2012-2013+3K+What+Happened+Today?

=WELCOME TO "WHAT HAPPENED TODAY?"= On this page you will find Mrs. Otten's blog of what happened in the classroom on a daily basis. Reading this blog will give you a snapshot of what your child experienced in school. Sometimes there will literally be snapshots (photographs) of things we did or made THE LAST DAY OF 3K! We began our day together with our morning routines, but Mrs. Otten was taking her turn for all the jobs today. Some of us were disappointed that we did not have a job, but excited to be taking home our helper hands. We talked about our day and read a book about shoes. It was a guessing book, and some shoes were hard to figure out. We talked about what shoes are made from and then did a silly echo song about alligators (don't use him as a shoe!!) Then our parents came to school! We were so excited to see them, sing for them, play gym games and use the parachute with them, and then to have a delicious lunch in our room. Then it was time to unpack that cubbie for the last time, hugs (and a few tears), and we are off to summer vacation and 4K next year! It was a great year! Can't wait to hear about all your summer adventures and to see how much you grow over the summer! Could this really have been the last "regular" day of 3K? Where has the time gone? We were happy to celebrate an early birthday with Tyler today. In honor of Sanjukaa, we sang "Namaste" instead of hello, which is the greeting that she will soon be using in her new school when she returns to India. Join us in praying for her safe return and her ability to become reoriented to her culture and life in India. Today we practiced the songs we will sing for you on Thursday. We went outside for gym, playing //Red Light, Green Light// and //Steal the Cookies//. Then we took a walk around the block and looked at all the signs of spring. When we came in we had a suitcase surprise, seeing what things float and what things sink. Our Bible story about Paul was about a shipwreck and how God kept his promise to keep everyone safe (even thought the ship broke apart and some of the people had to hold onto the wood to float into shore). We enjoyed Tyler's Ninja Turtle cupcakes and bag snacks for our snack. We did not have much time for book reading, but we had about 20 minutes for choice time. We colored our favorite outfit in our //What Will I Wear// book (we had colored the shoes last time) and we added our photo. We can add more colors to the book at home. At the end of the day, Mrs. Otten talked about our last day together and reminded us to bring our backpacks for all our "stuff". We were glad to all be together again today. Today we celebrated Sanjukaa's birthday. She brought treats for us to eat and she brought a gift for each of us as well! After our morning routines, Miss Roekle read us another story of Paul and how God kept him safe. We enjoyed our outdoor time in the nice spring weather and then came in and learned more about clouds. Miss Roekle did a demonstration of how rain comes from cumulonimbus clouds using water, shaving cream and food coloring. Some of us thought we might ask our parents for the ingredients so we could show our family too. During our snack Mrs. Otten read a book about growing up and then we sang some new verses to our //I Am Growing// song that were in the book. Our project was to begin a book about different things we wear and to add to our yearbooks. **The teachers almost forgot about show and tell!** Good thing that Kyra reminded us. We finished our day with show and tell, and we showed something with our favorite color. We were all in school again and we began our day learning about Tyler's special news: a new baby sister in his family! Her name is Penny. We counted our numbers and did our weather. We sang some songs and then Miss Roekle read us the story of Paul and Silas and how they sang even when they were in jail. For gym we warmed up with our days of the week song and then Miss Roekle had balloons for us to use for tossing and catching. After a fun time with the balloons, we played a moving games with music and different colored hoops and markers. Some of us have already learned how to skip! Most of us can gallop and hop. All of us can walk, run, jump, and slide. Phineas brought our snack today. During snack Miss Roekle read the book //Little Cloud//. After snack we had a suitcase surprise: cotton balls! But we pretended they were clouds and Miss Roekle told us about the different kinds of clouds. She read a book about the shapes that clouds can make. We heard a pattern in the story and helped to read the story. We made our own cloud pictures for our project today. During our choice time, we had a fire drill! Kyra even had to leave the room in dress up shoes! But we learned that we have to stop right away and get out of the building for our fire drill. At the end of the day Miss Roekle reminded us about show and tell next time. Another day to be together and be friends and sing and learn! We only have a few more days together. What a bittersweet time for us as teachers! Many of our friends will be back at SCS next year, but we will be saying good bye to others in just a few short weeks. We have grown up so much in the past few months! Miss Roekle read a story about growing up today and we began to put together our 3K "yearbooks" that we will get on the last day of school. We were weighed and measured. We had a Bible story about Paul going over a wall in a basket! We were excited to go outside to exercise our bodies and get fresh air. Miss Roekle read a book at snack about the things that moms do best and the things that dads do best. We love our moms and dads and are excited to give you the gifts we made (dads might have to wait until Father's Day, however!) We were all in school on this lovely day! Miss Roekle was our teacher today. We did our morning routines and then we went right to gym because our gym time was set up with 12 stations and we needed a lot of time for gym. We used balls, did some balancing, used the scooters, and a hula hoop. We did jumping and crab walk and threw swim rings over a cone. After gym we had our Bible story about a man named Saul who was an enemy of Jesus, until Jesus changed his heart (and he changed his name to Paul!) We had a special snack from Faith! It looked like a flower in a flower pot, but the flower pot was full of chocolate cupcake and cookie crumbs (and even a worm!) We had a story about Dads and worked on our Dad surprise for our project. Today we had a new calendar to look at. We saw that there were some birthdays, some NO SCHOOL days, and a special day for Moms. Faith counted the numbers with the star wand. We talked about rules and laws and had a Bible story about Peter, who was put in jail for talking about Jesus. His friends prayed for him and God sent an angel to get him out of jail. We talked about things that we pray for. We lined up to go outside, and then Mrs. Otten realized we had talked so much that it really was time for the big kids to have recess. So we had our snack first and then went outside to play. Emma brought a snack with choices. Miss Roekle read us our snack story and our story before project time. Sorry! We can't tell you what our project was. It is a surprise! Last day of April! That means we only have 7 days together! Our year together seems to have gone by so quickly, until I consider how tentatively we began the year and how we now are eager and excited to see each other and interact with each other each day! It was wonderful to see the children sing so confidently to their grandparents a couple weeks ago! They have grown up so much! Today we were missing Lincoln. We prayed for him and hope we can all get and stay healthy for our last 7 days. Sanjukaa counted the numbers for us. We had to count all the way to 30. We showed Phineas the signs for our new song, //If I Were a Butterfly// and we also sang //Friends Love One Another.// We had a Bible story of Dorcas, who showed love and helping by sewing for others. She got sick and died, but it was a miracle! Peter prayed and she became alive again. After Bible we played in the gym with beach balls. Miss Roekle read a book about flowers during snack and then read a BIG book to us called //The Tiny Seed.// The tiny seed became the biggest flower! She showed us how we were going to use the plates we painted with the spinners to become our own giant flowers. We had project and choice time and then Miss Roekle got to pick our hand stamp because Lincoln was gone. Today we were sad that Phineas was gone, but we were happy to see Kyra back in school. We were excited to see "outdoor play" on our schedule! We learned a new song //(If I Were a Butterfly).// We had the story of Philip teaching a man about Jesus. After our outdoor time, we had the story //The Scarecrow's Hat// and we learned the meaning of the word "swap". We had a delicious snack from Abby of pretzels and banana bread and then we had just a short time for books. Miss Roekle read us the story of Fran and her flower and then we used a spinner to make our own flowers. At the end of the day we had show and tell. We each were excited to show what we brought and we listened intently to each other, as well. Today we welcomed Miss Roekle to school! We also had a family visiting who was checking out what 3k was like. Unfortunately, Kyra was sick today. We were waiting for a couple friends, so we started our day a bit late. So we changed our schedule and did gym before our Bible story. We played relay games in gym: running and finding markers; running with beanie babies; and doing animal walks. After gym we talked about waiting and then we had our Bible story about Jesus's helpers who had to wait for his Spirit to come. When the Spirit came, they could also talk a different language. After our Bible story, we learned about staying safe during dangerous weather (tornado) and learned how to "duck and cover". Tyler brought our snack and we enjoyed our crackers, cheese, and "Cars" fruit snacks. We made a project with cutting and sticky dots (that were not sticky enough, so Mrs. Otten had to add tape on top of our dots). Our suitcase surprise was a special thank you treat for our good singing for our grandparents: an ice cream cone coupon! We were **//very// excited** about grandparents day. Adding to our excitement was our different schedule and different teacher (Mrs. Kiel had to be home with a sick child, so Mrs. Balint filled in beautifully! We enjoyed singing with our grandparents and doing different activities together. Here is a small sample of our day:
 * May 23, 2013**
 * MAY 21, 2013**
 * May 16, 2013**
 * May 14, 2013**
 * May 9, 2013**
 * May 7, 2013**
 * May 2, 2013**
 * April 30, 2013**
 * April 25, 2013**
 * April 23, 2013**
 * April 18, 2013 GRANDPARENTS DAY!**

It was a GREAT day because we were all back in school today! After table time and our morning routines we again practiced the songs we will sing for our grandparents. In gym we warmed up with //Body Rock// and then we had twelve different activity stations! We had time to do all the stations! We worked on our balance, our aiming, our bounce and catch and toss and catch with a ball, and our visual tracking with a balloon. We worked on the strength in our legs and arms and got our hearts pumping as we ran and skipped and moved all different ways around the cones. After cleaning up the gym and carrying the equipment back to our room (we are such great helpers!), we had the Bible story of Jesus going back to heaven. Even though his body is in heaven, we know that he is always with us with his spirit. Sanjukaa brought our snack and we all were able to get our straws in our juice bags! We had a story called //40 Uses for a Grandpa// during snack and the story //41 Uses for a Grandma// after snack. We colored a picture of a grandpa and a grandma and we got to tell why our grandparents are the greatest. Today we STILL only had one boy in school, as Phineas was still in Haiti and Tyler was still sick. We hope to see everyone back in school on Tuesday! After our morning routines and practicing the songs we will sing for our grandparents, we had our Bible story about Jesus appearing to his disciples after he rose from the dead. He had a special body and could even come in rooms that were locked. At first Thomas did not believe that Jesus was alive, but Jesus showed him His hands and feet and Thomas believed! We talked about the new bodies we will get in heaven someday, too. We took a drink break, and discovered that most of us can reach the bubbler without using the stool now! We **//are//** growing! After our drink our suitcase surprise was a noisy one...our rhythm instruments. We used them to tap out patterns, play slow and fast, and then we tried all the different instruments. During snack we had a story about Arnie who did not have grandparents he could invite to his grandparents day. He was sad about that. But on grandparents day, he had SIX people who cared about him and became his pretend grandparents. We said that we could invite pretend grandparents to our grandparents day, as well. After our book time, we had a BIG book about the very hungry caterpillar. We learned that a butterfly's wings have the same pattern on them and then we practiced making our own matching wings. Our project was to turn our footprints into butterflies that we will give to our grandparents. We started our day thinking that there were only going to be girls in school, but were happy to have Lincoln join us after gym. Our friend Phineas is in Haiti this week. We practiced our throwing form in gym and then we had lots of practice in throwing by playing "clean up your backyard". We divided in two groups and tried to throw the balls on our half of the gym into the opposite half of the gym. The most amazing thing happened: when the game was done, we //still// each had 20 balls in our "backyard"! After gym we practiced the songs we will be singing for our grandparents and then had a snack that Kyra brought. During snack we read a book that was two books in one. After snack we compared some the pages, looking for similarities and differences. Then we found out that our project was going to involve getting paint on our FEET! We enjoyed playing together during our choice time, as well. Most of our day was taken up with our field trip to the YMCA. We had so much fun jumping, and going in the "whale" and climbing, and swinging, and balancing. We enjoyed our bus ride and we all were able to take care of our own socks and shoes!!!! We are growing up so fast! When we got back, we had our first LOUD fire drill (but we knew it was just a practice and we did not get upset).We enjoyed a muffin snack from Emma and then we emptied our banks a bag with the money from the 4K. IT WAS VERY, VERY HEAVY! We each tried to lift up the bag. We read an opposite book and learned about "speech bubbles" in books. Next week Phineas heads to Haiti, so he will be very much in our prayers! Back to school! We were sorry that Tyler was sick, so we prayed for him and for those of us that still have colds, and for Abby's trip to see Grandpa and Grandma. Sanjukaa chose the pointing finger wand to count the 1-2 for our calendar today. Faith saw sunny, blue sky for the weather. We read the Easter story and then learned a song about it with lots of jumping and shouting "hosanna". For gym we put a silly band on the arm of our throwing hand and put tape of the toe of the opposite foot so we could learn the overhand throw. We did great! We threw bean bags and balls. Faith brought pink lady bug cupcakes and we had an Easter ABC story. Then we practiced our opposites; hearing a story about Jumbo and Tiny and then deciding if what we chose out of the suitcase was an opposite to what Mrs. Otten showed. We saw how we were going to paint with our fingers (but not get them dirty!) and then had project and choice time. Phineas noticed that the saw he was holding looked like letter P so Mrs. Otten helped him to find other tools to spell his name. We did pretty good, don't you think? Updating from Bowling Green, Kentucky! Today we were glad to see Kyra and Tyler back at school. We prayed for Phineas, who is already in Florida. Today Emma counted the calendar numbers with the flip flop wand. Sanjukaa put up sunny and blue sky for the weather. We sang our Zaccheus song. We took some time to talk about what scares us. For most of us the dark, shadows, and scary dreams are what we fear. We heard the Bible story of when the disciples were afraid because of a storm. Jesus stilled the storm and told them not to be afraid, but to trust. We sang our song about trusting in God. We had a story with many funny rhyming words and pictures and then we practiced matching rhyming words. We had snack and read a book about a rainy day. Then we did a "What's Missing" activity. We are very observant and noticed most of the missing things. We had a project with dot markers and coffee filters that will become umbrellas for our room and we had choice time. See you in 12 days! Oh no! We've been bit by the sickness bug! We were missing Kyra, Tyler and Mrs. Kiel. Mrs. Kiel was not sick, but her son, Jackson, got sick at school, so she left to take care of him. We prayed for you, friends, and hope to see you back next time! Today Abby counted the calendar numbers with the ladybug wand. Emma chose matching weather to yesterday: cloudy and windy. We had the Bible story about Zaccheus and how being with Jesus changed his heart. In gym we warmed up with a song that had us moving a different way for each kind of music and then we had to remember how to move when we heard the music a second time. Then is was PARACHUTE TIME! We enjoyed pulling it and raising it up high and crawling in the waves. After gym we had a room snack and listened to a story called //Chicken Soup with Rice.