A Hop, Skip, and a HOLY MOLY! Where Has the Time Gone!

So I have had a bit of difficulty maintaining my weekly posting goal as of late.  I am adjusting to a few changes around the house...AND we hit birthday season where all but 2 of our 6 family members celebrate withing a period of 5 weeks!!  It's a bit nutty in and of itself, but let's go ahead and throw Easter on top of it and that's a whirlwind of activity that has led me to put my blogging to the side for a bit.  I must admit, mama's T-I-R-E-D!  But enough whining!  On with the important stuff :)

We have been busy having fun in our little classroom preparing for Easter.  We began by sequencing the story from Palm Sunday to Easter through pictures.  (We are a Christian Preschool, so we are allowed to actually teach our kiddos about God!)  I combined this sequencing activity with a review of our ordinal numbers and general number writing.

We also took some time to decorate our hallway making beautiful cross "stained glass" windows!  The kiddos had a lot of fun doing this quick and easy activity.  It turns out that tissue paper is a great exercise of those fine motor muscles!!

We die cut crosses into a folded 8.5X11 regular piece of construction paper.  We folded it in half (like a hamburger).  

Then we cut 2 rectangles of contact paper per student.  This just has to be large enough to cover the cross cut out.  

We pre cut squares of multi colored tissue paper so that they were ready to go for the kiddos!!  We taped the contact paper down so that the sticky side was up and let the kids cover the sticky side with a beautiful layer of colored tissue paper!  After the first piece of contact paper was covered (at least where the cross would show--a few spaces doesn't hurt anything!), we took the 2nd piece and sealed the tissue paper in.  Then the kids glued their piece of "glass" on the inside of the folded cross die cut.  They turned out beautiful!  But, before we hung them up, I could not pass up the opportunity for  a teachable science moment!  We used a flash light to talk about solid vs. translucent materials.  I of course had to relate it back to our previous discussion and exploration of shadows.  We discussed how the black paper was a solid and the tissue paper would be transluscent--or allows the light to pass through.  They had fun making their crosses glow :)  We "discovered" how the glow changed depending on the light that we chose to shine behind it.  We observed how the colors changed with the different lights as well.  We LOVE science!!

Moving on, we did some more very "eggscellent" science!  What better way to keep with the theme of Easter than to study the ever prominent symbol, the egg.  We did some "eggsperiments" with our eggs and learned a lot.

We conducted this super simple "eggsperiment" over 2 days.  You take a raw egg and place in vinegar.  We used an air tight jar so that we did not have to smell our "eggsperiment".  By the end of the 1st day the egg had already grown in size and begun to float.  I have done this experiment for years and have always let it sit in the vinegar until the shell is completely gone!  It's very cool to watch the vinegar eat away all the calcium carbonate out of the shell.  However, this year, when brushing up on the science behind the coolness, I found that I could let the shell get soft for a day or two and then let the egg sit out and the shell would pull the calcium carbonate from the liquid in the egg to reform the shell!  Well, I was super excited to try this...but we got a little rough when feeling the softened shell and had scrambled egg before I could get a chance to do this.  Note to self:  next year, 2 eggs in the vinegar!

Afterwards, we had a little more fun with our egg themed week.  We  did some creative writing.  If you could have anything come out of your Easter egg, what would it be?

"Inside my egg I have a dog!" (but mommy would not be happy)

"Inside my egg I have Ironman Patriot!" (gotta love this kid!  Everything this year has all led back to Ironman!!)

"Inside my egg I have an octopus eating a snickers!" (yep, this one's ready for kinder!!)

I LOVE these kids!  They make me smile each and every day!  How blessed I am to be a part of their early formative years.  

And that was the "eggsciting" News, Views & Stews of my week!

Five for Friday

Linking back up with Doodle Bugs Teaching  for Five 4 Friday!  Happy Friday Everyone!!

#1

First things first! We finally got to finish celebrating my sweet Hubby's birthday with the rescheduled hockey match between the Dallas Stars and the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday night.  This was so much fun and very much unexpected.  I figured when they rescheduled the event for a Wednesday it was going to be out of the question  (see I'm married to the church via my husband and we lead bible studies on Wednesday night!).  However, we found wonderful substitues and decided to continue in our celebration of the wonderful man God has blessed my life with and go and enjoy a night out!  It was fun and best of all our home team won, Go Jackets! (we are originally from C-bus).

