Springtime and Sunshine

This week has been great! We have played outside, watched our flowers GROW, and watched eggs sit!

We have our plants growing and GROWING on top of the microwave! We will be ready to plant our garden in a week! Which means, we have a lot to do to get ready!

We also have a box of silk worm eggs! We have about 20 eggs and we are waiting anxiously to see when they will hatch!

We ordered our caterpillars and ladybug larvae! They should be here in a week! :)

Easter!

Monday

· The Easter Story: Bible Sticker and Activity Book (This was a great find from Mardel’s!)

Supplies: The Easter Story: Bible Sticker and Activity Book

Activity: We will do a couple pages a day until we complete the Easter Story!

· Pattern Baskets

Supplies: picture of baskets with patterns colored across the top, pattern blocks

Activity: Use the blocks to imitate the pattern on the basket

Tuesday

· The Easter Story: Bible Sticker and Activity Book (This was a great find from Mardel’s!)

Supplies: The Easter Story: Bible Sticker and Activity Book

Activity: We will do a couple pages a day until we complete the Easter Story!

· Egg Chalk

Supplies: Egg shaped Sidewalk Chalk

Activity: Draw on the concrete with Egg shaped chalk!

Wednesday

· The Easter Story: Bible Sticker and Activity Book (This was a great find from Mardel’s!)

Supplies: The Easter Story: Bible Sticker and Activity Book

Activity: We w ill do a couple pages a day until we complete the Easter Story!

· Rabbit colors

Supplies: rabbits in different colors labeled with color words, plastic letters

Activity: Use the plastic letters to spell each color word

· Cookie Cutter Painting

Supplies: cookie cutters, paint, paper plates, construction paper

Activity: Use cookie cutters to dip in paint and “stamp” different pictures on construction paper. You could even use these to make Easter Cards!

Thursday

· The Easter Story: Bible Sticker and Activity Book (This was a great find from Mardel’s!)

Supplies: The Easter Story: Bible Sticker and Activity Book

Activity: We will do a couple pages a day until we complete the Easter Story!

· Easter Party

Click here to look at the Evite!

Other Activities:

· Felt Easter Egg

Supplies: felt cut in the shape of an egg, colorful felt cut in small shapes

Activity: Use felt to decorate Easter egg

· Dying Eggs

Supplies: Egg dying kit

Activity: This is a traditional activity that your kids will LOVE!

· Window Clings

Supplies: Window clings

Activity: This is another fun traditional activity that any kiddo will love!

· Resurrection Eggs

Supplies: Eggs filled with small pieces that tell the Easter story

Activity: Open one egg a day and discuss what is inside each egg.

· Bunny Race

Supplies: “Bunny Jumpers” found at Dollar Tree

Activity: Race the Bunny Jumpers across a room!

· Egg Sort

Supplies: Plastic eggs in different sizes and colors

Activity: Sort eggs by color one day and size the next!

· Easter Egg Hunt

Supplies: Plastic eggs (empty works best!)

Activity: Take turns hiding and finding eggs! SO much FUN!

Plants and Seeds

This couldn't fall at a better time! We are going to enjoy a week of plants and seeds as we prepare our garden and fix all the flower beds! It will be a great week to learn and get our hands dirty outside!!! :)

Here are some activities we will do this week as we have fun with SEEDS and PLANTS:

Monday

What Will Grow?

Supplies: various seeds, paperclip, rocks, shells, penny, soil, plastic cups

Activity: Let the children guess what can and cannot grow in soil.

Plant a seed

Supplies: plastic bags, cotton balls, lima beans

Activity: Put a lima bean and a moist cotton ball in a plastic bag. Hang the plastic bag in the window. You can also hang a couple more in various places to discover what plants need to grow!

Tuesday

From Seed to Sprout

Supplies: seeds, soil, cups, 6”x18” paper folded in half, glitter, brown paint

Activity: After planting some seeds, discuss how plants need nutrients from the soil to grow, as well as water, sunlight, and air. Paint the bottom half of the paper brown, like soil, and sprinkle glitter on top, like seeds.

(After your seeds start to sprout, you can paint little sprouts on the picture using your fingertips.)

