Caterpillars

It's been another great week!
Everyday the kids trace the letter of the week in their special notebooks. Today was our last day for letter C. On Fridays after the kids have traced all 3 sets of letters, they are able to choose a letter sticker to put on that page. At the end of the year, the notebook will be full of the alphabet. :)
Since it was letter C this week and we have been talking about bugs...this week was our caterpillar week. On Monday we read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." We practiced counting all the different foods that the caterpillar ate. The kids practiced tracing numbers 1-5.
We did some more number fun by putting this mixed up caterpillar back in the right order.

On Wednesday we reviewed our story of the hungry caterpillar and the kids helped put the events from the story in the right order. This is a great way for the kids to practice their listening skills. Then the kids were able to make their very own "Hungry Caterpillar" book to take home. We also learned a caterpillar song similar to the "Itzy Bitzy Spider" song.

This was a very exciting week. We had 2 birthdays in one day, one in the morning class and one in the afternoon class.

Here is Madi blowing out her candle.

Here is Grayson blowing out his candle (which is behind the big Kung Fu Panda ring).

This was also a very exciting week because some of the kids filled up their sticker charts and were able to pick a treasure from the treasure box! I wish I would have had the camera out when the kids first looked inside. It was so cute, the biggest smiles I have seen! :D

We were able to watch a little of "A Bug's Life" during our snack. The kids had fun pointing out the different bugs that we have learned about over the last few weeks. I was very impressed with how many they could name!

 The kids really liked playing the bee sting game. Kind of like "hot potato." If the music stops and your holding the bee...you get stung!

Best part of 'Fun Friday?' Painting! It will not happen every Friday, but it sure is fun! The kids really enjoyed painting their caterpillars.

                          

*UPDATE*

-The kids are using the glue sticks A LOT faster than anticipated. It would be greatly appreciated if everyone could donate a few glue sticks to the classroom.

-I am still missing paint shirts from a few of you. If you could have your child bring one into class that would be great!

-If you would like to bring in a special treat for your child's birthday, you are more than welcome to. Please let me know ahead of time if you are planning on bringing something in.

-Show and Tell is very exciting for the children. However, please help them to choose ONE thing that is small enough to fit inside their preschool bag.

-If anyone ever has any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to ask! :)

BUGS

The kids have had so much fun learning about bugs this week!
On Monday, we talked about ALL different kinds of bugs and learned a few facts about each one.

On Wednesday we talked about butterflies. We learned that butterflies can be so many different colors and that they can live all over the world. We also sang a song called "Flutter Flutter Butterfly" while the kids took turns being a butterfly. We also ate some butterflies for our snack, also know as bow-tie pasta. :)

Coloring our butterflies and no, the picture is not blurry...Kaeden's butterfly is really flying!

Here are some of the kids pointing at the butterfly that they each colored. We decided to hang them up in our classroom for a little while. The kids will be bringing their butterflies home next week. :)

Fun Friday was our "Bug Zoo Day." The kids each had a chance to find and catch some bugs. We caught 22 bugs! (plastic ones, of course!) The kids also had a lot of fun making real bug jars. (not just paper ones) They were excited to take them home and try to catch some real bugs.

Showing off the bugs jars that we made...

Next week we will continue with our bug unit and will be talking about caterpillars.

First week of School!

We are off to a great start! This week has been so much fun. I have loved getting to know all your little ones! They are very fast learners and they already know the routine! :)
The first day of school we worked on our "All about Me" books. It was fun learning the favorites of each child.


                                    

On Wednesday we talked about the letter A. The kids colored a letter A worksheet and enjoyed gluing on the cheerios. They also learned a little sign language to go along with our "Apple Song." (If your child has not sung it to you already...ask him/her to. It's super cute watching the kids sing it while doing the signing!) We also practiced tracing our names. The children will be doing a lot of that this year. It will help to prepare them to write on their own.

Our first Fun Friday of the year went Great! The kids were SO excited about 'show and tell.' It was fun to see the different things that they brought. They all took turns telling the class about the item they chose to bring.
Also, it was our first painting day! Some of the kids were a little unsure about this...BUT they all seemed to enjoy it. We painted apples to go along with our "apple theme."

Apple day also included the peeler/slicer/corer...thing. All the kids LOVED this. They each had a turn winding the "machine."

It turns the apple into an edible slinky! The kids even ate the skin that was peeled off!

 The kids also were able to play outside today. Something they have been asking for all week :) They didn't last too long and I don't blame them! It is still too hot outside.
At the end of 'Fun Friday' we played our "footprint candy" game. There is a different letter on each footprint and if the kids can say each letter correctly while walking on the footprints, then they get a (very small) candy at the end of the footprint trail. Of course, they wanted to play this game over and over. We were able to play a few rounds before it was time to go home.
Overall, it was a GREAT first week. I look forward to seeing everyone next week. We will be starting on our "Bug" unit.