Spring is in the Air!

Yesterday in preschool, we:
- enjoyed using our imaginations with random items: sorting bowls, clothes pins, foam core, popsicle sticks, and pon poms. They LOVE doing this!!! Usually they are finished with small motor about 10 - 15 minutes in, but when we do this they stay and play for FOREVER! They made burritos, 32 flavors of ice cream cones, robots, see-saws, and such. Wonderful to watch!
- worked hard at centers.
- counted, patterned, and discussed our calendar.
- read When the Weather Changes and discussed signs of spring.
- took a looking tour around our neighborhood/yard (from the safety and dryness of our front porch)watching for budding trees and changes from winter.
- had a painting lesson. Spring Trees were on our minds as we laid out our primary paint colors. We then mixed red, yellow and blue to make brown and painted a Y for the tree trunk. We then painted V's on top of the Y and discussed the term 'cropping'. We mixed yellow and blue to make green for the leaves and grass. We went on to mix red and white for some pink blossoms. And to top it off we glued popcorn and sang the famous 'Popcorn Popping' song as we did so. We then discussed negative space (the unpainted white space around the tree) and if they so chose, they could fill this space.
- let the beautiful paintings dry while we ate a popcorn snack.
- discussed EARTHQUAKES as a part of the Great Shake Out here in Utah. We read the book EARTHQUAKES and looked at the pictures. We talked about what to do in case of an earthquake. I wanted to make sure it was not a scary discussion but more of a 'we will know what to do so we DON'T have to worry' kind of thing. We talked about where we go when we are at preschool and asked them to talk to mom's and dad's about more ideas of what to do if they are at home. I wanted them to know that while they are here I would work very hard to keep them safe.
- came back to our small motor activity from the beginning of the day (by popular demand).

Thanks!
Jen