Space

The Blue Whales did their part to help our planet on Earth Day.  We went on a walk on Monday throughout Southern Village picking up trash.  The children were shocked that people decided to litter and excited to help clean up our school neighborhood. 

This week in the classroom we have been exploring space.  NASA headquarters is set up in our housekeeping center with many Blue Whales overseeing the lift off, exploration and landing of many rocket ships to all different places in our solar system.  All your donated boxes have become different rocket ships with much thought into what needs to be included on the rocket ship and how many children can fit in each one.  It has been a joy to watch the enthusiasm and collaboration among our Blue Whales. 

The Blue Whales have been working on their own personal solar system mobiles.  They have been creating each planet with a different technique and we hope to start assembling them to take home later next week. 

Our solar system hangs from our ceiling as we use that and planet squish balls to talk and sing about the planets each day in circle time.  Ask your child about our planet song, it is helping us all remember the 8 planets.

We have been reading fiction and nonfiction about space and have had some interesting discussions.

We transferred the chrysalises to our butterfly garden and are waiting for the transformation. 

We had Guess-n-Tell and Davis did a great job with three clues about his item and calling on friends to guess his item.  The Blue Whales were not able to guess Davis’s item and he surprised us with his real sisters as his Guess-n-Tell.

Our first 4 Circle Time Leaders this week did a great job.  One thing they added was a joke or two every day.  We have enjoyed laughing together.  On your child’s day they will 1) Ring the Triangle to transition from Table Top toys to Circle Time, 2)They will choose how they would like to seat the children in Circle Time, 3)They will make sure all the morning jobs are completed, 4) They can choose one song to play (I have Apple Music so I can access pretty much any song so you can let me know what song they would like us to sing and/or dance to), 5)They can choose to make up a Question of the Day or A Fact they would like to share (some of the children may prefer to tell us something rather than ask us something). Below is the schedule for our Circle Time Leaders.

Circle Time Leaders Schedule

Monday, April 22nd:  Henry

Tuesday, April 23rd:  Kellan

Wednesday, April 24th:  Carolina

Thursday, April 25th:  Davis

Monday, April 29th:  Juliette

Thursday, May 2nd:  Olivia

Monday, May 6th:  Rowan

Tuesday, May 7th:  Zoe

Monday, May 13th:  Eliza

Tuesday, May 14th:  Vivi

Wednesday, May 15th:  Eric

Thursday, May 16th:  Cameran

Monday, May 20th:  Ivy Rose

Wednesday, May 22nd:  Liam

Please let me know ASAP if your child has a conflict on their scheduled date so I can adjust the schedule. 

Important Information about the Planetarium Field Trip on Tuesday:

On Tuesday, April 30th we will be taking the city bus and leaving preschool promptly at 8:15 am to walk to the bus.  In order to catch the bus, we will not be able to wait for any late arrivals. Please meet in our classroom by 8:10 am and we can all walk together to the bus stop.

Please pack your child a snack and drink.  After the Planetarium show and a visit to the interactive exhibits, we will be eating snack as a group outside.  Eating and drinking is prohibited in the Planetarium.

Ms. Beth and I enjoyed seeing some of our Blue Whale friends at Spirit Night at Town Hall Grill.  It was exciting to be together outside of the classroom.

During the next few weeks, we will be talking about space and butterflies. 

We are enjoying creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading and playing with our Blue Whale friends.   Hope everyone has a nice weekend. 

Caterpillars and Plants

Our windows are covered with bean seeds in plastic bags, and we are hoping to observe them sprout.  So of course, we had to read Jack and the Beanstalk and an alternate version of the story to compare and talk about similarities and differences.  The message we all took away from both stories is honesty and how important it is to tell the truth. 

The Blue Whales planted seeds for vegetables, fruits and flowers.  They have been watering them each day and they will go home with everyone on Thursday.  Olivia’s mom helped our Blue Whales plant their seeds and brought in large Mexican Sword Bean seeds for the class to plant and observe.  Thank you to Jeanette for sharing her love of gardening with the Blue Whales.  We talked about the plant life cycle and the parts of a plant. 

We also have been keeping an eye on our caterpillars, they got so big so fast.  As of Thursday afternoon, we had 4 in their chrysalises and one hanging in the J shape.  Next week we will transfer the chrysalises to our butterfly garden and wait for the transformation. 

Our Blue Whale artists learned about Andy Warhol and made an amazing project based on his famous work.

We had Guess-n-Tell and Eliza did a great job with three clues about her item and calling on friends to guess her item.  The Blue Whales were able to guess Eliza’s item because of her great clues. 

Starting next week, the Blue Whales will be taking turns leading Circle Time.  We asked how they felt about leading Circle Time, and everyone was excited.  On your child’s day they will 1) Ring the Triangle to transition from Table Top toys to Circle Time, 2)They will choose how they would like to seat the children in Circle Time, 3)They will make sure all the morning jobs are completed, 4) They can choose one song to play (I have Apple Music so I can access pretty much any song so you can let me know what song they would like us to sing and/or dance to), 5)They can choose to make up a Question of the Day or A Fact they would like to share (some of the children may prefer to tell us something rather than ask us something). Below is the schedule for our Circle Time Leaders.

Circle Time Leaders Schedule

Monday, April 22nd:  Henry

Tuesday, April 23rd:  Kellan

Wednesday, April 24th:  Carolina

Thursday, April 25th:  Davis

Monday, April 29th:  Juliette

Thursday, May 2nd:  Olivia

Monday, May 6th:  Rowan

Tuesday, May 7th:  Zoe

Monday, May 13th:  Eliza

Tuesday, May 14th:  Vivi

Wednesday, May 15th:  Eric

Thursday, May 16th:  Cameran

Monday, May 20th:  Ivy Rose

Wednesday, May 22nd:  Liam

Please let me know ASAP if your child has a conflict on their scheduled date so I can adjust the schedule. 

Other Important Upcoming Dates:

Sunday, April 21st: Preschool Sunday, where we celebrate the Christ Church Preschool ministry. Our preschool children will sing at the 9:00 service. Please arrive at 8:40 am in the Disciple Room.  Everyone is invited! 

