Thankful for you!

Afternoon

Morning

We had such a great "feast" on Wednesday with all of your contributions. It is so fun to have a time when we sit and just really enjoy our time-the students weren't rushing to eat so they could play. I took some pictures of them in their "pilgrim" hats and "indian" vests. They turned out very cute!

Scary Fun

Can I just say that these kids LOVE Halloween? I think that anything that involves candy really gets them going, but it's not just the candy, but the make-believe fun that they have. They really get into their costume persona and it is so fun to see their personalities that way. We had a fun party and I TRIED to make them know that it's still a few days until the "real" Halloween. Have tons of fun trick-or-treating and BE SAFE!

Morning Class

Cookies

Afternoon Class

Who is the Grocer in your neighborhood?

We had a great field trip to our local Macey's this week. Although a little hard to get to because of construction, once there, it was interesting and fun. I know that we take our little ones to the store all the time, but the tour gave a little different perspective, just by explaining some things about the store layout and some behind the scenes info. My personal highlights were the frosting flower in the bakery and going in the big freezer. I hope everyone had fun!

Morning Preschool
The refrigerated case before the Deli

The bakery and the frosting flower

Looking into the store from the fridge

In the freezer-Brrr!

The whole group with Donna

Afternoon Preschool
Looking at the Deal Wall

The bakery with Tammy

Getting cookies!

Enjoying the delicious cookies

Walking under the Spider

Cow tongue!

The fridge

The freezer

The conveyor belt

Afternoon group with Donna

The end?

We totally partied on Thursday-our last day of school! We played games outside, we played games inside, we ate lunch (thanks to Chick-fil-a), and ate popsicles. We cleaned out some things for them to take home, like their names from our "turn charts" and their musical drums that they decorated about the second week of school. I personally thought that it was fun-and a fun way to end the year.

Morning class

Afternoon eating lunch

Afternoon class

I didn't get any pictures at graduation so I hope parents got some! This has been a great year!

Graduation Program

We had our graduation program on Wednesday night at the West Jordan Library. Thanks for all who came and supported my students! Our program included speaking parts (which the students made up and then memorized) that began "This year in preschool I learned...." Very cute what they came up with and of course the most recent topics stick in their heads the best. They also had a second part which was a nursery rhyme that they memorized. We worked on these all together this year, but some were more popular requests than others and so some kids had it "easier." But they all did really well and didn't refuse to speak when they saw the crowd. I did opt for no microphone because that does tend to freak them out. We also sang songs intermixed-some were our "learning songs" and others were just some of their favorites that we learned and sang throughout the year. I hope you didn't feel it dragged on-kept it to 45 minutes!
Thanks all!

Wheeler Farm

Well, I thought this whole trip might be doomed-but really it wasn't. It's just spring in Utah! Our original plan of the 29th of April got canceled (not by me-but by the "farm people). But it really was nasty weather-and got worse as the day went on. Many were disappointed, including myself. So, we made plans for the following Thursday. We had learned about and done some farm activities in the week leading up to the field trip, so it's always fun to learn hands on and be outside with friends. The weather was a little chilly, but when the wind wasn't blowing, it was rather pleasant (in my opinion- jacket weather). Our tour guide was nice (much nicer than last year-trust me!) although a little socially awkward. Of course the kids don't mind that sort of thing and he was very informative and kept us moving right along. The highlight was probably the tractor/wagon ride. I really enjoyed it and thanks to parents for being accommodating and coming along for the ride. I got a few pictures:

The barn where they milk the cows

The chicken coop

The sheep (almost time to be sheared)

The wagon ride

The wagon ride (the other side)

Learning about horses

From a student

We had a student in afternoon who had exciting news from home. She had a butterfly habitat with some live cocoons and one hatched on Wednesday morning. Her mom was nice enough to let her bring it to school and the kids were really fascinated! We had just been talking about the stages of a butterfly's life (we did the sequencing page that came home last week) and this was a great hands-on application. Took a picture-my best guess is that the butterfly is a "painted lady," but that's just a guess-I am no entomologist!

Spring was just a fling...

We had a good Easter/Spring party, despite the fact that we could play no outdoor games! We managed just fine and played inside instead. Guess we will just have to be patient to learn "Red light, green light." I completely forgot to take an pictures of the kids (too busy playing, sorry!), so I took a picture of the "example" cupcake. In case you were wondering, it was a basket with eggs. It had green grass (coconut), eggs (jelly beans), and a handle (licorice). Not all the kids used all the elements-which is always fine with me. Most were coaxed into at least tasting the coconut and it was not a big hit-which it normal (and what I was expecting, but you have to at least offer, right?). We had a fun day and I hope you all have a nice little break.

Love is in the air

We had such a fun Valentine's party. We were able to decorate the boxes on Wednesday and they looked really great. We traded Valentine cards first and then decorated cupcakes. We also had time to play some games like "Do you love your neighbor?" and musical chairs. Lots of fun! Spread the love! Hope you had a nice long weekend and we will see you Wednesday!

I want CANDY!

We went to the candy factory today. We had two tours-one for morning and one for afternoon. We met up, watched a short video, got our "head gear" on, and headed into the factory. They are working on Easter candy, but also have St Patrick's (green apple leprechauns-seriously!) and Valentine candy available to buy. We then saw the warehouse, literally tons of sugar (150,000 pounds a week they use!), the taffy kitchen and even chocolate "en-robing." Smells as good as it sounds. Lots of fun and the kids were great. We enjoyed plenty of samples! (Fresh off the line-the best!)

We missed a few of you that couldn't make it! They do free tours going on all the time so you can still catch it sometime.

Special Visitor

Hopefully your student reported back to you on our special day on Wednesday. If not, let me fill you in. We have been talking about Pets this week (what kind of animals make pets, what you have to do to care for them) and so I thought we would bring in an unusual pet for them to see. My brother Benjamin was nice enough to come in and bring his pet hedgehog! His name is Eric and he is very sweet, but yes, prickly! I talked all the kids into at least touching him with one finger. Some were definitely more eager than others. We caught a few pictures for you to see: