Graduation

Sorry I haven’t posted in a few days. Things have been a little crazy for me with my son Graduating from High School last week and getting ready for Preschool Graduation on Saturday! I do want to say a BIG Thank You to Miss Wendy and Roger for making homemade ice cream with the kiddos on Friday, and Miss Wendy for hanging out all day so I could rest a little from my very late Graduation on Thursday night.
This week our Theme is Graduation. We will be spending the week preparing for our very special day! Today we made decorations and a few other things that we will keep a surprise until Saturday :o)
There is a note in your child’s cubby about an end of the year party at Zodiac Lanes! Please, sign and return ASAP. Thank You! And thanks to Mom and Don for opening the bowling alley for us!

No instructions required… just add to the room and watch their imagination take over!

Popsicles!

We started our morning with a special breakfast treat. Thank You Gabi for bringing in fruit Popsicle for the kiddos! We have been reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom during Circle Time this week. It is my favorite alphabet book. After we read it today I gave all of the kiddos a white board and encouraged them to write as many letters as they could. They did an awesome job, and one of our kiddos wrote all of the letters! During art time we painted with ice! At the playground we experimented with Erupting Ice Chalk Paint http://www.learnplayimagine.com/2014/05/erupting-ice-chalk-paint-recipe.html so fun! Sorry if your child came home smelling like a pickle! We got a little crazy with the vinegar!

Mint Chocolate Chip

They love our song this week!!

Take Me Out For Some Ice Cream
(Tune: Take Me Out To The Ballgame)
Take me out for some ice cream,
Take me out to the store.
Buy me a triple scoop jumbo cone.
I won’t share, I’ll eat it alone!
For its scoop, scoop ,scoop up the ice cream–
Give me three kinds I adore!
For it’s one, two, three, scoops to go
At the ice cream store!

We worked together and made Mint Chocolate Chip Play Dough today. It smells so good! We used the same recipe as always, but we added cut up brown foam for the chocolate chips, green food coloring and mint extract. They loved measuring, pouring, mixing, cutting, kneading and playing with our new ice cream smelling play dough!

Ice Cream

We welcomed a new friend today! We are so happy to have you! During circle time we wrote a story together, we went around the circle and everyone took turns adding to it… When it started it was about a man with an ice cream cone, at the end it was about a man, a wolf, and a man turning into a super hero. I love this activity. It is awesome how they listen to each other and add their own spin to the story. During art time I mixed up some puffy paint ice cream – vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and mint, I also cut out some ice cream cones and bowls. The children then created whatever they wanted. Two of the older boys did the same technique we did with the splatter painted bats last week!
Duck Duck Goose!

Ice Cream!

This week our Theme is Ice Cream! We did something I have never done before and made melted ice cream play dough. http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/45796/melted-ice-cream-play-dough-for-kids They loved this stuff so much! All of them played with this for an hour, I am not even exaggerating! We used the sweet cream creamer and it smelled just like vanilla ice cream. When they got just enough corn starch to cream it would be a solid when they were playing with it and then melt into a liquid when they put it down. They loved experimenting with the texture by adding more liquid or more cornstarch. What a great Sensory/Science/Math activity! It was very messy though I will be cleaning up cornstarch for a week! Totally worth it, to see them so engaged! We also colored our favorite ice cream flavor for a class cone.

Field Trip Day!

We all love Field Trip Days! Today we finished up bat week with a field trip to Ozark Caverns in hopes of spotting a bat! Wasn’t sure that was going to happen, because we were told in the warmer weather the little brown bats like to sleep in trees instead of the cave. But as we were leaving our awesome cave guide spotted a little guy sound asleep hanging upside down on the cave ceiling. The kiddos were so excited! Thank You so much to all of our mommies that were able to join us! We could not do these field trips without you! I hope this is one the children will remember for a long time! I love Ozark Caverns and thank you to all of the wonderful staff at Ozark Caverns that were so welcoming! The children (and adults) had a wonderful time!
REMINDER: Book Orders are due Monday

Bats Bats and More Bats!

I am excited to have a class that loves bats as much as I do! They love this song about echolocation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr-Y2Tt8gFE you might not want them to know you have the link, because they will ask to watch it again and again and again!! (Thanks Miss Tiffany for the tip) Miss Brittany is still not feeling well, hope she is feeling better by tomorrow so she doesn’t miss our field trip! Miss Bonnie helped us out this morning. She was in charge of our splatter paint bat art, I’m not sure what had more paint on it the papers, the floor, the wall or Miss Bonnie?! They had fun though, and that is all that really matters right, and Miss Bonnie was a good sport! Thanks “L” for being our reader this morning!
REMINDER: Field Trip Tomorrow!! If you haven’t already please return permission slips, and don’t forget to leave a car seat in the morning if you are not able to join us. We will be leaving here by 8:40, breakfast will start at 8:15. The cave is damp and cool, please remember a light jacket and tennis shoes. If you are going with us please read over the information letter I sent home with the permission slips, we will not be able to take anything into the cave with us. Thank You So Much!

Nocturnal Animal Sounds

We watched a short video today during Circle Time about Nocturnal Animals http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVloVe4jWMU They loved hearing the sounds of the night and guessing what animal they were hearing. We also listened to a song about an owl and a bat (thanks for the tip, Miss Tiffany) ask your child how a bat “sees” at night. The answer… echolocation! The kiddos only want to learn about bats, so really our theme this week should be Bats instead of Nocturnal Animals! We talked about how at night sometimes the only thing you can see on an animal is their eyes glowing. I sat out oil pastels, black construction paper, glue and wiggly eyes for the children to create their own animals in the night picture. Thank You So Much to BeLinda for fixing our lunch and doing my breakfast dishes! I don’t know what I would do without my awesome Preschool Families!
He was VERY excited about our new blocks!

Nocturnal Animals

We sat up our “bat cave” in our classroom today! One of our kiddos read the book Counting Bats. We wrote numbers on our white boards. Miss Brittany did a little yoga with the children during music and movement time. We made brown bats during table time. This was a following directions and cutting activity. Their scissor skills are really improving, I only had to help one child cut.
REMINDER: Field Trip is Friday, please remember to turn in permission slips.

Picture Day – Nocturnal Animals

Today was spring picture day. Thank You to Miss Catrina from Remember When Photography for coming in and capturing our sweet little kiddos personalities through pictures :o) Thank You to the parents who made a special trip to town this morning for pictures, I can’t wait to see them! Proofs should be here by Friday, and orders will need to be turned in by Wednesday next week.
This week we will be learning about Nocturnal Animals. These kiddos are so smart. They were able to tell me that Nocturnal Animals sleep during the day and are awake at night. They also were able to name some nocturnal animals. One of our kiddos read our book during Circle Time.
REMINDER: Field Trip on Friday, Permission slips are in cubbies please sign and get back to me as soon as you can. Thank You!

Trash Truck Day!