dams | Eco-Kids Preschool

Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams

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THEME

Frogs & Ponds, Rivers & Dams

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COLOUR

Light Blue/Turquoise

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SHAPE

Oval/Tear Drop

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NUMBER

14 and Recap

LETTER

Mm – Mud

We eased into the week with a theme discussion on different bodies of water, which plants and animals can be found in these waters and the life cycle of a frog. We enjoyed singing songs and spoke about the life cycle of a frog. The life cycle of a frog starts with eggs, then a tadpole, tadpole turns into a froglet and then froglet will lose its tail and turn into an adult frog.

For our art we made the life cycle of a frog. We started off by making a pond out of an oval shape piece of cardboard, we stuck ripped pieces of blue tissue paper. For the life cycle part of the art, we painted egg cartons green and turned them into tadpoles, froglets and adult frogs. For the eggs we used a piece of bubble wrap and added black dots to look like frog eggs. These look amazing and we will be keeping them for Art Expo.

We went on an adventure to the fish pond next-door. When we got to the pond, each Hopper was given a handful of fish food. The water was very still and quiet at first, then they tossed in the food and watched as the water came to life with the most beautiful koi fish. As you can imagine, this was such an exciting experience for our children! While we were at the pond, we said hello to the horses and had a few spins on the Merry Go Round. When the kiddies got off, they had such a good giggle as they were so dizzy!

Lazzy got some tadpoles from the primary school dam for us to have a look at during the week, the Hoppers absolutely loved this and were so excited to see a real life tadpole!

For cooking, they made “Frogs”. The Hoppers got to experience sifting and mixing all the ingredients together. (Flour, warm water, yeast, butter, salt and sugar). They made one big ball for the body and two little balls for the eyes and added chocolate chips to the eye. These little “dough” frogs were so cute!

We have had such an exciting and busy week. We are so proud of our Hoppers and all their hard work and efforts that they have put into creating the most beautiful art pieces for our Art Expo. We are so excited to share their work with you!

Our theme next week will be: Shadows, Day and Night, Weather and Summer.

Have a safe and lovely weekend.

Do you know ... What is a "teenager" frog called?

Dates to Diarise:

Break Up Day & Art Expo: 20 Oct

Mid-Term Break: 21 – 24 Oct

Back to School: 25 Oct

Mommy & Me Yoga (PP, HH, CC): 27 Oct

Mommy & Me Yoga (BB, SS): 28 Oct

Lots of love

Teacher Kate-Lyn, Teacher Katy and the Happy Hoppers Assistants

Growing in leaps and bounds!

Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams



THEME

Frogs & Ponds, Rivers & Dams



COLOUR

Light Blue/Turquoise



SHAPE

Oval/Tear Drop



NUMBER

14 and Recap

LETTER

Mm – Mud

Frogs and Ponds are such a favourite with all the kiddies! The Crew really enjoyed this week’s theme. It was so cool to get some real tadpoles from the pond at school. Every day the children had a look at how the tadpoles were doing and it was a big discussion each day!

We haven’t done a painting activity in ages so it was the perfect opportunity to bring out the paint and paint brushes for the Crew. We set up books with different pictures of ponds so the children had an idea of what they could paint. And just wow! We are proud of the confidence the Crew painted with. Such colourful pictures filled with frogs, insects and bugs. As Christy-Lee was watching the Crew paint she said they were so good that Ben and Alexa should go to painting school! It was hard to not keep this piece of art of our upcoming Art Expo but we thought you should enjoy them as soon as possible!

The Curious Crew worked on tracing over their name and then writing it by themselves. They are making steady progress but, practice makes perfect! If you as parents could please do name writing at home with the Crew and sound out the letters of their name, maybe make it fun and write your name and other family member names too. Sounding out the letters as you go.

The Crew have been working on their puzzle building skills in class. Those puzzles have been recorded, so if you see some extra numbers on their graph this week, its puzzles they have completed in class! Great job Curious Crew! You make your teachers really proud!

Here are a few fun facts we learnt in ring time, if you would like to chat about them at home:

Frogs Toads

Need to live near water Do not need to live near water to survive

Have a smooth, moist skin Have rough, dry and bumpy skin

Have a narrow body Have a round wider body

A group of frogs is called an “army” A group of toads is called a “knot”

In cooking this week the Crew made the cutest little sweet bread frog buns with chocolate chip eyes, they had to roll the bread dough themselves and then rolled 2 smaller balls for the eyes. Ending off the activity with chocolate chip eyes. We hope that you got to have a bite too!

