Signs of December!

The children have been having a lot of fun with our "Signs of December" theme!  Today they listened to The Gingerbread Boy by Paul Galdone and made gingerbread people out of paper cut-outs, googly eyes, pom poms, foam shapes and paper mittens and boots.  They look adorable!

The children were VERY excited to play in the snow!

Harvest Feast

Thanks to everyone for making this year's Harvest Feast a wonderful and memorable event!  The children did a great job singing "Hello, Mr. Turkey" and "Let's Be Thankful" for all our guests! 

Each child shared what he/she is thankful for and put his/her leaf on the "Thankful Tree".  Everyone did an amazing job speaking in front of a large audience!

It was great to see parents, grandparents and siblings at our feast.  

The children were very proud of the corn muffins and pumpkin bread that they made!

Halloween Parade and Party

The children had a great time on November 1st when they finally had their Halloween Parade and Party!

They had a special orange and black snack!

They played Jack-O'-Lantern Ring Toss,

Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin,

and the Balance the Candy Corn game!

They put on their costumes and went on a parade!

They visited the siblings who go to school at Steward

and the parents who work at Steward!

Pumpkins, Spiders and Bats, Oh My!

After exploring the inside and outside of a pumpkin, I put a piece of pumpkin in the science center and another piece in the refrigerator.  After one week, we observed what happened to the pumpkin.  The children were in awe at what they saw!

The children have been listening to stories about bats and spiders, such as There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat by Lucille Colandro and Mighty Spiders! by Fay Robinson.  They enjoyed making bats out of paper bags!  

On Tuesday, our class made spiders out of dark gray playdough, pipe cleaners and googly eyes.  They looked adorable!

During center time, the children have been having fun exploring in the sensory table filled with corn and plastic jack-o-lanterns, cauldrons, bats and spiders!

They've done a great job working in pairs or small groups to put puzzles together!

Pumpkin Pumpkin

We began the month of October by making orange playdough.  The children had fun singing the following song as they stirred the dough:
Stirring and stirring and stirring our playdough, Woooo, woo, woooo, woo, Quiet, quiet, quiet BOO!

After exploring the inside of a real pumpkin and listening to the story Pumpkin Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington, the children made pumpkins out of construction paper, crepe paper and real pumpkin seeds.  

They also mixed play and art by using marbles to paint pumpkins!

Fall Fun!

This week we began our "Signs of Fall" theme.   The children have been enjoying being "scientists" and using magnifying glasses to observe mini pumpkins and guords.

We sang "The Leaves on the Trees" and used red, orange and yellow tissue paper to make fall trees.  

The children have been practicing their lacing skills using fall lacing cards.

Happy Fall!

September Happenings

It's been a great start to the school year in preschool!  The children have been having a lot of fun exploring in their new classroom.  On the first two days of school, the children helped Mrs. P make red playdough.

It came out great!

During center time, the children have been working together to make block structures.

They've been taking on pretend roles in the dramatic play area.

They've been exploring the properties of dry sand in the sensory table.

They're very excited to eat lunch at school!

There's been a lot to do on the playground!

It's sure to be an exciting year as we DREAM BIG!

The Incredible Surprise!

Thanks to Sam and Cam's mom for making this video for me and my assistants.  The children are adorable!  It brought tears of joy to my eyes to see all the work and thought that went into making this VERY SPECIAL gift!

Waiting for Wings

We've been having great fun with our “butterflies” theme.  We witnessed the life cycle of the butterfly first hand!

During the week of 5/8, we got our caterpillars in the mail!

Last week, we put the chrysalides in the butterfly nursery.

When we got back from the long weekend, we had four Painted Lady Butterflies in the nursery!  In a few days, we'll set our butterflies free!

The children made caterpillars out of the letter C. 

Whereas symmetry is a trait that most butterflies share, the children painted butterflies with symmetrical wing patterns.  They listened to stories about the life cycle of a butterfly, such as Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert and From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Deborah Heiligman. They used flannel board pieces to help tell the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.