Special Visitors for Pet Week in Pre-K

We've had some very special visitors in our class for Pet Week. We've been learning about pets and how to take care of them.


We had Alex the Yorkie visit...

And a Yellow Lab, Berkley...

We learned about the tack (or horse supplies) used to take care of a pony...

and got to see and smell the various types of feed that ponies enjoy.

We also met the pony who the tack and feed belonged to! Meet Midknight, the Pony!

Hannah demonstrated how to brush her pony and pick his hooves.

The children each got a turn to come up and pet the pony!

We love our pets! I am so thankful to have wonderful families that took the time to come and share their pets, especially the Marshall family, the Oldham family and the Pace family!


If you's like to read more about our Pet Week activities, check out "Pet Art" and "Pet Week Play in Pre-K"


Thanks for visiting! Leave a little "comment love"~I'd love for you to share your thoughts!

Celebrating Ramadan and El Ud Fitr in Pre-K

 

Our class had a wonderful treat today. One of the parents of my students offered to come in and tell the children about the Muslim holidays, Ramadan and El Ud Fitr. Ramadan is a holy month of fasting and El Ud Fitr is literally, "festivity" of "breaking the fast". Mrs. S. brought the beautiful poster above and explained the significance of each item.

She used a wonderful analogy for fasting using 3 different sized chocolate bars to explain fasting. She said the first time you see a little piece of chocolate and are fasting, you miss it, but it's just a little piece of chocolate and held up a small bar. A few days later, when you see that same piece of chocolate and know you can't have it, it seems bigger and you miss it more, and held up a regular sized candy bar. By the end of the fast, you really want the chocolate. Although the bar really hasn't grown in size, it SEEMS bigger to you. She then held up the giant candy bar. Mrs. S. also talked about how they make sure that those who have plenty, take this time, especially, to share with those less fortunate.

Mrs. S. also brought a beautiful children's books called, "Ramadan and El Ul Fitr" by Azra Jessa, written when she was 12 years old to help her classmates understand the holiday. Azra used the computer program "Paint" to illustrate the story.

After the "lesson", the kids were treated to cupcakes and goodie bags! The best treat of all? Mrs. S. very generously left us the book to include in our class library! The kids really enjoyed learning about their classmates' culture today and so did I! I knew very little about this holiday, so I am thankful that I had the opportunity to learn today, too.

We even learned the traditional holiday greeting during El Ud Fitr is "Eid Mubarak" or "have a blessed festival"!

Eid Mubarak!

We are now "Informed" Weather Watchers!

We had a very special guest some to ur school to speak with us last week. Jeff Rucker, our local meteorologist with WAGT-26, came to talk to us about weather and weather forecasting. It was an AWESOME visit and we learned so much!

As excited as we all were, I admit that I was a little wary of his visit. Last year, we visited one of our other local stations for a field trip. The entire tour lasted less than 10 minutes. We then invited a different meteorologist to visit and the "weather talk" was so far over the kids' heads (and the teachers!) that they really didn't get anything out of it. I vowed this year to get someone to speak that the kids would enjoy, so they would really be able to learn something from the visit. Well, let me tell you, I did my homework this year, and this visit was fantastic!

Mr. Rucker talked to the kids about different kinds of weather. Did you know that raindrops are actually shaped liked pancakes? We do, thanks to Mr. Rucker!

He also brought a few weather instruments and demonstrated them for us.

That may look like a hair dryer, but for these purposes, it is an official "wind demonstration device"!

This is part of an actual weather balloon that had been deployed and found.

This is a lightning machine. It was pretty cool. We learned first hand how lightning can travel! The kids each got a turn to try it if they chose to.

This one made a little cloud! Did you know that fog is just a little cloud right near the ground?

When he added the top of the device, it made a tornado!

Here's a little video of the tornado in motion. Sorry it's sideways--I turned the camera to get a better shot. :|

Thank you, Jeff Rucker, for an awesome visit! The kids were so excited and learned so much. While watching the visit on the local news that night, I also experienced one of my proudest moments as a teacher. As he played  a little video clip on the news he complimented the children on "asking good questions" and not just "sharing stories". This is something we work on all year. I was SO PROUD of some of the questions the friends asked! The visit definitely made an impression and they are very informed "Weather Watchers" now. They even remember some of the "big" words like "anemometer", "thermometer" and especially, "meteorologist"!

Community Helpers

We recently had a visit from our local Police Officers.
We talked about ways to stay safe.

We talked about stranger danger with Officer Robertson. It's always interesting to ask a child what a stranger looks like.

We saw all the different parts the make up a police uniform. These are Sergeant Massey's handcuffs.

We also got to check out the police car and try the lights and sirens.

I'm so glad we had this opportunity to really get the kids familiar with our community helpers. Special thanks to the Officers Massey and Robertson and to the Columbia County Sheriff's Department!