Last Friday!

I can't believe it was our last Friday at school for the year. So...we decided to have extra fun today! This morning the kids made patterns and pictures with tangrams. During morning circle we skip counted by 2's, 5's and 10's and identified numbers 1-50. For Sounds Around Town the kids blended words that ended in -ing. We read ring, bing, ding, sing, wing, swing and sting. We found a great song about -ing words!

Our story today was "Max and Zoe Celebrate Mother's Day" by Shelly Swanson Sateren. This story was a chapter book. We learned about the table of contents...this is where we find the titles of each chapter and what page to find them. Chapter 1 described Max's plan for his mom. He was going to make her breakfast in bed. Chapter 2 described how Max had to be sneaky so his mom didn't guess what he was planning for her surprise. In Chapter 3 Max changed his plans and made a bed in the kitchen for his mother, since he couldn't turn on the stove by himself. Max's mother loved her Mother's Day surprise! After reading the story we talked about the beginning, middle and end of the story. Then the kids shared one nice thing they plan on doing for their mommies on Sunday.

We had a math/listening activity today instead of art or science. We read the M&M counting book. First the kids had to listen and find a specific color I named. Then the kids had to find a specific number of M&M's....find 5 green M&M's. Once we reached 6 M&M's we added one at a time and had to follow the visual model to see where the M&M should be placed in line. After we had 12 M&M's the kids divided them into sets. We made 1 set of 12, 2 sets of 6, 3 sets of 4, 4 sets of 3, and 6 sets of 2. Next the kids made a square, triangle and circle with their 12 M&M's. The last part was the best! The kids had to listen to the directions to see which M&M they could eat. When the book was finished we had no more M&M's left. The kids did fantastic with this activity....and they loved eating the M&M's!

After our fun math activity it was time for show and tell. We quickly ate our lunch so we could pack up and head home. I hope everyone has a wonderful week and a great Mother's Day!!

We Love Our Mommy!

Today we talked about getting ready for Mother's Day. In the touch and feel pool the kids had to match the mommy animal with the baby animal. During morning circle the kids shared special plans they have for Mother's Day. We also reviewed the letter W and words that start with the /w/ sound.

Our story today was "Mother's Day Surprise" by Stephen Krensky. Violet the snake loved playing with her friends...but when spring came all the animals started getting ready for Mother's Day. The squirrels collected acorns, the beaver make a sculpture out of wood and the bear collected honey. Violet didn't know what to get her mom for Mother's Day. She finally had an idea. When it was Mother's Day, Violet surprised her mom by making a heart with her body. She told her mom how much she loved her! After reading the story we made a list of nice things we can do for our mom's to show them how much we love and care about the. We can get them flowers, make them breakfast in bed and help clean the house.

For art today the kids finished their vases for Mother's Day. They also made a special cards to show the mommies how much we love them! The kids all worked very hard to write a special message on the card.

We ended the day with Mother's Day songs to get ready for Sunday. Here are some of our favorites!

Windy Day

This morning we worked on a secret, super special surprise...hopefully the kids won't spill the beans before tomorrow. During morning circle we reviewed the calendar and the letter W.

Ms. Abby was not here today, so Ms. Sharon filled in for her. We practiced jumping, running and kicking today. The kids were divided into small groups and rotated around centers. The jumped over hurdles, ran a relay race with cones, kicked a soccer ball through a hurdle and jumped over big red half circle hurdles.

Our story today was "Kite Day" by Will Hillenbrand. Bear and Mole design and build a kite. It was a very windy day and the kite went high into the sky. All of a sudden it started to storm and the kite string broke. The kite got caught in a tree...Bear and Mole were so sad. But then they realized their kite was acting like an umbrella for a nest of baby birds. After reading the story we talked about the parts of a kite and what is needed to fly a kit.

For art the kids constructed their own kite. We made a "t" for the frame of the kite and then glued a diamond on top of it. Then we added string so the kite wouldn't fly away. The kids used white crayons to draw clouds and wind in the sky.

Then we headed to the park to fly real kites! The kids helped us make the frame, add the tail and tie on the string to the kite. One at a time the kids took turns flying the kite. It was windy and everyone was able to get the kite up in the air! Afterward we celebrated our kite flying by playing on the playground. We got back to school just in time for lunch and music. Everyone had soo much fun at school today!

The Water Cycle

This morning we continued talking about spring and the different changes we have seen since it started to warm up outside. Our letter today was "W" and we listed several words that start with the /w/ sound. Some of the words the kids thought of were watermelon, wagon, whale, white, wet, wind and Wednesday.

Ms. Michelle was outside today....and it was so nice in the shade! First we bear walked to the parachute. We practiced following direction while Ms. Michelle gave us commands. We moved the parachute up and down and then walked around in a circle. She even let the kids sit under the parachute while the teachers made wind over top of them. The last parachute activity was popping popcorn...which is the kids favorite! Then it was time for finger fun....and we made ice cream! We mixed baking soda, a cotton candy icing flavor packet and ice cold water together. It was cold like ice cream and smooth. Ms. Michelle let us vote on what we wanted her to bring to our last class next week.

