We are building good character at TSGI preschool!  Today we took yesterday's Warm Fuzzy concept one step further and introduced Bucket Fillers!  I absolutely LOVE this idea!  If you don't have a vocabulary for "niceness" at your house, I suggest that you go out and buy one of these books and read it as a family.  It works!!

The concept is pretty simple......we all have invisible buckets that we carry around.  These buckets are filled up by the kind things others do and say.  Warm Fuzzies in action!  When we fill someone else's bucket with Warm Fuzzies, it fills our own bucket too!  When our buckets are full....we are happy.  When our buckets are empty, we are sad.  People can also be Bucket Dippers.  You dip into someone else's bucket by doing or saying things that are Cold Pricklies. 

The children were really excited about this new idea.  We have already talked about what "invisible" meant.....with the whole germs lesson.....and you all know how well they remember that lesson!  Then we added Warm Fuzzies and Cold Pricklies.  And today, it all came together beautifully with THREE books.....that's right.....THREE books about Bucket Fillers!  Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McClourd and How Full Is Your Bucket? by Tom Rath were our favorites!  What a special treat for everyone.....one book read by Ms. Kelly and one book ready by Ms. Ellen!

We made pictures of our buckets today for art to help us remember what kinds Warm Fuzzies will keep our buckets full!  Smiling, listening, hugging, following directions, and presents were some favorites. 

We will continue with the Warm Fuzzy/Bucket Filler language for the rest of the year.....and have decided that next year, it will come much earlier in the curriculum!! 

We fought the sugar highs all day today!  We wondered if you fed the children Valentine's Day candy for dinner last night AND for breakfast!!  They were very.....let's call it.....active!! Having said that....it was an absolutely beautiful day outside for us to burn off some excess energy!!  I strongly suggest that you continue you that at home.....for your own sanity!!

The Giant Hug by Sandra Horning started our discussion about warm fuzzies and cold pricklies.  In the story Owen wants to send his Granny a giant hug for her birthday.  The problem is that his Granny lives far away so he has to send his hug through the mail.  Owen hugs the mailman, who passes the hug along to the person who sorts the mail, and so on, all the way until it finally gets to Granny.  As this hug gets passed along, something starts to happen.....their attitude changes!!  It makes them happy!!

The whole class made a list of things that make us feel warm and fuzzy.....hugs, kisses, smiles, nice words, listening to our parents and teachers, and presents all made the list!  We made a pact to try everyday to do Warm Fuzzy things.  These things make us and our friends happy.  Our next list was a list of things that make us feel cold and prickly.  Hitting, punching, kicking, sticking out our tongues, ugly words.....and um.....licking other people made this list.  I just write it down folks!!  I wasn't totally surprised that the Cold Prickly list was much easier for the children to generate! 

For art, we used pom poms (Warm and Fuzzy) and the sticky side of Velcro (Cold and Prickly) to help us remember the difference.  The kids were on a roll the rest of the day, calling each other out for, either being Warm and Fuzzy or Cold and Prickly! 

We sent home a coupon for A Giant Hug with all the kids today!!  Cash it in whenever you need a Warm Fuzzy to help get you through the day!!!

Valentine's Day......oh what a FUN day at preschool!! 

As each child came in this morning, they were tasked with finding their friends "mailbox" and distributing their own Valentine's Day cards!  I predicted that they would all get distracted by what was already in the "mailboxes" or by what their friends were doing.....but as usual I underestimated the children!  They took their task so very seriously!  All business this morning!

We talked about why we celebrated Valentine's Day and came up with a TSGI consensus that I won't ever forget......we celebrate Valentine's Day to show people we love them AND to find out how much other people love us!!  Keep in mind that we only have one girl in the class, so obviously presents and cards are pretty important to the boys at this age too!!

Ms. Michelle came today.  We started with some yoga.  The kids love the picture animal cards that we try and imitate.....and today they took turns tracing letters on the back of the cards.  She also brought the white tunnel, which is always a big hit!  Ms. Michelle was in the Valentine spirit too.  She had empty heart shaped candy boxes with different patterns drawn on the bottom, just like candy.  She gave each kiddo a bag filled with brown foam "chocolates" to fit inside the drawn patterns.  A true Valentine puzzle!  Once we finished, she gave everyone a special gummy treat!! THANKS Ms. Michelle!

Our book today was The Day it Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond.  It's a cute story about a little girl named Cornelius Augusta and a special day when it rained hearts.  She collected the hearts, which were all different in a small way, and made Valentine's for her friends.  Each Valentine was special made for each friend!  After our story, we were off to deliver all the special Valentine's we made for our church friends!  What fun!  And a great way to practice talking to grown-ups we don't see all the time!

 Before we set-up for the party, we watched a quick Franklin Valentine video.  In the story, Franklin's class was having a Valentine party and they all had on Heart Hats.  We made those hats, which became known as "Franklin hats", and wore them the rest of the day!