// After our own book time, we had our suitcase surprise. We played a counting game with a partner. It was just like the centers we will have in 4K. Our project had us using crayons on the heat tray again. We are decorating our room with raindrops and umbrellas. We had a lot of fun today, and we learned some things, too! We were sorry that Tyler did not get to enjoy this day with us. We came to school in our pajamas and slippers and had our favorite sleeping cuddle with us. We first learned the sign language for night, day, and angels and then sang //All Night, All Day (Angels Watching Over Me).// We had a big book story called //Good Night, Gorilla// and we took turns telling about what was happening in the story by looking at the pictures. They we got to do some moving and pretending: imagining that someone gave us special shoes while we slept.We had another story about sleeping that had photographs for the illustrations and then we acted out the story //Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.// Abby was the momma and Phineas was the doctor. We had a story about our favorite monkey, Curious George, and we learned about the meaning of curious. George made pancakes and, guess what? We made our own pancakes, too! Our suitcase surprise was a box of pancake mix and chocolate chips, and a pancake cooker. Guess what shape pancakes we ate? We learned how to measure ingredients carefully and then we had choice time, cooking two at a time. After choice we had bedtime story time. One story was a noisy story and we used spoons to make the clang,clang sound of the story. One story had lots of rhymes. Our last story was about Polly and her pink pajamas. Such a fun, busy day. We "fell asleep" at the end of the day and our grown-ups had to wake us up to go home! Today we did our morning routines and sang some songs and then had our Bible story. We began by thinking about what we like to eat for lunch and then we told what we were thinking. Our story was about a boy with a lunch of 5 rolls and 2 small fish. When Jesus prayed, he did a miracle and fed 5,000 people with that little lunch and there was even 12 baskets of food left over! We each got to taste a piece of roll on our way to the gym. In the gym we moved like clowns for our warm up song. Then we moved all around the gym until the whistle blew. When we heard the whistle, we ran to a number. If Mrs. Otten rolled our number we got to give a big "Hip, Hip, Hooray" cheer. After moving many different ways, we got a turn to "perform" as a clown on the mats. We rolled sideways, rolled over, jumped, ran, and wiggled. After gym we had cookies and juice bags that Kyra brought for snack. We all took the straws off our juice bags and poked them in our juice bag! We are getting more and more independent! During snack and after snack we had stories with rhyming words. Our suitcase surprise clue was, "What can you see in the snow or mud that shows that an animal has been there?" We correctly guessed: his tracks. We looked at the animal tracks poster and matched the animals to their tracks and then learned that our project was making tracks with shoes and paint. After choice and project time, we talked about PAJAMA DAY! Our friend, Faith, was still enjoying the Florida sunshine, so there were just 7 of us today. We looked at our new March calendar, noticing lots of NO SCHOOL days and our special jammie day. Tyler used the dolphin wand to count our numbers. We sang //This Little Light// and //Say to the Lord// and then had our Bible story of Jesus making a little girl alive who had gotten so sick that she died. Jesus told her father, **"//Don't be afraid! Just believe!"//** And these were our new Bible words to learn, so we learned the sign language for this verse. After our Bible story we had a story about "the relatives" (we first had to talk about what that word means.) then we did our show and tell about something our family likes to do together. Phin brought our delicious snack of crackers, cheese, sausage, and juice and we heard another story about families. After our snack and book time, we had our suitcase surprise. SURPRISE! It was mat man again! We made him all together and then made him with a partner. We did a family project, talked about our field trip, and then went outside to play in the snow. Small group today, but we could make lots of patterns with our group since we had 3 girls and 3 boys and 3 green shirts and 3 not. We counted all the way to 28 (Mrs. Otten used the heart wand since Faith was gone) We sang //Jesus, I Love You// and then moved our bodies like animals. We thought about how we would have to move if lour legs didn't work. (Emma figured out how to scoot and pull her legs and we all tried it). Our Bible story was about a man whose legs did not work. His friends brought him to Jesus but could not get in the door of the house where Jesus was. They went throught the roof and Jesus healed the mand AND forgave his sins. After our Bible story, Kyra passed out her snack and we used all five of our senses to experience the snack. We had a book about our five senses as well. After snack we felt the textures in our //Touch and Feel// book. Last time we had suitcase surprise we could NOT use our eyes. This time we could ONLY use our eyes to find the missing things from the snowman picture.We made another book for our project and //**we can read our own** books!// Check out our "book dedications" as well. After project and choice time, we got on our snow things and had a super time on the super huge snow pile on the parking lot! After table time and our morning routines, we headed to the gym. We warmed up with a wiggle song and then did the same stations as last week. We are getting more skilled, stronger, and braver with every opportunity we have to experience the gym activities and equipment. After gym, we had a Bible story about Jesus healing the man who was blind. We practiced our Bible words. Sanjukaa brought a delicious snack of crackers, cake, and juice bags. We were hungry from all the morning's activities. After snack we had a guessing game in our suitcase. We had to guess what was in a sock by feeling with our hand! Then we had a story about Lucy who made a picture for her grandfather who was blind. Instead of painting, Lucy had to glue things to paper for him to feel. We made a book that we could feel the pictures as well. It was a long project, but we had great perseverance to complete it! At the end of the day we found out that there is a field trip next week! We are looking forward to our bus ride! Lincoln picked a red heart for our hand stamp and Emma chose number four (the wave) for our goodbye. Today we were all in school and Mrs. Kiel was back with us! After our table time, we sang our hello song soft and loud! We talked about things we wanted to pray about and had our morning prayer. Then we found out our schedule and our jobs. Emma counted the calendar numbers with the rose wand. Sanjukaa said our weather was windy and cloudy. We had a Bible story about a boy who left home and a father who welcomed him back again. We sang a silly song and acted out the parts of the song: the rocking chair, the fan, the scissors, the gum and the bubble. We looked at picture cards and put them in order and told about the pictures. Kyra was our line leader and our snack person. She brought blueberry muffins and there was a blueberry muffin in the story Mrs. Otten showed us. It was another picture story without words and we helped figure out what was happening on each page. After our book time, we had the story //Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too?// After hearing the story, we "read" it again, using the pattern we heard. We took turns asking the question about mothers. Our project was done like the illustrations in the book using fingerpaint. We experimented with lots of different things to make patterns in the fingerpaint. Today we had Mrs. G. for our helper so Mrs. Kiel could stay home and take care of sick children. We prayed for her and her family. Today we started in the usual way with table time and our circle time. We went to gym first so we could be out by the time the big kids needed it for their break time. We only were able to do about half of our stations, so we will do the stations again next week! We had a Bible story about another lost thing. Jesus wants us to know that God is looking for people who don't believe in Him. The angels have a party when someone decides to believe in God. Tyler had a lot of things to pass out for his snack. Most of us only ate one thing and saved the other. During snack we looked at a book that had pictures and no words and we used our words to tell what the story was about. After snack, our suitcase surprise was picture cards that we got to put in order and tell the story from the pictures. This is what we did for our project, too. At the end of the day, we reviewed our Bible words. After a long table time, we sang our hello song //fast// and then looked at our schedule and our helpers for the day. Phineas counted with the rocket wand and we sang our day of the week song. We sang two songs about love-loving each other and loving the Lord-and then we went to gym. In gym we warmed up with the snow song and our paper snowballs, moved around the circle and froze when we heard the whistle, and moved to the //In My Heart// song. We got our hearts pumping with the mailbox relay game and then played a chasing game called //A Tisket, A Tasket.