Totally Thursday!

Thursday February 19, 2015

We had an awesome day in our classroom today.  I know I have said it numerous times before but it is worth saying again I truly love my job and today was another great example of why I love what I do.  There were so many moments of a child accomplishing a task or center and having that look of satisfaction and pride that they completed it.  There was so many times today that I just stood back and watch was taking place in our classroom and it was truly amazing to watch how much each and every one of these little people have grown in so many ways.  The blog is a little long but there were so many great things happening I wanted to document as much as I could. 

Today we continued along our journey of the number 7, the color pink, the shape of the heart, learning about Zacchaeus and about our letters.

We are really concentrating on sitting during our morning meeting and making sure that we are keeping our hands to ourselves and not bothering our friends around us. We are continuing to work on our new prayer the Superman Prayer see if your child can help you recite it. 

Thank you, God for giving us food

Thank you, God for giving us food

For the friends that we meet,

For the food that we eat,

Thank you, God, for giving us food

Amen!

Many of our friends have been fighting colds, coughs, fevers and snotty noses.  As a reminder your child needs to be fever free for a complete 24 HOURS before returning to school.  With that being said we are really enforcing hand washing, covering our mouths when we cough or sneeze and using a tissue to wipe our noses. 

Enjoy reading about our day and viewing the pictures. 

Jesus Time: This week's Bible story comes from Luke 19:1-10

A Very Short Man

Everywhere Jesus went there were crowds of people.  In one crown there was a very short man named Zacchaeus.  He wanted to see Jesus, but he couldn’t’ see over the crowd so he climbed a tree.  Jesus said, “Zacchaeus, come down so we can go to your house today.”   Zacchaeus hurried down and took Jesus to his home.  Zacchaeus wanted to do good things.  He told Jesus that, he’d give half of his money to the poor. 

Today during our center time we made a tree for Zacchaeus and glued him in the tree and Jesus at the bottom of the tree.  While we worked on this project we practiced singing the song about Zacchaeus.  Ask your child if they remember any of the song.  Below are the lyrics to the song. 

Zacchaeus was a wee little man; a wee little man was he. 
(Using both hands, make it look like you are showing the size of a very small man.)
He climbed up in the sycamore tree, the Savior for to see. 
(Using both hands act as though you are climbing up a tree)

And when the Savior passed that way, He looked up in the tree, 
(using you fingers, make it look as though someone is walking.)
And he said, "Zacchaeus, you come down from there; 
For I'm going to your house today, for I'm going to your house today."
(Start clapping your hands when singing this verse.)

Number:  We continued learning how to count to the number 7 I was pretty impressed by how well some of my friends are doing counting to 7 all on their own.  We practiced counting 7 fingers, jumping up and down 7 times, counting 7 hearts and clapping 7 times.

During our center time we had to place heart shaped stickers on a large number 7 we had to place stickers on each little seven inside the big 7.  Using stickers is a great fine motor skill it helps us work on our pincer grasp and transferring from one sheet to the next.  We started this activity by counting the how many little number 7 we had this is where I watched to see who could count all on their own. 

Shape:  It’s all about the Heart this month so we continued to work on recognizing the shape of a heart

We focused during our center time cutting out a heart that was folded in half.  Some of my friends were able to do this on their own, others needed help holding and maneuvering the paper and others need help holding the paper and cutting with scissors.  No matter where your child falls in cutting with scissors they all cut their own hearts out.  After we had cut out our heart on white paper we painted our heart with pink paint and then we decorated it with some red glitter, which we loved!  Check out our hearts in our classroom next week.    

Color:  Pink is our color for the month we had fun placing different pictures on our board.  Ask your child what pictures they placed on my color board today.  We are making Morning Meeting more interactive so my friends helped my put all the pink pictures on our board. 

During center time we painted our hearts that we had cut out with pink paint.

Music and Movement: We sang Jesus Loves Me, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. We had fun learning the Zacchaeus song as well The Wheels on the Bus, If Your Happy and you know it, Roar like a Lion, Jumping and Counting, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, Silly Dance Contest and the Washing Machine Song.  We did a lot of singing and dancing today and had so much fun!

Outside Time: With the ground covered in snow we did not get to go outside today but we did walk to the commons to play with the balls, tunnels and some funny rubber animals and our other friends from the PDO classes. 

Patterning:  We continued working on our pattern today of pink and purple hearts.

During Center Time today we used pink and purple bingo daubers to decorate a heart.  We had to match the color with the bingo dauber we discovered when we were done creating our heart that we had made a pattern of pink and purple. 

We are continuing along our letter journey today we learned about the letter H and made a heart print with our hands for our letter Alphabet book.  . 

Sensory and Science was spent today creating and making heart shapes with our pink play dough and cookie cutters.  We also talked about playing in the snow. 

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!

