Inspiration

"Lord, help me to obey, with a good attitude, right away, all the way, every day." (Totally Tots Blog 2/10)

This is just one of those things that was worth sharing. Simple & sweet and PROFOUND. If we could do this wouldn't life be so easy?

The "Souper Bowl"

Our "souper bowl" coin collection officially started today and we are off to a great start. The children were so proud to drop their change in the bowl. In preparation for this project, we spent some time talking about helping others and it was fun to see the excitement in their eyes when they saw how the coins started adding up. We don't really start our "money unit" until the week of President's Day, but it was fun to start sorting the coins. Everyone will get to help in our week long project. Thanks for your contributions.

Monday's Show & Tell

We had a fun show & tell day with cute furry friends as our guests. It is always so exciting when friends bring in stuffed animals from home, but today we did not pass them around for everyone to touch. We are trying really hard to keep everyone well so just waved "hello."

Space Ice Cream?

Since we learned the names of our planets, we earned a very yummy, chilly treat. For working so hard in class, we got a tiny taste of "space ice cream." (also known as "Dippin Dots.") It was just a small amount, but a great reward for learning our "planets song." By the look of our friend's face - this was really good. (PS - this silly song has come in helpful to my children and their friends. My 6th grader helped out several classmates by teaching them the catchy tune and thus earned them a passing grade on a pop quiz.) You never know when preschool will come in handy in "real life."

We Love Homework

Thank you to everyone who participated in our homework project! There were lots of treats given out today for a month of hard work. Don't worry if you forgot to send it in, this is an ongoing project, send it in tomorrow. Great job everyone!!!!

Show & Tell Is Here Again

Hi Everyone! This is just a reminder that show & tell is scheduled for this week. Listed below are the day and child's assignment.

Monday - Andrew, Britton, Carson, & Chloe
Tuesday - Dalton, Ella, Emma, & Hank
Wednesday - Hollyn, Hudson, Madelyn & Mary-Margaret
Thursday - Savi, Savannah, Thomas & Wyatt

These days are always so special - so keep watching the blog for daily updates about our special presentations.

Lunch Notes

Lunch notes are fun for anyone. (They are like hidden treasures.) These little surprises always bring smiles to everyone in our room. We think it is fun to try and read these without much help from "us teachers." You can see from our smiling faces that these little tokens mean a lot. Take some inspiration from these boys and girls and leave "love" notes for those special people in your life. ("Grown-ups" like little notes too.)

Z is for Zoe

Today, we had a special guest for the letter Z. This is Zoe. She belongs to Mrs. Julie. For those of you who are not in our class, Zoe recently had surgery and we sent her a card and many healing prayers. As you can see she is just fine. Her visit today was super fun and everyone had a chance to pet her. She was wearing a warm sweater and wagged her tail the entire time. (She even tried to get a treat from our prize bucket.) Thanks Mrs. Julie for bringing her in today.

Working Hard

Just some random shots of our room hard at work. As you can see we take our work very seriously. This preschool business is almost done because we are getting ready for kindergarten! Of course some of our work is really just play. It is hard to believe that there are just a few months of preschool remaining in this year. Kindergarten registration has begun at local schools and some of us are already registered. My how time flies.

Space

We have had lots of fun learning about space and space travel. Since it has been rainy for the past two days, we spent a little bit of time watching a really cool educational video about the space shuttle. We learned a lot, but the children especially enjoyed the parts showing Earth from space. It is hard to believe that there were so many brave individuals willing to take us into this starry wonderland. Did you know that the space suit worn by astronauts actually weighs 400 lbs on Earth? (Of course in space it is weightless.) Did you also know that when the shuttle is in orbit around the Earth that it travels so fast that it makes on full rotation every 90 minutes? Amazing that man made this possible. Here are some shape rockets that we made. They are flying in our room to help us remember that we could grow up one day to be an astronaut too.

Welcome Friend

Today we had a new student join our class. She arrived with a big smile and everyone was so happy to meet her! Many thanks to you parents for these loving children. Their kindness is not the kind of thing that can be taught but is learned through wonderful parenting.

Playground Fun

Even though it was still kind of damp, we had lots of fun on the playground. With all of the dreary weather lately, this kind of play has been severely reduced and our daily dose of running and playing has been sorely missed. As you can see from these pictures - we took advantage of the sun today. There is so much to be said for "free play." You can see it in these beautiful, smiling faces.

All Dressed Up & No Where To Go

Due to our snow "vacation" we had to combine two weeks of polar friends into a three day week. This is one of my favorite themes that includes a fun penguin friend to be a companion for our snow friend from two weeks ago. However, due to the time crunch, we did not get to make my normal art project - so we improvised and made these cute little guys from our feet. They are so funny. They just look they would say "I'm all dressed up. Where can we go?" They aren't cuddly, but they are a cute keepsake for future years to come.

We Can Write "Polar Bear"

When we were learning about polar friends, we did a fun art project for the polar bear. We made the fur from oatmeal and painted a snowy background for him/her to live on. (The polar bear is actually black because his skin is dark to absorb the warm sunshine.) Well, to finish this project the children wrote the words "polar bear" on their papers. Maybe not a big deal? For me - a very big deal. Everyone is so eager to learn and try their very best. These boys and girls are so smart and are proud of their work. Great Job!!!!

Have You Ever Eaten A Zebra Cake?

Well, there aren't that many snacks that go with the letter Z, but these Zebra cakes were a delicious surprise. The children were so excited to have this sweet treat to welcome our letter of the week. Sometimes, eating around the letter of the week can be really fun and yummy.

