Names

I'm not sure if you can tell in the picture, but one little Bunny wrote her name on her work.  At this point in the year, there is a huge range of ability in writing one's name.  Some children can do it well, some children can sort of get a letter or two and some won't even attempt it.  All of those are appropriate.  We typically encourage the children to just start with the first letter of their name.  Some are receptive to the suggestion and some aren't.  Writing is a later developing skill and we are not at all concerned when children aren't interested.  Everyone learns to write at some point, and it will be different for each child.

Woodworking

What kind of woodworking can three year olds do?

 This little Bunny is using a plastic (lightweight) hammer to pound golf tees into a big styrofoam block.  It's great for developing hand-eye coordination.   The plastic hammer prevents owies.

Opening and closing locks is a woodworking skill.  This is a lockbox.  It has tiny doors with a variety of fasteners to manipulate.  Some are quite hard requiring you to do two moves to open them.  To the kids, it's just fun!

Viewmaster

Remember this from childhood?  Guess what!  It's still around and kids love it.

Let There Be Light

We have begun talking about how God created our world.  We read the story in our preschool bible and over the next several weeks we will express our understanding of how God created everything by being creators ourselves.  To represent light and dark, the children rolled golf balls dipped in silver and neon yellow paint onto black paper.  Harris was by far our most vigorous and enthusiastic creator.  I'm pretty sure God is very pleased by that!

The Office

Is this art or is this literacy?

What you see on the table looks a little like art - markers, scissors, colorful paint chips being glued onto equally colorful construction paper.  Believe it or not, this is literacy development.  The children are using office supplies and writing with markers.  Can we read what they write?  Rarely, but that's beside the point.  All of the marks they make that look like scribbles will continue to refine and refine until they resemble the marks we make for letters in our language, then they'll actually resemble letters.  It's a long slow process and lucky for these kiddos, we give them plenty of time and opportunity to develop.

The Name Game

We've been playing games so the children can learn each other's names.  It takes a long time!  One day we brought our name strip into the room and found our places.  We also have a matching game of name to photo.  I expect that to take quite a while for some so we'll practice it a lot.  Photo rosters are ready to be copied and distributed so you'll be able to practice the Bunny Rabbit names at home. 

The Sweet Serenity of Books

We are so delighted to have a class of book lovers.  In the few days of school we've had together, we have noticed every child in the book center at some point.  Each day there have been more books on the floor than on the shelf at the end of the day.  (Yes, we'll work on putting them back.)  How wonderful to have a room full of little ones who value books!!

Parent Orientation

Tonight is Parent Orientation at school.  Come to our Bunny Rabbit class to hear plans for the year, meet the other parents, and figure out who Benjamin Bunny is.  (He's coming to your house soon!  Don't be nervous.)
Heehee!

Mmmm Smelly Markers!!

Look who reaaallly loved our smelly markers!

Potty Patrol

Bunny Rabbit Parents:  At the end of the day, once we have dismissed your child to you, if you find that your child needs to use the bathroom, we kindly request that you find a bathroom elsewhere in the building, such as in the hallway by the gym or the hallway by the office.  (How's that for a long sentence!)  We realize it may seem silly, but we have good reasons.  Thanks!

First Day Fun

Our first day of Bunny Rabbit class was big fun!  The children had opportunities to check out the room and each other with only half of the class present at a time.  What a lovely way to ease into the year.

These bunnies built with pipes.  They attached pipe pieces of different sizes and shapes to create structures on a base.  We will always have an activity to do on this little table.  Notice the children are standing up.  Playing while standing requires totally different muscles than playing while sitting. 

These bunnies had no trouble locating the paper, markers and scissors.  See those envelopes on the table?  Those are for holding all the little snips and bits so they can arrive home safely.  We'd really be disappointed if those got lost blowing down the porch in the wind.  Get ready for lots of envelopes!!

