Sheet Painting!

Photo credit: http://www.familyfun.go.com/

Children absolutely LOVE painting outdoors!

 Here's a great way to put an old sheet to use, and tend to your little artist.

Materials Needed

1. Tempra Paint (washable paint found in children's art supplies @ Walmart, Michael's, & sometimes Dollar Stores)

2. Old Sheet

3. Spray water bottles (found in the toiletries travel aisle @ Walmart...$1/each) (or try a water gun/super soaker)

4. Water

What to do

Fill the water bottle with 1/2 water and 1/2 (or less) paint. Shake well.

Hang sheet up on a clothesline or over a fence

Children can stand on one side and spray paint anything onto the large canvas!!

Why is this educational?

* Art is a subject matter in education and evokes creativity, imagination, and independent thinking!

* Art tends to the visual and kinesthetic (hands-on) learner

* Outside activitities are more interesting to the naturalist learner (someone who enjoys and learns from nature)

* Color recognition skills

* Science: color mixing

* Fine motor (squeezing the water bottle builds hand/finger muscles) that are important for writing, buttonsing, zipping, pouring, and a multititide of other fine motor and self-help skills!

....AND, it's FUN!

Visit http://www.familyfun.go.com/ for a TON of other great summer activities!



FREE Event - TC Beach Bums!!!

I LOVE taking my family to the Traverse City Beach Bums! If you have not yet taken your children, please do so! I think that you will love this family friendly experience as much as I do! The great thing about this field is that there are no bad seats! The lawn seating is perfect for little ones who need lots of wiggle room!It's a fairly small field, so the seating is great no matter where you are! There is music, entertainment, food, ice cream, refreshments, and much more---not to forget the mascots, Sun Burn & Sun Tan! The bathrooms are easily accessible, and the parking is plenty! They couldn't make it any easier for a family (and I have a large family of 5!) to enjoy a great All-American game outdoors under the stars and bright lights!

Here is a FREE event for your family to attend (as long as you bring a child 0-5 with you!) sponsored by several local early childhood supporters---including the Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP)---that's US!

I hope to see you there!!

Click HERE for more information!! 

~Mrs. Powell

Top 10 Things To Do with Sidewalk Chalk

When working with children, you know they will learn best if you keep it FUN! No need for so much paper/pencil tasks, dollar store workbooks, or flash cards. B-O-R-I-N-G.....and often not age appropriate. Save paper/pencil tasks for later.....better yet, save them for when your child's teacher chooses to use paper/pencil at school. At home---use fun, inexpensive and/or free resources so that your child will hardly realize how much "work" they are doing!! And, it saves you from being the parent that nags about school work. Fun, upbeat, and just your child's style----that's how learning should happen this summer!!

Here is one of the most simplest and inexpensive ways for summer fun and learning---sidewalk chalk! An oldie, but a goody. This stuff never goes out of style. You can pick it up at the dollar store for a $1, of course....or head to WalMart and get a decent little container full of big chalk for .97 cents! YAY!

Once you have your chalk, you'll need ideas....have them ready! And be willing to let your child add lots of their own ideas, too! Some children may roll their eyes at you and think sidewalk chalk is not fun. If that happens...TRY THIS: just sit down on the sidewalk and start drawing. They will come! Your child wants to spend time with you, and if you are drawing, they will likely join in. So---what review concepts can you do with your child?

TOP 10 THINGS TO DO WITH CHALK!

1. Write your first (and maybe last) name! Remember to use one capital letter at the beginning only.
2. Write your ABC's---upper and lowercase. Then sing the song.
3. Write your numbers 1-10 (or higher if your child is ready). Then practice counting to 100!
4. Draw shapes. What kinds of pictures can you make out of shapes? A semi-truck with circle wheels, etc.?
5. Write the names of the people in your family. Even your pets!
6. Draw a person from head to toe. Don't forget the body---we don't draw stick people!
7. Play Tic-Tac-Toe....play fair, play by the rules, and take turns!
8. Draw & play hopscotch! This is great for number recognition
9. Say It, Write it: Say a word (ie: butterfly) and emphasize the beginning sound. Have your child write the sound they hear. (they should write the letter B or b).
10. I Spy....look around for something in view, and try to draw it! Add details and use more than one color---it makes the picture much more interesting!


Was this idea fun and helpful? Let me know in a comment below!!
Want to be featured on this blog post? Send me a picture of your child engaging in this activity!

Have FUN!

End of the Year!

Happy Monday, everyone! I cannot believe that we are down to the last 2 days of preschool. I get butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it---and not because I am excited for the year to end----really, it's more out of nerves. I really do not like saying good-bye to the children at the end of the year. It is so bittersweet. While I know they are well prepared for the following school year and have met all my expectations and beyond, we have grown so close over the course of the year, and I am really going to miss them! I've watched them grow up so much since September!

