The Start of our Good-Bye's--Good Bye Sophia

Thursday May 13, 2015

Today was one of our little friends last day with us.  Sophia and her family are moving to Montana this weekend.  Please keep them in your prayers in the days and weeks ahead as they transition to a new state, new home and get ready to attend new schools and begin new jobs.  We wish her and her family all the best and we will miss them around Zion.  We had a lot of fun making memories with Sophia today and be sure and check out the class picture we captured of all our class with Mrs. Wegener and myself.  Thanks to Miss Kirby for taking it for us!

Mrs. Wegener was back today and she brought her daughter along with her to join in our fun!  Please continue to keep Mrs. Wegener and her family in your prayers as well as they grieve the loss of her grandfather.    

We had some more new toys in our classroom today!  The superheroes have arrived and they were busy saving the world from all the bad guys! We also were busy learning about the number 10, the shape of a diamond and reviewing our colors.  Not many papers will becoming home these next few weeks because we are starting to wind down and many of our things we are doing will be in our portfolios that will becoming home in the last week of school. We also will be working on many group projects and doing lots of group activities. 

Park Day is scheduled for Saturday May 16 from 10- Noon at the Tot Lot Park off Kimberly Drive in St. Peters (directions will be an email to follow this blog post).  This a time for friends to come play and for parents to meet and get to know each other and exchange phone numbers for future play dates.  Please be sure an email Mrs. Horn if you will be attending! 

We had a lot of fun today and enjoyed playing with our friends and learning lots of fun and exciting things. 

Enjoy reading about our day!

Jesus Time: This week's Bible story is the story of Jesus' Ascension.

From The Beginner's Bible:

Jesus Goes Home (Matthew 28/Act 1)

Jesus led his friends to a place near Bethany. He lifted his hands up and blessed them. "Tell other people about me," he said. Then he went up into the sky. A cloud hid him, so his friends could not see him. They stood looking up into the sky for a long time. 

All of a sudden, two angels stood beside them. "Why are you still looking into the sky?" the angels asked. "Jesus has gone up to heaven. Someday he will come back the same way you saw him leave." Then the friends went back to the city with joy in their hearts.

Jesus had taught them many things. They would always remember that he said, "Do not worry or be afraid. Trust in God and trust in me. In God's house there are many rooms. I will go to make a place ready for you. Someday I will come back and take you with me so you can be where I am.” 

Today during center time we glued a picture of Jesus going up into heaven and then we painted some “puffy” clouds around Jesus.  We used shaving cream and glue to make our clouds white and puffy. 

Number:  During our morning meeting we were introduced to the number 1O and we counted our ten fingers and ten toes as well as ten friends and 10 flowers.  We also counted 10 super heroes we had seven Spider man and 3 Batman’s!  We talked about how they were the same and how they were different.  I am really impressed with how well they are able to make the comparisons and identify the differences in our things we count.   This is a skill that they will continue working on in preschool and we will continue to work on next year in PDO.

Shape:  During Morning Meeting we talked about the shape of a diamond.  We found out that we can make a diamond with our fingers.

During Center time we picked our favorite color and we painted a diamond that were turned into Kites and are displayed on the bulletin board outside our classroom to help us get ready to move on to preschool and continue on in PDO. 

Color: During the month of May we are reviewing the colors we have learned through out the school year. 

During center time used our favorite color to paint with.  As well as our pre-writing activity to pick our favorite glitter for the first letter of our name.    

Music and Movement: We did a lot of Music and Movement today!  We sang Jesus Love our ABC’s and me.  We also had a lot of fun doing Five Days Old, Clapping our Hands, Shake your Body down, Bringing Home a Baby Bumble Bee, Jumping and Counting, The Silly Dance Contest and The Washing Machine!  Whew we got our work out in for sure and had a lot of fun laughing and being silly.   

Outside Time:  We did not make it outside today because it was raining.  So we did extra music and movement and had an extended Free Choice Time.  

Patterning:  We continued working on our pattern of Spider man and Batman for the last few weeks of school. 

During our center time we did a pattern of butterflies and ladybugs.  I started the pattern and my friends finished the pattern with stamps using red and blue ink.

Sensory and Science Time:  We did not use the sensory table today we have not refilled it yet but will be done in the next few days!  We continued our talk about the birds and bird feeder.  We are all pretty interested in watching to see when the birds will come and eat from the feeders.

We also worked on a special paper for Mrs. Kuhlman as a thank you for all her hard work and dedication to the Early Childhood Program.  Mrs. Kuhlman will be stepping down from the Early Childhood Directors position at the close of the school year and return to the classroom next year as one of Zion’s Third Grade teachers.  We wish her well in her new adventures and thank her for her service and advocacy for Parent’s Day Out Program at Zion.

Enjoy the pictures for Today!  

.Free Choice Play

We had an extended free choice play today while we listened to music from Despicable Me 2.  We had fun exploring and playing with new toys and playing with our friends.  This time during the day has been so great for our friends this year they have been given the freedom to explore the classroom and not have a lot of limitations place upon them.  The classroom is open and everything has been at my friends level all year.  It has been a great way to allow my friends to explore and have the opportunity to explore and learn many different things. 

