Let's Go

Let's Go was the theme this week and go we did.  The children were very interested learners and had so many experiences to share about their travels on trains and planes.  

Starting the day off with numeral recognition on trains of course.

Racing trains.  One child had the train whistle and blew once to stop and twice to go.  The children got good auditory practice while burning off some energy.

 J is for Jack-o-lantern.  The children loved getting to create their own jack-o-lanterns for snack time.

 Creating shape trains.  It is always intriguing to watch the various ways the children choose to create.  

 Chug, chug, choo, choo, off they go!

I'm a little airplane!

 Having a great time outside on such a beautiful day.  It was so nice we even did snack outside.

 I never tire of seeing the children cozy up to look at books.  They seem to really enjoy telling their own stories to go along with the pictures.  These are going to be great readers someday soon!

 Creating puffy paint clouds for our airplanes.  Avah was particularly excited to do puffy paint since she's been asking to do it for weeks now.

 Flying some pretty spectacular helicopters.

 Free play involved many playthings that go.  

 The children discovered my bags of flannel board figures and created stories, games and patterns. This type of unstructured cooperative learning is so very important for preschool development.  I was one happy teacher watching this occur.

My & My Family

Learning all about the children and their families this week was quite a treat.  We talked about how each of us is unique-different and special.  They enjoyed the opportunity to talk in front of the class about themselves and about their families (thanks to all of you for bringing in the pictures).  We discussed family responsibilities and how it takes everyone working together to create a happy family.  I'm just sure your children will take that responsibility seriously as they are about the best kids out there.  I am loving this class and how focused and excited they are to learn. 

 Camden working hard with number tiles.

Gideon used the patterned back of the number tiles to make cats.

 It looked a little like a crime scene on the patio when I outlined the children's bodies for them to decorate.

 Silly Kooper with chalk on nearly every conceivable part of his body (thank goodness it washes off).

 Avah working on her book all about her.  They were sooo excited to get to make a book about themselves.  I hope they got to tell you all about it.

 Lining up for bowling fun to end the day.

 They all love this simple activity that helps them with their gross motor skills and their social skills. Learning to take turns turns out to be fun when get to bowl.

 Making families (sorting) by type of animal...

 or by color.  There was a lot of sharing going on in this activity which was wonderful to see.  The children are really learning to work together with one another.

 Camden telling us all about his family.  The children each got to take a turn talking about their best friends (aka families).

 These creative children figured out how to make a seesaw out of wood boards- amazing!

 Kara focusing on creating her family picture.  These pictures were so special to the children that we got out brand new crayons just for this picture. 

 Thomas drawing his family (complete with two new babies!)

Ending the day with fun file folder games.

Old McDonald Had a Farm

Farm week was full of hands on activities to help these children learn and appreciate where their food comes from.  We all decided it's a lot of work to be a farmer.  It is quite fun to sing about farmers, read books about farms, and imitate farm animals.  What a wonderful week!

 Sorting, stacking, counting- peg boards are so much fun!

 There is usually a lot of activity going on when we go outdoors-balancing, running, building, throwing, hitting, etc.

 And oodles of creativity!

 Speaking of creativity, painting with milk sure sparked the creativity in these children.

 They experimented as they mixed the colors together and found even more ways to be creative.

Unfortunately, the milk never dried completely and was still sticky on Thursday morning.  Instead of sending these home (your welcome) here are pictures of their masterpieces.

 Camden

 Thomas

 Kara

 Kooper

 Avah

 We started our second farm day grinding wheat for our bread.  It's sure noisy!

 Everyone got a chance to add all the ingredients, then make their own loaves.  It was quite a messy process, hence no pictures.  We ate the fresh bread for snack and they all declared they are great bakers.

I hope you get a chance to sample the loaves that they brought home.

 Visiting a neighbors garden, which is as close to a farm as we could get.

 They were so intrigued by the variety of plants and especially liked sampling a fresh pomegranate.  

 Time to start our own garden that of course involved filling pots with lots of dirt.

And of course playing in the dirt as well.  Oh they were dirty children today!

The  don't look like much now but these little seeds are going to grow to be great!