Last Day of School

Hey, Farah, I wanted to get this posted. I don't know when you were going to do it, but you can do one too! You've got pics for this day that I don't have. So anyhoo, here it goes:

We met at the Library because Cyrus had a talent show Farah wanted to see. The library was awesome and we all plan on signing up for the summer book reading program. We invited Jair to come to our end of the school year party. When we got their, we set up while the kids played outside. When Farah was ready she had the kids make Granola bars! They were sooooooo yummy. There was no corn syrup in it. It was all healthy, except for the marshmallows and the m&m's. Then while we waited to that to be set up we got going on our craft. I had the kids paint a border for a picture of themselves and then glue the picture on the page. Then I had them pick shells out to go around the pictures. They turned out great. I hope we can all find frames for the pics and hang them on our walls at home. The picture below is Lorien's last day of school picture. Darius has one too, but Farah will have to post that one.

May 22nd

My last day teaching! WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Since we had to go to the library, we had our normal morning routine and then did a couple pages I had printed out. We finished talking about short vowel sounds. I gave them some pages for homework. Then we talked about the air around us. How do we know it's there? Darius said because the leaves blow. We made parachutes. The "man" or "woman" was an empty spool of thread. We tied fabric to it and threw them high into the air. The kids had fun throwing them up in the air. Their parachutes didn't catch as soon as I was hoping for, but they worked well enough. Then we went to the library, and as always, they had a blast!

May 20th

We started off with our Hello song and the Pledge of Allegiance. Then we did the calendar. Talked about weather a little bit. Then we talked about the TH sounds some more and thought of more words to write on the big TH poster. I gave them a packet to complete. It was mainly about Vowels. We had talked about them on Monday and I was surprized at how well they remembered the letters. They worked on the short sounds of A, E, I , and O. The last page was assigned as homework. Then we looked at the egg. It was awesome! The kids held it in their hands. The egg shell was completely gone. It was all rubbery. We wanted to see how far this rubbery surface went, so I asked Darius to break it. So he put it on the ground and stomped on it. It squirted everywhere! So it was a very thin "cooked" part. The science/cooking part of preschool was to learn about solar cooking. We got a bowl, covered it with Aluminum foil and put marshmallows in it. While they were cooking, Lorien and Darius wrote the steps of solar cooking down on paper. Their handwritting has certainly improved since the beginning. For snack time we got our food out. (Lorien shared with Darius since his mom was with Cyrus.) They got 1/2 an apple each, one cheese stick. We talked about fractions. I instructed them to cut the cheese in half. Then in 4ths, then in 8ths and then in 16ths. They had a lot of fun cutting. I think Darius even cut his in to 32nds. I helped them cut their apples into 4ths and then 8ths.

In The End

Spring Break was in April. We took a two week vacation. Lorien was sick so we hadn't done preschool the two weeks before that. When we got back, Lorien and I got sick with the flu. Then we had to go back out to UT for my dad's wedding. Finally life settled and we could have somewhat of a real preschool. Then Farah told me the end was fast approaching, like within a week! I was very sad, but we pressed forward. I did the week of 5-18 to 5-22
and Farah did 5-27 and 5-29.

I forgot my camera for May 18th, but we talked about the TH sound. We did our normal routine. We sat in a circle and sang our opening song and said the Pledge of Allegiance, and completed the calendar for the month of May up to that point. The words of the day were The, This, That, Three. I brought activity pages from a book Farah let me borrow. They wrote the words down and read the sentence that they had to put the word into. Then I cut paper into shapes and I did a pattern and asked Lorien and Darius to finish the pattern. They also had a turn at doing a pattern and having me complete it. They got a bit too complicated for me! Our Science project was with an egg and Vinegar. We talked about bones and what they are made of and how important they are to us. I asked them what could make our bones go away? They said things like oil. I told them that those liquids are very soft. Then I had them smell the Vinegar. Ew yuk! It was strong. So I asked if it could disolve (make dissapear) bone. They didn't think so. So I put an egg in the cup. We talked about the shell being made of Calcium and that's what our bones are made out of. Then they poured the Vinegar into the cup. We made our guesses, or hypothesis, about what would happen to the egg. Darius said it would crack, Lorien said nothing would happen to it, and I said the shell would dissapear. Darius kept wanting to check the egg, but I told him it would take two days for it to be ready. Then we read two TH books.

