BIKE DAY

Monday's Nature Walk

 

 DANCING

R

Rosie is proud of the house she built all by herself!

Malachi, Jacob, and Xavier

"Doing team work!" (Xavier)

"We are proud of our dragon cool boatmobile!" (Malachi)

Sophia - enjoying her reading time

 

The Preschoolers always look forward

to Miss Jessica's visits.  The week before spring break she brought in an Easter gift bag for each child and supplies to make and decorate spring cookies.  They painted on frosting and adorned them with sprinkles (lots of sprinkles!).  Miss Jessica won't be in over Spring Break, and the kids will be anxiously waiting for her to come back next Tuesday.

A note from Miss Michelle about our upcoming "Garden Project"

Dear Parents:
     The Second week of May the preschoolers and school-agers will be starting their Garden Unit.  A gardening journal will be provided for each child.  The children will be able to write down words and draw pictures as they watch their gardens grow.
     We will be planting in our garden box and in individual containers this year.  Planting a garden provides multiple learning opportunities for the children.  Gardening can easily be connected to various subjects including math, science, literacy, and nutrition.
     The children will be given the opportunity to experience planting seeds, caring for plants, and harvesting and tasting the results.  Gardening will also teach the children respect for the earth, responsibility, nurturing skills, knowledge of where their food comes from, healthy eating, pride in their accomplishments, plant parts, what plants need to live, the differences between a plant and a weed, and how to save water by collecting rain water for our plants.
     Involving children in gardening is a great way to increase fruit and vegetable consumption and a way to increase physical activity.
     We are excited about all the great learning opportunities the garden will provide this summer.
-Miss Michelle

St. Patrick's Day

Here are a few pictures of some of our St. Patrick's Day Fun.

The preschoolers made Leprechaun ears.

 Miss Tiffiney's class played with green Jello.

(and tasted it too, of course!)

Bubbles and Chalk

What beautiful weather we are having!  We have high school students with us on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings as part of their student teaching to complete their Child Care Certificates.  One of the students, Miss Jessica, brought in chalk and bubbles to take outside and enjoy in the sun shine.

Rainbow Toast

This week is all about colors, rainbows, and St. Patrick's Day in our preschool.  For snack Monday morning the preschoolers made Rainbow Toast by painting their toast with food coloring and milk.

Fruit Salad

The first week of March Miss Michelle did a Nutrition unit with the preschoolers.  They talked all about what kinds of healthy foods our bodies need to grow.  On Friday, the 5th, children brought in fruit to share.  They all helped in cutting and mixing the fruit and enjoyed a fruit salad with their lunch.

Strollers Needed

We are looking for a double and a single stroller.  If you know of anyone who has one to give away or for a reasonable price, please let us know.

The "Dynamic Duo" lost their pants!

Adam and Bryce had a fun (and messy!) time playing outside today.  We love finally getting outside again, but we'll have pretty dirty pants until our play yard dries up.

Dirt on My Shirt 

(or pants in this case)

There's dirt on my shirt

And leaves in my hair

There's mud on my boots

But I don't really Care

Playing outside is so much fun

To breathe the clean air

And feel the warm sun

To stomp in a puddle

Or climb a big tree

Makes me quite happy

Just look and you'll see

-By Jeff Foxworthy
from the book "Dirt on My Shirt"

Learning Through Play

The lincoln logs have been getting a lot of use in the preschool classroom lately.  As I observe their play, Patrick and Malachi sit on the floor together building.  I can practically see their minds at work as they fit the pieces together.  Now, lincoln logs are a complicated thing for a three or four year old.  They fit together in a certain way, and the notches have to be in the right direction in order to put the next piece on.  When building a house they have to figure out how to fit four pieces together to construct walls.  But they know what to do and have a recognizable structure in a matter of seconds.

I watch Malachi as he instructs Patrick that the corner or the house he is building must be "the same".  They are fitting together the smallest lincoln logs on each corner of the house to make windows.  Patrick stacks a few pieces and asks "Is this the same?"  Malachi counts the pieces stacked on his side, then the pieces on Patrick's.  He holds his hand across the top to measure if it's even, and seems satisfied.  He notices that the notches are in the wrong direction to put the long log on top to form the top of the window.  He takes a small log off each corner and searches through the box for a longer log to add.

They continue to build and when they are finished, proud of their work, they take it over to the puzzle table to display.  "Hey!  Let's line them up by the biggest!",  Patrick says, and they line them up from biggest to littlest.  Satisfied, they go find the legos and begin a new project.

It is amazing to me when I sit back and take the time to just watch.  Children's minds are constantly deciphering, wondering, and figuring things out.  It's like a scaffold with each new discovery building on the last.  They learn so much through their play.  We often forget how hard at work they really are when they are "just playing".

-Amanda

Miss Michelle on Vacation

Miss Michelle will be sitting on the beach in sunny Mexico next week!  We all wish her a safe flight, and a fun time (and wishing we were there too!).  She will bring back lots of stories and pictures to share with her class.