Welcome to the first Tuesday in March

Tuesday, March 03, 2015

Welcome to the month of March.  How did it become the month of March already?!?  It is hard to believe in 3 short months our school year will be over and many of my friends will be off to the big school to join new friends in preschool.  Even though that time is coming we have so much to learn, explore and play with before we go. 

With the beginning of a new month meant lots of changes in our classroom, new toys for one it was exciting to see all my friends come in today and see what they were going to play with.  What an exciting first hour and 15 minutes we had in our classroom.  So much learning, exploring and playing was taking place I almost hated to have to clean up and continue on with the rest of our day. 

During our Morning Meeting we were introduced to a new month (MARCH), a new number (8) a new shape (rectangle), a new color (Yellow) a new Jesus story (Jesus Calms the Storm) a new pattern (shamrocks and Hat’s) and new letters (k &L).  We also started to learn about the holiday St. Patrick’s Day and learned some new words today. 

Enjoy reading about our day and viewing the pictures.  Lots to learn and do today. 

March Calendars came home today and a reminder that Book Orders are due tomorrow.  We have a busy month planned ahead and I hope all my students stay well and are here to enjoy this exciting time together. 

Enjoy reading about our day!

Jesus Time: This week's Bible story comes from Mark 4:35-41 Jesus Calms the Storm

Jesus and His followers got into a boat and set out across the lake.  Jesus was so tired that he fell asleep.  Soon a strong wind began to blow.  Waves came over the side of the boat.  Everyone was frightened. They woke Jesus. “Help us, or we’ll drown!”  Jesus commanded the wind and waves to be still.  The wind stopped, and there were no more waves coming into the boat.  The lake became calm. 

During our center time we made our own rainstorm using blue paint and a q-tip we talked about how we need to trust Jesus and know that he will always be here for us and that he will do what is best to keep us safe.

Number:  We were introduced to the number 8 today.  We looked at the number 8 and how it looks like to circles on top of each other.  We counted our 8 fingers and then we counted 8 Shamrocks

Center time led us to becoming more familiar with the number 8 as we used a green and yellow bingo dauber to find the number 8 on some shamrocks.  When we were done we counted 8 shamrocks on our paper.

Shape:  an introduction the shape of a rectangle was done during morning meeting.  We talked about how the door to our classroom is the shape of a rectangle. 

Color: Yellow is the color we will be learning about in the month of March.  We were introduced to lots of different things on our yellow board today.  Ask your child what they saw on our color board today. 

During our center time we colored an umbrella yellow and glued it on a blue piece of paper that more will be added to it in the next week or so.  As the children came over the center I would ask them what the object was and when they would use it.  All of my little friends knew it was an umbrella and did a fairly good job at saying this tricky word.  They also were able to tell me what they used it for.   We were able to tie in our bible story to this activity as well.  As the student began to paint their umbrella they were asked what color they were using.  Most were able to respond with the color YELLOW!

Music and Movement: We sang Jesus Loves Me, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, our ABC’s, Beethoven’s 5^th Symphony finger exercises and the Silly Dance Contest.  We didn’t have a lot of time for music and movement today because we got so caught up in playing and exploring in the classroom.  

Outside Time: With the ground covered in snow we did not get to go outside the drizzle in the air we headed to the commons and for a walk around the main school.  We had a lot of fun with our friends from the PDO Classes and are really looking forward to when we can return to the outside to play!

Patterning:  We were introduced to a new pattern of Shamrock and Leprechaun Hats today during morning meeting.   Two new words for us to learn and become familiar with during the month of March

We were able to work on our patterning skills during center time as we also worked on learning the number 8 we did a pattern of yellow and green on our Shamrocks.

We are continuing along our letter journey today we learned about the letter K and L and we will start painting hands this week to continue our alphabet book that will becoming home in May!

Sensory and Science led us to talk about the weather today and what we need when it would rain outside.  We also talked about the wind Jesus and his followers experienced in their boat on water.  We also had the opportunity to play with new yellow play dough and make all types of fun things with it.

We are doing lots of exploring, learning and discovering all types of things through out the day in our classroom.  Everyday is an adventure and everyday is different.  Which is the beauty of working with this age group. 

Enjoy the pictures from our day!

FYI—THERE ARE A LOT OF PICTURES 

Free Choice Play

We were busy busy busy during the first part of our day.  We enjoyed listening to some classical music as we moved around the classroom learning, playing and exploring.  Playing and exploring is one of the best way our children and learn.  So if sometimes you walk in and that is all you see us doing is playing that is ok because there is so much more to it than playing.  We had lots of new toys to check out.  

