April 30- May 11

Wow, I need to catch up on the blogging!!  The past few weeks here at Elm Park have been fun and educational.  We learned about the letters Y and Z and continued on our themes of life cycles and gardens.  We've monitored our plant growth daily and learned what it takes to grow a plant.

We've learned about all of the creatures of the garden, both good ones and pests.  The children learned about butterflies, bees, moles, rabbits, and crows.  We discussed which plants grow as roots (carrots, turnips, potatoes, radishes) and which ones grow above ground (and on vines).  We also discussed the difference between fruit and veggies and the children grouped foods.

The children wrote the letters Y and Z in rainbow writing, in snack foods, and on white boards.  The older children continued to read their books, 'The Plant', 'Spring Weather Book', and 'What do they find?'

writing the letter Z in goldfish

The kids played many games with fruits and veggies (a deductive reasoning guessing game, matching games, feed the crow, & dominoes).  They also played 'mole math' and made a bunny basket and filled it with veggies that they made.   They made a butterfly picture too. 

Last week we focused on making Mother's Day cards and bracelets.  I hope you all enjoyed your lovely cards!!

Please welcome our new student Tyreek (and his mother Miharu).  Tyreek is 4 years old and will be with us until the fall when he will move on to PEPP.

Tyreek

Happy Birthday to Rowan who turned 4 years old last week!!

Rowan

I am keeping many art projects for our Art Exhibition on May 25th.  If you hear about projects but don't see them coming home, this is why.  Please join us on May 25th at 6 PM as we celebrate our little artists!

April 23-27

Grady built a snowman from play doh

Kids making a triangle



Kids making a circle



Happy Birthday to Sydney

Rowan snoozing

Sydney and Abby

Last week at Elm Park Preschool we continued the theme of gardens and garden creatures.  We also continued talking about life cycles.  The kids played a veggie matching game, counted vegetables, and played veggie dominos.  The letter of the week was y, we wrote the letter several times throughout the week, found y words, and found the letter in a sentence.

We completed "Jack and the Beanstalk" on the storyboard, which was a nice activity after planting beans in the garden.  The highlight of the week was digging up potatoes in the garden with the children, bringing them inside, cleaning them, then eating them (I microwaved to cook).  The kids loved to see the process from start to finish and everyone (except one child) ate and loved our fresh snack.  We planted more potatoes and beans in the garden and are checking them daily.

The kids learned to identify all parts of the flower and made flower headbands and leaves for their hands.  They can name the parts of the flower- stem, roots, leaves, and flower.  They love to pull weeds and observe the roots during play time outside (I'm sure Father Gary loves it too!)  We continued to discuss the butterfly life cycle and the children painted a butterfly picture.  I also brought in a preying mantis egg casing and we discussed the birth of the preying mantis.  I brought in pictures of an egg casing that we hatched at home.  The children made a handprint tree.