Pizza & Paint

The Children made playdough. They measured, poured, mixed, and cooked. Everyone did a great job working together, taking turns, and following directions. The children fingerpainted today: The pizza today was delicious! Thank you, Ms. Laura for buying pizza for us. And, thanks to Syan for bringing in homemade cookies to share. Next week, we will begin our whole language unit. We will read a favorite book from each friend's collection. All of our activities will be centered around the themes in each book.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear

Today, we used the flannel board to tell the story, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" The children made books during art time to illustrate what bear saw. We talked about colors much of the day. We played a new game, "Riddle Riddle Ree, What Color Do I See?" The children especially liked this game. It is much like "I Spy" but once the children guess the color from the clues, we would put that color triangle on the flannel board. We did some graphing today. The children lined up their gummy bears on graph paper and we counted and sorted. We talked about concepts such as more and less and adding and subtracting. We found out that Allyson and Michaela had the most orange gummy bears. Michalea and Syan had the least amount of green and Halei had no yellow gummy bears. The children and I enjoyed this math activity. Here are a few comments today from the children: "I liked playing with my friends today." Allyson "I learned that being nice is really nice. I liked doing the Creeper Walk at music time." Syan "I liked playing with my friends, playing with Allyson, and I liked making the book that took about 5 hours." Halei "I liked playing with my friends." Andrew Next week is our teddy bear picnic. We will be eating lunch with our teddy bears. If it is warm enough, we will eat outside. Otherwise, we will just set up a picnic area in the room. See you then!

Happy Valentine's Day

We had one of our best days yet. Everyone seemed so peaceful today. For our art project, the children decorated mugs. We used them during our Teddy Bear Tea to drink hot chocolate from. Each child got a chance to measure and pour ingredients. The rain held off long enough for us to go on a nature walk. We looked for "clues" (animal prints) to see if any animals had been in the woods where we were walking. We had fun talking, sharing, and singing as we explored. There were several exciting things about today. We shared lots of delicious Valentine treats. In addition to that, the girls (Andrew had already left) got to dance and sing in the rain. They had the best time and it brought me so much joy to watch the excitement on their faces. If we could all be more like children! Next time, I am going to join them! Thank you to all of the mothers for bringing in desserts for us to share with one another. The children seemed to take great pride in what they brought. Happy Valentine's Day! I love you all!

Bear Hunt

Today, we went on a bear hunt. First, we read the book, "We're Going On A Bear Hunt". We then put on our hunting gear and went outside through the woods next door to search for the bears that were hidden in the trees. The children were so excited as we walked along chanting an except from the story, "We're going on a bear hunt. We're going to catch a big one. What a beautiful day! We're not scared." During art, we decorated Valentine boxes. They look absolutely beautiful! Each child glued on jewels, hearts, feathers, and his/her name. I will post pictures of the boxes on here next week. Thank you to Allyson, Andrew and Halei for donating the wipe containers. A great big "thank you" to Halei's grandma who sent the majority of the boxes that we used. Next week is our "Teddy Bear Tea" and Valentine's Day party. The children and I will be making homemade hot chocolate with all of the fun toppings. We'll also decorate mugs next week. Don't forget valentine cards. You'll find a class list your child's journal or folder. Some of the children mentioned that they wanted to print the names themselves so I thought that the name list would come in handy. Please feel free to send in an extra snack to share at our party if you'd like. See you next week!

Goldilocks And The Three Bears

"Goldilocks And The Three Bears" was our story theme for today. We had the most fun singing "Goldilocks Came Knocking"! We also wrote a letter to Goldilocks. This is what the children had to say:

Dear Goldilocks,

Stop sitting in the chairs. Stop eating the baby's porridge and stop laying in the beds. You might break them. You shouldn't go in any one's house without them inviting you. You shouldn't have gone into the Bear's house. Next time, go on a walk with your mom and dad.

Sincerely,

Allyson, Halei, Syan, & Andrew

Halei said that Goldilocks does not have parents, hence the roaming around the forest. Allyson thought that maybe Goldilocks had animal parents. I heard some cute and creative comments today.

We had a yummy math lesson today. We used Teddy Grahams to help us practice counting, adding, and subtracting. Our art project did not go as planned. The objective was to wrap glue covered yarn around our bowls. It was a tough task so we managed to find a way to be creative and to practice fine motor skills. The children used a hole puncher and toothpicks to make holes in the bowls so that they could weave the yarn in and out and around the bowls. They seemed to have fun.

Next week, we'll be going on a bear hunt. Wear your hunting clothes and bring your safari gear.

Bear facts- January 23

Today was our pajama party. During group time, we got in our sleeping bags and read the story of Bearsie Bear And The Surprise Sleepover. We had a special guest, Cobey, join us today. Andrew liked having two boys to play with! We learned a lot of bear facts today. We also reviewed some of those facts while the children were hiding in their bear caves (sleeping bags). We really had an exciting day. Here are just a few of the other activities that we were busy doing: Art- Quilt art Group activity: Bear Bingo (counting, sequencing, color) Music/Movement: *Bear songs *Bears hiding in caves (movement activity) A few interesting bear facts that we've learned: *Bears can see and hear like us. They have a good sense of smell. *There are 8 different kinds of bears. *Bears eat nuts, fruits, berries, plants, insects, honey, fish and other animals. *Bears are mammals (they nurse their babies). They have anywhere from 1 to 3 cubs. A cub will stay with his mother for a few years. *Cubs are born during hibernation.

January 16, 2008- Bears Everywhere!

We had a slow start this morning but once everyone finally arrived, things just continued to get better as the day went on. We learned a lot of new bear songs today as well as a song about a lighthouse. I hope to record the lighthouse song so that you can view the children singing online.

We learned today a lot of interesting facts about bears. We'll review next week so maybe by then, the children will be able to share some of those bear facts with you. One of the highlights of our day was going outside with our teddy bears. We tried to find things that bears like to eat. Some of our bears enjoyed climbing in trees, as you can see in the posted picture.

We celebrated Michaela's 4th birthday today. She turned four on January 1st. Thanks for sharing cookies with us today, Michaela, and we hope that you had a wonderful birthday!

Bear Song:

"Row, row, row your boat"

Hug, hug, hug your bear Squeeze him very tight Hold him high Help him fly Then hug with all your might.