Mrs. Mudd's Preschool Blog : Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Thank you for checking out our Thursday!

A few reminders...

Tomorrow, Wednesday, 4/5 is a half day for teacher in-service. Please make arrangements to have your child picked up at 12:00 tomorrow. We will not be eating lunch at preschool, but we will have morning snack. If you pre-registered your child to attend half day care in the afternoon, he/she will need a cold lunch with a drink, and his/her nap bag (we will send with him/her) while at half day care!

Zion’s Annual Dinner Auction…This year’s event is set for this Friday, April 7, 2017 from 5:00 pm - 10:00 pm. All are invited to a fun evening at Old Hickory Country Club to raise funds for our school. Invitations have been mailed and you can send your reservations into the school office. Don’t miss out on your chance to bid on the awesome donation from our preschool class!

Zion’s Easter Egg Hunt is this Saturday, April 8 from 10:00 am - 12:00! Join us for the annual Easter Egg hunt, which includes a petting zoo, games, bounce house, face painting, and much more! This is an outreach ministry event that shares the joy of the Gospel and friendship with our community. Invite a neighbor to come. The egg hunt schedule is:

10:15 am Ages 0 - 2
10:45 am Preschool
11:15 am Kindergarten, Grades 1 & 2
Siblings are welcome to participate in other activities!

There is NO School Friday, 4/14 - Monday, 4/17 for Easter Break.

On to our day...

Everyone one of us was ready to become a doctor, nurse, or patient as our doctor's office takes shape in the dramatic play area! Dramatic play serves many purposes...of course it is FUN, but it also enables children to plan and work with others while interacting with other children in a comfortable setting.

We have to remember to check in...just like when go to the real doctor!

A few babies needed some care...

As did some of our friends...Emma is getting her sick tummy checked out!

Jonah wasn't quite ready to be the doctor yet, he chose to be Laina's assistant for a bit!

Some friends improved hand-eye coordination and small motor control as they created with Interlox!

During free choice time, each friend (not here yesterday) began his/her day with a special check-in! Each child completed his/her "April My Name" for his/her portfolio. Each friend was given the choice to write only first name or first and last! While each friend wrote his/her name I took special note of :

pencil grip

right or left hand

copied name or wrote from memory

did he/she know the letters in own name

We noticed that another month has come and gone...it is now April!!! Our March pie graph had been colored in! We compared March to all of the other months. We noticed that each month was different, but that January and March had all of the same types of weather. For March alone we agreed that sunny and cloudy were the same, and they also had the most. While snowy had the least. Being able to compare and understand more, less, and the same is an early math skill!

Happy 5th Birthday Owen! Thank you for sharing your special day with us!

To wrap up morning meeting there were 6 Easter items, but some looked the same except for being a different color! We studied them, reviewed the colors, and locked them in our brain. Then, I covered them with a blanket and took 1 away...what was missing? Taking one away couldn't fool them, so I took 2 away. Two was a bit trickier! Recognizing and recalling is an early cognitive skill.

We loved chapel led by Mrs. Kuhlmann's 3rd grade class...especially since Riley and Emily are in her class!

They taught us all about temptation. Jesus was tempted by the devil, but He didn't give into temptation! We have many temptations around us everyday...ice cream, soda, candy, money, and toys! So, what do we do when we are tempted? We trust in God that He will always be there to help us and to give us helpers (parents, teachers, friends) to help us with our temptations!

Time for a little science!

I blew up a balloon and tore up some paper. Then asked what would happen when I rubbed the balloon on Josh's head and then held it over the paper? We made our predictions, then tested them!

We saw that the papers "flew" up and stuck to the balloon.

We did a similar experiment with a plastic spoon, a metal spoon, a piece of wool fabric, and salt and pepper.

Rub the fabric on each spoon and what will happen when I hold it over the salt and pepper?

Only the pepper stuck, but not the salt, to the plastic spoon!

And...nothing stuck to the metal spoon!

We learned that there were no magnets, glue, or gum making these things stick together. It was static electricity! Static Electricity is a special kind of electricity. It can be made by rubbing some things together. And...did you know...lightning is a kind of static electricity in the clouds!

Time for small groups (centers)!

We had some decorated eggs that were all mixed up! First we sequenced them from smallest to biggest. Then biggest to smallest! Then, we noticed that some of them were decorated the same, so we sorted the eggs by decoration! Sequencing and sorting are both early math skills.

With Mrs. Dose, we had to help the plastic eggs be put back together again! Each friend was given the bottom half of the egg with a lowercase letter. His/her job was to say the letter and the sound it makes, then find the matching uppercase letter and snap the egg back together. Not only did we practice recognizing/identifying letters and their sounds, putting the eggs together is great for improving small motor control!

Time for a little rhyme! We love the tiny rhyming puzzles. Find the 2 pictures that rhyme and they fit together to make a small 2 piece puzzle. Rhyming is an early literacy skill!