Hot Chocolate Is for Sale!

It started with a box and a cold day!  

So cold that we needed to find a way to warm up!

We decided to open a hot chocolate stand!  Everyone got busy setting things up.

These girls painted snowflakes on the fresh coat of white paint.

 Then we decided that we needed some sinage so that people would know what was for sale. G wrote, "HCIFSLL"  Hot Chocolate Is For Sale

F wrote his own sign too!  It is so rewarding to see these little ones realize that they can write, and that their writing conveys a message!

Time to Open!

We almost sold out on the first day.

F decided that we needed to say how much the cups would cost, so he added the sign that says 18 cents.  This was a perfect teachable moment to review how we write teen numbers.  This learning that we do embedded in play, is the very best of all!

Happy Customer!

Our menu stated that we had peppermints, but we didn't.

Not to worry. these girls got busy making up a batch in the art center.  

By the end of this play, over a week, we were all warmed up and ready for the snow!

Dominos

Community Adventure #2 is done!

In November we focus on "Feeling Thankful", thankful for food, family, and home.  Our food week has us learning all about making healthy choices among the food groups.  Today we visited Dominos for one of the best field trips ever.  

We cleaned our hands.

And pressed out the dough.

Then we put on the sauce.

Time for the toppings.

We noticed that pizza can have all of the food groups: grain, vegetables, fruit, and protein.

No one wanted these anchovies on their pizza as a source of protein.

Our pizzas came out perfectly.

We even used the bubble popper!

We boxed them up and put them in the heat window.

While we took turns baking, the other children toured the restaurant.  Mrs. Jamie showed us how they use technology to find our homes when we order pizza. We saw SDS on her computer screen!   

A trip to the cooler showed us where the cold food is stored.

Finally, we made boxes, colored them...

 
and put the stickers on.

Our last job of the day was to fill the wall with magnets.  Check!

These little pizza bakers had a great day at Domino's.  

This was such a valuable experience that they will never forget!

Thank you Domino's of Wallace for doing this for our preschoolers and thank you to the families who made our trip possible.

A Working Snack

On Tuesday of Fire Safety week we had a special, working snack. Being a 1/2 day preschool, we make the most of our time together and are always looking for ways to incorporate learning into all parts of our day.  This snack had us busy honing in our our listening skills-as we followed directions, learning to read a recipe, counting, developing spatial awareness, exercising our small muscles and strengthening our oral language skills, just to name a few!

Each child got a recipe and bag of materials.

They followed the directions step-by-step.

They helped each other, encouraged one another, and loved every second of being a chef for the day!

Thank you F for a fun snack!

And know you all know where the red icing came from on their clothes last week! 

How precious is it to hear them "reading" the recipe??

Rain, Rain Go Away!

I fancy myself a pretty creative person, especially when it comes to weaving lesson plans.  Each day includes time for spiritual, social, cognitive, physical, and artistic development for our children.  But I tell you, the 14 days in a row that it rained, I really started to run out of indoor physical activities...

So I got to the end of my creative rope and tied a knot.  I searched up ABC exercises.  What do you know, there are You Tube videos that will lead you right through the alphabet.  We stretched our bodies and brains right through indoor recess time.   

Once we did the whole alphabet, we each took turns sharing our favorite letter and stretch. B is demonstrating his favorite, along with many others', the Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, 

C's favorite required lots of balance! 

We will "stretch" our minds even further next time when we generate new words that begin with each letter of the alphabet and act them out.  I bet we could even make our own video that other kids could use on rainy days!  Maybe "F" is for flamingo, "W"is for worm, or "P" is for penguin!

Our First Community Adventure

In years past we have visited the library each month for story-time.  This year we decided to take story-time our into our community.  Today we gathered at the fire station in Wallace.  We had story-time first, and then snack.

We ate snack at the fire station, just like the fire fighters do.

Once again, our snack helper served up a delightful snack, perfect for our trip.

We had marshmallow fire hydrants, flame kabobs, and fruit roll up water hoses.

We invited the fire fighters to eat with us.  We really hoped that the alarm would NOT go off!

Next, it was on with the tour.  We saw the antique fire truck and the kitchen.

Did you know that firefighters have cubbies too?  

Ms. Lauren showed us how she can put her gear on in under 1 minute.

The boys and girls were fascinated by their cubbies.

We got to get inside the fire truck!

We had a nice talk with Mr. Taylor and learned that firefighters are our friends, no matter how they are dressed.

The children were so interested in what the firefighters had to share with us.  We are extremely proud of our Sunshine 4s!

SDS 4s, less 3 sick babies

We are so happy with our visit to Wallace Fire Department.  We will be back soon! 

Our next adventure takes us to the grocery store!

Good News ! We did it!

Here it is. The result of countless volunteer hours.  Generous donations. And something I didn't think we could ever have.  Today we purchased our first SMART board. 

As a private preschool, we are not elligible for most grants and fundraising programs like Boxtops for Education or Donors Choose. Overcoming little challenges like these make this accomplishment particularly sweet for us!  

Even better news is that we are getting the newest technology!  This SMART board does not use a projector. It is a complete touchscreen which allows 4 students to work on the board at once. One very good thing about this type display  is that it allows us to mount this unit on the wall close to the floor, so that it is easily accessible to  our little learners. 

We have SO much to learn and gladly accept this new challenge.  Can't wait to see what new doors this technology will open for our precious children. 

Here is what we already know. You all love and support this little school with all of your hearts. We are so grateful for each one of you who helped make this happen. If you put up posters for our consignment sale, shopped, told a friend about our sale, consigned with us, let us use your building rent free, partnered with us as a sponsor, prayed for us, built garment racks, bought lunch for us, or gave of your precious time... THANK YOU!  You are making a difference.