Farm Animals!!

For our last summer camp this year we learned about farm animals!  

We learned "Little Boy Blue" this week.  We have the various parts of this rhyme printed on little cards which we put in the correct order to help us learn the rhyme.  This gave us a good opportunity to talk about first and last and what was in the middle and what would come next.  Sequencing stories and rhymes or familiar activities is important for children to learn order and figure out what comes next.  

The children also made their own little book of "Little Boy Blue."  They cut and colored and put them in the correct order.

 We also learned the letter "F" for "Farm"!  The all did a great job writing the uppercase and lowercase letter!  These kids were so proud of themselves as they wrote these letters.  I love kids' enthusiasm to learn and improve their abilities!

   We sang "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" and enjoyed making the sounds of the many animals on the farm!  We also made a cute cow craft for one of our projects this week.  

 They had a great time pretending to be cows and chewing on the "grass" in the preschool!  I love children's imaginations!

These cuties decided to make their cows dance to a little instrumental music as they waited for their moms to pick them up! : )

 Working together to put farm puzzles together!

 This book, "Farm Parade!" was so fun to read and pull out the long parade of farm animals together!

 Reading farm animal stories together!  I love when children develop a love for books!  Be sure to take a few minutes each day to read to your child!  They will fall in love with books and learning if  you do!

 This little class played memory match with farm animals!  Memory match is such a good game for these young children to practice remembering where things are and waiting for their turn.

These children had a great time building farm buildings and ponds and whatever else they could think of!

It's always sad to see the fun of summer camps come to an end.  It's hard to believe school starts in just 2 weeks!  Looking forward to another great year!

Transportation Week - Fire Department Field Trip!

We had a fantastic week learning about transportation.  We learned that transportation is how we get from one place to another.  We sorted these various forms of transportation into three groups based on how they travel: air, land, or water.  

  The children enjoyed getting a partner and making a little rowboat together as we sang "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" when we talked about boats as a form of transportation on water.

 The highlight of the week was definitely our field trip to the Fire Department!  All along the way we spotted fire hydrants that the fire fighters use to put out fires.

We also saw a statue of the pioneers that we just learned about last week!

 The firemen were so wonderful to give each class a tour of the fire station, their many different vehicles, and teach us about fire safety.  

These lucky kids got to get inside one of the fire engines!

Some of the classes got to see inside an ambulance too!

 This class was very fortunate to be able to watch a new fire fighter pass off one of his tests as he hauled a large hose to the fire hydrant and successfully got it all hooked up!

 The children got to see what the firemen looked like with all their gear on and hear what they sound like when they breathe through their oxygen mask.  

We also got to see some of the many tools that the fire fighters use when there are emergencies.

One of the special tools they showed us was this thermal imaging camera that they can use during fires.  These children thought that was pretty interesting!

 We are so grateful for the fire fighters and all they do to help keep us safe!  We also enjoyed seeing this amazing statue in front of the fire department made by the same artist who painted our Treasure Tree on the wall of our classroom--Cathy Erdmann!  She creates amazing works or art!

 

 The firemen also talked to us about fire safety.  We practiced STOP, DROP, and ROLL, if our clothes ever catch on fire.  Also, the children learned that each family should have a safe meeting place outside their home if there ever was a fire in their house.   This field trip gives a perfect lead-in to talk about your emergency plan with your family--even your little preschoolers.  I hope you will take the time to talk about this with your own family this week.

Our 3-day/week class worked on a color-by-number picture of a little fireman!  We worked on colors and number recognition and they all enjoyed seeing what their finished picture looked like.

This class had fun making roads and ramps for the cars this week!

Our group coloring project of many forms of transportation!

I love how these kids independently worked so well to create this colorful pattern tower!  Summer camps and preschool help to build strong, healthy social skills that are so very important.

Pioneers!

We had a great week learning about pioneers!  We learned how they traveled on foot, in covered wagons, on boats, and on horses.  I feel it is important to teach children history and help them appreciate all the things they enjoy today and feel a sense of gratitude for those who have come before us.  They were amazed that the pioneers didn't have TVs or ipads or anything like that!   

In one of the books we read, there was a picture of some of the items the pioneers would have had in their covered wagons.  We saw dishes, pots, a butter churn, a quilt, a tea pot, a gun, flour, a spare wheel, etc.  We talked about how the pioneers loaded up their belongings and bought what they would need for their journey.  Because there weren't stores along the way, they made their own food, including butter.  The kids had a blast making their own butter too!  It took lots of teamwork and lots of shaking!

We took turns shaking the jar full of whipping cream and got to see what it looked like part way when it had turned to cream. 

Then, we got to taste it!  It was delicious!  And the children were so excited that they had made it themselves!

 As part of pioneer week, we learned about how the pioneers made quilts and used them to stay warm on their journey.  This "I Spy" quilt was such a bright, colorful, fun way to show the children how people today still use small pieces of fabric to make large quilts.  

We enjoyed playing pioneer games together.  One of those games was "I Spy" which was a great way to practice color recognition, taking turns, teamwork, and having fun together!

 Another pioneer game we played was "Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?"  These kids thought this was such a fun and tricky game!  This would be a great game to play with your family sometime! 

Our 3-day/week class got to make their own quilt.  Instead of sewing our fabric scraps together, we glued them on a colored paper.  Their quilts turned out so colorful and bright!

I love our kitchen and cleaning center.  Many days, the boys are just as interested in it as the girls!  They love to pretend to clean and cook and have picnics too!

Drawing with stencils during centers helps encourage fine motor skills, creativity, and self-confidence.

This week we learned the letters "M", "N", and "Q" as well.  We had a terrific week and hope you had a great Pioneer Day weekend!