More Alumni Visits

It is always such a wonderful feeling to see graduates return to our preschool to say Hi!!!!  I only got pictures of these 3 young men, but others made it by on early release to say hello.  Thank you parents for brining your children by to see our class and share the things that they have learned at Big School.  They always look so grown up when they stop back in... time sure does fly these days.

Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin Muffins taste great.... yes they really do.  We finished all of our pumpkin science with a cooking lesson.  We used that weird smelling & strange looking pumpkin from our jack o'lantern experiment to make these delicious treats.  Of course there were lots of other ingredients to make it taste and smell better... but in the end... they tasted great.  We all looked at the recipe and talked about all of the things that we need to cook (and we also talked about being totally safe and never touching the stove or oven without a mom or dad to help us.)  Then we each took a turn stirring and mixing and got them ready to go into the oven to bake.  Below you see our end result - YUMMY!  Your child should have brought one home in their bag along with the recipe in their folder.  Happy Pumpkin Day!

Carving A Jack O'Lantern

Turning a pumpkin into a Jack O'Lantern is lots of fun... but it feels really gross.  For a fun science experiment we carved a pumpkin and read the pumpkin carving prayer to guide us along.  And boy was the prayer right when it talked about cleaning all of the yucky stuff out.  The children were so surprised to find out just how sticky and gooey and stringy the inside of a pumpkin actually is.  We each took a turn cleaning out the inside to make room for our candle.  We looked at the seeds and talked about how they can be recycled to grow more pumpkins OR can be toasted in the oven to make a yummy treat.  We also talked about the different ways you can eat pumpkin.  (But in all honesty... the smell of the pumpkin made it hard to convince the children that this is actually how a delicious pumpkin pie begins...)

So... to finish our carving experiment, we turned off the lights in the room and turned on our Jack O'Lantern.  We welcomed his bright smile by singing "This Little Light of Mine."

Nature's Jack O'Lantern

Sometimes at the preschool we just have to explore what is happening around us outside. The weather is just right to take morning walks and the changing leaves are too beautiful to ignore.  We have been talking about the changing season and had fun this week using part of God's fall gifts to us to make this cool Jack O'Lantern but we used all of the things we found outside to create him.  I LOVE it.  He is displayed outside of our classroom to show us that we can use our imaginations to create anything.

Happiness

 Our class is filled with so much happiness and laughter... of course it might sound like a bunch of noise to someone passing by.... but we know that this is the sound of learning. 

We use our imagination to play and work ...

 we do puzzles...(of course the children have NO idea that they are using so many problem solving skills complete a puzzle.)

 we create at play doh ... using our imagination and lots of fine motor skills....

 AND we practice reading!!! I found these totally perfect beginner readers for our class.  You can see our friend above turning his brain on "high power" for our reading activity.  We got these google eye pointers and took our time practicing reading each word on each page.

 Okay... I know that the picture clues make this too easy... but it is how reading starts. And YES we did an awesome job reading this book!!!!  Hats off to these super smart boys and girls!!!

A Day For the Stars

What a totally great day in our classroom....we all made it to the stars.  This doesn't happen that often, but when it does... I have to share.  Way to go boys and girls!

Batty Bats

 Our classroom is a bat cave....These cute little guys are just hanging around our room to remind us that some things that fly are NOT birds.  Hopefully your child can tell you a few bat facts... like bats sleep upside down and are awake at night.  We had lots of fun learning about birds, bats and owls last week and the best part... it all helps put us in a Halloween mood.  I probably shouldn't highlight the upcoming holiday, but I love to see the children's excitement and beautiful smiles.

Way To Go Grandma!

Just a shout out to Jeff's mom "aka" Grandma.  She is a breast cancer survivor and kicked it without any whining or complaining.  We are sooo proud of her!  We did the breast cancer awareness walk on Saturday and wore all of our pink with pride!  Grandma is our hero and so are all of those that walked on Saturday.

Terrific Thursday

 It was a terrific Thursday in our classroom.  Of course you see us playing in some of these pictures, but you see us at music with Pastor Josh and holding up our days of the week cards... (never mind that some are upside down....)

 It was just a busy, but happy day.  We spent some time outside and slowed the pace down to review some of the skills we all need to know for kindergarten.  It was a really great day in our classroom.

Jack O'Lantern Art

 It's beginning to look a lot like Halloween!!!  These crazy little jack o'lanterns are displayed in the hall and make it feel just a little bit like our favorite holiday.  The boys and girls painted the pumpkins and later added the shape faces and green handprint stems.  I love them all!  Take a few minutes to come up and see your child's art... they LOVE to show it off.

Blessings!

 These pictures need NO words....It says it all!  These 13 faces are blessings in so many ways!!!!  I had to share them to brighten your day!  Have a blessed day.

The Fire Truck Is Here

Fire Truck Day!  We had one of our most exciting days ... the fire truck came to visit.  There was a super cool puppet show to teach us about fire safety and we got to meet some real fire men.  We also got to see a fireman get dressed in all of his gear to teach us not to be scared of him.  His oxygen makes him sound like Darth Vadar... but he isn't a bad guy.... He is a helper.  We learned that if there is a real fire, we should not run away from him... we should go to him for help... no matter how scared we are.  AND we got to see a REAL fire truck.  They didn't make the sirens sound, but it was totally awesome!!!!

Plus we made these paper plate smoke detectors to teach us how important they are to have in your house...  (Hint... the nose is red because it is always sniffing for smoke... just to make sure we are totally safe.)  We also talked about making sure they really work... so don't be surprised if your child asks you to hear the "BEEP."

 And we made a pretend phone to practice calling 911... because you never call that number unless it is a real emergency.  We spent some talking about what an emergency really is and why it is so important for us to know our home address.  AND we got homework.... YES HOMEWORK!  Your child is supposed to talk to you about having a fire drill at home.  This means practicing getting out of the house and finding a safe place to meet.  I know these babies are only 4 (well 2 of us are actually 5) but we it is time to plan for the scary things.  I always tell our children "if you're prepared... you don't have to be scared."  It was an exciting kind of day and most of us said we would love to grow up to be a firefighter... of course that may change when we find out how scary this job really is.  Thank you so much Lexington Fire Department for visiting our preschool today.