Sand and Surf in the OC - Teacher Lisa

We had so much fun with our beach theme this week! The pirates in the texture table were very popular, as were the sand and seashells at our light table.

In the water tub, sea animals swam among gems and shells.

There were all kinds of sea-creaturesque components at the building table.

On Monday we made jellyfish out of paper bags. Children cut tentacles and then used jewels, cupcake papers, markers and paint dobbers to add details. These are hanging in our windows, so come in and take a look.

They used their powers of observation to play an "I Spy" game.

Wednesday they looked at pictures of sea creatures and then created their own ocean scene on pieces of scratch-paper. These are on display in the room.

They examined and sorted shells of different sizes, textures and shapes.

Friday they used foam fish, sea shells, silvery seaweed, shiny sequins and different colored hair gel to make ocean sensory bags. They had so much fun!

They went outside to play with beach balls and a parachute.

At the creation station they made necklaces, used stamps to create sea scenes, drew on the black scratch paper left over from Wednesday's art project, and made whatever else they could imagine.

At the play dough table they squeezed, rolled and baked.

They have really been enjoying putting on "shows" for each other, complete with music and dancing.

We've been watching our eggs and are SO excited to see how many of them will hatch in the next few days!

Our caterpillars grow bigger every day and will soon head to the top of their container to make their cocoons.

Here are a few photos of the other things that were happening in our classroom this week...

During our story time, we read about butterflies and chicks.

We also read some funny stories about pirates and sang songs about the ocean. Ask your child to tell you about our silly fish song or to show you the signs for the song we're learning along with our song about going on adventures :).

Our friends all did a great job sharing about Panda.

It was good to get back to the library with Miss Katrina this week!

For our Friendship Circle, we passed a seashell around and shared about things we like to do at the beach, or about our favorite sea creatures. It was clear that everyone loves to visit the ocean!

Hurray for sun and time outside with friends!

In honor of our hatching chicks, we have lots of egg/spring activities planned for the coming week, and after that we'll head into a theme about butterflies and insects. So much to look forward to!

We'll see you all soon,
Lisa and Sheri