Preschool - Plants

***I have to apologize for the images that are sideways. I can't seem to figure it out, they are the right way on my computer and even my camera card but I keep having this problem so if anyone can shed some light on this issue I would love hear it!**

Today was my last official day of teaching preschool. I don't know where the year has gone but I sure have had fun! We have one more class next week on "bugs" at one of the other houses and for the month of June we will continue to have "play dates" at the same time and throw in a craft but we are done with our structured classes for the year!
My theme for today's class was "Plants". It really was the perfect time of year for this lesson with the backyard in bloom and seeds freshly planted.
We started out looking at a few (sad looking) drawings of the stages of a plant. (I had planned to print these images off but have technical difficulties at the last moment and drew them quickly by hand).

After briefly discussing the stages of plant growth I showed them several types of seeds and talked about where the seeds come from. It was fun trying to figure out what seed would grow which type of plant.

We then cut open an apple and discovered the seeds inside of it. The kids sure were surprised with that one!
We read this great book that I found at the Dollar store of all places. It was perfect as it talked about how to plant a garden and all of the things that a seed needs to grow into a plant (sunshine, water, time and patience).

We then took a look out the window and saw the beautiful white blossoms on the apple trees and cherry shrubs. We sang "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot tree" and then turned on the popper and popped our own popcorn! Watching the popcorn pop was met with a lot of squeals of delight.

We then glued our popcorn blossoms on some trees.


I had made a few flower shaped sugar cookies and the kids decorated them for a snack.
Always a fun time when icing and sprinkles are involved!

We then headed outside and the girls filled their own pots with soil.

We then dug out a hole in the dirt to plant our pansies in. Before they planted them we took a good close up look at the roots of the plant. We then buried the plant roots in dirt and gave each plant a bit of water.


We added a tacky garden angel to each pot for good measure!

Last week's preschool had been about "birds" and when we were at my parent's house last week we came across this old bird's nest that had been left from last summer. While the kids played in the yard during playtime we took a look at this next. They loved it!


I must admit that I have really loved this opportunity to teach these kids this past year. It has been fun to put my teaching skills to use and see their growth over the year. I am feeling pretty inspired right now to open my own preschool down the road, when my kids are in school full time, thanks to this experience.
AL and her friends are registered at a local preschool for next year. I think it will be a good preparation for kindergarten. I look forward to going through some of these same lessons with JA next year!