Grandparents and Special Friends Day

At the easel the children decided on the shapes that we might paint the fire truck, ladders, hoses, siren and much. much more!

Then they were able to paint their own fire truck, adding many creative details.

While others were using modeling clay to form wheels, windows and doors to fill the shapes on printed shape representations of transportation vehicles. 

An airplane made of bristle blocks flew over the housekeeping area!

Dramatic play is a favorite place to be where there is always something exciting going on.

How tall can you build a magnet block structure and keep it balanced?

Team work is the key when solving a large construction site floor puzzle and oh what fun!

On Friday the children sang for all of our grandparents and special friends before they visited them in the classroom !!

Thank you all so much for coming. It was such a special treat for all of us. Come back and visit us soon!

Upcoming Dates:

2/1 Exploring

2/5 Coast Guard Field Trip

2/7 Parent Conference Day

2/8 No Exploring

2/14 Valentine's Day Party 10:00

2/15 Professional Day-No School

2/18 President's Day Holiday

2/22 Exploring

Snowmen and Transportation

This week the children made snowmen! First they selected three circles, making sure they had a small, medium and large size. After gluing them together, they used an assortment of materials to add details to their snowman. These little snowmen have added a lot of cheer to our winter bulletin board in the classroom, each with their own personality and style!

Then they couldn't wait to get to the easel to paint a snowman. Ms. Wiltshire and I were quite impressed, as they needed very little guidance from their teachers!

Snipping strips of paper and then sorting the pieces by their color, reinforced two skills at the same time.

As a variation, some chose to fold their paper strips to make "zig-zag worms", and some even had faces!

"Trucks, Trains, Boats and Planes" by Peter Curry, was the book the children enjoyed this week with Mrs. Gootson. The children heard about types of transportation vehicles and even OPPOSITES, such as "low" and "high."

They used their knowledge of transportation vehicles to create trucks, trains, rockets and so much more .... by gluing colored shapes together!

Exploring cement trucks, trains and tractors in the classroom...

flying airplanes and...

rowing the boat on the playground, are so much fun!

What was floating in the green, glittery water in the sensory table? The boys and girls found letters and numbers and enjoyed identifying them all!

On Friday our Exploring was all about TRANSPORTATION! The Shorecrest bus, a fire truck, a police car and other emergency vehicles traveled about campus with Ms. Wiltshire.

After a long trip, the children were happy to reach the "Shorecrest  Drive-Thru" to pick up a snack of popcorn and juice.

Their next stop was the movies. where they enjoyed an exciting slide show of all of their friends in Alpha!

The boys and girls made predictions of how many blocks or legos it might take to sink different size boats. They discovered that sometimes they could balance their objects on the boats to keep them afloat.

All aboard....fasten your seat belts, because planes, bus drivers and firemen are on the road!

After coloring their steering wheels on paper plates, the children pretended to fight big fires, while a pilot observed from the sky!

Upcoming dates:
1/25  Grandparents and Special Friends Day
2/5  Coast Guard Field Trip
2/7  Parent Conference Day - No School
2/14  Valentine's Day Party 10:00-11:30
2/15  Teacher Professional Day
2/18  President's Day Holiday

Winter, Transportation and the Fire Station

The Friendly Frogs welcomed in the new year playing the drums, cymbals. triangles and bells with Mrs. McIvor in music class!

Over the holidays several little frogs have been traveling to many fabulous places. After locating our state of Florida, we buckled our seat belts and journeyed the globe to see just where they had been. First we went to Colorado and Utah in our own country. Next to Trinidad, before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to the continent of Europe to find Austria and Romania. How exciting!

"The Jacket I Wear in the Snow, " by Shirley Neitzel was a great introduction to the season of Winter. Even though it doesn't snow in Florida, it sometimes gets chilly enough to need some mittens! The boys and girls carefully followed the line, cutting a traced mitten from a folded piece of paper. After discovering they had TWO, they had to distinguish the left from the right, while matching their hands to their mittens.

After learning about symmetry, the children used a variety of shapes to decorate their mittens while making them symmetrical. This took quite a bit of planning and concentration, but how proud they were of their matching pair of mittens!

"The Biggest, Best Snowman Ever" by Margery Cuyler was a wonderful book about a little girl who was always told she was always too little to do anything. Even though she was unsure of herself at first, with the help of her friends she built the best snowman ever! What a great lesson in determination as well as teaching sequencing of size from largest to smallest. During Exploring, the boys and girls built and decorated their own snowman, because they knew they could do it!

Mrs. Samuels's class gathered leaves and sticks making a nature collage. They placed the items in a pan of water. Then the pan was placed in the freezer. The children were amazed how water moving in it's liquid form, transformed into a solid that did not move. Next the children observed the solid as it melted back to it's liquid form, while hanging in a tree.

Others enjoyed building habitats with Dr. Drew and windowpane blocks for penquins and ducks, adding a little shaving cream between each layer.

To kick off our discussion on transportation, we took a fabulous trip to the Master Fire Station! The boys and girls watched a video about fire safety and saw a fire and rescue truck, an engine truck with lots of hoses and watched as the huge ladder truck climbed 100 feet into the air.

Then they learned about the important gear that a firefighter wears when fighting a fire and how firefighters are always there to help us if we were ever in a real emergency.

Oh what fun, pretending to be real firefighters as the children sprayed the "PRETEND" fire painted on the windows of the Exploratorium, not to mention a strengthening of their fine motor skills!

The children made a fire truck snack of graham crackers, round crackers for wheels, then spread red cream cheese on top and added licorice for the fire hose. Yum!

The children explored mixing a little black paint with a little white, making......many shades of grey.

BUT...... that is not all! We enjoyed the books shared by our mystery reader, "Mac and Cheese" by Sarah Weeks and "The Giraffe Who Was Afraid of Heights" by Davi A. Ufer.

We also celebrated a very special 4th birthday this week!

Upcoming Dates:
1/21 Martin Luther King Holiday
1/25 Grandparents and Special Friends Day / Noon Dismissal
2/14 Valentines Day Party 10:00

If you have not signed up for a parent conference on Thursday Feb. 7th, please do so! You may stop by the classroom, email or call me at 508-524-1162. If this date does not work, please let me know. THANK YOU! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!