.  Emma discovered our foam blocks and built a great looking tower first thing this morning.

.  Landry found a whole new tub of different cars to play with. 

.  Susanna and Kate started their day with looking at all the new and fun books we had in our book basket. 

.  Landry decided to see for himself what all was in the book basket and he found a book on cars to go along with the cars he had found in the tub 

.  YELLOW PLAY DOUGH

There is nothing quite like brand new play dough to play with and we had do so much fun with it today.  Lots of different things were being created.  

.  Carson wanted to see what would happen when his cement truck went over the play dough.  It was fun to watch and see the expression on his face when he made funny looking tracks on the play dough. 

.  Mr. Potato Heads

We found the tub with the Mr. Potato Heads in it and we had a blast making them look all silly and funny  

.  Our Magnet Board was filled with St Patrick's Day magnets that we had fun re-arranging and playing with. 

.  New cars were still on the top of Landry's list as the hour went by! 

.  Avery found a new little people play set on the table that was fun and exciting to play with 

.  Morning Meeting

Happy MARCH everyone! 

.  We read this book about a bus that was crazy, loud and had a hamster on the loose in it.  

.  Transition & Snack Time

We had a new name board up today with a shamrock on it and we had to put our leprechaun that had our name on it and were different colors on the board.  When our name was called we had to bring our Leprechaun up and tell Mrs. Horn what color our leprechaun was and then find a spot on the board. 

.  Mrs. Horn and all her lucky friends!  

.  Practicing standing in line

.  Snack Time please be sure that your child has a drink for snack time as well as lunch time we have a lot of friends who are not bringing something to drink at snack time and they are thirsty.  

 Commons Time

.  We were somewhat in a superhero mode today and Carson was showing his super power by holding up the tables! 

.  Look all those colors!  Ask your child what they saw on our walk around the main school. 

  Circle Time

We started with singing our ABC's and then moved onto to learning the letters K and L.  

.  Today we learned about the letter K and L

.  We read a favorite book of mine today all about the letter's in the alphabet. 

Transition Game

We played a matching game today for us to get ready for center time.  Each child was given a shamrock with a number on it and when I held up their shamrock they had to bring it to me to see if we had a match!  I was pretty impressed by how well many of my friends knew their numbers.  Once they made a match they were free to play about in the classroom. 

.  Cutting and Learning New Words 

Today we cut pictures of things we see around St. Patrick's Day.  The pictures were: Leprechaun, pot of gold, hat, rainbow, clover and shamrock. After the child had cut out the pictures I would say a word and the child had to find the correct picture and glue it on their paper.  A way to expose them to different words they will hear in the future.  

.  Coloring A St. Patrick's Day Picture

This is how we are working on our pre-writing skills as we learn how to hold a writing tool and work on coloring up and down and side to side.  

.  Playing with the Foam blocks

.  Julija found a diamond shape to the shape puzzle and began to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star 

Landry found my Oreo puzzle game and was a little disappointed it wasn't a real Oreo when he tried to eat it.  

.  Jack and Susanna working hard at the magnectic board they found the letter magnets and went to town putting them on the board as well as the St. Patricks Day Magnets.  What a great way to expose them to the letters and a holiday. 

BIngo Daubers

we worked on a pattern of green and gold, as well as becoming familiar with the number 8 and worked on one of our new vocabulary words shamrock.

.  Painting a Yellow Umbrella

.  Making a Rainstorm

.  Mrs. Wegner, Reese and Julija reading one of the new books that were in our book baskets. 

.  Puzzles 

We had all types of new puzzles to try and solve today.  We were busy in the puzzle department that is for sure. 

.  WE LOVE THE NEW FOAM BLOCKS! 

Music and Movement

We had time for our favorite the Silly Dance Contest.  They all participated today in music and movement and they were having so much fun that I had to capture it!  LOTS OF PICS AHEAD

.  We finished up our time with a book about how Jesus Loves everyone no matter what they look like.  

.  Transition & Lunch Time

We wrapped our day with finding our Leprechauns on our name board and washing our hands to eat our lunch  

.  Whew!  We had a fun and very busy day today.  I hope you enjoyed reading and viewing the pictures from our fantastic day.  I had so many more pictures to share but to many to blog about.  It is so neat to see all my friends learning exploring and having fun at school.  Have a wonderful evening and I look forward to seeing everyone later in the week.  Stay warm and safe.