// After gym we had a story called The Big Stain and we said that it would help us remember that sin is like a big stain and we need Jesus to help us clean up that stain! Mrs. Otten did not know the right signs for our Bible words, so we will have to do that next time! Faith passed out the snack she brought and we had a valentine story. Our suitcase surprise was the banks that we decorated and took home today. We can fill those with coins to help children in Africa to have money for lunch. At choice time, some of us played with some "fake snow". Take a look at the fun we had: Hooray! The 3K class is staying healthy (except for those pesky runny/stuffed noses). Today Kyra counted our heart calendar numbers with the heart wand! Then we sang the days of the week song. We had our Bible story in a different place so Mrs. Otten could show us the story Jesus told about the wise and foolish builders. We want to do want God tells us so we are like a house on the rock! After a drink we had our suitcase surprise. It was easy to guess; it was valentines! We did a valentine song and then went on a valentine hunt and then made patterns with our valentines. After snack and book time, we heard a valentine story and then made our bags for collecting valentines. Then we got to go outside in the snow!!!! We did a great job following the pictures and getting our stuff on "in order". The snow was really easy to pack into snowballs and we made some snowmen on our window sill. After table time, we went to the carpet for our circle time. We noticed a new calendar! There is one special day on this calendar for us: Valentine's Day! Tyler used the happy face wand for counting our numbers and Kyra saw that the weather was the same as yesterday: cloudy and snowy. We started our day with the Bible story of Jesus welcoming the children. We knw that Jesus loves us, too!. In gym we warmed up our muscles by dancing and moving to //The Freeze.// Then we did a circuit of activities that would make us stronger, more flexible, and work on our balance. We helped clean up the gym and then had our bathroom break. Abby brought muffins for us, which we enjoyed.During snack, Mrs. Otten told us to be sure to bring our snow clothes next time so we can play outside at the end of the day. After our book time, we heard the story //The Mitten// about a boy who lost his white mitten and it was found by the animals. We found out about our project: hearts to decorate our hallway for Valentine's Day.
 * April 16, 2013**
 * April 11, 2013**
 * April 9, 2013 **
 * April 4, 2013**
 * April 2, 2013**
 * March 21, 2013**
 * March 19, 2013**
 * March 14, 2013 PAJAMA DAY!**
 * March 12, 2013**
 * March 7, 2013**
 * JOHN MICHAEL KOHLER ARTS CENTER!!**
 * March 5, 2013**
 * February 28, 2013**
 * February 26, 2013**
 * February 21, 2013**
 * February 19, 2013**
 * February 14, 2013**
 * HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!** We practiced saying "I Love You" in sign language and then sang our hello song trying to keep our fingers in that position. We did our calendar and weather and sang a couple songs. We learned the sign language for our Bible words: "Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life". We will keep practicing. Our story was one of Jesus' story of something lost: the lost sheep. After our Bible story we did lots of activities with hearts and valentines. We had fun finding hearts with alphabet letters hiding around our room. Lincoln brought us a special snack of rice krispie treats and Mickey Mouse cheese and we heard the story of Lily's Chocolate Heart. After snack we had our suitcase surprise. It was hearts, a little Clifford, and paper "Clifford" ears. We played a game and one person got to be Clifford. That person had to guess who was hiding the little Clifford behind their back. During choice time we got to pass out our Valentines. We had show and tell at the end of the day. Some of us had something we love to show, and some of us just told about something we love.
 * February 12, 2013**
 * February 7, 2013**
 * February 5, 2013**

Our friend, Abby, was still gone so Mrs. Kiel did her "stop sign" job. We sang our hello song fast and slow and then counted our January numbers for the last time. We think there might be hearts on our next calendar because of Valentine's Day. I wonder if the numbers will make a pattern in February? Our Bible story was about Nicodemus coming to see Jesus at night. Jesus told him that he had to be born again! Jesus did not mean that he should be a baby, but he should be sorry for his sins and ask God to send His spirit to live in his heart so he can do "God" things like love, and obey, and care about others. We said that we cannot see the spirit, just like we cannot see wind. We can only see what the Spirit does, just like we can see a pinwheel move when we blow on it. After Bible, we stayed inside because it was too cold to go outside. We did a snowman rhyme (Lincoln was the sun and the rest of us were snowmen). Then we got to play with some pretend snow flakes. We had a delicious blueberry muffin snack from Faith (she was very confident that her mom made them delicious!) and we had a book that we helped read by "reading" the pictures. It was about a big snowball! During our circle time Mrs. Otten put a "happy face" on our fingernail so we could point at our alphabet letters while we sang the alphabet song. We found out about our project and about a special screen for stamping our letters. We also saw a clothesline in the room for hanging up matching mittens if we found them during choice time. Our project involved counting, stamping, writing, and decorating. Look for it in the hallway next time! Today we were missing Abby (Mrs. Otten found out later that she was with her family at Wisconsin Dells!) We had a longer table time while Mrs. Otten did some learning games with us. We wanted to be sure to have enough time in gym for beach balls, so we went to the gym after we found out our helpers and counted our calendar numbers. We moved our whole bodies to warm up (we are very good dancers and movers!) Then we got to play with the beach balls. We were playing catch, dribbling, tossing and catching, and spinning our beach balls. It was fun! After gym we had our Bible story about Jesus calling helpers. Some of the helpers were fishermen. We learned that Jesus told them that they were going to fish FOR men. We sang a song about that as well. During snack we heard the story //The Three Little Kittens,// and we looked at the matching mittens that Mrs. Kiel cut out of the paper with the dripped and smooshed paint. Our suitcase surprise was paper mittens. These mittens had numbers on them and we had to find our matching number. Next we figured out how to make color patterns so we could complete our project. BRRR! We sang our hello song with the words, "I'm cold" today! We were missing Sanjukaa today :( After our morning routines, we changed our schedule because we had had a longer table time (we practiced trace one-make one with our names). We started our day with gym. We did not do a warm up song, but we warmed up by moving all different ways around the "track" in the gym. Then we guessed that we were going to use beach balls! We did some things together and then we started to have free play with our beach balls. Our free play time was cut short because the middle school children needed to use the gym for their morning break since it was too cold for them to go outside. We will get more beach ball time next week! We had our Bible story when we got back to the room It was about Jesus being "lost". He was not really lost; he was just doing the Father's business of teaching in the temple. During our snack, we had another story about something that was "lost": little Joe's red mittens. Guess where they were found! After snack we had a suitcase surprise of MITTENS! (paper ones) We made matches and found lost mittens in the room. Then we found out how to fold a paper in half so we could make matching mittens with paint. At the end of the day we talked about our beach day, coming up on Thursday! Sorry for the late update (time with grandson, Jakob, had to come first)! Today we celebrated Faith's **half** birthday.She brought cupcakes that looked like ice cream cones, and gave each one of us a bag of treats! After doing our morning routines and talking about some of the patterns we could see, we had our Bible story about David. He loved God so much that he was not afraid to fight the giant, Goliath. Our suitcase surprise was a paper Goliath. We took a picture with Goliath so we could see how big he was compared to us. After taking a drink break, we looked at our alphabet letters and used our own little fingers to sing our song //Where Do You Start Your Letters.