Growing and Blooming

Happy Easter, everyone! Jesus is risen! As I said last week, I hope we all took a moment (or several) to remember and rejoice in the fact that Jesus has conquered death. Nothing can ever change that. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 

Unfortunately, the weather doesn't look as great for this week, but I do hope you still get some time outside! This week would have been our plants/gardening week in our class. I always enjoy this week! Here are some ideas... Feel free to use if you'd like (or not)! :) I know with my own daughter, some days we do absolutely nothing considered "academic" and that's just fine! However, if you do want things to work on, here are some things we would have done in class! 

Names: One thing I always do is read the book The Tiny Seed. We make flowers built out of our names to go along with the book... A great chance to work on writing and ordering the letters of their name. Here is a read aloud link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls6wTeT2cKA

Science/Outdoor: I'm sure most of you already have, but take the time to plant some seeds or plants together!! Anna has loved playing in the dirt, shoveling, planting some seed starts, and more! 

Math: Incorporate one-to-one counting into whatever you're doing! Try separating seeds out, sorting seeds, making a pattern with seeds, counting a pile and then taking some away to find what's left, etc. Anything you find outdoors can be the perfect math manipulative!

Poetry/Color and Sight Words: Here is a poem you could print and color if you'd like! 

Letters: I emailed a neat roll and cover game we usually play... It has a variety of letter mats in the PDF, so just print what you want! They enjoy tracing the letters and covering up the pictures that start with that sound. Also, a parent in my kinder prep sent me a pic of her son writing letters in chalk and then erasing them with a water blaster... Super fun idea for a warmer day!!

Art: Read a book online or watch a video about parts of a plant! See if your child can remember any cool plant facts! We usually make some sort of parts of a plant craft. Here is an easy one using a muffin liner that includes cutting! You can help your child write the labels for each part. Side note, BookFlix has a ton of great interactive book options, including these: https://bookflix.digital.scholastic.com/pair/detail/bk0051pr/start?authCtx=U.794217314 

Bible: This week, I am going to try to focus with Anna on how we can grow in God by continuing to learn more about him. It's also a great week to talk about the Fruits of the Spirit! I usually have my class learn this awesome "Fruit of the Spirit": . We are planning to also do the story of the vine and the branches... discussing how a branch that is chopped off cannot grow or have fruit anymore, and if we don't love God, we cannot do the things that He wants us to do. 

Science: Last week, I did the colored water celery experiment with Anna. It's always a favorite. Just place the center stalks with leaves in different colors of water to watch the leaves change color... It is a great way for them to understand how water goes up the stem of a plant to its flowers/leaves. 

Extra: The flower template below is something that I usually include in portfolios. I know it's silly, but I am sad we are getting to add these fun things to portfolios. I have included it in case you would want to have your child color it and write down the info yourself as a keepsake that you can add to their portfolio when we finally get them out to you! :)

Hope these give you some ideas! Now for the much more exciting part.... Some sweet pictures of our friends from this week!

Wow! Such good work!

Someone has a new baby brother this week!!!

Look at that name building!!

Egg hunt!

Egg dyeing!

This guy went on a scavenger hunt!

So artistic!

Great work!

Easter!

Well, week 3 is in the books. It really has been a bit hard to keep track of the days with the lack of events, schedules, and activities that usually put a structure to our week! As I said in my email, it has taken some time to process the fact that our class won't be back together... No in-person goodbyes or end-of-year preschool celebrations. However, I hope we can think of some creative ways to still celebrate them and help them to feel connected in the coming weeks.

This week would have been focused all on EASTER in our room! In the midst of the chaos going on in this world, my heart rejoices in the fact that Jesus NEVER CHANGES! He is still present, He is still on His throne, He is still good, and He is still victorious! Our Savior is alive and reigns, and I pray that your family can take time to celebrate that this week even though celebrations may look very different this year. The truth of the Gospel hasn't changed and never will. 

