Pay It Forward: Sharing the Fun!

You may remember my post "Sharing The Love from Pay It Forward" in February. When Karen from Flights of Whimsy posted about her package from British Columbia and offered to pay it forward, I jumped right in. The idea was originally the brainchild of Sherry and Donna from over at Irresistible Ideas for Play Based Learning. I was picked, and we got a lovely package filled with items representative of Australia. If you'd like to read more about our package, click here. Here's a picture of the wonderful goodies she sent:

Now it's my turn to "Pay It Forward" to other bloggers! Here are the rules:

• You must be willing to "Pay It Forward" to 3 more people, and share in a post on your blog.
• Leave a comment stating that you would like to play.I'll randomly choose 3 bloggers who comment.   You can be from ANYWHERE in the world.
• If chosen, you'll need to send me your mailing address, so I can send your package to you.
• Comments will be open for entries until Saturday, April 14, 2012. The winner will be picked on Sunday April 15, 2012

This has been such a fun experience! I hope that you'll join in the fun! 

  

Outdoor Water Ramps

Last week, I thought it might be fun to take our rain gutter ramps and some cars outdoors for a little water play at recess. 

We filled several tubs with water and let the kids build ramps with them, pouring water down the ramps.

                           

It was fun to watch them. They planned and schemed and collaborated.

                   

Since this was our first experience with this, mostly the kids explored,  I think they will make some interesting discoveries soon, but on that day, it was all about exploration.

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

Creating A Garden in Pre-K

Moving into a new and more spacious classroom this year has been good in so many ways. One of the few downsides is that I had to leave the little garden that I had built with my students over the last 3 years. Today, we began a new garden right outside our back windows. For the majority of the time we were working, we were moving bricks and rocks that I'd used to build the old garden. (Since I helped the kids carry those rocks and bricks,  I didn't really get any photos.) While we were moving the bricks from the pold garden, we uncovered a little skink. He was fat and happy and had made his home there. He came out for a while and we got a good look at his blue tail, but by the time I got my camera, the children had given him pause and he was more cautious. After we removed our materials, we left him there to continue to live in that rich little patch.

After we got all the bricks and fencing, we laid out where we wanted the garden to be.

The children were eager to get started. I explained that we had to clear the patch before we could start any planting. The ground is very hard and not very rich. We need to turn it a bit and maybe add a little rich soil. (note: I should probably disclose at this point that I am NOT a gardener. I know absolutely nothing about gardening and kill every plant I pass, real, silk, plastic or otherwise.) The first year I made a garden with the kids, we used toy or kids' gardening tools. They broke within the first few days. Eventually, I've collected a few real gardening tools and I very carefully supervise use. 

                 

 

                  

 

I had to practically drag the kids indoors when it was time for lunch. They really enjoyed working in the garden. I went out for a few minutes this afternoon while they were in aftercare, and they were begging to "do some more work". 


We will be clearing this area for the next few days. I'd like to get plants going before we go on Spring Break in a week, so the children will see some seedlings before our school year is over in just a few more weeks. I think this will be a fun way to spend some of our outdoor time, now that the weather is so beautiful.


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Cloudy With A Chance of Weather

We've just completed our weather unit and we've tried some really neat things! We recorded the weather each day for a week.

We wrote "weather words" in our journals and even illustrated the pictures.

One of my students gave me these wonderful weather wheels for Christmas. We colored the wheels and put them together, then used them in our circle time weather watching activities.

The publishers over at Scholastic's "Clifford The Big Red Dog" preschool classroom magazines sent us a class supply of the weather issue to try out. We used them as a small group activity, reading together and doing the activity on the back. We especially enjoyed the rainbow, as we've been learning about the colors that comprise a rainbow. Thank you, "Clifford The Big Red Dog" magazine, and especially, Janice, for sharing these with us! We really enjoyed them!

We tried some really cool experiments to simulate weather and cloud processes. This experiment allowed use to see how clouds fill and then rain falls.

This experiment helped us "see" condensation and rain.

We made some cloud murals after reading "It Looked Like Spilt Milk".

We found a way to incorporate some movement in with our weather activities. The teacher calls out a weather word, and the students have to "be the weather"!

Here are some of our favorite weather themed books:

 

 

 



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