Free Choice Play

We had a long extended Free Choice Play time.  We were all playing so well and so many neat things were taking place that I did not want to break the great level of imagination, play, concentration, cooperative play and learning that was taking place.  During our Free Choice Play today we listened to some Christian Rock Music a lot of them were songs we here in church but are done with a modern sound and feel.  Enjoy see us during a very productive Free Choice Play time…..

PUZZLES

So as you have seen in previous blogs we love to do puzzles today we took it to a new level.  We have had the opportunity to work on three floor puzzles this month and really enjoyed doing them, so I brought out a new floor puzzle that was a little more challenging it was 46 pieces a little more than we are use to but we worked as a team and we did it!  After some of us finished that puzzle we did many of the other puzzles in our classroom.  Puzzles offer a great way to work on our problem solving skills, pre math skills today it offered a look into working as a team to complete a project.  The satisfaction afterward was priceless!  

.Starting with the first floor puzzles these  were three to four pieces.  

.Mrs Wegner helping us out.  

Then Mrs. Horn brought out the 46 Doc McStuffin Floor Puzzle and our team of puzzle players got to work below is a series of pictures that were taken during the process of completing the puzzle.  

.Finding the last piece and placing it in the spot it belongs 

.Hard work paid off and they did an awesome job, this was not only a proud student moment, but a proud teacher moment as well.  

The 3D Puzzle has also provided a lot of exploring and learning this month.  We have learned a lot about different shapes and finding the right hole they fit into.  

.Art Easel

This was a happening place today.  I always love to see what is going to be drawn or made.  The Art Easel is always offered to the children.  They can use markers on the wipe off side or chalk on the chalk board side.  This activity allows the children to work on holding a writing instrument as well as working on pre writing skills.  

.Nicholas began working on  a creation and when he was done he came over for me to take a picture of his creation.. Below is what he created 

.Nicholas and a picture of his family.  We labeled together each person in his family and then counted the number of people in his family.  Then we talked about how Nicholas and Mrs. Horn have the same amount of people in our families.  Super proud child of what he drew! 

.Landry spent a long time working at the tool bench drilling, sawing and hammering.  

Play Dough

Play dough is a great way for us to work on our sensory skills.  Play dough can be squishy, warm, smooth, sometimes hard and bumpy.  Our play dough was starting to dry out so Mrs. Wegner sprayed it with some water and it made it feel a little different is was interesting to watch the children's reactions afterwards.  Some it did not phase at all others were not to sure about it and would not touch it and others were not to sure but went ahead and got ready to create some delicious meals for Mrs. Wegner and Mrs. Horn. 

.The students decided to make some "pancakes, sausage and bacon"  today with the play dough.  What a great way to foster our imagination and spark a conversation about what we all had for breakfast this morning.  

.Doll House and Ponies 

There has been a lot of imagination happening with the doll house and the ponies this month.  They do all types of neat things with them.  From making them fly to living in a castle built out of blocks from playing mom and dad.  All great things to see and all super age appropriate.

. Early Literacy Skills

We always have a wide range of books to look at in our classroom.  Books are always at our friends disposal for them to look at and "read."  A lot of time a friend will get a book out climb up in the orange chair and look at for several minutes.  It is a great way to foster a love for reading.  

. Ella was busy working on the magnetic board with letters and numbers.  At one point she turned around and shouted "I found the letter "E"  that is what my name start with"  The smile on her face was priceless and the look of how proud she was melted my heart another proud teacher moment.  She went on to identify a few more letters.  Using the magnetic board and putting the letters up and down helps us become familiar with what the letters look like.  

. Mrs. Wegner took her spot on the stage and read a series of books to the children.  As she would finish one book another student would hand her a book and would wait for her to start it.  Being read to is a great way to also help with learning to love to read as well as how to sit and listen.  

Well Free Choice Time sadly had to come to an end and we did a great job cleaning up and headed over to the carpet for our Morning Meeting 

Morning Meeting

. Today at calendar we put up the number 19 talked about there was a 1 and a 9 on our green square we then discovered that 4 of our colors had the same number of squares and that number was 4.  Then one of the students asks "I wonder how many colored squares there are on our calendar", which led us to counting our colored squares and we counted all the way to 19!  Whew that was a pretty big number but what great exposure to counting.  

. MR. Weather Frog reminds us it is bitterly cold outside and we have to wear the right clothing in this cold cold weather.  

. Our Bible Story concentrated on the story of Zacchaeus we had fun learning a new song that we will continue to sing over the next few weeks.  

. Our patterning abilities are top notch!  

. We read this very informative book on Penguins.  We all learned so much about penguins from this book.  We talked about how the penguins are returning to the STL Zoo in March.  

Our Color Board was filled with lots of pink items.  Ask your child what they got to put on the pink board today.  