// Then we sang and marched around the letters, stopping and identifying them during the song. After our snack, we did our snowman rhymes. Today we thought of ways we could stay warm in the wintertime. We saw how we were going to add "snow" to our book pages and then we had choice and project time. We also practiced tracing and writing the letters of our names. We were down to 3 boys and 3 girls today. Kyra counted the calendar numbers with the snowflake wand. Our calendar numbers follow a pattern of snowflake, snowflake, mitten, mitten. Today was a snowflake day. Phineas put up sunny for weather and then we sang, //Stand Up and Clap Your Hands.// Our Bible story was about David the shepherd boy. We did not have the suitcase surprise card up, but we had a suitcase surprise. Emma guessed that we could make "snow"balls out of paper. We each made 3 snowballs, which we used for our gym warm up song. We got to crunch them, glide through them, climb over them, and throw them! It was so much fun. Then we made a "snow"storm by putting them on the parachute. We also crawled in the parachute waves like baby seals in the sea. Finally, we cooperated and made a wonderful parachute tent 2 times! We all sat together at one table for snack and we listened to a story with rhyming words. At our second circle time we did some snowman rhymes and we pretended what we could do in the wintertime to have fun. We sang //Where Do You Start Your Letters// and then we made letters with our letter pieces. For our project we got to paint a picture for a new book and we practiced our top-to-bottom and left-to-right lines and painted some more. At the end of the day we talked about having show and tell next time. We are excited to show something new. Oh no! Cold and flu season upon us! One student back, another one gone! After praying for our friend, Sanjukaa, to get better and thanking God that Tyler was back, we did our morning routines. We observed that the number of the date was the same number as how many fingers we have. We then did some math on the spur of the moment, subtracting fingers and counting new numbers. After singing //My God Is So Big// we also had to sing //If You're Happy and You Know it// because we just needed to __move.__ Our Bible story was about God calling to Samuel. We got a drink and then used our giant pointing fingers to sing and demonstrate //Where Do You Start Your Letters?// We made some letters and named the pieces we used to make the letter. During snack we heard the story //The Snowy Day.// At circle time we did a couple snowman rhymes and then read //The First Snowfall.// We learned a new word for scarf: muffler! Phineas guessed our suitcase surprise by listening: it was marbles! We used marbles for paining! We also wrote our names doing the "trace one, make one" pattern. We were happy to see Phineas again! With our snow day, Christmas vacation, and his sickness, it seems like a long time since we saw his happy smile! We were sad that Tyler was not in school today. We were sad that Sanjukaa did not want to count our calendar numbers so we sang a song about being happy, sad, mad, silly, sleepy, and awake. We had a Bible story about Hannah and how she was sad because she wanted a baby. After a long wait, God let her become a mommy and she named her boy "Samuel" which means "I asked God for you". In gym we practiced a lot of balancing. Some of us are still scared to go on the "big" balance beam. We will put the foam balance beams out for choice time for a couple weeks so we can gain in confidence in walking on the beams. Sanjukaa brought apples and crackers for our snack and then we had our suitcase surprise. It was not all our letter pieces, just big lines and our mats so we could practice where we start our letters. We sewed a very big finger that we will use with our song next time. We also practiced writing our names and will continue to practice. We were glad to be back at school, but sad that Phineas was sick and could not be with us. At table time Emma and Abby finished their counting books. During our circle time we read a Christmas story and listened for the repeated phrase, "in a quiet stable, dusty and brown." Our suitcase surprise was our letter pieces. We did the letter pieces song and then the //Where Do You Start Your Letters?"// song. We traced our names for our gift tag and had a short choice time. We played two relay games in the gym and then had a goldfish and juice snack from Emma. We played four party games in the room and then opened the gifts for our classroom. We got play dough for table time and lots of glue and stickers and gift cards for projects. We were sorry that Tyler was sick and we prayed for him and for others that we knew who were sick. We sang our bell songs again and then had the Bible story about the three kings (or wisemen).The artist who drew the pictures for the story make the stars in the story look like flowers, which was interesting to us. Since it was so nice outside and since the gym was used this morning for singing, we decided to do our exercising outside. We did lots of swinging and some running. When we came in we had a snack and a book with rhyming words. After our own time to look at books, we looked at the book //Max's Christmas// and told the story by looking at the pictures, since there were no words in the book. Our project was making a counting book (Abby and Emma will get to finish theirs on Thursday because we ran out of time to do all the stickers). Today we did our morning circle time and then heard how the angels told the shepherds the good news of Jesus' birth and how they ran to find him. We had our outdoor time and then had a cheezy snack! Sanjukaa brought us each a chocolate cookie, as well. Our suitcase surprise were the rhythm sticks. We played slow and fast; we counted while we played and rested; and we did the stick dance and tried making different sounds by tapping on different things in our room. It was so much fun! We had the story of Baby Bear waiting for Christmas. We did our project and had choice time. At table time today, we played a matching game, made bead necklaces, played CandyLand, colored pictures, and played with play dough. When our day started prayed, sang our hello song, looked at our schedule for the day, learned what our jobs were for the day, counted the calendar numbers with Phineas, saw that the weather matched yesterday, and sang our bell songs. We heard the next part of the Christmas story about Jesus being born in the stable. After we warmed up our muscles in gym, we got to play with the beach balls again, practicing our bouncing and catching and our tossing and catching. During snack we had the story of the little moucse and the big hungry bear. We don't know what was in the big present that the big hungry bear gave to the mouse, but we had lots of good ideas. After time to look at books on our own, we had the story called //Christmas Tree.// At choice time there were girls dressed up like princesses and boys who played with Mr. Potato Head, trains, and the building bricks. When it was clean up time, everyone helped and the boys did a great job stacking all the bricks back! We were expecting a visitor to come to our room today, but they did not show up. We had lots of good guesses about why they did not come! Today was our Christmas Make and Take Workshop! What a wonderful day! We had time to play in the rooms with our grown ups and then we sang some songs for them. We even got to wear costumes for one of the songs! Then it was lots of project time and yummy snack time! It was great to share this day with all of you! We were missing Tyler today and hope he will be well for our make and take on Thursday! We looked at our December calendar and the special things that will be happening this month. We practiced the songs we will sing for you on Thursday. In gym we did different activities all around the gym and had to do a certain number of each thing. We walked on the balance beam 1 time; bounced a ball 2 times; jumped over ropes 3 times; made 4 different positions with our bodies; hopped 5 times, spun around 6 times; rode the scooter 1 time around the cones; did 2 stretches; and kicked 3 beanbags into the hockey net. After gym we helped clean up all the stations and then had our Bible story about the angel that came to Mary and to Joseph. We had our snack and listened to a book with a lot of rhyming words. Our suitcase surprise was ornaments that we got to hang on the Christmas tree in our classroom. Our project was decorating the lids for the boxes of cookies that will go to the people who have meals delivered to them. Today we counted so many numbers on the calendar! Then we practiced the songs we will sing for you next week. We had the Bible story of Jonah, who thought he could run away from God, but he could not.He was sorry for running away and he decided to obey God. We played outside and then had a healthy snack from Faith. Our suitcase surprise was costumes! Mrs. Otten picked name sticks and when our name was picked, we got to choose our part for the Baby Jesus song. Our project was a room decoration that we made by coloring on the heat tray. We took our advent paper chains home. We get to start cutting off the rings on December 1! We welcomed back Phineas and were