#2

Zero the Hero made his appearance again this week!!  On the 10th of April (because we had school and the date contained a zero).  I have modified the way I do Zero the Hero due to circumstances.  I now teach a 3 day a week program and so counting every 10 days would take WAY too long to get to 100.  So I just celebrate with a little treat every time we are actually in school on a date that contains zero and journal about what "zero" left for us.  It has been a great way to keep the kiddos paying attention to numbers in general.  This time around we had die cut 1's and a mini donut left on our snack mats. The kiddos had discussion (facilitated of course by me) about why Zero left the things he did.  They have caught on pretty quickly that Zero really likes round things because he is round.  They eventually figured out that they could make the number 10 with the objects he left them!  Fun for the kiddos and great for their budding brains!!

#3

We were studying birds this week and what is bird week without a cute art project?  Now, I can't take credit for this one, but my teaching neighbor Ms. Kim did the most adorable extension after reading the book Owl Babies by Martin Waddel.  For a closer look, check out my shelf on shelfari.  I did read the book with my class and we did a venn diagram after having a discussion on nocturnal animals.  We decided to compare bats and owls (since we had previously studied bats during the Halloween season).  They did a great job, but thought the name of the chart "venn diagram" was a really funny word:)  Kids at this age are so sweet!!  My sweet neighbor managed to squeeze in an art project that used cotton balls to create the 3 owl babies!!  Absolutely adorable!!  I will need to remember this for next year.  This is a pic that I found on pinterest, but my neighbor used just 1 cotton ball per owl and googlie eyes instead of construction paper.  Still super cute!!  I'll have to remember to take some pics of hers and post.

#4

Instead of a craft, we did a journal entry.  I had a whole bunch of pictures of different types of birds that I gave to the kiddos to pick one that they liked.  Earlier in the week we had talked about how we might draw a bird on our own using simple shapes, like circles, ovals, triangles, etc.  So the kiddos took the pictures (which conveniently had the name of each bird on it) and drew their version and wrote the name.  This is the first time I have ever given them actual lines.  I know that the opinions vary about when to start using lines for writing, but I just wanted to see what they would do.  It was interesting actually.  Some didn't use them at all, while others drew their own lines to use.

#5

As a part of our bird week, we of course had to paint with feathers!!  I normally offer kiddos the choice of table or easel, but this time, I asked them to use the easel.  I only had one kiddo who really did NOT want to use the easel.  It was surprising how much the kiddos who don't usually prefer the easel, LOVED it.  I always tell them how important it is to try new things!!  We had a lot of fun painting with a variety of feathers and "feather-like" objects. 

Don't even get me started on the importance of paint in a child's early development!!  Some of the important ones can be reviewed below for those moments when your adult brain and fear of mess tries to convince you otherwise.

“Given an easel, paper, and paint, and no directions, every child will paint!” (Katherine H. Read 1967)

Paint and Physical Development

• Painting provides numerous opportunities for advancing physical abilities including fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and visual perception (Danko-Mckee & Slutsky 2003). In addition, teachers regularly observe children developing gross motor skills, sensory integration, grip strength and balance when working at the easels.
• Research has documented that the act of painting promotes lateralization of the left and right brain hemispheres (Feldman 2003), improving the brain’s ability to integrate functions such as creative thinking with planning and execution.

Paint and Emotional Development

• The process of painting can be a soothing sensory experience for young children. At Bing, it often aids in separation from caregivers and can be used as a tool to process emotional experiences.
• The medium of paint has the ability to transform feelings and ideas into visual form, offering children a means of communication other than verbalization.
• Engaging with and conversing about paintings (both those created by children and professional artists) promotes an awareness of and an appreciation for the aesthetic qualities in art and in life.
• The act of painting supports the development of self-efficacy, self-restraint and self-correction (Feldman 2003).

Paint and Social Development

• Painting supports the development of a self-concept (Feldman 2003).
• It provides an opportunity to observe peers in their process and connect through a shared interest.
• Group painting invites planning, turn taking and collaboration.
• Painting also supports group project work as a method of documentation and sharing children’s ideas.

