To wrap up our soapy water theme and celebrate the last day of school, we created our very own car wash! 🎉
We learned that cars can be washed by hand or by going through a car wash, and that it takes soap, water, and a brush or sponge to get the job done. We also talked about how a car wash is a service people pay for; a fun way to connect play with real-world concepts!
The kids had a blast:
💵 They cut out their own money and cut fringes to created their own car wash. For the children that are still learning to cut, they cut strips of paper and glue in their journals.  I may help them cut but they are still practicing! 
🎨 They dipped toy cars in paint to make muddy tire tracks, then brought them through a bubbly car wash we made with real soapy water!
For fine motor fun, each child rolled a cube and tried to recreate the line or shape it showed, a fun way to practice all the different types of lines we have practiced all year. 
What a wonderful way to end the year! We wish all our families a fantastic summer full of sunshine and smiles. ☀️💛

Bath time is a familiar and important routine for young children that helps support self-care skills and healthy decision-making. To bring this routine to life, we explored all the fun elements of bath time—soap bubbles, water toys, and more!
The children created their own bath time puppets and colored pictures of themselves enjoying a bath. As part of our literacy activity, we read from our I Can Read book, "Rub-a-Dub-Dub." We focused on the -ub word family, identifying beginning sounds and exploring how words have both a beginning and ending sound. The children enjoyed finding the starting letters for various -ub words like tub, rub, and sub.
For our fine motor activity, the children were encouraged to draw splash marks and create a picture of themselves in a bathtub full of bubbles. It was a bubbly, creative, and engaging day of learning!

Rocks are everywhere and they come in all shapes, colors, textures, and sizes! During this Invitation to Create, the children became little scientists as they explored real rocks and experimented with ways to use them in their art projects. They traced the rocks and cut out for their projects. 
As they worked, the children discovered how chalk interacts with different materials, creating unique textures and effects. By using familiar objects from their environment, like rocks, they found creative and inventive ways to express themselves through art.
We also explored rock stacking and sorting, helping to build early math and fine motor skills. The children enjoyed tracing rocks in their journals and even making silly faces on them, this is always a fun activity!
To tie it all together, we read "Ricky, the Rock That Couldn't Roll" by Mr. Jay, a heartwarming story about friendship, perseverance, and embracing differences.
It was a week full of creativity, discovery, and hands-on learning! 🧠🎨

Today, we learned all about ducks! Ducks are fascinating birds that can live in both freshwater and saltwater. They are omnivores, which means they eat both plants and animals—like small fish and insects. Ducks are also very social and love being in groups called rafts or teams.
In our activities, we played a fun game called "Where's the Duck?" using positional cards. The children picked a card and placed their duck in the matching position—on, under, behind, inside and more! It was a great way to learn spatial awareness.
We also got creative and made duck family headbands! Each child counted how many family members they have and decorated ducks to resemble each family member. 
For fine motor practice, we drew waves and fish, helping to strengthen pencil grip and control. The children also had fun placing dot stickers into matching letter columns—an engaging way to reinforce letter recognition!
It was a quacking good time! 🐤💛

Today, we dove into the theme of swimming, a fun way to stay active in pools or open water! We talked about how people and even some animals can swim using different kinds of strokes.
Our letter of the day was Yy! The children used watercolors to paint their Yy letter books, adding a creative and colorful touch to their literacy practice. 🎨✏️
We also spent time on our journals, where the children practiced cutting, counting, and tracking lines, building important fine motor and early math skills along the way.
One of the highlights of the day was “Diving for Letters!” 🐠💧 I placed small rocks with lowercase letters in water, and the children took turns diving in to find them. After picking a rock, they matched it to the uppercase letter on the table. Together, they successfully completed all 26 letters of the alphabet!
It was a wonderful day filled with movement, hands-on learning, and letter fun!

