Birds of a Feather

The kids must be birds of a feather because they flock together so well. This was a great week for the preschoolers who really put their bodies and minds to work as they learned about birds. Circle time was a bit longer than usual because they had so many questions and comments about birds (we also got way off topic on Thursday and had a discussion about why we brush our teeth:) They definitely connected with this theme and had us stop our activities to listen quietly anytime a bird was heard. It's fun to watch their excitement and joy as they discover the wonders of the natural world. Bytheway, their plants have sprouted and the neighbors for sure heard the shouts of joy as they made that discovery. Preschoolers are wonderful!!

Pre-reading fun! We shook eggs with various items inside to find a match. Sound discrimination is important to practice with preschoolers because they must be able to hear the different sounds of letters before they can put those letters together in words.

Counting feathers using one-to-one correspondence. We also sang along with a book about five little ducks and practiced making sure we counted each duck.

Painting with feathers was a little more challenging than using a regular paintbrush, but just as engaging.

Feeding our little chick "worms". This kept them busy all morning! In fact at the end of preschool I discovered the chick was filled with much more than just yarn!

Blowing feathers during music time, kept them all on their toes (literally) trying to keep their feathers afloat.

Pre-math fun! Discovering the parts of a whole.

Nest creations. I'm not sure if a bird could actually reside in these, however, the children completely let loose and let creativity take over.

Boston working on his nest masterpiece!

Spring Has Sprung!

Spring is officially here and we had a great time at preschool this week learning all about the seasons changing. It feels like spring has been here for a month or so, but these kids aren't short on imagination so it wasn't too difficult for them to pretend the ground was just warming up.

The colors of spring are just so fun! Sierra did a great job of patterning the beautifully colored noodles on her necklace. An impromptu puppet show brought some serious drama to the preschool room.

Looking for signs of spring.

Making discoveries- ladybugs, flowers, grass, though no caterpillars (we sure looked though)

Thank goodness art is more about the process than the project because this is one of those projects that didn't go as planned. My idea of beautiful vibrant tissue flowers stiffened by starch didn't work! Oh well, the children enjoy anything with a paintbrush and paper.

What is spring without some mud squishing through fingers and toes. Since we had to do it inside because of the wind, I was sure glad this was the "clean" variety of mud.

Flowers, flowers everywhere...and a beautiful girl hiding amid them.

In case you were wondering, this is a celebration that included santa claus, a t-rex, high-heeled shoes for the ladies, cookies, flowers, flowers and more flowers. They were happy, cooperative and highly imaginative and did not want to stop, even for snack!

Cute as can be!

Really, they were excited to plant flowers and peas. This picture was snapped at the end when they were all dirty and tired.

Who can resist digging through more dirt?

A spontaneous art project with some glue and dirt. The result was actually pretty good and the kids got to explore a little of their creative side.

What a fun week! The children did such a great job of following instructions, working together and participating in all the activities.

Silly Leprechauns

We started this week with a very different look to the preschool room. Sierra decided it needed to be backwards and wacky. It was actually kind of fun and I noticed the children playing a bit differently. We also changed things up by letting the children choose the order of our activities. St. Patrick's Day brought the addition of a few new friends to preschool (children I was watching for a friend for just a few days). I was amazed at how well all the children adapted to the new faces. They quickly became teachers and taught them the zoophonics letters for the word green. Many of them were actually able to spell the word out by just hearing the word slowly a few times. We had a tricky time catching leprechauns, but they all did find the shamrocks left behind with their names on them and lots of gold.

Silly faces- the beginning of many silly faces of the day. We had a laughing contest and boy can those kids giggle! Focusing a bit on the silliness of preschool really helps boost their emotional skills. As I believe in educating the whole child we do get to spend some time on emotional education in addition to the academics.

This isn't a great pictures, but the rainbow toast was actually quite beautiful. A little food coloring mixed in milk, painted on bread and toasted- yummy & fun! Silly relay race. They are still learning the concept of a relay race, but they had fun using there large muscles.

Sorting through the rainbow pompoms.

Larry the Leprechaun visited preschool and left behind a trail of gold. We searched through the house but never caught that mischievous guy. He did leave behind a snack of lucky charms for the children. They got to sort the marshmallows then gobble them up.

