Last week we had fun hearing stories about Valentine's Day, friends, and friendship. We ended the week with our Valentine's Day Party. Thanks to all of the parents who donated items to help make our party a success! The kids worked on making their Valentine Bags on Tuesday and Wednesday. We talked about how they were like mail boxes and how we would be like the mailman on Thursday and deliver our letters to our friends. It was great to see how excited the kids were Thursday morning while they were passing out their valentines!
After circle time on Thursday we started our party. We passed out flashing heart necklaces and then everyone frosted and decorated their cookies. We also had delicious kettle corn, and either strawberry milk or pink lemonade to drink...yum! We played a game called "Doggie, Doggie, Where's Your Heart?". If you give your child a cut out heart at home I bet s/he could teach you how to play the game! We also had fun learning the song "Pop, Goes the Weasel". Then we played the game Weasel, Weasel, Monkey! (like duck, duck goose!). We pulled out our class parachute and put hearts with the kids names on the chute, then we lifted the parachute up and down and the hearts went everywhere!! The kids had to find the heart with their name on it and bring it back to the parachute. They wanted to do this over and over and over again!! Finally it was time to go home with our valentine bags and open them. I hope all of you had a great Valentine's Day!
We Talked about Presidents and our country on Tuesday. We looked at a map of the United States and talked about how the president leads the country. We discussed how the bald eagle is a symbol for our country. Then we heard the book called Presidents Day. During activity time we made bald eagle handprints at the art table.
We had fun playing with some new wooden blocks. It was fun to find out which blocks stacked and which blocks rolled!
We heard some Pete the Cat books on Thursday and worked on a Pete the Cat floor puzzle during activity time!
The kids are still having fun playing in our "snow" tub!
We've been using our stacking blocks to create an alphabet tower. After it's built the kids have fun pointing to the letters and singing their A,B,C'S.
Here are the links to the video's for the Pete the Cat books we read.
We started the week by talking about Ground Hogs Day. We heard a really cute book called Gregory's Shadow by Don Freeman and then we talked about shadows and what makes them. During snack time Mrs. Gould came around with a flashlight and we made shadows on the table. Using a flashlight against the wall to make shadow puppets would be a fun follow up to do at home! During activity time we used popsicle sticks and toilet paper rolls to create ground hog puppets coming up out of the ground.
On Tuesday we talked about The Chinese New Year. We found China on the map and listened to several stories about the holiday. We learned that the celebration is 15 days long, fireworks are set off as part of the celebration, how to count to 10 in Chinese, and that oranges and the color red are supposed to bring good luck. For snack we had oranges with our crackers and we made fireworks with glitter and glue for our art project.
We glued the finished product on red paper for good luck!
Mrs. Chyko helped us make tissue paper hearts!
Thursday we talked about various shapes, especially hearts! We enjoyed listening to the story My Heart is like a Zoo.
We danced around using bean bags and scarves during our indoor movement time.
These are some of the CD's we use when it's too cold to go outside!.
We've been singing the A,B,C's in circle time while Mrs. Chyko or Mrs. Gould point to the letters. Then we sing our A,B,C sounds while we point to the letters. We all giggle when we do this but it's a great way to make the connection between letters and sounds. We've also been reading big books and talking about letters and sounds.
Tuesday we read the book The Mitten by Jan Brett. It's a really cute story about a boy who looses his mitten and then animals in the forest find the mitten and climb inside to stay warm. Eventually the mitten gets completely filled up and a little mouse climbs and tickles the bear's nose. Ask your child what happens next...it was all of their favorite part of the story! We had so much fun hearing the story we decided to act it out. We used our parachute as the mitten and each child picked an animal to act out.
Here we are acting out the mitten. This is what happened after the mouse climbed on the bears nose!
Here we are climbing into the mitten to stay warm!
This activity was great for reading comprehension because we had to remember the order the animals went into the mitten. We needed to go back and reread several parts of the story to figure it out... (An important reading skill to learn....rereading for information)
We also had a new friend join our class this week. Welcome Saanvi...we're so glad you've joined us. We played several getting to know you games and songs this week.
Snack Time with our new friend. We're now up to 10 in our class!
We worked on lacing mittens all week long for our art project. Then we had a sheet of animals from the mitten that we could color, cut out and put inside!
On Thursday we learned the nursery rhyme The Three Little Kittens. In it the little kittens lost their mittens and their mother told them they would get no pie; however eventually they found their mittens and got a piece of blueberry pie. Naomi brought in fresh blue berries for us to eat as a special treat! Thanks Naomi...yum!
We heard some Pete the Cat books on Thursday and worked on a Pete the Cat floor puzzle during activity time! 