The Winter Moon

This picture does not, in any way, capture the glorious winter moon from this evening. As it started to rise it was huge and so low on the horizon. It also had this inviting orange glow that caused me to just watch it as it climbed into the starry sky. Sometimes God just gives us these little glimpses into heaven. Yes He is an Awesome God.!!! Happy Winter Evening!

A Week In Review

Since it was so busy after our snow week - I didn't have lots of time to take pictures. On Tuesday, we learned about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and painted some really wonderful pictures of friends. They are displayed just outside our classroom door. We also learned about polar bears and penguins and practiced the letter X & Y. It was fun and fast paced - but my only real objective is to make learning fun for the boys & girls. Even though it was a three day week - we still honored our Thursday "circle" sharing time. This is the most important thing during our week because we pass our magic wand and each share something important. Today we learned that one friend is super excited because she got a "brand new - whole" pack of chewing gum at Target last night. We also learned that one friend is worried about a sick brother and that one friend loves to sleep. Sometimes we share something not so fun - like one friend who's frogs died. This time could always be used for a worksheet or project - but it is so special that I cannot give it up. Children need to learn how to express themselves in a group and have confidence to speak up. I like our "circle" time as practice for future public speaking. If you ever have some time to stop in for this part of class - you never know what you may learn. I promise more pictures next week when we will begin our journey into space.

X is for x- ray

It was hard to get back in the routine, but we did it. (Even with Mrs. Laurie being out on her special vacation.) We did lots of fun things and took our alphabet picture for X. It is for x-ray showing that Jesus lives in our hearts.

Snow Days

I don't think I can remember a time like this since I was a very little girl. A time where we missed more than one day of school for winter weather. In those good old days, we would get together with family friends for winter fun. We would cook together and play outside. Those are memories I haven't recalled until this week. What fun we all had together - from old to young. Of course, the distance between our houses was within mostly walking distance - so things are very different today. It was fun to tell these stories to my children and remember some really good family fun times.

Okay - now back to today. Unfortunately due to road conditions we will be out again tomorrow and Thursday was a pre-scheduled holiday. When we return next week, we will pick up with arctic friends and the letter X & Z. Enjoy these cold, wintry days as we don't get many. Drink lots of hot chocolate and stay warm. Here is a cute picture of Miss Judy on her best snow day yet.

Today is Epiphany!

Today we celebrated Epiphany. This is traditionally when the Lutheran church celebrates the arrival of the three Wise Men. Although there has been much discussion about the Wise Men and their exact time of arrival - we celebrated the "light" of the star that led them to Baby Jesus. To help us understand the concept of following the star, we went in search of the Wise Men ourselves. It was lots of fun to follow the star around the preschool to finally find the Wise Men and the entire Nativity in a dark room. We sat quietly as the story of the arrival of the Kings was read and were so excited to receive tiny tokens of light. You can't see from the picture, but everyone received a small flashlight to remind them that Jesus is the light and that we should always let His light shine in our hearts. One by one we illuminated our little lights to make that dark room much brighter. It was a fun way to see how much light we can give off if we share God's love together. One of us is not as bright as all 15 lights together. Can you even stop yourself from singing...."this little light of mine..." These sweet faces are so full of His love and I hope you have a little celebration of light in your own home. Happy Epiphany!

PS - We already knew about Frankincense, Myrhh & Gold and agreed that these would not be the kind of gifts we would bring to a sweet little baby. There is a class book that will start on Monday with everyone's idea of the perfect gift for Baby Jesus. Look for it in your child's bag.

Snow Friends

As you have probably already seen, we made snow friends this week. The children were so excited about these simple "stuffed" snowmen and were so sweet that I had to let them come home today. I think we told everyone during carpool to be careful with these cuties because they are stuffed with rice and the accessories are affixed with hot glue - so they be careful with little brothers or sisters. They do look funny all grouped together - kind of like they are lost. I hope you enjoy these snow friends - they are not any trouble and don't ever melt. That way you can have a little bit of winter all year 'round.

Snowy Art

Since we are talking about the season of winter, we painted some beautiful pictures of snow. This was totally child created. We love to paint and this was one of those art projects that I allowed the children to do on their own. Snow is just one of those magical things that happens that (around here) makes everything stop. It also brings out the child in all of us. These paintings should really get you in a "snowy mood." Welcome Winter!

Epiphany?

"When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy." Matthew 2:10

Our Bible verse this month is about the journey of the wise men and that gorgeous, radiant star. It shone so brightly that it overwhelmed all those who saw it. Stay tuned to this blog for our class celebration of Epiphany on Thursday. Will the wise men really make it to the baby? What is frankincense & myrrh anyway? What would you do if you were one of those three wise men?

We're Back!

Today was our first day back and it was great! The children seemed genuinely excited to be back at school and in all honesty, I was too. (I don't know about you, but at my house, my two wonderful boys had spent enough quality time together and it was the right time to get everyone back into a routine. ) During circle, we spent some time talking about how much fun the holiday break was and shared our thoughts about Santa's treats. It was high energy, but much, much, much, fun!

It was also great fun to discover that 2011 is a new year, but more importantly - it will be the year that everyone starts kindergarten. This was one of those times when the children actually got more excited about school because soon they will be "BIG." Graduation is only a few months away and unfortunately it will be here before you know it. Happy 2011!

As you can see from the pictures, the playground was really bright. The quality of these pictures isn't my best, because I literally had to chase everyone around to try and catch a snap shot. They were all running and playing and had no desire to stop and pose.