"The Planets"

Many of you have asked about the "Planets" song.  I wish that I could take credit for this catchy little tune, but my son learned it from Mrs. Margie when he attended the preschool just a "few years ago."  It is such a fun little song and it makes it so easy for the children to learn the names of our planets.  Please be advised that hearing this song, even one time, may cause you to sing it repeatedly.  It is the kind of tune that gets "stuck" in your head and you will sing it for days.  (But on a positive note, it helped many of Marshall & Emerson's classmates pass middle school science tests.  I think once you learn it, it sticks with you forever.)  I hope you enjoy this little video and please know that we usually sing a lot better when the camera is not on.   

Finally - The Playground!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Finally today we got to go back to our playground!  It was a little chilly, but the sun was shining bright!  Thank you God for sunny days for us to run and play!!!!

Playing

 

 

 I know I just posted classroom pictures yesterday, but I can't help myself.  These little bodies are always moving and playing, but getting along so well.  Now if you are not familiar with our classroom, it is set up with different centers for the children to play, but lately, they drag everything to the big rug to play.  I just love that.  Yes it is loud and yes it is a little chaotic, but they all just want to be right there together.  And....

 

At the end of the day we all clean it up.  The children work together, just like they played together, to tidy up before lunch.  I think they honestly love cleaning it up as much as they love getting it all out.  In our room it all falls under the umbrella of "playing."

Beautiful Hair

 Although I am ashamed to admit that I have not seen the movie, Frozen, I have heard pretty much every detail about it.  (Remember I am the mother of 2 teenage boys...)  Anyway, these beautiful braids are inspired by this movie.  These young girls were so beautiful, I just had to get a picture. 

Having Fun Isn't Hard When We Love School

 

 

 

Just some candid pictures of our day.  We are having so much fun learning together and getting ready for kindergarten!  This preschool class is always full of happiness and love.  (Really - even when we have a little trouble, we still have fun and work it out!)  It was a rainy Wednesday, but we had a great day!

We Love Pastor Jay!

Today was our chapel day and we just LOVE Pastor Jay!  He is so cool with his guitar and funny songs.  This is probably our favorite day of the week.  For the past few chapel lessons, he has been teaching us a great song about the "fruits of the spirit."  It is such a wonderful song to help when we are having "a not so great" day, but it is perfect for "awesome days" too.  See if your child can share it with you.  Our fruits are "love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control."  The children had no idea how this all related to having a healthy lifestyle, but it fits just perfectly.  All of these fruits are gifts from God and they are right in our healthy hearts.  Today he talked about patience!  Whew, we all need a little bit more of that fruit.  Even on a really good day, it is so easy to get overwhelmed.  He taught us to take a big deep breath and count to 10 in sign language.  This is such a good way to give yourself a "mini time out" when you are feeling a little stressed.  He also taught us the "standing tree" yoga pose.  Yes, you read that correctly - we learned a little yoga too.  Now you know why we love chapel time sooooo much!    Thank you Pastor Jay for sharing your chapel time with us each week.

Being Healhty!!!!

 This class is soooo smart and ambitious!  This week we are learning all about heart health, fitness and dental care. Everyone is so excited to be learning how our body works and what an important job it is to take care of it.  Today we had these delicious apple slices for snack and some of us just had to make apple smiles.  It was so amazing to hear these boys and girls raise their hands to give a descriptive word about the apples....things like "yummy," "crunchy,"  "delicious," "tasty," "healthy."  How smart!!!!!  I am so proud of each one of them.  You can see our list of healthy habits pictured above.    This was completely child generated after our first three days of this unit.  Your boys and girls are awesome learners and are so proud to be healthy!

 

 

Dental Health

 

 

 

Since we have been learning about dental health this week, we had a super fun visit from the dental hygienist.  She came to visit and tell us all about taking care of our teeth.  It isn't usually a fun subject but the children LOVED it.  They are so excited that they are getting old enough to take care of themselves.  (well, just a little bit.)  Many thanks to Palmetto Smiles for sharing her with us and giving us a brand new toothbrush and tooth paste.  We can't wait to use them!!!! 

President's Day....

Better late than never....finally I think we are "caught up" from our snow days.  Even though we love the snow, it throws everything off, but we made it.  It was a few days late, but we learned about President's Day.  Now this is something I cannot truly understand - why would anyone want to have the enormous job of being our President, but you see our thoughts on this subject above.  I wrote exactly what the children said and I love that they see him as "crime fighter superhero."  (I didn't get this down on the paper but many of us did say that he lives in the "wipe house."  I love to hear our class' version of grown up words or phrases.)  Below you will see some of us having a little fun with some silly Presidential hats of the past.  We sure are glad that we don't have to dress this way anymore.  Happy Belated President's Day 2014!

 

 

 

I Love You This Much!!!!!!

 

 I hope everyone got their belated Valentine's cards today.  You know I think everything we do is my favorite - so guess what - a new favorite!  I especially love that the children wrote "mom" and "dad" on the front of the card!!!  These are so totally precious and the expressions on their faces are priceless!!!!

The Tooth Fairy Strikes Again

Yep, you read it correctly....the tooth fairy strikes again.  Another sweet little girl in our class lost a baby tooth.  We were so excited for her.  And yes, the tooth fairy came right to her house.  She could not wait to tell everyone her good news.  Now amidst the excitement I did explain that the tooth fairy visits only when God makes our teeth wiggle.  He knows just the right time for our baby teeth to move out of the way for our "big" teeth SO we can not hurry this process up by trying to make our teeth wiggly before they are ready. Yes God has a plan for each one of us - right down to losing our first tooth.  We just have to trust in Him and celebrate for those that already have.  Happy Tooth Fairy Day!!!!

Will You Be My Valentine?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look at our Valentines!!!! They are so sweet and special.  Each one a perfect gift from God and we are so glad that they are with us this year.  Who cares if we missed the real Valentine's Day....This one was just perfect!

Belated Valentine's Fun

  What would Valentine's Day be without treat boxes?  The best are the ones made from recycled things found around your house.  Many thanks to Mrs. Laurie for sharing these little boxes from her granddaughter.  I don't know if the children were more excited about the treats or the box.  They were busy using their brains thinking up all kinds of goodies to store in these plastic bins.  (You could use them for Legos, Barbie accessories, stickers, crayons, toy cars....who knows....the possibilities are endless.)

 What would Valentine's Day be without games?  We played a game of "toss the ball into the heart" and musical chairs. 

 

It was quite a challenge for all 15 of us to march around the rug without getting a little frustrated when the music stopped....but, we did it!  Everyone used their best manners and one friend even gave up his chair to a friend when she didn't have one.  I don't think I have ever seen a child give up their spot in musical chairs to keep a friend from "getting out."  We didn't run or make crazy faces...we just walked around to the best music ever from Frozen.

 

 

 We even read some books....

 And learned that it isn't very nice to write "not so nice" poems on Valentine's for friends we don't like.  (Our friend Gilbert in the book pictured below wasn't a good Valentine friend.  Ask your child to tell you about Gilbert and his Valentine adventures.)  Of course we would never do that, but this book always reminds children to think about our friend's feelings.  Plus this book makes us giggle too.

 Of course, no party would be complete without yummy food to eat.  Thank you so much to our moms for the delicious pizza, fruit & brownie.

It was a really fun "belated" Valentine's party.  Yes we loved the snow from last week, but we missed our friends and were so happy to see them.  If you had to ask "Will  you be my Valentine?"  I'm pretty sure that everyone would answer with whole hearts, "YES!!!!!"