Monday, April 22nd:  We will be going on a walk around Southern Village cleaning up trash as we talk about Earth Day.  (Each child will have plastic gloves and we will talk about what trash is not safe to pick up.) If the weather does not cooperate on Monday, then we will do our walk on Tuesday, April 23rd.

Tuesday, April 23rd :  CCP FELLOWSHIP NIGHT at TOWN HALL GRILL, let’s have dinner together at THG! Bring your whole family anytime between 5:00-7:00pm. THG will give a portion of the proceeds from that night to Christ Church Preschool. It’s always fun to see friends outside of preschool. 

Tuesday, April 30th:  Field Trip to Morehead Planetarium.  We will be taking the city bus and leaving preschool promptly at 8:15 am to walk to the bus.  In order to catch the bus, we will not be able to wait for any late arrivals.

During the next few weeks we will be talking about space, Earth Day, butterflies and plants. 

We are enjoying creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading and playing with our Blue Whale friends.   Hope everyone has a nice weekend. 

Leprechauns, Spring & Eggs

The Blue Whales had a great week welcoming Spring!  We talked about seasons and added another page to our journals about our favorite season. 

Unfortunately, even with multiple traps and gold we were not able to catch a leprechaun.  We think the leprechaun was a little upset with us trying to catch him, so he left our room a mess. The Blue Whales had so much fun going through the room and seeing all of things he did and then helped clean up the room.  The leprechaun rewarded the Blue Whales for their effort and each child went home with a pot of gold coins. 

We talked about Humpty Dumpty and what happened to him when he fell off the wall.  And read the alternate Humpty Dumpty story “After the Fall”.  Then the Blue Whales got to work to make egg drops to try to protect their egg’s fall from the loft in the classroom.  We had 5 eggs that did not break and 8 that broke.  But everyone had fun creating, experimenting and predicting.  They did an amazing job.

We had a new kind of Guess-n-Tell this week.  Each child brought back a plastic egg filled with one item and three clues to help the Blue Whales guess the item.  Everyone did such a great job picking items and giving thoughtful clues. 

Important Upcoming Dates:

Thursday, March 28th:  Easter Egg Hunt (Please bring in 6 filled eggs by Wednesday, March 27th – please fill the eggs with non-candy items)

Friday, March 29th – Friday, April 5th:  Spring Break, Preschool Closed

Tuesday, April 9th:  100th Day of School Celebration (more details will be coming soon)

Wednesday, April 17th:  Individual and Class Photos (We will not put out messy materials that day, in case anyone plans to wear anything special.)

Sunday, April 21st: Preschool Sunday, where we celebrate the Christ Church Preschool ministry. Our preschool children will sing at the 9:00 service. Everyone is invited! 

Tuesday, April 30th:  Field Trip to Morehead Planetarium.  We will be taking the city bus and each child is allowed one chaperone.  This is such a fun event to extend our learning about space.  More details will follow as we get closer to the date. 

For the next few weeks, we will talk about eggs, Easter, flowers, seeds and planting.

We are enjoying creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading and playing with our Blue Whale friends.   Hope everyone has a nice weekend. 

Rainbows & Leprechauns

The Blue Whales had a wonderful week together.  We talked about rainbows, colors, leprechauns and St. Patrick’s Day.  A few Blue Whales worked together to paint an amazing giant rainbow that we hung on the loft.  There were a few friends that stayed with the project through all the colors, but many friends joined at different times and it was wonderful to see the cooperation, organization and collaboration among the children.  This further developed into using our hands and feet to paint with and they enjoyed this new sensation and different way to create art.  They were so excited to see their rainbow hanging up in the classroom.  We added some rain drops, a sun and a cloud made by our Blue Whale friends. 

We read the book How to Catch a Leprechaun and came up with ideas on how to build our leprechaun traps.  Then it was recycled fun as each child put together their own creation to catch a leprechaun.  It was so wonderful to see so much focus on their traps and collaboration as some friends worked together.  We will see on Monday if we caught a leprechaun and what the leprechaun does to our classroom.

Our science experiment was a success as we watched celery stalks and leaves turn the colors of the rainbow.  We also learned a new word, osmosis, and will talk about it more when we get to the topic of plants in April.

Yesterday was day 90 of school so the 100th day of school is almost here!  We will be celebrating our 100th Day of School on Tuesday, April 9th.  We will have fun with 100 Day activities and a celebration.  More details will be coming soon. 

Blue Whale alum, Kennedy, joined us and read a fun Pigeon book to the class.  The Blue Whales enjoyed the story and asking Kennedy questions. 

We had Guess-n-Tell and Juliette did a great job with three clues about her item and calling on friends to guess her item.  The Blue Whales were able to guess Juliette’s item because of her great clues. 

Important Upcoming Dates:

Thursday, March 28th:  Easter Egg Hunt (Please bring in 6 filled eggs by Wednesday, March 27th – please fill the eggs with non-candy items)

Friday, March 29th – Friday, April 5th:  Spring Break, Preschool Closed

Tuesday, April 9th:  100th Day of School Celebration

Wednesday, April 17th:  Individual and Class Photos (We will not put out messy materials that day, in case anyone plans to wear anything special.)

Sunday, April 21st: Preschool Sunday, where we celebrate the Christ Church Preschool ministry. Our preschool children will sing at the 9:00 service. Everyone is invited! 

Tuesday, April 30th:  Field Trip to Morehead Planetarium.  We will be taking the city bus and each child is allowed one chaperone.  This is such a fun event to extend our learning about space.  More details will follow as we get closer to the date. 

We will do an egg drop on Wednesday, March 20th and Thursday, March 21st.  Each child will need to bring in a raw egg in a ziploc bag by Wednesday, March 20th.  We could always use recycled items that could help protect an egg from being broken when it is dropped.  Feel free to bring any recycled items or loose parts by Tuesday, March 19th to help with our project. 

