Mini Class

September 30, 2009

Choosing Time: Giant Marble Castle Track, Dominoes, Stacking Cups, Mickey Pop-up Toy

Snack: Nathan was happy to help with our snack today. He shared his favorite snack (Honey Nut Chex Mix) with us. Yum! It is fun to hear the children sing along with me as I sing our 2 snack songs:)

Lesson: We talked about leaves today. We looked at several different leaves and decided which ones were BIG & which ones were LITTLE. We felt the veins on the leaves. Veins give the leaf its food. We discussed how some leaves change color before falling off during the Fall. Other leaves stay green all year long. I threw some leaves up and we watched how they fell down. I asked, "Are falling leaves quiet or noisy?"

Music & Movement:

• I played some classical music. We each had a leaf wand. We began with our arms reaching high because our leaves were still attached to the trees. The wind started to blow. The trees shook & the leaves began to fall....
• We danced "Sally goes round the moon.."
• We sang "Twinkle, twinkle,..."
• We sang "There was a little house..." while hiding in our cardboard box cave.

Science: We observed 1 small & 1 large grasshoppers in a jar. We noticed their antennae. We counted their legs. We looked at our ladybugs. They have black heads and read bodies. They have antennae & six legs just like the grasshoppers. We are happy that we have 2 legs :)

Art: We made lovely ladybugs

Story: I used a "magical" puppet to tell the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. The children helped me act it out.

Books: We read Some Dogs Do by Jez Alborough & Big Chickens by Leslie Helakoski

Fine Motor Skills: I demonstrated how to stack Dominoes so they will all fall: Cause & Effect. We had a lot of fun making our own tracks and experimenting to see if they'd all fall or not.

Leaves

September 29, 2009

Theme: Leaves

Choosing Time: Play-doh, Dominoes, & Duplos
Everyone enjoyed playing with the play-doh! It was fun to hear nice words such as, "May I use that?" or "Here you go!" We are becoming super good friends and treating each other so kindly. :) Everyone loves having their picture taken. See some of our creations....
Duplos kept Rilla out of the play-doh.

Snack: Thank you Jake for being a super snack helper! We ate yummy pretzels & goldfish crackers. Thank you also for passing out the bags for our walk!

Lesson: We had a mini lesson on safety. Our 3 rules were: 1) Stay with the group 2)Stay with your buddy & 3) Cross the street only when teacher says it is safe

Science:

• Our ladybugs are finally beautiful and ready to be set free!
• We observed 2 grasshoppers in a glass jar. One of them kept sticking an antennae out of an air hole. We all laughed at this. It was fun to watch them jump in the jar. There was some brown stuff on the bottom of the jar. One child asked me what that was. I responded, "Waste. All living things make waste." This opened a lengthy discussion about who & what makes waste. Everyone giggled when one child asked me if I make waste & I answered, "Yes." :)
• Our nature walk was fun & educational. On our walk, Jake caught & squished a grasshopper :) I deemed this as a good thing because it was in a beautiful flower garden. We noticed how some leaves are turning colors. We saw different types of seeds that trees make. We felt Lamb's Ear. We collected pine cones, small twigs, seeds, & leaves. I pulled a branch down and shook it to encourage the leaves to rain on us. A couple of trees had the same shaped leaves but their colors & seeds were different. We learned that some leaves are made up of tiny leaflets. Some leaves are fat while others are thin. We had fun collecting many things! We played with a small parachute: bouncing leaves off and taking turns going under. It was a beautiful day to spend outside :)
  

Art: Unfortunately we didn't get to our art project. You may want to encourage your child to create an animal or person out of the objects they collected. Just give them a piece of paper & some white glue & see what they come up with. I will also incorporate our project later on next month :)

Letter "D"

September 24, 2009

Theme- Letter "D"

Choosing Time- Dogs, Dominoes, Digging for Dinosaur Bones, Cars, Dinosaur Coloring Page, & Counting Apples
Lesson- We practiced making the sound of the letter D. We thought of some words that begin with "D". We remember what a "D" looks like...a Dad with a fat tummy full of donuts:)

Snack- Thank you Spencer for a yummy & Delicious snack! We ate carrots, cheese sticks, townhouse crackers, & apple slices. Spencer took his job seriously as he eagerly volunteered for every job today proudly commenting that he is the super helper :)

Movement- We danced out things we like to do that begin with "D". For example: Digging in Dirt, Dancing like Dolls, Dunking Donuts....

