Learning Station - Animal Sort

This was pretty easy, and fun.  The kiddos sorted through all of our animals and decided which critters live in water and which live on land.  There were a few animals who like to hang out a lot in water that were tricky.

Chinese New Year - Week

Welcome to the week before Chinese New Year.  This new year, 2017,  will be the year of the rooster.

Circle Time - We looked at the globe to find where China is in relation to us.  We also watched a video that told the story of the Chinese zodiac. 

Journal Time - We found out which year we were born.  The boys were all rabbits (Ms. Sara is one too), the girls, born a year later are dragons.

Flag of China - The kiddos created a red collage then added the stars.  They did a great job.
Preschoolers...

Youngsters...


Snack - Chinese New Year Style - We enjoyed some yummy foods today and tried eating with chop sticks.


Shoveling Fun - The kiddos LOVE to help shovel.  And behind our shovel-er you can see that Mr. Adam created a second apartment for the snow cave.  Ha.  He hasn't dug it out yet.  Yeah for more snow!

Squish Dragon - Day 1 - The kiddos began making their Chinese dragon by putting blobs of paint on their paper and then folding it and squishing it.  We'll finish these up on Friday.  They're going to be super fabulous.

I saw this idea on this blog:  Here!

Chinese Squish Dragon - Day 2 - Today we decorated our dragons!  We looked at some pictures to see that they generally have big eyes and lots of whiskers...

Here are a few of our dragons...

This one has big teeth, watch out!

Baking - Moon Cakes - In Chinese culture they celebrate the lunar cycle with moon cakes.  Here is our tasty rendition.  We used jam instead of red bean paste.
The kiddos made a thumbprint, then we filled it with strawberry jam.  
Here is the blog I found the recipe on:  Here!

Real moon cakes are much fancier and have various fillings, like this:


Snow Ice Cream - A family favorite!  We scooped up a bowl of clean snow, sprinkled in some sugar, vanilla and milk.  Stirred and tasted and added a bit more of this or that.  The kiddos wanted it green, so we added that too.It turned out super tasty and very cold.  Brrr!
 
Fireworks - Of course the Chinese celebrate their new year with fireworks.   We created some of our own with glitter glue.  We'll see if they dry by Friday, ha.
 
Guest Speaker - One of the kiddo's family is originally from China, so his Mom came to talk to us about Chinese culture, traditions and to share a story with us.  She also brought red envelopes with Chinese candy and yummy almond cookies for the kiddos to try.  She shared the story of Nian ("year"), the monster who in ancient times would come and eat people and their animals until the people learned how to scare the monster away (the color red and loud noise).

Good Luck Oranges - Toddlers - Chinese culture believes oranges to be good luck, so we made our families a bowl full!

I intended to draw or glue a bowl beneath their oranges, but some how I missed doing that.  Drat.

I saw this idea on this blog:  Here!

Learning Station - Chopstick Stack

Ok, we gave up on the chopsticks and went with tongs, which were still tricky!  The kiddos stacked tall towers and short ones.  Walls and patterns.

Learning Station - Tongs and Blocks

The kiddos moved blocks using the tongs.  Good chance to talk about colors too.

One kiddo decided to load up the egg carton too. 

Learning Station - Chopstick Challenge

The kiddos worked on moving the foam shapes to another bowl.  They tried various tactics, their favorite was to stab the chopstick into the hole of the craft foam.  Ha.

As the kiddos worked, we talked about the colors and shapes they were picking up.  Great fine motor work.

Learning Station - Chinese Writing

The kiddos used a modified Chinese alphabet to write their names in Chinese.

Xx Week

Welcome to our week with the letter Xx.  It should be interesting!

Hot Glued X-Ray - During free play each kiddo had the opportunity to use my low-temperature glue gun to create an x-ray of their hand.  First we traced their hand, then we looked at pictures of x-rayed hands and discovered all the many bones!  Ms. Sara drew lines for the bones, then (if they wanted to) they got to wield the glue gun.  They did great!  And the x-rays turned out fabulous!  We also compared the x-rays to the bones we could feel in our hands.

I tweaked this idea a bit from this blog:  Here!

 

X-Ray Hands - Youngsters - For these kiddos I didn't want to do hot glue, but I still wanted them to have the experience.  So we did the same accept they drew their bones with pastels.

X-Ray Fish - Tetras - The kiddos marveled at this beautiful fish that is see-through!  Especially after looking at our hand bones.

Phase 1:  I cut fish skeletons from cardstock.  The kiddos squirted some Elmer's glue into a baggie, I added a dash of food coloring and the kiddos mixed it.  Then we eased the skeleton in to dry. 

 Drying....

Phase 2:


I saw this idea on this blog:  Here!

