Sammy the SQUARE Snowman

I am fortunate to have some amazing parents this year.  Now mind you, I've had great parents before and I truly love each and everyone of them.  This year's group seem to "get me" when it comes to my obsession for "treasures" (I say "treasures" most people say junk).  Anyway, one of my Dads works for a farm equipment supplier.  He told me at the beginning of school that if I was ever out near his shop to stop by.  Well, on Wednesday of last week I did just that.  The first thing I saw when I walked in were these HUGE boxes.  Hmmmm . . . what in the world could I do with them. . . . .  I asked him if they were getting rid of them and he said "of course, who would want these big old things?"  Uhhhh . . . me!  It took some doing but meet "Sammy, the Square Snowman"!

He almost reaches our ceiling.  This is one really big snowman!  Oh and that big white ball next to Sammy, that's our "world's largest snowball".  I love "S" Week!
Thanks to Lee at Advanced Mowers in Bessemer, Alabama!  We love your boxes!

Our Class Snowman!

Here he is, our 2011-12 Class Snowman

Isn't he spectacular?!?!?!  We haven't named him yet but we had so much fun stuffing him with old newspaper and making him "extra fat".  We all worked together as a team and made snowballs.  As soon as we had a giant pile of snowballs we started stuffing him.  AND, don't you just love the snowy background?  That is some wrapping paper that I found on sale after Christmas.  I only paid $0.50 for it!  It was a steal!  Oh, and by the way, it is "S" week, in case you couldn't tell! ;0)

Winter Fun

Starting back to school after the Christmas holidays is usually not very easy.  But it can be especially rough for preschoolers!  This year, my class was the exception!! YEAH!  Everyone walked right in to our classroom just like they do everyday.  Well, okay, it was a little (A LOT) more chatty, but that is a good thing.  I love starting a new calendar year with new things!  I personally get bored very easily so I like to bring new things into our classroom.  This week I introduced a "PASSWORD" of the day.  I put it right on the inside of our door, near the light switch.

(Edited on Jan. 13, 2012 to add picture)

This week's word was "snowball".  Each time we left our room the students told me our "password".  We even asked visitors to read our special word.  It worked beautifully!  By the end of Friday, one of the boys showed me "our secret password" in a book!  This will definitely be a new addition to my classroom each year.

Our letter this week was "W" and of course we talked about winter.  But there are so many fun "W" words and we wanted to enjoyed them all.  We did the "wacky walk" everywhere we went.  We also tried to whisper, but to be honest, it didn't work.  Whistling was difficult but we did give it a good try.  During our circle time instead of raising your hand if you knew an answer or wanted to ask a question, we waved three fingers in the air like a "W".  All in all we all thought "W" was wonderful!

One of my "treasures" (as I call them)  that my son made me years (and years) ago is a popsicle stick snowflake.  It is one of those sweet little ornaments that I hang on my Christmas tree each year.  I took the original Christmas ornament idea and changed it just a little.  Ours is a snowflake magnet that Mom and Dad can put on their refrigerator or bulletin board AND we added a little shimmer to it.  Here is how we did it - first, we glued our popsicle sticks together using wood glue.  This allows it to be a little sturdier.  I can't tell you how many times I glued my son's back together before I figured out to use wood glue.  Next, we painted out sticks with a "magical" combination of white glue and white paint.

I loved telling everyone to use a lot of paint!  It got very messy, but the end results were so worth it!  Next, we added the shimmer - rock salt!  I know some people would probably use glitter but the rock salt has an amazing effect.

We usually do this activity on Friday because it takes time for this to dry.  On Monday I will give it a little spray of sealer (you can also use regular aerosol hair spray) and attached the magnets.  Here is a picture of last year's snowflake (I will update with our new ones on Monday).

Aren't they wonderful?

One of our Moms was kind enough to give us a can of "DIY snow".  All you do is add water and you get a substance that looks like snow.

It was fun and probably would have been more fun except there was only a small amount and we had 20 children!  Hmm. . . . what to do?  I know, make your own snow!  And that is just what we did!  I bought some bars of good 'ole Ivory Snow soap.

Cut each bar into about four pieces.  HERE COMES THE COOL PART!  We put it in the microwave for 20 seconds (watch it carefully, each microwave is different) and . . . .

That's right SNOW!

It is a little hot when it first 

comes out of the microwave 

so be careful!

ALSO, be careful and 

DO NOT get this in your eyes - 

it is soap and will burn!

Everyone had so much fun playing with it.  

We stayed in our kitchen area for AN HOUR!  Yes, this activity held the attention of 20 3-year olds for an hour!  The end results were rather messy

but really worth it!

I had one more little trick up my sleeve for "W" week - a snowball fight with a twist of course.  Each child got a piece of paper with either a color, a number, or a shape written on it.

Everyone read their paper and wadded them up into balls.

