Vv is for Valentine

On Monday and Tuesday we celebrated Valentine's Day.  One child really wanted to make and bring the cookies, so he was able to share it with his class - thank you!  We ate cookies, listened to a story about Valentine's Day, finished up our parents' card, added stickers to our classmates' cards, "delivered" the cards into each person's "mailbox" (cubby), and did a valentine craft.  Besides those fun activities, we also learned about the sound of the letter Vv on those days.  On Wednesday and Thursday, we did our circle time chart, learned how to write the letter Vv, and listened to a story about like, love, and appreciation.  Friday was a day off.  Some of us went on a field trip to Sensory Time.  Pictures will be posted on Facebook.

Our art/craft was: 1) bleeding hearts - I cut out heart shapes in tissue paper that bleeds color when you wet it.  It turned out to be a beautiful project!  2) painting with ping pong balls - I put the watered down paint on the paper and then the children tried to blow the ping pong balls through the paint.  I asked them why it wasn't working and they observed that the ball got stuck in the paint.  After, they tried blowing it around, they were then able to rock their trays and let the ball roll through the paint.  It really turned out neat.  The marbles tend to be heavier and mixes the paint up, whereas the ping pong ball lightly drags the paint so that the lines look feathery and you can see each color, instead of a blend.

Our centers:  Besides being able to play with toys like the tree-house doll house, motor links, cars, castle, tracks and trains, and much more during transitional times, our main center is name writing and cutting.  The children are learning to cut various types of lines and to better their cutting skills.  Also, I created name worksheets for each child.  For example - my name is Esther.  If I was a student, my worksheet would have me practice tracing and writing E...s...t...h...e...r and then the name put together.  I tell the children that the letters on their worksheet are their letters and they need to learn the name of the letter, so they can spell it and learn how to write it.  Some children are still writing their name the way they did when they entered my program with all capitals.  I have to try to get them to change that habit.

We will be working on the cutting and name writing for a few weeks.

Enjoy this week's photos:

The color kept separating, so I needed to mix the colors with the paint brush.  Then I used droppers to drop paint on their paper.

A very important part of our day - hand washing.  We use bar soap, because it doesn't fall off their hand and into the sink.  While the children wait their turn to wash their hands before snack time and after outside time, they look through the books.  It's our library time.

The children earn stickers for following the rules - raising their hand for a turn to speak, listen to others, hands to themselves, being a good friend...and when they earn a row of stickers, they get to pick a toy out of the prize box.

Painting the bleeding tissue paper hearts.

They are decorating their friends' cards.