Today, we learned about sailboats! Our preschoolers learned that most sailboats have just one hull and rely on the wind to move. The tall masts help catch the wind and push the boat forward. But on calm, windless days, sailboats need a little help—like paddles or engines—to keep moving.
For our Invitation to Create, the children chose colorful shapes to design their own sailboats. Through this creative process, they practiced fine motor skills, explored spatial awareness, and got a little introduction to physical science!
We also had fun with letters! We focused on writing V and Y. The children took turns rolling a letter cube, naming the letter it landed on, and writing it on paper. If they needed a little help, I would write the letter first so they could trace it. Then, they matched each letter to a sailboat and placed it inside—turning our boats into floating letter carriers!
They colored and cut a diamond and glued into their journals. 
It was a fun and engaging way to blend art, science, and literacy!

Wrapping up our week, our preschoolers continued to build important early learning skills through hands-on activities that were both purposeful and fun!
In our Fine Motor Journals,  the children practiced sorting numbers and letters, a great way to reinforce visual discrimination and early literacy concepts. They also had fun cutting wrapping paper and gluing the pieces into their journals, a creative way to strengthen scissor skills and hand-eye coordination.
We created a "Name Book" for each child. Together, we rainbow colored the first letter of every child's name, helping them recognize both their own names and their classmates’. These personalized books will go home as a special keepsake — and a great way to continue letter and name recognition over the summer. 
To keep the learning fun and kiddos engaged, we play a daily game where a child is asked to go find a classmate's name book. For instance, I will say "Kristi go find George's book," and they will try to find. They are so proud when they find the correct book!  This simple but powerful activity has become a circle time favorite, even our youngest learners eagerly participate! Each name book is a different color, so children are also learning to identify colors. 
It’s amazing to see how much our preschoolers grow through engaging, play-based learning. We’re so proud of their progress!

Today, our preschoolers went "fishing" — and not just for fun, but for shapes!
We started by learning a bit about fishing. The children discovered that fishing can be done in lakes, rivers, and oceans, and that it can be both a job or a fun activity. Fish can be caught using a fishing pole or a net, and they loved imagining all the different ways people catch fish around the world.
Then it was time for hands-on fun! Each child got a turn fishing for shapes — catching paper fish and matching them to their corresponding shapes. This activity helped reinforce shape recognition while keeping little hands and minds active.
For literacy, the focus was on the letter Yy. The children created colorful Yy collages, using glue and paper.
To wrap up the day, we practiced fine motor skills by drawing lines in our journals — building hand strength and pencil control, one stroke at a time.
It was a fun-filled day of learning, movement, and creativity. We’re so proud of how our little learners are growing every day!

Today was a fun and engaging day in our preschool classroom! Our little learners were busy strengthening their fine motor skills while diving into some hands-on, creative activities.
First up, we worked in our Fine Motor Journals.  The children were encouraged to draw long lines like waterfalls,  helping to develop pencil control and precision.
Next, we got counting! The kids counted out 18 logs (brown strips of paper) and they built a dam inside their journals. This combined counting, cutting, gluing, and spatial planning, making it a fantastic multi-skill activity.
For literacy, we practiced letter recognition by matching uppercase and lowercase letters. We wrapped up our day by coloring and cutting out the letter Vv, reinforcing both fine motor skills and early phonics.
It was a full day of fun, focus, and foundational learning; all through play!

Today, our preschoolers dove into the world of waterfalls, — learning how they form and expressing their creativity through movement and hands-on activities!
We began by exploring what a waterfall is: a place where water flows from a river or stream and drops steeply over a ledge. We talked about how waterfalls can be formed by erosion, earthquakes, landslides, volcanoes, or glaciers,  big concepts for little learners, but they loved it!
To bring the idea of flowing water to life, each child created a "Ribbon Water Dancer" using a popsicle stick, ribbon, and markers. They were encouraged to move their dancers like water — stirring gently, making big waves, or cascading like a waterfall. 
Next, we went outside with  spray bottles filled with colored water. Each child sprayed the paper to create a colorful waterfall effect. This activity combined art, science, and a lot of giggles!
In our Fine Motor Journals, the children focused on:

• Drawing circles around colored dot stickers, using markers that matched the sticker color.
• Cutting and gluing green paper to create "grass," and decorating with fun bug stickers. .
• Practicing number recognition by sorting dot stickers for numbers 3, 4, and 5. 

It was a day full of creativity, movement, and skill-building — all centered around our waterfall theme. We’re so proud of how much our preschoolers are learning through play!