Pancakes!

Day 2 of making pancakes with the kiddos! :)  The  2 day class had a blast and devoured the pancakes at snack time!  Pictures will be posted soon!

1 Hour Delay: Wednesday, January 29th

Thomas Edison is on a one hour delay for tomorrow.  Wednesday, January 29th, 2014

Snow Day, Baking Day!

A fun, and educational, way of passing the snow day with your child, or children, is to go to the kitchen and  bake up a storm!  Some of you may look at me like I am crazy, but baking is a great educational tool for young children.  Plus, it's fun!  When you bake with your child, you get the chance to make memories and share quality time together.  Your child can also learn while baking too.




Your child can get extra practice learning:

Shapes
Colors
Numbers
Measuring
Letters
Fine motor skills-Rolling, whisking, pouring, kneading, stirring
Sorting
Sequencing- 1st, 2nd, 3rd
Problem Solving
Comprehension skills
New vocabulary
Reading and Pre-reading skills
Making predictions
Sensory exploration
The 5 Senses
Creativity
Responsibility
Sharing
Kindness
Social/Emotional Skills
Cooperation

Selections on this list came from http://www.kids-cooking-activities.com/kids-learn-while-cooking.html .

Wow!!!  I know!  That's a lot of learning in a fun way!  I bake with the children at school.  Last year, we made Pumpkin Spice cookies with icing at Halloween and Gingerbread Cookies at Christmas Time.  The kids even got to ice their own cookie with a spoon! :)  (Note: My plan for this week, when/if we get back to school, is to make pancakes with the kids this week since we are learning about the letter P.)

So break out the cook books, have your child pull up a chair and start baking!  You can bake dad's favorite dessert, make cookies for a special neighbors, friends or family, or pay if forward and have your child help you make cookies for someone to help them learn about random acts of kindness.  Yes it can, and will, be messy, but your children will learn to clean up after themselves and so many other skills by doing this fun, simple activity.  It's a process, and they will have fun from start to finish!



Here are some great sites and Pinterest boards for ideas and recipes to use with your kids!

Happy Baking! :)


http://www.artfulparent.com/cooking-with-kids-35-fun-ideas-and-recipes.html

http://www.bettycrocker.com/menus-holidays-parties/bakewithkids

http://www.kidspot.com.au/best-recipes/Kids-cooking+5.htm

http://www.pinterest.com/lizwsmith/baking-ideas-for-kids/

http://www.pinterest.com/chelmsford0981/baking-with-kids/

http://www.pinterest.com/sarahjww/cooking-baking-with-kids/

No School: Tuesday, January 28th

Thomas Edison is closed tomorrow.  Tuesday, January 28th, 2014

Stay warm!

Miss Rachel

New snow day post! Go camping indoors!

Another snow day is upon us with the possibility of more to come.  Running out of ideas to keep the kids entertained?  Check out my three previous posts for themed snow day activities.
Here:   http://preschoolwithmissrachel.blogspot.com/2014/01/snow-dayfun-day-activities-to-keep-your.html     
Here: http://preschoolwithmissrachel.blogspot.com/2014/01/snow-day-day-2-sick-of-winter-throw.html  And here:  http://preschoolwithmissrachel.blogspot.com/2014/01/snowed-inday-3-movie-premiere.html

Today's theme is camping indoors!  Why wait until this summer to go camping?  Break out the blankets, pillows, flashlights, books or even the tent for camping fun indoors.  You can even make your own tent with blankets and bed sheets.  This will keep the kids busy for a while constructing the tent and they need to be creative to make sure the tent stays up and is usable.







Break out the Christmas lights to have stars!












Turn it into a camping slumber party complete with snacks, games, pj's, stuffed animals and a movie!  Camp out and sleep in the tent!






Let's lasso the moon.com has some great indoor camping ideas!  http://letslassothemoon.com/2012/04/04/lets-go-camping/

1. Make a Library Run. Check out some of these fun camping themed books:

• OLIVIA Goes Camping
• Curious George Goes Camping
• Just Me and My Dad (Little Critter)
• Just Camping Out (Little Critter)
• S Is for S’mores: A Camping Alphabet
• Maisy Goes Camping: A Maisy First Experience Book

2. Have a picnic. In our 5 tips for creating a memorable weekend adventure we recommend pitching a tent in the house. Don’t stop there! If it is raining, grab a blanket and have a picnic right there on the carpet. You can do a classic food picnic or try a “book picnic” with all the aforementioned titles. This usually works well with a few snacks!

3. Build a Fire. What’s a camp out without a fire? Kathy over at Home Sweet Homebody has directions on making these cute mini campfires. Click here for directions. Looking for a full size blaze? Allie from No Time for Flashcards has easy to follow directions!

4. Indoor Smores. I admit, I’ve made smores in the microwave before. Okay, if you are following my Gift of an Ordinary Day project on Instagram you know I secretly made one of these for myself after the girls went to bed just this week. Still something is lacking when you pop it into the microwave and watch that beast of a mallow grow and grow. Kathy over atMerriment Design hit the nail on the head, they need a little brown crispiness. Actually, in my personal opinion a “little burn.”

Oh look at these delicious babies… {drools} Click here for step by step instructions!

5. Sleep Under the Stars. A flashlight is a camper’s best friend. It makes a night walk magical and a dull living room entertaining. Stacy over at Kid*Stuff*World recommends using a colander and a flashlight to create a starry night on your ceiling. How cool is that? Thanks again to Stacy for the recommendation!