Ms. Beth and I loved talking to our parents at conferences about all our wonderful Blue Whales and strengthening our school/home relationship.  Thank you for taking the time to meet with us.

We are enjoying creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading and playing with our Blue Whale friends.   Hope everyone has a nice weekend. 

Jeeps, Artists & Games

On Monday we had a special guest join the classroom.  Olivia’s mom, Jeanette, presented each Blue Whale with a homemade wooden jeep.  Olivia’s grandpa, Grandpa Tom, made each Blue Whale a wooden jeep and created a story with photos to show the different steps in the process.  The Blue Whales really enjoyed their time with Jeanette as she explained how the jeeps were made and then painted the jeeps with them.  Thank you to Jeanette, Grandpa Tom and Olivia.  It was a wonderful morning.  After Jeanette’s suggestion, the Blue Whales covered the floor with painter’s tape to create roads for their jeeps. 

The Blue Whales have been working hard on rhyming words.  We played a matching game and unlocked some locks all using rhyming words.  We have also read some great rhyming books that have led to discussions this week about all things rhyming. 

There is some form of order everywhere we look.  We talked about it in our visual schedule, in our favorite books and in simple tasks.  This week we practiced story order using nursery rhymes and sequencing cards. 

Artistic abilities shone through this week as the Blue Whales learned about Mary Cassatt and Alma Thomas.  The artist, Mary Cassatt, used the technique of monoprint and we tried to use that style by painting on baking sheets and then transferring the painting to a piece of paper.  Alma Thomas taught us to never give up on our dreams, as she did not start really painting until 70 years old.  She saw beauty in nature and expressed it through dashes, dots, lines and beautiful colors.  The Blue Whales created amazing art in Alma’s signature style. 

Competition and sportsmanship were in full swing this week inside the classroom and outside on the playground.  Inside we enjoyed Pretty, Pretty Princess, Fairy Tale Snap and Shark Attack.  Outside we were involved in some intense games of soccer on the playground.  We talked about the joy of playing and the responsibility that comes with both winning and losing.  There were lots of handshakes and chants of “good game, good game”.  The Blue Whales worked on winning and losing with kindness and respect for their teammates and opponents.  I myself am questioning some of the corner kick and ball out calls called on me during the soccer games but made sure to focus on the joy of playing with all these talented athletes. 

We had Guess-n-Tell and Kellan did a great job with three clues about his item and calling on friends to guess his item.  The Blue Whales were able to guess Kellan’s item because of his great clues. 

Ms. Beth and I look forward to talking to our parents at conferences on Wednesday, March 6th and Thursday, March 7th about all our wonderful Blue Whales and strengthening our school/home relationship.

Important Upcoming Dates:

Wednesday, March 6th & Thursday, March 7th: Spring Conferences.  Preschool is closed on both days.

Friday, March 29th – Friday, April 5th:  Spring Break, Preschool Closed

Wednesday, April 17th:  Individual and Class Photos

Tuesday, April 30th:  Field Trip to Morehead Planetarium.  We will be taking the city bus and each child is allowed one chaperone.  This is such a fun event to extend our learning about space.  More details will follow as we get closer to the date.  

We are enjoying creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading and playing with our Blue Whale friends.   Hope everyone has a nice weekend. 

Puzzles & Mat Man

It was a short but wonderful week in the Blue Whales class.

We worked on problem-solving skills, cognitive skills through visual-spatial awareness, fine motor skills and hand/eye coordination and accomplished all of this through a heart puzzle activity. 

The Blue Whales met Mat Man again this week.  Mat Man is a song with pieces that help children learn how to draw a person using shapes.  The Blue Whales built Mat Man as they listened to the song.  After they each drew themselves for a journal page. We talked about why we love ourselves.  The Blue Whales are a confident and loving group.

What liquid will dissolve candy hearts the fastest?  We tried water, vinegar, seltzer water and lemon juice.  The Blue Whales made predictions and it turns out vinegar is fastest at dissolving candy hearts.

I sent out an email earlier this week about Spring Conferences happening on Wednesday, March 6th and Thursday, March 7th with a Sign Up Genius Link to sign up for a conference.  Here is the link again:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0C49ABAB2BA5FFC34-48081528-blue

Ms. Beth and I look forward to talking to our parents about all these wonderful Blue Whales and strengthening our school/home relationship.

Important Upcoming Dates:

Wednesday, March 6th & Thursday, March 7th: Spring Conferences.  Preschool is closed on both days.

Friday, March 29th – Friday, April 5th:  Spring Break, Preschool Closed

Wednesday, April 17th:  Individual and Class Photos

Tuesday, April 30th:  Field Trip to Morehead Planetarium.  We will be taking the city bus and each child is allowed one chaperone.  This is such a fun event to extend our learning about space.  More details will follow as we get closer to the date. 

We are enjoying creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading and playing with our Blue Whale friends.   Hope everyone has a nice weekend. 

What a Week!!

I hope everyone received their Valentine from their Blue Whale in the mail.

I had a great time seeing my Blue Whale friends and dancing with them at the Valentine’s Dance last Friday.  Thank you to all who volunteered to make that such a fun evening. 

We have a mail bag for each child in the classroom and a table set up where the Blue Whales can make a card and deliver to their mail bag.  These went home with the Blue Whales on Thursday. 

We had a fun week that started with decorating the classroom for Valentine’s Day. The room looks so festive, and the children had so much fun adding their personal touches to our decorations. Everyone took off their shoes and showed off their Silly Socks.

On Tuesday we had a very successful Pancake & Pajama Day. The Blue Whales loved the pancakes, syrup, juice and fruit and spending the day in their pajamas.  Thank you to our families who volunteered, it is appreciated. 

We also had special guests, Ivy Rose’s Mom & Dad, to teach us about the heart and whether the heart in our body looks like the heart we have been drawing and decorating with during this month.  Dr. Danny had an ultrasound machine hooked to his phone and we all got to see Katherine’s actual heart in real time on the cellphone.  It turns out the hearts we saw around the room did not look like the heart in our bodies.  It was an informative and exciting presentation.  Thank you to Danny and Katherine for taking the time to join our class and extend our learning. 

