Pancake & Pajama Party!

Theme: Letter "P"

Choosing Time: Puzzles, Puppets, Peg Boards

Cooking: Everyone helped make the pancakes. It was nice to have good helpers remind me how many cups or teaspoons we needed to add to the mix. We practiced some math as we talked about the recipe. I would read the recipe and then ask the children to remind me how much of an ingredient we needed. We counted together. I would put one amount in and ask them to tell me how much more was still needed....And of course, everyone helped to put the ingredients in the bowl.
Snack: Pancakes with syrup, whipped cream, and chocolate chips. Cream out of a can always brings smiles and fascination :) Thank you Jake for bringing the chocolate chips and juice for our fun pancake party! You also did a wonderful job of setting the table!

Art: Paint a Picture

Lesson: We practiced writing letter "P." We guessed some words that begin with "P." We also came up with other words that begin with "P." Some of our words we discussed include: Pink, purple, pancake, pan, pig, please, put, pass, present, pear, pair, plastic, purse, paint, pencil, pumpkin, pants, puzzle, puppet, practice, play, pretend, pointy, picky, penguin, pillow & Puff. Truly there are many amazing words that begin with the letter "P."

Pajama Party: Everyone wanted to turn off the lights and arrange their pillows & blankets on the floor to "go to sleep." I enjoyed observing the kids as they all seemed to pair up and quietly talk to one another. I was also pleased and surprised to learn that everyone really just wanted to pretend we were sleeping. :) Some children had fun playing quietly together. Others enjoyed listening to some stories. A couple children had a pillow fight and others jumped on my pillows.

Books:
Stop Those Pants! by Mordicai Gerstein
Puff, the Magic Dragon by Peter Yarrow
I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! by Karen Beaumont
Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes

Mini Class

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Theme: Olympics

Choosing Time: Cars, Magnets, Dinosaurs, Ponies, Babies, Slide & Tunnel, "Beauty Shop" (This was popular with everyone. I hope you didn't mind. Let me know if you don't want me to do it again. It was fun for me and everyone seemed eager to participate.
This is Nathan's "Constellation." We use big words & big ideas at school!
Art: Olympic Flags: I am not sure we realized we were making a flag, but we all enjoyed stamping the circle paint onto our paper!

Snack: Thank you Noah for a delicious snack today! We enjoyed the fruit cups, cheese sticks, & crackers. It was really cute to hear Noah refer to the fruit as "fruit snacks." This caused some confusion when they didn't receive what they considered a fruit snack to be. We all giggled when I explained that we were eating fruit at snack time so we were eating fruit snacks!

Music & Movement: It's A Small World After All, The Friendship Flame, Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes
The Games:

• We did several "animal" relays: Frog Jump, Bear Crawl, Bunny Hop, Fish Swim
• Our obstacle course was a fun way to release some energy! We all enjoyed it very much.
• Balloon Toss

Award Ceremony: I called out each child's full name and invited him to stand on our "podium" to receive his "Gold" medal. I then said, "You are a winner!" and then placed a "Gold" Medal around his neck. June did not want to be on the podium nor did she want a picture taken...but she was happy to receive her medal on the ground :) We all clapped & cheered for one another!
Book: Bunny Cakes by Rosemary Wells

Let the Games Begin!

Theme: Olympics

Choosing Time: Duplo Blocks, Puzzles, Alphabet Magnets

Art: Olympic Flags
Snack: Thank you Grayce for a yummy & healthy snack today! We ate cucumbers & fruit snacks. Rae had so much fun making little cucumber sandwiches:)
Lesson: People around the world have been getting together for the Olympics for a very long time. The Olympics started in Greece a long time before Christ was born. The Olympic Games brings people together to play games and foster peace. The motto for the Olympics is "Citius, Altius, Fortius," which means, "Swifter, Higher, Stronger." We had a lot of fun saying the motto. We took turns sharing what sports we enjoy watching and playing. Some games are for individuals and others are played in teams.

Opening Ceremony: We presented a torch for our classroom. While holding hands around the torch we sang and danced. We then passed the torch around from person to person. Jake was our final athlete to take the torch and put it in its stand. We all cheered and clapped excited to play the games!

Torch Song:
Here We Go 'Round the Friendship Flame (sung to Mulberry Bush)
Here we go 'round the Friendship Flame
The friendship flame, the Friendship Flame
Here we go 'round the Friendship Flame
Let's get ready for the games!

The Games:

Balloon Relay: Each child had to walk holding a balloon between his knees.

Bear Relay:

Frog Jump Relay:

Feather Relay: Walk with a feather between your toes...

Basketball Throw: We didn't stop until everyone had made at least one basket ;)

Obstacle Course: We jumped on and off 2 cushions, crawled through a tunnel, walked across a balance beam, jumped in and out of a hula hoop, and climbed and slid down a slide. Whew! This was a huge success and so we repeated it a couple of times and then did it backwards.

Closing Ceremonies: We finished our Flags and then paraded around with them. I awarded each child a "Gold" Medal for being a wonderful athlete. Each child stood on our "podium" to receive his medal graciously. We all clapped and cheered. We then repeated our Torch Song with changing the last line to, "It was fun to play the games!"
Book: We finished off our day by finishing our book, Dr. De Soto, by William Steig. Some of us were very concerned the fox really would eat Dr. De Soto and his wife so thank you for allowing us time to finish it :)