Apple Countdown

 We started with a book about a class that went on a field trip to an apple orchard. They counted down their adventures from 20 to 1. The kids had fun remembering all the field trips they've been on.

 We tried to guess how much an apple weighs. I let them hold a 16 ounce bag of beans and they decided that the apple was less than the beans. They also guessed which weighed more, an apple or a pear. They were pretty close to the same.

 I cut the apple in half and had them draw what they saw. They all did a great job! Then we guessed how many seeds were inside. We found only 7 seeds.

 While I sliced the apple for eating, the kids worked on a dot-to-dot. Numbers 1 - 10 were easy but 13, 14, and 15 were a little tricky to recognize.

 Since Sunday will be Mother's Day, we had to make something for our wonderful moms!

More or Less

We continued learning about estimating and more or less by reading a few books by Anne Matzke.

 We learned how to read and spell the little word "and" which is so useful. The kids had fun practicing their cutting and gluing skills. 

I gave each of the kids a small package of mini M&Ms and asked them to guess how many were inside. We were amazed when we counted 58! Then we sorted and graphed our M&Ms to see which color had the most and which had the least. It was easy to guess how many would fit in our tummies - ALL OF THEM!

 It was a beautiful day so we went outside for some more practice with numbers. (Will was glad for the chance to really use his sunglasses.) The kids each drew a number card from the stack and then found the number that was one more on my number line. Then they each drew a card from the 2nd stack to see where to move. The cards said things like 2 more, 1 less, 0 more, etc.

We even had time for a little game of hopscotch. There was some discussion about how their moms had taught them all a little different version of the game. In the end it was just fun to see how far they could hop on one foot. Amelia didn't think she could go very far but Bryn showed her how easy it was. 

 

We were missing Stella. What a fun bunch of kids!

Estimation

 This week we learned about estimating and more or less. The kids were excited to learn another big word. (Estimation kind of sounds like transportation but means something very different.) They all agreed that estimating was easy.

We compared containers of blocks and guessed how many were in each. Then we guessed if the container would hold more or less cars. We tried it with marshmallows in a bowl as well. The kids were amazed that the small bowl held 42 little marshmallows. 

I gave them each a toy car and asked how many they had. They all knew that was one. Easy! Then we practiced giving Bryn one more car until she had all five. Next we practiced one less as she returned the cars. The kids were thrilled when I told them they were doing math!

We did a worksheet to identify which group had more. Lily announced that it was easy because if you didn't know you could just count. These kids are good counters!

We also estimated how many marshmallow shapes we could find in one cup of Lucky Charms. The kids wrote their guess for each shape on their chart. (Writing numbers is a little tricky.) Next, they dumped their cereal on the table and sorted all their shapes. Then they counted and wrote the actual number next to their guess. Some came pretty close. Others were hoping for a lot more marshmallows. We discovered that there aren't very many moon shapes but there are lots of shooting stars.

And then we guessed how many of those yummy marshmallows would fit into our tummies!

Party Time

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday morning Bryn and her family were still gone on vacation. Instead of learning at preschool we partied. Amelia and Ella had birthdays close together so we celebrated birthday style. The kids enjoyed playing with balloons hanging from Amelia's huge tree. We had some cake, ice cream, pink drink, and pizza rolls for lunch. Will won the game of stick the bow on Hello Kitty. He was gracious enough to let us use his camo bandanna. Thanks everyone for coming and celebrating with us.

Ricky and Lucy's Greenhouse

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were supposed to learn about the "ch" sound like choo-choo. Instead we took a fun little outing to visit Ricky and Lucy's greenhouse. Lily's mom came to help us have fun. Lucy and Cuddles the dog met us at the main entrance. Lucy asked us to follow the pathways to protect the growing plants then let us explore. The kids really wanted to find the pond first but found a secret garden full of blooming tulips. Pretty soon we found a path made of concrete feet that showed us the way. There were huge koi living in the pond! We discovered a fun herb garden, female turkeys, and little pathways leading to nooks all over the place.

We visited three greenhouses. First a house for perennial flowers, then the house for baby annuals, and lastly the big house for the medium sized annual plants. All the houses had lots of ladybugs. We learned that ladybugs eat all sorts of bugs that harm plants. Each plant had a different smell, leaf texture, and some had flowers others no flowers. The greenhouses were really loud because of huge fans that kept the air moving and moist.

We ended our trip with yummy cupcakes for Amelia's birthday. The frosting was the best! Several cupcakes without frosting were left on the plate. Happy Birthday!

Plant a Tree!

To start, we practiced 'ch' with a worksheet.  

We were supposed to color the things that had 'ch' in them and put and 'x' through the others,

but some of us had to color the kitten because it was soooo cute! 

 Next we read the book, The Giving Tree, since trees are an important part of our earth 

and one way to celebrate Earth Day is to plant trees.

 

 

 For snack we had apples which are one of the best parts of a tree (not to mention fun to eat)!

  

 

We also planted our own sunflowers which are not trees, but they can still get pretty tall!

 

Happy Earth Day!