May 30th, 2014

Sacred Heart had never seen so many 1/2 gallon hats before this week!  On Friday, we held our first Western BBQ, complete with pony rides for all.

We had a wild west time!

Afterwards, we all came together (which is not an easy task with how big we're getting!) to share a hamburger/hotdog BBQ.  A special thanks to chef Antonio and sidekick Britney!









This week my class also studied x-rays!  We viewed some pictures of x-rays, viewed some real x-rays...

...and then made some x-rays!















We also built x's
















Later in the week, we created an "x marks the spot" treasure map.

Preschool is no laughing matter.

May 23rd, 2014

W is for Walrus!

This week we continued learning about the letter, Ww.

We visited the walrus exhibit at Sea World last week, so the kids were excited to make their own walruses on Monday.

We also celebrated Watermelon Wednesday!  My students observed the different parts of a watermelon, counted the few seeds found in their slices, and then ate them!

When making our w-watermelons, I would have preferred to glue on actual seeds.  But, the grocer explained that seeded watermelons are very passé these days and generally only seedless are sold in the store.  We still discovered a few seeds, but it wasn't the same. 

For W activities his week, we worked together...

...washed in the water...

...water colored...

...wondered how we got to be so smart...














...and even had a wedding (although maybe not willingly)!













We also wrapped up our Egyptian unit.

We love preschool!!!

May 16th, 2014

This week we got to explore Sea World!  We had an amazing field trip on Wednesday that was so much fun!

With 62 students attending, we really were only all together as a whole group for the 10:30am sea lion & otter show.  We broke up into smaller groups afterwards, but I kept bumping into Sacred Heart clusters the whole time we were there.

We had such a good time and my students excitedly talked about it for the rest of the week.

Back in class, we began a new theme of ancient Egypt.  This is an extraordinarily interesting subject that my students have always loved.

Anyone who has spent time in my classroom knows that I teach with the utmost integrity, using  mathematical clarity and precise historical accuracy.  Therefore, with this week's theme, we made sure to listen to Steve Martin's King Tut and The Bangles Walk Like an Egyptian.

We also examined "The Blue Hippo", a sculpture that is now at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.  We made our own blue hippos after discussing their diet of river plants along The Nile (which is sketched on to their bodies).

It's difficult to find preschool reading material on ancient Egypt.  So, a couple of years ago, I created a 1-10 counting story of my own on PowerPoint.  

One blue hippo made very small

Two Egyptian gods thought to be watching over all

Three tapestries woven with stories to be told

Four treasures of King Tut, all made of gold
Five tall pyramids, including The Great Sphinx
Six Eyes of Horus: Look to see if one blinks...

After a few days of learning about some of the artifacts, the students painted their favorites.

"My favorite is King Tut's gold chair.  I wish I had a gold chair... I would sit on it and eat goldfish crackers."

Me too, Henry.

Mostly, however, we enjoyed walking like an Egyptian.

Meanwhile, in Ms. Rebecca's class, her students worked together creating their own pieces of art.

This week we've also been dealing with the replacement of sewer lines in our alley.  While annoying to us, this has been one of the highlights of the week for our students.

We love preschool!

May 8th, 2014

"Thank you for making me a smart cookie!"

It was a week of celebrations!  Catching me by surprise, it was teacher's appreciation week and the whole staff was lavished with flowers, cookies (see cookie-filled jar that reads, "thank you for making me a smart cookie") and coffee!  

It was a wonderful treat and we all thank our families so much!

On Wednesday, we had a beautiful Mother's Day muffin breakfast.

There were so many who joined us, I ran out of room!

In preparation, we all made our Mother's Day cards.  My students made these...

...Miss Gabriella's students made these...


















...Miss Kim's class made these...














...and Ms. Rebecca's class made these!

For our regular curriculum, we also made our V-vases...

...and worked hard cutting out our v-vegetables.

We vacuumed, too!

Thank you, everyone, for my birthday well-wishes, cards, gifts, and tremendous show of love.  Sacred Heart is truly a special place!

...and I'm off to San Francisco!  I'll see everyone on Monday after my weekend gettaway!

May 2nd, 2014

This week we were introduced to the letter U.  Although it was a bit of a stretch (even for me), I loved tying insects and our letter of the week together.  So, we made our U-underground with lots and lots of bugs.

We also created a dirt and bug sensory bin that was a big hit!














This week our science center became a mini entomology laboratory.  We had ladybugs, caterpillars, crickets, numerous roly-polys, and - while maybe they're not insects - we even had snails and a daddy-longleg spider.  However, much to the children's disappointment, we never found a stink bug.  After learning that they smell like dirty socks, shield (stink) bugs became a hot topic in my classroom.

We also held an experiment Tuesday and Wednesday to help discover why spiders don't get caught up in their own sticky webs.  We first created a "web" using yarn and contact paper.  The students each observed how their fingers stick to the paper, just like an insect getting caught in the spider's web.  But, a spider has oily legs that allow it to glide across without getting caught itself.  We added oil (or Aquafor) to our fingertips and compared the difference when feeling the contact paper. 

Totally unrelated, we also made our u-umbrellas...

...and finger-painted.  First we practiced writing the letter U.  Then, we squished the paint in our hands.

We're just too cool for school.