Sunday, January 29, 2012

Weeks of January 16th-20th and 23rd-27th








Beary fun two weeks! Two weeks of learning all about bears, starting with "Corduroy" and moving onto "Jesse Bear". We explored different kinds of bears (polar, grizzly, brown, black), and the letters "B" (review) and "J". The children enjoyed playing "auditory memory" games, using story starters, and rhyming words. We played games such as What Time Is It?, musical chairs (the bear went over the mountain... to see what he could see!), and button toss. Kristianna had the children stringing beads, sewing on cards (Corduroy's missing button!) and cooking yummy bear shaped "P"ancakes with straw-"B"erry sauce.

Friday was so much fun... a Birthday Party for the children's bears (we really missed having J with us!). We played "party games", sang Happy Birthday to our bears (or dolly or monkey...), and ate "P"ears, and cupcakes complete with brown frosting, mini-bears, cinnamon chips and "P"ecans.

Next week we explore DOGS with Angus!


More pictures HERE!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Catch-up! December-January 13th









First! Kristianna took some beautiful photos of the children before Christmas! Don't forget to click on the link below to view them (and I believe you can order your favorites through photobucket). We apologize for not getting the pictures up sooner, but we have been busy, busy, busy! Kristianna is preparing for a trip to a Ugandan orphanage in April and May, and we will have a substitute teacher (as well as myself) during that time. Very exciting for her!

Also, if you look at the list of books to the right of this page, you can see what book we will be exploring next. Clicking on the book title will bring you to the description page on Amazon. Handy, huh?

The week of January 2nd-6th the children had fun with pizza! Who doesn't love pizza? The children loved the book, "Pete's a Pizza", and had a blast making their own favorite pizzas during art time (which, of course, included lots of discussion between the children on which pizza toppings are the *best* and which are *yucky* :o). They experimented with yeast and helped prepare breadsticks for dipping in their favorite sauces. We learned about the letter "P", reviewed some numbers up to 10, and then went to the Pizza Factory for a tour. The Pizza Factory was very generous with the children, showing them where everything was prepared, helping them flatten and roll the dough, put on sauces, cheese, pepperoni and into the oven! While waiting we colored in pizza coloring books and practiced rolling and throwing the dough up in the air. Very fun!

Last week (January 9th-13th), we hopped over to learn all about rabbits! The children made "bunny biscuits", and learned some facts about rabbits such as what they eat, where they live (natural habitats) and different breeds of bunnies. They enjoyed the books, "Bunny Finds a New Home", and "Runaway Bunny" (which prompted a lively discussion about mommies and daddies and chasing baby bunnies to the ends of the earth). We learned the letter "R", reviewed our numbers, and made little rabbit hand puppets. As we do every week, we spent lots of time playing cooperative games with the children, reminding them about taking turns and sharing. They look forward to this time, but it can become rambunctious very quickly! We love this little group, and the children are becoming very attached to one another. That's one of our goals: to make good friends with other children and learn to be considerate. It's exciting to see that happening!

Don't forget to feed your baby bunnies lots of carrots and spinach this week!

~Nicole

Click here to view more pictures!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

November 28th- December 9th











Such a great two weeks!! Last week the children read "The Mitten" and learned about the Ukraine. We even made a Ukrainian potato pancake with a sour cream dip (I'm pretty sure only 1 child liked it!). The children made their own cotton ball mittens, decorated our "tree", made a count-down-to-Christmas chain, and talked about the excitment, and the Reason, for the Christmas celebration. They also learned the letter "M" sound, and the numbers 11 & 12.


This week we went on two outings! First we concentrated on working on our learning packets with the letter "S", and number review, then we read the book "The Snowy Day" (one of my favorites!). The children loved cutting out "tortilla snowflakes", then frying them in butter and topping with powdered sugar "snow"! Yum! On Wednesday we walked to the library for children's storytime- it was all about silly bears. They danced to Raffi music and created unique designs with foam pattern blocks. Friday was a blast! We took the children to Mobius Science Museum in Riverpark Square. The current exhibit is -magic- and there was so much more to explore and do! They also loved the Christmas decorations, and ginormous tree, in the mall. We definitely plan to take the children again in the spring.


