This month we have been talking all about Dinosaurs in preparation for our big field trip to the Indianapolis Children's Museum!  We have sponge painted dino footprints, made "shoeosaurus", and have completed LOTS of painting projects! We also had some fun with Easter.  We played Easter Bingo during our classroom parties, which is always a hit!  For our all school Easter party, we had an egg hunt at the park, followed by bowling at Fast Lanes! The Mon-Wed-Fri kids also got to tour Maple School at the end of the month.  Hopefully, this will help them transition well next year!  Our year is winding down very quickly!  The kids are anxious to get outside to play.  We hope that the weather will cooperate soon!

• Building Blocks- Our featured play materials include blocks of all shapes, sizes, and textures, Legos, books about construction, paper and pencils for drawing "blueprints" of our designs, and many block play people, animals and signs.
• Dramatic Play- This center includes our loft filled with dressup materials and pretend play toys, our kitchen area with all the necessary items to cook, chop, clean and play.  We also have a baby doll care area in this center.
• Math- In this area we have all kinds of toys and manipulatives for creating patterns, measuring, problem solving, spatial reasoning, geometry, and data analysis.
• Art- Our Art Center is filled with paper, scraps, glue, pencils, markers, crayons, and just about craft material you can think of for children to cut, color, and create during center time.
• Library- This center is filled with books that we rotate often according to our theme or study.  It is meant to be a comfortable place where children can sit and "read" during center time.
• Discovery- Here we have our sand and water totes, science experiment tools, magnets, sink and float kits, plants, items from nature, and our live gerbils.  Our Discovery center is spread to three different areas in our classroom.
• Theater- In our theater we have puppets and felt play toys to encourage pretending and acting.
• Music and Movement- One of our favorite centers, has a table with many insturments, all of our best cd's, rhythm sticks, dancing ribbons and much more.
• Computer- We have a variety of computer games that we use to reinforce skills that we are learning in class as well as teach fluency in using the computer.
• Literacy- In this center we have dry erase boards, an alphabet pocket chart, books, writing tools, alphabet manipulatives, games and puzzles.
• Outdoors- Here we have a sand box and sand toys, playhouses, bridge, large area for running, jungle gym, grass to play soccer, t-ball, parachute, and other organized games.  We are also adding a trike riding area.
• Trains- This is a less traditional center, but we have a train center at preschool.  Both boys and girls alike love building tracks and lining up their trains.  You would have to see to believe some of the tracks and stations our preschoolers have built.

"Developing Creative Minds"