Look how busy these friends are!  Every week we'll have several games and/or puzzles out for the bunnies to solve.  These offer opportunites to think, to problem solve and to develop fine motor skills.  There are lots more where these came from.  We have TONS of fun stuff in our closets.  Stay tuned!

Snacks - Think Small!

Here is our snack basket full of tasty treats.  Um, frankly it's a little TOO full.  Some parents sent a little too much food - if so, we tried to put a little note on the leftovers.  Our motto for next week: Think Small!  Please send only one baggie with a handful of snacks and label it with a sharpie before you arrive.  Thanks for being flexible while we all learn what works with our new snack policies at school.

First Day Reminders

Our first day of school is Monday, August 30.  The children will come for an abbreviated day - either 9:00 to 10:15 or 10:45 to 12:00.  No snacks are needed on Monday.  The children won't have time to eat. 

Tuesday, August 31 will be a regular day.  The children will come from 9:00 to 12:00.  The children will need a snack in a zip-loc bag and the bag labeled.  If you need examples, scroll down to the post below.

Snacks

Here are some examples of acceptable snacks for this year.  Now that the kids will bring their own snacks from home, we want things to be simple for parents and for kids.

Grapes, cereal, cheese, apple slices and crackers are great options!

Classroom Visits

This week we will have classroom visits. The new Bunny Rabbit children will come to school to meet Mrs. O'Connor and Mrs. Magee and get the lay of the land. We find that coming to school for a quick visit reduces anxiety and eases the transition for children on the first day of school. In the quick visit, we will take pictures, share information (and maybe a hug or two) and meet some of the other kids and families.

The first day of school will be Monday, August 30. We call it Get Acquainted Day, and it is a reduced schedule. We'll go full speed ahead on Tuesday, August 31.

Can't wait!

Time for School

It's hard to believe school starts in just a couple of weeks!

This blog is the perfect place to see exciting ways young children learn. I will be posting pictures (lots of pictures!) and brief explanations of what happens in our Bunny Rabbit classroom. I think you'll be amazed at all that goes on in three short hours!

Welcome to a fantastic year of Bunny Rabbit class!!

Bunny Love

It was an honor and a pleasure to have these darling Bunnies for a year. Watching them grow in God's love is a gift! Mrs. Magee and Mrs. O'Connor are so very thankful for the lovely gifts, sweet notes and the hugs! We had a great year!!

Gingerbread Day

Gingerbread in May? Certainly! We read several versions of the Gingerbread Man and spent some time comparing the events in the different versions. We then decided to make our own gingerbread man. We made the dough, rolled it out and decorated our gingerbread man with raisins. Noah's mommy helped us by taking our gingerbread man to the oven to bake. While he was baking, we read the Gingerbread Girl. Her story turns out quite differently than her brother's. She's a smart cookie!

After the story we went to get our gingerbread man from the oven, but guess what?!! He was GONE!!

Our gingerbread man left us a clue to find him. We chased him to the big blue barn on the playground, but we just missed him. We continued to follow the clues around our school and ultimately found him waiting for us on the table in our room! Of course we gobbled him right up. Delicious!!

Bunny Visit

Big excitement...a REAL bunny rabbit came to visit us at school!

Our friend, Anne, from the Nature Discovery Center, came to read a bunny story and show us a real bunny. Of course we all got to pet the super soft bunny. This particular bunny is very accustomed to being handled and petted by little hands. Everyone was brave enough to touch the rabbit. Who could possibly be afraid of such a gentle bunny?!

Outdoor Day

Outdoor Day was a super fun experience. Our playground was transformed into a water play zone. There was so much to choose from, it was hard to know where to begin! There was fishing, bathing babies, painting, shaving cream on bubble wrap, car washes, water slides and face paint. Owen and Weston R spent almost the entire day together in the little pool. Those boys had a blast as evidenced by their soaked-to-the-bone selves.

We wrapped up the day with popsicles on the porch - the best part of course!