Happy Friday! 

 If you are looking for a place to worship this weekend, you are always welcome here at Zion!  We have services Saturday evening at 5:00 and Sunday morning at 8:00, 9:30, and 11:00.  See you there! 

This morning some friends practiced quantifying as we played dominoes together!

Our morning was filled with collaboration!  Some friends worked together in the block center.

Some friends worked together in the writing center.  

Megan and Claire worked together on a collaborative art piece! 

Some friends worked together in the sand table! 

During morning meeting we played a letter matching Go Fish game to help our friends match upper and lower case letters! 

During small group time, we extended the collaboration between our friends as they worked together to make block bodies based on each other's bodies.  They also practiced comparing and measuring! 

"I need a small block because there is just a small bit here.  No not that block, it's too big." 

The friends also practiced writing in their journals.  Writing success is different for each child.

Success for some children is sounding out words independently.

Success for some children is copying and recognizing the letters on the word strips.

Success for some children is using correct pressure while making marks in the journal. 

We also extended our learning from the Go Fish game during morning meeting.  Small group time is a great time to differentiate instruction to meet the needs of the diverse learners in our awesome class!  

Success for some children is recognizing a few upper case letters.

Success for other children is matching the upper and lower case letters.

Success for other children is matching the upper and lower case letter to the corresponding sound. 

Due to the strong winds and wet playground outside, we had indoor recess today

.  Our friends love the various obstacle courses during indoor recess! This is a great way to use our large motor skills while still inside. 

The friends wanted Mrs. Mudd and I to try the obstacle course too.  Please enjoy the pictures of our turn on the obstacle course!  :)  

During Jesus time, we acted out the story of Jesus washing the disciples feet.  We learned that just like Jesus washed the dirt off of the disciples feet, by His death and resurrection, He also washes away our sins!  

Although it was stormy outside, we had a great day in preschool!

We love the Wiki Sticks!  What a great opportunity to engage in creative thinking and enhance fine motor skills! 

Some of the friends played hockey this morning!  I was so proud of the way they worked together and kept their hockey sticks on the ground!  

We had fun cooking up a storm (no pun intended :) ) in the dramatic play center this morning!  This is a great opportunity to engage children's interest in our food projects! 

Sammie and Violet created their own balance beam!  Balancing skills are important large motor skills! 

Check out what the article Developing and Cultivating Skills Through Sensory Play has to say about opportunities for cognitive development through sensory play.  

"The most obvious cognitive skills sharpened by sensory play are problem solving and decision making; simply present a child with a problem and various materials with which to find a solution, and you can almost see the connections their brains are making. A few examples from Angie Dorrell include deciding how to build a boat that will float, how to turn whipped cream green, or how to make sand stick together. In addition, children can build math skills such as comparing size (big versus small), counting and one-to-one correspondence (matching numbers to objects), timing (does water or oil move faster?), matching (same sizes and shapes), and sorting and classifying (buttons, beans or rice), and science skills such as cause and effect (what happens when I add water to sand?), gravity (water slides down a funnel, not up) and states of matter (ice melts). Without realizing it, children grow into amateur scientists by making predictions and observations, and even develop analysis skills."  (Check out the rest of the article HERE.) 

We took our storm artwork from yesterday and decided to cut clouds out of it! 

There was enough break in the rain today for us to make it to chapel-yay!  Mrs. Berhnardt, the first grade teacher here at Zion, lead us today!  She told us the story of Jesus healing the blind man.  Just like Jesus healed the blind man, Jesus heals us from all of our sins!  Thank you Jesus! 

During morning meeting we compared a cucumber and some carrots.  We were only able to use our sense of sight as we compared the two, so we decided to investigate the two further during small group time.  

We used all of our senses to compare the carrots and cucumbers.  We expanded our vocabulary as we described how they smelled, looked, tasted, and felt.  

"The cucumber feels slimy!"

"The cucumber feels wet!" 

"The carrot feels hard!"

"The carrot is crunchy!"

"The cucumber smells sweet."

"I can't really smell the carrots." 

The children also practiced recognizing numbers, counting, and one to one correspondence today.  Each child drew a number and jumped that many times.  Because the activity involves movement, the children are more likely to retain the information.  

The children did a still life drawing of the vegetables as well!  Still life drawings are a great way to help young children focus on the finer details of things that are meaningful in their everyday world.

We then put our senses to the test!  I blindfolded the friends and they used their sense of touch and taste to decide if they were holding a carrot a cucumber. 

 We had fun during indoor recess with an obstacle course in the hallway! 

We also had fun dancing in both classrooms!