Month Update

Oh man! A month has gone by and I haven't posted...and why? Hmm...I'm not SO sure. I think the best explanation would be that it got sunny here. Yes. That about sums it up. So, instead of doing preschool activities and writing about them, we just spent time outdoors. Also, somewhere in there we all got sick. At some point we went on a vacation. And for awhile I just didn't feel like posting.

There you have it.

Anyway, here is a bit of a recap of some things we did that I never posted about:




We finished our butterfly unit, which was a lot of fun. We used pipe-cleaners as caterpillars and made butterfly rings to use as props while learning a few songs and fingerplays. We also did that activity where you wrap a kid all up in toilet paper and let them break out, you know, to simulate the cocoon effect and all. That was probably the part the kids will remember the most :-)



After learning about butterflies for about a week, we moved onto a rock unit. I know I found a lot of preschool geology information on the web, but honestly, I didn't keep track of where I got it very well. There are 4 activities from this unit that I remember best: making a rock collection, using the rock collection to practice sorting (as follows in the photos),

further using the rock collection to test the rocks for living matter (all you do is drop the rocks in vinegar; if the rock bubbles that's an indication of some sort of living matter that's leftover in the rock and reacting with the vinegar just like baking soda would. I mean, obviously it's a lot more complicated than that, but that's kind of what I told the kids we were doing: checking for BONES in the rocks! Honestly, the idea of bones kept their attention pretty well--"Mom! This one is bubbling! It must have bones in it! Do you think that a giant t-rex was walking a long time ago and then he died and then his bones got all crushed up and stuck in this rock and now we're holding it?!" "Yes son, I'm pretty sure that must be exactly what happened." Don't judge me--at least they're thinking about it.), and finally we did this deal where you take white paper outside and crayons and make a crayon-rubbing of the concrete.

That last one was a big flop. Don't do it. It's pointless and dumb.

So that's us. It's been a fun month spending most of our time out of doors. But don't you worry, I'm sure we'll be back to the ol' grind pretty soon.