missing Sanjukaa. We prayed for her bad cold to get better. Faith counted the numbers on the calendar. Only three days left in November, we noticed. We practiced one of the songs we will sing for you on Make and Take morning. We had the story of Ruth. Ruth was kind. It was a nice story. In gym we tried relay races, practicing waiting our turn to run and remembering to give a "high 5" to the next person and then find the end of our team's line. During snack we listened to a book about things to do in December while waiting for Christmas. Our suitcase surprise was a paper chain that we made for project that will help us count the days until Christmas. We will bring home our paper chains on Thursday. During choice time, the girls wore dresses and played in the house and castle. The boys played with cars and then took turns in the water buckets. Faith, Phineas, Lincoln and Mrs. Otten did some drawing at the writing center. Kyra fed the fish. Today we had the second part of the story of Esther. We learned a thank you song that was almost the same as our snack prayer. For gym we used the parachute again and this time we got to pop balls high in the air! We had snack mix from Tyler for our snack. We had two stories about things for which we can give thanks. Then we took feathers off a "turkey" and did the actions that were printed on the feathers. For our project we added feathers to the turkey that we had painted and said something we were thankful for on each feather. HAPPY THANKSGIVING! We were glad that Faith was back with us. Her job was feeding the fish today. Abby found number 15 and counted with the soccer ball wand. Sanjukaa put up partly sunny for our weather. We sang //Jesus, I Love You// and then reviewed our Bible words. We had a story about Esther becoming queen and how her cousin helped her to warn the king that some bad men wanted to hurt him. We played outside after our Bible story. Sanjukaa was climbing and sliding and the rest of us were swinging. During our snack we had the story of the thanksgiving play and a little brother who was hiding in all the props. We read a story called //A Turkey for Thanksgiving// and then learned a turkey song. Our project was to watercolor a turkey body. We will add feathers next time. Today we were happy with Abby because she was having a birthday. We were sad for Faith who was not at school because she was sick. After Emma found today's date and we counted our calendar numbers and Abby decided the weather was sunny and blue sky, we had a Bible story about Daniel. This time it was King Darius who learned that our God is the true God. God protected Daniel from the lions. We got to use the parachute in gym today! We cooperated really well and were able to try several different things. We crawled in the "waves", and made some mountains, and even ran under the parachute. Abby brought brownies for her birthday snack. We listened to a couple stories about Thanksgiving and then made Indian corn with paint and bubble wrap. We began our day with our routines. When we find out our jobs, we are listening for the first sound of our names. We counted with Lincoln today. He used the wrench wand. Emma decided that it was partly sunny. It was nice to see the sun for a while after a couple cloudy days. Today we sand //Jesus Loves Me// and then we learned a new song called //Jesus, I Love You.// We got to pretend to play rock and roll instruments during part of the song, and enjoyed pretending. We reviewed our Bible words and then had the story of Daniel's friends. They refused to bow down to the statue and were thrown into a furnace of fire. God watched over them and the king learned about the power of the true God. We enjoyed going outside and enjoyed finding shapes in the snack that Phineas brought. During snack we read the book //Brown Bear, Brown Bear.// After our own book time, we had our suitcase surprise. We figured out it was shapes and we got to stand up and sit down when the song said our shape name. We also played a What's Missing game with shapes. Mrs. Otten could not trick us! We always figured out the missing shape! We made our own shape books for our project! Today I had to tell the children the sad news that Maddie was moving to Texas and would not be coming to school anymore. We hope to get an address for her so we can write to her and send her some pictures. We will miss her! Today we had a longer table time because we were waiting for the photographer to set up for pictures. Several of us needed our picture taken. When that was done, we had a short circle time and went right to gym. We warmed up with some enthusiastic dancing and then got to explore movement with beach balls. After gym we had our Bible story of Daniel and his friends. We learned that God helped them to be strong and smart because they obeyed God and did not eat the foods that had been offered to idols. Faith brought our healthy snack of apples and muffins and then we did a new shape song. We read a book that showed us what can be made from shapes and then used paper shapes to make our own pictures. We began this day looking at our new calendar. We noticed birthdays, a 4K field trip, NO school days, and picture day. We prayed for our friend, Abby, who was sick; and we welcomed Phineas back. We enjoyed singing //Stand Up and Clap Your Hands// and then we had the story of the birth of Moses and how God was watching over him. We went outside to play and then enjoyed Emma's snack of crackers, juice, and pudding. After snack, we had a suitcase surprise of shapes and we sang a song called //The Shape Shake//. Mrs. Otten made a person with the shapes we suggested and then we got to make a project of making ourselves with paper shapes and markers. We had our first field trip today! We rode on a very big yellow school bus and went the the Mead Public Library. Ms. Karen read us two stories: one about the apple pie tree and one about animals getting ready to sleep for the winter. She knew the same //Two Little Apples// rhyme that we learned and we did it together. We saw a movie about numbers going up and down the apple tree. Then she led us on a short tour of the area of the library that is just for children like us. We got to use the toys and read books for a while before we had to ride the school bus back to school. We rode down in the elevator, too. Mrs. Otten thought she forgot her hat, but she found it the sleeve of her coat. That was so silly! When we got back to school, we talked about our trip and then we acted out //Going on a Bear Hunt//. We had so much fun today that we did not even miss our choice time. We had a day full of activities! Our day started with table time. There were some different puzzles and sorting activities and games for us to use. After table time, we did our morning routines and then listened to the story of Joseph and his brothers. When they came for corn, they did not recognize Joseph at first. They had tried to harm Joseph, but God used Joseph to help his brothers! Everyone was happy in the end! We played outside in the wind and leaves and then came inside and learned a new pumpkin song and did a color matching game. We had a great snack that gave us practice in opening bags and getting our straws in the juice box. After snack we had a story about apples and then our suitcase surprise had apples! We got to taste three apples and choose our favorite. Then we had the story of Sarah, Grandma, and "apple man" and we saw that he had a secret inside: a star! We made prints of the star with apples and paint for our project. At the end of the day, we compared pumpkins and apples. We got a bag of shapes and "voted" for the shapes we want Mrs.Otten to use when she carves our pumpkin. Finally, Mrs. Otten told us about our field trip next time. We are sorry that Phineas won't be with us; but we know he will have lots of fun with his grandparents. We will pray for him. Today we celebrated another birthday! Phineas turned four and blessed us with "Mr. Potato Head" cupcakes. He wore a purple crown and chose the book, //Corduroy// for his birthday book. We changed our schedule a little today. We started off with suitcase surprise:paper pumpkins with our names on them. We got to pick the one with our name and say, "It's mine!" In gym we moved around the black circle to warm up and then did jumping stations, staying in our color groups. We jumped up, down, over, far, in, out, one foot and two feet. After gym we had our Bible story about Joseph. God helped him to know the King's dream and the meaning of the dream. God gave him a plan to collect corn for the people for when it would not rain. After Bible we had our snack from Phineas and we also got to try the pumpkin seeds that we took out of our pumpkin last time and Mrs. Otten roasted for us. Some of us liked them, but some of us did not. After snack we got to listen to instruments and move to the one we heard. We also got to use the instruments to play slow and fast. Our project was our //Two Little Apples// rhyme. We had fun making the apple tree and smiling apples and trying them with the rhyme.
