Thursday, February 18, 2016

Thank you for joining us on our Thursday!

First...a few reminders...

Box Tops Contest…It’s that time again!  Zion is having a classroom contest for box tops! The class who brings in the most box tops by this Friday, 2/19 will win a special treat!  We are doing great and actually have a chance to win…so even if you have 1 box top, bring it in...it could make a difference! There is a bag in the classroom for you to turn them in! Questions? Contact Shawnda Burnham (shawndab@hotmail.com).

Text Messaging School Information…If you have NOT been receiving announcements via text message, please email your cell phone number AND cell carrier to Julie Schmidt at jschmidt@zionharvester.org.  This is one of the ways we communicate events such as snow days!

Grandparents’ Day...is quickly approaching! Preschool Grandparents/Special Friends day is the morning of Thursday, March 10.  Be sure to plan ahead so your child can show his/her Grandparents/Special Friends what an awesome school he/she attends!

And...here we go...

Connor enjoyed expressing creativity as he painted a winter picture!

Some improved hand-eye coordination as they created 2D and 3D designs!

A few boys were hard at work making beautiful music, while Ben enjoyed the show!

And...these friends were making and selling tickets to see the awesome symphony "show"!

We looked at the Estimate Jar at the end of morning meeting again today!  Beginning next week, when checking in, each friend will write his/her name.  But, he/she will also write an estimate (good guess) as to "how many" of something is in the jar.  There will always be between 1 and 10, but each day will be a different number! Then, at the end of the day I will read the estimates and we will count the exact number in the jar!  Today each person said allowed his/her estimate, then we counted together the number of rolos in the jar!

"Tired" is still the popular feeling in the morning in preschool!  We all agreed that it had the most again wth 7 friends!

We very much enjoyed a chapel led by Zion's Student Council!

There were 3 men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that refused to bow down to false idols.  Those idols were not true God!  Because they refused, the King put them in a fiery furnace.  But, they trusted God and He kept them safe!  If we put our trust in God, He is always there for us and will always keep us safe!

Today we introduced the letter "K" and number "8"!  

We remembered start your letter "at the top" then big line down, little line diagonal, little line diagonal to write a "K" and make an "S" and go back home to write an "8"! Then we came up with words that start with "K" and found "8's" around the room!

Anytime one of our friends thinks of a word that starts with "K" we can add it to our big letter.  Or, if at home, your child sees a small picture or item that starts with a "K", bring it in and he/she can glue it to our big letter!

Then we practiced writing "K" and "8" with our special handwriting without tears crayons (nice and short to reinforce proper grip)!

To begin small groups (centers), we began learning about the different instrument families and the characteristics of each family.  We learned different things about each to help give us hints as to what type of instrument is in each family!

We also learned about these 2 families: brass and percussion!

We then did another group activity, we "read" a book on the smartboard.  Jan Brett read her book "The Mitten" as we listened and followed along with the pictures.  While enjoying the book, I asked each friend to pay extra close attention when a new animal climbed into the mitten.  This book is great at repetition, renaming each animal as a new one entered the story.  Great for having children retell the story to you!

After reading "The Mitten" each friend (not here yesterday) had 11 pictures from the book.  He/she glued them on his/her "mitten" in the order they entered the story!  The pictures gave "hints" to aid in retelling the story!  The ability to retell a familiar story is an early literacy skill!

Those that were here yesterday created a "symmetry" painting on the other side of the mitten!  He/she blotted, dabbed, made lines, etc on one side of his/her mitten with paint.  Then, he/she folded the mitten closed, squished it super flat, and opened it back up!  It was like magic, the art that was created on both sides of the mitten.  One friend even said, "Look Mrs. Mudd, I made art!"

With Mrs. Dose, we improved our scissor cutting skills as we turned coffee filters into snowflakes to hang around the room!

Our "snow" will only be around for another week or so...so, we had a chance to share with others, improve math skills, use our senses, and create as we played in the sensory table!

And...just like yesterday...I missed getting pictures of the last "round" of small groups...ugh!

Yay once again for warmer temperatures (even if it was a bit windy).  We enjoyed having large motor time outside before lunch!

Pierce returned the favorite book bag.  He shared with us "Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons"!  Our friends loved getting to sing along and "read" some of this book with me!  And, I am pretty sure everyone's favorite part was when all Pete had left was his belly button!  Thank you Pierce for sharing this book with us!

This morning, around 10:00, we heard a loud rumble for a few seconds.  We weren't sure what could have made that sound.  Many guessed thunder, but that didn't seem possible.  Shortly after the rumble, Mr. Debrick let us know we heard the old Daniel Boone bridge coming down.  Here we are getting a chance to watch a video of what we heard earlier this morning!