Thank you Kennedy for bringing in the fun mixer to share with the class!  The friends loved exploring and playing with the mixer.  Who knew a mixer could serve so many purposes?  ;) 

As you know by now, block play helps the children learn problem solving and increases foundational math skills! 

This morning we noticed that our block shelf was a little wobbly.  I posed this problem to the friends to see what we could do to solve the problem.  The friends offered many ideas. 

"We could be careful!"

"We could put heavy stuff on it to hold it down!" 

"We could put it next to the wall so it doesn't fall over!" 

We decided that all of our solutions would be helpful! We moved the block shelf, and in turn, we are moving our alphabet too.  The friends helped me problem solve where to put the alphabet as well.  Problem solving is a skill that will benefit the children throughout their lives!  

We love to create! 

Puzzles also increase foundational math skills as well as spatial awareness skills.

We were so excited to see the spider that created the orb web in our window!  He was so interesting to watch! 

As we were walking outside, we noticed another big spider on the wall! Our friends love to observe the spiders! 

During outside time, all of the friends were playing quite rough.  I asked the friends to come over, and we all prayed together asking God to forgive us.  I reminded the friends that I forgive them and Jesus forgives them.  I shared with them that I know that they can make better choices.   We discussed what we could do to solve the problem of the too rough play.  We decided to take a break from monster play and chase play and try again tomorrow.  

After we talked, the friends did a great job playing together with sweet and kind choices.

During small group time, we practiced clapping out our names. We then counted the claps in our names, and took one unifix cube for each clap. We used the unifix cubes to build a tower and compare the towers.  

This activity increases phonemic awareness, one to one correspondence, and comparison vocabulary.

We also strengthened our fine motor skills by creating with the play dough. 

With me, the friends looked over their graphs from yesterday.  They then counted the number of check marks on each side, and worked together to write the number at the bottom.  Then, the friends had the opportunity to make their own graphs.  They love graphs! 

During Jesus time, we took turns acting out the story of Adam and Eve falling into sin.  Each time we remembered that God promised to send a Savior.  He kept His promise; He sent Jesus to save us! 

During second outside time we enjoyed the beautiful weather!  Our friends had kind and sweet hands without reminders.  :) 

The friends worked together to build intricate structures in the blocks during second free choice time.  

Many of the friends wanted to make more graphs.  They worked hard to collect the information.  We ran out of time, and the friends asked if we could make graphs during small group time.

During second small group time we had fun drawing under the table.  This develops large and fine motor groups. 

We also made came up with our own questions for our graphs, and collected information from some of the teachers around us.  The children recorded the responses on their graphs.