First Fire Drill

Periodically we practice fire drills. Here are the Bunnies out in the back parking lot standing on one of the yellow lines (more or less!).

The Rainbow Fish Revisited

Yesterday we read the Rainbow Fish and talked about being a good friend. Today we made our own mosaic Rainbow Fish which will become a class book. We also reenacted the story. During our circle time, I gave each of child two shiny (foil) scales to tape on their shirts - one to keep and one to give away. I put on some dance tunes, and we danced around and gave one friend a scale. So fun!

Outdoor Intrigue - Day 2

We were so delighted to see how much progress the workers made yesterday afternoon! Lots of those yellow bars we saw on the ground yesterday have been installed as handles. The kids are going to be thrilled to play on it next week!

Mr. Sharky

Today in the room we had a huge container of ocean animals. No super sleuthing needed to figure out which animals were the most popular. Sharks! We also had a cool shark book on the bookshelf. The kids on the rug had a great time trying to match our toy sharks to the ones pictured in the book.

The children also learned a new song (fingerplay) called Mr. Sharky. They loved it. Here are the words so you can sing it at home.
Five little fishies swimming in the sea
Teasing Mr. Sharky - "You can't catch me!"
Along came Mr. Sharky as quiet as can be
He snapped that fish right out of the sea!

Each time you sing, there is one less fish - 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. At the end you say
Now Mr. Sharky is as lonely as can be.

Outdoor Intrigue

Workers arrived today to begin assembling our new play structure. WooHoo! Luckily we got to watch the early phases - examine the pieces, hear the drill, see the digging. We had lots of fun speculating what we would be able to do with the various pieces. Dawson guessed he'd be able to climb on the yellow bars pictured above. Good guess! We all liked their cool red truck and their red hats - no surprise there.

Success

All the Bunnies arrived on their own two feet today. Way to go! A few kiddos had a few tears, but it was all over by 9:30. This is huge progress. I think we had our best day ever!

Let's Try It

I know it's only been a few weeks since school started, and I know the Bunnies are still learning to trust their new environment. While things are still relatively new, now is a great time to insert good habits into our school day.

For this week (and the next few) let's have the children arrive at the door on their own two feet. I know it will take longer to maneuver through the parking lot. I know they may cry and ask you to pick them up. I know it might be harder to say goodbye. But, I also know that it is very difficult to peel a child off of the parent. I also know that they languish in their tears longer, and that it is much more difficult for a child to engage in the fun of the room if they are held.

I promise, the children comfort themselves best when they get busy. Let's try it!

Seen and Noted

The children are really coming out of their shells. This week we observed a few moments I just had to share - one funny, one tender.

Here's how Lexi showed up at the snack table. A girl's gotta have her phone! We all understood this.

Here is a sweet moment between two friends. One was so excited about using the cow shaped hole puncher. The other one came over and wanted to know how. I got to overhear the calm and kind instructions (and demonstration) on how to use the hole puncher. A true sign of a friendship in bloom.

Physics in Preschool??

You bet! Check out the ramp (the fancy term is "inclined plane") used for exploring motion. Check out the gears, which are simple machines. You can't see it in the photo, but Aaron has a crank to turn the gears on his side. Figuring our how things move in space is an important part of learning.

Creation

Today we began learning about the world God created for us. The kids loved our pop-up Creation story. (Check the bookshelf at the bottom of the blog to see the cover.) One of the ways we share faith in the story of creation is by letting the children be creators. We give them time and materials to create art, to create block structures and to create solutions to puzzles.

There's a First Time for Everything!

In my years at School for Little Children, this is the first time I've ever seen a child actually iron. William's future wife is going to be one lucky lady!!

Back to School

Class begins again on Monday, September 22 at 9:00. This week we will begin talking about and experiencing creation. God gave us an amazing world, and sometimes He likes to remind us that He is in charge. We will be ready to help your children ease back into our routines, and we'll have our ears open to hear their stories. See you Monday!

No School

The Bunny Rabbit class will not meet this week. We expect our class to begin again on Monday September 22. Parents may contact me directly if needed, or contact the school office.

Snip Snip

Does this look like a mess to you?

Not to me.

In my eyes this is hard work! See all the fringe and little pieces cut away from the edges of paper? See the teeny tiny strips and bits? See that we have more than one kind of scissors? See how there are far more scissors out of the basket than in it?

This photo represents the "byproduct" of almost every child visiting our office during the day on Tuesday. A fantastic sight to behold!

Three Ps

Our Second week is off to a grand beginning! It's such a delight to learn about each child and what they can do. Today I noticed three amazing things all starting with the letter P.

Playdough

This Bunny baked cookies for us today. He carefully cut just the right size and then used shapes to make chocolate chip cookies. Thoughtful and delicious!!

Painting

This Bunny painted LOTS of pictures today! She had a huge pile to take home and enjoy. Paint is powerful!

Patterns

We were delighted to see several Bunnies completing patterns. This is a skill we don't expect to see right away. Typically it emerges over the course of the year with lots of opportunities for practice and repetition. I predict this group will easily manage patterns in a variety of formats.

What a day!

The Kissing Hand

This week we will read one of the sweetest books about going to school. The message in the Kissing Hand is so positive and reassuring for little ones. You may want to visit the library and check it out for home also. Scroll down this page to my bookshelf and you'll see the cover.

Tears and Wet Pants

I've gotten a few phone calls this week from parents who were worried that their crying children were disrupting our class - or that having to change wet clothes took us away from the other children. Let me assure all of you that we fully expect tears and we fully expect wet pants! This is totally normal and we are ready for it. In fact, if we didn't have these occurrences, we'd be shocked. Three years olds are our specialty, and not much takes us by surprise!

Don't Forget

Parent Orientation will be Tuesday September 9. We will meet in our classroom at 6:30. Parents will get to meet each other, and I'll give great information about our year together. Following our classroom portion, there is a parent meeting for all. Attending both portions is really the best way to get a feel for our little class and for the school as a whole. We do some amazing things at School for Little Children and we want you to know all about them!!

First Day Fun!

Wow! What a great first day!!

The Bunnies wasted no time getting busy. There were many opportunities to practice fine motor skills today.

One Bunny wrote her name today. Wow!


A very popular activity was our "Feed the Bunny" game. To feed the bunny, you must use large tweezers to pick up little carrots and put them through the bunny's big mouth. It takes strong hands and good coordination to succeed. Besides - it's super fun!!


Most of the children visited the art table today to make bunny rabbit collages. They used their fine motor skills to use the glue sticks appropriately AND get the lids back on again. Sounds simple, huh? Actually there are many steps and actions involved in using glue sticks - pulling, twisting, aiming, rubbing, inverting, and pushing. Not so simple after all!! We'll have many, many chances to use glue sticks during the year. They will be pros in no time!


We really had fun getting to know each other today. I was super impressed with the clean-up strategies of this group! We got the room sparkly clean in a jiffy.

I can't wait for next week.