Gap in Photos

After Feb 4th I only have a few pictures in March. So let me explain Feb first. We had a Valentines party. Farah taught the kids to do If You're Happy and You Know it, but instead of clap your hands she had them say and do things like, blow a kiss, and give a hug. It was very sweet. Lorien and Darius also had made "plaster" items to give to someone special that day. So Lorien invited her Grandma Stevens and gave her the presant and Darius invited his Auntie Shana to give his to. Lorien also invited her Aunt Jair to come too since Jaden would love the activities. The kids got to decorate sugar cookies, dance and hand out candy. They really did enjoy themselves.

After that, I just can't remember what happened in Feb. Lorien probably got sick again.

In March when Lorien was sick I had a lesson about the old saying "In like a Lion out like a Lamb." We talked about wheather and what it had been like at the beginning of March and what we thought it would be at the end. Then Lorien painted the head of a lion onto a paper plate. She liked that craft a lot, so it's hanging on our living room wall still.

A long Time Ago. . .

So a while ago we stopped posting. I don't know if it was because we got too busy, or that we were all getting sick and it was a very long while inbetween classes. I'm just going to share some tidbits on the months of Feb-March. It will probably take a couple posts to get it done, but then you'll be filled in and won't have to worry about our sudden hault in progress. There are other pictures that come before these ones that I forgot about. I'll put them in the next post. ~Anne~

On 1-26 the kids were illustrators of a book they created. They sewed the pages together themselves and glued the words in order, then drew pictures to go with the words.

On 1-28 Lorien was sick, so we stayed home. We worked on the color wheel and drew a picture from the colors we had mixed. We only used the primary colors. Darius did this project as well and his color wheel is still hanging on his living room wall.We also did an expreiment to see if we could split the colors of a pen up on a paper towel in a cup of water. I forget what that's called. Anyone?

On 2-4 Lorien was still sick. We stayed home and studied colors made by light. We talked about the rainbow and then drew one.

Jan 16th 2009 Winter

Wow! Darius and Lorien found something!

Are you sure?!?

Since Dinosaur bones are so old, Darius has to use a brush to get the last bits of sand off.

Yeah! They found a Dinosaur!

Just having fun!

Circle Time: We're at the park! So it has been absolutely gorgeous here lately. So we decided to go to the park. We sang our "Good Morning" song. Then we talked about what day it was. We didn't have a calendar, so we just had to remember. Then we said our Pledge of Allegiance without a flag. And I even had a new word for them, Permission. It was a very important word for them to learn.

Free Craft: So since we were at the park I didn't have any coloring things with us. So I brought puzzles for them to put together. There was an Arthur puzzle and a Winnie the Pooh puzzle. Both puzzles had 24 pieces. We did really well putting them both together. It takes a lot of team work to get a puzzle of that size put together.

History: I also brought a few pages of a wooded book Lorien has. It has wooden dinosaur magnets on them with their names. We talked about how Paleontologists dig in the ground and find bones. Then they put them together and sometimes they turn out to be dinosaurs! They liked that idea. So we dug in the sand, we pretended to be paleontologists, and found a dinosaur there! We think it was a Velociraptor. But I asked Lorien and Darius a couple questions about that type of work, and they decided that it takes a long time, is dirty and hard work. We can now appreciate the work Paleontologists do.

Reading: I didn't have any Dinosaur books so we read, The Incredible Painting of Feliz Clousseau by Jon Agee, and The Warrior and the Wise Man by David Wisniewski, which was chosen for it's beautiful pictures since I didn't have another book that had a "p" word in it's title.

