Gossner Foods Field Trip

We had the fun opportunity to visit Gossner Foods.

We learned about dairy farms and how milk is turned into cheese.

Then we got to see the process in action.

We finished our tour with cheese curds and ICE CREAM!  

A great big thank you to Gossner's, for an educational and delicious day!

Ice!

The snow and ice came just in time for the letter I!

It was so fun to see how differently the children enjoy the snow.  

We made icy I's with wax paper "ice cubes".

 We played an ice cream cone version of hopscotch, where we could only hop on the scoops with the letter I.

Down on the farm with the letter H

H is for "holes", perfect for lacing.

H is for "hay".  

We practiced our cutting skills preparing straw for a scarecrow craft.

H is for "hopping hogs" to help us practice writing straight lines.

H is for "home".  

Even our farm animals need a home, and our cute kids made sure these farm animals had a nice one built out of blocks.  

Fall fun and healthy habits

Our little artists experimented with different types and textures of paint.

We gathered leaves to make our very own "leaf men" after reading Lois Ehlert's book Leaf Man.  

"A leaf man's got to go where the wind blows!"

We studied healthy habits through science and object lessons.  We used glitter to demonstrate how germs can spread to everything we touch and why it is important to wash our hands.  We soaked an egg in soda to demonstrate the importance of brushing our teeth.  We even dressed up to learn the parts of a tooth: the roots (legs), the gums (pink fabric), and the white "crown" up on top.  

Halloween

Halloween is one of my favorite days of the year.  The kids can hardly contain their excitement to dress up and have fun!

A little fine motor skill building while making tambourines for our song:

"A big, black cat in a witch's hat

Played a tambourine on Halloween.

What do you think of that?

Hey!  What do you think of that?"

We also prepared goody bags for our Ghost Walk

Curious George and two skeletons pose for a picture.

And the holiday wouldn't be complete without a telling (and retelling with the flannel board) of a classroom favorite, Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley.

Circus Week

The circus train came to class and our kids made some very creative clowns and animals.  We sang songs and walked the "shape tightrope".  

We also explored the letter F with feather painting and fishy crackers, our favorite!

Pumpkin Walk

We had the opportunity to go to the North Logan Pumpkin Walk at the end of October.  

These cute kids had a blast checking out the displays, and even jumping right in to some of them.

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me!

Shiver me timbers! We had so much fun during our Pirate Week!

We made pirate crafts.

We dug for "Gold Letters" in our sensory bin.

We even wrapped up the week with a treasure hunt!  Using our special spyglasses, we followed the clues to find the treasure.  

Discovering Dinosaurs

Dinosaur week was a hit!  The kids had a blast learning about our prehistoric friends.

We had a dinosaur excavation station.

These stegosauruses helped with color recognition and strengthening fine motor skills. 

This picture actually captures one of many learning moments that occur daily.

Child 1:  "This dinosaur has a word on it that starts with B.  Do you think it's his name?"

Child 2:  "That says 'Blue', see?  It starts with 'B' and he's the color blue."

Both of these students felt very proud of the discovery they had made together.

I love to witness moments like this.  It reaffirms my belief that preschool children learn best through play.  When provided with materials that allow them to explore, it is amazing the connections and discoveries these smart kids make!

Exploring the letter B

Learning centers are a fun way to explore the themes and the letters that we learn about.  Each day, the children have the option of several learning centers to explore.  Each of these centers helps reinforce concepts and topics that we learn in class.  Here are just a few of the centers we used to explore the letter B.  There were many more such as arts and craft centers, fine motor centers, sensory bins, math, and science.  However, most of the time we are so busy having fun that we just don't have time to stop for pictures :)

Driving along the Letter B

B is for baking in the Dramatic Play area.

B is for building a giant block tower.

                                                     

B is for backyard pumpkin picking.  Okay, that one is a bit of a stretch, but we sure had fun :) Plus we had quite a bumper crop of pumpkins in the garden this year!