Blog for French Valley K-Prep Preschool, LLC: St. Patrick's Day and review

This week, our butterflies emerged from their cocoons! On Monday, two emerged. On Wednesday, the last two emerged. On Thursday, the Tuesday/Thursday class released two of the butterflies. They didn't want to fly out, so I carefully lifted them and set them on a rose in my rose garden. I wanted the M/W/F group to release the other two on Friday, but one of our members was absent. We'll release them on Monday. Hopefully it won't rain.

The lepricans were mischievous!! They mixed up our letter cards and our attendance picture cards. Some were upside down. On the first day, we set up a trap for the mischievous leprican. If we caught one, we could demand that they tell us where the pot of gold is hidden. Alas, we did not catch one.

For art, we painted with food. I cut an apple and a green bell pepper in half. Each child used a half. The bell pepper dipped in green paint makes a three leaf clover and the apple core dipped in paint makes a star stamp. We used a thin stick to paint the stems. On the second day we experimented with different kinds of brushes dipped in white or green paint.

For centers, the children chose between hammering pegs into the board, dressing plates (zipping, snapping, buttoning), or lacing plates (animals that you pull laces through). They also played a matching number game. When they finished their number writing practice, they got to choose between several games: two different number matching games and a word building game.

For last week's theme (rainbows and this week's theme), after singing some songs that matched the theme, I went to You Tube to find songs that match. This week, I showed a Muppets video of The Chef, Animal, and Beeker singing "Danny Boy". We cracked up! We also listened to a traditional song about St. Patrick's Day. The children really get in to the theme when they see and hear songs about it. I'll post them on Facebook.

At the end of the day, I played traditional Irish music from Pandora and we danced around to the music. I tried doing an Irish jig, even though I have no idea what I'm doing. The children got a kick out of the music and the dancing.

Enjoy this week's photos!

Shamrocks and stars

Our first butterfly emerges!

Our second butterfly emerges!

The children were very excited!

Our green bell pepper shamrock stampers and apple core star stampers in green paint.

Our dressing plates

Centers

beautiful butterfly trying to go in the light

The butterflies gravitate to the light. They open up their wings when they are in the sunlight as if they are sunning themselves. When I move them in partial shade, they go to the sunny side of their enclosure.