Fire Prevention Week

Before we get to Fire Prevention Week, here are some more pictures from our time spent with colors and Noah's ark...

writing color words

washing Noah's animals with soap and water 

I told the story using these felt board visuals. At the end of the week, the students pretended to be animals from the ark, and they retold the story. They had so much fun acting it out!

The story of Noah's ark lends itself nicely to doing activities with rainbows and colors. Here, the kids squirt colored vinegar into a tray filled with baking soda. The two elements cause a little reaction. This is science, art, and fine motor practice all wrapped into one. 

They also wrote their names (first and last) using different colors of the rainbow. They were shocked when I told them they had to trace over their name 5 times with 5 different colors. You would have thought I asked them to do it 500 times! 

Turns out, it can be done. 

We started practicing beginning sounds in small groups. The kids had to sort the pictures into the right boxes.

In this small group, they are working on matching color words with the color dot on the die. 

And finally, it was fire prevention week!

Of course, we had to practice Stop, Drop, and Roll. 

We did this by taping a pretend flame to each child's back and having them stop, drop, and roll around until the fire came off. You wouldn't believe how much they loved this! They kept asking if we could practice again. 

Fire dog puppets

Fire themed letter identification game

Firefighter Bob came to visit both classes last week. He showed his fire gear and talked about "stop, drop, and roll" and "stay low and go".

Now, we've moved on to pumpkins. We have been using them for measuring, counting, smelling, feeling, describing, drawing, and investigating, among other things. 

Counting to 10 with stickers on the pumpkin

I just had to throw in one picture from my trip to Vermont. We had such a good time! The autumn colors were just beautiful, and it was so nice to see much of my extended family. Thanks for being so flexible while I was away! 

Colors

Here's some pictures from the past week...

(working in matching upper and lowercase letters)

 (fine motor activity using tiny stickers)

 For this activity, the children traced each letter of the alphabet with a Q-tip dipped in paint. 

Taking a quick story break!

In small groups last week, the 4s worked on their color words. 

Although it seems counterintuitive, it is actually not essential that children know all their letters or sounds before they start "reading". We practice color words to help build confidence and get kids used to reading left to right. Color words can be used in the everyday life of a preschooler, so they offer a nice place to start. 

 Tuesday was gummy bear day. We sang the gummy bear song, which goes like this:

(To the tune of "Six Little Ducks that I Once Knew")

Down at the candy store, what did I see?

Five little gummy bears smiling at me.   (Hold up 5 fingers.)

Along came (child’s name) with a penny one day.

They bought a (color) one and took it away.

Here, we did an experiment with gummy bears. We placed the bears in different liquids to see what would happen. 

The bear in vinegar started to disappear more quickly than the rest. 

Miss T is explaining how to use a level. 

 Today, we tried an experiment to see how rain works. (This goes along with our Noah's Ark theme this week.)

Check out this PSA featuring one of our own students!