Books- Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum

Music- 5 Little Dragons, 3 Little Ducks, Donkey Song, Donut Song

Science- I had cut out a footprint of an Apatosaur (Brontosaurus). We took turns tracing our feet to see how many we could fit. Can you guess how many fit? We used our math skills and counted them together.
Our ladybugs are in the pupae or 2nd stage of life. They are beginning to look like the familiar bug we love.
Two of our apple seeds are sprouting!!! One from a Red Delicious and one from a Pink Lady :)
Writing- We practiced our "D's" in our workbooks. We then went outside and drew "D's" & Dinosaurs on the Driveway. Everyone did GREAT work!

Mini Class

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Theme- Apples

Choosing Time- Cars & Trucks, Ponies, & Balls. We added our apple pictures to our little classroom tree.

Lesson- I cut an apple in half to show the hidden star inside. We collected the seeds to sprout in plastic bags. We learned that a tree grows from a seed. Trees are important. They give us shade, firewood, and we can use the wood to build things with. Some trees, like apple trees, give us food to eat. We will watch our seeds to see if they grow.

Books- Johnny Appleseed by Jane Yolen, Bubble-gum Bubble-gum, Ballet Kitty

Movement- We "climbed" a tree, flew like a bird, jumped like a frog, slithered like a snake, stomped like an elephant, and squeaked like a mouse. We danced the "Hokey-Pokey."

Music- Five Little Monkeys Swinging in a Tree, The Lord's Been Good To Me, Fun to Do (digging a hole, planting a seed, watering the seed, climbing a tree, picking apples...), ABC song

Snack- We tasted Apples & ate Lucky Charms & Fish Crackers

Math- We practiced counting from 1-10 while placing magnetic apples on paper trees.

Art- We talked about what a tree is made of (bark, branches, leaves, trunk...) I had cut out shapes for an apple tree. We glued them on paper to make apple trees. Gluing is so much fun!

Game- Pass the Apple

*I am so sorry to not have pictures! I had my camera in my pocket & realized the battery had died :(

Apples!

September 22, 2009

Theme- Apples!

Choosing Time- Hi-Ho "Apple"-Oh!, Apple Number Game, Magnets, Ponies

Art- Apple Prints: I demonstrated how to find the hidden star inside of an apple. We used the apples as stamps to make apple star prints.
Snack- Thank you Leo for bringing such a nice snack! We ate animal crackers, cheese sticks, & grapes. Super yummy! We continue to practice saying, "Yes, please or No, Thank you."
Lesson- We learned about the TRUE story of John Chapman (AKA Johnny Appleseed). We read the book, Johnny Appleseed by Jane Yolen. This month marks the 235th year since his birth. He planted more than one million apple trees during his life. Each year in the spring he would go to Massachusetts to the Cider Mills to collect apple seeds. He would then head West to clear land, plant, prune, and sell his trees. His efforts blessed many families settling in Ohio, Pennsylvania, & Indiana. He knew that people would need trees for shade & shelter as well as food to eat. There is still one of his apple trees living today in Ohio. Johnny was a silly man who always walked barefoot even in the winter. He usually wore a pan on his head and his shirt was made from Coffee Bean Sacks. In his 70th year he was walking through a snowstorm and took ill. It was the first time in his life he'd been sick. He passed away the next morning. Perhaps the phrase "An apple a day keeps the DR away" stems from Johnny's legacy? As you can tell I was most excited about what I'd learned :) and have a greater appreciation for apples.
Another Book- Johnny Appleseed: A Tall Tale by Steven Kellog

Games- We played Musical Apple. All the children wanted to sit in the "applesauce" pot. We also had fun sticking apple seeds to our cheeks to see how long they'd stick.
...or on a finger :)

Music & Movement- We practiced our memory & counting skills as I gave instructions to do a variety of movements. For example: I would say, "We will run for 5 counts, jump for 4, do 3 jumping jacks, 2 twirls, and 1 pop. This was a lot of fun.

Science- We had a taste test to see if we prefer Apple Juice or Apple Cider. We then graphed our results.
I showed the children 6 different varieties of apples. We talked about their differences and similarities. We tasted 3 varieties. Ask the children if they prefer Pink Lady, Granny Smith, or Red Delicious. I did not intentionally choose the female varieties to taste :) We collected the seeds from each of the apples and put them in zip-lock bags with wet paper towels. I taped the bags to the window and we will watch to see if any will sprout.

