Happy snowy day!  

Check out what we did today!

For world cancer day, we wore gold-the color representing childhood cancer- to show our support for our friend Drew!  

Some friends played with the dominoes this morning.  Dominoes are a great way to practice quantifying! 

First we worked to sort the dominoes. 

Then we matched them to make a line! 

We practiced quantifying, counting, matching, and sorting! These are all foundational math skills! 

Oh no!  Devereux checked the radar and saw a tornado coming our way! 

What is significant about the pictures below is that our whole class engaged together to dramatic play.  Each child offered a suggestion to build and add to the play. 

Kenneth Ginsburg, stating the position of the American Academy of Pediatrics, 

says that “play is essential to development because it contributes to the cognitive, 

physical, social, and emotional well-being of children and youth” (Ginsburg, January 

2007, p. 182).

News Anchors Sammie and Jack confirmed the tornado and advised everyone to "duck!" and ""Go to the basement!" 

The friends worked together to make a storm chaser car to keep everyone safe. 

The car was equipped with computers and radar maps to check the tornado.

We pulled out some cardboard for the storm chaser car.

News Anchor Allison double checked the radar and gave us the all clear. 

The friends wanted to look at real storm chaser cars during morning meeting.  We made observations about the car, and discussed how we could make our own storm chaser car! 

Our friends also had many questions about tornados.  We watched a video clip of a tornado, and we discussed tornado safety.  

During small groups we worked with the Handwriting Without Tears wood pieces.  These wood pieces allow the children to discuss the lines that are needed to form the letters in a kinesthetic way. 

"I need a long straight line line and two small curves to make a B." 

"I need two big curves to make an O." 

Preschool teachers are often asked how we differentiate the learning between the children's abilities.  

Success for some children is using the paper guides to create letters.

Success for other children is independently creating the letters.

Success for other children is creating the letter and attaching the sound.

Still success for other children is sounding out words.

We value each child's success and encourage the children to continue to learn and grow!    

Some friends looked at the tubes on the picture of the storm chaser car and used toilet paper tubes to create it for our car.  Great thinking! 

Throughout the year we have been working on breaking words into smaller syllables.  We now clap out the words as we break them into smaller syllables! 

 We went through some of the words and sorted them by how many syllables each word had. 

 We made an informal graph with the pictures.  As we made the graph, we also discussed less, more, and equal.  The friends explored subtraction and addition concepts as we discussed how to make the informal graph equal. 

Indoor recess! 

During Jesus time we learned the story of the Good Samaritan.  We discussed who our neighbor is and how we should treat our neighbor.  We practiced this with a thumbs up/down game about how to treat our neighbor.  We learned that Jesus is the best neighbor!  He died and rose again to save us from our sins! 

Welcome back!  A huge thank you to everyone who was able to make it out to church Saturday evening.  The children did a fantastic job singing!  

This morning Blake created a recipe of Chicken and Rice! 

Just take some rice.  Sprinkle chicken on the top.  Stir three times, and it's done!  

Sounds like an easy dinner to me! 

Blake taught Isaac how to make chicken and rice too! 

Some friends chose to write in the writing center this morning.  

Other friends explored spatial relationships as they built in the blocks and with the magna tiles.  

As we continue in our Weather Project we are taking some time to investigate tornados.  The friends have had a lot of experience with tornados recently, and they are interested in how tornados work. 

Each friend had a chance to tell me a story about a time he/she was in a tornado and things he/she already knows about tornados.  We ask these questions to be sure that we attach new information to children's prior experiences and information.  This will help the children retain the new information and make the learning more meaningful for them! 

We simulated a tornado together with a waterbottle, soap, and water.  

During small group time, we each had a chance to make a tornado.  We then discussed what we noticed about making a tornado. 

"You gotta spin it to make a tornado."

"You have to use wind so it turns around in circles."

"It's swirly!"

"You have to spin it around and around like a real tornado!" 

At the end of the exploration, the children asked questions about tornados.  We will use these questions to guide our further learning!

"How do they (the clouds) keep spinning?"

"Does snow go in a tornado?"

Engaging children in such investigations fosters the love of learning! 

We also created in the magna tiles! 

And practiced making letters with Ms. Lindsay! 

At the end of small group time, the friends asked to see a real tornado.  We looked at pictures of real tornados on the SMARTboard. 

One of the friends asked the question, "How did someone take that picture?  They could get hurt!"  We discussed how it is very important to stay safe in a tornado.  We learned that some people chase tornados for their job!

As we discussed storm chasers, we looked at a picture of a storm chaser car that helps the storm chasers to stay safe.  

Some friends had questions about that too. 

"How do the storm chasers stay safe?"

"Did a storm chaser car get stuck in a tornado?" 

We had fun at indoor recess! 

During Jesus time we learned about the story of the Good Samaritan. We discussed ways that we, like the Good Samaritan, can help one another.  We learned God's word from 1 John 4:19, "We love because He first loved us." We sang a song about that too! We love because Jesus showed us the greatest example of love on the cross.  He died and rose again to save us from our sins!