Rock and Roll

The kids, and I, frequently have paint all over us!

  Your kids may have filled you in on a couple of the new faces we have in our room this semester.  Laura Kate has moved into our class and we have a new friend Leah.  Both of these precious girls have so much to offer each of us and we are grateful to have them with us.  Because of slightly increased numbers, I also have an aide-Miss Kari.  You may recognize her from being Miss Bridgett's stand in in the fall when she (Bridgett) was out on maternity.

 This past week and this upcoming week, we've been talking about rocks.  Physical properties of rocks, items that we use daily that are composed of rocks, etc.  It's been a fun unit for me because it's a new one for me.  Coming up with ideas is challenging and fun. 

A few activities this week-
1.  Rock races!   Kind of like Easter Egg races, but with rocks.  This challenging game gave the kids practice with balance. 

2.  Shake the rock-the kids put pebbles with paint

 on them in a shoebox with a piece of white paper.  We closed the shoebox and the kids got to shake it to their heart's content.  The result was a beautiful splattered piece of art-some are displayed in my room now!  This activity gave them opportunities for emotional release, gross motor exploration, and fine motor (scooping the pebbles up with the spoon was a challenge!).

3.  I painted rocks and wrote the alphabet on them to offer and different experience in our writing/language area.  The kids explore the rocks and are encouraged to pick out letters to their names

 and sightwords. 

4.  I checked out books from the public library on different types of rocks.  We discussed small rocks and how the smooth ones probably came from rivers and we've discussed large rock formations, like Stonehenge and Mt. Rushmore, and discussed how people created the formations out of the rocks God made. 

5.  Falling Rocks-the kids dropped painted rocks down a piece of paper.  This was fun.  It provided a way to discuss gravity as it made some really cool art. 

 6.  Of course, the oldies but goodies often prevail.  Despite new opportunities, the kids are always excited to build something new in the block area or play in the kitchen area!

Learning about winter

 This week and next week, we are learning about winter!  After the painfully cold cold snap earlier this week, this couldn't come at a better time!

My Tuesday/Thursday kids helped me to fill balloons full of water that we froze and turned into a snow/ice man.  On Friday, the kids drew pictures of him at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day.  We talked about what makes water freeze and what makes it melt.  Ask them-they know!  Unfortunately, I completely forgot to take a picture of it after it had been melting for 4 hours...The poor guy's head had been separated from his body, and both eyes, his mouth, hat and one button were floating in a puddle of cold water. 

We also had an activity where the kids stuck their hands in plastic bags and then into ice.  One of the bags had crisco (fat) on the outside of it.  We talked about how the bag with the crisco on it protected our hands from getting cold as quickly and how God protects many animals with the fat to keep them from getting cold.

We spent some time "ice skating" in our socks (you're welcome for extra laundry!).   We also have been talking about how trees look in the winter-many have no leaves and will look white with snow or frost on them.   This was reinforced with an art project where they put ripped up pieces of masking tape on a piece of paper to look like branches coming off of a trunk.  It was painted over with blue paint and after it dried, we pealed off the masking tape to reveal a white, leafless tree.  Without knowing it, they were also learning about positive and negative spaces in art!

Getting Ready For Christmas

I've been painfully lax at posting pictures!  I'm so sorry.  I know it's important to you to know more of what's going on in our classroom.  It's important for ME to know that you know what's going on. 

Finishing up snack-as much as we can, we like the kids to serve themselves

Playing with the felt nativity set

So excited about practicing for the Christmas program:)

Decorating the Jesus Birthday Cake

Beautiful Children!

Miss Suzy reading as we get ready for the program

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Building Bethlehem with paper towel tubes