Random Thoughts

 Healthy snacks, fun snacks....

Kinex building blocks that look like DNA  (yes we talked about what that is....)

 bringing a book to life with our own big sandwich (like Pete The Cat's Big Lunch) (Thank you Mrs. Rachel!!!)

and wanting to write words and do things on our own.    This week we are learning about heart health, dental health and taking care of our self.  No doubt in my mind that we are on our way to becoming healthy and independent learners!!!  Really are we only five years old? 

Having Fun!

 

 

 

 

 Cold days are no problem for us!! Above you can see our indoor obstacle course.  We did some "driving," hopping, and running.  You just never know how these things will go over but the children totally loved it.  They like a challenge and they also like to cheer for their friends to do their best.  Below you can see us in our classroom keeping the energy going.  We worked on a phonics matching game that some of us thought was "too hard."

 We did some chopstick graphing.  We practiced some fine motor skills while moving cotton balls with chopsticks and graphed our results....

 

 We let the creative juices flow while we decorated our Chinese dragon waver...

 ...practiced tying shoes....

 did some more measuring with our kinex pieces....

 and looked at money with a magnifying glass to see if those Presidents really are on there.....

 So with all of this awesome work how could we NOT be on the stars?  I am telling you these boys and girls are getting smarter and stronger every day.  Kindergarten teachers better be getting ready because we can't wait to get there.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

 Gung Hay Fat Choy!  Or  Happy Chinese New Year!!!!! It is the year of the Sheep!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are our Good Luck Dragon wavers.  (If you see our funny faces in the pictures - some of us just could not resist making a dragon face.... I mean how can you avoid the urge?  It is lucky dragon waver.....)  We had no idea that Chinese New Year was so much fun!  We learned that children in China get money for this special day and celebrate by cleaning everything to prepare for the new year.  Red is a lucky color and they have lots of parades with dancing dragons and lions.)  We also had fun with the Chinese zodiacs.  Our class has tigers and oxen.    The children think the animal characteristics are hilarious and wanted to choose their own animal.  (It is hard to explain that this is determined by the year of their birth.)   The group just below is our "tiger" group.  If you notice they are making their best tiger faces....including the roar that you can't hear.

 The remaining group is our "ox" group and they are showing off their muscles. If you found a red sheet in your child's bag with the listing of Chinese Zodiac, the children wanted a copy to take home to find out who everyone else in their family was....They spent lots of time guessing - so it will be interesting to hear if any of their predictions were right.

Happy President's Day!

 

 

 

It was a short, very cold week - but that did not stop us from having all kinds of fun in our classroom.  (You have my permission to laugh out our Presidential snack.... they sure looked a lot cuter on Pinterest... But the children loved them.)   We learned about some of our first Presidents and a tried on some crazy hats.  We were really glad that there wasn't a "George Washington wig" anywhere around our classroom because that would have just been too "weird."  We did a few Presidential portraits and even talked about what we would do if we had that super important job.  Stay tuned for a class book with our answers.  Either way, we all agreed it is way more fun to be a child and pretend to be President than to have the real job.  (And I totally agree!!!)

 (See how tall George Washington's hat is on the door frame?   He was really tall!  Our tallest friend in our class put on the "Stove Pipe" hat and he isn't halfway there.) 

 

Chapel With Mrs. Denise

This week, we celebrated Mardi Gras on Tuesday and entered the church season of Lent on Wednesday.  In the church, this day is called Ash Wednesday and it marks the beginning of Jesus' journey to the cross.  (Of course there is a little a more to this, but we are only preschoolers.)  To help us sort of understand what all of this means, our next six weeks of chapel will be based on a book by Melody Carlson, titled Benjamin's Box.  It is a great story about a little boy named Benjamin, who watches Jesus through this difficult time.  He also has a special box where he collects things to remind him of Jesus.  I am sure that you have already heard about our very own special box we have at school.  We decorated it and wrote our name on it and have already started added special keepsakes to it.  The children are so excited and cannot wait to bring it home to share it with you - but this is where patience comes in!!!!  We have to wait 6 weeks to collect everything from the story.    Thank you Mrs. Denise for bringing this book to life for us!!!  This is the saddest part of the  Bible, but we always remember the Good News too!!!!  Jesus does come back to life!

We LOVE To Read

 

The best Valentine of all.... reading a book to your mom and dad... and yes we can do that!  We colored this little book and made our very own heart pointer to help us keep our place.  Here we are showing off our proud faces.  I hope everyone enjoys this special treat from your child.  They are so excited to share this with you and are ready to teach you some letters and words too!

 

Valentine''s Day Fun

Since tomorrow is our parent conference day and our students do not have school, we celebrated Valentine's Day today.  We made treat bags, filled them with goodies and made cards for our mom and dad.  It was a day of high energy because we could not wait to get our treat bags home to look at all of the surprises inside.  I really love the children's answers to what love is...."having joy" and "being thankful for someone".... remember they are only 5 years old. 

 

 

 

 And at lunch we got kinda silly.  So many thanks to our parents who helped make this day so special!!!  Happy Early Valentine's Day!!!!