KPAS fun

Last week ended with some glorious weather and tons of outside time....and yes,  Monday morning we arrived to a cold snowy playground!  As you could imagine we have had some very informative conversations about weather.

The chives have been plentiful on our playground and most recently we have be enjoying asparagus!  It is amazing how quickly it poked through the ground and also how fast it has grown. Everyone has enjoyed checking on it each day and estimating how much it has grown...and then predicting how much it will grow over night.

The next preschool gardening adventure will be planting sunflowers.  Jake and Julie began weeding a spot with children along the wooded side of the white fence...more natural beauty coming to our playground soon!

In the classroom we have been very busy building.  I was at the hardware store recently and noticed some very large nuts and bolts and wondered what would happen/ how would children use these in the classroom...so I purchased a few.  The teacher in me was instantly thinking they would be great for fine motor skills...the dramatic play that has ensued has been so fun.  They have been keys, hand cuffs, light sabers, and glasses...just to name a few.  I will surely add to this collection in the near future as it has been so fun to watch everyone explore with an everyday item.

Also the new baskets I purchased to hold the nuts and bolts have provided great entertainment.

Construction in the classroom has been popular.  The Lego table has continued to be very popular along with the block area. Recent creations have been focused on car garages and fire stations!  

The construction has trickled over to the playground where several kids have been creating boats, ships and the millennium falcon!  They have been using chairs and the picnic tables and sharing the roles of various Star Wars characters, fisherman, scuba divers and also sky divers...such an adventurous group we have!

Our hot lunch program continues to be popular and successful. I am so happy that we were able to switch things up and eat in the cafeteria.  Even the smallest P3 friends are learning to serve themselves, make healthy choices and only take what they want to eat...so valuable for them to realize they can always go back up to the salad bar for seconds and eliminate waste/ unwanted food by taking too much.  We are also so lucky to have our 3rd and 4th grade friends/siblings join us for meals and also help KPAS friends clear their trays.

As the year comes to an end I want to thank everyone again for this first trial year of full day KPAS.  We have had great success and look forward to an even better program next year.  KPAS will be moving upstairs to Andra's room to better accomodate our all day program and use of two classrooms in the afternoon.  Andra and Julie very happily will be taking over the KPAS basement space (back to their old space😀) and have already begun planning.  Lyndley and I have also been planning out our spaces and are very excited to collaborate on the 2 classroom spaces which will offer a nice flow as there is a door that adjoins the 2 spaces...it will be a very busy summer indeed.  Projected preschool numbers for next years enrollment is wonderful which in turns means great numbers for KPAS.  I have offered Jake a full time assistant position with KPAS which we are all very excited about.

Spring 2016 continued collaboration

In both the morning and afternoon sessions we have been focusing on togetherness and teamwork.  My kpas blog format was 2 separate posts...moving forward their will be one post which shares thoughts, projects and photos from both groups.  This year has been challenging as we turned KPAS into a full day program...the good news is the program worked, we are making changes and improving daily and will once again offer a full day program for next year.  A big change will be Andra and KPAS trading rooms.  KPAS will move upstairs to improve the flow of the program and better utilize 2 classrooms in the afternoon (our room and LYndley's).

On our sunny days we have really enjoyed the extra playground time and the ease of wearing less outdoor gear!  

Over April break Lloyd rehung our gutters on the sandbox...just in time for the rainy weeks ahead! The rain barrels have been full of water which has kept everyone busy.

In our classroom both morning and afternoon groups have been creating beautiful group and individual art.  Our rainbow wall has continued to grow-

We have starting working on another group bulletin board that is becoming filled with finger and hand painted flowers

And our most recent project has brought beauty to our book nook as we have created some hanging Art using water colors and mason jar lids

Group drawing has been another favorite activity.  It is so fun to see what a small group of children can create on one piece of paper!

It is hard to believe that we are in the final month of school.  I have loved my first year as lead teacher for KPAS and look forward to a new year with both old and new families!  Thank you for sharing your wonderful children with KPAS each morning and afternoon!