C’s & D’s, and Flag Day

Oh what a busy fun day it was today. It makes for a really good day when the kids are cooperative, willing, and excited!

First, Cason was so excited to tell us all about his time with Spark.

Here is some of what they did together…

• Let sister take a nap with Spark.
• Took Spark to visit cousins.
• Took Spark to church and let him wait in the car.
• Let Spark sleep with him at night.
• Read Scriptures together.
• Took Spark for a ride in the jeep.
• Spark loved it when he spun him around.

I am so glad that you took such good care of him Cason, and you two had so much fun!!!

Today was all about C’s & D’s. Our main focus was on Dinosaurs. We made fossils today! The kids were excited about them. We had to do them first thing since they had to cook. I hope the 2 hours was long enough. They were still a little soft!

We also did Flags for Flag day. Here is a little information about flag day;

Flag Day not as widely recognized as other major holidays around the world and it does take a “back seat” to July 4. But Flag Day is meant to draw attention to the so-called “stars and stripes” that make up the flag of the United States of America. This flag pattern was created and adopted as the official flag of the U.S. shortly after the country declared its independence from England.

This day became special in the early months of the Civil War. Apparently the first celebration took place in 1861 in Connecticut. Less than two decades later, the federal government declared that all public buildings should display the flag on June 14 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the flag’s adoption (1777-1877). That was the beginning of what is now an annual event. June 14 of each year is very popular now, though it is not an official holiday, as are July 4, Memorial Day.

Some of our flags ended up being red, white, and pink! But the kids loved it, and that is what it is all about.      

While the paint was drying they made dinosaurs out of play dough…soon they ended up putting all sorts of animals in the dough. Such imaginations!

    

The finished projects… Happy Flag Day tomorrow!

     

For free play they all started out outside. That didn’t last very long for most of them. It was cold, and starting to storm. But, Bridger & Deegan found themselves occupies shooting birds…

The girls played dress up, and were beautiful princesses…

And Cason wanted to be the baby puppy when he came in from outside…

It is so cute to listen to them play, and interact with each other. They played “Star Wars” today, Justin Beiber was eating lunch with them at one point, and so so much more!

Emma got to take Spark home, so it will be fun to see what great adventure they go on over the next few days!

Review…Review…Review…

We only have a few weeks left before school is out {tears…}, So last week I did some assessment of the kids to see what areas they needed that last little push of knowledge in before school is over on the 26th.

One of the things I noticed through my assessment is that most of the kiddos write their whole name in uppercase letters, so today we practiced writing it in lowercase letters. Habits are a little hard to break, so it has been a little challenging for them to change the way they have done it all year, but they are all doing so well with it, and catching on so quickly!

     

After they completed the name worksheet, it was more review…

Online there are so many resources. I combined two worksheets, the first one they could associate the letter A with apple, alligator, and angel. Then they practiced properly writing the letter A in uppercase and lowercase letters. This was done as a final review of the letters A,B,C,D,E,F,and G.

     

For my Parents: Please continue to work with them on the lowercase b, and d. These are a little confusing for some, and they write them backwards.

There was  a lot of busy work for the kids. And so we had to take a few breaks… 1 was snack. Thanks Emma for the wonderful go-gurts. They were the perfect treat.

Another break was for puzzle time…

     

Each student was given 4 letter puzzle pieces. I like this because they had to work together to create something wonderful. After some great teamwork they were able to put the Alphabet Train together. It is over 10feet long. They were very excited and proud of themselves when it was all finished. What an accomplishment.

We also watched a little bit of our site words movie. The kids were acting out what the letters were doing… I thought it was just too cute not to include.

Here they are stirring the magic potion…with the word “his.”

Here they are being little pigs in a mud bath…with the little “on” pig

For my parents: I sent home with your children a registration form for the Summer Preschool Program. It needs returned with the $25.00 registration fee before Sunday May 15, 2011, if you are interested in enrolling them in the summer program. Thanks for all you do!

D is for DOG

After the usual morning routine instead of a craft that went with the letter D, we made these adorable snowmen…

Then they decorated their “Dogs” each of them having there one unique character. 

Then it was time for snack. It was Bridger's turn, and as always he was excited to share and pass out the treat.

Inside their “Dogs” were pringles chips. Then they had some dog food…

That tasted very good!

It was a fun day-as always!

D is for DINOSAUR

Today was really a fun day. I was real excited to have preschool today. When I find a fun idea, or come up with something creative I get like a kid in a candy store, and can’t wait to show the kids what we are going to do. I have really been trying to get them to understand “If today is Tuesday..” What was Yesterday, and what is tomorrow…I think they are starting to understand that, and it makes me happy. It has seemed to be something very confusing to learn, and understand.

First things first…We have to learn the letter D. We talk about things that start with the letter D, and how important it is to know that letter. Deegan was excited that it was “his” letter today. Everyone gets a turn to write the uppercase and lowercase letters on the board.

Then it is time for the worksheet…I don’t think this is their favorite part, but an important one!

After the worksheet I talked to them about Dinosaurs and explained that they lived on earth a long time ago, and after they died they became fossils. We read a book Called “My Visit to the Dinosaurs” by Aliki.  I gave each of them a glob of salt dough and told them to use their imaginations and create a dinosaur out of their dough. Some of them really enjoyed the less organized activity, some said they just couldn’t do it! BUT, all of them had fun creating a dinosaur of their own.

WOW!!! Don’t they look amazing. Some of them had wings, some had lots of hair, some had spikes…the options were endless. I LOVE imaginations…and each of these kids have fantastic imaginations.

After they made their dinosaurs “they died” and we made fossils. I thought this was so fun, and exciting. Most of them did as well, and were excited to see what would happen.

Then it was time for snack. Deegan was in charge today and brought pudding…HUGE HIT!!! They loved it…

(they were all saying “Thanks Deegan” in this picture…cute huh?

We read a cute little book titled “A Dinosaur called Tiny” by Alan Durant. It was such a cute little book. I tired to teach the kids this little song…

I’m a mean old Dinosaur (Tune: I’m a little Tea Pot)

“I’m a mean old Dinosaur

Big and Tall

Here is my tail, here is my claw.

When I get all hungry

I just growl

Look out kids I’m on the prowl.”

They were getting pretty rambunctious, and I am not sure how much they learned of it, but they thought it was pretty cute.

Then it was time to make Shape-a-sorous…the Dinosaur…

They had a great time cutting and gluing shapes on to their dinosaur.

It was a fun and fantastic day.

I love these kids all so much!