B is for...

This week we are introducing the letter Bb. Throughout the years I have collected what I feel is the best circle time letter introductory kit.

Each day we read sing and touch the letter of the week.

And of course we use Buster Buckle to introduce all of our friends

Activities for the letter Bb

Using large button die cut we sorted all the buttons.

We colored a capital B then glued  Bumble Bees on the letter Bb. On the bottom of the paper I added the children's definition for a Bee.

To help the kids I give them a small cup full of glue and a q-tip.

This activity I got off the abctwiggles website we turned a capital B into a beautiful butterfly. This site you do need to pay for but check pinterest do a simple Letter ___ art and tons will pop up or you can check out my pinterest where I have organized my class ideas through months

Balloon Painting: I love introducing new object for my Bumbles I tried water balloon but I do feel regular balloons stand up better(wont pop as easily) make sure when using balloons that if they do pop you get all the pieces THEY ARE A CHOKING HAZARD WHEN POPPED.

Fun with Friends

VWe are still learning to share but we are getting to know each other and recognizing  each one by name. Buster Buckle has been very helpful when teaching us our friends name as we pass him from one friend to the next. Its also been a great tool for teaching patience and that everyone gets a turn.

Today for circle-time  we shared pictures I've been taking throughout the last few weeks of our friends playing. We talked about what the were doing and who was in the pictures. 

For art we used crayons, dot-paint, stickers and the pictures from circle time to decorate a piece of paper that said ________'s Friends  as they created their masterpieces I played the welcome friends song from the Funshine CD.

Welcome Friends Track 1
 • Sung to “Skip to My Lou”
Welcome, welcome, welcome friends!
Welcome, welcome, welcome friends!
Welcome, welcome, welcome friends!
 Glad you are here today!
Say, “Hello” to my friends now.
Say, “Hello” to my friends now
 Say, “Hello” to my friends now.
 Glad you are here today!  I then repeact the song replace the word my friend with a child name.

Lyrics to all their songs can me found on the curriculum extras page.

Aa is for

All By Myself- this month our theme is all about me. We will be focusing on all the amazing gifts God has giving us our families, our friends and the ability to do this all by ourselves. 

I love the vocabulary cards that came it the curriculum. After showing the bumbles at circle time and singing the song we hung the card in the bathroom to remind them to wash their hands after they go potty. Each time they wash their hands we sing the song this way they know how long to wash as well.

Sung to: "Mary had a little lamb"

I can do things by myself,

By myself, by myself

I can do this by myself.

Yes, I can (wash my hands)

Apple sensory Bin: I love this sensory Bin my director brought us. Not only is it fabulous for our theme but the bumbles just love using the tongs to match the apples to the apple trees.

Morning Centers: As the kids arrive each morning I try to have different activities out this week I have the toy match Mat to encourage putting thing where they belong and a large letter A they can trace.(now know the friends in my class are 2 and 3 and will not be writing or tracing a perfect A just just but that does not mean they don't love to try.) They are thrilled when I bring out the dry erase makers. Each week I wilI change the sheet to incorporate a new theme we are working on. I also put out  with age appropriate puzzles or playdoh.

A inspired Art

Egg carton Ants

Cut an egg carton till there are 3 humps then let the child paint it red or black. When they are finished they can add pipe cleaner antennas and Google eyes

Sun catcher apples: I cut out an apple shape and stuck it to contact paper. The class then stuck squares or tissue paper into the apples. When they are done I will add another piece of contact paper and cut a border these will look great in th window.

Adam and Eve

For Bible we did the story of the sneaky snake using the Beginners Bible we then made an apple tree using a cut out of our hand and arm, small sponges, Apple die cuts and a small piece of green pipe leaner for the snake.

A is for Ants this year we are making a Children's Dictionary. Each week we will be adding an animal that begins  with the letter of the week along with the definition. I have seen these books with the kids making the animals but because of their age I decided to have them use stickers and die-cuts  sticking them to the letter.

A is for Alligator: There are many letter inspired art on pinterest but I decided to use the Alligator. The kids loved putting the pieces together as we sand 5 little monkeys.

