Going Fishing!!

The Touch and Feel today was full of magic crystals.  They are actually rocks for a fish tank....but they look magic.....and shine like gems.....so we gave them a fun name which makes them that much more attractive to the kiddos!!!

Last day of the year with Ms. Michele.  She set up fun stations for the kids of all their favorite things....and a few fun new things too.  There were pounding stations, sidewalk chalk, bubbles, Shrek feet for walking, an EZRoller to drive around, and tubes to bend into shapes and letters.  The kids rotated around and took turns at all the activities.  Then, we all moved to Finger Fun.  There were water beads in a large container.  She also had cups, and small buckets, and spoons to help move the beads from one place to another.....and boy are they slippery!!  We will certainly miss Ms. Michele over the summer!  We gave her a card, a TSGI t-shirt, and a pencil holder that the kids made.  Special reminders of us for a special lady!!

Today's story was Nathan's Fishing Trip by Lulu Delacre.  Nathan the elephant and Nicholas Alexander the mouse are preparing for Nathan's first fishing trip. After many unsuccessful attempts to hook a fish, Nathan uses his trunk to good advantage and pulls in a trout. The friends make preparations for supper but find the fish too pretty to eat. After returning it to the lake, the two content themselves with their soggy, capsized peanut butter and cucumber sandwiches.

For art, we made our very own fish out of paper bags.  We colored and decorated the bags first, then we stuffed them with paper to make our fish fat.  Teachers helped to tie yarn around the bag to give our fish a tail.  We added eyes.....and viola.....fish!!  The kids swam all over the classroom.  We learned that when a lot of fish swim together, it's called a "school" of fish.  The kids thought this was especially funny.....we were a "school" AT school!! 

 Lots of favorite songs to end the day.....there are only FIVE days of school left.....everyone, teachers and kids, are counting down to summer!!

A Good Day For Kites

The Touch and Feel this morning was full of Popsicle sticks. The kids counted, sorted, made letters, and played pretend instruments.  Ms. Tiffany and I pulled some small groups to work on a super secret project for Mommies!

Ms. Abby was out sick today, but Ms. Shannon was here in her place.  There were stations set up that all the kids rotated through.  The first station was jumping over hurdles.  Two feet jumping is really hard for our kids, so this was good practice.  The second station was kicking a soccer ball off a tee through the goal.  This was really fun....but the kids quickly learned that chasing the ball and knocking over the goal was way more fun!  The third station was relay races with cones.  The hardest part about this station is waiting your turn to run....but it's getting better.  The last station was jumping over small tubes onto circles.  Again, the task is to practice two feet jumping, but this one was a little more tricky because you had a certain place you were trying to land.

Today's story was Kite Day by Will Hillenbrand.  This book tells about the adventures of Bear and Mole.  On a windy spring day, what do Bear and Mole decide to do? Why, fly a kite, of course! But first they have to build one. They design, measure, and finally construct their kite. With a zoom, zoom, zoom the kite soars up, up, up in the air. But when a storm rumbles in --SNAP!--the kite string breaks! The chase is on as the two friends tear after their kite and find it in a tree, protecting a nest of baby birds from the rain.

After the story, we talked about the things that were important when flying a kite.  You need wind to help lift the kite in the air.....you need string to hold on to the kite.....and the kite needs a tail to help it fly.  If there's no wind.....and we thought that might be the case today.....you can run and make your own wind.

We made small kites for art to help us remember some of the important things.  Kites are usually in the shape of diamonds, so that's the shape we had for our kites.  We used Popsicle sticks for the kite form and construction paper for the diamond. We mounted it all on blue paper (like the sky) and drew white clouds and wind.

THEN....we headed off to the park to test our theory out with real kites!  By some miracle of Mother Nature, just as we arrived at the park, a small wind picked up.  Enough wind that the kites actually started to fly.....without us having to run around.  The kids seemed to enjoy the running around part, but for the teachers.....it was super nice not to have to run in the hot sun!