George Washington Preschool Lesson

When the kids arrived, I had them all gather at the table and start sorting coins. I have a big jar of coins that I dumped in a bowl and had them stack according to size/kind. Then they counted the coins they had in their stacks.

After circle time I asked them if they knew who is the current president of the United States. Several piped up with President Monson!!! At least their Church knowledge is strong :)

After I explained that I was asking about the president of the country or land we live in, they all gave me blank stares. They had no idea (not that I expected them to at this age). So, we went over to the U.S. map and talked about where we live (VA), and how all the states together is called the U.S.A., and that there's a president, named Pres. Obama, over this country. Then we proceeded to talk about the FIRST president - George Washington. They were happy to hear he was from our same state. I realized that I take for granted that they know more than they do (my son definitely included). When I was explaining that Washington was in the Army, none of them knew what the Army was or what it did. Gavin said that his dad is in the Army :)

So, it was a good learning experience for all of us. They were really good and paid close attention. I showed them a number of pictures on the internet of Colonial times and G.W. Crossing the Delaware, etc. After talking about the Colonial days, we thought we'd better have a treat - Corn Cakes!

Everyone got a chance to put in one of the ingredients for the corn cakes, and then mix it in. They're all very good helpers.
Gavin was very dismayed at the egg he cracked on the table by accident. He was trying to open up the crack in the egg, but put a bit too much pressure on the shell and it smashed in his hand - along with the egg. He wasn't too happy about me taking the picture, but he recovered quickly.
More mixing...
It was hard to wait turns, but they all waited very patiently.
I'm not sure how the batter stayed in the bowl when it was Daniel's turn, but it did!

Next we talked about ways we honor G. Washington (we looked up pictures on the internet and in a book called "Our Washington D.C.") - the Washington Monument, which they all recognized, Washington D.C., his picture on the dollar bill and quarter, Mount Rushmore, etc.

Then we all felt the need to wear cool hats like George did when he was in the Army (sort of like the hat in "George Washington Crossing the Delaware").
They started cutting stars - or the circle shape around the star - and it was too frustrating for Dan. He put his head down in defeat. His preconceived picture in his head of how perfect the circle should be didn't match the reality of how well he could cut it.
Busy cutters...
If you don't yet have a three-cornered hat, you should at least have a tiara.
The glitter mess at the end was truly amazing. Who knew two small jars of glitter could spread so fast? The kids still sometimes call them "germs". Everyone did a great job and worked very hard on their hats.

Some of the kids asked Simone how she got her circles so "round". She explained that you have to go very slowly and carefully. Good advice!

The favorite part of the day! They're always chomping at the bit to get to lunch - even after we ate corn cakes with honey butter!

Here are the kids with their George Washington hats...

Maylie wasn't so sure about getting in the shot, so I snapped one as she made a sneaky exit.

N is for Nose

We had a great time today at preschool learning about how our noses are good for smelling things and breathing.

I put 7 different Mr. Potato Head noses in the counting box and we talked about how noses come in all shapes and sizes.

We then got to use our noses while we mixed up Peppermint Play Dough. The kids had a great time mixing in the green color. (As a side note to all of you parents who let your kids play with play dough on the couch or on your shag carpets, just be careful to only let them play with it on the table because it does have highly staining green food coloring in it.)

The kids had several different methods of mixing their dough:

The Squisher

The Roller

The Mountain Maker

The Sculpter

The Plopper

The Smasher

Then we went on to a game called "Guess the Smells."

I have to admit that Ellie has a seriously good sniffer. She was able to pick out the majority of the mystery scents. Gavin was always the first to second Ellie's correct guesses. Maylie decided she was done with sniffing after a few rounds. And Daniel's response to every smell was, "Smells yummy!"

There were some good smells (like cinnamon, vanilla, perfume, and peanut butter):

(This was peppermint extract - a good smell. Check out the master sniffer at work!)

And some not so good smells, like rubbing alcohol.

It was funny to hear the kids describe vinegar as "It smells like easter eggs!"

I searched high and low for some scratch 'n sniff stickers but couldn't find any, so I got some scented markers and we colored our own pages of smelly items. However, I think our sniffers were a bit overloaded by the time we broke out the markers, so don't worry if your child comes home with a picture of a green apple that smells like a pine tree and vice versa!

And finally we ended off the day with an online reading of the Story of Ferdinand which is about a flower-sniffing peace-loving bull in Spain.

