Rain, Rain Go Away!

Today, unfortunately, the weather matched our topic perfectly!  We started the day with rice in the Touch and Feel.  The kids poured and scooped it.  They measured and stirred it.  Then, we talked about how the rice sounded.  We listened closely and agreed that it sounded kinda like a soft rain outside.

Ms. Michelle was here today.  She had an obstacle course set up with balance beams, hoops to jump through, bean bags to toss, and hand and feet patterns to copy.  The kids all took turns navigating the course.  They walked the balance beam frontwards, side ways, and backwards.  The took turns and cheered on their friends.  They crab walked and rabbit jumped with the colored hands and feet on the floor.  They had a great time!

As always, we finished with finger fun!  Since St. Patrick's Day is right around the corner, the finger fun today was green.  It was a warm, gooey substance that is apparently made for the bath tub.....but I'm not sure I would want that on my whole body.  The kids all needed some encouragement to stick their hands in it.  It was slimy and stuck to your hands.  It wasn't their favorite finger fun....but everyone was super brave and tried it for at least a minute.  THEN....as promised.....we immediately washed our hands!

The story today was Rain by Marion Bauer.  This story reviews the water cycle and shows us that rain really is a good thing.  We talked about how rain sometimes messes up our plans or makes us angry because we can't play outside on the playground, but we really do need rain.


We made a chart of all the things that need rain.  People, flowers, trees, fruits and vegetables, and animals were on the list.  The kids thought of some really good reasons why all those things would need water.  People can use rain water to drink and flowers need it to grow. 

We did art and science today!  For art, we made rain sticks.  The kids were so excited to finally get to use the paper towel rolls that they had been collecting from home.  We taped up one end, added some colored rice, taped up the other end, and decorated them.  It definitely sounded a little like a rainstorm when all those rain sticks got moving!

Ms. Sarah led our science today.  We took a bowl of water and made some shaving cream clouds.  We predicted.....using what we know about the water cycle.....what would happen if we added some blue water drops (food coloring) to the clouds.  The kids knew right away that when the drops got too heavy for the cloud to hold, it would start to rain.  They were right!  The blue started to drip down into the bowl and it looked just like rain.  The room was full of OOHs and AAHs!  It was great to see them all so interested in the water cycle at work!

There was so much activity today.....so much learning and listening....the kids all did a wonderful job!  We were all truly exhausted at dismissal!  Rest up....tomorrow is another fun day!