Saying goodnight to ants, beating the microwave and science-not magic: FRIDAY N WEEK

Today was the last Friday of January! We had two new Helpers of the Day and a lot of fun together. We sat on the steps to read about Lala and noticed that she never said good night to her dog, but he was always with her.

I snuck this photo while reading to them.

We also noticed that she said goodnight to the ants and there were more than we could count! There was a lot of constructive play and so much more that wasn’t captured by photos.

Double skeleton puzzles.

Read on to learn more about our day:

What color were the paint sticks and crayons today? 

White! Good thing we had beautiful black paper, so the white could show up. We also had star stickers of different colors and patterns. One friend announced that he knew it wasn’t “magic” that the white showed up, it was just science. Brilliant!

Did you use one big piece or lots of little pieces for your mirror ball?

With today being the last Friday of January, we finished our January new year mirror ball art. Children could choose their technique using double sided tape. This foil work evolved into some great foil boats and airplanes as well!

When did you show us more or how your Show and Tell items work?

After snack time. We are practiced telling about it first, giving Ms Kristin directions on how to make things work or answering questions. It’s quite a tricky skill for preschoolers to develop! Here’s our picture that the children helped stage…they know where to find the remote control and who Spider Man is holding.

What two different things did Ms Kristin used to make the letter N? 

Playdough and dry erase markers on play dough mat letter card. Interested friends also worked on writing letters and numbers with a pencil today! I work so hard to make that an exploratory experience rather than a stressful perfection seeking experience. 

This friend was up to the challenge of writing on a tiny piece of paper!

What did we have for snack today? 

Thank you, Theo for heart shaped Nuggets, Nilla wafers and Noodles! It was a warm and yummy snack on this cold, wet day. We beat the microwave by counting to 60…we counted faster than the microwave which means we heard it beep. Heads up: this also evolved into sharing microwave and fire stories with Ms Kristin doing a demonstration of Stop Drop and Roll.

Our Helpers of the Day were busy with snack prep and snack clean up. These tasks are optional and they chose YES! Thank you, families, for choosing us as a place for your children!

A real newborn, reverse Santa visits, scissors at snack and being with the stars: THURSDAY N WEEK

Happy Thursday! We are finishing up N week with more night talk, more number work, more name work and special visitors today. The Puzzle Corner continues to be a popular landing spot along with the loft which this class has come to call “The Treehouse.”

On these cold days when we aren’t outside as much, we have plenty of opportunities for big body work. These children created their own today: Parachute Alley and Skateboard:

Read on to find out more about our day together:

What color paint and crayons were there for our project today? 

White!

Good thing we had beautiful black paper, so the white could show up. We also had star stickers in a variety of colors and patterns. Our photos were glued on which meant that we were with the stars (and comets and galaxies).

Who came to visit us at the end of Show and Tell?

Pastor Shana!

Ms Kristin joked that it was like reverse visiting Santa. As the children were invited to come and say hi to Pastor Shana, many children started reporting on what they got for Christmas. Pastor Shana bring such a loving presence to our classroom whenever they come. 

What two different things did Ms Kristin used to make the letter N? 

Play dough and dry erase markers.

Our kindergarten bound friends also worked on writing names and numbers with a pencil today!

I work so hard to make that an exploratory experience rather than a stressful perfection seeking experience. The standards and expectations for 5-7 year olds has increased so much in the last decades and our little people haven’t changed!

What did we have for snack today? 

Nilla wafers, Nonfat yogurt tubes, Nutella and fresh berries. Thank you, Wilmer! There were stores for everything that were visited quite often. Watch our video to find out why we needed scissors today:

What Show and Tell thing could not go in the basket? 

Lilah‘s newborn baby brother!

These children did a fantastic job of respecting our school plan to not touch the visiting baby and to keep our bodies slow and quiet. We learned about what he eats, how he goes to the bathroom and where he sleeps. We even sang him a sweet night time song…

Then Ms Kristin got the biggest treat and got to hold him since she’s a grown-up.  (Ms Kristin LOVES babies and will hold them anytime she can)

Here are the things that could go in the basket:

We joked that it could have been B Week with all the B things here: brown, bear, Bethel College, baby, ballerina, blanket, blue, batteries, buttons, band…

A hurt bird, 9 exciting things, staying up all night and running through fog: WEDNESDAY N WEEK

Our sweet Wednesday class was together for THE FIRST TIME in 2024 today. We welcomed a little brother who turned three and celebrated another friend turning four! Due to the cold wet weather we were inside all day, but you’ll see how we can take care of our bodies’ needs for movement!

Some exciting moments:

Exciting #1: completing the huge Solar System puzzle:

Exciting #2: moving all the lights from the fireplace to the Tub Table:

Exciting #3: tending to a hurt pet:

Exciting #4: building a tower taller than self…3 stages:

Exciting #5: discovering our second wave board:

Exciting #6 and #7: standing on a chair to make a taller sculpture AND getting a movie of it falling:

Exciting #8: jumping on the pole and sliding down:

Exciting #9 watching the birthday candles change colors

Read on for 5 more questions and answers about today:

What project did you do today?

There were a lot of different things going on at the tables today. We had watercolor painting, alphabet project gluing and some Names and Numbers writing.

Where can you run in the classroom whenever you want?

On the running track! Today we had a lot of runners with one of our youngest in the lead.

In our ongoing talk about nighttime and discussions about it being dark, one friend remarked on fog also making it hard to see. That prompted me holding a white silk scarf for them to run through. Over and over and over!

