Stick Caterpillar

For real. They do exist. I had to google it. We were enjoying playground time yesterday and I happened to look down and noticed a stick that was moving. Hmm. That's interesting. So I looked closer and realized that the stick was alive - it was a caterpillar. I pointed it out to a few children and that was the focus of the rest of outside time. It was pretty fascinating and cool to watch (and hold).

This gal seems to enjoy nature-y things.
She held this caterpillar most of the outside time.
She may have stuck it in her pocket to take it home?

Very curious about this critter.
It did go to the bathroom on her hand.

The stick caterpillar was crawling down the side of the
stump. Impressive. It didn't fall off.
 The children got
the biggest kick in watching it move.

This is a picture of a stick caterpillar from google.

Greenhouse - TR

Round #2 of the greenhouse visit. Today it was a little cooler outside (and cloudy) so it wasn't so hot in the greenhouse. The children were really fascinated with all of the plants that were growing in there.

Look at all these plants!

Roots are pretty interesting to observe.

A look at the big college mower!

Just about her size! :) 

Greenhouse - MWF

Right next to the preschool playground is the college's greenhouse. Since we have been learning about seeds and plants, we visited it today. Earlier this year they replaced the roof of the greenhouse to let more light in; this was very a fascinating thing to watch (they were doing this project while we were out on the playground one day). This gave Ms. Larisa an idea  -- learn about seeds and plants and take a look inside the greenhouse. And the children were intrigued with one of the worker's names - Woody. 

The groundskeeper, Mr. Woody (no joke!) does a wonderful job keeping the campus (and our playground) looking like a park! He talked to us about what a greenhouse does, how he plants seeds, and allowed us to put the seeds we planted in the greenhouse too. We will watch them over the next few weeks and hopefully something will grow!!!

It was hot and bright in there!

There were lots of plants growing. 

Here are the roots of a plant.

And then....Woody showed us the college's lawn mower.
It is a Hustler made at Excel. He even let us take turns
sitting on the seat. (No joy rides though....)


That's one big mower!

A Wedding

This week the house area was transformed into a flower shop. It started out as a flower shop and then....a wedding. Chairs were lined up and flowers were spread out for decorations. Children got dressed up, cameras and phones were gathered. There was a lot of work to get everything prepared for this big event. Finally, it came to the big moment. 2 children pretended to marry and hugged, and there you have it. At least it wasn't an expensive affair. They didn't even feed the guests cake, which a disappointed attendee told me later. :( 

It is so delightful teaching young children  -- you just never know what will happen in a day.

The guests are ready for the wedding!

A big hug!
The groom has a dapper hat I'd say. 

Oh Happy Day!

Rain

We have been learning about a lot of science concepts this week-- rain, evaporation, and condensation. Pretty abstract concepts, but we read an excellent book that put these concepts in simple terms so the children could understand. The sensory table has been a science experiment this week. First we added water, then shaving cream ("clouds"), and lastly, drops of liquid watercolor (rain). What will happen to the colors? The "rain" slowly pushes through the clouds and colors the water underneath. The group on Tuesday added lots of colors to the shaving cream - it kind of looked like a rainbow. (Ms. Rachel and Ms. Naomi came up with this idea and implemented it). 

This is the book we read during circle.
The author did a wonderful job
of explaining how rain and hail forms in simple terms.
The book is a little lengthy, but we shortened
it. It is a library book. 

Family Night 2017!

What a great Family Night! It was so good to see everyone there. I always enjoy meeting and talking with families and seeing the children excited and all dressed up. It was a great evening. 

Here are a few pictures from the evening.

FOOD! It is always tasty. 

Itsy Bitsy Spider - Medium Sized Spider and
GREAT BIG spider! 

"Oh, we're from Sunny Kansas!"

MWF's turn.

"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" 

Looking for their pictures in the slide show!

I didn't get a picture of the grand finale song...my camera's battery decided to quit!

S-S-S-Scavenger Hunt

Every Wednesday we have the children think of words that begin with whatever letter we are learning about that week. The teacher writes them on the white board at circle. They get pretty creative with coming up with words. Last week, the letter was S and the children were on a roll.....then, we went outside on a S-S-S scavenger hunt and looked for things that start with S. And here is what they came up with...

Sun

Sky

Sign

Sidewalk

Stick

Sand

Swing

School

Stop sign

Stairs

Stauffer

Squirrel

Skate board

Smith center

Storage

Soccer field

South

Snail

Slug

Softball

Shade

Street