Blog for French Valley K-Prep Preschool, LLC: Cc is for Caterpillars

I work with a two year curriculum for our themes. The last time we did Cc is for Caterpillars was in 2011. I loved that theme then and I love it now!! I ordered caterpillars. We watched them grow and crawl around. Then we would come back to school and learn that some of the caterpillars turned into a chrysalis. The night before we started this week's theme, a butterfly emerged from it's cocoon, inside the cup! I had to transfer him and the paper with the other chrysalises attached into the butterfly exhibit. We were able to talk about all of the stages we have seen in the last few weeks.

Here are some photos and I'll explain as you scroll down:

The children were able to feed the butterflies. We dropped sugar water onto cut flowers.
That also allowed them to get a better view of the butterflies.

Trying to wait for their turn:

There are two boys here. One is hiding behind his brother. I am helping him by holding his hand and showing him how to squeeze the bulb of sugar water into the exhibit.

Free choice:

Here's the Tu/Th group learning at the Circle Time Chart in small groups. Our letter of the week is Cc. Our color is green, shape is star, and number is 5.

:) They're not in trouble - they are trying to listen, while also wanting to look at the butterflies:

Several children earned all of the stars on their card and they were able to pick out some prizes from the prize box:

It was rainy on Wednesday, so my meteorologist was able to put new things on the chart in our sunny part of the world that seems to never change in weather!

For art, the children were able to squeeze small puddles of paint onto a butterfly cut-out and then put the two parts together. We had a lot of trouble with this paper. I won't be using it again with this kind of paint, because some children's butterfly got ripped. Your children's butterflies will be hanging in our class for a while.

Since it was rainy, the children played inside with our stepping stones, ring toss, beanbag toss, cup stilts, and balance beam.

We have been working on our "Three Little Pigs" skit. Here are some pictures of them acting:

(We have 2 wolves)

In this center, the children have to work together to put the numbers in order in order to make a caterpillar:

This center is: the children string beads to make "caterpillars".

Here - the children are looking at all of the new butterflies that have emerged:

In this class, we did our butterflies differently. We used different paper that was not cut in a butterfly shape. A lot of the pieces ended up looking like a perfect butterfly shape:

The children have to press and push the paint around and then the teachers open the papers up.

Since it was still wet and soggy from the day before, this class also played inside:

Center time:

In this center, I cut out the circles and the children put them in numerical order and glued them to the caterpillars:

On the last day of the week, we released 3 of the 4 butterflies. One butterfly seemed to not want to fly away, so we put him back into the exhibit. We have one cocoon left. When that one opens, then we'll release him and the other butterfly on Tuesday, for the other class.

The sunshine excited the butterflies!

Playtime, before we released the butterflies:

We stood in a circle and held onto each other's hands, so that no one rushed up to the front. Some children had to be held back, because they really wanted to come up close. We needed to give the butterflies space, so they didn't get harmed.