measure the milk with a measuring cup. Some said just pour a little milk in and some decided we should measure using a cup. Brilliant. We baked 'em and enjoyed a little snack after lunch.

Before lunch however, we graphed our favorite kind of muffin. The choices were blueberry (or any berry for that matter) and chocolate chip. The chocolate chip muffin had the most "likes".

Our guest parent came in and worked with the kids on a math lesson. Again, counting and working on number recognition. We decided we have to "spice it up" because they are doing so well. The exercise was to deposit a tiny colored egg into an egg carton. Inside there were pics of animals and numbers. They shook the carton and opened it to discover the egg landed in a "pocket". If it landed in the ones with the animal pics, they had to make that sound. If not, they had to count out that many little eggs.

We worked on our "L" craft and made cute little lions. Mrs. E. talked a bit about the difference between male and female lions.

Lastly, we wanted you all to know that one of our classmates' is a new big brother. The new baby boy was born on Monday and all are well. Please keep the family in your prayers!

Such A Lovely Day

It was such a lovely day we decided to do most of our work outdoors!

Our letter this week was "L". We started the day by dreaming up "L" words and making our tongue do la la la things. Mrs. E. read the book "The Wind Blows" and we followed up by making our own "kite hats". There was a kite in the book that the wind blew. So we took our hats outdoors -- complete with tail -- and tried to make 'em fly! Very fun. Lots of giggles. The kids were also invited to fill-in a large "L" with legos!

Then we did a kite color matching exercise in the classroom. The kids all got a little kite made from construction paper. They were invited to get up and seek out their color mate somewhere in the room.

We took the huge parachute outdoors and tried to make things fly. There were things in the story like a newspaper, a scarf and a hat. We took these items outdoors and put them on the parachute and tried to make them fly.

We finished off the day by taking some bubbles outside. We poured some solution in a cup and gave the kids a straw. They were laughing and giggling. It was great.

Who Stole The Cookies?

We have been having some fun with the Laura Numeroff books! The kids really enjoy these books. In fact, we made our own. The kids got to piece together their own mouse then filled-in the "If you give a mouse a" blank. We will bind them all together and make our own class book. They were very creative little story-tellers.

We also played a number recognition game with large die and some little footsteps with numbers written on them. A child was to put their "number foot" in front of them on the circle rug. One child rolled the die and said "Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar" then went around to find the person who had the number foot matching the number they rolled on the die. It was VERY cute. They had lots of fun with this. And, all did super with the number recognition.

We talked about Roy Lichtenstein in Mrs. Erikson's art class today. The kids were taught that he went to OSU and enjoyed pop art. Cartoon books to be exact. He thought of the illustrations as art. Highlighted with black outlines and polka dots. So we created our own art with those two elements in mind.

As a group, we read the scholastic "spring babies" edition today. Many took turns reading! Can you believe this? When they came to a word they used the strategies we are learning in class: they look at the picture. Sound out the first letter then move on from there very slowly. We are soooo impressed.

Lastly, our sight word this week is HAVE. These guys and gals are getting so good at coming up with sentences that have the sight word in them. We love you guys!

The Letter L And Number 3

After our visit with madame, we got right to work on the letter "L". The kids sounded out the letter, wrote it and made an "L" (ladybug) craft.

We moved on to the number three. The kids got to practice some fine-motor skills while stringing paper beads and plastic beads on a "number necklace". We have worked on numbers 1 and 2 and today was three. The goal is to get the children to recognize the number when they see it in print but also to correlate what that number means. So today they were to organize their paper beads by shape (rectangle, triangle and square) then put them in order 1, 2, 3. Each time they moved on to a new group, they were to insert a plastic bead.

Finally, we practiced our cutting skills with the scissors and paper. There were two dotted lines drawn down the long side of the paper. The kids were to cut along this line to create three strips of paper which we then made into a "three-corner or three-pointed hat".

Hope you all got your pics of the kids. They were lovely. We peeked.

Did You Eat Pancakes For Dinner?

We wouldn't be surprised! We talked all about pancakes today! Our letter this week is "L" and what better way to celebrate than to introduce (or reaffirm) the books by Laura Numeroff! So today we read "If you give a pig a pancake" and "If you give a pig a party".

We played a pancake flip game. The pancakes had lowercase and uppercase letters on them. The kids flipped the cake and told us if it was an UC or LC. Then they were asked to name it. Most of them did very well. A few little confused moments but all in all, we did it?

We also made our very own pancake craft. It was fun. We even put butter on it and drizzled syrup over top.

The kids did a little observation with density today. This was our science lesson. We had some tempura paint, water and syrup in separate cups. Mrs. E. explained what density was. Then, she asked them to pass around the cups and try to stir with a popsicle stick. Does one feel more dense than the other? Then we put them on a piece of paper to illustrate the "drippiness". Very cool!

We compared the two stories with a Venn Diagram. They did so very well at this. First off, we were impressed with the story retention. Next, they did very well with the same/different stuff. One guy even "caught" that they "did stuff" in both stories. We explained how the author told the story in a circular format. That is, it ends right where it starts. They thought this was cool!

We celebrated the letter L with a limbo. They got to get a lollipop after they limbo'd. Finally we flipped a bean bag pancake for fun and tried to get it into the pan.

Oh, and you probably heard how there were stray cats in our classroom. Kitties really. They apparently were dropped off at the school. Six weeks old and in super health.