Today, we read a new story, Rabbits & Raindrops. After the reading, we had a discussion about shelter and why shelters are important for living things. We talked about our own shelters, houses and apartments. And we talked about different kinds of shelters that animals might use. We watched a fun, quick video about why birds build nests and then we made nests and placed them around the classroom. The preschoolers had to think about what places would be safe and away from harm in our classroom. For example, a nest on a table wouldn't be a great spot because we have to eat on that table. But a nest placed on top of a shelf might be a safe choice because no one would play on top of a shelf.
Last Tuesday, Preschool and Kindergarten celebrated by having our annual Thanksgiving program. It was so much fun! Thank you to all family members who came to watch!
You will see a lot of pictures in the next few weeks that show our preschoolers exploring wind and water. Not only are they having fun, they are learning a lot about our environment.
After our first reading of Gilberto and the Wind, our preschoolers tried some different activities using items from the book. Students tried to make a pillowcase puff up like the wind does to a pillowcase in the book. They tried out pinwheels. And, they used clothespins to hang up their own shirts. Some students then tried to hang up other things using the clothespins. They discovered that the clothespins can hold a lot of weight. If the wind in Gilberto and the Wind was trying to pull the clothes off of the clothesline, the wind would have to be very strong.
Last week, we began building our pinata. Every day during small group, a new group added a layer to our pinata. Then, earlier this week, we decorated our pinata. It looked great!
Finally, today was the day that we broke it open! It was so much fun! Both preschool classes had a lot of fun and got a lot of candy.
To celebrate Dia de los Muertos today, we enjoyed some delicious bread and colored some beautiful skulls. You can see them hanging up in our hallway, by our classroom door. Then, before going outside for recess, we stopped to take a look at the altar down by the school entrance. I highly recommend taking the time to check it out. It's beautiful!
Mrs. Marx is a preschool teacher at Epiphany Catholic Elementary School in Chicago, IL.