I never cease to be amazed at how much preschoolers can absorb, learn, change, grow, mature, and achieve over a school year (about 9 months, really)! They are such capable little people, with eager minds, caring hearts, and filled with lots of possibilities and potential. The endless inquiries, explorations, play, work, discoveries, and conversations this school year have led us to much success - both as a whole class, and to each individual child. 

Please know that it has truly been my pleasure to have been a part of your child's first educational experience. I am honored that you entrust your child to me every day, knowing that s/he will come home with valuable tools and resources to be a happy, healthy, successful child and student. It is with your effort as an active participant in your child's education, that we were able to work together all school year to give your child the very best! 

Setting the ground work and laying the foundation for future school success begins in preschool. I feel quite confident that your child is prepared for his/her journey next school year because you cared enough to invest in early childhood - and because we all worked so well together along the way! 

These children are absolutely amazing-----and I have treasured being able to work with them each day!! On Wednesday, we will send our preschoolers off with a farewell graduation that they have earned with all of their hard work this school year!! I am excited to see all of you there----celebrating with Ms. Schneider and I (and all of your adorable children!). 

Until then, take a look at a few pictures of our preschoolers at our lemonade stand last week! They had an absolute blast planning, preparing, learning about, and finally opening up their very own lemonade stand. We served HUNDREDS of cups of lemonade to the entire school! We received many compliments and Thank You's from the other students at Lincoln----they enjoyed our service project as much as we did! 

***Please remember to check back in weekly over the summer for learning ideas that you can easily implement at home in the summer with your child! All of the ideas I post will be play-based, FUN, and will use materials that you can easily find around your house or inexpensively at the Dollar Store or Walmart! ***** Don't forget---leave a comment every once in a while so that I know I have some readers out there! In the blogging world, we say: "Leave me some comment love!"----that way, we know there is an attentive audience who benefits and cares about the blog/posts---ensuring that the author will continue posting great things! :) 

Now----go enjoy some photos!

Have a safe, happy summer vacation!!!! 

We have chicks! We have chicks!!

We were SO VERY EXCITED to see 3 new baby chicks when we came to work this morning! Our little preschoolers are going to be thrilled!! Here's our first 3 newborns!

Ms. Schneider and I really get WAY too excited. Are we at an unhealthy point in this project when we accessorize our clothing to welcome our chicks?! The shirts say "Shout out to my peeps!"

Ms. Schneider even brought in cupcakes so that we could have a birthday party for the chicks!!

Happy Birthday!!! Happy Chick Day!!! Check out more photos/videos below!

Look what's blooming in our classroom!!

We've come a long way this school year and we are READY for Jr. Kindergarten/Kindergarten!! In these last couple weeks, we have been learning about gardens (flower and vegetable) and discovering how and where things grow!!

Here, Allie G. has sequenced how a plant/flower grows from seed to plant.

We learned how to plant seeds, how seeds travel through wind or via birds, insects, or other animals.

We learned all the parts of a plant: stem, roots, leaves, petals, etc.

AND

We learned what a flower/plant needs to grow!  - Sun, water, and TLC!

Allie is making her own packet for seeds to take home to her parents.
She writing pictures, words, and information about her seeds!

We packaged up our seed packets with a nice little note for our parents inside our flower pot art project!
Once again, literacy and art collide!

Since we learned about and sequenced the life cycle of a flower, our little friends should know exactly how to plant and care for their growing seeds!!

After all that hard work and learning, we were able to make our own seed packets and take some flowers home to plant. Our students are flower experts!!

 

We've also been blooming in our knowledge of the alphabet!

Many students have learned the names of letters, the sounds they make, and that when we put letters together, it makes a word - and we can read it!

Here, Desmond is working on a CVC (Consonant, Vowel, Consonant) puzzle. He is building words and writing them down!

We also made a math book last week! After we tasted sunflower seeds, we counted them!

Scarlett is counting out seeds, gluing them inside the sunflower, and then writing the numeral!
EXCELLENT!

**BE SURE TO CHECK BACK SOON!!! WE CAN HEAR OUR BABY CHICKS PEEPING INSIDE THEIR EGGS. THEY ARE CLOSE TO HATCHING!!! **

TODAY? TONIGHT? TOMORROW? STAY TUNED!!



Chickies - Day 8 of Incubation

We are on day 8 of incubation with our little soon-to-be-chickies! Today we did the "candling" observation where we turn off the lights in the classroom and put a special light underneath the egg to see if the proper growth is occurring - and whether the embryo is viable or not. Here's what the candler looks like.

This is not our photo, but it is exactly what we did! 

Some eggs are easier to see inside than others, but this is typically what we are looking for!

(Insert Oooooooooh and Aaaahhhhhhh Here!)

Every day we check our life cycle eggs to see what our babies look like inside their egg! They are starting to look like chicks now!! Grow little babies, grow! 

We also made a really cute chick art project out of....believe it or not....the children's footprints!! Come and check them out! I hope to have them hanging up by the end of the school day on Friday!! They are too cute!

More great things are happening in our last couple weeks of preschool. Stay tuned to see what we are up to!