X-Ray Fish - Youngsters - We created our own x-ray fish.  Sadly we ran out of time to add eyes and skin. Ha!

X-Ray Fish - Toddlers - Variation on the theme.

X-Ray Hands - Toddlers - The kiddos let me paint their hand to create the "bones" of their x-ray, then we traced around it.  Simple and cute.


Snow Cave - Wahoo!  Mr. Adam decided to build us a mini snow cave, that way we could enjoy the mound of snow while we wait for the next storm.

Treasure Hunting - Today was all about X marks the spot! 
 
Treasure Box - After the kiddos finished the learning station, I had them paint their treasure box.  I used Dial soapboxes for this.  I purposely buy this soap for my family because they come in these fabulous boxes that can be used for so many things!

We needed it to dry before we could do our treasure hunt, so we enlisted the help of a fan.

Maps - The kiddos each got a map of the classroom and a map of the world.  They looked them over and prepped them for the next treasure hunt.
X does mark the spot!  The kiddos made a big X to place where their treasure was hidden.

Let The Hunt Begin - The kiddos at first hid their own treasure box, then they hid each others.  Once the box was hidden, they stamped an X on the map.

Class Treasure Hunt - Back by request.  I hid the class treasure box with a treat inside, stamped an X on the class map and let them find it.  We did this a few times....

Learning Station - X Words

The letter Xx, as you know, is a bit low in the word department.  So we practiced writing words that have an Xx in them.  The kiddos did a wonderful job!

Learning Station - Fill the Carton - Toddlers

The kiddos really liked this one, they did it several times.  Just cotton balls, egg cartons and tongs.

Learning Station - Xs and Os

(Tic Tac Toe not hugs and kisses.) The kiddos did a wonderful job of playing this today.  Most kiddos knew it, and those that didn't know soon were taught by their friends.  Cool!

Cc Week

Welcome to our crazy Cc week!

Eskimo Village - Cold - The kiddos checked out our Eskimo village.  They particularly enjoyed fishing for the villagers.  Apparently I need to make a basked to hold all the fish they catch and a fire to cook them over.  The igloos didn't turn out quite right, I'll have to try them again.  

I got the figurines and canoes from Target, they were ornaments I found on super clearance.

Games - Checkers - Connect 4 - Chutes and Ladders - There are so many Cc games!  

Cookie Monster - Cookies and Cream Ice Cream - Oh yum!  I found this easy recipe.  The kiddos and I whipped it up (literally).  We'll eat it on Wednesday after it's frozen.  We did taste it and it was yummy!

We found this recipe quick, easy and tastey!  It is a bit rich.  Next time I'm going to try it with half and half instead of the heavy whipping cream.  I got this easy recipe on this blog:  Here!

Snack - Chicken Nuggets and Carrots - Yummy Cc snack!  

Clothes Pin People - The kiddos created faces, then I stuck them on a clothes pin.  These little guys can eat and yell and sing!  Oh, and hold things too.  I saw these on this blog:  Here!

 

 

 

Computer Laptop - The kiddos got their own computers today.  They got to decorate them and then they worked on them for a while.  Some kiddos set right to typing, others were pointing out the numbers or letters, and some just enjoyed putting stickers on.  Ha.

 

Catching Snowflakes - We were excited to get snow a bit this week. 

Cereal Munching - The kiddos munched a bit while they worked on their journals.

Journals - Ice Cream Cones and Cinder Cones - You only want to eat one of these! 

Card Making - Kiddos enjoyed stamping cards today.

Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Cookies - On Monday I was asking the kiddos what cookies we should make ... silly me!  This fabulous idea was came from one of the kiddos ... 4 Cs!  

Cookie Making - Delicious work.  I love how everyone must see the mixer at work!  Ha!

Clocks - Telling Time - These kiddos are starting to get clocks figured out.  I love this version with the lift up tabs for help learning the minutes.  

 For the Youngsters, I didn't do the lift the flap, and they painted theirs.

Egg Carton Volcanoes - When a few of the kiddos finished painting their clocks, they still wanted to work on something.  So I grabbed some spare egg cartons and let them go.  As they worked they began creating this fabulous dialogue about these volcanoes they were painting.  It was wonderful.

Games - Colors - Twister - The kiddos enjoyed a limber game today.... 


Gluing Circles - Toddlers - 

The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Toddlers - During snack we watched the book video, then Ms. Sara glued each of the kiddos their own hungry caterpillar.  

Cc is for Cat - Toddlers - The kiddos added all the needed features to their red cat.

Colors - Oil Pastels - I pulled these out to play with colors today.  They are so vibrant and different to work with.  We tried a bit of color mixing but mostly we just drew. 
We also discovered that the type of paper you use makes a difference too.