Grace Garden Preschool

The weather cooperated with our lesson plan this week, as the Ladybugs learned all about our next season, WINTER!

We started off the week painting with cold ice cubes, using powdered tempera paint. As the ice melted, the powder turned a beautiful blue. The children loved this, and they'll be proud to show your their art hanging in the hall. The Ladybugs also practiced their scissor skills on Wednesday when they cut snow flakes out of white construction paper. We hung them from the ceiling and are pretending it's snowing in our room. By Thursday, enough snow had fallen to make snowmen! The Ladybugs glued cotton balls to paper and formed precious little snow people as a result.

Speaking of cotton balls, the sensory table was filled with the fluffy little bits this week. The Ladybugs loved filling measuring cups with them, sorting them into piles, and tossing them into the air!

We worked on matching according to colors this week, when the Ladybugs matched pairs of paper mittens. They did such a great job with this! We also learned a new finger play, called Five Little Snow People. The Ladybugs are quickly learning that they have five fingers on each hand, and how to count them.

We had a camera on hand all week, as we tried to catch the Ladybugs enjoying various aspects of winter. We photographed them wearing their coats and trying on colorful hats, mittens, and scarves in the dramatic play center. We also took pictures as they sipped hot chocolate on the chilly playground on Thursday. We will make another book for our classroom, using all of the photos we printed. Please stop by our book shelf next week and have your Ladybug show it to you!

The children loved our book selections this week, as they were all about snow, something very mysterious to our little friends who grow up in Austin! We read Winter Rabbit by Patrick Yee, A Very Special Snowflake by Don Hoffman, and one of our favorites, Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner. This book illustrates all the fun snowmen have after everyone goes to sleep!

The Ladybugs were thrilled to welcome our new friend, Edie, to the gang this week. We're so happy you're a Ladybug, Edie! Next week, she will join us in learning different ways the holiday season is celebrated around our world.

We sure were happy to see your children's little faces on Tuesday! It's great to be back. Have a terrific weekend.

Love,
Ms. Shannon and Ms. Tammy