Digging Out

After we all dig out of our driveways, we are going to be desperate for something to do.  On Friday and Saturday, you and your family can head downtown to the Peoria Civic Center.  The 48th Annual Mid-West Truck Show will be held in the Exhibit Hall from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m on Friday and 9 a.m. - 4 p.m on Saturday.  Best of all---it's FREE!  We like free.

On Saturday, MTHS is hosting their JazzFest.  This would be a great opportunity for aspiring musicians to see a live performance. It would also be a good intro to our upcoming music unit in March!  Concert is at 7 p.m.  Tickets are $7 in advance and $10 at the door.  For more info-
http://jazz-ensemble.mths.schoolfusion.us/modules/groups/integrated_home.phtml?gid=786876&sessionid=f7b6b31fe2fb40d7f3d98b213736d62b

You Melt Our Hearts!

Do you have a box of old crayons?  This might be a fun project for a snow day!  It will require close adult supervision because of the hot wax. Old crayons make great new crayons. This would be a good project for a wide variety of age groups.  I have always made recycled crayons in muffin tins but after a little search on the Internet I found out crafters use candy molds and cookie cutters, too. The photos show your child's Valentine card (shhh...keep it a secret, please!)  I used my Tupperware Popsicle mold and attached a return address label to the stick.  Because of the layered colors, these were a little time consuming but they were great fun to create plus the molds cleaned up nicely!

Also, check out the Crayola website for some fun FREE coloring pages.  There are pages with Disney fairies and princesses, Pixar Cars, Mickey Mouse, mosaics and much more! http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/

Here were the best how to's for making recycled crayons-

http://www.marthastewart.com/article/crazy-crayons

http://www.ehow.com/how_7618624_melt-color-crayons.html

Stay warm and stay sane!

Snow Day

Snow out the window falls down white and soft
I smile when I see that school's been called off!



Enjoy the day with your children!

My Impenetrable Cereal Box Fort version 3.0

Construction is complete!  It was great fun to watch the children arrive today and see the finished fort.  Talk about wide eyed!  We also had enough boxes to build an archway that extends out from the fort (see that Reeses cereal box?) to the block shelf.  I am going to have to build the arch higher next year.  I only built it tall enough for the kids and I to go under-so DUCK!

Do you want to build one at home?  You know you do. We save just cereal boxes (we will compare and contrast them on Wednesday or Friday) but you could use any clean box. Need directions? http://metamoracommunityprek.blogspot.com/2010/01/my-impenetrable-cereal-box-fort-part.html The key is lots and lots of hot glue.  How many boxes???  282

The Land Before Time

Young children are fascinated with dinosaurs.  I'm fascinated with dinosaurs!  We spent the last week learning about dinosaurs. Here is an overview-
*We introduced and used vocabulary words-fossil, extinct (or the kids say 'stink'), herbivores, carnivores and paleontologist.
*We also learned to identify T-Rex, stegosaurus, triceratops and brachiosaurus.  It is rewarding to see the children transfer this knowledge to the block center (where there are dinosaurs) and the dramatic play center. 
*On Wednesday, we went into the fellowship hall to 'measure' dinosaurs.  I have yarn measured out the height and length of the four dinosaurs.  It is really mind boggling to visually see the length of a brachiosaurus (envision the entire length of the fellowship hall). 
*The dinosaurs stencils in the art center have turned one of our bulletin boards into a Jurassic Park. 
*Magnets and word cards w/dinosaur names are on the blue cabinet.
*Our sand tub has 'dinosaur bones' in it for digging up fossils.
*On Friday, we graphed our favorite dinosaur.  Graphing allows us to introduce and use words like zero, equal, greater, least, more and less.
*We also had the children recall information and dictate a 'report' on Friday.  This will be sent home Monday.  The word 'dinosaur' will be in be bold and underlined.  Add to your child's storybook.

Listed below are some websites with great photos, videos and additional information on dinosaurs.  Please note that these are not children's websites (Smithsonian,  American Museum of Natural History and Discovery Channel).

http://photo2.si.edu/dino/dino.html

http://www.paleobiology.si.edu/dinosaurs/

http://dsc.discovery.com/dinosaurs/

http://www.amnh.org/science/

http://www.amnh.org/ology/index.php?channel=paleontology

If You Build It...

Construction on the cereal box fort has started!  This is our third fort and might be the biggest yet. The kids helped unload cereal boxes from all of our storage spots today.  We had cereal boxes stored everywhere.  We counted the boxes on the bottom row (42) and then the children looked at all the cereal boxes and guessed how many cereal boxes we have. Have your family look at the photo and have everyone give their best estimate.  I'll post the total we when we finish construction.  We should have the fort completed by Friday. HINT-Last year we used over 270 boxes!

The Owl Babies

Last week our MWF classes learned about owls.  This gave us an opportunity to use the word 'nocturnal' again.  We learned about nocturnal animals in October and so the children are very familiar with the word.  We read the book 'Owl Babies'  by Martin Waddell.  This is a wonderful story about three baby owls-Sara, Percy and Bill. If you don't have it, I would suggest it for your home library or pick it up the next time you visit the library. As I read this story,  I let the children say Bill's line which is "I want my mommy!" It is also available on YouTube.  Super cute video  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJe0WupukAw

Our owl craft had the children snipping the oval to create feathers for their owl baby.  It was fun to hear the children discuss which owl baby they were creating.  Ask your child which owl baby they created. 

We also had the children dictate what they learned about owls.  This will have the word owl in bold and a picture clue. Add the story to your child's story book.  The children are getting really good at recalling details and information they have learned.  Reading these stories at home not only helps your child with their emergent reading skills but reinforces the information they have learned.