Our morning free choice time was shorter today because we were able to go to chapel!  

  Jordan was cold this morning and found a solution to the problem!  Great problem solving! 

(Our classroom tends to be cold in the mornings.  Feel free to bring a sweater in for your child if he/she is cold. :) )

We love our 8th Grade chapel buddies! 

During chapel our DCE (Director of Christian Education) Dan Hampton, along with the help of kermit the frog, led chapel this morning.  he shared with us that just like we need to eat to be healthy, we need to read the bible and worship Jesus to be spiritually healthy.  

Our friends are working to teach each other how to play ga-ga ball.  They are being patient and kind with one another!  Patience and kindness are lifelong skills that will not only benefit the children, but also help to share God's love.

Ezra found a spider on the ga-ga ball pit! 

Mrs. Zwettler played with the friends on the playground while I was at the ga-ga ball pit.  

During small group time, we played and created in the blocks. Block play increases foundational math skills as well as problem solving skills.

We also played together in the dramatic play area with Mrs. Zwettler.  We practiced positive conflict resolution while we played. 

With me, the children collected information and recorded the information on a graph.  We went and asked various teachers around the school whether they liked spiders or not. We discussed how a graph helps us organize information.  In this activity the children are engaging in pre-reading skills as they learn that print carries meaning and begin to recognize symbols, letters, and words.  They are practicing one to one correspondence as they put one mark in each box.  They are also working on fine motor control as they make the marks on the graph.  

Collecting information

Second outside time was filled with exploring and digging.  The friends are great at finding the shade on the playground.  :) 

Many of the friends engaged in meaningful writing during second free choice time.  They wanted to make some signs for the classroom, so we decided to make signs during second small group time! 

The friends decided what to write on the signs during second small group time.  The first group made a sign for the classroom door. 

The second group strengthened their fine motor skills in the playdough. 

The second group to make a sign made signs for our classroom. 

Our sand table was a popular choice this morning!  

At the sand table, the friends are engaging their senses as well as exploring volume.

Our friends are learning how to work together!  This skill will benefit them throughout their lives! 

We noticed that one of our spiders died.  We used this opportunity to take the spider out of the jar and explore it more.  (Don't worry, the dead spider is going back outside after school.) 

During morning meeting we read a book about spiders.  We learned that spiders are part of a group called arachnids.  

Our classroom jobs provide an opportunity for each child to take responsibility and ownership of the classroom.  The dismissal helper is one of our classroom jobs.  The dismissal helper uses a "magic pen" to dismiss the children that are sitting quietly on the carpet.  :)  

Outside the friends had the opportunity to play ga-ga ball this morning.  The friends who knew how to play were patient and taught the friends who did not know how to play.  

While I watched the friends play ga-ga ball, Mrs. Zwettler played with the friends on the Pre-K playground. 

After a few minutes, we all went back to the Pre-K playground to run and play.  

The friends found a great place to beat the heat outside!  :) 

Avery and Lucas worked very hard to catch a mulch spider.

They caught it! 

During small group time, we observed the stink bugs that Mrs. Zwettler brought in.  We compared them to the dead spider.  This activity sharpens observation skills as well as provides an opportunity for expressive language development. 

With Mrs. Zwettler, the friends played a clap it out game.  This game helps the children to practice working with syllables which is an important phonemic awareness skill.

Finally, the children strengthened their fine motor skills as they played and created with the play dough. 

One of the friends wondered if the spider would eat the stink bugs.  We took a moment to predict if it would eat the stink bug or not.  We graphed our predictions.  We discussed that we use a graph to collect information and quickly determine an answer to a question.  

During Jesus time the friends helped tell the story of Adam and Eve falling into sin.  The best part of the story is that God promised to send a Savior.  He kept His promise when He sent Jesus to die and rise again to save us from our sins! 

After lunch/goodbye and quiet time, we went back outside.  Although it was warm, the friends had fun searching for insects and spiders. 

When we returned to the classroom, the children planned their play and went to work play

Owen noticed that there was a mess on the floor, and he decided to clean it up!  Great work Owen! 

Leighton and Ezra noticed that Owen needed help cleaning up the sand, and they offered to help.  Good job showing God's love! 

We love creating! 

Mrs. Zwettler put the stink bugs in different jars with the spiders.  I wonder what will happen?  We had a rich discussion about what would happen to the stink bugs and spiders. 

We looked through books to enhance our discussion.

We found a web that look exactly like the web in our window that we drew yesterday.  We decided to make a label for the web!  It is called an Orb Web.  

During small group time, we clapped out our names, and took one unifix cube for each syllable.  We then used the cubes to make towers for each friend.  We compared the towers using the words less, more, and equal.  We are not only increasing our phonemic awareness, but we are also engaging in mathematical thinking.  

(Comparing the towers)

With Mrs. Zwettler we did some book research about spiders and continued our rich discussion from free choice time.