For sure the highlight of the week….we went next door to Anita’s uncle’s house where they have a HUG pond, with big Koi fish. The Crew LOVED this, they each got a turn to walk a little on the bridge that goes across the pond. They had a chance to put their feet in the pond and we even enjoyed lunch there. Last but certainly not least we went on the big merry go round, WHAT A BLAST!!!

Next week’s theme: Shadows, day and night, weather and summer

Do you know ... What is a "teenager" frog called?

Dates to Diarise:

Break Up Day & Art Expo: 20 Oct

Mid-Term Break: 21 – 24 Oct

Back to School: 25 Oct

Mommy & Me Yoga (PP, HH, CC): 27 Oct

Mommy & Me Yoga (BB, SS): 28 Oct

Lots of love

Teacher Clarissa, Teacher Megan and the Curious Crew Assistants

Growing in leaps and bounds!

Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams



THEME

Frogs & Ponds, Rivers & Dams



COLOUR

Light Blue/Turquoise



SHAPE

Oval/Tear Drop



NUMBER

14 and Recap

LETTER

Mm – Mud

We started the week off listening to each other’s fun weekend with broad discussions and we also introduced this week’s theme, Frogs and Ponds, Rivers, and Dams. We spoke about the life cycle of a frog, as well as where we find frogs and what we can find in dams and rivers.

Phonics and Writing

The Squad did a worksheet on the “in” and “ig” family where they had to match the picture to the word. To do so they had to try and spell out the sound of each letter. They then wrote sentences using those words while integrating their sight words using their “cats” head, tummy tail for correct positioning and spacing of the words. We added two new sight words, “have” and “went”.

Maths:

We continued to practise counting from 1-30 as well as count backwards from 30 – 1. This week we completed a worksheet where you had to count each animal and write the correct number, followed by a graph using the same counting method. The Squad also did a worksheet where they counted in 2’s,5’s and 20’s, followed by filling in the missing number. They really impressed us with this, well done Squad!

Life Skills:

Focusing on our moral conscious theme: “do unto others” we discussed how we should treat others the way we would like to be treated and how our actions and the words we say can affect other people.

Art:

The Squad made a fun art piece where they had to colour the life cycle of a frog and assemble it together followed by drawings of Mystical Creatures, the Squad teamed up in groups of 5-6 and drew their own Mystical Creatures on a big piece of paper, this really brought out their creativity. We have also been working hard on Art Expo pieces.

Afrikaans:

For Afrikaans we did a recap of colours, numbers as well as body parts followed by a worksheet on numbers in afrikaans.

Do you know ... What is a "teenager" frog called?

Dates to Diarise:

Break Up Day & Art Expo: 20 Oct

Mid-Term Break: 21 – 24 Oct

Back to School: 25 Oct

Mommy & Me Yoga (PP, HH, CC): 27 Oct

Mommy & Me Yoga (BB, SS): 28 Oct

Lots of love

Teacher Carla, Teacher Hayley and the Smart Squad Assistants

Growing in leaps and bounds!

Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams



THEME

Frogs & Ponds, Rivers & Dams



COLOUR

Light Blue/Turquoise



SHAPE

Oval/Tear Drop



NUMBER

LETTER

Mm – Mud

Wow the weeks are just flying by so quickly now. This week we learnt all about Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams. It was a very interesting topic for all but the boys seems to enjoy this theme more than the girls. We looked at many different pictures of frogs and ponds.

We tried to explain that frogs are amphibians which means they are able to live on land and in the water. They have big eyes, webbed feet and their skin is smooth and moist. Most of them live in water but other species live in trees or burrow into the ground. We made a make shift little pond where we could show the Pups some tadpoles and explain to them that tadpoles are baby frogs. The Pups definitely learn and understand better when they can see and touch objects that we are leaning about. One thing is for sure our clever Pups definitely know what a frog is. The Pups had so much fun this week jumping/leaping around all over the classroom. These little people are so cute and I have a good giggle most days at the funny things they do. The best part of our week was that we got to go next door to see a real pond which was so cool.

We didn’t make an art piece this week instead we made some cool green jelly and put some jelly tots in the jelly to represent the Pups own mini pond. It was a great sunshine filled week with lots of dancing, singing and learning.

