The Greatest Show on Earth!

 Circus week was filled with silly arts and crafts all about the people and creatures at the circus.   Preschoolers made clowns in a variety of ways with a variety of methods starting with simple paper plates first. Not only did we make clown faces with rainbow colored pon-poms for hair but also decorated big clown ties to wear around the classroom and act silly.  

 Children were also given silhouettes of faces and used shaving cream paint to add hair in a variety of stylish ways! 

Then we took a break from making clowns to play a few carnival games. Some of which we played multiple times during the week. We played the cup game where children through beanbags at stack cups to try and knock them down as well as ring toss where the children used hollowed paper plates to ring toss over a paper towel stand. 

 We also walked a few 'balance beams' on the floor as well as bumpy balance beams throughout the week too.

We decided to make some room decorations this week as well as crafts to take home. One item we made as a room decoration and take home craft was cotton candy. Preschoolers took the homemade cotton candy made out of glue, shaving cream and watercolor paint home and left one at school to use to decorate the cabinets in the room for circus week. They all look so great we might just keep them up through Disney week as well. 

 

We watched a puppet show about the circus where a little girl visited many of the animals seen in a circus. The preschoolers then hopped behind the curtain and helped continue with the show!

 We have been working on shapes now that the alphabet and numbers zero through 10 are finished and practiced recognizing and drawing shapes like circles, triangles, squares, and more.

Because popcorn is such a traditional part of the circus the children made popcorn art to hang in the room using yellow watercolor paint to add as much or little butter to their popcorn as they wanted. Then we also made popcorn to bring home so they could have it at home as well as school. 

 The afternoon preschoolers practiced some basic math skills by adding up various images native to the surface. Teachers helped them use fingers as well other tangible objects to count up items listed on their papers.

 Because more than half of our morning preschoolers are going to kindergarten next year we knew they were up to the challenge of math by giving them the paper they needed to cut up and compare items to dice images. They had to cut, paste and match numerals with numbers on dice.

 Preschoolers played a few applications on teacher iPads this week that referenced the circus, circus animals, and clowns. 

 The preschoolers recognized the big top and circus times throughout the week. We utilize our pair of shoes which look like giant tends to make tense and other fun activities with our parachute both in the classroom with our smaller one and outside with our largest one. 

The morning preschoolers had the option to use fingerprints to make balloons, clown hair, and cotton candy. Some children who do not enjoy having paint on their hands used a paintbrush for a similar effect. Then we cleaned up and practiced some STEM activities building bridges for circus animals. 

We made it a contest to see which table could make the largest bridge and most intricate. It was amazing how detailed the children could get making various levels of height for their britches and a variety of pants. The teachers really were in all of their skills!

 After our elephant bridge contest, we had a spelling contest. The morning preschoolers had the word, CIRCUS, on the screen in the classroom and each table had the same balloons with the same letters placed on their tables. Each team then had to compete to put the letters that spell circus in the right order as fast as possible. They were so excited as they kept working hard to copy the image on the screen and spell the word circus correctly.

 In the afternoon we worked on math by placing pictures of circus seals on a page on the table. The children had to read to the number written on the seal and glue down the same number of balls for the seal to balance. 

After that math lesson, we watched popcorn bounce up and down by placing popcorn kernels in water and baking soda. We then added vinegar and watched as the popcorn kernels moved up-and-down performing tricks.

 In the afternoon we also created lion masks out of paper strips and hollowed paper plates then wore them to hear a story about a lion and lamb becoming friends. After that we went back to playing circus games. 

Throughout the week, the morning and afternoon preschoolers practice coming up with ways to jump through hoops of fire just like they do in the circus.   We even added a trampoline to the end of the three rings of fire!

 By Friday we were tuckered out from doing so many fun circus activities that we took some time to practice circus animal yoga. The teachers and children came up with poses that resembled animals we see the circus. 

 The teachers presented some buttons that might be found on a variety of circus costumes and the children arrange them in a variety of patterns. Understanding the concept of a pattern and being able to demonstrate a pattern are two completely different things. However, it was nice to see the children either identifying patterns or attempting to create their own.

On Friday the afternoon preschoolers enjoyed wearing silly circus animal masks and decorated circus balloons as well as circus hats to act out the role of clowns.

The afternoon children also practiced spelling various words using letters to copy spelling things like a lion, ball, tent.

With such a busy week talking about circus we don't want to forget to remind you preschool graduation will be Friday, May 27. Also be sure to RSVP if you are planning on needing more parking passes. 

Don't forget we ask for graduation that each preschool family bring in a dozen treats to share for graduation. These can be sweet or savory, just remember graduation will be before lunch time for both morning and afternoon preschoolers and 12 of something is more that enough.

What's Coming Up?

The theme for our graduation this year is Disney so the last two weeks of preschool this year will be Disney themed.  We will be having many activities planned around this theme.  

The preschool yearbooks and school photos have been ordered and we are busy getting things ready for our big day.