.Linking Families

We had  a lot of fun linking up the people to to make families and friends.  It was great way to talk about who is in our family and who are friends are as well as work on our fine motor skills and color identification and counting skills 

.Sarah was very proud of her family.  

.Sophia making her family

.Puzzles

We have done lots and lots of puzzles this year and it shows in how well all of the students have become at doing the puzzles.  Puzzles are great way to work on pre math skills and problem solving skills.  If you are looking for some downtime and quiet time for your little one this summer I urge you to have puzzles available for them.  

.Reading

All year the book basket has been filled with lots of great books and it has been a wide variety of books.  The orange chair has been well loved and will leave at the end of the school year and Mrs. Horn will be on the search for another great chair for our classroom next year.  It was not uncommon for a few friends to always be in our reading area. 

.It was always not uncommon to find Mrs. Wegener sitting with a group of friends reading numerous books with them.  Thank you Mrs. Wegener for being such a great friend and reading book after book to our little friends.  Remember reading 20 minutes a day to your little one can help develop a love for reading for  a life time. 

Drawing on The Art Easel 

.Imaginative Play 

As the school year has progressed I have seen a change in how many of our little friends have played together.  We went from parallel play to playing together.  Our imaginations are starting to be more present and it has been so much fun to watch them come up with new and different things to play! 

.The Super Hero Gang! 

.Morning Meeting

Happy Thursday, we counted our days we have left together and we found out we only have two more Thursdays left before summer break begins

.Mr. Weather Frog was ready for the soggy weather in the STL today

.Color Board of Super Hero 

.This book was great for us to review all of our animal sounds we have learned over the school year.  We did a great job! 

Transition and Snack Time

We continued to talk about our Super Hero Power is to tell people Jesus is ALIVE!  I was so excited to hear a few of my friends tell me that they had told other people that Jesus was ALIVE!  It has been so great this year to see how well the students have done with this transition activity this year and how well they are doing with our routine in our classroom. 

.Working on standing in line 

.Circle Time

We did some music and movement during this time since we were unable to go outside today!  We had a lot of fun….FYI Lots of pics 

.We took a break and listened to Polar Bear Polar Bear What do you Hear on CD

.We then did our flannel board story of butterflies in the Garden 

.We read how Pete the Cat was TOO Cool for School. 

.We ended our circle time with a number, color butterfly matching game. 

.Center Time

We listened to the Frozen Soundtrack during Center Time today and we really enjoy our song selections today and had a lot of singing and dancing going on around the classroom that just put a smile on my face and reminded me that I LOVE my job! 

Painting 

We painted with our favorite color a shape of a diamond for our bulletin board outside our classroom.  Be sure and check it out next week when you come into the hallway. 

.Super Hero Paintings

We also used the water colors today to paint a picture of us as a superhero. These will be displayed in the lobby next week be sure and check them out and asked your little one what their SuperHero Power is!   All of my friends spent a long time working with Mrs. Wegener on painting their super heroes it was really interesting to watch them and observe how much they have all grown over the school year. 

.Lots of Play and Exploring 

.Sarah enjoying some quiet time in the chair with Mr. Brown Bear 

.Nicholas and I took a pictures of each other CHEESE! 

.Joseph and I took pictures of each other CHEESE! 

.Ella wanted to free color with paper and created some beautiful drawings. 

.Reese decided to join Ella with creating 

.Super Hero LOGO NAMES

Today some of my friend finished up their super hero logos with the first letter of their name.  We have worked all year on learning the first letter of our names and we are all doing a great job with the letters of our names.  I am also very impressed with how many of our friends know the first letter of their friends names! 

.Sophia and Ella worked together to complete the number foam puzzle fun 

.This picture made me smile when I looked up and saw both Carson and Nicholas rocking in the rocking chairs I just chuckled to myself thinking of two little old men sitting on a patio rocking away. 

.Imagination Play

These hats have been a source of lots of imagination and fun the last few weeks and they have been a great addition to our classroom 

.Reese looking beautiful 

.Super Heroes in Hats?!?!

.Bible Story Activity

.Patterning

.Final Circle of the Day 

We had fun reading a book about a bear who had a beautiful secret and then we finished out with doing the Silly Dance Contest and The Washing Machine Song. 

.Transition and LUNCH TIME

.What a great picture of all my beautiful friends.  I have been truly blessed to have been a part of their lives this past year and my heart is overflowing with love for each and every one of them.  Also, Mrs. Wegener has been a wonderful addition and blessing to our classroom and I have really enjoyed getting to know her and has become a dear friend to me as well.  

We had a wonderful time today in our class and I am looking forward to closing out the next two weeks with my friends.  Enjoy your weekend and remember we would love for you to worship with us at Zion we offer services Saturday at 5:00 Sunday at 8:00 9:30 and 11:00.  I am usually at the 9:30 service and would love to see you there.