Our Country!

Last week was spent talking about "Our Country".  I will make no apologies for being a "Born in the USA; Pledge of Allegiance Saying; Star Spangle Banner Singing; Red, White and Blue Wearing; Flag Flying; Bible Carrying; All American Girl"!  So with that being said . . . let's talk about MY country!

No week would be complete without talking about a couple of my favorite presidents.  Here our a couple of our George Washingtons -

and here are a couple of good 'ole Honest Abraham Lincolns!

No "Our Country" week would be complete without making an American flag.  I think our class did a wonderful job with their flags.

There is a little special surprise about the stars that I wanted to share with you.  Our letter of the week was "U" so we used some very small cocktail umbrellas to paint on our flags!

FUN!

In honor of "U" week we spent our "Fabulous Fun Friday" doing unusual things.  First we painted an umbrella with unusual objects - no paint brushes were allowed!

Everyone had so much and the end results were very unusual!

This week cooking activity turned out to be very unusual to say the least!  We made ugly cookies!  Everyone  added several different colors of food coloring to their vanilla icing . . .

and stirred!

And stirred!

Finally we spread our ugly icing onto our cookies

and enjoyed!

For our weekly science experiment we headed outside.  We are having some unusually warm weather right now, so we just couldn't stay inside!  We did a fun science experiment with baking soda, vinegar and a plastic bag!  Put the baking soda into a bag  -

 Add a little vinegar -

 AND then WATCH!

POP goes the bag!

I've got a riddle for you.  Do you know how to tell if it was a good day at school?  Look at the teacher, if she smells like vinegar and has paint and baking soda ALL OVER HER, it was a good day!

Thanks for visiting with us.  I hope you got a few good ideas to do with your class and I hope you come back again to check in on us!

LaLaLaLaLa It is the Letter "L"

Since Valentine's Day was on Tuesday this year we had 3 glorious day to spend talking about the lovely letter "L"!  Our Wednesday art activity took a lot of patience and fine motor skills, but it turned out to be amazing.  First we needed to cut some strips of brown paper for the lion's mane.

I drew a large circle on piece of yellow paper and each child added the eyes and a nose.  Next, the children glued on the lion's mane.

The end results were unique and so very cute!

We also spend the ENTIRE day roaring like a lion and talking about this fascinating creature.  I found some very interesting facts at Zoo Ville USA and Lions  These are two terrific websites!

Thursday is ALWAYS jammed packed with "extra" activities (we have Chapel and Spanish classes each Thursday) so our art activity usually has to be quick AND fun (it always has to be fun!).  This week we talked about lizards!  I found some very interesting lizards facts over at Lizards .  Be careful if you click the link, you could be there for HOURS!  Our lizards were not exactly anatomically correct, but they were a huge hit with the entire class!

We just some very small lids to make the dots on the lizards.  It was fun!

Since the beginning of the week was filled with talk of Valentine's and parties, I knew I had to do something VERY special for our "Fabulous Fun Friday".  I sent a note home asking everyone to bring a flashlight to school on Friday.  Hmmmm . . . let the fun begin!  For our art project, we each made a small square with clear contact paper and tissue paper.

Of course it was great fun shining our flashlights through the tissue paper and looking at all the different colors.

We headed to the kitchen for our weekly cooking unit.  This week we were a little more simple than usual, we made an "L" cookie.

Cute, fun, simple and VERY yummy!

It was a good thing that it didn't take very long to make and eat our cookies because our science experiments lasted a LOT longer than I had expected!  Our first experiment started with everyone grabbing a partner and  filling a big clear plastic container with water.  (NOTE:  Our containers are actually the lids from old CD containers.)  Next, we added a little food coloring - 

BUT, we did NOT stir them!  Ahhhhhhh!  Now, let's turn off the lights and look at them with our flashlights!

Cool, huh?  We can't stop now!  Let's add another drop, or two, of a different color food coloring!

I loved hearing everyone talk about what they were seeing.  My favorite was, "It looks like a jelly fish!".  I  do believe it does!

Next we headed to our BIG Spanish/Music room for some light games.  First we played our "Color Game".  This time however, we turned the lights out and everyone had to find the color with their flashlights!  FUN!!!! After a while everyone was getting a little TOO wild so we had to take a quick break.  We all laid down on the floor and pointed our flightlights straight UP!

We all just laid there for a while making shapes and letters with the lights.  It was an amazing day!

Thanks for visiting with us!  I hope you come back soon!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Let me start my post by saying upfront that I am married to the most understanding man in the universe (and NO, I'm not saying this because he might read my blog).  I think every husband of a preschool teacher must be part saint.  My sweet Bill has not thrown away a bottle cap or empty toilet tissue/paper towel roll in years.  He has actually brought GIANT leaves home from family reunions just so I could take them to school.  During the summer months he patiently puts up with my "piles of treasures" that I am saving to take to school in September.  After all these years I do believe he looks at the world a little differently.  But, during the month of  February, I feel very sorry for him.  We aren't one of those "valentine" couples.  It is not that we don't love and adore each other, but come on, I don't need him to buy me candy (which I can't/shouldn't eat) or flowers (I'm not a cut flower girl, they just die) just because it is February 14th.  I feel sorry for him because even if we WERE "that" couple, how in the world could he compete with all we do at school?  Come on now, my class has been talking about Valentine's Day and making hearts and valentines for the last week like crazy.  I literally sat in the floor last week and cut out over 100 hearts in different shapes and colors!  And the gifts, OH MY!  Preschool teachers are truly the most loved people in the world. I am always showered with the sweetest gifts and notes on Valentine's Day.  I do believe that Valentine's Day is the best day to be a preschool teacher.  So, to my sweet Bill, I love you and I know you love me!  Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine Boxes

I can't believe that the day BEFORE Valentine's Day I had HALF of my class out!  Of course I don't want anyone to be sick but we had super fun stuff planned for today and so many people missed it :(
Hopefully, everyone can get their Valentine boxes finished before our party tomorrow but I could not wait to share a few of them today!

Our Snake!

Our University of Alabama "Elephant"

Our University of Florida "Gator"

Our Pink Princess Pig

Our Auburn University "Tiger"

 Aren't they wonderful!!!  I hope to add some more tomorrow (she types keeping her fingers crossed!).

You Know You're a Teacher When . . .

I'm loving this linky party!  I can relate with every single one of them!  Here is my contribution -

Head on over Kindergarten Lifestyle and link up!