Five Senses: Sense of Touch

Man, I really should have typed this up last week when it was still fresh on my mind.  Now we've had more than 3-feet of snow and an entire week of snow days to interfere with my memory.  Sadly, I didn't even take as many pictures as usual either to help me jog my memory.

Near as I can remember, we started off by discussing the five senses.  I would tell them the part of their body they used and they would guess what the sense was.  Of course, they were all pretty good at it, although it was pretty humorous to hear that they all thought that talking was the sense their mouth was used for.  :)

Then we read a couple of random books and noticed people using their five senses in the stories.  The kids really liked this activity and I think that pointing out how you use your senses in every day life is a great way to reinforce these concepts.  

After we talked a little about their senses, we started focusing in on their sense of touch.  

First we laughed at the counting box that looked really silly with seven socks hanging out of it.  After we counted the socks, each person picked a sock and reached their hand inside without looking to try to guess what was inside.   We went around the circle and had each person use descriptive terms to describe their items (ex. smooth, soft, round, etc) and then guess what they thought it was.    Most of  them had a pretty good idea.    

Next we went on a touching scavenger hunt (no pictures).  I made a list of some descriptive terms like bumpy, smooth, hard, soft, scratchy, hot, cold, rough, sticky, etc. and then we went around the house together searching for things that fit the description.  When we found something the kids would take turns crossing it off my list.  

Then we did an art project that focused on textures and touch.  I provided the kids with a variety of materials like sand paper, cotton balls, bumpy paper, and tissue paper and let the kids use their imaginations to create their own pictures.  

The kids really enjoyed the unstructured time with scissors and glue and went to town creating a tactile masterpiece.  

The kids were pretty meticulous with their work and spent a good half an hour on this project.  

Later on we worked on our pages for the Five Senses Book which you will get to see in a few weeks(no pictures either).  

It was a fun way to kick off learning about the five senses and I think the kids will really enjoy delving into the rest of the senses in more detail over the next few weeks.  I, for one, am really looking forward to our Krispy Kreme trip!  :)  

Fun with Shadows on Groundhog's Day!

Today at preschool we learned all about Groundhog's Day and shadows.  None of the kids seemed very familiar with the story of Groundhog's Day, so I started off at the beginning  by showing a picture of a real groundhog.

Most of them thought it was a beaver, but quickly grew excited as I told them all about groundhogs.  We learned about how they like to burrow under the ground and on Groundhog's Day pop their heads up to see if they can see their shadows.

Then we colored and cut out our own groundhog hats.  It was interesting to me to see how detail oriented all the boys were in their coloring while the girls were much quicker.  They were all a little intimidated by the cutting, but did a great job themselves. 

We also worked on our Groundhog Day books (while the boys finished their hats), to give them some handwriting practice.   

 
After everyone was finished, we put on our groundhog hats and went outside to see if we could see our shadows...

 

BUT it was way more fun to sled for a while first...

until our hands got cold and people got sad...

  

so we hurried up to check for our shadows before we got even colder.  It was a semi-cloudy day, so our shadows were light, but they were definitely there.  Six more weeks of winter!  The kids didn't seem to mind a bit about the extra winter as they skipped up and down the driveway watching their shadows skip with them. 

  

Rachel was particularly excited by the skipping up and down the driveway activity. 

  

Then we went inside and took turns crushing some Oreos into some fake dirt. 

  

Then we used our imaginations and placed our cookie groundhogs into our cupcake burrow with snowy frosting and Oreo dirt on top for the coolest preschool snack ever...or at least this week.  :)  

  

It was a stretch for their imaginations, but they were as thrilled as can be with the fun snack. 

  

After our freezing cold experience with barely noticeable shadows outside, we eagerly grabbed our flashlights and headed to the warm confines of our bathroom to have more fun with shadows.  We tried to make animal shapes and took note of the fact that an object has to be in front of the light in order to make a shadow. 

  

After that, we headed out to the living room for a quick game of "Beaver, beaver, groundhog", which happens to be exactly like, "Duck, duck, goose".   We had to institute a rule in the middle that each person had to pick someone of the opposite gender, so we didn't get stuck in too much of a rut.  They, of course, had a great time and burned off some more energy! 

  

Last thing before lunch we put our cutting skills to use once again and created these little groundhog burrows.  Now you see them....

Now you don't!

  

Then the kids spontaneously named their little groundhogs and started playing pretend with them.
 

It was quite cute to see how enamored they were with them...

  

and to see their imagination shining through.  Cute kids! 

During lunch time we did a little more reading practice and made sure we used our manners, since they seemed to have a hard time with that at Simone's house last week.  They did great!

It was another fun day at preschool!