We made Love Bugs at the art center today.  We used our shape of the month for this project, the heart!  So cute!

We had class with Mrs. Goldberg today!  We worked on the fine motor skill of tearing to make a sweet Valentine.  Fine motor movements involve the coordination of small muscles in the hands and fingers. Tearing paper is an amazing fine motor activity for kids. Tearing paper requires strength and endurance of the small muscles in the hand. These intrinsic muscles are important in so many fine motor skills, including handwriting and coloring,  manipulating pegs, cutting, using a fork or spoon, threading beads, moving puzzle pieces, managing buttons and zippers and tying shoe laces

 

We made cards for the troops last week and they sent a picture of some of the soldiers with them.  One of our cards made the photo - the second one from the left!  So cool!

 

We enjoyed this amazing circular story by Laura Duksta.  Laura Duksta believes that when people know they are loved, anything is possible. This wonderful story is read from two different perspectives - the mommy and the boy.  No matter how you read the story, forwards or backwards - the message is the same.  Love is never ending!

We learned all about the number 5 today.  We are subitizing experts 0 - 5!  We extended our lesson on 5 by making different combinations of the number.  It was tricky but we did it!  Kiss your brain preschool!

We had a lot of fun decorating our gift bags for our parent and making our goody bags for the Valentine's party on Thursday!  We are getting  very excited!  Bradley made Harry Heart on his bag.  Jack made a cross of hearts on his!  Such beautiful creativity!

 

We practiced our handwriting skills this morning to form the letter Pp.  Caroline read the sentence on our paper to the class!  Awesome reading Caroline!

 

Gung Hay Fat Choy! We continued our exploration of China and learned about their culture and traditions involved when celebrating the Chinese New Year! The Chinese New Year officially begins on February 5th, 2019, and ends on February 19th.  This is the year of the pig. We learned that there are many preparations before the celebration.  The Chinese clean the house to sweep away the bad luck from last year.  They buy a new a new outfit and get a haircut to start the year all fresh and new.  There is a lot of food preparation as well to help ensure good health and wealth for the New Year.  On Chinese New Year's Eve or New Year's Day, parents will prepare a red envelope filled with gold coins and put it in their children's pocket. The red color of the envelope symbolizes good luck and is a symbol to ward off evil spirits.   The Chinese lucky money, also known as Hongbao or Yasuiqian in Chinese is a traditional way to wish good luck. Each of our class received their own red envelope filled with gold coins!  We then learned about the Dragon Dance and how it is an important part of this celebration that symbolizes the beginning of spring in China.   The children made their own Chinese Dragons and danced their own Dragon Dance to music used in this celebration.  At snack we enjoyed fortune cookies and reading our fortunes!

 

It is letter Pp week!  We love sharing with our friends all the things we have that start with the letter Pp as well as brainstorming additional words for our letter list!

Our buddies shared special Valentine stories with the children and we delivered our handmade Valentine cards. God bless our Prayer Buddies!

We had our Valentine's Day visit with our 4th Grade Prayer Buddies from Miss Spagna's room today.  It was so exciting to go to their classroom!  We sponge painted Valentine love.  We love working with our buddies!