We are smitten with our new flashlights from Melissa & Doug. The AA batteries last f-o-r-e-v-e-r in these babies.  As a financially conscious mom, I have to say that ROCKS. Well, that and how cute they are. Rose laughs every time her bumblebee’s butt lights up.

Here are some Pinterest boards.  The important thing to remember with all of these themed snow day activities, be creative and have FUN!!!


http://www.pinterest.com/atrain24/indoor-camping-party/

http://www.pinterest.com/flgirl75/party-kids-camping-party/

http://www.pinterest.com/erinfrost/indoor-camping-party/

Closed today

Thomas Edison is closed today.   Monday, January 27th, 2014

Stay safe and warm!

Miss Rachel

One Hour Delay: Monday, January 27th

Thomas Edison is on a 1 Hour Delay for tomorrow.  Monday, January 27th, 2014

Winter Mural

The students had a great time making a snowy white winter mural.  On large sheets of bulletin board paper, I drew a winter scene and gave the students a supply of glue and cotton balls.  The students then glued cotton balls all over the mural to make the picture nice and snowy!  They had a blast!

Here are a few pictures!  The rest are under the pictures tab.

January Pictures

I just updated the pictures tab and added several new pictures from January.  Scroll all the way to the bottom.  Enjoy!

Cute Penguins!

Here is another cute project!  We have been talking and learning about winter animals and have read several books about penguins.  Since I rearranged the classroom over Christmas Break, I moved our Circle Time area and had a free bulletin board.  We made these cute penguins, boys with bow ties and girls with bows, and  added them to the bulletin board in the classroom. 

Here is a sneak peak of the project and I will post pictures of the bulletin board next week. :)

My Melted Snowmen

The three day class made this project on Friday.  "My Melted Snowman"  I LOVE how they turned out and this is another favorite project from this school year.  The kids did a great job!  It was cute because some of the kids wanted the place the pieces for the snowman in the correct place and we had to explain to them that the snowman melted into the puddle and they could scatter the pieces where ever they wanted! :)  They really enjoyed this project and created some creative melted snowmen.


Here are the pictures!

Posting soon!

Sorry I haven't posted lately!  I have been pretty busy and just didn't have to time to blog.  I plan on posting pictures and posts tomorrow.  I am also working on the February newsletter and looking for Valentine's Day and Winter Olympic themed activities and lessons for the month.  More info coming soon!  Also working on a random acts of kindness project, still getting it together.  Thought this would be great to use during Valentine's Day and the month of February.  I am still planning on doing the "Not a Box" lesson at the end of February and beginning of March.

Book Club orders are due this Friday, the 31st.

Again, with the possibility of bad weather this weekend and early in the week, IF there are any delays, I will post them as I am notified.

This is our last week for learning about snow, winter, and winter animals.  Hearts, kindness, Valentine's, and boxes start in February.

Keep checking back tomorrow for posts and updates!

One Hour Delay for Friday, January 24th

Thomas Edison is on a one hour delay for tomorrow.   Friday, January 24th, 2014

The bulletin board is finished!

I recently posted a picture of our unfinished bulletin board that is outside the room.  Here is the finished product!

After the students water colored the snowflakes, there were given the sentence starter "My snowflake is....." and were asked to give a word or short phrase that described their snowflake.  We then wrote the students answers on a small sentence strip and attached to the board beside their snowflake.  The students used the words pretty, beautiful, colorful, like a rainbow, dry, snowy, orange, pink, and many more!

Here are a few pictures of the painting process.

Monthly newsletter

The monthly newsletter will be coming home Monday and Tuesday.  Since we missed so many days last week, I had to tweak it a little bit and push lesson plans back a week.  The "Not a Box" activities will be in February.  I am also sending home the book order forms.  Scholastic was out of the Kindergarten orders, so I borrowed one from Mrs.Rhonda and made copies.  Orders are due January 31st.

New background!

Yes!  This is still the classroom blog! :)  I decided it was time to change the background.  What do you think? :)

Friday pictures

Here are pictures of our activities from Friday January 10th!  We had more fun with snow!

We continued to paint with the shaving cream/glue puffy paint.  This time, the students had to paint the first letter of their name and stay in the lines so you can see the letter.

This activity was really fun!  Another Pinterest idea!  Cut a piece of bubble wrap and lay it on table.  The students paint the bubble wrap with white paint, then take a sheet of paper and lay it on top of the painted bubble wrap.  The students gently smooth out the paper so the paint will transfer the paper.  Peel the paper off the bubble wrap and you get snow!

The letter L painted with puffy paint!

I opened the new Art Center today!  The students had so much fun cutting, gluing, coloring, and creating works of art!

Making snow with bubble wrap.

Working on the letter D!

Bubble wrap snow!

Art Center

New blocks in the block center.

 A finished bubble wrap snow picture and a finished free painting easel project.  The students painted what ever they wanted using white paint to make snow.  Thursday I added glitter to the paint to give it a rough texture.  Friday, I went a step further and added sand to give the paint a different rough texture.

Fun in the block center with the foam puzzle pieces and the road way numbers and shapes.  The students use Hot Wheels to trace the letters and shapes on the road way.

More fun with brick blocks and sponge stick blocks.

More fun with water coloring the snow!

Bubble wrap snow.