Ocean week

Just before Easter, we spent the week learning about ocean animals. Of course we had TONS of fun things to go along with our lessons ... here are just a few!

We took a giant roll of paper outside and painted the ocean ... the beginnings of a mural that now hangs outside our classroom.

Adding glitter, sand, and stamped fish gives our mural a realistic feel.

Our ocean!

We made paper bag jellyfish, which we later added to the mural.

This ocean in a bottle was a huge hit with the kiddos! Find directions here. 

So proud, and so much fun!

Catching up ...

It's been a busy couple of weeks in K3, and our blog has suffered a bit because of it! I've tried to play catch-up today, so be sure to scroll down ... there are several new posts!

~ Mrs. LeeAnne

Down on the farm

Recent animal units have taught us all about ocean animals, jungle animals, and farm animals. During farm week, we got the opportunity to milk a cow ... sort of!

Mrs. Connie poured real milk into a disposable rubber glove, then tied it at the top. We poked small holes in two of the fingertips, and the kids pulled our homemade "udder" over a bucket ... milking our cow!

They loved it!

It was messy at times, but so much fun!

One of our students had so much fun, he pretended to continue milking as friends took their turns.

Once we came back inside, we gathered the children in small groups around the computer and watched video of a baby chick hatching. They were amazed!

Isn't God amazing?!?

Princesses, monkeys, and wolves ... oh my!

The kids are always so excited when we allow them to get out the dress-up stuff. Here are a few pictures of a recent dress-up day!

A princess pig!

Princesses photo-bombed by a piggy princess!

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Precious little monkey and wolf!

P is for Pizza!

When we featured letter P earlier this spring, one of our cutest activities was this child-sized paper pizza!

A paper plate provides the "crust," and red paint our "sauce." Paper pepperoni circles reinforce color, shape, and number lessons. (Not to mention the fact that pepperoni starts with P!)

Sprinkling the cheese! (paper crinkles)

Good friends always share!

Thanks to a local pizza restaurant, our paper pepperoni pizzas looked just perfect!

Let It Go

Like most American youngsters right now, our K3 kiddos are pretty obsessed with the Disney movie "Frozen." Our girls especially love singing the movie's hit song "Let It Go." They'll break into the song at random points throughout the day -- at snacktime, on the playground, while playing in centers ... sometimes even while on the potty!

One day last week, a chorus of "Let It Go" broke out on the playground, and I happened to capture some of it on video. Enjoy! 

Scenes from the bike-a-thon!

Today was a fun day at HVCS - our annual bike-a-thon! (Although, a more appropriate name for it might be "bike/trike/jog/scooter-a-thon ...) It's probably the only school fundraiser where our youngest kiddos can participate just as much as the older ones!

Students who brought riding toys were allowed to ride on one specific course; joggers followed a separate route. Most of our K3 students jogged, and we were amazed at their stamina!

After 10 minutes or so, fatigue started to set in ...

But we continued with the help of our friends!

"Come on, you can do it!"

Our bikers, on the other hand, seemed to never get tired!

I couldn't get enough of this little cutie who zipped around on her tiny bike -
with NO training wheels! 

After so much fun, we celebrated with popcorn and lemonade as a special snack!

What a fun day! Watch Thursday Mail in the next few weeks to see how much we raised for our school!

Windsocks

As we finished up our unit on weather, we learned about windy weather and enjoyed making a craft that the kids could use to experience the wind firsthand. Windsocks! 

We began by having the children decorate long, rectangular sheets of white paper.

Once they were finished drawing, we rolled the rectangles into cylinders, stapled them closed, and attached streams of crepe paper to the bottom. Two holes on top and a string threaded through provided a great handle to hold or hang the windsocks. You can even crease the corners and make a square instead of a circle, as one of our boys insisted on having! :~)

It was fun holding up our finished windsocks inside the classroom, but ...

... it was even more fun taking them outside!! 

April Fool's!

We were tickled today to get a glimpse at one dad's sense of humor ... check out the April 1 lunch he packed:

Of course he'd put a real lunch underneath the surprise items, but we all got a good laugh!