Dental Health Is Fun!!!

 It has been a busy week in our classroom.  There have been many exciting things going on and today was another great event.  We had a special guest reader who came in to share a fun book about dental health.  She also brought in some super cute treats from her "dentist husband" (and our friend's daddy) and made these awesome snacks.  (Seen below.)  These "apple smiles" tasted as good as they looked and the children absolutely loved them.  Many thanks to our friend and his parents for making dental health month so special.  You can see the book that she shared and you may have heard your child talking about it.  Who knew how 

much trouble one little sweet tooth could cause? 

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler!

 

 

 

Happy Mardi Gras to everyone!  We celebrated today in true New Orleans style with crowns and beads and lots of fun!  I am not sure what it means when I ask them to make silly face and everyone interprets that to mean "stick out your tongue" but the pictures look silly as I requested.  This day is about silliness, laughter and having fun because tomorrow begins our season of Lent and the 40 days that take us to Easter.  So today...Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!!!!!

Another Community Helper

 

 

We had another community helper visit the preschool today and it was nurse.  Our theme this week is dental health and heart health, so she stopped in to help us with this topic.  Our community helper talked to us about being healthy and about how to take good care of our body.  It was very exciting because she even brought a heart monitor and did a special test for each child.  (Volunteers only.)  The children were quite amazed that this machine could "make a picture" of their heart beat and had lots of fun watching the graph and listening to their heart beat.  Thanks so much to this special guest for taking time to visit with us. 

Pancake Picnic

 To celebrate the letter P and "Fat Tuesday" our class had a "pancake picnic."  It was really the perfect morning for our indoor picnic because it was overcast and a little chilly, so the smell of pancakes was fun for the entire building.  While I prepared the pancakes on the griddle in our classroom, Mrs. Laurie helped us with a story.  The children were so good and respected our rule about staying back while the griddle was in use.  I am pretty sure that everyone enjoyed these buttery treats because they kept asking for more.  It was our "Fat Tuesday" celebration as we learned about the traditions of Mardi Gras and filling our tummies with yummy treats.  Happy Fat Tuesday to you all!

Presidential Portraits

 

 

To celebrate Presidents' Day, we painted our own Presidential Self Portraits.  I love the fact that they are all smiling.  It is funny how much children really listen to what is being said around them, including the news.  You can see from the top picture what they shared about our President and his responsibilities.  These are displayed just outside our door.  Stop in to take a look and praise your child on their great work.

Pinewood Derby 2012

For those of you who are familiar with the Pinewood Derby, it was a big year for Emerson.  As you can see he was the winner of his group and his smile shows his pride at this accomplishment.  This Scouting project is always so stressful because the boys design and make their car.  Last year Emerson learned a critical lesson in aerodynamics and used that information to make a better design for his block of wood. We are very proud of him and his hard work in scouts this year.  (PS - He did have help installing the wheels on his car.  I am not sure who really thinks a child is capable of this, but even my husband struggled to get them placed just right.)

Happy Presidents' Day?

Happy Birthday Mr. Washington and Mr. Lincoln!  Here we are wearing our Presidential attire and showing our patriotic spirit.  "God Bless America, Land that I love. Stand beside her, and guide her Thru the night with a light from above. From the mountains, to the prairies, To the oceans, white with foam. God bless America, My home sweet home."  Last week, we spent a lot of time talking about what makes America great and why we are so fortunate to have a President to lead our country.  I know that the children can't really understand the gift of living in a democracy, but as they told me "we sure are thankful that no one can really be the boss of me when I grow up."

Playing In Centers

Our classroom is always so busy.  We do our best learning through play.  You can see that some of us sorted coins, some of us worked together to build a block tower, one of us chose our Lincoln logs to build a cabin and one of us worked hard with the computer to do some"technical support on the phone."  Our center time is one of those things that works like magic.  The children work at the table and take turns playing in different centers and honestly, no one complains about our table work.  We are super learners making our way to kindergarten.

