Rain Forest

We started our new unit this week on Rain Forests!!  As an introduction, we watched a short movie clip from the older series called "The Magic School Bus".  This time the class field trip was to the rain forest to help save a cocoa bean plant.  It was enough to catch everyone's attention and give them some information to pull from as we discussed this region of the world that is so very different from our own.   

Since there are many layers within the rain forest, we are starting with the things that live and grow on the ground floor.  We talked about spiders, insects, flowers, trees, ants, and jaguars.  We colored animals and painted animals that live on the ground floor.  

Our focus for our art projects and "pattern" practice was SNAKES!  Snakes slither an crawl on the ground floor.  They also venture up trees, but mostly stick to the ground.  

We made these fun spiral snakes.  First, we decorated them.  The preschoolers used many different types of decorations.  Some did dots or circles, others triangles or squares, and others just drew more spiral lines.  They all looked great when they were done and no two snakes were the same.  

After they were decorated, the cut out the original circular shape around the snake.

Then they cut out the spiral lines to make this cool snake!

We also practiced these fun patterned snakes using yarn and straws.  (Such an easier project than making and using colored noodles that can get messy and are hard to thread through.)  For the most part, preschoolers stuck to a basic pattern like this snake.

Others got fancier and even venture on to use three colored patterns.  

 When they were all threaded, faces were drawn onto one end finishing off the snakes.

 We had LOTS of fun and changing themes always excites your children!

Writing Numbers

Now that we have learned how to write the numbers 1-9, it is time to practice. We ALL learn best through play in preschool, so we played this week as we wrote our numbers.

We wrote them in shaving cream and practiced...
We wrote them on the Magnadoodles...
Then, of course, we wrote them with paper and pencil, too. That paper was sent home to you! At home, practice your numbers. It is a fun challenge!!

A Day all about Butterflies

In honor of our new butterflies, we are having a day devoted to these beautiful insects.We drew what our caterpillars looked like today, which included creative drawings of butterflies.
We practiced putting these pieces showing the stages of the caterpillars in order together.
We made this fun project showing the stages.
And lastly, we painted colorful butterflies, too.
Everyone was excited to watch the butterflies during centers with a magnifying glass! The preschoolers will be sad to see them go. (Their teachers will, too!)

We have BUTTERFLIES!

Since all of our caterpillars were in their chrysalis, we moved them to the Butterfly Garden. We put grass, sticks, and flowers in the netting with the sugar water for the new butterflies. All of the chrysalis transferred without any problem and were safely placed in the top of their new home.
It's a good thing that we moved them when we did because the next morning, one butterfly emerged, then another!! It took them a long time before their wings were dry enough to fly, but they both seem to have become perfect butterflies! They are beautiful, too!!
I can't wait to show the preschoolers tomorrow. There are still three caterpillars in the chrysalis stage, so hopefully they will turn when the preschoolers can watch them.

Easter Bunny, Easter Bunny, Where's your Egg

We played a little game during "circle time" today and the children love it! One child leaves the room and we hide this egg under a different student, sitting among the rest on the rug.
When the egg is hidden, we call the student back into the room. Then we sing:

"Easter Bunny, Easter Bunny, where's your egg?

Somebody took it from your home."

That person, then has to guess who is sitting on the egg. They loved it!

We made an egg like this one at our Easter party. Now you can play at home.

Happy Easter!!

Easter Bunny Day

We had a fun Easter day!! We started out by making these fun bunny hats! (Thanks for all of the help making these.) They were super cute and the faces were all done by the preschoolers. They looked great!Then, after reading bunny stories and playing bunny games during "circle time", we had some bunny centers. We made bunny patterns! Everyone can make the "AB" patterns, but these others are harder to remember.
Then, we put all of that pattern practice to work. We completed these paper patterns to take home.We also colored Easter bunnies and made sparkly eggs! Finally, the centers were done and it was time for yummy cookies and the LONG AWAITED egg hunt! (Again, many thanks to the parents that helped hide all of the eggs!)

We hope this fun day was the start of a wonderful Easter weekend!!

The Caterpillars are not Caterpillars Anymore!

Finally, after about 9 days, our caterpillars crawled to the top of their container and hung upside down, just like the books we've been reading said they would. The preschoolers got to see them as they were changing and were as amazed as I was!

By Tuesday night, all five caterpillars had moved into the chrysalis stage.

When the children drew the pictures of their caterpillars and Wednesday, many of them drew caterpillars, like they had been doing last week. Unfortunately, there were no caterpillars, just chrysalises, so they had to draw their picture over again. It was fun to see them understand what was really happening.

We talked a lot about the four stages butterflies go through. Then, we cut out pictures of the stages and had to put them in order. This was a lot harder than it looked.

It won't be long now... We'll have butterflies before we know it!!