Our Halloween Party!

Goodness gracious! Time has certainly gotten away from me! I had such a great time talking with all of you at conferences last week (that time was way more beneficial than blogging anyway, in my opinion)! Thank you so much for being fantastic parents!

I wanted to share pictures of our Halloween party (before I forget to do that...), so this post will be dedicated to our Halloween fun!

We started the party by reading the story, The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything. The kiddos loved it! They have asked me countless times since then to read it to them again. I love when that happens!

After our story, we had a special snack of Halloween cookies and Spooky Juice (green Hawaiian Punch and Sprite).

We went on our costume parade after snack. In the morning, we visited Helen in the office and Darla in the hallway. In the afternoon, we added Pastor Jordan to our list of stops.

When we got back into the classroom, we split into three groups to rotate through our Halloween stations. At one station, the kiddos listened to another Halloween story, I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Bat.

The second station was the art station. The kiddos made "stained glass" pumpkins with contact paper and tissue paper. These are hanging in the classroom now, so feel free to stop by and check them out if you get the chance.

The last station was the cooking station. We made spider cookies with Oreos, licorice, and mini M&Ms.

By the time the day was over, I think we were all happy, full, and exhausted! It really was a great day!

Thank you to the parents (Jennifer and Robin) who spent some time with us during our party! I really appreciate your help! 

Oobleck and Green Eggs and Ham

We continued our fun with Dr. Seuss on Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday, we read Bartholomew and the Oobleck. This book is a long one, so we broke it into sections. After the first section, we made our own Oobleck. In case you're wondering how to make it at home, it's just two cups of corn starch and one cup of water. The result is a fabulous goo that is both a solid and a liquid. The kiddos had a blast playing with it.

The afternoon class had an especially fun time with it, because Salem's high school youth group dropped in to play with them. It was interesting to watch the children go from their normal selves to absolutely silent people back to their normal selves in the course of about a half hour. I often forget that the kiddos are just four and five years old and that they are still shy around new people! They had so much fun talking and playing with the high-schoolers!

Today, we spent some time with Green Eggs and Ham. Reading this story aloud is so much fun, because many of the children are familiar with it so they read along with me! It was also a great opportunity for them to fill in the rhyming words for me. I love this book!

Of course, we couldn't read Green Eggs and Ham and not make green eggs and ham, so we did just that. First, we graphed whether or not we thought we'd like them and all but two children said they'd probably like it. Many of them remember making them last year, so they already knew they'd like them! Then we got to cooking. I let the children crack their own eggs, which is always fun for them. Some of them are pretty good at it too. After the eggs were all cooked, the kiddos were excited to eat them! After the whole thing was said and done, all but one kiddo liked them! It was great fun!

Dr. Seuss is so much fun!

Construction Underway

We have been loving building our bodies this week! Hopefully, we'll have them completed by the end of next week, and I cannot wait to share them with you.

The morning class started work on their body by creating a brain on Wednesday. We talked about how the brain is the boss of our bodies and it tells our bodies how to move and what to do to accomplish different tasks. We also spent some time examining various pictures of brains to determine what our brain should look like. Here's what they came up with:

They rolled play dough into "worms" and squished them all together to make:

the brain, which we put inside this plastic skull.

On Wednesday, the morning class worked on their legs. We ran out of PVC pipe while working on our second leg, so we taped two together. This led them to come up with the idea that their person had broken a leg, so we put a cast (made of a sponge and some gauze) on it. While we did this, we talked about how broken bones are fixed. Here are their legs:

The afternoon class decided to make the skeleton of their body first. We started out making the arms and collar bone on Wednesday. Then we added hips and legs on Thursday.

Emma, who brought a bunch of sponges to share, was determined to use her sponges on Thursday too, so we did some brainstorming about what we could use them for. Eventually, they decided to use the sponges to make the brain. First, though, they needed to paint them, because the brain is not yellow or green. 

 After the girls painted the sponges red, they scrunched them all together and we tied them together using some string. Of course, since the string was white, it needed to be painted too. Here's the finished brain:

We'll continue this project next week, and hopefully, we'll be finished by Thursday. I'm hoping to have full skeletons, with some organs (heart, lungs, etc.). We'll see what the kiddos have in mind first though!

Here's a look at some other things we did this week:

We made pattern bracelets:

We made Puff Corn Balls with Jodie:

We also did some finger painting and, of course, continued our construction in the block center.

Just a reminder: Our vision and hearing screenings are on Monday (or Tuesday for those who come on Tuesday and Thursday). If you haven't brought in your consent forms, please bring them in on Monday! Thanks!

Also, we are having a tip day at Pizza Ranch on March 10 from 11-8. I want to encourage everyone to sign up for a shift to help out with this day. You can sign up for just one hour or for as many hours as you would like. We're planning to use this money to update our play ground!