Rilla thought she was pretty hot stuff when she snuck an apple & started nibbling!

Letter "C"

September 17, 2009

Theme- Letter "C"

Choosing Time-Trains, Foam block puzzles, Foam Blocks, Balls

I was so amazed at Raeanna's ability to make this castle--it is harder than it looks. Some of these puzzles are simple, while others are difficult. This one only had a shadow of a castle. Rae had to figure out what shapes to put together to make this work. Way to go!

Even though the quality of this photo is poor, I just love the way we are all playing together so nicely!

Art- Fuzzy Caterpillars--It was fun to see how a few children chose to make a pattern with their pom-poms. We talked about different types of patterns. There were also fun choices in how the leaves were decorated. You have very creative kids!
Mitch made sure to draw some peaches on his leaf for his caterpillar to eat. How thoughtful!

Science- Introduced the children to our ladybug habitat. We counted their 6 legs & talked about how long & skinny the ladybug larvae are. We observed that they look like teeny alligators with black & yellow stripes. We will watch to see how they change.
For some cool pictures of ladybug larvae go to this blog & scroll down....
http://chikblog.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html

I gave our Balloon experiment another go...and this time succeeded! Hooray! We saw that the power of air is amazing and can even propel a balloon up-hill.

Music & Movement- "My hands upon my head...", "5 Little Cookies", "C is for Cookie" "Happy Birthday" (which was sung twice :) )

Lesson- I showed a letter "C". We saw pictures of many different things that start with the letter "C". We sang a "C" song and practiced drawing a "C" in the air with our fingers. We made the ASL "C". I noticed that an ASL "O" is similar to a "C". I showed them how an "O" opens its "mouth" and becomes a "C". We giggled. I enthusiastically encouraged how easy writing "C's" can be :)

Puppet Story- The children helped me to tell the story of The Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle. They enjoyed it more than I had anticipated. Ask them about it--they thought it was sheer magic.

Snack- Today we celebrated Raeanna & Jake's Birthday! They brought fun Caramel Marshmallow Popcorn Balls to share :) Thank you both for a super fun treat! We wish you a very happy birthday!
During Snack time we had a fun discussion about twins. Rae & Jake are twins. FYI-- I told the children that in order to be a twin, 2 babies have to be inside the mommy at the same time. There can be 2 girls, 2 boys, or a boy & a girl, but they have to be inside the mommy at the same time. We talked about how some twins look exactly alike and others do not. I am not sure that some children believed what I was telling them :)

Recess- While some children were playing a few of us walked around my pumpkin patches. We counted some of the pumpkins and looked at the variety in sizes and shapes.
Leo proudly conquered the most challenging swing!

Books- Bubblegum Delicious--a book of poetry. It was fun to read some silly poems to the children. Sometimes I would leave off the end rhyming word and the kids all would shout out the missing word. They are so smart!

Writing- We practiced writing the letter "C". Today everyone was happy and finished quickly. We observed how nice it is when the little & big "C" only differ in size :) Letter "C" is Cool!

Mini Class

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Choosing Time- We played with peg boards, balloons, & balls. We also took turns crawling through a tunnel. The children tried to roll a balloon through the tunnel but it got stuck. Then they decided to roll balls through the tunnel. The balls fit :) We had a fun discussion about big & little.

Science-We took turns looking at our ladybug habitat. Right now they are in the larvae stage. We will watch to see what happens.

Cooking- We made peanut butter play-dough. Each child helped to add the ingredients. We had fun making "cookies" and eating them.
We made really long snakes. Hyrum & Grace had fun making patterns on the snakes' tails.

June had fun inventing a snow-mom & snow-baby and insisted they needed feet. :)
Nathan made a castle.
Everyone enjoyed eating their creations!
Books- "The Caterpillar that Roared", "Bubbles, Bubbles", & "Bear Slept"

Music & Movement- "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," "Clean-up Time", "Time for Snack", "Please & Thank you", "Peanut, Peanut Butter, & Jelly"

Art- We made fuzzy caterpillars on leaves. I asked the children if my paper leaves looked like leaves. Their response was, "I don't think so!" For the next several minutes our little funny joke was, "I don't think so!"

Snack- Thank you Grace for bringing the snack today. It was so yummy! We ate apples, goldfish, and Lucky Charm cereal.