Leaf Man

Leaf Man is a really neat book. In it the illustrator uses leaves to create other people and animals, and the story tells of their adventures. We decided to make our own Leaf Men. Of course, some of them were Leaf Girls! Karis had a great time making her Leaf People with many, many googly eyes. In our class, we are not concerned with number of eyes. Creations with multiple eyes are welcomed and encouraged! The second photo shows Ava's Leaf People. Notice one of them has an umbrella (sweet gum ball). She made a whole group! This is the perfect time of year to make Leaf Men/Girls/People. Try it at home!

Signs, Signs

Each year, each class is different. I've seen a lot of cool things happen in the "office" which is what we call our literacy center. Until this year, I have never had children make signs. I love it!! Seems simple, right? Think about what's involved: drawing and/or writing, using the two hole punch and orienting the paper just so, cutting yarn to length and threading it through the holes, and asking a grownup to tie the yarn. Not so simple after all. If a sign makes it to your house, please display it proudly!

Phone Conferences

It's phone conference time. Mrs. O'Connor will be calling over the next couple of weeks to briefly check in on your child. Get your questions ready!

Saying Good-bye

This week we had to say good-bye to Simon. His family is moving out of our area. I'm not sure the Bunnies really understood, but I think they'll figure it out when we introduce them to a new Bunny. That's right - we'll have a new Bunny, Weston, starting soon. What are the odds of having two Westons!!

Apple Tasting

In Bunny class we've been learning about plants. Guess what? You can eat plants! Generally this is surprising to little children. So we had a taste test. Each Bunny got a slice of a red, a green and a yellow apple. They chose which they liked the best and we displayed the results on a graph - and I use that term loosely. We counted how many people liked each color and compared the amounts. Most people liked yellow!

Playground Fun

Want to know what the Bunnies do on the playground? They build their motor skills! Running, climbing and pedaling are the three main activities. At this point in the year, the children don't play together all that often. They primarily explore the toys, sand, and structures independently. This is normal. Later in the year, they are going to move in packs roaming from place to place and activity to activity. All the while their muscles will be growing. Nothing beats time to run and play!!

Music

On Tuesdays, we now have a music teacher, Miss Cruise, who visits our class to sing and play. She has come twice and she is teaching the Bunnies some darling songs. The children are starting to learn the motions to go with the songs. From our standpoint as teachers, who aren't particularly musically gifted (wink, wink) it is really nice to have a professional come to the room. Mrs. Magee and Mrs. O'Connor are picking up some tips and tunes.

Jello Oceans

We wrapped up our experiences with ocean life by making Jello Oceans. It was our first cooking project this year, and the Bunnies seemed to really love it. On Monday, we made a batch of blue jello and poured it into clear cups. Each Bunny added 1-2-3 gummy fish to the cup and put it in the refrigerator. On Tuesday, they gobbled it all up!

God Created the Oceans

Continuing our learning about the world God made for us, we've spent lots of time exploring the oceans and all the creatures in them. We've had big bins of ocean animals to play with on the rug, several books about oceans with photographs of the real animals, rubber stamps of ocean animals in our office, and sand and shells in our sensory table.
We read the Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister. It's a neat story about a fancy fish who has trouble making friends. He learns from the wise octopus that he needs to share a bit of himself. He shares some of his shiny scales with the other fish and in so doing, gains friends. In art we made our own rainbow fish with colorful scales and shiny (aluminum foil) scales. We also acted out the story. We listened to Aquarium and "swam" around the room. The children had two shiny scales taped to their shirts - one to keep and one to share. It was a great way to practice a really hard skill!

Beauty Shop

Our homeliving center is transformed on a regular basis. So far this year, it has been a Chinese restaurant, a pizza parlor, a regular kitchen, and a beauty shop. That's right - with doll heads, brushes, barettes, spray bottles, ribbons - oh yes, we did hair!

Who Needs Cheering Up?

I have no idea who made this, but doesn't it make you smile?!

Architecture

In the Bunny Rabbit class, the children have opportunities to build with a variety of materials. Here at the beginning of the year, we are giving them the chance to explore only one type at a time. This allows the children to learn about each material and its options (and how to put it away!) without interference from other building materials. You can see three options in these photos. Mason told us he built a horse house with some small farm blocks. Simon and Kade built roads and drove their cars on their roads made from huge blocks in unusual shapes. Noah built the big house from traditional blocks and fully described each part of the house including where water drips down the roof. In a few weeks, we will begin combining materials. You'll be amazed at some of the creative structures the children produce. Basic principles of architecture begin in preschool!

Camera Shy - Not!

Mrs. O'Connor and Mrs. Magee always have a camera handy. These little Bunnies are well documented! They have a camera to play with, too, and they use it daily. Luckily three year olds are generally delighted to have their picture taken.

Growing

We're doing our best to grow milkweed and other butterfly loving plants from seed. The containers are 2 liter coke bottles repurposed as planters. Each day the children have the opportunity to observe the growth and water the plants. We use a squirt bottle for watering. It helps control the amount of water each plant gets (ahem!) and it's excellent for building hand strength. If you would like to have help watering your plants at home, give your little Bunny a squirt bottle and a smile!

Creation

We have been learning about God's story of creation. We've read several version of the creation story in some beautifully illustrated books. The Bunnies have been exploring the story through art as well. The children painted using toothbrushes in white paint on black paper and added silver glitter to make sparkly stars for the concept of light and dark. They also made a giant Earth by squeezing pipettes of green and blue watercolor onto huge coffee filters. The colors blend beautifully to look like the Earth. We also sang "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands". We will continue to explore the story of creation over several weeks.

First Fire Drill

We had our first fire drill this week. We walked out to the back parking lot and stood on one of the yellow lines (more or less). I think a few Bunnies were disappointed that firefighters were NOT coming to school.

Puff Paint

We are continuing to slowly introduce the children to a variety of art materials - one at a time. It's important that they gain experience with one type at a time so that later when we present them with multiple materials, they won't go nutso. This is puff paint. The recipe is simple: a squirt of shaving cream, a squirt of glue, and a squirt of liquid watercolor. Whisk, then paint.

Magnetism

Today the children were interested in a magnetism activity. Each colored disk is a magnet with poles - positive and negative. When the disks are threaded on the stands, they either attract or repel each other. There are pattern cards to go with this activity and tons of vocabulary to learn related to magnets, but we didn't do any of them. The best way to introduce new concepts is to let the children first fully explore the materials on their own. That way they get to make some of their own discoveries.

Parent Orientation

Next Monday, September 14 will be Parent Orientation. Please plan to meet in our classroom at 6:30. I'll share lots of information about our school year. You can browse around the room and ask questions and visit with other parents. A fun evening just for grown-ups.

Tricky Snake

Today a few of us worked to create this colorful snake. We started with the head and added sections to the snake by matching patterns. Easy for some kids, quite challenging for others. To add the next section, each child had to find another piece with a matching pattern AND orient it to keep the snake from curling onto itself. Tricky snake indeed! We got to a point where no other pieces would work, so we stopped, put on the tail, and counted. Our snake was 20 pieces long. Maybe next time we can make it even longer!