Way Back In The 80's?

Do you remember the "80's?"  I frequently have to correct my oldest child because he often asks me "is that from way back in the "80's?" I correct him because the "80's" were not quite "so way back" for me.  Here are two of my cute girls reminding me of my high school days.  They look so cute and make me feel "not quite so old."  I can only imagine what trends will be in place when these two young ladies make it to high school....hopefully things won't be that different for them because those are the best years of life.  

Super Worker

 Sometimes we have a friend in class who deserves special recognition.  Here is one of those students.  He did such an awesome job today with one our work projects.  This is a little booklet is designed to help us learn about Presidents' Day.  During class, we do some table work while friends play in centers.  This friend was so involved in doing his very best work, that he gave up his play time.  Way to go!!!!

Valentine's Party

Just a few quick pictures from our Valentine's Party.  Our classes rotate from room to room and we share games.  Well our parents are getting smart because they made our party games a little more challenging.  Since we are so close to graduation, the party games required more concentration with picture clues and number recognitionl.  We played "candy" bingo and number bingo.  Of course we did great because we are so smart!  Also, our class had this really cool "love" themed puzzle that we solved by working together.  It was a really good day with great manners.  Many thanks to the class moms who helped to make this day so special.

Love Is In The Air

Love is in the air today as we celebrate Valentine's Day!  The children have been working hard getting things ready for our Valentine exchange and can't wait to share their cards & treats.  We made a heart wreath with a pattern and even did a little bit of math with our love bugs.  Our little Valentine pockets will be overflowing with treats at the end of the day.  Please note that we have done "a lot" of talking about when to explore these little packets of love and the children understand that they need to wait until they get home.  (This way they won't lose anything in the classroom or in the car.)

 Below you see our cuties making hearts with their hands to share God's love with the world.  And below that we are sharing our beautiful smiles.  Every year this holiday makes me sing one of my favorite Bible school songs..."we love...because God first loved us...we love...because God first loved us...we love...we love....we love...because...God...first...loved us!"  Thank you God for loving us all of the time.  Have a Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

 

 

Sunny Days

Sunny days are so much fun, even if they are just a little bit chilly.  Here are some snapshots of our little monkeys swinging around and playing on outside.  It feels so good to just run and play and have time to visit with friends from other classes.  We always thank God for sunny days and rainy days too, we just happen to love the sunny ones a little bit more. 

Classroom Fun

 Just a few pictures of the fun in our classroom.  I try to catch more candid action shots, but some of us always seem to stop just as get the camera ready.  Here you can see a super long road from our wooden blocks.  The boys at the end are making sure that it ends in just the right spot for all of the toy cars to drive off.  We also have a future architect, who is showing off his building skills with this really cool tower.  And our table on the bottom is enjoying a very nice tea party. Don't you wonder what they are talking about?  Just solving the problems of the world I guess.  Isn't childhood the best?  Don't you want to stop in and play some day?

Happiness Is A New Toothbrush

On Monday, we welcomed children's dental health month with a visit from the dental hygienist.  She came to visit us from Palmetto Smiles and taught us about taking care of our teeth.  Shad a great video about Dr. Rabbit and he taught us about the plaque bugs that make our teeth sick.  The children did a great job listening and couldn't wait to get home with their new toothbrush that she brought to share.  Who knew that dental health could be so much fun?  Thank you so much Palmetto Smiles for sharing your dental hygienist with us!

Only In The South

On Saturday, my family helped with "a pond drawing." I am not sure, but I think this is one of those things that only happens in the South. Due to a problem with the spill way in the pond, it was necessary to draw all of the water out. This is a big deal, because you have to take care of all of the fish and it is a muddy, muddy job. Marshall and Emerson had a great time helping and learned a lot about this process. We safely relocated some grass carp to a new pond and helped rescue those stubborn fish that didn't want to leave the dwindling pool of water. It was a messy and smelly job, but really fun!