Friday, March 25, 2011

FRIDAY, MARCH 25th

Early this morning Dylan, Nicole, and Rosie helped Miss Michelle prepare breakfast for the entire center. The children enjoyed making homemade monkey bread. Cooking is a great way to teach the children science, math, following directions and much more. Here is the recipe for you to enjoy making at home with your child.


 ingredients:
4 cans refrigerated biscuits
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter (3/4 cup)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
 Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 9-10 inch tube pan.
2. Mix white sugar and cinnamon in a medium sized plastic bag. Cut the biscuits into halves or quarters and place six to eight biscuits pieces in the sugar cinnamon mix. Shake well.
3. Arrange pieces in the bottom of a greased pan. Continue layering until the biscuits pieces are coated and in the pan.
4. In a small saucepan, melt the butter with the brown sugar over medium heat. Boil for 1 minute. Pour over the layered biscuits.
5. Bake for 30 minutes. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a plate. Pull apart and enjoy!


















Today in preschool we ...

did a project about how a flower grows. We started with the seed and used string to represent the roots. Then we used our cutting skills to cut out a stem and glue on pedals.  This project really helped the children understand what happens to a seed when it is planted as well as the growing process.

The children had a lot of interest in reading stories today.  One of the books they really enjoyed was Preschool to the Rescue, about a preschool class who rescued their toy cars from the mud.  After reading the story, we discussed what kinds of things they could do to "save the day" if someone needed help.  They were so imaginative in sharing their ideas.  This was a wonderful literacy activity and sharing experience.


In our science center this week we had a planting activity set up where children used planting cups, dirt, and seeds to explore their own ways of planting and growing seeds.



Toddler Activities :)

Today  we painted "Robin eggs" using blue and white paint.  We observed the mixing of the two colors and felt the paint on our hands.  It is not uncommon at this age for the young children to dislike getting their hands messy, some of them choose to use a paint brush instead...then when they were more comfortable they wanted to paint their hands with the paint brush.  What a learning experience!
We also used teamwork to play with a parachute.  We used listening skills to shake, lift, and go under the parachute.  We observed the pretty colors (color recognition) and laughed with our friends during this silly game.  We loved seeing the reaction on our friends faces! (Social skills)





For story time we sang along to books on CD.  By request we did each book twice (Learning through repetition) and we had fun singing along to "Rock-a-Baby Band" and "Wheels on the Bus" using hand motions with friends and teachers.  (Learning through imitation)