On Wednesday we began our day by delivering Valentines to each friend and showed off our wacky hair and outfits.  The overflowing Valentine’s Day bags were sent home with the Blue Whales.  A big thank you to all our families, Ms. Beth and I felt the love with our valentines, treats and flowers. At center time we had our child planned and child led Valentine’s Party.  The Blue Whales were too adorable setting up their stations and playing with their friends.  It was a great time.  Thank you so much to all the parents who helped gather materials for their children to bring in, purchased snacks, and helped explain and facilitate their child’s favorite game. 

Ms. Beth and I really appreciate the support all our families give to us and your children to have ownership of their classroom and learning and all our crazy ideas. 

And just when we thought our week could not get any better, on Thursday we celebrated Juliette’s birthday with her mom, her favorite book and delicious cupcakes. 

We had Guess-n-Tell and Liam did a great job with three clues about his item and calling on friends to guess his item.  The Blue Whales were able to guess Liam’s item because of his great clues. 

We sang some fun songs about love in the classroom. We read some books and discussed showing love and kindness to everyone we interact with at home, school and in our neighborhood.

Just a reminder that preschool is closed for mid-winter break on Monday, February 19th and Tuesday, February 20th.  We will see our Blue Whale friends again on Wednesday, February 21st.   

We are enjoying creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading and playing with our Blue Whale friends.   Hope everyone has a nice long weekend. 

Float or Sink

The Blue Whales made a special surprise Valentine for their families that will arrive in the mail.  We took a walk to the mailbox and each child mailed their Valentine.  It was very exciting, be on the lookout for something special in your mailboxes.

Our home addresses have led us to informative and meaningful discussions about numbers, streets, cities and states.  We are practicing saying, identifying and writing different parts of our address. 

The Blue Whales had a few special guests visit the classroom this week.  Vivi brought her Dad in to show us his apple juggling skills.  It was very exciting and impressive.  Ivy Rose’s Mom, Aunt Jackie and Cole joined the class to make calming glitter jars with each child, Ms. Beth and me. We so appreciated Aunt Jackie providing all the materials and explaining to the children the why behind making the glitter jars.  Thank you to Rhett and Aunt Jackie for sharing your talents with our class.  We always welcome families if they want to share something with our Blue Whales.  Let me know if you would like to join us and we can get you on the calendar. 

We had Guess-n-Tell twice this week and Rowan and Olivia did a great job with three clues about their items and calling on friends to guess the items.  The Blue Whales were able to guess Rowan’s item and Olivia’s item because of their great clues. 

To make sure Guess-n-Tell is an exciting day, there will be no other show and tell on Wednesdays.  Your child is welcome to bring one item to show and practice their public speaking skills on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

Thank you for all the recyclables and materials to build small boats.  The Blue Whales worked hard on making their boats.  Each child predicted whether their boat would float or sink.  It was so exciting to see what happened with each boat.  If their boat sank the Blue Whales could use their observations and fix their boat and try again. 

We are looking forward to celebrating Pancake & Pajama’s on Tuesday, February 13th at 10:00 am.  Thank you to all our families for volunteering and organizing this event. 

Get your outfits ready for our days of fun next week February 12th through February 15th:

Monday, 2/12 – Silly Socks (we will go shoe less in the classroom that day to show off our socks)

Tuesday, 2/13 – Pajamas and Favorite Stuffy

Wednesday, 2/14 – Wacky Wednesday (wacky hair, clothes, however you do wacky)

Thursday, 2/15 – Favorite Sports Team (wear your fan gear proudly)

Looking ahead here are some important dates in February:

Tuesday, February 13th 10:00 am - PANCAKES & PJ’s - This is a FAVORITE school event!

Wednesday, February 14th – Valentine’s Day – Please refer to my email for how we will exchange Valentine’s that day.  And refer to my other email about our child planned and child led Valentine’s Party.

Monday, February 19th and Tuesday, February 20th – Preschool Closed for Winter Break and Teacher Workday

We are enjoying creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading and playing with our Blue Whale friends.   Hope everyone has a nice weekend. 

Home Addresses

The Blue Whales stay so busy!!  We are talking about home addresses and how mail gets to your house.  Thank you for emailing me your home addresses, we like to make sure what we have is correct. 

We used our house numbers to find a spot at circle time and to practice writing and identifying numbers.  We went on a walk around Southern Village on Monday and were searching for numbers, street signs and shapes throughout the marketplace buildings, townhouses and homes. 

The children are working hard on a house project and using many skills to complete the project.  Next week we will use our home addresses to write and mail a letter to their families.  We will be walking to the big blue mailbox on Wednesday to mail our letters.

Tuesday was an informative and exciting day.  Liam’s family joined us in the classroom and shared all about Chinese New Year and how it is important to their family.  The children were captivated by the story of how it began and the fun dragon project.  Liam and his family gave each child a red pocket filled with meaningful goodies and an orange for good luck and happiness.  They even set up a photo op for the Blue Whales with props.  It was a great day, and we appreciate all they did with the class.

To make sure Guess-n-Tell is an exciting day, there will be no other show and tell on Wednesdays.  Your child is welcome to bring one item to show and practice their public speaking skills on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

Thank you for all the recyclables and materials to build small boats.  The Blue Whales will be talking about sink or float and will be testing out their own boat creations next week.

Looking ahead here are some important dates in February:

Friday, February 9th - FAMILY VALENTINE’S DANCE - A favorite event returns this year!!  Friday, Feb. 9 from 6:00-7:30pm in Ascension Hall. Everyone is invited! People have asked what to wear…whatever you like! Some wear jeans and others wear velvet and sparkles…anything in between is OK! Keep in mind, this is a kid-friendly, family event and we sincerely appreciate our PAC for taking the lead on this.

Tuesday, February 13th - PANCAKES & PJ’s - Watch for an email from Heather, Kellan’s mom and our Room Parent, for ways you can help. This is a FAVORITE school event!

Wednesday, February 14th – Valentine’s Day – Please refer to my email for how we will exchange Valentine’s that day. 

