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.