P is for PIZZA!

During P week, we had a great time making Personal Pepperoni Pizzas out of Paper! 

Hot chocolate, plus a new twist on an old game!

As our northern neighbors wait for a real snowstorm to arrive today, here in K3, we're reading lots of story books about snowy weather. To go along with our cold stories today, we sipped hot chocolate while listening! The children loved it!

And though it has nothing at all to do with cold weather, I have to post these photos from last week's Spanish class. We absolutely love the new HVCS Spanish teacher, Mrs. VanderHart. Before coming to Hickory Valley she taught high school Spanish, so she's had to adapt her style a bit in order to work with our preschoolers. But we have been so impressed by the things she does. Last week, she led the K3's in a fun game of Pato Pato Gonzo ... known to us as Duck Duck Goose. The kids caught on really well!

Here are a couple of cute videos too ... at one point, it seemed like we were playing Cat Cat Goose instead (cat = gato). 

Cozy, warm photos on a cold, rainy day

So I have tons of blog catch-up to do, but I couldn't resist sharing these photos of our precious children napping today. There's nothing like watching a sleeping child to remind you that there is innocence and perfection in this fallen world.

Just before nap, these three girls snuggled together under a blanket ...

When I look at these photos, it's hard for me to imagine a better job than the one I have! 

Happy weekend!

Show & Tell

We had so much fun seeing the Christmas gifts our students brought in for last week's show and tell! It was obvious that Frozen items were popular with the girls, while the boys received lots of cars and Transformers items.

This RC walking dog was too cute!

Cars and trucks!

Everyone -- boys included -- loved trying this blender and kitchen mixer!

Three cheers for Thomas!

Optimus Prime (I think ...) :)

A superhero house ... complete with heroes like Batman!

Beautiful Elsa!

More superheroes!

And more Transformers!

Our K3 students must have been VERY good last year ... Santa brought lots of fun items!

Welcome back weather

We are officially back into the swing of the school year after a restful Christmas break! January's unit of study is weather, and we will spend the month learning about winter weather, storms, snow, rain, and wind. Yesterday, we did an experiment to discover the effect of temperature on water. 

While playing with simple cups of water, we discussed how the water is a liquid; it takes the shape of whatever container it's in. But if the temperature changes significantly -- i.e. it becomes very cold -- it turns into a solid. Ice! We put our cups into the school freezer and practiced patience (this week's letter of the week is P, after all!) while waiting to see how it would change. Meanwhile, we went outside for recess and discovered this all over the ground ...

ICE!!

Now normally we might discourage our kiddos from playing with ice, but since it was so perfectly linked to what we'd just discussed, we let them go to town on it. We felt how cold it was, we slid our feet over it, and we (carefully) threw it onto the pavement to watch it break into smaller pieces. The children loved it!

The playground had nothing on this pile of ice!

Here's a short video of the children playing in the ice:

The day after our water/ice fun, our Child of the Day reminded me that we needed to check on "our ... our ... that stuff we did yesterday!"

Sure enough, it had turned into a solid ... ice!