Circle Time must

 So after 16 years of teaching I love finding new ideas I haven't heard of before. Though I am a huge fan of introduction circle time songs and the chance to let a child shine this game bakes the cake. Buster Buckle is a sensory toy that was given to me with the FunShine Curriculm. He has come out every morning and the Bumbles start our circle with saying Where's  Buster?????

Buster goes high

Buster goes low

Buster wants to meet his (___________) 

So here he goes. 

The Bumbles absolutely love this game. They sit for there turn and are absolutely full of joy when it is their turn. Each child gets to shine as they move Buster 

Welcome Friends

Wow what an amazing to start to the new year! The Bumblebees are settling great though there are tears and sadness for being away from mom but they are adjusting great.


Circle Time: Welcome Friends
        Today we welcomes all our new Butterflies will this fantastic song that came in my Buttercup Curriculum
Sung To "Skip to my Lou"
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome Friend
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome Friend
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome Friend
Glad you are here today!

say hello to ( and childs name) now
say hello to ( and childs name) now
say hello to ( and childs name) now
glad you are here today

we continued on our day talking about How special God made each and every one of us. For Bible we sung In the Beginning By the Donut Man as I turned the pages of the Toddle Bible showing each day the song spoke of.


Art: Using Blue Paint, Green Pain and shaving cream we finger painted on Paper plates to make the earth

Social/Emotional

I uses the All about Me Card during clean up time, we talked about how hard the ants work and then talked about what the child was doing in the picture. I asked all my Bumblebees uf they could help clean up as well. What an amazing job the did!

The Ants Go Marching

Hey Bloggers! so one thing I try to do in my class room is connect most of the activities together. Circle time, play art, discovery all goes together with what we are learning. Today we discovered the fascinating world of ants. :)
Now, this week these fun insects have been a sore subject for me since they have been invading my home :( I have ants everywhere in my kitchen and they are driving me bonkers. So now I have ants in the workplace but these ants are much cuter.

Circle Time: To introduce our color and shape of the moth we use this great poster that came from the FunShine Express curriculm we introduced the red circle by sing this song.

Art: Each red or black to represent their ant. we then painted egg cartons. We added pipe clears for antenna and sticker eyes. 

While painting we played and sang the Ants go matching over and over.

Story of the day:
 I just love this book, the pictures are bright and fun. the kids cant wait to see what the ant will do next. I always encourage my little ones to pat their hand on there laps as they sing boom, boom, boom.

We started out the day with circle time we talked about the size of the Ants we discovered that they were much smaller than an aligatior.

we crawled around the room to the Ants Go Marching One By One from Barney we crawled fast and slow, we crawled in a straight line just like the worker ants.


Before clean up time talked about how God used the ants as an example on how to be a hard worker. We followed their exampple by picking up our toys.

Discovery: For outside play we added magnifying glasses at let the little-ones explore on their own. We asked where they thought the ants were going and we encouraged them to count how many they saw.

Grandparents Day

This week we were able to focus on our new little ones and what make them special. We noticed out hair and eyes and all the different qualities that make us special.

Dramatic Play; We pretend that me were Mommies, Daddies, Grandma's and Grandpas to the babies in our play center. We fed them, changed them (or they at least asked me to help) we sang to them as they gently rocked them back and fourth.

Adelynn with Her Grandma

This week we asked our Bumble Families to send us pictures of them with their grandparents we talked about how much they are loved. We tried to guess who's grandma belonged to each picture and had each Bumble say there Grandparents name.

My Grandparents:
Sung to" Are you Sleeping"
I love Grandma, I love Grandma
she loves me! she loves me!
We have such fun together! We have such fun together!
 I love her. She loves me. by: FunShine Express


Art: using the materials provided we made Grandparents Day wreaths

Each child colored the edge of the paper plate then stuck on apples and tissue paper. When it was dry we added the strip a strip in the middle that said Happy Grandparents Day!

I sent a note home with the parents encouraging them to have there little Bumbles sing the Grandparents day song to them on Sunday. What a treat they will have :)