Saturday, December 10, 2011

Christmas Lesson

I had a great time this week with the kids. We had a Christmas theme. Learned about the colors red and green. Number 25 for Dec 25th and the letter C. First, the boys practiced writing the letter C and number 25.
Then we went over the Manger story. We enjoyed talking about Mary and Joseph, the bright star, angels,wise men and gifts. I was impressed with all of the boys knowledge of the birth of the Savior.
For our craft the kids all made a present for their parents for Christmas.
For our portfolios the boys decorated Christmas trees.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Science Experiment Day

Today for Blue Preschool we did a few science experiments. The kids had fun with the hands-on activities. First, we talked about opaque and translucent. We tried shining a flashlight through several different objects to determine whether they let the light pass through.

Next, we talked about things that dissolve. The boys had fun stirring different ingredients into their little bowl of water to see whether they would dissolve or not. They wrote their observations on a little chart:




Next, we talked about solids, liquids and gasses. They boys got to try to turn a solid (ice) into a liquid (water.) They tried a few different things: blowing on the ice cube, holding it, waiting for the air to melt it, wrapping it in a towel, and then E had a great idea. His idea was to stick it in hot water! Then it melted quickly.Next, we turned a liquid into a solid. We shook cream in a jar until it turned into butter. Then for snack, we ate toast with butter and jam. (It tasted even better since we had just made the butter!
After snack, we worked on another chart, deciding whether certain objects would float or not:
Last, each boy was given a magnifying glass and they chose an object to study. Then, they drew a picture of what the item looked like when it was magnified.
It was a fun day and I think the boys had fun! (But, we missed G.)

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Music Day

Today was MUSIC DAY! We had so much fun! We learned the symbol for music, we recognized that sheet music comes in black and white, we learned the number one for “one at a time and taking turns”, we learned the letter “M” for music and we learned all about making music.

We started with a fun game of Letter Bingo. We worked as teams, taking turns. Next we watched a fun Sesame Street DVD about Music. The kids learned that making music is easy and can be done with ANYTHING! Next we played with some Discovery Toys musical instruments and played along to different types of songs. Each song had a different rhythm, beat and feel to it. The kids passed different instruments to each other so each child had a turn playing each instrument.

Next we went in to the piano to see sheet music and what we can do when we read it. Teacher W played a few songs on the piano for the kids to guess: “I am a child of God”, “Families are Forever” and “Mary had a little lamb”. The kids each took a turn playing the piano. They loved showing the other kids what they could do. The kids told them how they felt while they played the songs (sleepy, happy, sad, excited).

Next was snack time: cheese ball drums, Pocky drum sticks (a stick cookie) and accordion apple slices. We watched, during snack time, what an accordion looks and sounds like when played. Next we listened to other types of music. Then it was free time. The kids played all the instruments we had until their moms came to pick them up.

What a fun, loud, exciting day! So exciting, teacher W forgot to take pictures. Sorry!

Five Senses

We missed J and K this week, it wasn’t the same but we made the best of it. We started our day with a group puzzle. The boys worked side by side building this enormous puzzle. When it was done, they were so PROUD! We talked about how we have the senses of touch and sight. Without these senses, how would we have put this puzzle together? The boys were grateful to have these senses!

Then we worked on the sense of sound. First we played a game of “Sound Bingo” with picture boards. As we listened to sounds on a c.d., the boys covered the pictures with tokens. Their favorite sounds were the motorcycle, fire engine and toilet flushing! We then played a game of “Hide and Seek” but only used our ears to find the person hiding. The boys LOVED this game and each had a turn hiding. What fun!





Next we worked on our sense of smell. We had several cups filled with different smells that the boys gave a whiff. They loved the smell of cinnamon and peppermint. The disliked, VERY MUCH, the smell of soy sauce.



Next the boys used their sense of taste. THIS WAS A FUN ONE! The boys tasted limes (E’s favorite), popcorn, candy and unsweetened cocoa powder. The boys disliked VERY MUCH the cocoa powder. Teacher W has never laughed so hard at Blue Preschool. Then we had trail mix, popcorn, limes and water for our snack.





We had a fun day at Blue Preschool. We also talked about the color yellow, the letter “S”, the number 5 and the shape of our hand (to remember how many senses we have). The boys were so much fun and great sports with today’s lesson.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Halloween

Today for preschool we did some fun Halloween activities, and the boys got to dress up. J & K were Teenage mutant ninja turtles, P was a cowboy, G was Batman, E was Buzz Lightyear, and E's little brother D was a ninja.
First when the boys got here, we did a big alphabet puzzle, the boys new all there letters and sounds.



We played pin the face on the Jack-O-Lantern. Some of the boys put on a mouth, nose or eyes.
We had yummy Halloween cupcakes for a snack.
They all did a maze worksheet. They all made it through the maze very quickly. :)
We played a little game where they passed around a pumpkin with crayons inside, they passed it around the circle to music, when the music stopped, the boy who had the pumpkin picked out a crayon and said what color it was, they played it about 3 times before they got bored.

We talked about some safety rules for Trick-or-Treating. Some of the things the boys said were, always go with an adult, visit houses with lights on, stay outside, carry a flashlight or other light with you, have mom and dad check candy before eating it, look both ways before you cross the street. After we were done talking about safety, the boys stood in a circle and took turns saying trick-or-treat and thank you, and passing out their little treats.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Pumpkin Patch

We had PERFECT weather today to visit a pumpkin patch and corn maze. The kids had so much fun with the pumpkins, wheelbarrows, and the corn maze! (siblings came, too.)