Fish Tales 10/11 ~ 10/14

We started the week by gluing ovals onto a large oval! We encourage the children to glue with control using "little dots of glue, whoo!"

On Wednesday, Mr. Dan from Animal House visited and brought some of his favorite pets. The creatures included a boa constrictor, a ferret, a guinea pig, and a rex rabbit. The children delighted in touching these interesting animals.

The boa constrictor is cold blooded and has a scaly skin.

 

The ferret has warm blood, fur, and can make his body very flat.

 

The guinea pig has fur, is warm blooded, and makes a wonderful pet!

 The rabbit has fur and he was shedding his summer coat and a thicker winter coat was growing in.

We created a spider by stapling two ovals together. We tore black paper to create eight legs. Tearing is a pre-scissor skill and helps the children work their hands and fingers in opposition.

We glued on googly eyes or sticker eyes.

And we stapled the legs onto the abdomen of the spider. We counted how many legs we had stapled in English and in Spanish.

The children named their spiders and told the teachers what they were doing.
They are hanging in the classroom!

Tearing paper and gluing it to a banner was an exploratorium activity this past week. The teachers cut this paper to a create a tree for the classroom bulletin board.

On Thursday, Upper Division students from the Universal Language club read Gus Gets Scared by Frank Remkiewicz and a non-fiction book, Bat by Deborah Gibson to us in the library.

Play dough was a center time activity. One of the children created a spider and counted the number of legs he had added.

Building with tree blocks, spiders, and snakes was an activity in the exploratorium. 

We visited Nurse Confident in her office on Thursday. 

 At center time on Thursday, we played the Snail Game with one of the Dads.

Old McShorecrest Had a Farm

This week was filled with Farm related activities. On the rug we had two different floor puzzles for the children to complete.

In the loft in the exploratorium, the children used their imaginations using the large wooden barn and farm animals!

Housekeeping in the exploratorium included hats to wear as the farmers cook up a healthy breakfast!

Oh, do you know who says moo, moo? (Tune: Muffin Man)

Who says moo, moo?

Who says moo, moo?

Oh, do you know who says moo, moo?

The milk cow says moo, moo!!

The children delighted in pretending to milk a cow. They pulled on the "udders" of a glove filled with white paint and watched it squirt onto blue paper, the table, and even the floor!

Next week, the children will tell the teachers what they see in the painted paper using their imaginations. We will reread It Looks like Spilt Milk by Charles Shaw to spark their creativity!

We created a banner by mixing red/rojo and white/blanco to create pink/rosado paper. The teachers will cut a a pig to decorate the classroom from this paper!

Mr. Murphy read The Napping House by Audrey Wood on Wednesday.

He challenged us to remember the order of the animals laying atop of the Granny!

Painting with dry tempera cakes was an exploratorium activity this week.

The children were taught to rinse their brushes before they chose the next color and to clean out the water cup to get it ready for the next person.

Friday was a very busy day! We started the day by attending the JK Pet Show.

This is one of Mrs. Samuel's friends from last year showing his pet frog.

The theme for exploring was mixing red/rojo and yellow/amarillo to create orange/ananrajado!

For snack, we mixed red and yellow sugar in our yogurt. In Mrs. Mundell's classroom, mixing red and yellow paint using potato mashers and rollers on a banner was lots of fun. With the help of one of our parents we mixed red and yellow watercolor in a baggie filled with shaving cream. Mixing red and yellow playdough was an activity in our classroom. Mixing red and yellow watercolors using medicine droppers and pipettes was still another mixing activity.

Whoo! It was sooooooooooo much fun!!

Please return your Fall Festival Form as soon as possible. Thanks!!

Fish Tales 9/26 ~ 9/30

We started the week by fingerpainting with yellow/amarillo and red/rojo paint. We discovered orange/ananrajado!! These paintings will become pumpkins in our classroom pumpkin patch!

 One day in the exploratorium, the children mixed red and yellow paint in the water table!

On the playground throughout the week, the children checked the pea and squash plants. They are growing with the help of the abundance of rain we were experiencing.

We added stakes and yarn for the pea plants to attach to and for stability. The children looked closely at the runners that the plants are producing.

Each day we play, Guess Your Best! The children try to guess who is absent. Then we put their photograph inside a shape on the bulletin board. When they return to school we sing:

Welcome back, welcome back

We missed you, we missed you

We're so glad you're here

We're so glad you're here 

Back at school, back at school

Ask your child what color shape we had up for the end of September.

I put a new shape a up for Monday, 10/3!

Printing with farm stampers was a center time activity.

Mrs. Smay read The Bike Lesson by Stan and Jan Berenstain on Thursday.

After we chose books, one of the Moms read to some of us!

Pets was the theme for the first exploring on Friday. We opened up the brown doors between the classrooms and children from both Alpha classes moved freely from classroom to classroom choosing activities. New relationships with the children from Mrs. Mundell's class grow and blossom.

For snack we ate "puppy chow" (chex mix) from bowls without using our paws!

Creating dog and cat headbands was another popular center.

We played doghouse color bingo with Mrs. McIvor and built our own dog houses using cardboard blocks!

Using our imaginations with miniature dogs and play dough was another popular center.

Pressing letters into wet sand was an activity in one of the water tables.

Fun was had by all. If you find your are free on a Friday, please check in at the ECC office and come and discover with us. We start exploring at 10:00 with a very short assembly and finish up at approximately 11:30. Come for all of exploring or a shorter segment. The children will benefit from your presence and your questions!!