Happy Belated Easter!

We had a great time last week learning about chickens! I thought it would be a great time to do some fun chick activities since Easter was coming up. Did you know that if chickens have red ear lobes they lay brown eggs, and if they have white ear lobes they lay white eggs? I didn't! I am always amazed at the things I learn while teaching preschool. :) We first made a web on a white board of all the things the kids already know about chickens. (have feathers, hatch from eggs, dads are called roosters, mom is a hen and the babies are chicks. etc.) Then we added some stuff that we didn't know like the ear lobes, that they eat mostly oats but also eat small mice and lizards. They are omnivores.) Afterwards we watched a video on my apple TV about a baby chick hatching from an egg. 

We also played a fun little game. I had a basket of eggs and they each got a turn to come up and open one. Each egg had something fun in it to do. (Dance to the chicken dance, tell the class a joke, read an easter book, jump like a bunny 3 times, and so forth :) The kids really liked doing this! 

We also made little baby chicks. I just cut out some eggs from my egg carton. The kids got to decorate them with markers. Then we used pom poms. googly eyes and beaks to make their baby chicks. They all were so cute with them and loved telling me the name they had picked out for them.

For cooking we made some bird nests. You just need some melted chocolate and chow main noodles. Mix them together and then make them into a little pile to look like a bird nest. Add some jelly beans for eggs and a mommy chick (peep) to sit on them

We also sang some fun songs this week too. Both of them have actions for the kids to do. 

Easter Bunny, Easter Bunny Tap your toes. 

Easter Bunny, Easter Bunny wiggle your nose. 

Easter Bunny, Easter Bunny climb to the top. 

Easter Bunny, Easter Bunny hop, hop, hop. 

Easter Bunny, Easter Bunny jump, jump, jump. 

Easter Bunny, Easter Bunny wiggle your rump. 

The next one starts with everyone sitting in a circle. Then one person starts walking around while you sing this little song. 

One little chick went out to play. 

On a sunny springtime day. 

She was having such a good time. 

She asked a friend to get in line. 

The person walking gets to pick a friend that joins them and then you keep singing until everyone is in line. 

LADYBUGS!

Today we learned about lady bugs. I found some great non fiction books at our local library that showed all the different stages of the life cycle of a ladybug. They really had a good laugh when we got to the stage, PUPA. It sounded a little too much like another word. :) We also read the story The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle. I love this book! It is so funny. 

We then had some fun with hand painting. Just paint your palm red and then stamp it onto the paper. Next use your pointer finger. Dip it into some black paint and add the head and some spots. Last paint the side of your hand green and stamp it to make some leaves. After washing up, the kids got to use markers to add a sky, rainbow, aphids (the bugs ladybugs eat) and whatever else they wanted. 

X, Y and Z

We have been finishing up our alphabet the last couple of weeks and did some fun activities to go along with each letter:

We made letter X paintings. Just get some painters tape and made a letter X on white construction paper. Let the kids paint all over and then when the paint is dry peel off the paint to reveal your letter X.

We also made a twiX candy bar ice cream pie but I didn't get a picture of it before the kids had eaten all of it up! So this is all I Got :) 

For letter Z we made Zebras with Black construction paper and Bleach. The kids love this art project and love watching the stripes turn white.

For Letter Y we made yellow bubbles! Thanks Miss Morgan for this fun recipe. The kids loved it. All you need is 1/2 cup of water, 2 Tbs. Liquid dish soap and 4 Tbs. of Tempera Paint (any color you want). Fill a cup half full of the mixture and then let them softly blow bubbles. They were all squealing and laughing as the bubbles got bigger and bigger.

For cooking we made a Yogurt dip! It is so so yummy, and I end up saving some for myself to indulge in after they leave. Recipe: 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt, 1/2 cup peanut butter, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 cup chocolate chips. Mix and then dip bananas, strawberries, and pretzels in it.

Lots and lots of Rainbows!

First of all I wanted to let you know that I have moved some stuff around a little on here. I put the upcoming events, daily schedule, curriculum etc. on little tabs underneath the class picture. I hope everyone is able to find them ok. I am debating if I want to have someone do a web design for me so let me know if you noticed them on your own at all. Thanks!

We have been having so much fun the last couple of weeks learning about rainbows as part of our weather unit. It was a great time to lead up to St. Patrick's Day! The kids really enjoyed when we made our own real rainbow. All you need is a clear container filled with water, a dark room, and a flashlight. Shine your light through the container with water. Move it around a little until you get a perfect angle and a rainbow shows on your ceiling. :)

I have included some pictures of some of the other things we have been working on. It really has been a lot of fun, and I am sort of bummed this unit is over.

Weather Wheel! These are so fun and my little preschooler still loves to grab hers off the fridge and tell me what the weather is for the day.

We learned about the water cycle. I just draw a picture of it on a white board and I let the kids come up to take turns drawing fish, sharks, etc. in the ocean. Then we cut out squares and glued them onto our giant raindrop.

Afterwards we make a favorite snack called our Ocean Smoothie! I have included the link from the last time we did this snack. Warning: I would buy the sugar free kool aid and not add any, it tends to make some really and I mean REALLY hyper kids. :)

Ocean Smoothie

We made this fun art project that I found on this website:

Miss Morgan's preschool

I just love Miss Morgan's fun ideas :)

We didn't do ours on wax paper because I didn't have enough and didn't feel like running to the store. But I still think they turned out great! THe kids sure loved them.

Another favorite snack to make: Rainbow toast! Just dye milk the colors of the rainbow. Let them paint it on their toast and then toast it and add your favorite toppings. Ours were butter and cinnamon sugar.

Here are our litte Leprechauns we made. They were so funny because one little guy just wanted one eye so he could have a pirate Leprechaun and that resulted in Leprechauns having 4 and 5 eyes. No wonder they are so sneaky! They can see everything. :)

The Leprechauns came to our house and left little green footprints and lots of glitter all over Miss Julie's house! What a mess.

 They also left us a letter telling us that while they visited our preschool they lost their pot of gold. We followed some clues and found it waiting for us.

 What does a watermelon have to do with St. Patrick's Day? Well nothing really other than it is green on the outside. A little guy in class brought this to share with us for snack time today and it was delicious!

 Green Play Do during centers.

 Graphing our marshmallows from Lucky Charms. There were definitely more shooting stars then anything else.

We followed this recipe and made rainbow cupcakes today for cooking. They are so yummy and pretty.
Rainbow Cupcake Recipe

Also, I know some of you have asked when we are moving. It looks like our new house will be ready around the middle of April. I will for sure let you know! I am so looking forward to having more room for my preschool. It will be so nice. :)