Snack and Closing: Since we were at the park we sat on a bench to eat, and Lorien and Darius got to play, mostly on the swings.

Jan 14th 2009

Today we had soooo much fun!

Circle time: We started by singing our "Good Morning Song" then finding the date and saying the days of the week in English and Spanish. Then we went outside and said the Pledge of Allegiance. Our Word of the Day was patient. I asked them if they already knew what it meant and Lorien said "It means to hold your horses!" How cute was that! So I gave them the right deffinition. The Spanish word was Pensar which means To Think. It was much harder to get them to remember that one. They still remember Paloma. Then I had them go get their show and tell items. Darius showed us his Pen, it was huge! Lorien showed us a pacifier we found in the car. We forgot to bring her puppy! She told us that she used to suck on a pacifier and Vanessa just plays with pacifiers.

Reading and Writing: They read and wrote the words, Peel, Pen, Pest, Pet, Petal, Pig, and Pink. And for homework I gave them, Plant, Play, Plus, Polar, Pray and Press. Lorien did it as soon as we got home. I forgot to ask Darius if he had finished his!

Free Art: I got out the paints, paper, siccors, glue and markers. Lorien wanted to paint (I left her painting at Farah's house!) Darius made a baby and mommy picture that he cut out and glued together (which was left on the back of the sink!). Then I cut out some Pentagons and we talked about themf or a while. I asked them if they would like to make a pentagon neighborhood. Lorien dicided she wanted to, but Darius wanted to look at the Hermies and play the balance thingy (Digger). Lorien made one of her houses her Grandma's and one her Cousin Jaden's house.

Math: I gathered up the square and triangle magna blocks and asked them to each make piles of certain numbers and we sould count them together. Some equations include, 4 plus 3, 9 plus 7, 2 plus 3, 5 plus 5, and so on. Darius loved it! Lorien thought it would be hard until she realized we were just counting them all up after making the piles. She hasn't grasped the concept of counting in her head. Darius can count in his head quite proficiently.

Craft: We made puppets today! I brought socks for them and they picked out hair (yarn) and eyes (buttons). I sewed them on for them and glued in cardboard for the mouth. They tried them out.

Science: I went online and opened an e-mail I had recieved with pictures from National Geographic. We talked about all the cool things on our Planet Earth. The animals, the trees, the Ocean (Especially the Pacific) and the Volcanoes. There was so much more we could have talked about! We'll talk more about it when we get into Solar Systems! Yeah!

Reading: Phantom of the Prairie, Year of the Black-footed Ferret by Jonathan London Illustrated by Barbara Bash (Had some hard truths that could have been a little disturbing, but went over the kids heads, that or they understand that animals kill each other in the wilderness to eat!), Widget and the Puppy by Lyn Rossiter McFarland pictures by Jim McFarland, The Bears' Picnic by Stan and Jan Berenstain.

Closing Circle: We had our puppet show. We didn't plan anything so Darius' puppet decided to eat Lorien's puppet. They told us their names and had fun just goofing off on the "stage". We'll have to explore puppet shows in more detail later. . .

Jan 12th 2009

Opening: Sing "Good Morning", Pledge of Allegiance, Calendar, Letter of the Week: P, Word of the Day: Pledge, Spanish Word of the Day: Paloma (Dove).

History: Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard. He was a pirate who was greatly feared. He would put Hemp in his beard and light the ends on fire so it looked like his beard was smoking. He did this during battle to intimidate his enemies.

English: Reading and Writing the following words, Pack, Pal, Pan, Pant, Park, Party, Pass, Pasta. Study poetry and try to write our own.

Science: Learn the different parts of a plant, Leaf, Petal, Node, Stem, Axil, Branch, Flower Stalk.

Reading:Pie Rats Ahoy! by Richard Scarry and Edward and the Pirates by David McPhail

Snack and Closing circle time: Play balance thingy, (we called it a foot puzzle). Play the piano. Sing favorite songs.