Plants Use Water

Supplies: two stalks of celery, two cups, water

Activity: After looking at the celery very closely, place one stalk in a cup of water and the other in an empty cup. Observe the plants over the next few days.

Wednesday

Cupcake Flowers

Supplies: cupcake wrappers, seeds, green construction paper, glue, blue construction paper, glue

Activity: Cut the green paper to make a stem and leaves. Use the cupcake to make a flower and glue the seeds inside. Use a crayon to draw the details of the sun, dirt, grass, etc.

Rainbow Plates

Supplies: paper plates, watercolors

Activity: Cut the paper plates in half. Use the watercolors to paint a rainbow!

Thursday

Plants Use Water

Supplies: stalks of celery, celery from earlier experiment, 2 cups, water, food coloring

Activity: After looking at the celery very closely, discuss what happened to the celery that stayed in the water. Place the celery in the cups of dyed water. Observe the plants over the next few days.

Carrot Seed Graph

Supplies: baby carrots, orange/green paper, white paper, crayons, glue

Activity: After reading “The Carrot Seed” have them taste carrots. (You could use the carrots to make something yummy for dinner!) Make a graph titled “Do you like carrots?” Then ask around! You can post it on FB or call family and friends to ask. Check out the graph and make observations: more than, less than, equal, etc.

Other Activities:

• Seeds and Plants Book (Make a book using leftover seeds and seed packets. "When these seeds grow, they will become _______.")
• Discover Seeds (Place lima beans between a wet paper towel overnight. When you open the seed up, you can use a toothpick or tweezers to investigate the tiny plant that has started to grow inside!)
• Seeds Discovery Bottles (Make a discovery bottle using basil seeds and water. Keep this discovery bottle in the sun to make sure the seeds sprout in a few days!)
• Writing in Soil (Use the end of silk flowers to practice handwriting in soil.)
• Your Garden (Book from www.hubbardscupboard.org)
• Seeds (Book from www.hubbardscupboard.org)
• Spring Sentences (from www.pre-kpages.com)
• Flower Counting Game (Make a flower mat by drawing flowers on a paper. To play, roll a dye and cover that many flowers with cotton balls. Continue playing until all the flowers have been covered.
• Flower 1:1 Game (from www.pre-kpages.com)

St. Patrick's Day

Okay, so our first official week of "school" at home has begun!!! We have enjoyed talking about St. Patrick's Day this week! We had a St Patrick's Day party/playdate! I'm so thankful for my many friends who enjoyed being together in small spaces! The kids had a blast, and I think the adults did too!

On the menu, we had green peppermints, green gum, green gummies, green chocolate mints, Andes Mint cookies, green apples, green avacado, green grapes, green jello, green cotton candy, and shamrock-shaped peanut butter sandwiches, chips and guacamole, cookies, mint oreos,

All the activities, which are set up in centers, are located in the back yard! They included:

Magic Playdoh

• In these little balls of white or yellow playdoh, I have put a few drops of food coloring! When the kids squish the playdoh in their hands, they find a new color of playdoh! The white balls had green food coloring and the yellow playdoh had blue food coloring!

Mixing Playdoh

• I can't stand for my kids to mix playdoh! It is a pet peeve that I've had since I was a little girl! However, this is the one time of year that I will allow my kiddos to mix up the playdoh! They mixed blue and yellow playdoh
  

Green Bubbles

• What fun with bubbles! The kids enjoyed this fun treat!
  

Painting Rainbows

• Watercolors are so fun! They are especially fun when there's a pot of gold promised at the bottom!!!
  

Making Shamrocks

• The kids use green heart stickers to complete a shamrock picture! St. Patrick, a missionary to Ireland, used the common small plant to explain the Trinity of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
  

Pictures!

We got all the Wetzel cousins together to take pictures! They are so sweet and so cute!!!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Spring...

I just absolutely love Spring! The sun is so beautiful. The air seems so fresh. I love the echoes of the kids' laughter in the air! It is just so sweet!

Spring brings a passion to my teaching! I love to teach. But I really love to teach in Spring! Here is our tentative plans for Spring:

March 15-19

St. Patrick's Day

March 22-26

Plants and Seeds

March 29-April 2

Easter

April 5-9

Eggs

April 12-16

Farm

April 19-23

Bugs