Most of the preschoolers brought back their Book-It calendars and earned their monthly prize! So exciting! For those who haven't turned it in yet, bring it next week! :) They love feeling so accomplished!
I brought out our Sum Blox to play with this week, since we have been focusing a bit more on numbers, simple addition, and one-to-one correspondence. These blocks are great fun, because as they are building with them, they figure out that if you put a 2 block on top of a 3 block they are the SAME HEIGHT as a 5 block. Christian was especially excited about counting it out on his fingers and then I would help him make that same math problem with the blocks and it always came out the same! He could hardly believe it!
We lost a small piece to the cupcake game, so it had to be retired for a couple weeks, but I got it in the mail the other day, and the preschoolers ALL played this game several times. It's so wonderful for patience (you have to wait a long time when there are lots of kids playing), turn-taking, fine motor manipulation skills, matching, following complex rules, and cheering on friends when they do well (even when you are not doing so well. Jackson always wants to get the mix-it-up tile so he can "save the day" and prolong the game. Whenever he gets that tile he'll tell everyone to clap for him because he's saved the day, which of course, they do!
The preschoolers worked HARD on a couple paintings. One is a SECRET painting that they cannot talk about until Christmas, and the other was sent home in their bags. I love this watercolor paper. It's thicker so the paper doesn't get waterlogged and thin, no matter how much the preschoolers try. Warren couldn't sit down during the whole table time because he was concentrating. He took this job very seriously.
I brought out some Imaginext toys for the kids to play with and as it turns out, they ALL wanted to play. This rarely happens where 1 toy is being shared by 7 preschoolers, but they did a fabulous job. Our quiet reading room is usually a lot quieter, but they were having so much fun, I didn't want to stop it.
The kids helped write the tags on the gifts, and they each picked out the bow and wrapping paper they wanted. They loved it. Jared wanted to make another tag for each of his brothers as well, sweet boy!
We did a few puzzles this week too. I didn't get any pictures other than this one, but Sofia was trying to get the zebra and the giraffe to be next to each other. The pieces weren't supposed to be together, but she said she was SURE that they were friends and would like to be near each other. So funny!
Another table time activity was making play-doh cookies. With the holidays coming up, I know some of them will be making REAL cookies at home, and this was a fun way to pretend here at school.
I brought out the Klip-Klop horses and castle for the kids this week. I am so happy that this group hasn't caught on to the idea of "girls toys" and "boys toys" yet. They just play with what they like! As they should. Christian and Jackson were having their horses talk to each other before going down the hill, and asking each other what they liked to eat, then laughing because horses don't usually eat things like rocks, or diapers…
We read a book with a bit about waves in it, and to demonstrate we got out the BIG slinky. It's really easy to explain ripples and cause and effect with a slinky.
Dress-up is a must at preschool. You would think this activity wouldn't be so popular, but it always is. Abby, Lullaby and Warren all stay in costume as long as possible generally.
The weather has been VERY nice lately. It wasn't raining, but Lullaby was sure she needed it just in case.
Jared and Abby started this sliding game and eventually they recruited Warren and Lullaby. The 4 of them were HOWLING with laughter each time they raced down the slides. They tried trains, they tried going on their bellies, they tried girls on one slide, boys on another, it was so much fun for them!
Silly girl! This was the face she gave me when she saw me coming with the camera.
Here are a few last pictures from our time outside. These kids have the best time at school (and me too!).
