Story Book for March 23, 2009

Our story book for March 23rd was I Want to Be an Astronaut by Byron Barton.  Great pictures and simple text show children how astronauts eat, sleep, and work in outer space.

Story Book for March 13, 2009

Our story book for March 13th was Bare Bear by Miriam Moss.  In this story a bear wakes up one morning to discover the wind has blown away all of his clothes that were hanging on a clothes line.  He has to search for his clothes and finds them with some characters that you might find in familiar fairy tales.

Story Book for March 12, 2009

Our story book for March 12th was All Sorts of Clothes by Hannah Reidy.   This is a very simple book that describes various articles of clothing a child might wear.

Special Visitor: Louisville Zoo

Some visitors from the Louisville Zoo came to visit our classroom.  They did a presentation on birds for the children.  They brought a parrot and an owl for the kids to see.  They also brought in an ostrich egg and eagle feather for the children to inspect.

Art Activity: Rainbow Pants

We used spray bottles filled with water for this painting activity.  First, we let the children choose several colors of paint to place at the top of their pants shaped paper.  Next the children sprayed water on the paint using the spray bottle.  The paint dripped down the children's paper causing the above effect. 

Science Activity: Mixing Colors

This was a very simple science activity.  We let the children select 2 primary colors of paint, and we placed drops of the paint on a small piece of paper.  Next we gave the children a cotton ball to use for mixing the paint together.  The kids made secondary colors from the primary colors.  

Story Book for March 11, 2009

Our story book for March 11th was The Skeleton in the Closet by Alice Schertle.  In this story a little boy discovers a skeleton has made a visit to his house.  The skeleton is in need of some clothes, so he raids the boy's closet.  This is a very silly book that the kids loved.

Story Book for March 10, 2009

Our story book for March 10th was My Closet Threw a Party by Robyn Parnell.  In this story, the clothes in a girl's closet throw a party that leaves her room a mess.

Math Activity: Button Sorting

We gave the children buttons of various shapes and colors.  We asked them to sort them by color, or by shape.

Story Book for March 9, 2009

Our story book for March 9th was A Rainbow All Around Me by Sandra Pinkney.  This is a book about colors and what we think of when we see those colors.  The book features great photographs of children from different cultures wearing brightly colored clothing.

Art Activity: Rainbows

We gave the children water color paints and made the suggestion of painting rainbows.  The children could paint anything they wanted; painting rainbows was only a suggestion.  The most important thing was for the children to have an opportunity to work with the water color, and to be creative.

Art Activity: Mitten Lacing

For this activity we gave the children mitten shaped paper, plastic sewing needles, and yarn.  The children used the yarn and sewing needles to lace through the holes in the paper mitten.

Story Book for March 6, 2009

Our story book for March 6th was The Mitten by Jan Brett.  In this story a little boy loses one of his white mittens in the snow.  The mitten is found by various animals who, one by one, crawl into the mitten to get warm.

Language Activity: Clothing Bag

We filled a bag full of different types of clothes for this activity.  The children were to reach into the bag and see if they could guess what the article of clothing was just by touching it.  After they took the article of clothing out of the bag, the children were to identify it and tell what season someone would like to wear it.

Math Activity: Clothes Matching

For this activity we gave the children real articles of clothing and cards with photos of the clothing.  The children matched the pictures to the real clothing.

Story Book for March 5th, 2009

Our story book for March 5th was Mr. Tuggle's Troubles by Leeann Blankenship.  In this story Mr. Tuggle keeps misplacing important articles of clothing.  He can't find his hat, so he makes a paper hat instead.  He can't find his shoes, so he wears shoe boxes on his feet.  He can't find his shirt, so he wears curtains instead.  By the end of the week, he realizes how silly he looks to other people. 

Science Activity: Colored Milk Experiment

For this experiment we first poured milk into a shallow tray.  Next we placed drops of food coloring in the milk.  The food coloring stays in one spot until the next step.  The last step is to place one drop of liquid dish washing detergent into the milk.  The detergent causes the drops of food coloring to move around the milk.  The colors mix to make new colors. 

