Windy weather

I know, I know ... I said the next blog post would include pictures from our Valentine's party. Those are on Mrs. LeeAnne's home computer; I never have it with me at school, and I never remember when I get home! I will try to upload them asap! In the meantime, enjoy some pictures of our windy weather experiments ...

We concluded our weather unit by learning about the wind. Using plastic straws, we made our own wind and did a little experiment, trying to move various objects with our wind and predicting which items would move and which would stay still. (We even graphed the results!) Everyone agreed that we'd be able to move a cotton ball with no trouble, but when we added counting bears, markers, and bottles of glitter, the predicting became harder! It was a lot of fun seeing what we were able to accomplish (and whether our guesses were right!).

Just blowing through the straws was a lot of fun too!

Next, we made windsocks! This is always a really fun activity; the students begin by coloring a large white piece of paper in any pattern they like ... the more colorful the better! 

Some of our students got very creative with their technique! :)

When they were finished drawing, we glued streamers to the edge and rolled it up into a cylinder (some preferred a square). We stapled that together, added a string so the kiddos could hold it, and then had fun waving them through the air. But the best was taking our windsocks out into the gym and turning on the big fans! 

Learning is so much fun! 

Rainmakers and creepy-crawlies!

As we continue our Weather unit of study, we started learning about storms and rain. We listened to rain, wind, and thunder sounds on Mrs. LeeAnne's iPhone, and we even made our own clouds, complete with blue rain!

This is a fun activity ... just squirt shaving cream on the top of a clear cup of water, then add a few drops of blue food coloring. It takes a few minutes for the "rain" to makes its way out of the "cloud," but when it does, the kids' faces were so excited!

Cold rainy weather means we have to have recess indoors. Keeping the students entertained indoors can sometimes be a challenge, but when we borrowed these little rollers from our p.e. teacher there was no boredom whatsoever!

Some students knew exactly what to do, and others needed a little extra help. Either way, these toys give them great exercise in physical positions they don't often find themselves.

Stay tuned for photos from last week's Valentine's party! Also, if any parents have photos from our Chapel service last week (when we did "Pups of the Spirit," please forward them to Mrs. Connie so we can put them on the blog!

Playing catch-up

We've been so busy studying weather and getting ready for Valentine's Day (not to mention Monday morning's chapel service!) that it's been harder to find the time to blog. Here's a hodgepodge of photos, showing what we've been doing and catching you all up on our fun!

A live version of "Spot the Differences" -- we changed the winter attire of our Child of the Day, and the students had to observe what was different each time.

We were visited by a pediatric dentist's office--we learned how many teeth we have, how many we will have, and the correct ways to brush!

After our visit with the dentist, we pretended our paintbrushes were toothbrushes, and we "brushed" these yellow teeth until they were white!

During letter P week, we spread pink paper on the floor and popped popcorn! The children were so funny--one little boy even tried to catch it in his mouth as it flew out of the popper!

Sweet friends!

During Q week, as we read the Bible story about Queen Esther we realized that Hickory Valley has its very own Queen Esther! (She truly is the queen; if it weren't for her, we'd all be lost!) Armed with crown, a cape, and a toy sword and crown, we invited her into the gym for a special coronation ceremony! 

Finally, I love this shot. I was reading a story to these cozy kiddos on the rug (top photo). Next time I looked up, we had a new "student" lying on her tummy! Mrs. Connie is so silly!

Funny things they say, round 2

Our students crack us up on a daily basis with the things they say ... they are SO funny! Mrs. Connie and Mrs. LeeAnne try to write down the best one-liners, but there's a lot that gets past us. Here are some of the funniest, going back all the way to Thanksgiving.

• "I want to ride on a dolphin with Brody and Harris!"
• One little boy yelled in the face of one of our little girls, prompting her to declare, "This is the worst day ever!"
• After we pick Child of the Day, we go around our circle, sharing what is special about that child. One particular little boy was unhappy that he wasn't Child of the Day, and when his turn to share rolled around, he said with a frown, "I don't WANT to talk about Harris." This same little squirt later declared, "I didn't do ANYFING" when asked to apologize. 
• "When I grow up, I want to be a yellow crayon-giver."
• Back in November, as we were reviewing the first Thanksgiving, Mrs. Connie asked the children who was in America when the pilgrims came. The answer, of course, was the Native Americans, but several of our students immediately yelled "Jesus!" as their answer. (When all else fails, Jesus is a pretty darn good place to turn...) :-)
• During November, we also reviewed U.S. holiday traditions. Mrs. Connie declared that "everyone" eats turkey on Thanksgiving. Mrs. LeeAnne, who is a vegetarian, reminded her that not everyone eats turkey. When Mrs. LeeAnne told the class that she eats a vegetarian form of turkey at Thanksgiving, all of the kiddos said "Ewwwww." 
• Today, one of our girls enjoyed showing off her new shirt, which featured a pink ninja. Later, another classmate declared, "That shirt is AMAZING."
• Lately, we've had to get onto our boys for being a little wild. One day, we offered the girls a tiny treat - one conversation heart - as a reward for being good. (We hoped this might motivate the boys to try harder next time.) One boy looked Mrs. Connie square in the eye and sternly told her, "I am very much disappointment in you." 

P is for PIZZA!

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