Yes!

Theme:  Letter Y/y
Letter Y is fun to make and fun to say its sound.  It is kind of hard to write.  Some of our focus words included yellow, yak, yogurt, and yes.  We read the book, Yes Day!  We talked about what we would want our parents to say "Yes" to if we had a "Yes Day".  We wrote Yes and practiced identifying it.

Show & Tell:  We had fun seeing a yak, a yellow star, a yellow hummer, and some yellow super heros.  Everyone was able to answer a Yes or No question by identifying the correct word on the board.

Snacks:

• Yogurt & Yellow Crackers
• Yellow Crackers, Cheese, & Gushers
• Strawberries & Pretzels

Art:

• Mother's Day Gifts--Each child did such a good job and is very excited to honor you this Mother's Day :)
• Yoda for May the 4th
•  Yarn Scraps

Writing:  Practiced Y/y and Yes

Science:  We felt some wool, alpaca, and buffalo fur.  We learned a little about how it becomes yarn.  We also learned what kinds of clothing come from animal yarn while other clothing comes from plant yarn. 

Music & Movement:

• Hokey Pokey
• 6 Yellow Ducks
• Party in my Tummy
• Sesame Street Letter Y Song

Yoga:  Thank you Michelle for coming and leading us on a yoga treasure hunt!  We really enjoyed it.  Ask your kiddos to show you the tree, bear, swim, or eagle poses :)


Books:
 

X-tremely rare

Theme:  Letter X
We focused on X being at the end of words such as fox, box, ox, ax, and in the middle of words such as experiment, exit, and exciting.  We also worked with rhyming words such as socks and fox.

Choosing Time:  Dolls, Mini figures, puzzles, little people village,...

Art:

• X-ray Name Watercolor
• Fox in Socks

Science: 

• Volcano eXperiment
• Listen to real fox sounds and look at real fox pictures

Snacks:

• popcorn, fruit leather, & cookies
• Plantain Chips & Mixed Fruit Kabobs

 Birthdays:

• Happy Birthday Darren!  Thank you for sharing yummy cupcakes with us!
• Happy Birthday Guy! Thank you for sharing fun tootsie rolls!

Music & Movement:

• Cris Cross X Sauce
• 6 little Ducks
• eXercises (X jacks, X punches, ....)
• Oh, a Hunting We Will Go
• What Does a Fox Say?
• Here Comes the Ox Cart

Writing:  Practice X/x


eXciting Outing at the Bicentennial Park:

 Books:

Double U?

Theme:  Letter W

Choosing Time:  Wedge-its, Wheels, Word Puzzles, W/w Whale Coloring Page, Water Coloring Mat

Show & Tell:

 Witch Costume

 Wish upon a star pants

 Wow! I've got silver teeth

 Woolly Mammoth

 

"W" is in Hawaii

 

 Watch this!

Snacks:

• Veggie Sticks (we used them to form W), almonds, & orange Wedges
• Wheel & Star Shaped Jigglers & Clementines
• Watermelon Skewers 

Birthday:  Happy Birthday Milo!  Thank you for sharing yummy banana chocolate chip muffins with us!

Music & Movement:

• Got a Wiggle
• Wiggle like a Worm
• Watermelon song
• Window, Window
• Wash your Hands 
• Birthday song

Games:

• Roll-a-Dice Coloring W pictures 

Science:  We had a fun time petting my bunny and talking about his whiskers.  What are whiskers for?

Art:

• Whatzits
• Watermelon stamped Watermelon Wedges
• Rainbow Wands

Books:

 Wacky Wednesday
 

Eat Your Vegetables!

Theme:  Letter V
Letter V makes a sound like a vacuum cleaner :)  Some of our focus words include:  van, violet, visit, vulture, vegetables, very, and volcano.

Choosing Time:  Vet Pretend Play, Vehicles, Vegetables, ...

Game:  Eat Your Peas!

Writing:  Practiced V/v

Music & Movement:

• Letter V with your body
• Riding in a Van
• Veggie Song
• Listening to Violin Music

Snacks:

• V-shaped Cheese with Crackers & V-shaped strawberries
• Veggie Tortilla Chips 
• Cookies

Birthday:  Happy birthday to a sweetie!  Thank you for sharing some yummy cookies with us!  Hive five to our newest five year old!