Health and Safety Activity: Stop, Drop and Roll

The children practiced the safety procedure of Stop, Drop, and Roll on this day.  First they read a fire safety book with one of the teachers.  Next, they practiced Stop, Drop, and Roll in the event their clothes were to catch fire.

Art Activity: Paper Hats

To make these hats the children applied foam stickers to their paper.  Next, the teacher's helped the children staple the paper together to make a hat.

Story Book for March 4, 2009

Our story book for March 4th was Hetty's 100 Hats by Janet Slingsby.  In this story a little girl decides that she wants a collection of hats.  She sets a goal of getting 100 hats.  She receives hats  from family and friends from all over the world.

Story Book for March 3, 2009

Our story book for March 3rd was Hello Shoes! by Joan W. Blos.   In this story a boy and his grandfather search all over the house for the boy's favorite pair of shoes, a pair of red buckled sandals.  When they find the shoes, the boy decides he wants to learn how to buckle them himself.

Whole Group Activity: Fashion Show

For this activity, we gave the children a large assortment of clothes to choose from.  The children dress up and then did a fashion show on teacher made runway.  The children described the clothes they were wearing while walking down the runway.

Story Book for March 2, 2009

Our story book for March 2nd was The Jacket I wear in the Snow by Shirley Neitzel.  In this story a little boy has to get ready for playing outdoors during the winter.

Story Book for February 27, 2009

Our story book for February 27th was Whoever You Are by Mem Fox.  This book lets children know that there are children all over the world who have similarities to them.  They smile, laugh, cry, and are loved by someone.

Story Book for February 26, 2009

Our story book for February 26th was Does an Elephant Take a Bath? by Dr. Fred Ehrlich.  This book compares how animals and humans keep clean.

Story Book for February 25, 2009

Our story book for February 25th was Look at Your Eyes by Paul Showers.  This book explains to children how their eyes work.

Story Book for February 24, 2009

Our story book for February 24th was Even More Parts by Tedd Arnold.  A little boy is worried about his body parts based on common phrases he hears people use.

Math Activity: Body Patterns

For this activity the children completed various body part patterns.  The patterns included hand and foot patterns.

Story Book for February 23, 2009

Our story book for February 23rd was My Five Senses by Aliki.  This book is about how people use their 5 senses of sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing.

Math Activity: How Tall Are You?

For this activity the children helped measure each other.  First one child laid down on the floor so that a teacher and friend could measure them using a piece of yarn.  Next, the children measure the piece of string with a tape measure to see how tall they were.  The children took home their piece of yarn to show their parents how tall they were.

Music Activity: Do Your Ears Hang Low?

Our music activity on this day was Do Your Ears Hang Low?

You can hear the song by clicking on this link.

We acted out the words to this song while we sang it.

Story Book for February 20, 2009

Our story book for February 20th was My Body, Your Body by Mick Manning.  This book looks at human and animal body parts with comments on differences and similarities between them.

Science Activity: Gooey Mixture

For this activity we used a Cornstarch and water recipe to make this gooey mixture.  We added a little food coloring to make it more appealing to the children.  The kids had a good time experimenting with the different textures of this mixture.

Story Book for February 19, 2009

Our story book for February 19th was My Friend the Doctor by Joanna Cole.  In this story a little girl visits the doctor for a check up.  This book does a good job of preparing a child for an upcoming doctor's visit.

Story Book for February 18, 2009

Our story book for February 18th was More Parts by Tedd Arnold.  In this story a little boy has the fear that his body parts may start coming off when he hears the people around him using such phrases as, "Give me a hand", "Hold your tongue" and "It makes my skin crawl".  He later learns that these are just figures of speech, and he has nothing to fear.

Science Activity: Smelly Playdough

For this activity we made our own playdough with a salt and flour recipe.  After the initial batch of playdough was made, each child got to pick a scent that they wanted to add to their playdough.  The children mixed in various flavors of kool-aid to give their playdough a distinct smell.

Story Book for February 17, 2009

Our story book for February 17th was My Feet by Aliki.  This book explains all the ways our feet are important to us.