Calm Down... Calm Down

Today we revisited our exciting day yesterday. I had planned to go on to planes but we had so much fun yesterday I wanted to continue to draw from it's energy. We read an emergent reader book called " I Can Go" . The kids had fun coloring the pages after we read it. ( Coloring with lines? GASP HORROR! I know... They did love it though. AND I can tell all those free art and fine motor activities have paid off .)

We also read a book I made last night ( VERY late last night ) that was about our day yesterday. The kids were so excited to see a story with them as the main characters.

You have heard a lot about Als Pals lately. Yesterday and today we practiced the calm down steps. They are:

1 .. Take three deep breaths ( in through nose- out through mouth )

2. Count to 5 1 2 3 4 5

3. Then say.. calm down.

We talked about times that we might need to use this technique. Times that we are sad or mad. Times that we are hurt and even times when we are too excited. They really seem to " get this." Wouldnt it be great if we had a group of kids growing up that knew how to self regulate instead of grab a gun or throw a punch?

I encourage you to use the calm down technique at home. When you see your child spiraling out of control - remind them to " use their calm down steps".

I took two videos of the song " calm down" we used to teach this technique.

Have a great weekend.

Teachable Moments

Today was a PERFECT day. If a preschool teacher hit the jackpot, today would be it ! Let me tell you about my day.. so exciting!

We are still talking about transportation and we made these trains this morning in small group . We put all the letter of our name in order. The kids love these. I have them hanging on the wall right now, but they will go home soon!

Last night Randy and I were at Pinnacle and went to Borders. The WORSE place for me and my checkbook to be is a bookstore. So... I came home with new goodies for the table today. The boys love the books that have wheels. The girls loved the new set of 4 small wooden puzzles in a box.



Another choice on the table today was a book to use blocks to make a pattern.

We have permission in the paperwork that we sign at the beginning of the year to take spontaneous field trips . This is the BEST part of family child care. We are small enough to appreciate where we are and decide what is best for the kids " that day." I have wanted to walk to the train tracks for two days but it was a bit cold . This morning we decided today was the day! After circle time and reading books about trains, we bundled up and off we went. Walks are great. It gives us a chance to reinforce safety. We also find many interesting things on our walk - shapes- numbers- people and animals. So.... here we go walking past the hospital headed to the train tracks. We are about two blocks away and we hear a train horn. OH NO! We start walking as quickly as we can.... We can see it.. but not up close! Oh PLEASE Mr Train, make our day and slow down so we get to see you!

Can you see the train in the distance? We missed it.







We sat on the train tracks. We played on the train tracks. We balanced on the train tracks.

Then.......

A TRAIN CAME~!!!!!!!

They went very slow and waved to us!

Then they stopped at the rail road crossing.

And came back by on the tracks closest to us. It was SO AWESOME! They unhooked the engine and went down to pick up more train cars.

This is the engine.

The cars had numbers and letters on them.

We counted the cars as they passed by us.

Trains wheels look different.

This is how they hook to each other !

And then... the driver even got off and talk to us. He told us they were carrying corn to the Decatur and corn syrup to the LITTLE DEBBIE plant. We like Little Debbie's ! Mr. Randy asked him how he knew which cars to pick up and he showed him a list ! He said they go about 40 miles per hour through Siloam.

He even let us ask questions!

And then we got to touch it!

After lunch we drew in our journals about our exciting day!

Wow.. what a perfect day. Perfect... day...

All Aboard!

One of the fun games we played today was " All Aboard!" I had placed numbers on the chairs and the children lined up at the train station and got " tickets" to get on the train. Once on the train they had to find the right seat that matched their ticket. The kids loved it and wanted to do it over and over again. Once seated, as they gave me their ticket to get in line again , they told me what their number was. The older kids did a great job. The younger kids still struggle with number recognition. ( That was a nice way to say this game was mass confusion for them! :)

We made shape trains to review our shapes.



This was a fun game too ! Each child had a grid and dice. They would roll and count the dots and place that many wheels ( painted wagon wheel pasta) on the grid. Again, I was reminded by the three year olds that number recognition is not one of their strong suits. They did practice one to one correlation though, which is more appropriate for them.

Sorry the blog is so late. As has become my Wednesday custom, I needed to take mom to her chemo treatment. I am just now getting home and blogging.

After I left at 12:00 Jodie and Randy let the kids watch a short video clip called " I want to be a train engineer." We rarely watch TV but thought this would be a good compliment to what they have learned already about trains.

Who works on a car?

I am actually starting the post with yesterday's snack. It was a do it yourself snack ! The kids took a glob of peanut butter and spread it then added a strawberry slice, a banana and a slice of green apple to make a stoplight. The kids loved it !

Today I found my little friends making a " parking lot" like the one I made for the game yesterday . It makes my heart smile to see things like this going on.

This morning when the kids came in I had Car written on the chalk board. Whitley first said " Is Clara not coming today?" I said " I think so.. why?" She replied " You have her name written on the chalk board." Oh...... Iexplained that it was missing a few letters to be Clara that it said something else. Katie , who was standing next to her, said " C ...a....r.." and said the word. SO proud! Both of us ! Then later Clara came in and she stood and looked at the board for a long time. Then asked could she write on it. SURE! She filled in the missing letters to make it her name. I have some smart kiddos!

We play and play and play some more., but all the while we are learning. I know you cant see in Claras hands but she has two magnets and it trying to stick them together. Hmm.. Wonder what she figured out?

More revisiting what we did yesterday. Hopefully that means it was a successful play/ lesson when they do it again by themselves.

Today we talked about " Who fixes cars?" I got all kinds of answers but mainly " grandpa or daddy". We talked about a place we can go to get the oil changed in our car. ( Walmart) I also told them a story about my grandpaw who owned a gas station when I was a child. We would go there and he would come out of the garage ( where he was working on a car ) and fill up our tank. The kids can't even comprehend a station where someone comes out and fills your gas for you. Boy, how I wish that was still a service. Kynley explained that when she and Dee fills their gas tank no one does it- it does it by itself. :)

We played truck BINGO. The papers had the alphabet and some numbers on it. The older kids did pretty well. The younger kids - let's just say, my " teacher patience" was tested. When I realized that no one was enjoying this game we put it away. ( BTW.. the paper you see was one of the second year students .. the younger kids had A B C's.

And lastly we talked about our " alone space" today- THE LOFT. The loft was an idea I had a few years ago when I won the Terri Lynn Lycoff Award. It was built as a place that a child can go be alone. That fit perfectly with our ALS PALS lesson today on " being alone". We talked about times that we come in and feel lonely or mad, we could go to the loft. We talked about when a friend has hurt our feelings or was not fair - we could go to the loft to " think". Do you have a place at home where your child can go to think and be alone. It is a great tool to teach for when we are spiraling out of control and need to regroup.

The loft is used for other things as well. We can go up there anytime we would like. There are special books, games and music up there. The rules are :

1. You must ask permission so an adult can watch as you go up for safety.

2. One person in the loft at a time.

3. You must sit.

I caught Anna up there today singing a happy song.