Growing by LEAPS and Bounds!

I am so proud of our Leapfrogs! They are so smart and have learned so much this year! Some of our most recent activities have included exploring the new magnetic board! Making shapes and matching up patterns has never been so fun!

Our kiddos have such a nice time playing together. They are learning to build friendships, share ideas with one another, work out discrepancies in a positive manner, and foster relationships with caring teachers!

Who doesn't love playing in water? 

I am amazed at some of the four and five year olds! They are learning to recognize and count higher than ten. Some can identify numbers up to 30. We play an identification game where the kiddos match a certain amount of items to the number on the tag in front of them. Most of the kiddos love the challenge of making sure their numbers match the items. They also classify these objects by colors, and size! Way to go Friendly Frogs! 

Exploring with paint is a weekly favorite! We have learned our primary colors and explored mixing secondary colors! Orange is a favorite creation!

Hopscotch is always a fun past time! Building our motor skills, coordination, and balance is a great way to explore movement!

Building forts in gravel has been a great way to explore at the sensory tables. The cool colors and textures of marbles added even more fun to our discovery this week!

Every one of our kids created their boats in a unique way! Way to go, kiddos! Miss Kim and Miss Madalyn think you are all amazing!

Gung hay fat choy!

Happy New Year in Cantonese! Yes, our Leapfroggers and SHARK kids both celebrated Chinese New Year with games, craft projects, snacks, and books about the Chinese culture.

Our Koi Pond was so cute with all of the beautiful bright fish that the children designed.

We also learned about panda bears and then made panda bear noisemakers using paper plates and rice.

The Leapfroggers made brightly colored dragon puppets using the warm colors of red, orange, and yellow. They added sequins to make them extra sparkly.

The SHARK kids also spent an afternoon figuring out if they were born during the year of the rat, dog, monkey, or ram. They also wrote their names in Chinese characters which was a fun learning experience!

Miss Lesa and Miss Madalyn's Yellow group spent one afternoon replacing our dried out playdough with brand new soft and fragrant playdough that was handmade. The kids enjoyed mixing  flour with cream of tarter, alum, water, and some wonderful smelling spices like cinnamon and cloves. They made two colors: pink and blue. The soft and yummy smelling playdough was a hit with everyone and continues to be a fun elective! Thanks Yellow group for the fresh playdough!

Winter and Weather!

The Leapfrogs enjoyed a fun week of Winter Fun! The tumble track is always a big hit!  

I Tumble For Ya....

Our arctic animals friends needed a shelter so we made some really fun igloos and snow caves...

Storytime with Miss Mindy is ALWAYS the best! Miss Mindy visits us each Tuesday  from the Snake River Library for storytime (that is also open to the public)! She reads to us, sings fun songs with us, shares her puppet friends with us, helps us shake our wiggles out, and always a fun activity to go with our letter of the week! Miss Mindy always gives each child a brand new book of their own once a month as well. Can't wait to see what next week's book is...

The weather chart was pretty fun to use last week since the weather changed just about three times a day!

Flannelboard faces were a silly way to end a day...

Is Winter finally here?

We debated on whether we would be able to enjoy exploring the Winter and Weather theme this week or if we would have to resort to our theme of Spectacular Space instead. Luckily for us, the winter storm that has been predicted for the past couple of days is now arriving. The kids have enjoyed reading about winter animals and outdoor snow activities, making snowman puppets, playing in multi-colored sand at the table, and building igloos out of our blocks. We are hoping to play in snow tomorrow as part of our water table as we learn about the Water Cycle. (If the real snow doesn't come, we're making fake snow - either way, it will be a blast!) I am so proud of our kiddos and the great things that they are doing!

Once there was a snowman...

How many friends can fit inside our igloo?

Three!