Happy Mother's Day!

I have the most WONDERFUL students this year...and that means they obviously have WONDERFUL Mommies!! Thanks for all your support, lovely mothers! The kiddos wanted to make you something extra special to show their appreciation for ALL you do...so, we came up with this: a heart shaped key chain...with a sweet little thumbprint in the middle!
 Here's something special for your keys,
 It's just for you, from ME! 
Now, whenever we're apart, 
You can hang on to my heart!
 And when a man/woman I've become, 
You'll always have my 'little thumb!'

Butterflies are self propelled flowers. ~R.H. Heinlein

My son's first grade teacher, Mrs. Noyer, gave me a great idea...or two!:) I was trying to decide how I wanted to introduce the 'Life cycle of a butterfly' lesson because I wanted the kids to create something more tangible than a colored on piece of paper. So, I tweaked her idea just a little, adding food coloring to make it 'prettier'/messier...and this is the outcome: Rice on a leaf for the eggs, spiral noodle for the caterpillar, HUGE shell noodle for the chrysalis, and finally...bow tie pasta for the butterfly!

(Thanks for posing, Richie!) I purchased our butterfly habitat, ordered our caterpillars, and then waited. And then waited some more. And a month later, (apparently you are supposed to specify that you want them to 'hurry', because as soon as I emailed them, they shipped my little crawlers and they were in-hand the next day!)TAAAA DAAAA! They are munching and munching, and growing and growing! The children are SO excited to watch the transformation! (Crossing fingers that it happens before graduation!:/) Here are Izzy and Weston checking them out...and then just a littttle closer:)

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go...”

Ode To Spray Paint!

{"Coloring outside the lines is a fine art." KIM NANCE} Ode to spray paint...and it's many uses! We have been discussing all the different colors that make our world so bright and wonderful and since it's (finally) Spring, I wanted to do a fun tie dye activity outside! I have purchased the tie dye 'kits' before...they work great. The mess is even greater.;) SO, rather than send my sweet pre~school moms home with a soggy, drenched-with-dye-that-stains shirt in a freezer bag...which they'd have to let soak...then let air dry...then rinse...then wash separately, potentially more than once....I opted to do our OWN version of tie dye! The students have become so amazingly independent over the last few months and are LOVING projects that they can do entirely on their own...this was one of them! Spray paint+white shirts+tape+yard sale labels (is that what they're called??)EQUALS...TONS of fun, fantastic looking shirts, and very proud grins!!

Putting on the polk-a-dots!!

Painting!

Revealing the finished product!

Those would be my jeans...I said "less mess" NOT "mess-free." :)

My rainbow of color!

"W" is for WATERMELON!

An easy craft the students can do all by themselves....which is how they like it! Green construction paper, pink/red tissue paper, black dots (from a hole puncher). Next year I might try it in the shape of a "W!"

BiRtHdAy BAsH!

The best part about birthdays, is spending them with people we love! And, I LOVE my little munchkins! Thanks so much for the wonderful birthday surprises! The messy chocolate cake faces and HAPPY BIRTHDAY sung in such sweet voices will be a treasured memory! (P.S. Carrie...you will be glad to know that I didn't break into the moscato until AFTER pre-school...;))

April Showers...

Have definitely brought May flowers!! Our lilacs bushes are beautifully blooming out of control! To celebrate 'MAY DAY,' (My students just looked at me with confusion when I explained that MAY DAY is actually a holiday...and most of their parents did too...ha!), we made vases out of T.P. rolls, pretty paper and my favorite: ModPodge. Then we stuffed them full of lilacs and made cards! I told the children that the BEST part of this holiday, is seeing the looks on the faces of their mothers, neighbors, friends, grandmothers, etc., when they open their door...thinking they've been doorbell-ditched, (Do people still call it that?!), only to find a beautiful bouquet in front of them!! Their eyes were wide with excitement and their hands were sticky with modpodge by the time school was out.:)