Teddy Bear Day

When we don't have one of Kaia's baby buddies over, some days, Kaia goes to play and it's my turn to help in the classroom at OCP.  One of those recent days was "Teddy Bear Day."  The kiddos had come home with a paper bear the week before they were supposed to decorate for Teddy Bear Day.  ("She has homework?" Jason said.  "In preschool?!")  Yep.  Her homework was: decorate this bear.  And she did it just how she wanted, with no input from me.

Teddy Bear Day started with their normal daily routine.  They had some free play first thing in the morning and then circle time.  For Circle Time, the kiddos make a somewhat loose approximation of a circle on the rug with their teacher where they talk about the month and day, day of the week, weather, the letter of the week and the shape of the month.  They each stand up and spell their names and then get to put a sticker by their name on the chart.

They might look at a book and their teacher reads them a story.  Sometimes they sing a song or do a poem with actions.

On Teddy Bear Day, Sierra's class was joined by the other preschool class and they did their Teddy Bear activities together.  First up: teddy bear trail mix.  What's in teddy bear trail mix?  Well, gummy bears, and teddy and grahams, and marshmallows ... not exactly the most good-for-you trail mix, I must say, but fun for the kiddos nonetheless.  

Remember that "homework" I mentioned?  Our little ones had some first experiences with public speaking as they got to sit in front of their peers and tell them about their teddy bear.  Sierra actually did pretty well: she spoke very clearly, even though she didn't really look up at all.  

Each preschooler also got to bring a teddy bear to class and they used them in a little poem with actions.  

The poem ended with "Teddy bear, teddy bear, go to sleep!"  (the stillness was short-lived)

After a quick photo with their bears, it was time to share lunch together before playtime at the end of the day.