We had a lot of fun today! They always have a good time reading and writing the words. Lorien and Darius were especially impressed with how Blackbeard put rope in his beard and lit it on fire to scare people! We talked about poems and rhyming words. Then I had a bunch of words cut out that they could paste onto paper to make a "poem". It was pretty hard. So we ended up just making sentences. I thought it was a great activity that helped them read as well as think about how the words should fit together. Then I gave them each a paper with a diagram of a flower with the names of different parts of a plant written on them. I read a few of them allowed, then we went outside to find plants and the parts we had talked about. Darius found a part that we hadn't discussed, it was a bud. Since it isn't Spring yet we couldn't identify any flower petals. The balance thingy is called the Digger. It has five sides with different colors on each side and you play it like Simon Says. They each got a turn to play it. Of course it was the highlight of their day! I also showed them the piano and taught them how to make a thunder storm on it. Lorien was already accustomed to the piano and helped with the thunder. I showed Darius how to do the rain, but he didn't want to participate. After that Lorien pretended she was a Photographer and took Pictures of Darius, who tried not to be in the pictures.

Friday, January 9th

Today was our short class day (Library day), so we spent most of the time painting our sculptures. Their works of art turned out great! We are going to bring in some gift wrap so we can have them wrap them up for gifts. At the library, they had a great time as our favorite storyteller was back after her knee surgery!
Afterwards the childen had fun perusing the childrens books, and of course Darius checked out a Pokemon book & Lorien looked at the special Princess book held behind the librarian's desk.

Wednesday, January 7th

Letter of the week “0”
Word of the day: Obliterate (English)
Oreja (Spanish)
9:30-9:45 Opening Circle time. Opening song (“Good Morning/Buenos Dias”). Calendar time. Words of the day. Sharing time.
9:45-10:15 Center exploration: Letter of the week- coloring/writing letter. “I can read/write”. Making octagons.
10:15-11:00 Special project: Making & Baking (clay)
11:00-11:15 Story time
11:15-11:50 Wash hands/Snack time/Free Play
11:50-12:00 Closing circle time

I need to find my camera so I can add the pics from this day!
We sure had a lot of fun today- lots to do! After our usual routine, we made our own home made clay out of flour, water & salt. The chilren made their own sculptures & I baked them to dry them out. Making the clay was not easy! It took a lot of muscle, time and endurance! Thank goodness Darius & Lorien work out!

Monday, January 5th 2009!

Happy Birthday, Lorien!

Lorien, cutting her octopus tenticles

Darius, showing us his tenticles

Cyrus, our star student of the day :)

The crew, looking at the separationg of lighter &heavier liquids

Letter of the week “0”
Word of the day: Obsolete (English)
Oso (Spanish)
9:30-9:45 Opening Circle time. Opening song (“Good Morning/Buenos Dias”). Calendar time. New Year! Resolutions. Words of the day.
9:45-10:15 Center exploration: Letter of the week- coloring/writing letter. “I can read/write”. Octopus mini-windsock
10:15-11:00 Special project: Level of Liquids
11:00-11:15 Story time
11:15-11:50 Wash hands/Snack time/Free Play
11:50-12:00 Closing circle time

Today was a great first day back after a long, extended Christmas break! The week previous to Christmas break, my Uncle, Iraj Azarvand, passed away, so we were busy all that week with funeral arrangements & such.

Cyrus had the opportunity to join us this day and was a big help!

We spent a lot of time learning about the Octopus! In addition to making our windsocks, we were able to use the computer to view various videos & pictures of the Octopus. The adults seemed to be just as intrigued as the children!

We also talked about our New Years resolutions, Darius said his resolution is to play more Pokemon!? Lorien wants to play more. At least they aren't setting themselves up for failure, I'm pretty sure they will accomplish their resolutions!

For science, we learned about the weights of liquids & were able to see the weight difference through a glass. We used water, oil, vinegar & corn syrup.