Next week is Christmas prep! Our playschool will be taking a two week break, following the public school calendar, December 19th through January 2nd. We decided to go ahead and follow the school breaks, as I now have 5 children in school. :o)

Be sure to visit PhotoBucket! Lots more pictures!

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Week of October 31st-November 4th









What a fun week of review and Fall celebration! We started off our week with a mini-celebration of Fall... trying our hand at cupcake baking, making orange frosting, and carving our classroom pumpkin. Then we went right into reviewing popcorn science, autumn changes, and the vowels that we learned over the past 5 weeks, and working through numbers 1-5. On Wednesday the children attempted to create fall pictures using wax paper, crayon shavings and fall leaves- they weren't very pretty but they had fun trying. :o) Friday we took the children for a nature walk to pick Maple leaves, the leaves they found were so big they decided that we should dry them out and paint them. So that we will attempt next week.

For next week- Mr. Gumpy's Motor Car (transportation), the letter C, and continuing with numbers 1-5.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Week of October 24th-28th










Popcorn and the letter O! This week the children enjoyed playing with "knights and damsels" finger puppets, drawing a fall picture (from our visit to the Arboretum last week) in their nature journals, and making "popcorn on the cob". We read some fantastic books about fall and popcorn, learning the science behind the yummy treat, and finished our vowels with O! We also continued with leaf and tree identification, and the changes that Autumn bring to our neighborhood.

Next week will bring a Fall celebration and review of what we've learned this month!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Weeks 10th-14th and 17th-21st October











These past two weeks just flew by, so you're getting two week reviews in one :o).

The week of the 10th we had so much fun working alongside the book, "Fish Out of Water", if you haven't read this book with your child yet- you should! The children learned about fresh and salt water, lakes, rivers and oceans. We talked about the miracles of Jesus- focusing on the miracle of bread loaves- then each of the children made their own fresh loaf of bread! We also covered the letter "E", and played with new fine motor/ sensory games. The children were thrilled to get our very own classroom goldfish, "Otto".

The week of the 17th we studied the letter "U", squirrels, and autumn using the book, "Have You Seen Trees?" (a beautiful book!). On Monday, the children pretended they were squirrels and hunted for (marshmallow) nuts outside, they loved playing the fox and the squirrel tag game as well. We made deliciously fresh pumpkin cookies for snack, so good with hot cocoa! During art the children made "trees", using their arms as the trunk and branches, and ripped colorful tissue paper for the leaves. They had a blast getting paint all over their arms, on purpose, and the trees turned out to be very expressive of personalities... Friday we took the children to the Finch Arboretum, where they spent the entire time climbing trees, throwing leaves, playing alongside the creek, chasing each other, and having a healthy snack- all way better than the lesson we had planned for them there!

This next week, "Popcorn!", in honor of 'Popcorn Poppin' Month'. We look forward to finishing up our vowels, and exploring the fun of popcorn with your children.

Don't forget to check all the fun pictures, on Photobucket, that Kristianna took:

Sunday, October 9, 2011

October 3rd-7th




























What a fun week learning about bears! Rawr! Of course, our bears were cuddly and cute. We went on a bear hunt and found a bear cub hiding in the kitchen! The children enjoyed making their own bears to "scare" eachother with, some using buttons for belly buttons and others using ears for feet. Lots of creativity! Books we read and explored together: We're Going on a Bear Hunt, We're Going on a Lion Hunt, Jesse Bear's Family Tree, Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat, The Big Hungry Bear and the Red Ripe Strawberry and a follow up book on Mary Cassat (our American artist). We also continued our letter study with the vowels, adding "U".

On Friday we went to the pumpkin patch at Hidden Acres. The children had so much fun petting the goats and pig "Porkchop", running through the teepees, finding their way out of the haystack maze, picking pumpkins from the patch, going on a hayride, eating HUGE yummy apples and, of course, getting lots of fresh air and sunshine.

Next week: fish and the letter "E"!

*For more pictures visit our Photobucket.