Spring Has Sprung!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  It was amazing spring weather which goes right along with our theme this week!  This week we are learning about all things that remind us of Spring, activities that we can do with beautiful spring weather, and of course one of the most important spring holidays...Mother's Day!  To kick off our week, Ryan and Ethan played with flowers in the touch and feel pool.  We talked about the colors of the flowers and all of the different parts...the leaves, the petals, and the stem.  We counted the flowers and also learned that when you put a bunch of flowers together, it makes a "bouquet."  

For open centers today, Ryan and Ethan had the option of playing with play-dough, using scissors in the cutting station, or stringing beads onto pipe cleaners.  

During language circle, we read Mouse's First Spring by Lauren Thompson.  This is a sweet book about a little mouse who goes outside to play with his mom on a windy spring day.  As they are playing, they come across many living creatures that all emerge during spring weather (a butterfly, a snail, a bluebird, a worm, a frog, a flower...) but upon meeting each one of these creatures, the wind blows them away whoosh!  Our book was also perfect for celebrating our moms as the story concludes with Mouse feeling something soft, cuddly, and oh-so-cozy, and with a kiss and a hug, he finds his mom!    

The language learning opportunities with this book are endless.  As I read the book, I showed the boys pictures of the characters that Mouse visits in order.  After we finished reading the book, I tested their comprehension skills by asking questions like, "Who did Mouse meet first, second, third, last, etc." After we re-told and sequenced the story using the picture cards, we talked about the season of spring and compared it to the season of winter.  Ryan and Ethan took turns gluing pictures of things that went along with each season onto a chart drawn on our easel.  For example, the boys had to figure out that ice skating, snowflakes, and mittens went under "winter" while butterflies, flowers, and rain went under "spring."

Then I worked with Ryan and Ethan individually on following directions and understanding prepositions using a spring scene and pictures of Mouse and Momma (i.e. Put Mouse/Momma under the sun, between the flower and tree, under the cloud, etc.).  This activity was also sent home in the book bags for additional practice.  All of the pictures that I used for this language lesson came from an incredible online receptive and expressive language resource by Courtney Butler, M.A., CCC-SLP found on the Teachers Pay Teachers website.    

I don't have any pictures or a whole lot of information to share about our art project today, because both boys worked very hard to make their Mother's Day gifts.  So you will just have to wait for your surprise on Thursday!

Both boys had a really great day!  On Thursday we will continue our discussion about spring, specifically targeting a popular activity done in warm, sunny, windy weather....kite flying!