Introducing......."THE FARM!"

 

Overalls, farm hats and all....we jumped right into to our new farm theme this week full of excitement! We pretended to work in the fields planting corn and beans.We took care of the chickens, fed the cows and horses and made some really yummy homemade dishes in the kitchen with fruits and veggies from the farm. We enjoyed perusing all of the new farm books in the book corner. The children love reading books that we have previously read at Circle to a friend and putting their own twist on it!! They really enjoyed the book, "Ten Clean Pigs" by Carol Roth. Then we turned it over and upside down to discover "Ten Dirty Pigs." It was two books in one!

 We had fun engaging with friends as we played with the wooden farm animals and their barn. We built fences for the horses, pastures for the cows to graze in and feeding troughs for those dirty little pigs who, WE FOUND OUT, really enjoy playing in the mud! The children are doing such a wonderful job sharing with their friends and working together as a team. This is not always so easy, especially when we are all excited about the new manipulatives. They often sing the little song, "Team work, Team work," as they are playing or cleaning up together. So great!!

When we went to the playground on Monday morning, we couldn't believe our eyes!!! Each one of the little squash seeds that we had planted in our garden had sprouted over the weekend. We decided they were probably really thirsty from the hot sun, so we watered them and they were happy! When we got back to the classroom, we revisited the bar graph that we made last week predicting which seeds would sprout first, the garden seeds or the seeds in the cup. Guess What?? Most of us had predicted that the garden seeds would sprout first! Then, wouldn't you know, two days later the seeds in the cup began to sprout!

We celebrated our second birthday this week. We enjoyed a delightful birthday book and delicious cupcakes. Birthdays are so much fun and the children feel SO special as they share pictures of important events in their life, themselves and their family.


At the library this week, we enjoyed our very first, "MYSTERY READER!" After the children were seated in "Clifford's Corner," Mrs. Mundell and Mrs. Wiltshire gave them clues as to who the mystery reader might be. After only three clues, they guessed correctly! Our mystery reader read, "Caps for Sale" by Esphyr Slobodkina, the classic about a peddler and some mischievous monkeys. Then she helped the children as they searched for that perfect book to check out from the library.

Our week ended with our very first field trip to Crisp Park. After reading the book, "Gus the Bus," by Olga Cossi, the children couldn't wait to board our little yellow Shorecrest school bus for the park. We buckled our car seats and off we went! We sang songs like "Twinkle, Twinkle Traffic Light" and "The Wheels on the Bus" and laughed as our little bus carefully went over the speed bumps on the road. At the park, we were met by parents and grandparents. What a surprise! The children were busy every minute as they enjoyed climbing, sliding, swinging, jumping on the shaky bridge and, yes, even the monkey bars! We took a short break to have snack and then back to playing. Thanks to the sunshine in the sky and the parents helping hands, we had a fabulous trip!

 

We Welcome A New Lively Ladybug!

This week we welcomed a new little ladybug to our class.  She has made many new friends and is adjusting quite well.

 The children have been working hard as they learn how to "use their words" to express themselves. We are learning how to take turns, raise our hands at circle time and share with our friends. This past week Ms. Wiltshire and I were amazed at how many friends were not only "using their words," but were making kind, spontaneous comments to their friends! At that exciting moment the child is able to choose a colored pom pom to place in our "Kindness Jar."  Then when the "Kindness Jar" is full, we will have a celebration. How exciting!!!

       We celebrated our first "Lively Ladybug" birthday this week. with the help of her Mom and Dad, the birthday girl shared her beautiful "birthday book" which was full of special pictures of her and her family. The children were listening eagerly as she told us about each picture. We sang "Happy Birthday" in English and Spanish and blew out the birthday candle. Then she shared her yummy birthday snack with her classmates!   

                                                  
We have some more cute, new friends in the classroom. THE TADPOLES!! Yes, the baby tadpoles were discovered in water near the JK building last week. We have been enjoying them this week. The children can't believe how they have grown, from just little round balls to having tails. The most fun was when we fed them pieces of frozen lettuce. It was fun to watch two little tadpoles take off with a piece of lettuce twice their size!

In music, Mrs McIvor read us the book, "The Teeny Weeny Tadpole" by Sheridan Cain. It was a story about how the little tadpole starts his life inside of a clear egg, like jelly. Then he sees all of his friends jumping and wants to jump, as well. Finally, he grows legs and can jump, too! Next they listened to the "Story of the Frog" and they were able to act out the life cycle of a frog as they followed the story. It was great!

