Whales are much bigger than you! MTG

This week we learned about whales.

Did you know that whales are NOT fish?

Whales a mammals and breathe air.

They breathe in and out through their blowhole. 

The biggest whale is the Blue whale. It can grow up to 90 feet long.

The smallest whales are 13 to 15 feet long.

To show how the children how big a small whale was, we rolled butcher paper across the entire room. Had the children lay on the floor feet to head to see how many kids it would take to fill the paper length.

  It took 4 kids one one side and 3 with room to spare on the other side

I then measured each child individually to show them just how small they were to a small whale.

Note-I wasn't too picky about where their feet were at the bottom of the paper, so some are really bigger or smaller then the line on the paper.

But wow, are people small compared to whales.

We also learned that whales can hold their breathe for along time...

about 3 to 8 minutes.

None of us came close---yup, we tried it.

We took turns seeing how long we could hold our breathe and recorded it.

For art..we practiced blowing like whales.

I diluted paint with water to make it runnier and place a few drops on each child's paper whale. The children used straws to blow the paint into different directions to make cool designs.

Finished product

 We played a fun game to help us learn the letters, numbers and sight words for this month.

We played it first as a small group and then I showed them hoe to play it alone -for when they take it home.

I placed the turtle cards in rows on the floor. The children took turns turning them over and then finding it's match on their own card.

For letters, we named the letter and said it's sound.

For numbers, we identified it and then counted to the number.

For sight words, we sounded them out.

 The children placed plastic makers on their card to match the card that was turned over.

 These are all of the cards---numbers, letters and sight words for the month of April.

To play the game alone, the child turns a card over and finds it's match. Places the card on his/her playing card until all cards are used.

Mother Goose Time

Ocean floor and Coral-MGT

The ocean floor is amazing! It is made up of sand, rocks,plants & coral. Did you know that Coral is a living thing? Many fish hide and live in coral. Coral can be found in many colors and shapes. Ocean plants grow in the more shallow waters because they too need sunlight.


Today, for art, we made our own coral with plastic grids and variegated colored yarn.

We cut the plastic into coral shapes and the children used a PLASTIC needle to sew the yarn
through the squares.

It was hard to pull the needle through, so the kids came up with an easier way-Teeth.

What ever works-right?

I think I spent more time rethreading needles the the kids actually used to

do their projects.

I'm not complaining though. The kids had a blast.

Some finished projects.

We worked in our little journals.

Traced the letter 'O' and colored the triangle.

 Learning Centers...

For centers, I put the children in two's or threes and we rotate to each center. This way

they are working together in small groups and still get to do all of the learning activities.

I give them directions as a whole group for each center and help them out when needed.

1st center, 

the children choose shell cards that had numbers on them. They then choose that amount of real sea shells out of a basket and placed the on the table next to the card.

They repeated this until all cards were gone.

2nd center

Tanagrams

The children choose cards with different shapes on them to build and

see what they create.  Or they may choose the blank card and create their 

own design.

3rd center

The children played a fish game.

This game focused on colors.

I love these games-not only are the children learning colors, numbers, shapes etc.

But they learn to take turns and help each other out.

4th center

ocean animal pattern

I really like how our monthly calendar also includes a pattern.

mother goose time

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Ocean Commotion & science

This month we are focusing on Ocean life. The theme-Ocean Commotion!

Science is a fun part of preschool!  So far this month we have done an egg experiment.

I asked the children what kind of eggs they like to eat and showed them a few different kinds of cooked eggs.

What does an uncooked egg look like inside?

What does a cooked boiled egg look like inside?

What does an uncooked egg do when you spin it on it's end? It wobbles and fall right over.
This is because the inside of the egg is a liquid and it moves around so the egg can't balance .

What does a cooked egg do when you spin it on it's end? It spins and spins.
This is because the inside of the egg is a solid and doesn't move.

The next experiment we did was with water....

We are talking about ocean life and we discussed how ocean water is different from the water that we drink.

Ocean water has SALT in it.

Questions I asked while doing the experiment....

How do you think it tastes?  How do you think sugar water will taste? Which water would you rather drink?

I got 3 paper cups for each child and filled it part way with water. Then added salt to one, sugar to the other and left the last one normal.

I had the children put a finger in the first cup and taste it (we only used fingers because I knew it would be nasty and didn't want children spitting the water out all over the table or floor).

Most of them said it was yucky, not good and pulled funny faces.

We then tried cup number 2 that has sugar water in it.

Most of the children thought it was yummy and good tasting.

We then tried cup number 3-the normal drinking water.

Most of the children thought it was the best drinking water ever and wanted to drink the whole cup. However, some did say that they would rather drink the sugar water. Of course, they are little kids.

We then talked about fish in the ocean and discussed the fact that they drink salt water every day and they like it.


Science is a big part of Preschool and we will be doing more during the month. So, keep your eyes open for it.

We also talked about the Letter O. We talked about how it looks like a circle.  Of course we all practiced the sound it makes. O as in octopus, Oscar and ostrich . It can also say it's own name.

The children then imagined that they were an ocean creature and swam, walked or crawled around the big O taped on the floor.

We talked about waves in the ocean and how they are big and little(more math).

Octopus starts with O and has 8 legs.

We took turns playing the Octopus game. Identifying written numbers with the amount.

We then made our own waves with a blue blanket.

What a great preschool day.

Mother Goose Time

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Open House

OPEN HOUSE!

April 22nd

6:00 - 7:30

Come see the preschool room, ask questions and meet the teacher. 

Get a free preschool T-shirt when you register at the Open House.

Can't make it this night--call and set up a time to meet!

Lehi Ut

801-400-7598