What ocean thing did we have for snack?

Nori seaweed! This was a first for some children and a favorite for others.

With 2 birthday candles lit, we also had Nuts and Nibbles, (pea)Nut filled M&Ms and birthday cookies along with honey Nut Cheerios. Thank you Max and Malcolm!

What did Ms Kristin bring over for Show and Tell so things could roll or slide?

The wooden board! We had a lizard, cars, cheetahs, helicopters and lego creations move on it. The other things had a smooth place to rest for the picture.

During Journal Time, what did you say you liked to do at night?

The answers varied from sleeping with mama (which inevitably brought a smile) to staying up all night playing.

We ended the day with night time books and Journal Time at the Circle Time rug. The second to last page of our book about Lala shows her reading a book. There were great expressions of recognition at the illustration of “Goodnight Moon”…I didn’t catch it on video, but just before this moment one friend had called out, “Raise your hand if you know this book!”

I say it all the time, we’ve got a school full of future teachers in the making.

A falling fish, saying good night to a rock and playing with fire: TUESDAY N WEEK

As far as I know, there were no slip and fall moments getting at the preschool, even though it was quite slick outside again! We stayed indoors and had fun busy day,

A requested note for her parents.

Today a new friendship was formed at the impromptu Valentine and Brown Paper Cutting Table.

The Tub Table friends had zero adult support in their ability to collectively make or maintain a volcano structure.

I feel like the absolute luckiest to witness the growth of each child in their connection to self and each other. Read on to learn 5 things about today:

How many teachers did you have today? 

Two! Sometimes we have up to eight teachers, but Ms Kristin and Ms Brenda know how to do their job even when it’s the two of them. Grandma Bonnie stayed home with a repair guy because her heater stopped working so we wished her well! It was fun to hear 6 other teacher friends so warmly named: Grandma Bonnie, Pastor Shana, Ms Ashton, Grandpa Kelven, Ms Eliza and Ms Emily. What a rich community!

Where did you go for the snack store today?

To Ms Kristin or Ms Brenda depending on what food was desired with all of us sitting at the table together.  Ms Kristin had the cucumbers, ranch and goldfish. Ms Brenda had the Froot Loops.

Thank you to our Helpers of the Day, Zander and Asher, for helping get snack ready and helping with the clean up time.  We could hear them even when we couldn’t see them!

Show and Tell question: Who did we pretend Everett’s train was a papa to? 

To Wilmer’s more-than-50 mini trains! That papa had a lot of babies!

Here is a picture of our Show and Tell things so you can learn more about these items:

What fell in the Puzzle Corner today? 

Our huge fish art piece!

One friend got RIGHT back to work once he knew there was no problem.

It seems like it was simply a moment of gravity, since there was nobody right by the fish when it fell. Ms Kristin got the fish back up and much more busy work commenced.

Where did we go for Story Time today? 

The focus!

On the steps with our coats and backpacks!

From our big collection of night time books, we read about Lala who wanted to say good night lots of different things before she went to bed. One friend noticed that there were stars in the book just like our alphabet project.

Bonus question for your chid: Do you remember what color fish her Papa caught?

What could you pretend to warm up next to? 

A pretend fireplace!

We made it today out of cardboard, tape, paint and battery lights. The handy thing about this fireplace is, it can move around the room. It even came to Show and Tell with us!

We also added battery lights to the Tub Table then turned off the lights. Because it was overcast it was a little closer to night time!

Classroom lights on.
Classroom lights off.

A chicken on the ceiling, 9 books, eating the letter N and the North Star: MONDAY N WEEK

We had one friend home sick today and some friends home due to the slippery weather conditions. The rest of us stayed warm and cozy inside finishing up work from M week as well as starting on night time things in honor of the letter N. There were number puzzles and the discovery of a missing puzzle piece as well. There were number cookie cutters at the play dough table and lots of negotiating when more friends came to the play dough table. We also had a lot of spontaneous reading today…how handy to have so many adult readers.

Grandpa Norm and a friend discovered there is one missing purple piece.
Finding each other on the Picture Board.
This friend lent out rocks and exchanged them for new rocks most of the morning.
Thank you, Malcolm, for sharing another wave board!

Read on to learn more things about our day…

How many books did Ms Kristin have for Story Time?

Nine! They all showed people, animals or plants doing something at night time. 

How many stars did you put on your alphabet project? 

I also read a story while they worked…it was really a book day!

Most people had one star which we called the North star. Some friends knew where we had more silver stars and added extras. 

This little friend turned that black piece until it matched the glue line. Incredible!

What N things did we eat a snack time today? 

Thanks to Charlie, we had dino chicken nuggets, apples cut into french fry shapes (so we could turn them into the capital letter N) and Nilla wafers! And thank you, Charlie and Drew for helping Grandpa Kelven get snack ready.

N out of apples!
Our Snack Stores were all around the table today with each teacher.

We also did several rounds of family style passing of the Ranch around to the different teachers today. 

During Show and Tell, what was coming out of the train engine? 

Pretend Smoke! We have a lot of other exciting things from Show and Tell…this picture can help your child explain to you what they learned about today:

What flew across the room and then got stuck on the ceiling today? 

One of Henry G’s chicken flingers from Show and Tell! Since most friends were still finishing snack, there was a big audience and a lot of giggling about this today. We waited for awhile to see if it would fall down on its own but it never did so Ms Kristin was a Chicken Rescuer.