Snowmen and Scrambled Eggs

Thank you all for bearing with me as I prepare for this verification visit. What a crazy, crazy time this is! As you know, I got a sub for today and worked on various files and portfolios throughout the day. I have got to tell you: it is torture to be away from the kiddos (especially when I can hear them laughing and having a good time and I'm doing paperwork....). I thoroughly missed them, and I cannot wait to be back to teaching next week.

I wanted to give you just a brief update of some of the things we've done recently. Yesterday was a blast and a half. The children had so much fun going outside and playing in the snow. Snowman building was the greatest fun! The kiddos laughed and laughed as they rolled gigantic snowballs and tried to pick them up (phenomenal gross motor experience, by the way!). They ended up making about five preschool-sized snowman throughout the day.

We also had a super fun time cooking with Jodie yesterday. We made scrambled eggs and the children all got to crack an egg. Most of them are actually pretty good at this, which surprised me! Then, they got to use an old hand-powered mixer to scramble them up. I think this was definitely a favorite cooking experience for them!

We finished up our animal study this week, and next week, we'll beginning a study of the human body. Since the preschoolers love to move so much, they'll love learning about why and how their bodies move the way they do.

Hopefully, after Tuesday, I'll be able to give you a much more in depth review of what we've been up to. Thank you, again, for hanging in there with me!

Have a fantastic weekend!

My Mommy Says I Can't Play with Shaving Cream

Okay, first of all, I'm very, very sorry I haven't blogged yet this week. For those of you who don't know, we're preparing for our verification from the state department of education. This means I've been working on a portfolio full of everything we've done at SON Shine, getting child files all organized and ready to go, making sure the classroom is in tip-top shape, and working with LMCPD and the school on our program portfolio. In other words, I've been spread a little thin for a while. I'm excited about this work though. I started printing my portfolio this morning and I can't wait to share it with you! Since the portfolio is directly tied to the state standards for early childhood, it is the perfect way for me to show you how SON Shine is a high-quality preschool. Our site visit will happen during the second week in February, and then I should be able to spend way more time on this blog. Just hang in there with me!

This week, we spent a lot of time working with the story The Three Little Pigs. First, I read it to the kids. Then, I told it to the kids using flannel board pictures. Then, the children acted the story out. (This was the coolest thing, by the way. I wish I had a video camera so I could record this for you, but maybe I'll work it into our graduation program at the end of the year.) Then, on Thursday, we compared the original story with The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieska. It was so much fun to experience the story this way with the children!

 Telling the story with flannel board pictures

Acting the story out

On Wednesday, we were finally able to cook with Jodie again. There had been conflicts for the last couple of weeks, and the kiddos were excited to get back downstairs and do some cooking! We made grilled cheese sandwiches and apple slices. The children had the opportunity to use a couple of new cooking utensils: an apple slicer and a pizza cutter. Those apple slicers require lots of muscles though, so the children worked in teams.

I think the favorite activities for the children this week involved shaving cream. First, we used the shaving cream to write in. Like I mentioned last week, we've really been working on letter recognition, so we practiced writing some letters in shaving cream. The kiddos loved it! At first, though, they didn't believe I was going to let them play with it. One of them told me, "My mommy says I can't play with shaving cream." She was so excited when I told her it was okay for her to play with it while she was at school! We also used the shaving cream to make our own puffy paint. It is made out of glue, food coloring, and shaving cream. The children had a blast painting many, many pictures using this puffy paint, but I think they enjoyed the feel of the pictures when they finished drying even more. The paint keeps its puffiness after it is dry, which is pretty cool! I'm hoping to hang these up in the classroom next week, so stop on in and see them if you get the chance.

Just a reminder: Next week, we will be preparing for our cheering performance on Friday. We will be practicing on Tuesday and Thursday at 3:30 in the high school foyer. (I will walk the afternoon class over after preschool, and you can meet us there.) I'm still not sure on what time we need to be at the school on Friday for the performance, but I'm sure we will find out on Tuesday. I'll be sending home reminders with the kids throughout the week, and I hope to see everyone there!

Have a great weekend!

From Freezers to Safes to Paint Mixers - Our Walking Tour of Lake Mills!

Our study of Lake Mills is in full swing, and it is turning into one of the most exciting studies so far!

Our walking tour of Lake Mills yesterday was a great experience! My goal was for the kids to start thinking about what kinds of experiences they’ve had in Lake Mills and what kinds of workers there are in this town. I had originally only planned to walk by the businesses on the sidewalk, but Judy and I decided it would be even more beneficial to the kids if we went into those businesses and asked the employees what kind of work they did. I’m so glad we decided to do that!

We got to see the different areas the mechanics use to fix cars at Dave’s, explore the ice cream freezer at the grocery store (Brrrr!), see the librarian in action, walk into the safe at the bank, examine the paint mixer at Singelstad’s, and learn all about what kind of workers it takes to run The Grand! We were even surprised to find some bakers in Lake Mills. I was so proud of the kiddos who were brave enough to walk into these stores and ask the employees what their jobs were! What a fantastic experience we had.