Please may I ask you to send hats for the Pups as we are having some very hot weather at the moment.

Have a super weekend and see you Monday!

Next week’s theme is: Shadows, Day and Night Weather and Summer.

Do you know ... What is a "teenager" frog called?

Dates to Diarise:

Break Up Day & Art Expo: 20 Oct

Mid-Term Break: 21 – 24 Oct

Back to School: 25 Oct

Mommy & Me Yoga (PP, HH, CC): 27 Oct

Mommy & Me Yoga (BB, SS): 28 Oct

Lots of love

Teacher Cecilia and the Playful Pups Assistants

Growing in leaps and bounds!

Frogs and Ponds, Rivers and Dams



THEME

Frogs & Ponds, Rivers & Dams



COLOUR

Light Blue/Turquoise



SHAPE

Oval/Tear Drop



NUMBER

LETTER

Mm – Mud

Ribbit, ribbit!

Croak, croak!

Hop, hop, hop!

We had a hopping good time this week learning all about frogs, their lifecycle, what colours they can be, what they eat and where they live… which brings us to ponds. We learnt about all the different animals that live in or around ponds and the type of plants/flowers that grow there.

We spoke about the life cycle of a frog, how and where they lay their eggs, which then hatch into teeny tiny little tadpoles. These tadpoles eat lots of food and quickly grow from a tadpole into a froglet (which is the “teenage” stage of the frog, before it loses its tail), and then eventually grows into a frog. We spoke about how some frogs can be poisonous, and you can usually tell which frogs are poisonous because they are very brightly coloured. We spoke about how a frog uses its tongue to catch insects flying past and about how important they are to a wetland and/or pond ecosystem.

We sang lots of different songs about frogs and spent many days hopping our way around the classroom and playground. It was so much fun!

The highlight of the week was Friday, when we got to take a walk across the plot into Uncle George’s house and visit his amazing pond. We got to see, first-hand, all of the plants we were learning about in class, the giant Koi fish that we also got to feed. We took our snack down with us and enjoyed this pond-side, picnic style! We also got a have a turn on the merry-go-round and the Bugs absolutely LOVED this!

For art this week, we made coloured in Frogs with folded paper tongues. The Bugs got to colour their frogs in, then helped us teachers zig-zag fold a strip of paper for the tongue. We also did quite a bit for Art Expo, but you’re going to have to wait to see those!

We hope you have a lovely weekend, rest well and we will see you next week for some more Busy Bugs fun!

Next Week’s Theme: Shadows, Day and Night, Weather and Summer

Next Week’s Show and Tell: Everyone to please bring something theme related

Do you know ... What is a "teenager" frog called?

Dates to Diarise:

Break Up Day & Art Expo: 20 Oct

Mid-Term Break: 21 – 24 Oct

Back to School: 25 Oct

Mommy & Me Yoga (PP, HH, CC): 27 Oct

Mommy & Me Yoga (BB, SS): 28 Oct

Lots of love

Teacher Gemma, Teacher Monette, and the Busy Bugs Assistants

Growing in leaps and bounds!

Next Entries »

THEME

COLOUR

SHAPE

NUMBER

LETTER

Do you know ... What is a "teenager" frog called?

Lots of love

Teacher Kate-Lyn, Teacher Katy and the Happy Hoppers Assistants

Growing in leaps and bounds!

THEME

COLOUR

SHAPE

NUMBER

LETTER

Do you know ... What is a "teenager" frog called?

Lots of love

Teacher Clarissa, Teacher Megan and the Curious Crew Assistants

Growing in leaps and bounds!

THEME

COLOUR

SHAPE

NUMBER

LETTER

Do you know ... What is a "teenager" frog called?

Lots of love

Teacher Carla, Teacher Hayley and the Smart Squad Assistants

Growing in leaps and bounds!

THEME

COLOUR

SHAPE

NUMBER

LETTER

Do you know ... What is a "teenager" frog called?

Lots of love

Teacher Cecilia and the Playful Pups Assistants

Growing in leaps and bounds!

THEME

COLOUR

SHAPE

NUMBER

LETTER

Do you know ... What is a "teenager" frog called?

Lots of love

Teacher Gemma, Teacher Monette, and the Busy Bugs Assistants

Growing in leaps and bounds!

Coming Soon