Paint and Cognitive Development

• Painting involves a number of cognitive tasks for children, such as “experimentation, exploration of cause-and-effect relationships, critical thinking skills, and visual discrimination” (Danko-McGee & Slutsky 2003).
• While painting, children encounter opportunities to learn about colors, shapes, sizes, textures, categorization and numeracy.
• Painting inspires planning, problem solving and symbolic thinking, as well as discussions involving a child’s own observations and evaluations.

Paint and Language Development

• Painting can encourage children’s discussion of art terminology, qualities of the paint, order, direction, location and spatial relationships.
• Children often incorporate story elements into their work or provide a narrative of their thoughts and theories while they work.
• Research with young children suggests that children who are encouraged to draw and paint at an early age will later learn to compose stories more easily, more effectively and with greater confidence than children who do not receive this encouragement (Applebee 1988; Clay 1995).
• Finally, painting also provides the opportunity to explore visual patterns, imagery and literacy concepts that precede formal writing (Olshansky 1995).

Just wanted to share a few important reminders as to why getting a little messy every day is important!  Hoping you have a terrific Friday!!  That's the News, Views & Stews of my week.  How was yours?

Five for Friday: March 14th Happy Pi Day!!

Linking back up with Doodle Bugs Teaching  for Five 4 Friday!
1.  Well the day had finally arrived to go out and celebrate my hubby's birthday.  He's not a big "deal" kind of person, so this is definitely a rarity in our household. We had tickets to the Dallas Stars team against our home team The Blue Jackets (from Columbus, OH).  We got a sitter for our 3 angels and
 went out to dinner on a Monday night....also a treat AND with adult company!  We had a delightful dinner and headed to the game where we settled in with our Nutty Bavarian treats to enjoy the game.  Now I have to emphasize the fact that getting my husband to agree to doing something for him is not an easy task, nor is finding the time in all our schedules.  So, the fact that this had all come together so beautifully was a miracle of sorts...until.... 6 minutes and 23 seconds into the game a player on the Stars team collapsed!  Scary!! Long story short, the game was postponed and we were home before 10.  Oh well!  We still got to have dinner out!

2.

We created a background for our Name Rockets by stamping stars onto a black piece of construction paper.  It created a nice effect and will look great on our walls for open house!!

3.We created our astronauts for our hallway wall display for...you guessed it, open house!  We decided that simple and cute was the way to go!

Obviously, the head is actually an adorable picture of each kiddo in an astronaut helmet!  Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my mac and the ability it gives me to manipulate images!!

4. 

We have read some really great books, but my kiddos really, REALLY loved this one!  Aliens Love Underpants!  Find it on my shelf in the sidebar.  After reading we had fun creating our own underpants to hang on a clothesline in our room.  My boys and girls alike got a real kick out of this entire experience.  I love bringing a book to life!  I'm thinking about printing a fun looking alien to hide in the underpants to see if the kiddos notice. Then we can discuss where it is using our location words such as on, under, between, above, etc.  Simple. Fun. Effective!

5.  As spring is beginning to bloom I wanted to take advantage of the beautiful weather we have been having.  To learn more about seasons and using our observation skills we used our handy dandy yoplait binoculars to go on a "signs of spring" hunt.  We were able to create a list of observations that we noticed of how things were changing, from the daffodils beginning to peak through and the wind picking up, to the sounds of new birds we can hear!  It was such a great activity and required very little prep!  My favorite observations were the beauty of the trees during this time.

And that was the News, Views & Stews of my fun-filled week.  Thanks for reading!

                                                       

Five 4 Friday; March 7

Linking back up with Doodle Bugs Teaching  for their Five 4 Friday!

Let the Space Unit begin!!  This week we have started to create some of our many space related projects that will line our hallways and adorn our classrooms for the ever important open house that is just around the corner.

1.  Circle Painting

to create a fun background for our robot project and add in some free art experience, we created a collage of painted circles.  The kiddos were given various circles to choose from with white and yellow paint on black paper.  The effect turned out great and the kids had a blast making them.

