E is for Egg

March 30th our theme was eggs and Easter. We started by making Easter Bunny Easter baskets out of paper plates. We were so busy that I didn't get pictures and had to take this one of Christian's after school.

Next, we made edible Easter Bunnies out of egg whites. This was our inspiration (from Stories of A to Z):

but I used this recipe from allrecipes.com (minus the chocolate chips called for in the original):

3 egg whites
1 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch salt

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease baking sheets or line them with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whip egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add the sugar, vinegar and vanilla while whipping to stiff peaks. Drop by spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until cookies are dry.

We mostly just did bunny heads.

They were fun, cute, and delish!

We read two books, the first was an Easter book

and then, even though it didn't really fit in with the E theme (maybe "eek!"??), this one.
I hadn't read it before and it was so cute! I think most tiny kids don't really understand what April Fools' is all about, and this book did a great job of explaining it. It's an easy reader, too, which would be great for new readers.

For our final craft, we made Easter egg shell mosaic pictures of Easter baskets filled with eggs.

Happy Easter!

J is for Joke

We started off on March 23rd by making jewelled jellyfish. The kids glued grocery sack squares to paper plate halves and did a great job cutting the tentacles. After drawing on faces, they got some purple jewels to stick on!

Next, they used their fingerprints to add buds to Japanese Cherry Blossom trees. I even dusted them with glitter while the paint was wet to make them extra special.

For snack we had Jello Jigglers and juice. (This is the first time I'd made these and, for the record, I think raspberry Jello Knox Blox are way better than strawberry Jello Jigglers!)

It was a little tough getting everything to stick on to our jelly bean chicks, but they turned out cute!

We did some picture sequencing with the nursery rhyme "Jack and Jill" and then we learned "Jack be Nimble" and made our own candlesticks to jump over!

Check out their great jumping:

R is for Rainbow

Unfortunately most of our class was sick and missed out on our March 16th class. We started out by figuring out the leprechaun color code and coloring rainbows.

Next, I had them paint over their picture to see that the crayon resists (or repells) the water in the paint!

Finally, they glued some cotton balls on to be puffy clouds and used a special metalic gold marker for the gold.

We made some rockets out of toilet paper tubes, but haven't figured out how to launch them off yet. Hopefully there will be an update on them soon.

Next, we ate our snack of rainbow cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. They were yummy, but sure time consuming to make the night before!

After snack and some books, we made red ribbon rhythm wands and decorated the handle with colorful, small rubber bands.

Here they are using them to the radio.


Lastly, we made footprint rabbits. They turned out so cute!

J is for Joke

Here are some ideas for the letter J, just click on the picture to go where there's more information!

jokes for kids

jelly bean bunny

paper plate jellyfish

jar animals

Jack and Jill puppets

milk jug Easter Bunny basket

jellybean jewelry

jack-in-the-box craft

Japanese cherry blossom tree

jewelled frame

clay pot Jesus craft

jelly bean chicks

Jack Be Nimble candlestick

jelly bean graphing

jester hat

Easter s'mores in a jar

Jack and the Beanstalk maze

jewelled Easter eggs

jigsaw puzzle piece frame

jelly bean mosaics

amazing juggler on YouTube

juice bottle bug catcher

jelly bean painting

egg carton jellyfish

Jello Jigglers

colorful jokes

Easter egg bead jewelry

jelly roll

Jack and Jill sequencing cards

I did "J is for Joke" because April Fools' Day is coming up, but I wanted to use next week for more Easter crafts. First, here is a cute poem that I found:

April Fools' Day

Mackenzie put a whoopie cushion

on the teacher's chair.

Makayla told the teacher

that a bug was in her hair.

.

Alyssa brought an apple

with a purple gummy worm

and gave it to the teacher

just to see if she would squirm.

Elijah left a piece of plastic

dog doo on the floor,

and Vincent put some plastic vomit

in the teacher's drawer.

Amanda put a goldfish

in the teacher's drinking glass.

These April Fools' Day pranks

are ones that you could use in class.

Before you go and try them, though,

there's something I should mention:

The teacher wasn't fooling

when she put us in detention.

. . . . . . . --Kenn Nesbitt

Here are some jokes and pranks for April Fools':

irretrievable Easter egg

too small shoes

balloon swarm

amazing returning can

water ring

spilled hot chocolate joke

You could also try some of these fun recipes that aren't what they appear to be!

cashew chicken stir fry

fauxberry pie

spaghetti and meatballs

jellybean corn on the cob cupcakes