Almost Done With School!!

We started the day off with some colored gems and plastic eggs in the pool.  The kids matched colors, made musical instruments, and counted.  There were also letters at the table for the kids to use to spell words on the word cards.  They were really good at asking for what they needed and sharing with each other!

Ms. Michelle was here to day for our very last day of OT this year!  After we played with a beach ball in the grass, throwing it to each other, hitting and kicking it to each other, and using a pool noodle like a golf club, we divided into two groups.  The first group explored in soapy water with scoops and funnels and spoons.  Then they blew bubbles.  The second group wrote and drew with sidewalk chalk and then used water squirters and spray bottles to wash away their work.  Then we switched so that everyone got a turn at all the fun!

Before we headed inside, we took our last walk as a preschool class around the neighborhood.  The kids all took turns remembering their favorites things that we have done this year.  Riding the train, Imaginon, the grocery store, and the park were definite highlights!

Back inside we read Harry By The Sea by Gene Zion.  This story is about a dog named Harry that LOVES the beach....but hates the hot sun.  He looks for all different ways to cool off, but nothing works until he finally gets swept away by a big wave.  Once he swims back to shore, he is covered by seaweed and everyone thinks he is a Sea Monster.

No art today to bring home today....we just worked on some special thank you notes for our church friends.  Mr. Gary, Ms. Carol, Mr. Jared, Ms. Salli Anna, and Pastor Karen have been so kind to us, we want to give them something very special to celebrate a great school year.

At The Beach!

The morning started with a Touch and Feel Pool full of colored artificial flowers....and sticky gum balls.  The kids had fun making bouquets and using clothespins to keep them together.  The gum balls were fun too....but you had to be really careful not to get poked with their sharp edges.

Ms. Danielle had her last Young Athletes today....and it was dry enough for us to be out in the courtyard!  She had five different stations set up for the kids to rotate through.  She even brought some extra new grown-up friends to help the kids in each station.  One station was basketball, one was balancing, one was soccer, one was hockey, and one was jumping.  All the things that we have practiced this spring....and the kids had a blast showing off their skills.  Before we left, Ms. Danielle gave everyone a purple Young Athletes shirt.....which almost everyone immediately asked to wear for the rest of the day!

This was our last day of music with Ms. Stacey!  We started out with using the spinner for our hello song, which told us to sing while jumping, sing softly, and sing slowly.  After that, we sang the Seasons Song one last time.  Next, we talked about all the places to play in the water during the summer in our song about the beach ball, and we used the parachute to roll the ball all around and pop it up and down.  This was a different way to use the ball and parachute, since we had to take breaks and be still and sing along.  After that, we sang Down By The Bay, since a bay is a place where water comes into the land, and used interlocking puzzle cards to find matches of rhyming words.  Last, we played an instrument game where the kids got to decide in the song to keep playing the instrument they had or pass it around the circle.  During this game, we also had to listen real closely through all the instruments to know when to stop playing with the guitar cue.  After coupled practice rounds, the kids did really well!  We wrapped up with singing our goodbye song together one last time.

Today's book was Pete At The Beach, of the Pete The Cat series, by James Dean.  Pete is spending the day at the seashore.  He has fun collecting shells and building a sand castle until he gets too hot.  Luckily, there is a whole ocean for Pete to cool off in, but it looks scary.  Pete's brother, Bob, offers to teach Pete to surf.  Pete is scared at first, but then he loves it....and realizes that even though it's ok to be afraid, it's really good to be brave!

Mr. Jon was also here today for the last time this year!  After a warm up, we started the session with a super fun obstacle course.  First each kiddo had to balance across the beam, then they walked up the plank and over the obstacle.  Next was to climb over a tall obstacle using your muscles to pull you up.  The last thing was to roll, sideways or head first, down another mat.  The kids LOVED it!  Then we played a fun game of Snowball Fight using soft balls.  The kids tried to hit Mr. Jon, while he tried to hit them!  There was lots of running around and laughing....but the most important thing was to listen as Mr. Jon called out the seasons....because there are no snow fights in summer, so everyone had to freeze during that season and wait for winter!  Mr. Jon didn't mention it....but there was LOTS of gathering balls during the summer waiting time.  The kids wanted to be ready when it turned winter!

