In March, We READ!

Well, it's been quite a while since we've an update to our blog!  I had a great maternity leave and am very happy to be back with these kiddos!  Below are a few pictures of Lyla.  The kids got to see her for a few hours last week and they were all so sweet with her!

Now on to preschool happenings...In the month of March, we celebrate reading and do a lot of fun things to go along with it.  This year, our author study was Eric Carle, so we read a lot of his books and did many Eric Carle inspired art projects.

The kids had a reading competition where they filled out a star for each book that they read at home.  They brought the stars in a got to hang them up.  As a preschool, we read over 2500 books in the month of March!

We also got to have many parents and grandparents come in to be guest readers!  Thank you so much for all of your participation this month :)

Our Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Our pumpkin patch field trip is one of my favorite things that we do!  We go to an amazing place called Cotants every year and they have a great set up for kids.  We get to go on a hay ride, pick an apple, pick out a pumpkin, watch how apple cider is made, eat donuts and cider, and play in the indoor area that is stocked with a bounce house, powered John Deere tractors, a zip line, and hay maze.  The kids had a blast to say the least.  So much so, that most of them actually fell asleep during quiet time :)  Check out some of the awesome things we did below!

So far, we have had a very busy fall!  My due date is only 2 weeks away and I know I'm going to miss seeing these kiddos every day!

A Visit From the Firefighters!

We as preschoolers take fire safety very seriously and one way to learn about it is directly from our local firefighters!  We are lucky to have some firefighters volunteer their time to come in with their gear and truck to teach us all about what they do and how to stay safe.  The kids really enjoy it!

First they show us how their gear works and let the kids come up and tough them so they know not to scared.

Then we head outside to see their truck!

They even let us walk through the truck...

Thank you to the firefighters who gave us this great experience!!

Art Gallery Fundraiser

Every year we have our Art Gallery Fundraiser here in the preschool.  The kids work hard to get original pieces of their art together and we display them in the hallway.  Parents, grandparents, friends, etc come the night of the Art Gallery and donate money to take the artwork home with them. It's a great fundraiser for us and a fun night for the kids to show off all their hard work.

This year we did marble painting...

We also painted with leaves...

Made the Very Hungry Caterpillar with balloons...

Then displayed all of our work in the hallway to be admired by all!!

Thanks for stopping by!  Up next...our firefighter visit :)

Spring Field Trips

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated.  All of my "March is Reading Month" photos were deleted when I got a new phone...so sad :(

In April, we have the pleasure to go on 2 special field trips!  Our first one is to a local YMCA camp where the kids get to pet animals, make s'mores, ride horses, and play games!  It is such a good hands on trip for the little ones to attend.

The horseback riding was for the sure the favorite among our little campers.

Our second trip was to the Grand Rapids Public Museum.  We were able to visit the dinosaur exhibit and well as many other neat things!  The kids had a blast and learned a lot :)

We just entered our last month of school...can you believe it?!  Look for our spring crafts coming up :)

Solar System!

One of our new themes this year was learning all about the solar system...on a preschool level.  I introduced the moon, stars, constellations, and planets.  The kids really enjoyed learning about all these new things.  We took a hands on experience with this with many projects, books, and internet research.

We started out by talking about the moon and stars.  The kids made their own constellations with construction paper.  I also let them pick their own names...some are pretty creative!!

Next, we made moon phases out of Oreo cookies.  This might have been the favorite solar system activity :)  Who knew the moon tasted like cookies and cream?!

Finally, we talked about all the planets.  The kids used water colors to paint planets.  After looking at all the colors and patterns on the 8 planets, they had to decide which one they were going to paint.  We also practiced our cutting skills!

We really love learning new things in preschool!!

Holiday Activities

So, I first must apologize for not posting anything since Halloween!  I thought for sure I did a Thanksgiving post...but I guess it never happened.  Below is a plethora of Holiday crafts and activities we did through December.  The kids had a blast preparing for Santa :)  I hope that everyone had an amazing break!  I included some pictures of my Christmas Break.  Looking forward to an awesome 2014 in room 107!

We made several different ornaments for the kids to take home and put on their trees.  I made the base ahead of time out of Popsicle sticks.  Then the kids glued puzzle pieces on them, painted them white, and of course sprinkled glitter on them :)

Next up, we made these cute little paintings!  I got the idea from Pinterest :)  The kids enjoyed getting their feet painted as well as finger painting.  I laminated them and sent them home...I figured these were keepsake material.

A big part of our holiday preparation was float building!  We decided to enter a float in our local Holiday Parade.  We had a lot of great parent participation and the kids really enjoyed riding on the float the day of the parade.  We ended up taking first place!!

During our Christmas Party in our classroom, we made gingerbread houses with our parents.  I think more candy was eaten than was stuck to the houses :)

And here is a little glimpse of my Christmas Break.  I got to spend it up north where my family as well as my husband's family lives.  I had a great time catching up with family and wearing pajamas more than I probably should have :)