Monday, February 19th and Tuesday, February 20th – Preschool Closed for Winter Break and Teacher Workday

We are enjoying creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading and playing with our Blue Whale friends.   Hope everyone has a nice weekend. 

Opposites and Band Aids

What is the opposite of up?  Blue Whales learned that and so many more opposites this week.  We strengthened our knowledge by reading some wonderful books and a fun group activity. 

The Blue Whales read a nonfiction book about Earle Dickson who accidentally invented Band Aids.  At center time we had lots of band aids and people cut outs to create boo boos and a band aid art project. 

We had Guess-n-Tell and Vivi did a great job with three clues about her item and calling on friends to guess the item.  The Blue Whales were able to guess Vivi’s item because of her great clues. 

To make sure Guess-n-Tell is an exciting day, there will be no other show and tell on Wednesdays.  Your child is welcome to bring one item to show and practice their public speaking skills on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

This wonderful group continues to delight and impress us with their amazing problem solving and communication skills.  They solved the trapped sand toys issue on the playground, and they have managed classroom centers working together and coming up with solutions.  Beth and I adore their positive energy, kindness, curiosity and can-do attitude.

Next week, we will be talking about home addresses.  If everyone could please send me an email by Sunday, January 28th providing their home address.  We will be using it in our discussions and a few projects. 

We will be leaving the preschool and going on a Southern Village walk on Monday, January 29th with a focus on numbers and shapes. 

We would like to collect recyclables and materials to build small boats.  The Blue Whales will be talking about sink or float and will be testing out their own boat creations in the coming weeks.  Thank you in advance for any materials you can donate to our classroom next week.

I would also like to thank everyone for their response to our Amazon Wish List, your generosity is so appreciated.  Your children are already enjoying our new maze game and will be putting all the materials to good use with their wonderful imaginations. I will continue to add our needs and wants to our Amazon List.

We are enjoying creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading and playing with our Blue Whale friends.   Hope everyone has a nice weekend. 

Last Names & Freezing Water

The Blue Whales talked about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. bears, hibernation and last names this week. 

Brown Bear, Brown Bear is a favorite with our Blue Whales.  We worked on story order and the Blue Whales completed it perfectly on their first try as a group.  We left it out on the table for the Blue Whales to work alone or together and it was wonderful to watch. 

We read Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas.  The children worked on their listening, comprehension and analytical skills as we discussed the similarities and differences between the two stories.

We created bears with paint and forks.  It was interesting to see how our little artists made their bears.  With the frigid temperatures we made predictions like a scientist of whether water would freeze or not outside.  It was very exciting to check on our experiment.  We talked about air temperature and had three different cups with various amounts of water. 

It is wonderful to have everyone in the classroom every day but when we have days when a friend is out, it has given our Blue Whales the opportunity to discover the concept of subtraction with the help of our Counter job and some thoughtful discussions. 

The Blue Whales have been counting the days of school and will have a 100th Day Celebration when we reach 100 days. We are currently in the 60s and we worked on forming groups of 10 and counting by 10s this week. 

We had Guess-n-Tell and Zoe did a great job with three clues about her item and calling on friends to guess the item.  The Blue Whales were able to guess Zoe’s item because of her great clues. 

To make sure Guess-n-Tell is an exciting day, there will be no other show and tell on Wednesdays.  Your child is welcome to bring one item to show and practice their public speaking skills on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

On Wednesday our stuffed animals joined us for lunch.  Each Blue Whale had an opportunity to tell us about their stuffed animal.  We went on a bear hunt and found bear tracks with the first letter of our names on the way to our inside picnic on blankets.    

The Blue Whales really enjoy doing yoga and taking the time to breathe deeply and intentionally and try out some yoga poses.  This week we did yoga from the book Yoga Bear.

Over the next few weeks, we will be talking about last names, addresses, animal habitats and winter.

We are enjoying creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading and playing with our Blue Whale friends.   Hope everyone has a nice weekend. 

Bears!!

How many toes does a bear have?  If there are only 8 species of bears, what species is a Grizzly Bear and a Red Panda?  Which animals migrate, hibernate and stay active in the winter? The Blue Whales are curious learners with great questions.  We answered all these questions and more through books, songs, door display, circle time discussions and some good old google research.  We will continue our investigation next week with circle time activities and look forward to any new questions that send us on a quest for answers.

Our loft turned in to a cave and there were many smiles as they played with flashlights and stuffed animals. 

Busy fingers were put to work this week with clay to make bears and caves.  There were all different materials out for the children to work with to create bears or whatever else sparked their interest. 

We had Guess-n-Tell and Cameran did a great job with clues about her item and calling on friends to guess the item.  The Blue Whales were able to guess Cameran’s item because of her great clues. But Cameran surprised them with an empty envelope and her real dog in the hallway waiting to say hello to the Blue Whales.  Everyone enjoyed meeting Alby.

To make sure Guess-n-Tell is an exciting day, there will be no other show and tell on Wednesdays.  Your child is welcome to bring one item to show and practice their public speaking skills on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

Davis’s family read his favorite book to the class to celebrate his birthday.  Davis treated his friends to mini Oreos.  The Blue Whales enjoyed our birthday celebration. 

On Wednesday, January 17th we will have a Teddy Bear Picnic for lunch.  Please have your child bring a teddy bear or stuffed animal to school on Wednesday.  

Next week we will continue to talk about bears, hibernation and migration. 

I have updated the Amazon Wish List.  Our Blue Whale Wish List includes some things we would like to add to the classroom and other general supplies used day to day. No pressure to purchase anything at all if not led to, but it is there if you like. 

Monday, January 15th school will be closed for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Day. 

Looking ahead Pancakes & Pajamas will be on Tuesday, February 13th and we will be exchanging Valentine’s with each other on Wednesday, February 14th. More information will be sent out about each event later this month. 

We are enjoying creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading and playing with our Blue Whale friends.   Hope everyone has a nice weekend. 

