Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Thank you for checking out our Wednesday in preschool!

A few quick reminders...

Enrollment for 2020 - 2021 is here… Enrollment for current Zion Lutheran School families began the morning of January 8th online through Sycamore. Please note that enrollment will open to community families new to Zion THIS Sunday, January 26th at 5:00 pm.  You will want to complete enrollment before January 26 to secure your spot for the upcoming year.  

Valentines for friends...Our class will have our valentine parties on Monday, February 10 and Tuesday, February 11. Prior to the parties, each child will be making a valentine bag, at school.  Please have your child prepare 20 valentines at home (1 for each child in the class) and bring them on 2/10 or 2/11. Below are a few tips when completing valentines:

• In my experience, filling out valentines can take a bit of time, completing only a few per day.
• Please write "Friend" or "My Friend" in the "To" line (or leave it blank), and then he/she can sign his/her name in the "From" line.  
• Including a small item (sticker, pencil, tattoo, etc) along with the valentine is okay, but not required.  Please, NO CANDY or FOOD, due to possible allergies. 
• If you attend on Monday and Tuesday, you do not need to bring valentines for each day.  The bags will be out both days, so you can bring your 20 in on either day.

National Lutheran Schools Week...We will be celebrating National Lutheran Schools Week on January 27 - 31. Help us celebrate with these special dress days!

• Monday: Class Choice Day…Wear your favorite color from head to toe! Jeans Optional.
• Tuesday: Crazy Weather Day...Dress for a rainstorm or snowstorm or any other crazy weather event. Jeans optional.
• Wednesday: PJ Day...Wear pajamas/sweats, may wear slippers (bring change of shoes for outside).
• Thursday: Olympic Day...Dress as an athlete or in gear from your favorite country. Jeans optional.
• Friday: Redout/Whiteout Day...Choose to dress in all red or all white from head to toe. Jeans optional. No face paint or hair color.

Whew...on to our day...

We had a different check-in this morning (for those not here yesterday). Each friend decided how he/she was feeling today (happy, sad, angry, scared, tired, or excited).  Then wrote his/her name in the correct column!

  With everyone checked in, we used our early math skills to see that "happy" had the most with 10 friends, while "scared", "angry" and "sad" had the least with 0 friends!

In preparation for National Lutheran Schools Week, we finished painting lots of dots lime green. Next week, the older kids at Zion will be using the dots that all of preschool and ELP paint for an all school art project!

 To finish up morning meeting, I had 7 items from around the classroom.  After identifying each item, we locked them in our brains.  I covered the items with a towel and removed 2.  Our job was to recognize and recall what was missing!  There was no fooling us...we figured it out every time.

Happy 4 1/2 Birthday Emmett! Thank you for sharing your special day with us!

Such concentration as he completes his birthday lantern!

We decided we could get extra large motor time if we headed to the commons...so off we went!

Last week we read "Who Sank the Boat?", discovering that when the mouse got in, the boat sank. Today we searched for pictures of different kinds of boats on the smart board. We noticed there were some things that were the same, but each boat actually looked quite different.  

Speed boat...

Fishing boats...

Canoe...

Raft...

Cruise ship...

Pirate ship...

Sailboat...

After exploring each boat, each friend drew a picture of the boat they would like to make (next week) out of aluminum foil.

Time for small groups (centers)!

With Mrs. Dose, we completed another observational drawing of the same tree that we did earlier in the year.  Each friend looked to see what was different about the tree since last time.  Then, they drew the tree again, realizing they didn't need much color, since the tree and grass were mostly gray and brown (with just a hint of green in the grass)!

We created a portrait of a gingerbread person today!  This activity helped us to improve small motor control, creativity and imagination, and self awareness!

We improved number recognition and counting objects while we placed snowballs (marshmallows) in egg cartons!  On the bottom of each space on the egg carton was a number.  Each friend had to put that number of "snowballs" into that space of the egg carton.  Early math skills at work!

 We improved hand-eye coordination and patterning skills as we made towers, in a pattern, with cubes!  Success for some was copying a pattern already made.  Success for others was finishing a pattern already started.  While success for some was starting and completing a pattern on his/her own!

And..hooray for large motor time in the gym!!!

During Jesus Time today we were reminded of the story of Jesus healing the blind man.  Our friend Zippy returned, very sad at first, thinking that God couldn't hear his prayers because he was so tiny.  But we learned that Jesus does listen and he does answer our prayers, no matter how small we are or what we are doing!

Have a great night!