Dancing with rainbow ribbon sticks. I was surprised how this sparked their creativity.

The preschoolers learned hands-on that a glob of yellow playdoh and a glob of blue makes green. They made some great shapes and even had each other guessing what letters they were making. This is one of those activities that is so simple, yet so enjoyable and beneficial to the children.

Finding even more gold left behind by leprechauns! The children left with a few pieces of gold and a desire to be kind and provide service (unlike the mischievous leprechauns). I know in my home, I've had some wonderful helpers this afternoon, though I may be finding gold beans for days to come.

Rootin' Tootin' Wild West

With the rodeo in town it was time to talk about cowboys, cowgirls, horses and all the great things associated with the wild west. The children practiced tying knots, had barrel races, stomped around in boots, measured how tall each of them would be if they were horses and measured in hands and played cowboy ABC's. On Thursday I individually assessed each of the children and boy have they been learning a lot. I'll continue to keep track of their progress and work with them individually so they can continue to build confidence in their learning abilities.

Boston face lit up when he saw the Lincoln logs to play with. He built some great houses.
Avah and Porsche baking cookies and building friendships.

Yeehaw!

With all these great boots we had to spend some time outdoors using them. We splashed in puddles as we walked (or rather ran) around the lake. We talked about the clouds in the sky, watched the the fire ants squirm when I disturbed their mound(Kyler thought they were having a birthday party because there were so many of them :), touched flowering trees, looked for bugs in the tree bark, and watched the birds fly overhead. The sense of wonder these children have about the world around them is important to keep unrestrained and the physical activity being outside provides is the reason why we try to spend time outdoors every preschool day.

Avah taught everyone the fun of "rainbow crayons"- using many crayons at once to make beautiful pictures.

Giddy up Cowboy!

Cowgirls are the cutest!

Boston showing the class what he brought in the share bag. This is a great opportunity for the children to take the lead in front of their peers and the children are so delighted to see what fun things are brought.

Shoo fly don't bother me. We talked a bit about horses and how they have flies buzzing about them all the time. The children took fly swatters and painted away with them and then...

we cleaned them off by using them as bubble wands. Terrific fun on a perfectly beautiful day!

Dr. Seuss

Have you read Fox in Socks or Hop on Pop to your child recently? Your tongue will be numb by the end but it will be so worth it to have her child hear those rhymes over and over. Celebrating Dr. Seuss and his books meant there was an abundance of silly words at preschool this week. The children played with oobleck outside and were amazed at something that can be a liquid and a solid at the same time. They had a great time experimenting with it. We practiced our numbers while coloring the Cat in the Hat and used our imaginations to create fanciful pictures just like Dr. Seuss.

Sierra decided that "crazy popcorn" would be a fitting snack for Dr. Seuss. The children's giggles filled the room as the popcorn bounced around.

Around, around they go till the music stops.

Rhyming objects.

Balancing just as the Cat in the Hat did (though no cake or live fish).

Dinosaurs thronging the castle. Anything can happen when these kids

use their imagination. Boston was a great doctor and took care of each one of us.

Kickball preschool style!

Precious little hands that get so messy so quickly but are quick to hug and hold. One of my greatest wishes is to always have these hands to hold.

Keeping Safe

This week was all about safety and helping our children learn what to do in an emergency. I hope you'll take a few minutes at home and reinforce the concepts of fire safety and stranger danger. They may be small but they must know how to keep themselves safe. Circle time, tended to be a bit heavy so we did lots of fun activities to balance out the seriousness of that. As usual, they had a terrific week with great focus on the tasks at hand and wonderful cooperation with each other.

Marching in the big parade!

The children have been very big into dressing up during free play time. This type of play fosters cooperation among the children and helps them learn to defend their own ideas. They must also learn to recall experiences they've had and re-create them. This pretend play is very important to children's later academic success in school and that's why we do it!


Cutting out flames. The children are doing so well with their scissor skills. Many fine muscles have to go to work to do this and it's a challenge, yet they are doing great!

The children thought it was great fun to see how messy they could make the floor with all their little bitty flames.

Playing firefighter and squirting out the flames.

Detectives on the scene!

Boys will be boys and...

Girls will be girls. Red Light....Green Light

Stop!

Sierra directing tricycle traffic.