Purplicious

The Bumblebee Class is learning about the color purple this week. They have a bunch of purple fun in their room including purple shoes, hats, backpacks, and purses in the house center. They also have an awesome sensory tub filled with purple ribbon, flowers, sponges, bows, balls, and pompoms!

There will be plenty of purple art thus week and even a purple snack! A good purple book to read is Purplicious by Victoria Kann.

All aboard!

Trains have been popping up all over our classroom today! The large Duplo blocks were added to the block center and they were quickly turned into trains that traveled across the classroom.

Yesterday the boys asked to get out some dominoes. We got out several sets and after comparing the number of dots on each domino, the children figured out how to make a domino "train". They made ling lines, circles, snakes, and zig zags and delighted in watching all of the dominoes fall down!

Muffin Tin Monday: Hungry Caterpillar

I discovered Muffin Tin Mondays when my daughter was just a couple of months old.  I have been anxiously awaiting the day when she would be old enough to participate in and enjoy Muffin Tin Mondays at home.  As I looked for favorites to start out with, I found that many ideas went along with our themes at school.  Mrs. Cathy and I decided that Muffin Tin Mondays would be a great way to create a special day for each of our themes.

Today we had Muffin Tin Monday based on The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  In our muffin tins, the children found one slice of salami, one slice of cheese, one cupcake, one strawberry, one apple, one sausage, one pear, one slice of orange, and one pickle.  There was even a little egg laying on a leaf.  The children were thrilled and ate most of their food.  At the end the older ones said that they had a stomachache, so they needed to eat one nice green leaf like the caterpillar (what a great way to get them to eat spinach)!




 For more info about Muffin Tin Mondays, go to http://www.muffintinmom.com/ 

For a great article about The Hungry Caterpillar which includes reading and healthy eating tips, click here.



Praying Mantis

One of my favorite parts of the day is when we write in our daily journals.  The children are given a topic, but are free to write/draw about anything.  I am amazed how much their work has changed over the last couple of weeks.  I love seeing their creativity at work and seeing them process what we have learned.  Today L drew an insect.  He showed it to me and said, "It's a praying mantis!"  I pointed out that he drew six legs, two antennae, and three body parts for the praying mantis and he said, "I know.  It IS an insect."  Such a smart boy!

Is It An Insect?

The preschool class has been inspecting insects this week. We have learned that an insect has six legs and three body parts. Throughout the day I hear cries of "it is not an insect!" as the children find a spider or scorpion toy.

Here is the insect song we sing to the tune of "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes":
Head, thorax, abdomen, abdomen
Head, thorax abdomen, abdomen
Six legs, four wings, antennae two
Head, thorax, abdomen, abdomen

Eating Bugs

What do you get when you add Oreos, pudding, gummy bugs, and preschoolers? A mess (and dirt cake)!

We talked about recipes and following instructions in order. First on the list was washing our hands. Second, the children crushed Oreos in baggies.



Third, we mixed the Oreos with a cup of pudding. Finally we counted three gummy bugs into our mixture and ate them all up. Yum!



The children announced that they are good cooks, and I would have to agree!

Learning Outside

Today was a nice, cloudy day with a cool breeze so we decided to take our learning to the playground.



We set up a reading area under an umbrella with some cozy rugs and books about animals.



We turned the wooden house into a tool shop. L came to me and said, "Here's what is wrong with your sink... I accidentally hit it with my hammer.". A few minutes later he came back and said, "I fixed it and it only costed $25.". Not a bad deal for some plumbing work! :)



We filled the sensory table with blue sand and ocean animals. At first the children asked "What is this?" and then proclaimed that it felt really good.






I felt adventurous, so I put out some fly swatters and paint. The preschoolers were thrilled with the opportunity to mix colors, hit the paper, and to splat the paint all over.

Open Them, Shut Them

The toddler class had a blast exploring things that open and close. The collection included a cell phone, food containers, and different types of boxes. The peanut butter jar was a favorite, and encouraged fine motor skills to twist the lid open and closed.




The toddlers also enjoyed dressing up in fancy skirts, hats, and shoes! They came up with some interesting outfits and kept checking the mirror . It was adorable!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

In the preschool class, we have begun our unit on insects.  Our unit is based around The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and his other "very" books.  Today we sorted butterflies in the science center, took butterflies to the water table on the playground, inspected insects in the sand table, and built bug habitats in the block center.  We also made beautiful fold-art butterflies! 

Here are some of the concepts we will be learning during the unit and the skills associated with each concept:

Characteristics of insects: Science, Vocabulary

Comparison of insects and spiders: Science, Graphic Organizing

Author study of Eric Carle: Language, Art

Representing bugs creatively: Science, Art, Fine Motor

Life Cycles: Science, Language

Imitating bugs in movement and song: Science, Language, Large Motor, Music



Introducing... Shelly the Turtle

Heeeeeeeere's Shelly! Shelly is a box turtle that I have had for almost ten years. The children love watching Shelly and taking care of her. Every day we feed her different fruits and spray her aquarium with warm water. We love when Shelly opens her mouth WIDE to take a bite of food.

Growing Beans

Our preschool class is growing beans! On Friday we read Jack and the Beanstalk. Each child counted five beans to place Ina baggie along with a paper towel. They squirted water into the bag, then we placed the bags in the window. The children predicted that the beans would grow into a beanstalk or jelly beans! We have been checking on our bens every day and they have started to sprout!

Horse Play

We are taking advantage of the cooler weather this morning! The toddler class took a walk to visit the miniature horses next door. They sang "Old MacDonald" and tried to talk to the horses through the fence.

The preschool class took a nature walk with clipboards and a checklist. We were on the lookout for birds, bugs, trees, clouds, etc.

A Homemade Scale

I have some catching up to do on our blog! Our Internet connection has been very slow for the past few days.

Yesterday we experimented with weight and scales. Two buckets hung from a plastic hanger and we got out some plastic ice cubes. The younger children enjoyed filling and dumping the buckets and watching what happened. The older children quickly figured out that thru needed to place equal amounts of ice cubes in each bucket to even them out.

The Block Center

The boys were very busy in the block center today! They built huge towers that fell down and became a race track. The boys problem solved and figured out how to build tall bridges that would not collapse. Building all of those structures required a lot of cooperation and discussion of plans.

What do children learn in the block center?
- math skills
-concepts of shape and size
-planning skills
-spatial awareness
-motor control
-social interaction
-imagination
-strength and coordination

Busy Toddlers

Our toddlers have had a wonderfully busy day! They painted with Bingo dotters, cooked lots of food in the house center, watched our pet turtle, and played the drums. Their favorite activity has been reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? By Eric Carle.

This month, the toddler class will be learning about insects.  We have some large insects in the science center and we have been singing lots of insect songs.  You can look forward to seeing real ladybugs and worms join our class!

Flower Shop

The Bear Class has a flower shop and it has been busy! We added flowers, vases, order forms, and money to our house center and the children worked hard at arranging and selling their flowers. Little hands were busy writing numbers and letters on the order forms to make sure the orders were complete!