 Learning about being a mechanic at Dave's!

 In the freezer at the grocery store!

 Watching the coin machine at the bank!

Also, I need to send a huge thank you to Judy for changing her schedule and coming on a Monday! Without her, we probably wouldn’t have been able to go, so thank you, Judy!

We spent some time writing our very own stories yesterday too. We created characters for our stories by cutting shapes out of peanut butter sandwiches. Then everyone helped write a story about these characters. It was so much fun to see how different their stories were! Children really do have the very best imaginations! 

Today we spent a chunk of time opening a Pizza Ranch in our dramatic play center. Many of the children asked to go into Pizza Ranch on our walk yesterday, but I didn’t want to walk in without letting the employees know first. I’m hoping I can set up a field trip specifically to Pizza Ranch in the next couple of weeks, but I’m still working on that.  Until then, the kids will have fun pretending to work in a pizza restaurant at school!

Dramatic play scenarios like this are perfect, real-life experiences for the children to practice writing skills! Take a look at some of these notes the children wrote while they took orders. Keep in mind that there are stages of writing. Everything from scribbles to letter-like figures to inventive spelling are typical of preschoolers and all lead up to the writing skills they will learn in elementary school.

I'm so excited to see where this study will take us! 

Please remember to sign up for a conference time for next week!

F.Y.I: On Thursday, we will not be having our afternoon preschool class. The school district is getting out at 1:30 to allow for families to head to the volleyball game, and I want to make sure you all have those same chances.

The Coolest Thing Ever!

Okay, I’m going to do two posts today. One to show what happened during preschool hours on Wednesday and Thursday, and one to share all the fun we had at our Read-A-Thon.

On Wednesday, I introduced the kiddos to water beads (A.K.A The Coolest Thing Ever!). Water beads are a polymer crystal that absorbs water and gels similar to gelatin; this polymer is the same substance found in diapers. They are traditionally used for floral arrangements, but they are a ton to explore in preschool too! They come in many different colors, and we made four different colors. The really cool thing about clear water beads is how they disappear if you put them in water. When we began interest areas, I had all of the clear water beads hiding in a tub of water. I asked the kids if there was anything in the water, and, of course, they looked at me like I had seven heads because obviously there wasn’t anything in the water. They were so surprised when they reached their hands into the water and came out with handfuls of water beads.

After they explored for a while, they helped me make yellow, blue, and purple beads. The only frustrating thing was they had to wait until the next day to see the colored beads since they take 4-6 hours to rehydrate. 

 

We also had a great time making Orange Banana Smoothies with Jodie on Wednesday! The kids get so excited about cooking days; they ask me almost everyday if today is a cooking day. 

On Thursday, we made our own watercolor paints. Not only was this a great literacy (following the recipe) and math (measuring and counting) activity, but it was a great lesson on colors. I only let the kids use red, blue, and yellow food coloring for the paints, but I told them we were going to make purple, green, and orange colors too. They had to guess which colors to mix together to make these colors. Sometimes they were right and sometimes they were wrong, but every time they were excited about the new color they had made.

During small group time this week, we’ve been working on our counting skills and our letter recognition skills. On Monday, the counting group played a game called Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. They drew a card to find out how many guests they would have for dinner, and then they worked together to set the table for their guests. On Thursday, they played a game with water beads. They were given a cup with a number written on it, and they needed to put the correct number of beads into their cup.

The letter recognition group went fishing for letters (buried in water beads) on Monday and learned some letter songs to help them remember what the letters look like and what sounds they make on Thursday.

Overall, we had another fantastic week at SON Shine!

Cooking

Cooking
 

In the cooking area, children have a chance to make many delicious, nutritious snacks. Cooking allows the children to build upon their cognitive skills. They learn how to measure, and they have a chance to explore cause and effect by watching the ingredients mix together to create the finished product. It is also a great chance for them to practice following a set of instructions.

Literacy opportunities are available in the cooking area too. Most of the recipes we make have recipe cards for us to follow, which allows the children to gain an understanding of how to read a recipe. There are many cooking vocabulary words that children learn in this center as well. For example, they learn how to simmer, dice, knead, grate, and bake. 

The physical actions involved in cooking help children strengthen the small muscles in their hands.

Ideas for Home:

Whenever you are cooking, allow your children to have a role in the process. Starting with simple actions is best (e.g. pouring measured ingredients into the bowl or stirring batter). While you are cooking, make sure you discuss what is happening. Ask questions to inspire their thinking processes.

When children help in the cooking process, they are more likely to eat the final product. This lays the groundwork for their eating habits in the future, so the more involved they can be, the better off they'll be!

Source:
Dodge, Diane T., Colker, Laura J., Heroman, Cate. (2002). The Creative Curriculum.
        Washington DC: Teaching Strategies Inc.