I bet you know what came next!  That's right - SNOWBALL FIGHT!  Everyone threw snowballs at each other until I yelled STOP.  Then while everyone was catching their breath, we took turns reading the word on the snowballs.  We ended up having so many rounds of the snowball fight we almost missed our playground time.  It really was FUN!

It was a wonderful week!  I can't wait for next week, it is "S" week and we will be talking about SNOW.  It gets a little tricky trying to do a unit on snow when you live in Alabama, but I hope you will stop back by and see how we do it!

Winter Window

I have this incredible urge to start singing, "walking in a winter wonderland", but I won't!  Remember, I only sing to preschoolers!  Anyway, we started back to school today and I must admit, it was the BEST first day back ever.  Everyone was so happy to be back at school, yes, even ME.  I wanted to do something extra special and WOW we did!  It is our "W" week and we are talking about WINTER, hmmm . . . . let's see . . . . oh, I know, a Wonderful Winter Window!   I found this lovely little object at a New Year's Eve party last weekend.  They were just going to be thrown in the garbage, so I rescued two of them.

As soon as everyone arrived I painted their hand brown for the tree.  

I didn't use a lot of paint (for ONCE) so that it would quickly dry.  Sure enough, by the time the last of the handprints were done, the first were dry.  Next, we needed snow!  Everyone cut out their own snowy ground.  

We used lots and lots of glue (of course!) and glued down the snow.  We discovered that the more glue you used, the bumpier the paper would be, and the more it looks like real snow.

Next came the fun part.  Remember that funny looking table decoration??? Well, we dipped it in white paint and started whacking our paper!  Everyone had their own technique, some were very gentle, while others really enjoyed whacking the paper! :0)

Instant snow!  

I mounted it on a large piece of black paper and added the window panes.

What a wonderful way to start talking about the letter "W" and Winter!  Everyone agreed, this is going to be a WONDERFUL WEEK!  

Merry Christmas Eve!

Since my house is VERY quiet again this year and all my gifts are safely wrapped under the tree, I have nothing to do (okay, I could clean, but we all know I don't WANT too).  I have been busy catching up on one of my favorite blogs Dr. Jean.  I always love her wonderful ideas and links, but this one has to be my favorite.  Preschool Christmas Story  It isn't MY class, but after seeing it you will all probably understand why preschool teachers do what they do!

MERRY CHRISTMAS 

from 

Mrs. Karen's Class!

Let's Talk About Christmas!

Our Class Christmas Tree

Christmas is a wonderful time of year for most people.  But if you are one of the lucky people who teach pre-school, you know it is more than just wonderful, it is truly magical!  My class has had almost a month of fun, fun and more fun.  Along the way we talked about the TRUE meaning of Christmas and the letters "J", "B" and "N".  "Hold on to your sleigh bells people, this is going to get crazy" . . . . 


We started our fun with the letter "J".  The entire week we jumped and jiggled our way to and from all our different activities.  And of course we sang "Jingle Bells" every chance we got.  Our fun "J" art was perfect.  The weather had just started to turn cold so we got out our jackets!

I loved watching the children as they each picked out their favorite colors.  Can you see the little buttons?  Our sweet director ordered us these wonderful buttons.  They came in all different colors and shapes.  It was a wonderful way to review our shapes and colors!

We worked on a fun sorting activity this week too.  I have a large, no make that HUGE supply of scrapbook paper.  I love to scrapbook and have a hard time throwing away any scrap of paper, no matter what the size.  Well this week we put all those scraps to good use.  Everyone picked out their favorite rectangle pieces paper and put them in order, starting with the smallest.  We ended up with a little star on top and a brown square at the bottom.  A perfect Christmas tree!

With this next art work we switched gears a little and started talking about patterns.  My class loves to look for patterns.  They all get so excited when they realize things have a pattern on them.  This next art project was perfect!  First, we cut out some wonderful little strips of red paper.

 Next we carefully glued the strips to our plain white candy cane.

The final results were AMAZING!

The little poem reads:

Look at a CANDY CANE, what do you see? 

Stripes that are RED like the BLOOD shed for me! 

WHITE for my Savior, Who's sinless and pure! 

"J" is for JESUS, My Lord that's for sure! 

Turn it around and a staff you will see --- 

Jesus, my SHEPHERD, Is coming for me!

This was the perfect art project for the letter "J", don't you agree?????

One of my favorite "J" words is Jello,

so of course we had to make some.  We headed down to the kitchen for a little cooking/science fun!  I knew that we wouldn't have enough time to make Jello the old fashion way, instead we did the speed-set method and it was so fun.  

Besides, who doesn't just love to eat Jello?!?
I have a Christmas ornament that my son made for me when he was little. I loved it so much that I do it every year with my class. We start with a little green circle cut from poster board. Everyone covers the circle with puzzle pieces.

I love doing this project because I always tell the children to "make sure the ugly side shows" (the ugly side is easier to paint!).  Everyone has so much fun!  Finally, all the circles are covered and we let it dry overnight.

