Fee Fi Fo Fum! Fairy Tale Adventures in the OC - Teacher Lisa

It's fairy tale time in our class and we have been having all kinds of adventures with knights, dragons, castles, giants and wolves who are full of hot air :).

To our surprise, when we came to school on Monday we found Jack's beanstalk growing up the loft!

There was a castle in the texture table, being protected by fire-breathing dragons and brave knights.

After a few days, it was invaded by trolls and treasures.

The water tub was filled with dirt (left over from the magic beans we planted), insects and gummy worms.

We scrubbed all of that away with scrub brushes and soapy water - perfect for bathing the three little pigs and their friends.

On the building table we had a Little People ABC Zoo and then another castle, along with horses, knights, princesses and dragons.

There were some new supplies at our creation station.

The children added February items to their memory boxes.

They planted beans and drew castles that we attached to skewers and stuck into the dirt. Now their beanstalks can grow up into the clouds, just like Jack's. If you look closely, you'll see giants lurking behind those castles!

After reading The Three Little Pigs, children had a chance to make their own structures out of straw, sticks, wood and Lego bricks. Then a big, bad wolf (aka a blow dryer) came along huffing and puffing to blow them all in.

They also built the story with picture cards and used a piggy wand as a pointer while they retold it in their own words. This is a fun way to learn about characters, plot and to develop more sophisticated story-telling skills.

After reading stories with castles in them and drawing castles with their bean seed projects, children used foam blocks to build castles - step one of a 2-day project.

We took their photos and the next day they used them to re-create 2-dimensional versions of their castles with blocks stamped in paint. We will finish these on Monday and then will put them out in the hallway.

There's been renewed interest in jigsaw puzzles lately, which has been fun! 

Children are also busy at the writing table, making letters for each other and for family members.

They are doing a great job writing their names on their sign-in cards and helping us erase them all during class time.

Other things they're enjoying during our free play time include dramatic play, listening to stories in the book nook or reading on their own, playing board games and so much more! 

During our story time we've really enjoyed hearing all about Panda's adventures, and the friends who have taken a turn sharing have all done a great job! 

We've done a couple of friendship circles, sharing about things we like to do in the snow and which fairy tale characters we would be if we had the chance.

We read the fairy tales mentioned above, along with Little Red Riding Hood, Super Red Riding Hood, and Red Hot Riding Hood. It's so fun to read different versions of the same story and see what creative ideas authors have!

Our March yoga series has begun, and includes a couple of new poses with a few old familiar ones. We've also been playing new songs on the sticks.

The kids are doing a great job going up to the library, and we love singing with Miss Casey and her ukelele!

We've gone out to recess in rain, snow and sunshine over the past few days. This weather has been crazy but we don't care ;).

In the coming week we will continue to have fun with fairy tales, and will also begin to get ready for St. Patrick's Day and a visit from some very mischievous leprechauns!

We missed everyone during our conference week and subsequent snow days. It's been great to be back and we look forward to all of the fun that awaits as spring approaches! 

We'll see you all soon,
Lisa and Sheri