Our story today was "Splish, Splash, Spring" by Jan Carr. It described a rainstorm and things the kids during and after the rain was finished. After reading the story we talked about the water cycle. We learned three REALLY big words...evaporation, condensation and precipitation. We learned the water evaporates from an ocean or puddle and moves up into the sky. The water makes a cloud and the cloud gets very heavy when it condensates. Finally, the cloud is so heavy it starts to precipitate or rain.

For science we showed the kids how the water cycle words. We made clouds with shaving cream and added blue food coloring. When the cloud got very heavy the rain started to fall from the clouds. We reviewed our special new vocabulary words after science was over.

For art we made a rainy picture. The kids drew a picture of themselves on their paper. Then they glued an umbrella over their head to keep them dry. Next we mixed corn syrup and blue food coloring together to make rain. The kids used popsicle sticks to make rain on their papers.

After lunch we ended the day with rain and water cycle songs. Next time it rains we will know that the clouds were to heavy to hold the raindrops in the sky.

Thank you for the sweet and thoughtful cards from the kids this morning. It made my day! The teachers enjoyed their wonderful lunch too!

Thunderstorms

This morning the kids practiced reading and writing sight words. We continued our ABBC pattern on our May calendar. The kids identified numbers 1-50 and skip counted by 10's, 5's and 2's. We reviewed the Sounds Around Town and practiced our vowels. The kids sounded out words that ended with -ake. We read cake, bake, make, take, fake, lake, rake, shake, Jake and snake. They are doing great reading words!

Our story today was "Wake Up, It's Spring!" by Lisa Campbell Ernst. The story describes changes we see when winter is over and spring time is here. After reading the story the kids listed things that change when it turns to spring. The flowers start to grow, the sun is warmer and the leaves turn green on the trees. Our weather also changes in spring. It rains more, we have thunderstorms and it can be very windy.

For art today we made a thundercloud. First we added raindrops and lightening to our thundercloud to make a storm. Next we needed to paint the thundercloud dark gray. We mixed glue, paint and shaving cream to make our puffy paint for the cloud. The kids loved making rain and thunder sounds while completing their art.

We practice writing lowercase k during our writing time today. We also wrote about spring weather in our journals. While waiting the kids practiced writing the other lowercase letters we have learned. After lunch we sang songs about rain, storms and mother's day. Tomorrow we are going to learn about the water cycle and learn more about rain!

Construction Time

This morning we started a new pattern for May. It is ABCC and we picked rectangle, star, triangle, triangle as the shapes. The kids skip counted by 2's, 5's, and 10's. We also practiced identifying numbers 1-50. After we practiced the Sound Around Town and the kids blended words with -ar. We read car, bar, star, jar, tar, and far.

Our story today was "Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel" by Virginia Burton. Mike and his steam shovel Mary Anne did excellent work digging holes for people to build buildings and houses. One day people stopped using steam shovels because there were faster gas and power shovels. Mike and the steam shovel went looking for work in Popperville. The town allowed them to dig the space for the town hall. After the job they hired Mike to work in the town hall and allowed Mary Anne to heat the building. After reading the story the kids created sentences about things they learned about construction this week. Then as a class we created our own pretend construction truck. It had a pusher, a digger, tracks and a crane. We named our construction truck Chatty.

For art today the kids made an excavator. They colored the tracks black and the body, arm, and shovel yellow. The kids glued the excavator onto the middle of the paper. Then we pretended the rice was dirt and added it to the picture.

During writing we practiced writing lower case w. The kids also used hammer and nails to make an outline of a car. In their journals, the kids wrote a fact about construction. After eating lunch Ms. Laura picked her favorite songs to sing since it was her last day. We are going to miss her a ton!

Construction Walk

This morning we built construction tools with blocks. During morning circle we talked about it being a new month...May! We counted how many days there are in May and learned that it's the fifth month.

Our story today was "My First Book of Diggers and Dump Trucks." The story describes all the different trucks needed to build a house. After reading the story the kids identified the different construction trucks and their jobs. The excavator digs up dirt, the dump truck carries rocks and dirt, the bulldozer moves the dirt and and cement mixer mixes up the cement.

The class went on a construction walk to see what was being build in the neighborhood. We found two houses being build. They had the outside of the house built and a roof...but there were no walls inside yet. On the construction site were building materials. We saw bricks, wood, shingles, cement blocks, ladders and a cement mixer. Then we walked further down the road to see the Publix and apartment building near Lowes. The kids saw the big cranes lifting heavy metal poles. We could also see the construction crew wearing hard hats and bright colored vests. If we listened closely we could hear the words hammering, sawing and drilling. It was a long walk back to school and everyone was getting very tired.

When we got back to school it was time to eat our lunches. After lunch the kids had a present to give Ms. Laura since tomorrow is her last day. The class made her a hand print garden bag so she could remember us. Then Ms. Laura surprised the kids by giving them a gift to say thank you for her wonderful time at the Speech Garden. The kids were so excited to get a treat and give Ms. Laura a big hug and thank you. Tomorrow will be a fun filled day of learning to Ms. Laura to show her all the things she helped us learn.