Wet Sand vs. Dry Sand!

Today we started the day with the Touch and Feel Pool full of sand.  There was lots of exploring and digging for hidden treasures and animals.....and it wasn't nearly as messy as we imagined.  We talk about how one tiny a piece of sand is.....a grain....and how many pieces of sand there much be at the beach.  Millions and millions!  Probably a number bigger than all the other numbers we know!

Ms. Michelle was here today.  We started with the parachute to help get the wiggles out.  The kids had to listen to directions on how to move the parachute....slow or fast, up or down.  Then they walked in circles, while holding the parachute and moving it.  The last, and easily the favorite, was to take turns running under the parachute while our friends held it up.  Finger fun was a bunch of stations for the kids to rotate through.  There was picking up small bananas using tongs and feeding them to the monkey.  There was Fundanoodle pounding, and patterning, and sorting bugs using tongs, and matching colored pegs.....and individual letter writing in flour with Ms. Michelle.  Lots of fun things to choose from and the kids did a great job rotating and sharing!

Today's book was All You Need For A Beach by Alice Schertle.  There's nothing quite like a day at the beach.....and this book gives the perfect recipe for fun in the sun!  Plant a yellow umbrella in the sand, roll out a beach towel, and pour a glass of lemonade.  But wait....what's the most important part of a fun beach day?  You....of course!

We did some fun sand science today instead of art!  The kids all seemed to know how to build a sandcastle and the things that you would need to make it great.....but could we use just any kind of sand.  They all predicted yes.....until our experiment.  Sand that is dry doesn't stick together, so you can't use it to build.....and sand that is only wet on the bottom, or the top, also doesn't make a good sandcastle because only part of it sticks.  You need wet sand.....to get it to stick together enough to make a sandcastle.  After our experiment, we let the kids use tiny cups as buckets and build their own castles.  They had the most fun....and this was WAY more messy than we predicted!  But....totally worth it!

More Ocean Animals!

Today we started the day with a Touch and Feel pool of fun sensory things.  There were cotton balls, green streamers (or pretend seaweed), and colored frogs.  They kids had lots to say about the strange combination....which was exactly the purpose!

Ms. Danielle was here today and helped us practice our soccer skills.  We divided into three groups.  One group practiced kicking and protecting the goal.  The next group dribbled the ball between cones and then kicked into the net.  The last group dribbled the ball between cones and then passed to a partner.  Each child got a turn at each group....and by the end....we had some soccer pros on our hands!

Today we also had music with Ms. Stacey.  We sang our hello song with the spinner to tell us different ways to use our voices.  After that, we practiced our seasons song for the month of May.  There were lots of great singing voices on this one!  Next, we sang a song about different animals that live int eh ocean and moved just like they do!  Then, everyone got a bell just like the ones we used last week.  This time instead of listening for the color of our bells to know when to play, we watched for Ms. Stacey to hold them up so we could play the music to go along with a book!  It's still pretty tricky to wait for turns when we're playing, but we're getting better!  We played Baby Beluga by Raffi.  After that, we used our fingers and hands to be the "mouths" of a family of sharks in a fun song called Baby Shark.

Our book today was Homer The Beachcomber by Janet Palazzo-Craig.  This is a story about Homer who goes on an adventure digging for treasure on the beach!

For art we made starfish.  The kids glued colored cereal and oats on a star template.....and added a little bit of glitter to complete the ocean creature!  They kids had fun....and we gave our fine motor skills a little workout in the process!

We ended the day by removing ONE MORE link in our countdown chain!  8 days left until summer vacation!  Everyone is super excited.....teachers included!!