In Praise Of The Apple

 Happy Birthday Johnny Appleseed!  In honor of his day, we enjoyed an apple taste test and as you can see, green apples did not appeal to anyone.  Yellow was the clear favorite and I would have to say that they all tasted great to me. Here we are in our cute Johnny Appleseed hats.  I am hoping that your child can remember why it looks like a pot.  Thank you Mr. Appleseed for sharing this tasty treat with all of us!!!

A Visit From The Library

 

 Today we had a visit from our very first community helper, the librarian.  She came from the Lexington Library and boy did we have FUN!  She read us some super funny books about farm animals and even sang some silly songs.  Did you know that books can be so entertaining?

 We were such good listeners and you can see from the picture below that we even danced a little bit.

 Thank you Lexington Library for visiting us today.  (We especially loved the duck stamp that we earned at the end for being such good book friends.)

Celebrating The Small Things

 

 There is always something to cheer about in our classroom...no matter how big or small.  So these pictures are of happy, proud faces (although some might look a little silly.)  These boys and girls have been working hard on an "after lunch" task and they all accomplished it on Tuesday!  Isn't it nice to feel proud of yourself!!!We are definitely not wasting any time getting ready for kindergarten in this classroom.

 

Words That Start With T

 Here are some of the fun things that start with the letter T.  The alphabet suitcase had lots of fun things and then we got to the playground we figured out that "tunnel" starts with T!!!!.  Letters are all around and we had no idea that we could even find them on the playground.

A Perfect Fall Day

 

 

 

 It was too perfect not to spend a little more time than usual on our playground.  The sun made that turn to "fall" light and the breeze made it perfectly comfortable!  Here we are doing our most important job as children...playing!  Thanks be to God for His beautiful creation!

 

Lunchtime

 Here is what lunch looks like in our classroom.  The children are always so proud to show off  what is carefully tucked away in their lunch boxes and get a few minutes before our timer starts to tell everyone what they have for lunch.  We eat quietly for 25 minutes and then pack up for the playground.  We also eat our "growing foods first, and eat our treats last."  Our rule about eating the "growing foods first" is to help us get our muscles good and strong before we head out to the playground.  Somehow it always works out that we have just enough energy to play and run and make it just back up the hill for afternoon carpool. Thanks mom and dad for sending us the right foods to help our bodies work just right.

Best Work

Occasionally you might hear, "Mrs. Laura likes our best work."  Well your child is repeating exactly what we say in our class..."always do your best work and that is all that you need to do."  Here are just a few photos of some of our "best workers."  Now to be totally honest, we all have days that are not our "best work" days so we are very forgiving, but it sure feels great to get a pat on the back.  You never know what your time means to your children because we hear on Monday mornings, "my mom and dad were so proud of my hard work last week.  I even got to read the book we made and I am smart for being a reader."  As a mother of middle school boys, this really does make a difference as school gets tougher.  Take some time to praise your child for any accomplishment, no matter how small.

Concentration

 Even if our room seems a little loud and busy, we do learn how to focus.  Amidst the play and talking, we work so hard on little tasks or projects.  I love these pictures from today.  Here we are at puzzles again.  I don't think I was able to really capture the moment because you can't hear the talking and playing going on around these friends as they worked hard to solve these puzzles.  I didn't get pictures after the puzzles were complete but the smiles would fill up this page.  I am always so proud of our children when they are proud of themselves!! 

A Sunny Day

After our rainy day yesterday, we weren't sure if the playground would be dry enough for us to go out, but as you can see, we made it!!  Free play is so important for children and that is what we love the best.  It is loud and fast, but perfect for making friends. 

I is for Ice Cream

 Here is our very first art project...ice cream cones complete with glitter sprinkles.  They are displayed as you come up the stairs to our classroom and look so tasty.  I think that the children did an awesome job.  I also think that the hardest part of this painting project was deciding which flavor ice cream tastes best.  If you look at our paintings strawberry, chocolate and vanilla are equally delicious.

Friendship Cake

 Our question of the day said, "have you ever tasted friendship cake?"  Well if we asked again, all of our clothespins would be on the "yes" side.  Friendship cake is something so special that it can only be made with our little class.  I can share the recipe but it just wouldn't taste the same because it took all us working together to make it taste so delicious.  You can see from the very top picture that we each chose a color to add to our cup of batter, then, all of our cups were swirled together to make our little cupcakes.  We topped them off with frosting and beautifully colored sprinkles.  You can see from our smiles that they tasted very yummy.  Our friend below took his time to carefully place his sprinkles, one by one, to make his little cake just right.  Isn't God's love just like these little cupcakes?  He mixes us up and then we come together to make special friends.  No matter what we look like, how we dress, what color our hair is...we all have something special to share and when we work together it is so much fun!  Yeah for Friendship Cake!!!!

Paper Dolls

 We spent most of last week learning how God made us special and how we are alike and different at the very same time.  Here are our fun little paper dolls that are displayed just outside of our door.  Take few minutes to see if you can find your little one.  They are so cute and the children had a great time making them.  It is so fun to watch the children make their own paper doll and create the perfect clothing, hair and accessories.  The fashion "must have" for our class was a belt.

Just Smile

 Fun pictures from last week and today.  It was a little hectic last week with the passing of my father in law, but these faces just keep me smiling.  We work so hard at school, both learning and playing, and it is next to impossible not to share all of my snapshots.  Above and below, you will see friends with puzzles.  This is the newest activity in our classroom.  It sounds simple but it isn't always so easy.  Your child might say that Mrs. Laura says "it is not hard."  Well for this group of boys and girls it isn't an issue, they are obviously problem solvers!  Puzzles make our "brains grow."  So we are really proud when our friends work hard to solve them.