At the Beach

 Last week our theme was a beach/ocean unit and we did SO many fun activities. This is a theme we could do so much with, so every year we change it up! Pre-K 2 started with a fish graphing activity with colored goldfish, yum!

Of course both classes added sand to our sensory tubs/tables and we had sea shells and sand castle building supplies.

We have a Child Development class from CHHS that visits our school weekly. Here's one of the students getting engaged with our kiddos!

 

Pre-K 1 did a Rainbow Fish morning message. After reading the story, I drew the rainbow fish, then invited the peas to brainstorm how to add scales. They drew some first, then used construction paper scraps to cut scales and glue them on. At the end we added some "shiny" scales with tin foil.

 

Ms. Amy found a fishy poem that both classes used in our journals!

 They drew five fish to go with the poem.

 

Pre-K 1 did a little fishing in class...

 And caught some fish!

 In art, we had an art messy table making pinterest inspired jellyfish.

 These guys are hanging from our ceiling now!

 Another pinterest inspired art activity was sunset paintings. We squished red, orange and yellow paint around on our paper until our heart's content.

 The next day when it was dry we folded it over and painting the bottom for the sandy beach.

 Beautiful sunsets, right? I would relax on some of those beaches!

 

Lastly, we added some silhouettes of  beach balls and a beach umbrella. I love them.

 On Thursday we all wore our shades to school! Here's Ms. Angela with some cool kids in our class sporting their shades. :)

 Ms. Amy also had this awesome starfish craft. She had the peas trace and cut out a starfish shape. After, they used q-tips to spread on glue, then they sprinkled cornflour over them to resemble the texture of real starfish.

 

Here we are making them...

Ms. Amy shared a fun fishing for phonics/numbers game for our literacy and math centers.

 

 At the science table, The Crafty Classroom had some great free shell classification pictures. You can print them here. I brought some shells we have collected from home and we sorted them and identified them. The peas loved this center!

 

 Sometimes finding games that are truly appropriate and fun for preschoolers is a challenge. Either they are way too complex or way too boring. This one is neither, it is a wonderfully creative twist on memory. It is so awesome in fact that it won the Openhiem Best Toy Award. You can check it out here.

 It is easy to teach the peas to do on their own and they love the element of hidden objects inside the game.

 

Next we read this classic:

 We have a literacy bag with manipulatives to retell the story. Everyone worked together to put the fish in a school!

  

 Then we each stamped a fish to make a giant co-operative swimmy!

 

  

On Friday, which was our Splash Day, we had a special snack. We used blocks to crush a small bag of Nilla wafers.

 When it looked like SAND,

 we poured it over vanilla pudding and ate our "Sandy Beaches!" So simple, but they loved it and it helped get our attention on something other than waiting for our splash time.

 

 After splashing, Pre-K 2 had a dance party outside to dry off!

 Friends just hung out and had a great time together.

 Everyone was full of silliness!

 

Pre-K 1 splashed last, and boy were we ready to get wet! They loved every minute of it. Ms. Molly came out and supervised all the classes, the kids showed off for her!

 We decided to have a picnic to dry off. It worked out perfect. It was shady and breezy right outside our classroom, so we just spread out our towels and ate.

 

 Sandwiches, yum!

 

 We had the greatest day ever!!!

 And Ms Angela manned the door while each pea went inside and changed. We had it down like clockwork! It worked out perfectly!

Going Buggy!

This week we learned about bugs....we did a lot of bee activities! Pre-K 2 used bubble wrap to paint a big beehive!

 

Next, they made bees for the hive.

 They marble painted them and added coffee filter wings.

 Here's some of them, super duper cute.

 And here they are on the beehive!

 We had a bee Morning Message during the week...

 Then Pre-K 1 borrowed the bubble wrap and made mini beehives.

 After painting them, we added bees.

 Some peas wanted theirs hung in the tree in our classroom, others took theirs home.

 

 We laced bug lacing cards.

 

 And looked at a 3D bug book!

 We worked on cutting and math...

 and made bug shapes at centers.

 Pre-K 2 journaled about bugs this week.

 Aren't Pre-K drawings precious?

 Pre-K 1 made the butterfly life cycle and practiced our handwriting in the process.

 Ms. Amy had an amazing microscope to look at bugs through.

 

 

 Pre-K 1 did a magnified bug art project. We talked about what bugs look like under the microscope, then drew large versions of what we think we would see.

 They drew them, then painted them.

 Sweetest bugs you have ever seen.

 See?

 Both classes also played in the sensory table with bugs and bug catchers.

 

 

Next, we introduced the peas to the famous "Flight of the Bumblebee" written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. We flew all around the room and played some bumblee games. You can listen to it at home, too. Here's the video on youtube:

And here's the peas very obviously in high motion!!



To wrap up the week Ms. Amy brought supplies to make these adorable ladybug snack crafts:

Along with the snack, there was a math worksheet they filled out counting their chocolate chip "dots" on their ladybugs back.

Here's one finished!

It was a hit, they loved it!



And they were salty and sweet and delicious. Thanks Ms. Amy!

Well, now we're caught up on blog posts. ;) As we move into May we are concentrating more and more on graduation. It's going to be the stinkin' cutest thing you've ever laid eyes on. Have a great week!