“Play is the foundation of learning, creativity, self-expression, and constructive problem-solving.  It’s how children wrestle with life to make it meaningful.” 

Happy New Year

It was so nice to be back in the classroom with our Blue Whale friends.  Everyone was so happy to see each other and reconnect.  We hope you all had a nice holiday break.

We read a fun book called I Say Ooh You Say Aah.  The Blue Whales didn’t realize they were working on following multistep directions and doing an amazing job.  Instead, we were just laughing and enjoying this interactive book together.    

After we cracked ourselves up and got pretty loud, we recentered ourselves and did some deep breathing and Yoga poses based on sea animals.

Being back at school in the New Year brings a change in the year, month and season.  We talked about each of these things and sang and danced to a song about the four seasons.  Juliette helped me teach the class the new morning greetings we added to our choices. 

There was an abundance of sharing with the class this week with either items or news about their holidays.  Our Blue Whale friends also asked us to put relatives traveling back home in our Wish Well heart.  So, lots of love was being sent to family members. 

As we move into winter many of the classrooms have put up snowflake decorations.  The Blue Whales were intrigued by the snowflakes, and it started a discussion and an art project.  We talked about how no two snowflakes are alike.  The artist Henri Matisse was introduced and his idea of drawing with scissors.  The Blue Whales drew with scissors as they cut out their one-of-a-kind snowflakes that we will use to decorate the classroom after all the glitter glue dries. 

Over the next few weeks, we will be talking about bears, hibernation, migration and winter. 

We are enjoying creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading and playing with our Blue Whale friends.   Hope everyone has a nice weekend. 

A Wonderful Week

What a week!  It started with a walk to La Vita Dolce coffee shop in Southern Village.  The children each went up gave their order, their name and paid for their drink.  They waited for their name to be called and then headed outside with their drink to a table to chat with friends.  The children were so well behaved and adorable that we received compliments from other customers.  After our coffee shop adventure, we headed to the field and played sticker tag.  Our day was not only filled with fun but gave the Blue Whales opportunities to practice and strengthen their social emotional, fine motor and gross motor skills.   

On Tuesday Zoe’s mom and Cameran’s mom joined us during center time to help the children put together their gingerbread houses.  And then the fun and creativity continued Wednesday when parents joined us to decorate the gingerbread houses and a graham cracker to enjoy with their frosting, candies and sprinkles.  A huge thank you to our wonderful families for your donations, time, support and enthusiasm for this festive holiday activity.  It was a wonderful event.

We read The Gingerbread Man and The Gingerbread Girl and talked about the similarities and differences in the two books.  The Blue Whales enjoy story time and it leads to some thoughtful discussions.

The children have enjoyed the wrapping station set up in the classroom.  There are small gifts (stickers, tattoos and erasers) that they can put in a box, wrap and present to a friend.  It has been heartwarming to see the joy on their faces as they both give and receive gifts. 

We had Guess-n-Tell and Davis did a great job with clues about his item and calling on friends to guess the item.  The Blue Whales were able to guess Davis’s item because of his great clues. 

To make sure Guess-n-Tell is an exciting day, there will be no other show and tell on Wednesdays.  Your child is welcome to bring one item to show and practice their public speaking skills on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

If your child would like to bring in a photo of their Christmas Tree from home, we will continue to share them with the class next week.

CHRISTMAS CONCERT - Next week we have regular school days on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Then Thursday, Dec. 14 we will have our Christmas Concert at 9:30 in the Sanctuary. It will only last about half an hour and then we will say good-bye for the holidays. Please park, bring your child to their classroom at 9:00, and have a seat in the Sanctuary. (Since the whole school will be here at once, you may need to park in the municipal lots.) This is our Christmas gift of love to you! I hope you can come!

We are enjoying creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading and playing with our Blue Whale friends.   Hope everyone has a nice weeken

Patterns and a Coffee Shop

We worked on patterns (AB, ABC) with blocks and candy cane ornaments.  And, of course, our smart Blue Whales took it a step further and pointed out the patterns in the book Press Here that we read and made patterns with their hair color, shoe color and boy/girl patterns. 

We continued to talk about letters and sounds.  We explored the letters and sounds in our names with silly songs, questions, fall leaves and letter beads

We had Guess-n-Tell and Eliza did a great job with three clues about her item and calling on friends to guess the item.  The Blue Whales were able to guess Eliza’s item because of her great clues. 

To make sure Guess-n-Tell is an exciting day, there will be no other show and tell on Wednesdays.  Your child is welcome to bring one item to show and practice their public speaking skills on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

If your child would like to bring in a photo of their Christmas Tree from home, we will share them with the class over the next two weeks.

During this busy holiday season, we are finding ways to learn and relax at the same time.  Our Housekeeping center and Loft have turned in to a Coffee Shop equipped with menus, coffee, treats, creamers and real cups and saucers along with To Go Cups.  The children are having a great time working at the Coffee Shop and being a customer socializing with friends while listening to Christmas music.  The Blue Whales are reinforcing and working on literacy, math, language development, communication, conflict resolution and problem-solving skills at the Coffee Shop.  We heard from a few of our Blue Whale friends that we made $400 the other day.

To extend our Coffee Shop play, Ms. Beth & I will be taking our Blue Whales on a walk to La Vita Dolce Coffee Shop in Southern Village and the children will be ordering a kid’s hot chocolate.  We want to surprise the children with this fun activity, so please do not mention it to them.  We plan on walking on Monday, December 4th (weather permitting) to experience a real coffee shop together.   

The next few weeks will be busy at preschool, below are some important dates:

Monday, December 4th: Southern Village Walk to La Vita Dolce Coffee Shop (shh it’s a surprise for the children).  If weather prohibits us from walking on Monday then we will walk on Tuesday, December 5th. 

Wednesday, December 6th:  Gingerbread House and Gingerbread Cookie Decorating:  Please make sure you bring in any items you signed up for by Wednesday morning.  Volunteers you can meet in Ascension Hall at 12:15 pm to set up. Thank you so much for all your support, this will be a fun treat for the Blue Whales. 