. Pink Rose 

. Pink Heart

. Pink Pig

. Pink Butterfly 

. Pink Octagon

. Pink Hat

.Pink Boots

.and a Pink Star that helped us sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star 

.Our completed color board 

Transition & Snack Time

We practiced our throwing skills today as we tossed a bean bag in our heart cut out.  After we tossed our bean bag we had to place our heart on our name board.  This allowed us to incorporate some gross motor skills as well as work on letter and name recognition, our colors as well as following directions and using our listening ears.  

. Heading down the hallway to wash our hands and go potty! 

. Commons Play 

We are truly blessed to have a space where we can run and play with all our friends from PDO.  So we are thankful to the main school for allowing us to come into their building and play in the commons.  

. After we cleaned up all the balls and tunnels we got our coats on and without being told each child went and sat on the wall on their own.  They were ready for a walk and knew what was going to happen next!  Super proud of these kiddos!!! 

Walk around Main School

This is a great way for us to see what the "big kids" do at school and to meet and greet with other staff and friends of the school.  We always see neat art work on the wall and stop at the school bus and the large cross with the story of Jesus on it.  Usually, we have someone who stops and talks to us along our walk.  This allows for us to get out of our classroom and to become familiar with the big school so it is not so big and intimidating when we get ready to head to preschool in the years to come.   

. Yellow School Bus this is outside the office doors and where box tops can be placed.  If you have box tops currently you can bring them in and we have a bag in our classroom to collect them.  This is a great way for us to earn extra money for our school.

. Looking at the cross of Jesus life, if you have time ever stop in to the front of our school and have your child tell you about the different pictures on the cross.  You are sure to be impressed by what they can tell you about Jesus' life from a child's perspective.  

. Walking the halls of the big school.  Be careful and enjoy them little because soon they will be the "big kid" walking the halls on their own.  It happens before you are ready! 

. Circle Time 

We sing our ABC's, read a story, learned about the letter H and played a shape game on the magnetic board. 

. This book was a take on the book and song by Raffi Down By the Bay.  We had a lot of fun reading it and seeing who the Farmer would pick up next in his tractor

Shape Matching

The shapes were placed on the board and each student was given a shape when their shape was called they had to come match the shapes on the board.  This was a way for us to be exposed to many different shapes and colors as well as learn to follow directions and waiting our turn.  

. Center Time

We listened to Vince Guaraldi (composer for Peanuts shows) during center time.  We had fun doing more puzzles and using our imagination during center time as well as working on our shapes, numbers, colors and painting themes for the month. 

. The floor puzzles were a big hit and Ella finished all three puzzles on her own and was excited to show me that she had completed them.  

. Reese really enjoyed reading the Curious George book that was in our book basket

. Landry enjoyed watching the balls fall from the monkey's hand to see which way the ball would go. 

. Nicholas was singing his baby to sleep. 

. Emma was entertaining the crowd from behind the puppet show stage. 

. Sophia was engrossed in building the inside of the Dora Doll House 

. Bingo Dauber Patterning

Bingo Daubers helps us work on holding a writing instrument, working on pre-writing skills in terms of staying in a small area and fine motor skills.  We were matching colors today as we made a shape of heart and had a pattern of purple and pink.  

. Counting the Number 7

Using valentine heart shape stickers to find the number 7.  Using stickers helps us work on our pincer grasp and transferring from one piece of paper to another.  We are doing really well counting to the number 7.  Ask your child if they can count to 7.  

. Making a Heart with our hands for the letter H

. Nicholas and Landry looking at an Emergency Cars book together

Building Towers with the Shape Blocks

. Ella super proud of the tower she built 

. Landry started out small with his tower and then decided to keep going.  

. Coloring a Valentine Picture

This is a great way for us to practice our fine motor, pre writing skills and our color identification skills.

. Bible Activity

As we worked on this activity we sang the new song we learned today.  Ask your child if they remember any of it.  

. Cutting and Painting a Heart

. Um we love glitter just a little bit ;)

. Mrs Wegner saw this bird looking in on the ledge and pointed it out to Reese, Reese climbed up in the chair and just laughed and talked to it for a few minutes it was so sweet and innocent to watch.  The birds have eaten all the bird food out of our feeders so I will have to refill them this next week so the birds continue to visit us.  It is a great way for the children to observe and see what the birds are doing.  They were very observant today and many of them told me today that we were out of bird food and they needed to be refilled.  

. Music and Movement

. Last book of the day of all the thing that we have or see in a house.  

. Transition & Lunch Time

. A truly great and enjoyable day in our classroom.  I thank you all for sharing your beautiful children with me each week.  It has been a pleasure to watch them grow and there is so much more to go before we are done at the end of MAY!  Have a wonderful weekend stay warm and take time to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus.  Zion offers four services we would love for you to join us for one of our services.  Saturday at 5:00, Sunday at 8:00, 9:30 and 11:00.  I look forward to seeing you all next week as we wear our pink and we finish up the month of February.