 * January 31, 2013**
 * January 29, 2013**
 * January 24, 2013 BEACH DAY!**
 * January 22, 2013**
 * January 17, 2013**
 * J****anuary 15, 2013**
 * January 10, 2013**
 * January 8, 2013**
 * January 3, 2013**
 * December 18, 2012**
 * December 13, 2012**
 * December 11, 2012**
 * December 6, 2012**
 * December 4, 2012**
 * November 29, 2012**
 * November 27, 2012**
 * November 20, 2012**
 * November 15, 2012**
 * November 13, 2012**
 * November 8, 2012**
 * November 6, 2012**
 * November 1, 2012**
 * October 30, 2012**
 * October 25, 2012**
 * October 23, 2012**

Sorry for the late update...I headed off to Michigan right after school to join other family in cheering on our daughter, Betsy, as she competes in her first swim meet of the season at college. Today we learned that Joseph's brothers did some very bad things: they put Joseph in a well, sold him, and the lied to their father. Good thing we know that God will keep his promise and will watch over Joseph and God has a plan! We were able to play outside, although Mrs. Otten needed to dry the swing seats and slide. We did a lot of running, too. Faith brought us a snack shaped like a pumpkin! After our snack, we did our //Five Little Pumpkins// rhyme and had a book about how pumpkins grow. Then we got to look at, smell, and touch a real pumpkin. We used our observations to make a project about pumpkins. We were sad to be missing two of our friends, but happy that we could celebrate Lincoln's birthday with him. We had the story of Joseph getting the colorful coat from his father. His brothers were angry that they did not get a special coat. After our Bible story we got a colored dot on our hands. We had either a blue, or a red, or a yellow dot so we would know what group to stay with when we did our stations in gym. We did a very good job staying at our stations and waiting for the whistle before moving to our next station. We used the balance beam, the hula hoops, and the bean bags and we followed a path of spots, "rocks" and curvy beams. We had special birthday cupcakes for snack with a surprise to save. We learned our //Five Little Pumpkins// rhyme and had a story about a pumpkin patch. Then we used paint to make our own pumpkin patch. It is so fun to grow up and be able to do new things! Lincoln counted the numbers on the calendar with the walking stick and did a great job pointing to each number so we could say it. Phineas brought a picture of his brother, Christian, who is living on an island now (Haiti) and we prayed that we would come home by Christmas! We know that God is watching over him. We read a story today (Psalm 139 for kids) that reminded us that God always watches over us. After playing outside in the wind and cool air, we had a special snack from Faith that looked like a butterfly. During snack, Mrs. Otten played instruments and we had to guess which one she played. After our book time, we figured out that our suitcase surprise was instruments for us to play. We played s l o w l y and we played fast. We did a new thing at project, too. We used scissors! We learned how to take little bites with our scissors and made beautiful autumn trees. We learned how to show the word "tree" in sign language, too. We started our day by finishing the colorful tree project that we worked on last time. Look for them in the hall. They are beautiful! After our calendar and weather we sang the Father Abraham song and then had our Bible story about Abraham's servant getting a wife for Isaac. God answered his prayers. In gym we got to use the bean bags and did different things with them. During snack we used our ears to identify sounds like a dog barking, a storm, a piano, and other sounds. After snack and book time, we sorted some leaves by color and shape and then did one of our leaf action rhymes. We made a colorful leaf for our project, but we needed to be careful because we colored on a hot tray! We had a fire drill during our table time. We left the building quickly and quietly and we said "I'm here!" when our names were called. It feels good to know we are growing up! We heard the rest of the Bible story of Abraham and Sarah and how God kept his promise to them. God kept his promise to give Abraham many, many children because all of us who believe God's promises are children of Abraham! We practiced our new Bible words and then went outside to play. It was a beautiful day outside! When we came in we had a snack on special plates brought by Emma. We read a book about fall. After our own book time, we did our action rhymes with the paper leaves and read two more stories about autumn and leaves. Our project was to make a beautiful autumn tree with watercolor bottles. We used our pinching muscles to tear paper for the trunk of the tree. Today started differently as we had a vision screening from the Lion's Club volunteers. So we had extra table time and needed to get to the gym before we did our Bible story. In gym we got to have fun with the hula hoops! Sanjukaa brought cookies for our snack and Mrs. Otten read a book that had photographs of different shoes in it.After snack we had a story about falling leaves and then got to use "leaves" to do some action rhymes. We listened to the directions and watched Mrs. Otten demonstrate our project. We got to use sponges to paint beautiful autumn trees with colorful leaves on the tree and on the ground. We had a shorter time for choice time and we //still// did not have enough time for our Bible story. We got to take home our fingerpaintings today and two differet friends got to take home our classroom books. Today we prayed for our friend, Faith, who is on a family vacation. We missed her! After Tyler counted the numbers on the calendar with the green dinosaur and Kyra changed the weather to cloudy, we sang //He's Got the Whole World in His Hands//. We thought about moving to a new place and put many things in our moving box. Then we acted like Abraham who had to move to a new place. He had to keep moving until God told him to stop. He was glad that God was watching over him. We practiced our new Bible words: I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. God was even watching over us while we went outside to play. During snack, Mrs. Otten read our new class book, //We Love Our Shoes (//Kyra got to take this book home today). After our book reading time, Mrs. Otten read the book, //One, Two, That's My Shoe!// Someone took the little girl's shoe! Guess who? In our suitcase were some shoes. We each got a shoe. When Mrs. Otten showed the shoe that matched ours, we got to say "One, two, that's MY shoe" and we got to put them in the shoe box. Mrs. Otten showed us how to use the water colors for painting. We painted for our project. Look for our beautiful shoes to be hanging up in our room next time! There were bean buckets to play in today, as well as fishing, and Pete the Cat in the listening barn. What a fun day! After table time and our morning routines, we finished the story of Noah and the ark. We learned that God put a rainbow in the sky to remind us that God will always take care of us. After our Bible story, we had our time in the gym. We moved like animals and then practiced all kinds of balancing walks. We used the balance beam and walked forward; we walked backwards on spots; we balanced beanie babies on our heads; we walked across the river stones; and we walked sideways on one foam beam and tip-toe on another foam beam.It was so much fun and we followed directions so well! We enjoyed Phineas' healthy snack and the goldfish that Sanjukaa brought. After looking at books by ourselves, Mrs. Otten read //Pete the Cat; I Love My White Shoes//. Poor Pete-he stepped in things that changed the color of his shoes. He did not cry, though! We got to paint shoes today and Mrs. Otten will make our own book about shoes. At choice time we could fish, walk on the balance beam, walk on the river stones, or just do our favorite things. At the end of the day we had the special treat of listening to Mr. Eric (the author) read the Pete the Cat story (on CD). Some of us sang along with Pete. (By the way, the story and CD is available on this month's book order and would make a great gift) During table time, most of us were playing with the play dough. Phineas sorted all the buttons! One color cup had less buttons than the rest. Emma and Phineas also looked through the color wands and made new colors by putting one wand on top of another. After table time, we found out our jobs; counted all the way to 20 on the calendar; looked at the color pattern of the apples on the calendar; and sang a couple songs. We heard a Bible story about the man Noah who listened to God and built a big boat. We got on our jackets and went outside for running, climbing, and swinging. Lincoln brought our snack today. We had to use finger power to open our cheese wrappers. Everyone did it! (some with a little start). After snack, we read books. Then we heard the story //Mouse Paint.