Thursday, December 14th at 9:30 am:  Preschool Christmas Concert - Please reserve Thursday, Dec. 14 at 9:30 for our annual CCP Christmas Concert in the Sanctuary. Each class will sing a song or two and we will tell the Christmas story. Take your child to their classroom at 9:00 and find a seat in the sanctuary. We will begin our program at 9:30 and then everyone will go home with their families after the program. Please keep in mind that you may need to park in the municipal lots around Southern Village since the whole school will be assembled. 

We are enjoying creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading and playing with our Blue Whale friends.   Hope everyone has a nice weekend. 

Birds

Everything birds filled our classroom this week.  There was clay, feathers, eyes, beads, straws and toothpicks to make birds.  And we put out loose parts from nature and our cabinets to make a nest for the handmade birds.  Of course, we want to see some birds and help them out as winter approaches, so we made bird feeders to attract our feathered friends. We had stuffed birds that make their bird call, plastic birds, sorting birds, real bird nests, bird call music and bird books all to explore through the classroom. 

We took our first walk in Southern Village and found a fun photo op that we displayed in the hall. The Blue Whales were wonderful safekeepers on the walk and enjoyed the change of scenery. 

We had Guess-n-Tell and Eric did a great job with three clues about his item and calling on friends to guess the item.  The Blue Whales were able to guess Eric’s item because of his great clues. 

To make sure Guess-n-Tell is an exciting day, there will be no other show and tell on Wednesdays.  Your child is welcome to bring one item to show and practice their public speaking skills on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The Gingerbread House and Gingerbread Cookie Decorating Sign Up List is posted outside our door.  I have sent an email to everyone volunteering to let you know the day and time you will be joining us to help.  Thank you so much for all your support, this will be a fun treat for the Blue Whales. 

We continued to talk about letters and sounds.  Each day we have a question about whether you have a certain letter in your name and use our name cards to sing a silly song. 

PRESCHOOL CHRISTMAS CONCERT - Please reserve Thursday, Dec. 14 at 9:30 for our annual CCP Christmas Concert in the Sanctuary. Each class will sing a song or two and we will tell the Christmas story. Take your child to their classroom at 9:00 and find a seat in the sanctuary. We will begin our program at 9:30 and then everyone will go home with their families after the program. Please keep in mind that you may need to park in the municipal lots around Southern Village since the whole school will be assembled.

We do have school on Monday and Tuesday next week.  We will not be changing classroom jobs; each child will have the same job from this week. 

Preschool is closed Wednesday, November 22nd through Friday, November 24th for Thanksgiving break. 

Ms. Beth and I want to wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving.  We are both so thankful for our lovely families and your amazing children.   

We are enjoying creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading and playing with our Blue Whale friends.   Hope everyone has a nice weekend. 

Veterans Day

We read Leaf Man and went on a nature hunt around the church building collecting whatever caught our eye.  There was so much joy in the collecting.  Their bags of nature goodies were available every day to add to their art and playdough. 

Greyson, Blue Whale alumni and big brother to Kellan, joined us on Tuesday to read If I Built a House.  After the book, Greyson led the Blue Whales in building houses with legos and different types of blocks.  The Blue Whales really enjoyed Greyson’s visit.

We had some natural interest in America and parades from the children this week.  It led to a wonderful discussion about the American flag, the branches of the armed forces and Veterans Day.  The children made their own version of the flag, and we had a Happy Veterans Day parade through the classrooms, around the building and on the playground as they waved their homemade flags dressed in their red, white and blue. It was so much fun and pretty cute too! We also touched on the 50 states represented by the stars on the flag and that we live in the state of North Carolina.

How long does it take for an acorn to turn into a mighty oak tree?  We read a wonderful book about that journey and introduced some big words like photosynthesis, chlorophyll, carbon dioxide and oxygen. 

We had Guess-n-Tell and Henry did a great job with three clues about his item and calling on friends to guess the item.  The Blue Whales were able to guess Henry’s item because of his great clues. 

To make sure Guess-n-Tell is an exciting day, there will be no other show and tell on Wednesdays.  Your child is welcome to bring one item to show and practice their public speaking skills on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

As a class we will observe our Spirit Day on Tuesday, November 14th.  There really is never a bad day to wear blue or a whale so feel free to dress in our colors on Monday too. 

The Gingerbread House and Gingerbread Cookie Decorating Sign Up List will be posted on our window at the end of next week.  Beth and I wanted to finalize our plan for that day so we can have a complete list of what we need for a festive day.  Thank you to all of you that responded to volunteer to help.  I will send an email out next week about who will be volunteering on which days. 

The Southern Village community has a lot to offer to extend what we are learning in our classroom.  I sent out an email to all families asking for your permission to walk around Southern Village to explore their trails, playgrounds and other opportunities.  Thank you to those of you who have responded.  If you have not responded, please respond by Sunday with a yes or no for permission to walk around the Southern Village neighborhood as a class and the best phone number to reach you. We will keep a list of that information with us whenever we leave the church grounds.

This week we talked about letters and sounds and had many activities around the room reinforcing letters in a playful way.  Next week we will continue talking about letters and start exploring birds. 

I will be out on Monday and Ms. Jane will be subbing in the classroom with Ms. Beth.  Some of the children are familiar with Ms. Jane as she subbed in their class last year. 

We are enjoying creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading and playing with our Blue Whale friends.   Hope everyone has a nice weekend. 

Happy Halloween

The Blue Whales continued to have fun with pumpkins this week.  We pounded golf tees in pumpkins.  Used screwdrivers to put screws in pumpkins.  And decorated pumpkins with push pins.  And the children didn’t even realize that they were working on their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.  The children are always learning through their play.

We sang songs about pumpkins and jack o’lanterns.  The Blue Whales designed our jack o’lantern and took turns carving the pumpkin. 

What is the best liquid to use to dissolve candy corn?  The Blue Whales discovered just plain water works better than sparkling water, vinegar and lemon juice in our science experiment.  We also used candy corn in our art and painted our hands like candy corn. 

