4D also had a leprechaun visitor.
Their teacher had prepared them that they might.
But no one was prepared to find...
this.
Or this.
Or even this.
Hmmm. He had left them a note, too.
And a clue.
Which they figured out.
They followed all the clues until they finally found that the leprechaun had left them a little basket full of neatly tied treats!
Somehow, leprechauns always seem to cause mischief in the 4 year old classrooms on St. Patrick's Day.
Look at those lunch trays in disarray! And, where are the lunchboxes?!
"Hey! The footprints go out the door!"
"Maybe we can catch him!"
"Oh! Look where that leprechaun put our lunchboxes!"
"Ooooh, but look what he left in our lunchboxes!"
"It's gold!"
And, doesn't everyone need a little gold on their lunch tray?
Or, better yet, in their pocket?
Why should we take care of our teeth?
Because we use them for eating, talking, and...
smiling!
We take care of them by brushing...
and by using something called floss.
The children watched a video with Kirby the monkey showing them how to brush
and floss.
They listened attentively as the hygienist showed them how to brush using a model
and then using some of them as models.
She even flossed the model "teeth".
They talked about foods that are good for you and for your teeth.
Like apples.
Apples got a big thumbs up!
Skittles?
Thumbs way, w-a-y, w--a--y down! (Double bad -- sugary and sticky. That's the worst!)
Bananas?
Carrots?
What about milk?
Milk is a sideways thumb. It's good for making your bones and teeth strong, but it has sugar. Did you know if you eat a carrot after you drink your milk that it will help remove the sugar from your teeth?
And, the very, very best thing for you to drink?
That's right. Water. You can even drink water after you brush your teeth at night.
The children saw another short video about going to visit the dentist. Buddy and Andy showed them about the cool chair that goes up and down, getting x-rays,
and all the tools the dentist uses -- like the suction-thingy that helps to keep your mouth dry while the dentist works.
One of the children helped show the things the dentist and his helpers wear...
the "sneeze-guard" and the gloves.
Then all the children helped count Joey the Kangaroo's teeth while the hygienist used the special tooth-counting tool.
Some of the classes extended what they had learned from their visit with the dental hygienist, back in their classrooms.
All of the children who attend school on Monday or Tuesday (except for the toddlers) visited with the dental hygienist and brought home a little bag of goodies to help them apply what they had learned. Thank you to our friends at Laxer, Long, and Savage for helping teach the children about the importance of taking good care of their teeth!
The tables were set.
The doughnuts in place -- 7 dozen for Monday, 12 dozen for Tuesday.
The guests of honor sat in little chairs.
And interacted with their children in fun ways.
Some classes had special presentations for their dads and then gave them a card or a picture or a story or a bookmark to take home with them.
The children enjoyed showing the dads their classrooms and their morning routines.
That is a quote from a very excited 4 year old before the 4D class went outside to seize today's teachable moment by catching snowflakes on black construction paper.
There were some snow-tasters in the crowd.
We actually saw three different methods of tasting snow -- one involved licking the construction paper. Eeewww. (I missed the photo of it, but it was quickly discouraged anyway!)
After their time outside, they returned to the classroom to discuss what they had observed while catching snow.
T4 went out when it had just started snowing and caught a few snowflakes, too.
The snowflakes were smaller when T4 was outside.
(TK also caught snowflakes, but their adventure was undocumented by the camera. However, you can look forward to a future post on how they were inspired by today's snow.)
We start the month of March with Doughnuts for Dads.
The children have been busy preparing. They started by drawing pictures of their daddies. Here are a few.
Dad, do you recognize yourself?
4C had their own Olympics today.
First a little preparation time.
"Medals" -- gold, silver, and bronze -- had to be cut out and attached to ribbons.
The games began after lunch. The children were divided into teams and listened intently as their teacher gave instructions for the first event.
This event, a relay, involved placemats. Put a placemat on the floor, stand on it. Put another placemat in front of you. Stand on it. Reach back and move the first placemat to the floor in front of you. Stand on it, Continue in this way across the room and back. Each team member goes once.
Can you see the excited children cheering their teams on?
For the next event, each team formed a circle that incorporated a hula hoop.
The goal was to pass the hula hoop around the circle three times without breaking hands.
The final event was another relay.
Run to the hula hoop. Put on each item (hat, vest, scarf). Hula hoop once. Take it all off. Tag the next person to go.
Then, of course, there had to be a medal ceremony.
The children proudly received their medals.
And went home as Olympians.
for more than eating.
4C used them for a counting and graphing activity.
Even a 4 year old can understand a simple bar graph. And being able to eat what you've counted and graphed is a sweet bonus!
First it was inside...
2B MWF
2B TTh
T3
Here are some step by step photos of a young 3 year old painting his snowman. You may notice the change of hand and the change of grip on the paintbrush -- not uncommon for a child this age, but we would hope to see those things work themselves out during the next year.
3C
Snowmen are good for seriating size: small, medium, and large. And for learning position: top, middle, and bottom.
4C
This class used snowman making as a learning activity for the letter S. They labeled each item in the picture that began with their letter of the day.
4D
Then we had snow outside, so hopefully the children had the experience of making real snowmen along with their family at home.
you send the girls to the block center?
A mall, of course.
Built during December in 4C.