// The white mice painted themselves red, yellow, and blue. When they played in the paint puddles, they made new colors! We found colors in our room with the "royal color family" and then found out that our project was a special project for the SCS Auction. Mrs. Tislau helped us with our project today. We did a great job cleaning up after play time and had a suitcase surprise. Guess what it was? US....well, actually a book about us. Emma got to bring the book home today. When she brings it back, then someone else will get to bring it home. Mrs. Otten also told us that we might be coming to school tonight! We can come and do things with our grown ups and then, when they go to a meeting, we will get to stay and hear stories! Today we played with play dough and we played games together at table time. We are getting very good at stopping, looking, and listening when Mrs.Otten rings the bell. Today we put a thumb up when Mrs.Otten showed our name for the job we had. We learned a new song, //My God Is So Big// and enjoyed singing it with the music. Then we had a sad Bible story. God made everything very good, but Adam and Eve disobeyed God and they felt really bad. God still loved them, but they had to leave his beautiful garden. After Bible we had gym again. We are getting so good at walking in a line! (Now we need to be sure we are looking ahead when we walk so we don't bump into things, right Phin?!) In gym we moved around the big black circle and then practiced moving only when our color spot was called. This was not easy. Some of us wanted to move //every// time. Tyler brought snack for us and Sanjukaa shared some apples with us, as well. MMM, we love good healthy snacks! After snack and book time, Mrs. Otten read a story about a white rabbit who played in pots of paint and turned all different colors. When he mixed the paints, he made new colors! In our suitcase were our paint shirts! We learned how to put them on and then found out **we were going to get to paint!** Some of us mixed colors just like white rabbit. It was a fun day!
 * October 18, 2012**
 * October 16, 2012**
 * October 11, 2012**
 * October 9, 2012**
 * October 4, 2012**
 * October 2, 2012**
 * September 27, 2012**
 * September 25, 2012**
 * September 20, 2012**
 * September 18, 2012**

Today we finished the story of creation and learned that God rested on day 7. We learned our Bible words with our sign language. Our suitcase surprise was a poster of Corduroy bear showing us how to stay safe from fire. We learned to leave the burning building; crawl if there is smoke in the room; and stop, drop, and roll if there is fire on our clothes. We had our first fire drill and learned where we go and the important practice of saying "I'm here!" when Mrs. Otten calls our names. After our fire drill went back in for jackets and then had play time outside. We enjoyed a healthy snack brought by Faith and heard a story about a fire drill. We practiced our crayon "pinch" and for our project we colored very small circles, reviewed our glue dots and spinkled them with glitter again. Some of us enjoyed acting out what we learned about fire safety or pretending to be fire fighters! Changes! Mrs. Otten moved the shoes and our cubbies. At table time there were some new things to do: feed Mr. Munchy Mouth, use playdough, match letters, and squeeze foam balls. After table time, we did our morning routines. Lincoln chose the pointing finger to count the apples on our calendar. For our Bible story we learned what God created on days 5 and 6. When God made man and woman, he used his hands and his breath! After our Bible story we got to use the wonderful bodies that God gave us as we moved all different ways in the gym. We practiced moving in the same direction and going back to our own spot. We had another snack that we had to peel paper off of: Abby brought blueberry muffins. After snack and some book time, we met "mat man". We listened to a song about all his parts, and then we got to choose a part and we made him again. We also drew our part on a big board. During choice time, we drew ourselves for our project. We are already learning the routines of table time, what to do when the bell rings, bathroom break and snack procedures, and sitting in our listening position during circle times. Today we celebrated Emma's fourth birthday (she turned 4 on August 30). She got to wear a purple crown. We each had a job today! We looked at the covers of some books and tried to decide if the book was about something "real" or "just a story". Then we had a Bible story about how God really made the world. (We covered days 1-4 of creation). We learned the sign language for "very good" which is what God said when he made the light, the sky, the water, the land, the plants, the sun, the moon, and the stars. We got to go outside to play and enjoyed it very much. After our snack, we listened to the book Things I Like. In our suitcase today was a scale and a growth chart so Mrs. Otten could write down how big we are now. We also told her some of our favorite things. First day of school! So many new things to learn! Our day started with one of our friends being very sad. Since we are very empathetic, several other friends were sad and missing mom for a short while. Since we had already learned how to put our "foot" in our "shoe", the first thing we learned today was the meaning of the bell (stop, look, listen). We had a lot of practice because Mrs. Otten rang the bell and then took our picture individually. After we cleaned up our table time things, we had a circle time. We learned about sitting with pretzel legs and where to tuck our hands so our fingers would not get stepped on. We celebrated Kyra's birthday today. She got to wear a pink crown and we sang "Happy Birthday" to her. She also got to choose a book to take home and keep. We had a story about a mouse going to school. Then it was time to sing and move! We sang If You're Happy and You Know It. We did different kinds of walking around our circle of spots and practiced our pretzel legs when the music stopped. We learned about walking in a line (like a train on the track) and practiced with the Chugga, Chugga, Choo, Choo song. Then it was time to learn about the bathroom! We washed our hands, being sure to scrub a long time (singing Happy Bubbles to Me helps us scrub long enough). Kyra passed out our napkins and a birthday snack. We had to wait until everyone was served and we could pray and thank Kyra before we got to eat! We waited...we are growing up! Taking the paper off the cupcake was a new experience for some of us, I'm sure you could tell what color the frosting was when you picked us up today! We cleaned up our messes and looked at books until Mrs. Otten rang the bell (stop, look, listen) We had a surprise in the suitcase: spot stickers, glue, and glitter! We learned that in school we make dots of glue (we say "Dot, dot; not a lot" to help us remember.) We will get more practice using glue dots next week! THEN WE GOT TO PLAY! We worked on our projects during our choice time. Look for our handiwork when we come to school on Thursday. It will be hanging in the hall. We did a super job of cleaning up the toys and things we used. We talked about Thursday and learned our good bye song and end of the day routines. Whew! It was a busy two hours!
 * September 13, 2012**
 * September 11, 2012**
 * September 6, 2012**
 * September 4, 2012**