Science:

• We learned about Vultures--the garbage workers of the animal kingdom
• Celery Coloring--we put celery in some red colored water and waited to see what happened

Art:

• Shaving Cream Vases with Spring Flowers
• Vegetable Print Painting

Field Trip:
We had an adventure in the Blue Van Visiting the Veggies at Day's Market!  They are so kind to give such fabulous tours to preschoolers!  We were able to identify lots of fruits and vegetables and learned about some unique ones.  We saw the "baler" AKA "box crusher" in action.  We walked into the fridge and freezer.  We saw the busy bakers in the bakery and watched in amazement as they put 20 pans into the giant oven at once.  We nibbled on chocolate chip cookies.  We took turns ringing up some groceries and turning the conveyer belt.  We watched the cash drawer open.  We loved everything!

Books:
 

Spring has Sprung

Theme: Spring Time Fun!

Choosing Time: Easter Puzzles, Bunny Builders, Bunny shooters, Bunny Bowling, Bunny Face Paint, Spring Stamps...

Music & Movement:

• Signs of Spring
• Tiny Turtle
• Up, Up in the Sky
• Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes
• Popcorn Popping
• Do Your Ears Hang Low?
• Little Bunny Foo Foo
• Little House
• 3 Little Speckled Frogs
• 3 Little Ducks
• 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Once I Caught a Fish Alive

Science:  What are some animals that hatch from eggs?

Games:  Easter Bingo & a Fun Indoor Easter Egg Hunt

Snacks:

• April Fool's "Giant Eggs"  (Peaches & Cream)
• "Rabbit Food"  (Rainbow Carrots with Ranch) & Animal Crackers
• Popcorn & Apple/Pear Slices

 Art:

• Easter Baskets with Rye Grass Seeds--I hope they sprouted!
• Easter Bunny or Chick stick puppets to put into the baskets
• Wet Chalk Resist Easter Eggs

Reading:  Spring Brings...(life, rain, leaves, butterflies, flowers...)

Books:
 

Under Where?

Theme:  Letter U
Letter U has two sounds.  We choose some pictures of U words from underneath an umbrella.  We decided if it made the short or long U sound and then put it in the right place on our board.  We love making the short U sound.  Some of our focus words included:  uniform, unicorn, up, under, underwear, Utah...

Choosing Time:  Unicorns, a Unique collection of toys, Dress-Ups, Utah Puzzle, Elevator Up game, Letter U Memory...

Music & Movement:

• London Bridges
• A Very Merry Un-Birthday
• Tiny Turtle
• Ukelele Playing
• When You're Up, You're Up
• You are my Sunshine
• ABC

Games:

• Keep the Balloon Up
• Pin the Horn on the Unicorn
• Who is Hiding Under the Umbrella?

Snacks:

• "Ugly" yet yummy creations with cream cheese, crackers, craisins, and mini m&m's
• Popcorn & Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
• "Underground" Worms in Mud Cups

Art:

• Umbrella Fun
• Balloon Painting

Writing:  We practiced letter U/u

Vocabulary:  In one of our songs we sing the word, neither, one of the kiddos wanted to know what that meant.  We've had fun trying to give examples of either and neither :)
 

Reading:  We practiced listening for the letter U sounds in words.  We told if we heard U sounds in the beginning, middle, or end of words.

Un-Birthday Party:  We thought about what kinds of activities happen at birthday parties:  games, balloons, treats, and prizes.  We played games, had balloons, ate treats, and had prizes.  It was successful!

Books: My Umbrella is Up,

 

Turtles & Tortoises

Theme:  Letter T
Letter T is fun to make and it has a fun sound to say.  We took turns pulling off "tulips" off of our Temple poster.  Each Tulip had an idea for a fun T activity. Some of our focus words included:  turtle, two, ten, tin, tent, turkey, twist, tiptoe, touch, taste, tongue, tiny...

Choosing Time:  Trains, Turtles, Tracing Puzzle Pieces

Show & Tell:

 Tea Set

 Tiger

 Turtle

Sea Turtle

Snacks:

• Tasty Painted Toast--Each kiddo was able to paint a piece of bread with red, blue, and yellow milk paint and then we toasted it, Yum!

Art:

• Turtles
• Triangle Collage

Science:  We compared turtles and tortoises.  We had a tortoise come and visit.

Games:

• Touch & Taste:  I put several marbles and peanut M&M's in a bag.  One at a time a child put his hand into the bag to attempt at pulling out an M&M instead of a marble.  Even if a marble was chosen, each kiddo got an M&M to eat.

Music & Movement:

• Tiny Turtle
• Twisty and twirling T's
• Tiptoe 
• Sesame Street's "Plain White T's"

 Writing:  We traced S/s's and Wrote T's

Video Clip:  Cookie Monster Introduces Letter "T"

Books:

a book about seeing through touch