The Final Days

Preschool finished this week for me. The last couple of days we spent getting ready to say good by to those wonderful children that enriched our lives every Tuesday and Thursday. We had such a great year with the children and families this year. We will miss them all.

The first order of business was to finish up the children's Me Books which we have been compiling all year. We needed to remeasure and weigh the children to see how much they have physically grown while they were with us.

The children also added a page where they wrote their own name. And, the final page, or pages, was some photos that we had taken over the year. We put the photos at the end of the children's books for them to have some special memories of their time with us.

The last day is usually just a fun day together. This year I made a cute little frog out of chocolate sandwich cookies, pretzels, vanilla frosting, and M&Ms. A friend had sent me this yummy craft a while back and I was glad to use it. The children always enjoy making "crafts" they can eat.

Our picnic was Tuesday. Of course, the weather didn't cooperate fully but we still had a wonderful time. The first part of our picnic was spent in the classroom with the sand table, water table, kidfetti, creation station, blocks, kitchen, etc. Then everybody filled their bellies with the yummies they had brought.

Finally Mr. Sun made an appearance and we went outside to blow bubbles.

Again, I thoroughly enjoyed my year with the children and I hope you enjoyed the journey with us.

Have a wonderful summer!

Big Yellow Bus

In our area, preschool children are in awe of the big yellow school bus. The children can't wait until they get big so they can ride the school bus. This year I was able to give my little ones a special treat.

I decided to put a new twist on a project I had done in previous years for transportation. I decided to take the whole week and devote it to the school bus. The kicker? I got a school bus to come to the school and the children got to take a ride. They were SOOOO excited. The bus came today, but even on Tuesday they came in and were excited--is this the day, is the bus here, when does it come? As we walked to the bus today one little girl said this is going to be so awesome. They loved it.





I began on Tuesday. We are lucky enough to have a boy scout troop at our school that has a bus they use for trips. We went outside and we examined the bus from the outside. How many wheels? How many lights? Does it look big or little? Would it hold many, or a few people?, etc. They loved it.



We then went inside to do some painting. Each child painted their own bus shape yellow. This year I decided to make a BIG bus for the wall too. The children took turns with a roller and painted the big bus yellow. When it dried I cut it out and put it on our wall.







Today after our bus ride we decided what we needed to finish our buses. We added windows, wheels, drew people, and a new one for me, a stop sign. When I used to make the buses before, buses did not have stop signs on them. They now do for extra safety and that is one of the first things the children told me we had to add.





After everyone finished their small bus, it was time to finish the big bus. I made sure I had enough pieces for each child in the class to add one feature to the bus. After everything was added they could draw a person in the window if they wanted. It turned out really great, and we had a great time.







I added this picture so you could get an idea of how big we made our bus:


Thanks so much to Mr. Valentino and our local public school bus company for letting the children have this wonderful experience.

see ya.

Marvelous Mom!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Thursday we prepared for that marvelous day we honor all the mothers of the world. I hope your day is great with your families.

Thursday was the day to wrap our presents for mom. The present is always the flower--you know the one I just planted? Actually, I was quite surprised. All of the children's flowers sprouted and were a decent height.

The children chose a brightly colored bag. The flower was placed inside the bag. The the children made a card to attach to the bag. The card consisted of a picture of a tea cup with a wonderful poem about mom on it. The children colored the cup, cut it out, glued the edges, and added the final touch--a tea bag.

I hope all our moms enjoyed their flower--zinnias by the way. I also hope you enjoyed your day.

Parade of Pets

We held our annual pet show on Tuesday. This is a special time where the children can bring their real pets to school. They just love this. We hold the pet show outside right at the beginning of class. Each child gets a chance to tell us their pets name and what they do to care for their pet. If a child doesn't have a pet they can bring in their favorite stuffed animal to tell us about.

After all the pets have been announced, the children may go and visit some of the pets brought to school that day. Each pet and their owner gets a special award that day. After all the festivities the pets get to go home with mom or dad. The whole experience lasts about an half an hour, but it is something the children remember for years--the day they took their pet to school.



We also opened Cedarville's Animal Hospital and Grooming Center today. This is a learning center we tried out for the first time last year and the children had a ball with it. Today we had lots of pets being cared for by our caring children.

We also finished up our fish bowls by adding some fancy fish stickers. In past years I have also cut the fish bowl out and covered it with plastic wrap to make it look like you were actually looking into a fish bowl. Time was a bit short this year.

Our other craft available was a bird puppet. I had found a cute pattern of a parakeet or budgie the children can color and cut. Then the puppet gets folded, we add a tongue depressor, and off it zooms. They think it's the greatest thing.

One of my favorite books to read during this unit is "Usborne's Pets," by Sarah Kahn. It is so informative, but at the same time fun.

As quickly as our pet unit came, it is already finished. I so wish I had more time to spend on various themes.