After they dry we paint them a lovely Christmas green and add a few beads and ribbons. A perfect Christmas ornament!

The following week was by far "my favorite".  I love the letter "B", and I love Christmas - let the fun begin!  "B" week has always been my favorite because I love so many "B" words.  This year we added a few more "favorite" "B" words and now I love it even more!


Our "B" science experiment was a huge success.  We made The Bouncing Polymer Ball.  Here is how to do it.  

*    Label one cup 'Borax Solution' and the other cup 'Ball Mixture'.

*    Pour 2 tablespoons warm water and 1/2 teaspoon borax powder into the cup  labeled 'Borax Solution'. Stir the mixture to dissolve the borax. Add food coloring, if desired.

*   Pour 1 tablespoon of glue into the cup labeled 'Ball Mixture'. Add 1/2 teaspoon of the borax solution you just made and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. Do not stir. Allow the ingredients to interact on their own for 10-15 seconds and then stir them together to fully mix. Once the mixture becomes impossible to stir, take it out of the cup and start molding the ball with your hands.

*   The ball will start out sticky and messy, but will solidify as you knead it.

*   Once the ball is less sticky, go ahead and bounce it!

*   You can store your plastic ball in a sealed ziploc bag when you are finished playing with it.

*   Don't eat the materials used to make the ball or the ball itself. Wash your work area, utensils, and hands when you have completed this activity. 

This is very fun BUT it is MUCH MORE FUN if you have all the ingredients measured out ahead of time.

 Some of our hands turned blue, but we didn't mind.  The results are so worth it!

Another one of our science experiments for the letter "B" was Baked Cotton Balls!  I had never tried it but it turned out to be SUPER fun and SUPER amazing.    OH, and one more thing - SUPER MESSY!

 Sorry, this is the only picture I have.  

I really meant it when I said messy!

While we waited on our cotton balls to come out of the oven, we played around with blowing bubbles.  But, not the normal way, oh no, we did it the Mrs. Karen way!  WOW!
We used square containers . . .

We used a circle container . . .

There was even a rectangle container  . . . 

Now, that was FUN!

Since we always make our own wrapping paper to wrap up our parent gifts, I decided why not incorporate the letter "B" into our activity.  We used some blue balloons and WOW!
Some started off with the green paint . . . .

Others used the red paint . . . .

Then we swapped . . . 

NICE!  But we weren't finished . . . . next, we dipped a baseball into some gold paint, put it in a box and bounced it around.  

The end results were beautiful!

After we wrapped up our presents 

we added this little note so that our parents would know how we made our paper.

Now that I have shown you our wrapping paper, let me show you our present to our parents.  First, the boys dressed up like shepherds and the girls dressed up like angels.  We took their pictures by the big Nativity scene in one of the upper hallways.

Everyone painted their own Nativity frame and added a star.  

AHHHHH . . . the perfect Christmas ornament!

One of our four-year old classes made real apple sauce cinnamon ornaments.  The entire hall smelled so good.  I've done gingerbread men/ladies with my class before but I wanted to do something different this year - I think I nailed it!  First we painted our gingerbread man/lady with plain brown paint (yawn!).  Next we sprinkled on some real cinnamon!  We mixed up our very own puffy paint icing . . . 

I put the homemade puffy paint into some old dishwashing detergent bottles and everyone got to squeeze on a face, some buttons and cute little icing . . . 

He/She was very fragile, CUTE, but fragile!

I have a small confession to make, "I am addicted to Pinterest!"  I have gotten some amazing ideas off there and here is one of my favorites - 

I must give TOTAL credit for this to Simply Cindy.  I change it around a little but I can't even start to tell you the wonderful comments I received.  Besides being absolutely BEAUTIFUL, it was also a great fine motor skill activity for us.  Of course it all started with the child's handprint.  I added the star with some glitter paint and everyone filled it in with sequins!

Now of course we need some sand for the camels to ride on.  (I'm not sure if you can see, but the children are painting with some old make-up sponges that I found.)

 Here comes the real sand!  I put it in an old cinnamon bottle and . . . .

 SHAKE, SHAKE SHAKE!

WOW, let's look at it again!

Personally, I think I saved our last activity for the very end.  Each month we save one piece of artwork to be highlighted at our end of the year art show.  This year I wanted something different.  We started with some painters tape that I taped down in somewhat of a Christmas tree shape.

Everyone painted the entire sheet red and green. 

Next, we used different sized circle objects dipped in gold paint.   

(This child is using an old plastic communion cup!)

The end results are completely amazing . . . 

Some of the paper tore when I removed the painter's tape, but after it dried completely and we laminated them, no one can tell!

We ended up by having a wonderful Christmas party on Wednesday and our big Christmas concert on Thursday.  This is one VERY tired teacher signing off.  See you in 2012!

MERRY CHRISTMAS 

and 

A Very HAPPY NEW YEAR!