Cinco de Mayo

As I was doing the research for a South American culture day in preschool, I came to the fun realization that since we were just eleven short days past Cinco de Mayo I might as well use that as a starting theme for the day. If nothing else, it made the research and fun ideas much easier to come by!

So we started off with a complete blast from my past...tissue paper flowers! I remember making them several times in my childhood and with the bright, fun colors of Mexico they were perfect. The kids had a little trouble with the back and forth fan folding that it required, but they were enthusiastic enough about it that they actually were quite patient as I made my way around the table to help them.

Then they got to try on their ponchos (made from my scrap fabric) and practice some Spanish words while they put together their little flashcard books. I was probably teaching them the Spanish words with a French accent, but I'm hopeful that I didn't ruin anyone's future missionary work with incorrect pronunciations at this age. They really enjoyed learning the new words and trying to roll their "R"s as they went. They caught on quite quickly and actually remembered several of them when I "quizzed" them later.


After their tissue paper flowers were complete, I started a little hair salon where I got to attach all of the flowers to the girls' hair. With the beautiful new hair-dos and the ponchos they were all decked out to do a little impromptu dance to some Spanish music.

I can't believe this year is coming to a close so quickly. It's been wonderful in every way and I'm grateful to all of you for making it so!

Frying Pan Park

After a week learning all about farms and hard work, including the kids grinding their own wheat to make bread, we thought a trip to a real farm would be fun for everyone!

We saw cows, pigs, horses, goats, chickens, ducks, turkeys, and even a peacock! But here, Eden E. is entranced by a ladybug that has come to say, "Hello!"

It's always a tradition to finish up our day at the farm with a ride on the tractor! They took us all around the farm so we could have one more look at all the animals. The kids were particularly interested in the horse stables and the equine jumping courses.

It was a fun day for everyone, but after being out in the hot sun for a few hours, getting back into our cool, air conditioned cars was a welcome respite!

Somewhere over the rainbow...

Since we exploded our volcanoes on Tuesday, instead of waiting until the end of the week. Then on Thursday we learned all about the weather and even got to see a demonstration of the water cycle in action. I was feeling a little lost about what to do on Friday. Finally late on Thursday after hearing, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", I decided rainbows would be the perfect way to end the week. After all rainbows are beautiful, colorful, and a combination of natural phenomenon and weather....what could be better?

So we started off with an estimating activity. The first cup had 20 rainbow-colored Skittles, the last had 80...so the kids were supposed to use the information they were given and try to estimate how many were in the middle glass.

What is your guess? (I'll have the answer in the comment section.)

Then I showed the kids this photo from our trip to the National Zoo last summer (with my sister AnnaLisa). They were completely fascinated by this point and then we did a tally graph to find out how many of them had ever seen a real rainbow. Five of the kids said they had and three said they had not.


Thank goodness for a beautiful sunny April day, because then we headed outside to make our own rainbows! Using these little plastic prisms (from Michael's) the sunlight reflected tiny little rainbows onto their papers. If you click on the above picture you'll be able to see it in much greater detail, and then you should be able to see how perfect those tiny little rainbows really were.

Then using our little mirrors, a bowl of water, and our papers we were able to hold the mirror in the water and reflect wavy, moving rainbows onto our papers. It was a little tricky to get just the right angle, but it was ever so exciting when the rainbow appeared!


Then it was off to make our Fruit Loop rainbows while we listened to some fun rainbow songs from the computer! We talked a lot about the order of the colors in the rainbow and more about how they are formed.

Definitely another fun day in preschool! (Don't forget to check the comments to see how close your guess was.)

Explosive day at preschool!

We had fun learning about volcanoes today! We learned about the earth's crust and the ring of fire and looked at lots of pictures of exploding volcanoes. The kids were all bursting with questions and interesting bits of information that related to volcanoes (kind of). How excited they were when they found out that they got to make their own!

Here they are getting started on building their own volcanoes and arranging tin-foil over the cup and plate.
Then it was on to "decorating" them with rocks, trees, pine cones, and sea shells to resemble Martha's. Too bad I made a defective batch of play dough, so that everyone's but Martha's got to stay metallic.

After finishing our tin and paper volcanoes everyone got to try to eat their own volcano...an overturned waffle cone drizzled with pudding. I thought everyone would be excited by this fun snack, but I don't think anyone was a fan of pudding made with rice milk...so most everyone did not get very far eating them.



Then it was off to "explode" their creations!

Shrieks and laughter accompanied each and every explosion!

Our deck will smell like vinegar for weeks!

How can you beat the expression on Logan's face?

"Uh oh! What happened?" The cup wasn't flush enough with the plate, so it exploded under instead of up.


Everyone showing off their works of art!

What a wonderful group of kids we have!

An Ode to the Boston Tea Party

Today we learned about Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence. We discussed some of the things the American Patriots wanted freedom from, including freedom from taxes on their tea. Back in the day, people refused to buy different goods from England, including tea. So, we're drinking lemonade in rebellion:) I was sure to let the kids know, we are currently on good terms with England, especially after Eden E. commented that she used to live there.

Colonial Dance

Dancing as Thomas Jefferson would. We've got the very complex two circle arrangement going on here!

A True Asian Experience

What a fun week our children had this week at preschool. They started off at our resident musical expert's home learning all about George Frederic Handel, about composing and conducting music, and how to recognize different types of notes on a staff.

George Frederic Handel

Then on Thursday they started learning all about Asia. They learned about some Indian and Japanese customs and got to try creating their own little bit of Japanese calligraphy.
Adam's version of the Japanese kanji for "mountain". There were definitely some more detailed ones done by other children, but this is the only sample here at my house!




Then they got to sample some authentic Japanese food (although they were a little scared of most everything but the plain rice and the candy). The chopsticks were a fun experience for everyone (and they were pretty good at it).



Here are our cute kids all dressed up in their Japanese clothing--

Hapi (pronounced "hoppy") coats for the boys

And kimonos for the girls

Logan showing off a cool karate kick

Thanks to Laura and Martha for making this week at preschool a memorable, fun, and informative experience!