We read a book that required an action when they saw something on the page and heard something I read.  The Blue Whales worked on listening skills, multi-step directions and working memory all while we laughed and enjoyed a book together. 

Thank you for joining us on Tuesday for our Halloween Costume Parade inside the school.  The children really enjoyed showing off their costumes and it was so nice to have so many families as spectators.

We had Guess-n-Tell and Ivy Rose did a great job with three clues about her item and calling on friends to guess the item.  The Blue Whales were able to guess Ivy Rose’s item because of her great clues. 

To make sure Guess-n-Tell is an exciting day, there will be no other show and tell on Wednesdays.  Your child is welcome to bring one item to show and practice their public speaking skills on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Between cleaning the classroom and the snack and lunch tables daily we go through so many Clorox wipes.  We could use some more containers of Clorox wipes, if anyone is able to donate it would be appreciated. 

We are enjoying creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading and playing with our Blue Whale friends.   Hope everyone has a nice weekend. 

Pumpkins and Firefighters

We decorated our pumpkins this week based on the work by artist Yayoi Kusama.  We read her biography and learned that she is from Japan and saw the world through dots.  She translated that to her artwork and touched upon the concept of infinity.  It led to a wonderful discussion about the dots in her artwork and infinity.  The Blue Whales had various resources to make dots on their pumpkins, such as q-tips, tips of pencils erasers, dot brushes, dot gems and push pins.  They loved being artists and it was so fun to see how different each pumpkin turned out. 

The children were very busy decorating our classroom this week with spider webs, plastic spiders and bats.  They made amazing jack o’lanterns in a salad spinner and hung them up for decorations.  And they discovered ways to make their own bats and ghosts and add them to the spooky decorations in the classroom and at home.  It was a true group effort, and they really enjoyed the ownership of decorating their classroom. 

We had a visit from the Fire Department.  The fire fighters showed us what they look like and sound like all dressed in their equipment.  And they even let each child sit inside the fire truck.  It was very exciting! 

The Blue Whales had fun with pumpkins this week.  We pounded golf tees in pumpkins and decorated pumpkins with push pins. 

We had Guess-n-Tell and Juliette did a great job with three clues about her item and calling on friends to guess the item.  The Blue Whales were able to guess Juliette’s item because of her great clues.

Important Dates and Information for October:

·      Tuesday, October 31st - We hope you can join us for our Halloween Costume Parade around Southern Village.  Please send your child to school in their costume and drop them off at the classroom at 9:00 a.m.  The Blue Whales will meet parents and special grown-ups outside in front of the church at 9:30 a.m. and start our parade with the Yellow Ducks class.  Families are welcome to dress up too.  Please help your child change out of their costume after the parade.  If you are OK with them wearing their costume all day that is fine too, but we will be our normal messy selves and play outside that day 

If you are out and about this weekend enjoying the beautiful weather, we would love to start collecting acorns, leaves and maple tree seeds (or as I like to call them helicopters) for some projects in the classroom.

The next few weeks will be all about fall, pumpkins, bats, spiders, ghosts and Halloween.

Thank you for the items on our Blue Whale Amazon Wish List that we received this week.  The Blue Whales will put the supplies to good use.  Our Blue Whale Wish List includes some things we would like to add to the classroom and other general supplies used day to day. Do not feel pressure to purchase anything if not led to, but it is there if you like.  Ms. Beth and I appreciate all the support we feel from all our families with their kind words, wonderful children ready to learn and explore each day, and your generosity each time I send out a request for items.

We are enjoying creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading and playing with our Blue Whale friends.   Hope everyone has a nice weekend. 

Bridges

The Blue Whales brought their best smiles and did a great job with school photos. 

The puppet theater turned our classroom into the place to be to watch a puppet show.  The Blue Whales had chairs set up for friends to watch the performance.  They also had a concession stand with popcorn and candy.  No real food was used for this, the children decided how to make popcorn with the supplies available to them and the candy boxes were all empty and sealed.  And of course, we could not forget tickets for our audience members. 

Our future is bright with all the talented builders and engineers we have in the Blue Whales.  There were clever marble mazes being built both small and large.  We had well-crafted suspension bridges that could hold up to 10 small pumpkins.  And a tape maze that we had to crawl under and step over.  The bridges stemmed from the books, Three Billy Goats Gruff and Little Blue Bridge.  Little Blue Bridge is an alternate version of Three Billy Goats Gruff where the hero of the story chooses to build her own bridge.  These books also lent themselves to a lively discussion of what was the same and what was different in each story. 

We read the book Pumpkin Jack and talked about the life cycle of a pumpkin and the parts of a pumpkin.  We are going to watch our small jack o’lantern decompose and hope to observe the life cycle of a pumpkin.  We decided to name our jack o’lantern Pumpkin Jack too. 

We had Guess-n-Tell and Kellan did a great job with three clues about his item and calling on friends to guess the item.  The Blue Whales were able to guess Kellan’s item because of his great clues.

Kellan’s family read a funny book to the class to celebrate his birthday.  Kellan treated his friends to delicious donuts.  The Blue Whales enjoyed our birthday celebration. 

Important Dates and Information for October:

·      Wednesday, October 25th – Fire Truck visit (always dependent on any emergencies that may come up)

·      Tuesday, October 31st - We hope you can join us for our Halloween Costume Parade around Southern Village.  Please send your child to school in their costume and drop them off at the classroom at 9:00 a.m.  The Blue Whales will meet parents and special grown-ups outside in front of the church at 9:30 a.m. and start our parade with the Yellow Ducks class.  Families are welcome to dress up too.  Please help your child change out of their costume after the parade.  If you are OK with them wearing their costume all day that is fine too, but we will be our normal messy selves and play outside that day 

If you are out and about this weekend enjoying the beautiful weather, we would love to start collecting acorns, leaves and maple tree seeds (or as I like to call them helicopters) for some projects in the classroom.

The next few weeks will be all about pumpkins, bats, spiders, ghosts and Halloween.

We are enjoying creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading and playing with our Blue Whale friends.   Hope everyone has a nice weekend.