Our final week of summer school was all about FUN!!! The children were able to have a pajama day, a face painting day, a silly hair day, a fun water balloon day and a pizza party/movie day to end the week and our summer program. This summer has been a whirlwind of good times, beautiful themed art projects, awesome field trips, messy experiments, delicious cooking adventures, and wonderful memories made! I hope to do it all over again next summer!!!

This week was all about having hands on experience with experiments. The children got to be little “Scientists”, mixing different colors with different textures and producing very interesting, if not downright fun results! The definite highlight of the week came in the form of a field trip to The Griffith Park Observatory in the Hollywood Hills. Astronomy is of course a  form of science and one of the most fascinating for children. There are countless songs and lullabies dedicated to the moon and stars that are heard from birth — so naturally, Astronomy was our science of choice for the children to experience a field trip with.

Among the questions asked this week were:

1.) What do you get when you + Shaving cream + glue and food coloring? 2.) How do you make Flubber?

2.) How do you make Flubber?

3.) What do you get when you mix cornstarch + water?

The following pictures are the answers to the wonderful questions asked! 

Our “Around the world” theme proved a magnificent celebration of the diversity that can be found here at Saint Victor’s Preschool! The children were shown pictures of various countries, sampled delicious food fare and learned how to say “Hello” in several different languages. We talked about Germany, Italy, South Africa,Denmark, England, Mexico, Korea and Taiwan just to name a few! We learned that although we look different from one another, may speak different languages, and eat different foods, we are fundamentally the same – we are all special and we are all God’s children.

Some of the beautiful art work made this week included a world flag collage, paper lanterns, several self portrait activities and a special cultural heritage activity. We are so blessed to have so many different children from so many different backgrounds here at Saint Victor’s preschool!

This week our theme was “All about Sports”  –the children learned about a variety of different athletic sports.They had a great time playing basketball, baseball and soccer. Our Soccer day tied in with Soccer Shots coming to school to demonstrate the fundamentals of soccer.

Some of the beautiful art crafts made this week included paper soccer balls, a baseball mitten and glove, basketball handprints and little footballs. This past Wednesday the children went on a walking field trip to our local Trader Joe’s Market. The kind staff at TJ’s gave the children a tour of their facility, which included both the inner and outer working — they saw the back room where all the inventory is unloaded and then placed on the store shelves. Each child was able to sample delicious food from the store. The TJ’s staff gave each child a goodie bag (re-usable Trader Joe’s shopping bag) containing healthy food to take home!  We are looking forward to the next awesome week of Saint Victor’s Preschool Summer school!

Our sports week was a winner all around.

This week’s summer theme was all about cooking and baking. The teachers talked about different types of foods, some are healthy and good for your bodies– while other types of food are not so healthy and should be eaten only so often. Cooking and baking with young children gives them a hands on learning experience. There are many lessons learned while cooking, for example:

1.) Learning their numbers while counting out ingredients

2.) Fine motor skills are practiced when stirring batter in a large bowl

3.) Practicing patience while each friend waits for his/her turn to stir the muffin mix.

4.) Cooking is the simplest form of science — cooking dough turns into cookies, muffin mix starts out as eggs, milk, flour and blueberries but comes out of the oven a blueberry muffin.

4.) Good cleaning habits – cooking is often messy but each child helps the teacher to clean up

5.) Cooking and baking is FUN!

Some of the yummy treats made and enjoyed this week included – colorful fruit filled Jell-0 , sugar cookies decorated with frosting and sprinkles, a delicious fruit salad that included apples, mangoes, oranges, strawberries, cherries, grapes and bananas, homemade (or preschool made) lemonade, and blueberry muffins.

The children had a wonderful time with all of the cooking/backing projects this week. Miss Stephanie, Miss Kimberly and the children decided to make a lemonade stand and sell the extra lemonade. It has been an amazingly fun week and I, the teachers and the kids can’t wait for next week!!

 

 

During our 3rd awesome week of summer school, the children were able to have some hands on experience learning about different types of “Transportation”

**Transportation is defined as the movement of people, goods, or animals from one place to another. Some of the art crafts made this week included cars, airplanes and trains. We learned that walking and bicycles are forms of transportation for short distances, while airplanes and  trains are forms of transportation for very long distances. What fun we had learning about transportation!

With the help from some of our dedicated parents we were able to take our first class field trip of the summer — Travel Town Museum and Griffith Park! What better way to illustrate transportation than going to a train museum! The children had an amazing time looking at the trains and hearing a Thomas The Tank Engine Story. Afterwards, we headed to the Griffith Park Pony and Train rides area — each of the children got a ticket to ride on the Griffith Park & Souther Railroad — as well as a wagon ride driven by two ponies! What a wonderful week! We’re rolling right along to our next week of summer school!

The second week of Summer School at Saint Victor’s Preschool was a roaring success! The week’s theme was “Wild Animals“. The children learned about snakes, giraffes, zebras, leopards and many more. Some beautiful art crafts made this week included, watercolor paper snakes, animal stick puppets, animal head bands and lion handprints.

On one particularly beautiful day, we took a short walk around the church to get out of the classroom and explore the neighborhood. On another day the children got to have an awesome water play day — they had the time of their lives. It was definitely a wild week! We’re looking forward to next week of summer school…

Summer has finally arrived here at Saint Victor’s Preschool. The theme of our inaugural week was “Under The Sea”. During the week, the children learned about different types of Sea Animals and the place they call home…the ocean! Art crafts made this week include Jellyfish, mini aquariums, watercolor fish, paper bag Octopi and sandy footprints! We’re already looking forward to the next exciting summer school week!

In honor of Mother’s Day, the teachers and I decided to do something special for all our hard working preschool moms. Earlier in the week, via a cooking/sensory lesson – the children and teachers baked chocolate chip, blueberry and banana nut muffins. Freshly brewed coffee and classical music completed the setting. This special event helped moms to connect with each other while spending a little time with their child.

I wish you all a very Happy Mother’s Day.

Cinco De Mayo came early to The Preschool at St. Victor! The children had a blast making colorful sombreros and green and red ponchos with Miss Stephanie. Miss Jess showed the children how she makes mexican rice from scratch– which made for a lovely cooking lesson. And finally, I cooked mini tacos and quesadillas for all the children that wanted one…or two…of three.

After nap time, the children took turns taking a hearty (yet careful) swing at the beautiful Piñata Miss Jess brought for our fiesta. After the Piñata was broken–yummy fruit snacks came pouring out to the delight of all. Both the staff and the children had a wonderful Cinco De Mayo fiesta!

**A HUGE Thank you to the families that contributed to our fun fiesta!!