Today in Early 3’s we talked about butterflies and how they emerge from their chrysalis. The children were very interested in the topic, and I showed them a video of a Monarch butterfly emerging.

Here is a link to the video we watched: http://youtu.be/R5QH3bGF4uU 

We painted butterflies….

Keeping the “insect” theme, we worked on our cutting skills by cutting “grass” to “hide” the bugs on the page.

During group time, we demonstrated how a butterfly needs to struggle as it comes out of its cocoon. We talked about the importance of not helping a butterfly, even if we think it is struggling.

We know it’s different in the summer.  It is time for vacation.  Visits to the lake house, the beach . . . home-improvement projects.  That’s why we offer our special summer programs for our students.   Activity themes that change weekly allow you to come and go as you please over the summer months.  Sign-up for one week or all of them as your child will have the opportunity to become participate in the NEW Greenkids Program on “Salad Science” or “Upcycled Art.”  They may want to learn to paint like Van Gogh in the Wonder Workshops or sing and dance with recording artist Miss Joanie.  Whatever you choose, they are sure to have fun.  Who knows?  They may even learn something along the way.

Click Here for 2014 Registration and Description of Programs

We could not go outside to play…so we brought outside… inside! 🙂

Christmas light color matching activity…

Paper plate wreaths….

Since we could not go outside to play in the snow, I brought the snow in to the children for a snow science day. I laid out five surfaces to put snowballs on so we could see which one would melt the snowball the fastest. I put out a piece of cardboard, a paper towel, a piece of black paper, a plastic tray, and a cookie sheet.

We predicted which surface would melt it the fastest.

I showed the children how snow melts into water by holding a small snowball in my hand then squeezing it to melt it with the warmth of my hand. We watched as the water dripped out.

At the end of the day, we determined that of the five choices… the snow melts fastest on the cooking sheet.

To continue our snow theme, we brought in more snow for the children to paint…

Today we talked about cows and how they are milked. We discussed where we get milk from and how it gets there. I demonstrated how to milk a cow using a glove with water. In small groups they all got the chance to try it for themselves!

Learning to follow step by step directions to draw a cow…

In Early 3’s this week, we began the exciting process of learning to write our names. This is something we will be working on the rest of the year to prepare the children for preschool…and eventually K-Prep. Learning how to write their name by the end of year will give them a head start in preschool or K-Prep and will allow the preschool and K-Prep teachers to focus on writing other words since they will already know how to write their name. Practicing at home will help them expedite this process! Have them practice writing their name in sand or shaving cream…or write it out for them in chalk and have them “paint” over it with water. Every bit of practice will help! We are also teaching them how to grip the pencil correctly. You can help them practice correct grip by breaking crayons into small pieces so that your child HAS to grip the crayon correctly because they are forced to pinch down at the bottom (just like they should on a pencil).

This week we began our Halloween celebration by reading “Go Away Big Green Monster” by Ed Emberley. After we read the story, the children and I looked through the book and step-by-step drew our own big, green monster. We talked about colors, curvy  lines vs. straight lines, and shapes. This was a great interactive reading activity, and the children were very engaged in the whole process.

We also painting “magic” spider webs. I drew webs with white crayon on white paper, and the children had to discover the secret picture by painting over it with black paint.