Ee is for Earth

Happy Earth Day!!  Explaining Earth Day is challenging.  I asked them if they'd like to live in trash like in the movie - "Wall-E" and they said, "No!" I went on to explain how we need to separate our trash so that things like cans and bottles can get reused.  If we recycle, new materials don't need to be made, which can save us energy and the use of energy is causing our earth to heat up.  There's so much to tell them!

For art, the children followed along with Ms. Esther when they did the sand painting. Each color had blue Crayola sand mixed in. Sand paint feels heavy and is gritty. We used aqua for the ocean, brown for the earth or dirt, green for the plants and mountain, yellow for the desert, and blue for the sky. I didn't get any pictures of this.  Most of my students did a great job following along with me! My Pre-Kers are going to do really well in kindergarten, because they can follow the teacher!

The second art project, I call "Sand Splat Art", because you fill a stocking with sand, tie it, soak it in paint, and then drop it on a paper. They are hanging in the preschool room. The children don't like the idea of not being able to take their art home. Studies show that their art should also be displayed in preschool, so they feel some ownership and good that their work is displayed proudly.

Our center was dress up clothes. I need to change the way these are put away, because it takes so much time. I think next year, I'll have the clothes hanging and then a bin where they throw all the accessories in, instead of worrying about which accessory goes with which costume.

Our letter was the letter Ee and our puppet pal was Esther the Elephant! They thought that was funny that it was named after me.

Sometimes I borrow the actions for phonics from the Leap Frog DVDs. For the letter "Ee", the action is an old guy who can't hear right and he says "eeeee?" as he cups his ear.

Next week is Tt is for trees.

Enjoy the photos:

Birthday Boy!

A bunch of sillies!

He gets to ALL of the jobs!!

Passing out napkins for the cupcake and to wipe off the frosting.

He liked the double sided markers!

Not enough time to dress in costumes, so they chose to play with trains.

Trying to write the letter Ee

I can do it!!!

We're on a train to take the patients to the hospital

He seems like a natural.

Friday - using the sand paint to do what they want.

An Earth Day rainbow!

There's sand in that stocking.

"Ohhhh, now I understand!  This is fun!  Can we use two?"

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