THURSDAY"S NEWS

Thursday September 11, 2014

Week 4 of our school year is in the books and all I can say is I am having a blast with all my new friends!  We started new letter, number shape and color today and had fun exploring and learning.  See below for descriptions of each area we are studying as well as pictures from our fun filled day! 

Jesus Time: Today we continued our study of the story of Creation focusing on days 3 and 4. The following is an excerpt from our children's Bible.

Genesis 1:9-19

The Third Day

On the third day God was busy. He made puddles and oceans and lakes and waterfalls and rivers. He made the dry ground too. Next, He made plants. He made so many different kinds of trees, flowers, and bushes, that no one could count them all. God said His work was good.

The Fourth Day

On day four God put the sun in the sky to warm the earth. He saw that the night was very dark, so God put the moon and the stars in the sky. Then God Made spring, summer, fall and winter. All that He made was good.

We worked on making the next two pages in our Creation Book.  We had to cut a piece of brown paper for the trunk, then use glue to glue it on as well  as a flower and stem.  We then painted our hand green to make the leaves on the tree.  For day four we glued a moon, sun and stamped stars on our pages. 

We also water colored day 3 and 4 and talked about all the different things that we saw happening on 3 and 4

Number:  We began our study of the number 2.  We practiced holding up two fingers.  We then waved our two fingers in the air.  Then we practiced counting 1-2, clapping our hands two times, stomping our feet two times, jumping up and down two times, rubbing our tummies two times and turning around two times and waving our hands two times.

Our center time activity led us to place apple stickers on the outline of the number 2 so we can become familiar with what the number 2 looks like and how it is written. Working with stickers helps us with our fine motor skills as well as our sensory skill.   

Shape:  We began studying about the shape of an Octagon. We learned today that an octagon has 8 sides.  We even practiced counting the eight sides whew that was hard work!  Saying the word Octagon can be tricky but we will keep working at it.  We talked about how an Octagon shape looks like a stop sign and when we see a stop sign we need to STOP!!!  I also brought in a clock that was from my childhood home that was in the shape of an octagon.

Our center time activity involved us in tracing an octagon and then counting the 8 sides of the octagon.  This allowed us to work on using a writing instrument and to work on some pre writing skills. 

Letter: We finished up our study of the letter “B” today. Words that we talked about that began with the letter B were, bumble bee, bear, banana, book, bird, Bambi, baseball, bark, bubbles, broom and blue.  We looked at what a letter B looks like and practiced saying the B sound. 

Our center activity allowed us to have our hand painted the color yellow to complete the second page in our alphabet book we know have added a yellow Bird to our book.  We also had the opportunity to color a picture of a bumblebee that came home in our red folders today.  We also used a yellow bingo dauber to trace the outline of the upper case letter B and the lower case letter b and a beehive. 

Color:  RED is the color we are learning about the month of September.  WE started our morning meeting with identifying different objects that are red on our color board. 

We also got to paint two red tomatoes for our center time activity that helped us remember what the color red looks like.  Many of my friends said that they liked to eat red tomatoes.

Music and Movement:  We were able to do the silly dance contest and to practice singing our ABC’s today.  Mrs. Horn’s computer was not being cooperative with the Internet today.  So Music and Movement was very limited.   

Outside Time:  Due to the inclement weather from yesterday we were unable to go outside and play. We took a walk to the commons area of the main school building and on our walk we talked and looked at all the different things the students have been doing in the main building.  We had fun playing with the balls, hula-hoops, tunnels and running around with our other friends in the PDO Classes.   We also practiced some gross motor skills such as jumping on two feet, running, jumping backwards and jumping in and out.  We also had fun playing red light green light! 

Enjoy the pictures from our day.   I have truly enjoyed the last 4 weeks with your little ones and watching them grow and learn I am looking forward to next week and seeing what all they are ready to explore, learn and discover!

 Free Choice Play

Nicholas discovered our dinosaurs which were a huge hit in the classroom today. 

Ella had fun building a tall tower, it fell over before I was able to snap the picture

Joesph checking out the walking dinosaur in our classroom

Play dough is a great way for us to work on our sensory skills

Lacing buttons onto a string to help us with our fine motor skills 

Nicholas and Joesph were very busy today with the dishes 

Evan petting the dinosaur 

An artist at work 

Another budding artist hard at work!  I love to see how all the children love to show their creative side:)

Morning Meeting

Our color board for the month of September ask your child if they know what some of the objects are on the board 

Dressing Mr. Weather Frog was a little tricky today so here is how we dressed him! 

Days 1 2-3and 4 are in the books and God is Good 

We read this story about a race!  The purple car won but we learned how everyone is happy even if they don't win. 

During our Morning Meeting we started a new skill with patterning.  I had red and green apples and we made a pattern with them.  I would put the first few up and then ask the students to help me with what comes next.  Patterning is a very big part of Early Childhood by no means are we looking for our students to master this skill in PDO, but to merely be exposed to the concept. 

Transition Game 

Today each child was given an apple with their name on it.  When they heard their name called they had to come place their apple on my special board.  This activity is great to work on listening skills, patience and working with others.  We will do lots of these types of activities through out the school year. 

Snack Time/Circle Time

Today when we went to wash our hands we practiced jumping on two feet to help us with our gross motor skills 

Waiting so patiently for all of our friends to be done washing hands. 

Snack time please remember to pack peanut and tree nut free snacks

Loving the orange chair  

We love puzzels 

Color identification board

We learned about animal babies from A-Z

Commons Fun

WE had fun playing red light green light

Practicing our running skills

jumping backwards

Center Activities

Painting two red tomatoes

The letter B

Sophia was so proud to show me her coloring page of a bumblebee 

NUMBER TWO

OCTAGONS

Creation Books

Cutting with Scissors 

Music and Movement

We love the Silly Dance Contest

These pigs made a more of a mess than they did helping out! 

Free Play after Lunch

Another Friend found the love of the orange chair

We had quite the artists today in our class today

and cooks as well! 

Our classroom was well loved today with glue, markers, books and toys.  Which means we had a really productive and fun day in our classroom.  My friends all play so well together that time sometimes gets away from us because I hate to break up the vibe in our classroom.  Have a great weekend.  

Mrs. Horn