  Science journals: You guessed it!  Space!  As we discover the elements of space through read aloud and discussions the excitement and interest continues to grow.  Taking full advantage of the interest level, I asked them to journal about space by drawing what they knew.  We had discussion about what things would look like in space, what things they would see, etc.  Here are a few of their entries.

3.  Robots:  What's a space theme without robots?!  We decided to use geometric shapes to let the kiddos create robots.  We used their circle paintings as a background.  The contrast really sets off their robots and makes for a nice looking piece of art.

4. Liebstar what?! Me?!  I am so excited to announce that I have been nominated for the Liebstar award!  Yippee!  I'm working on my post to formally accept, but wanted to share!  Thanks for believing in me!

Mommy Time:  Today I get to volunteer today at a pizza shop to help my kiddo celebrate and prepare for the upcoming STAAR writing assessment.  The school has set up a "cafe" experience where the kids get to place their orders and my job is to play the "Amelia Bedilia" type waitress.  It is an exercise that gets them to use descriptive and specific wording to express their thoughts.  It's genius really!  I am excited to be a part of this memorable learning experience for my baby girl!

And that's the News, Views & Stews of my week!  TGIF!

                                                       

Five For Friday: Wow! Where did the Week Go?

Keeping my weekly posts going by linking up with Doodle Bugs for their 

 

Science Journaling for Preschoolers
I have always been a big fan of MEANINGFUL writing connections.  I find that students are more willing to produce quality work when they are interested in the topic or have had a meaningful experience with the topic of choice.  Getting my 90% boy class interested in practicing writing of any kind has been a challenge until....(drum roll please)  I introduced their Science Journals!  We began to record the basic concept of each experiment or lesson we had done that week and suddenly they weren't griping and whining about having to write words or draw detailed pictures! At first I thought it was a fluke.  Maybe because they were excited that it was a new little booklet.  But week after week they have willingly participated in writing in their science journals (which I might add is in ADDITION to their normal writing time) AND I have had absolutely NO complaints!!   Our entries are very basic, but then again I'm excited that they are processing their science lessons through written expression this early on!
Our topics in our journal so far have been as follows:

Ice Melts

Shadows and Light

Dinosaurs are Extinct

Habitat

Wheels Roll

I'm still working on my cover for our journals so check back soon!

Celebrate Love

My "big kids" have had a week of celebrating love at school and have been practicing acts of random kindness. With all this paying it forward going on at the elementary level, I could not help but pass it on to my kiddos down at preschool. So we interviewed each kiddo and asked for examples of how they show loving kindness to others.  The answers are of course precious and dear!  Take a look for yourself.

  &

Up Coming Open House Projects

I know it's probably cheating to make 3 and 4 on the same topics but they really are separate projects.  Our theme at school this year has been space.  So, needless to say, space projects are a must for our open house which is coming up the beginning of April.  Being that this is my first year at this school, I am kind of just along for the ride.  Sure I have an opinion every now and again, but really I'm just trying to figure out how things work here.  So as the space projects are thrown my way, I just make sure that my kiddos and I get done what we are supposed to get done and of course, that we have fun doing so.

We made name rockets and have started learning about constellations.  Trying to find preschool appropriate constellation lessons has been challenging.  I have had to make a few of my own because I just couldn't find what I was looking for.  Not sure how it will go but I will let you know. For a quick peek check out my store on TPT

Me a Coach?  You've got to be kidding!

So I am by no means a person you would call athletic!  Yet I find myself coaching my daughter's soccer and basketball team!  Oh the things we do for our children!  Coaching soccer was a lot of fun.  At this young age (pk-1) much of what we're teaching involves just kicking the ball in the correct direction.  So when she asked to do basketball and of course if I would coach her team, I answered like any parent would, "why YES, I'd love to!" (When in my head I am terrified because I know nothing about teaching others how to play a game that I can barely comment on while watching with any knowledge!)  However, I have somehow managed to make it through the season and our team (and I) are actually learning about basketball!  I am coaching as part of an Upward league and they have made it extremely easy for me to seem to be a knowledgeable and capable----dare I say it---coach.  To learn more about Upward Sports Ministry and Outreach opportunities, please visit their website at http://www.upward.org/

 And that's the News, Views & Stews of my week!  What did you do?  Link Up and Share!!