Leaves And Seeds

Last week,  we found out how things grow and why leaves change colors.  We first learned that seeds need sunlight, soil, and water to grow.  During music and movement, the children pretended to be seeds and grew into big oak trees.  They really enjoyed that and asked to do it several times over.  Speaking of oak trees, we learned that acorns are the seeds of oak trees and they take a very long time to grow.  The children were fascinated to learn that if they planted an oak tree seed, it would still be growing when they are adults. 

The children learned about the green tint in leaves called chlorophyll.  Chlorophyll is what helps the leaves absorb or hold sunlight.  We also learned that leaves are important to a tree and provide the it with a kind of sugar that is the tree's food.  

For our art project, we made leaf wreaths.  Each child also created a leaf rubbing in their journal.  We'll be using paint to make leaf prints for our art project tomorrow.  We'll also be cooking up some tasty apple treats as we begin our study of apples and how they grow. 

Here's a story about fall that the children created during our circle activity:

It is fall.  Leaves change colors.  Leaves fall to the ground.  Animals gather food.  Apples fall.  They are ripe.  Pumpkins are ready.  The days get shorter.  It gets cold. 

During our time together tomorrow, we'll learn about how plants grow and why leaves change colors.  

Emotions

We had a very small class this week.  We missed Bennett and Jackson.  Both were on field trips.  That left Andrew and Ryan and lots of time to fit in more activities. 

We completed our "All About Me" books.  I've got to bind those this week so that they can go home next week.  We also completed our study of feelings.  We finished the study by discussing feelings of anger.  We learned that we can take deep breaths when we get mad and that we can pray.  We also learned that our brain is the computer or control center and it allows us to feel emotions.  We looked at pictures in book, The Wonders Inside The Human Body. 

We are singing and signing the "Days of The Week" song each Wednesday. We have also been discussing the four seasons which will take us into our study of fall next week.  We'll learn about fall harvest (pumpkins & apples) and the changes that take place outside during the fall.  This is one of my favorite studies so I am looking forward to the upcoming months! 

I hope to see everybody next week!

Feeling Good

Today we read the book, When I Feel Good About Myself.   I really really like this book series because not only do the books reinforce positive messages, they also teach some biblical principles.  This particular book reminded us that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). 

We learned more about the five senses today and we even put them to work.  We baked peanut butter cookies.  We discovered that we can use all of senses when cooking and preparing foods.  We use touch, taste, sight, smell, and hearing.  Yes, we had to listen closely for the oven to "ding" when the cookies were done baking.

We worked on our family photo collages today.  We'll be finished with our books soon and I can't wait for you to see the finished product!  The kids are working very hard.  I love watching them in their artistic explorations! 

Although today didn't feel much like fall, we went on a nature walk to see if we could find any signs of fall.  I've included a few pictures from our walk.  The children are always eager to discover new things and they seem to look forward to these walks.  We had a few dogs join us too which made it more eventful for me. 
We found lots of big unusal mushrooms and a few yellow leaves along the way.  I caught a glimpse of a frog jumping off a tree but he hurried to a hole near by.  I think the highlight of the walk must have been the big tree that had fallen on one of the paths. 

A big thanks to Logan and Jackson today.  It was so nice to have extra hands to help me today.  See you all next week! 

Last Wednesday, we read a story on how to treat others.  We talked about how it makes us feel when we treat others the way that we want to be treated.  As always, we had some enlightening discussions.  I always learn so much at preschool on Wednesdays!  He he! 

For art, each child made a collage using their favorite color.  The boys spent a lot of time on this project and did a great job working together sharing materials.  In the end, the collages looked fabulous! 

We used our sense of taste during a math activity last week.  We all worked together to count, add, and subtract pretzels.  This week, we'll use our senses, taste and smell, for a cooking activity.  Maybe we'll have enough left over to share with you all tomorrow afternoon.  See you then! 

A Great First Day

Today could not have gone any better. We had such a wonderful day! Not only was the weather prefect, but so was the company.

I had several things planned today for the boys. We had a scavenger hunt first this morning. The children received a sheet in which they had to find several things throughout our classroom. All of them seemed eager to find each item. The second activity of the day was a sheet in which the children had to answer questions about themselves. Here are some of the wonderful responses:

What is something that you are good at doing? "I'm good at riding my bike up the hill." Ryan

Things that I really like are..... "Going to NC State games and I-Carley." Bennett

I like to play........"Star Wars Legos with Daddy." Andrew

Each child will work on a book all month. This book will include all of our art projects and writing projects for the month of September. I'm looking forward to sharing those with you all.

We'll be reading books this month about feelings and our bodies/creation. The class calendar lists most of these books. We'll be learning a new finger play rhyme to go along with this study. I'll post it next week in case you'd like to recite it at home.

I am really excited about this year and I looking forward to having a class full of boys! See you next Wednesday!

Last Day Photos

Have a great summer everyone! Please keep in touch.