Monday, November 18, 2024

 Thanks for checking out our Monday in preschool!

Two quick reminders...

Thanksgiving Food Drive 2024...Zion's Student Council is organizing the annual Thanksgiving Food Drive for Seminarians and their families. Each grade is assigned certain items, preschool is asked to bring in canned fruits (all varieties) & canned beans (baked, kidney, chili, black, chickpea, pork and beans, french cut green beans, etc). Items will be collected thru THIS Wednesday, November 20 (there is a basket outside the classroom to place donations).

There is NO school next week (Monday, 11/25 - Friday, 11/29)…enjoy your Thanksgiving break!

Here we go...

More painting fun to strengthen the finger, wrist, and hand muscles needed for writing!

Faye and Addison have a little fun role-playing real life situations at "Muddy Mail" before it "closes" for the year!

A little teamwork and a lot of perseverance went into building this cup tower!

Mrs. Mudd brought with her 7 items, either a letter, number, or shape!  All 7 were covered with a towel, then 2 taken away!  What was missing? I couldn't even fool them one time, we did a great job of recognizing and recalling (an early cognitive skill)

A rainy Monday means an adventure in the commons...we had a blast on these "new to us" stepping stones and the hopscotch rings from Mrs. Dose! Our friends think they are just playing, but they are strengthening their core muscles while improving balance and coordination (and learning to take turns)!

Time for a little science!!!

Scientist Mudd arrived today with water, borax, and a snowflake (made of pipe cleaner)!

First we had to count how many cups of water it took to fill a jar (1 1/2). Next, we needed to heat the water to boiling...scientist Mudd did this and reminded friends how careful we need to be around HOT water.  Third, while the water was heating in the microwave, each friend made his/her prediction, "What will happen when the pipe cleaner is put in the solution?"

 Once the water was HOT, we counted out 5 tablespoons of borax and poured it into the water.  We observed that the water looked white or cloudy as we were mixing the solution. 

Finally...it was time to test our prediction...Scientist Mudd dropped the snowflake into the jar!  But, wait a minute, nothing happened, it just sat there!  Our friends found out that this experiment is one that we get to practice WAITING!  We have to wait to see what happens to the snowflake until tomorrow!

Time for small groups (centers)!

SHHHHH!!!!! One of our centers today was "top secret"...you might see our work under your Christmas tree in a few weeks!!!

With Mrs. Fahey we made ornaments for our Christmas tree!  We strung beads (some even did so in a pattern) and jingle bells on to pipe cleaners! Stringing those tiny beads while holding a pipe cleaner sure can be tricky!

Yikes...we had a little snow in the classroom!!!  Working together we sequenced snowflakes from smallest to biggest and/or biggest to smallest!

We "read to self" remembering the rules of using a book correctly (orientation: read from front to back and left to right...make sure the letters are right side up...turn 1 page at a time, gently!!!  Being able to use a book properly is an early literacy skill.)

We enjoyed getting our wiggles out with dancing songs on the smart board...and...

An adventure around the school building to enjoy the almost warm air outside!

We re-read the letter from Mrs. Fish's class...

And got to work writing a letter back! We are having so much fun being their "pen pals"...

A few of us snuck in to leave the letter while they were out of the classroom. We wonder if they were surprised!

During Jesus Time today Zippy told us about a time that he was SOOO scared to go to swimming lessons. He did know there would be a teacher there to keep him safe. This week we will be learning more about God always being with His people and keeping them safe, even when they are scared!

Check us out again tomorrow...