Thanks to everyone who joined us for the afternoon party!  Plates full of healthy snacks.....bags full of Valentine goodies......and big smiles all around!  I think everyone went home with little doubt about how loved they are!!  Happy Valentine's Day!!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

You can't talk about healthy foods without reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. It's FULL of good foods to eat.....and when the caterpillar eats some not so healthy foods, he ends up with a terrible tummy ache!  Some of the kiddos had read this story before, which provided some good interaction!  They all joined in and helped me read the repetitive part of the story...."And he was still hungry!!".  We talked more about all the foods in the story, rather than the butterfly life cycle, but that part is always a fun surprise at the end!

We had a felt board and some food manipulatives that helped us retell the story.  We took the foods and placed them under the correct day of the week, counting each food, comparing the fruits, and putting them in order.  It was a great way to combine some concepts that we practice each day into a practical comprehension activity. 

For art, we took magazines and found all the healthy foods we could.  With a little cutting help, we made made healthy plates.  I'm not exactly sure the kids would have eaten the foods they selected for their plates, but they were colorful and pretty!!  We made a big mess in the process....but you all know how we LOVE messes!!  They usually equal fun!!

THANK YOU Atherton Mills Market!

We did read a book before we left for our trip this morning.....it seems like so long ago now! We read Now I Know Healthy Eating by Melvin and Gilda Berger. It was an easy, nonfiction text about what kinds of foods we should be eating. We learned that our bodies need lots of different kinds of foods to keep us healthy and growing! It was a great way to get our minds thinking about what things we might see at the market!

Where do you find loads of healthy foods??  At the farmer's market! Today we took an Out and About to Atherton Mills Market.  After a chilly walk along the Lynx tracks, we made our way to the, thankfully, indoor market to search for all the foods that help our bodies grow big and strong.

First item on the agenda at the market, was lunch!  We had planned a picnic.....and despite the gloomy weather....we had one!  Inside....and right next to one of Charlotte's old trolley cars!  The kids would only eat their lunch with the promise of getting to explore the trolley when everyone was finished!

They LOVED getting on the trolley!  Never mind that there was no hope of going anywhere.....they all took turns spinning the wheel (good thing it was stationary!), and hanging out the windows waving for pictures!  They were so cute.....and what a great way to begin our journey around the market!  Special thanks to Ms. Lynn for giving us complete freedom to explore and touch!

As we walked around the market we saw pumpkins, vegetables, soaps, nuts, eggs, dried fruit, honey, pickles, and SOOOO much more!  Garrett and Tucker bought us honey sticks.....a natural, good for you treat!  Everyone wanted a turn to touch the fish.....yes.....a whole fish!  The teachers were waiting with hand sanitizer right after!!  The pickle man sang us a song while he played the accordion.....he even lets us all play a note!  Each booth had something wonderful to touch and see!  It truly was a wonderful place full of excitement and memories! 

Healthy foods!  That is the theme for the week!  Healthy is a difficult concept to explain, so we spent the morning talking about all kinds of things that are healthy, and make our bodies feel good and happy, and some not healthy things, that make our bodies and friends feel sad and sick.  It was a good way to review some of the vocabulary from last week too!

Our story today was Gregory, The Terrible Eater by Mitchell Sharmat.  In the story, Gregory, who is a goat, won't eat the foods that goats usually eat.  He only wants to eat fruits and vegetables.  His parents think he is a terrible eater!  Finally, they get him to try some "goat" foods, like tires....and paper.....and shoes....and he gets a stomach ache from eating too much!  In the end, he decides to eat some healthy foods and some "goat" foods together!

The kids thought that the book was extra funny!  They laughed when the goat family ate foods that people wouldn't even think about eating!  We definitely classified that as "not healthy"!

During lunch, we had a special treat and watched a Reading Rainbow video about foods animals eat.  First, they read our story again, then they showed us several animals and talked about the foods that are  healthy for them to eat.  After the video, we talked about how animals and people don't eat the same foods.  We all need different things to keep us healthy!

Ms. Michelle came today with some awesome new things!  First, she had a hopscotch rug.  You could immediately tell who had some prior experience with hopscotch and who was seeing it for the first time!  They all loved it.....and the progress they made in just a few turns was amazing!  Ms. Michelle also had some large cardboard building bricks.  The plan was for the kids to copy patterns that the teachers made, using the same bricks in the same positions.  BUT.....we changed it up to reinforce some of our classroom goals!  We made the bricks into all kinds of letters!  It was so much fun and worked well until the kids wanted to make letters like S and R!  Leave it to them to stump the teacher!!!  Ms. Michelle also had a tracing and lacing station.  She knows that everyone is on the verge of learning to write and she is trying to help us with that!  Such concentration in that station.....you would have been very proud!!

Goodies from Dilworth Drug!!

What do GERMS look like?