More than any activities, my suggestion would be to read and discuss the story of Easter as much as you can this week. Nothing else you fit in would rival in importance. Nevertheless, I have also included a number of math and literacy activities that we would have done in class! Hoppy learning! :)

1. Uppercase/Lowercase Letters: Grab a bag of eggs and write an uppercase letter on one end and its matching lowercase letter on the other end. Break them apart and scatter them around the yard to have your child find and match up! This week's new letter is Ee!
2. Addition: Use eggs to write a number on one end and then draw dots on the other to work on counting and matching. 
3. Gross Motor: Jump like the Easter Bunny! Measure how far they jumped with different objects. Try drawing shapes with chalk and jump from shape to shape, saying each one. 
4. Colors/Poetry: If you have a chance to get some Jelly beans, try out this Jelly bean prayer. You could put each color in a bowl and draw out a color, name the color, and then read what it represents. 

5. Bible: It looks like the website we use at LAP for Bible stories has not been updated for April. However, here is one of the songs! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JnFLvGUKP4 If you don't have a children's Bible around, I have always enjoyed using the Saddleback Kids videos on YouTube. Here is a good one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL8R158Ujp4 
6. Read Aloud: You can still try out the free online story hours I shared or look up an Easter read-aloud on YouTube! But don't forget the power of just finding a chair and reading together. YOU are your child's best example for becoming a lover of reading!
7. Fine Motor: Here is a good printable letter tracing page... You could pair this with your Easter egg letter hunt if you would like! We love letter hunts!

8. Art/Cooking: Have fun coloring Easter eggs or decorating Easter cookies! I always do a "resurrection rolls" as well... Might give it a try! I also had Anna cut/paint a palm branch for Palm Sunday!

Snipping the branch was great scissor practice!

Finally, make sure to check out what our friends were doing last week!!

Wow! Awesome cutting and tracing!

Look at those skills!

Riding a big bike all on his own!

Someone has a new sister!!

Look at that smile!

Wow! Such good scissor skills!

And a new dress!

So fun! Flying high!

Chalk paint time :)

Look what someone found!!

Wow! Working on his name!

 

Dress up time!!

Freddie has been taken good care of!

Speaking of Freddie... I'm going to try to keep Freddie moving so everyone gets a turn, even in quarantine!

Pond Life!

Hello quarantined friends! I hope and pray that all of you are doing well. In some ways, it seems crazy that another week has passed, and in some ways, this past week seemed very long at our house. We kept busy at our house watching my sweet nephew whose daycare closed. 

This coming week would have been pond week in our class... A perfect time for you to find a pond with your sweet one and see what you can see! Go on a pond adventure. :)

Here are a few things that would have been in the plans! As I said before, feel no pressure to try to do any of these things... They are just here if you are looking for activities and want to work on some of the skills we would have in class. Please don't feel like anyone (including me) is doing all of these things! Trust me, some days last week, all I accomplished was keeping two rambunctious one-year-olds safe and fed while Anna played independently. I had to tell myself that this was okay too! This time at home is so valuable in so many more ways than what "educational" activities you do...

If you do want to jump into some fun pond life activities, here are a few we would have done. Also, I am putting portfolios together... and I have LOTS of pictures that need glued on to pages! If any of you would like to make that a family activity, that would be a HUGE help to me! I could come and deliver all the supplies (pre-cut pictures, glue sticks, and paper to put them on) to your mailbox. Just let me know! Thank you in advance!

1. Metamorphosis: Take a paper plate and either color printed pics or draw pictures of the life cycle of a frog! Here's a fun song... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrXww4oZrsI

2. Compare and contrast: Talk about how frogs and toads are alike and different. There a number of fun videos. Here is one I have used before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVAjUSLkDLo. 

3. Cutting: Work on cutting "pond waves" on paper... Simply draw some waves to be cut. This takes quite a bit of scissor control to cut accurately. 

4. Tracing: Work on pencil grip as your child traces these lines (or simply your own lines you draw)! Maybe even just work on grip and tracing with chalk outside! 

5. Poetry: Count down with the song "Five Green and Speckled Frogs"! We have always used little frog cutouts on Popsicle sticks just for fun! Here is the poem if you want to print it and look for known letters: 

6. Numbers: Print and cut this number puzzle (or make your own) to work on putting the numbers in order and identifying each one. 

7. Name: Use something found at a pond to build your child's name! I think Anna and I might try some dandelions!