V is for VOLCANO!

We had SO much fun at school this week. Separating the toddlers and the preschoolers was the best idea EVER. The big kids have such an easier time paying attention and staying on task without the extra little bodies running around. They did such a wonderful job with all the activities I had planned this week, it was really, really nice to see.

We started out with our normal circle time on Monday (calendar, Bible story, and verse/song).

We read the story of Jesus with the little children (this is the part where His disciples tell the little children to go away...hence the mean face!)

 

Dance Party! I think it's so interesting how alliances are forming at such a tender age.

 

 

Then we moved on to name writing. They are getting SO good at tracing the letters in their names.

 

 

 

Eisley is working on writing her name without the lines...and she can write all THREE names by herself!

 

Next we talked about patterns. We established that a pattern means things go in a certain order, and that the order repeats itself. I gave the kids each a bag with ten beads (5 of each color), and a pipe cleaner. They had to place the beads on the pipe cleaner in an A-B pattern. They did a great job!

 

 

 

Next it was time for a little snack. In keeping with the pattern practice, I put two bowls of fruit down on the blanket and gave each child a kabob skewer. The kids had to make an A-B pattern using the fruit on their stick. This was also good fine motor skill practice.

 

 

 

 

And our final task for the day was to create a VOLCANO out of clay. This was AWESOME. Before we got messy, Addison ran to get her Usborne First Encyclopedia of the World (she refuses to let me return this book to the library!) And she proceeded to explain how volcanoes work to her friends.

 

Then it was time to get to work with clay. I attached a cut water bottle (with duct tape) to a cookie sheet that I lined with foil. And I gave each child a giant hunk of brown clay. They worked together to build a volcano around the bottle.

 

Is that a masterpiece, or what?

 

Addison asked me every day this week if it was Thursday yet...she was pretty excited to make the volcano errupt.

 

Day 2...

 

Today was another great day at school. Katie was with me today which was great...her little one usually hangs out with the toddlers, so she doesn't get much time with the big kids now that we've split. It was wonderful to have her here today!

 

We opened with calendar time (Jack asked his buddy Noah to help him figure out where the 21 was supposed to go).

 

And then we read our Bible story and had another dance party.

 

Next we reviewed our letter and number of the week (V and 13).

 

Then I handed out a bag of 3 magnet letters to each child. They were instructed to take the letters out of the bag and tell the others which 3 letters they had.

 

Next, they put their heads down and closed their eyes while Katie and I removed one letter from each child. They had to try to figure out which letter was missing.

This activity actually went much better than I thought it would! Next time we may try it with 4 letters.

 

 

Next it was time for some playdough excavation! I hid 6 or 7 small "treasures" inside balls of playdough. Each child was given a plastic knife and a set of tweezers for tools. They had to find the treasure inside their playdough using only the tools I gave them. This was a HUGE hit!

 

 

 

 

 

 

For snack we had Veggie sticks...

"Look! I made a V!"

 

And we read the story From Head to Toe by Eric Carle. The kiddos did all the animal movements as we read. This was a really cute book.

 

And finally...the moment we'd been waiting for all week...the volcano eruption!

 

I put baking soda inside the "crater" and added a few drops of orange food coloring (which did nothing). Then the kids watched as I poured in vinegar.

 

 

And for your viewing pleasure...a video of our awesome erruption!