The children love when Mrs. Gootson comes to read to us on Tuesday mornings! She always brings the very best books, and she even sings and dances with us, too! Some of our favorites are "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and "Hokey Pokey."




On Friday we read "Growing Vegetable Soup" by Lois Elhert, and we learned all about planting a garden and what plants need to grow. On the playground in our garden, we each planted yellow squash seeds. In the Exploratorium, we planted our own cups with yellow squash seeds. Next we predicted which would sprout first, our garden seeds or our seeds in the cup. We then made a bar graph charting our predictions. So far, it looks like many of us think that the seeds in the garden will sprout first. Each of us took careful, serious consideration before making our predictions!!

                                                      What a fabulous week! Don't forget our field trip to Crisp Park on Friday. We would love for you to join us. You can meet us there at 9:30 or follow the bus from school. We will begin loading about 9:15 in front of the JK building.

                                                         

Enjoying Friends and Having Fun!

The children enjoyed identifying photographs of their classmates to make their very own "friend collage." We introduced "gluing" by adding two little dots of glue to the back of each picture while singing, "Little Dots of Glue, Whew." We practiced turning the glue bottle upright before adding each picture to the collage. It was so interesting to observe how some lined the pictures up, while others were sideways and upside down. What was most important was making sure all ten of our friends were there. The children were so excited as they admired all of their friends on their finished collage!
                                                                  The ladybugs have had a ball playing dress up in housekeeping and putting on dance shows for their classmates. Some children chose to be dancers and others pulled up chairs to be their audience.

                                                                                                     

The children were amazed that we could combine water, flour, salt, oil and yellow food coloring to make a beautiful new batch of play-doh. They assisted in the hard chore of mixing all of the ingredients until they were finally ready to roll, pound and knead their own clump of play-doh. Then we had so much fun making volcanoes, snakes, cookies and more!

A very exciting addition to our Exploratorium is our newly opened veterinary lab. The children can't wait to wear their lab coats while they are performing all of the very important jobs of a veterinarian. They listen to heartbeats, give shots and medicine and place bandages on the animals. Some of the animals are only there for a check-up!
                                                              
                                                             The playground has been buzzing with excitement from the big climber to the sandbox. Then on to the RV and the bikes. The swings and the water table are a big hit as well. Recently we have been somersaulting and hand standing on our new beautiful soft grass.

                                                               Please remember to send in hats and sunglasses for your child. if you have not already done so! Also, we are looking for "MYSTERY READERS" for the following dates. (Nov. 3, Jan. 19, Feb. 16 and April 5th). Don't forget our field trip to Crisp Park on Friday September 23rd!

                                                   

Lively Ladybugs Enjoy A Busy Week!

The little ladybugs have been very busy this week learning and discovering new things! We practice showing respect to our country as we stand and face the flag with our hands on our hearts, as we say "The Pledge of Allegiance." The children are excited each day as we introduce the day of the week by singing, "Today is Monday, Today is Monday," "Red Day, Monday," "We're going to have fun all day long!" Sometimes we even sing it twice, substituting the color name in Spanish. We also love to find out about our daily schedule as the children identify pictures on our calendar. We thoroughly enjoy determining if all of our friends are at school each day. Ask your child what it means when your face is "in the bowl."

This week the children were busy drawing portraits of themselves. Mrs. Mundell modeled by drawing her own self-portrait as we talked about all of the important parts of our bodies beginning with our heads. We recalled how our friend, "Mat Man" had all of those important parts of his body just like we do! They did a fabulous job on their portraits.

 The ladybugs couldn't wait for their time at the easel as they created paintings using red tempera of lines, circles, alligators, mountains, turtles and so much more!!

It is so fun to hear the children singing songs that we have learned as they work! Some of their favorites are "Twinkle, Twinkle, Traffic Light," "Down By the Station," "A Ram Sam Sam" and "Where is Thumbkin?"

                                                             

On Thursday we visited the library and Mrs. Smay. She introduced us to "Mr. Clean Hand" and "Mr. Dirty Hand." They taught us all about how to take extra special care of our library books so that everyone would be able to enjoy them. Then the children were able to check out their very first book. How exciting!!                                           

Princess Wiltshire enjoyed being served a very delicious meal prepared just for her in the Exploratorium! We also enjoyed building foam block castles around ourselves and making designs with red paint dotters.