The ANGRY MONSTER

We all get bit by it ever once in a while dont we ? The angry monster comes up and bites us on the hiney and we start to yell... and yell ... and cry and kick. No, I didnt explain anger to the children like that . This blog is for YOU... so I put it in terms you can enjoy. Have you ever been bitten on the hiney before and spewed anger before you even realized it ?

Today we talked about anger and read the book " When Sophie Gets Angry, Really Really Angry. " Sophie's little sister took away her toy and her mom let her do it. " It IS her TURN!" ( Just so you know.. that is called Hi-jacking. When a child is playing with something you can encourage them to share but allowing someone else to take something or YOU taking it away is like you driving down the road and someone jumping in your car and saying.. " GET OUT, you have been driving this car long enough. " Have you ever looked at it like that ? Ok, on with the story. Sophie was so angry she ran and ran until she was exhausted. Today, I introduced our method for controlling anger here. MINE..if you watch me on facebook OR just notice my size would be DORITOS. :) Yep. If I get angry just give me some carbs and I will self medicate. For the kids we teach them the calm down steps.

!. Take 2 deep breaths.

2. Count to 5.

3. Say " Calm down, Calm down."

I promise you I still have parents say the kids use this at home from two years ago. Try it ! At home if your child gets angry, remind them of our calm down steps.

We even have a song from Al's Pals that goes with out steps.

Mr. Randy is in charge of science projects. Today he tried the first one. Fail.. or so he thought. I am not sure what he was trying to do. Maybe get the packet he placed inside the water bottle to get pulled down to the bottom ? Anyway, the kids still loved it and there was still a LOT of learning going on. I could hear their questions and their problem solving as they tried to make it work. In my book, that means the science experience was a success.

We tried a new recipe today - Homemade Pizza Cups. If you cant see it below just let me know and I will print it for you. The kids loved it and it was so easy.

Many have asked how the mud kitchen is going . GREAT! !! Each day we are learning more ways to make it more fun but with less clothing clean up at the end.

Last night at 11 pm we got a call that Randy's uncle had passed away. Thankfully we just saw him a couple weeks ago and enjoyed a great conversation. They have requested Randy sing at the funeral so Thursday evening or early Friday morning Randy and I will be leaving for Mississippi . Bethany and Beth will be here working. Beth has two more weeks before her program opens so we are thankful she can still sub in when needed. Things are still a little hectic with all the new routines. If any parents would like to come in from 9-12:30 to volunteer I am sure it would be appreciated. Extra hands are always welcome.

Puddle Jumpers

Today our lesson plans said " Feelings and Emotions," but several of the kids came in all wound up about the thunderstorm that was happening when they arrived at school. A couple of them were expressing very STRONG emotions about something. I cant help but think that it had something to do with the weather - they were two veterans. When it is storming ( this is the Debbie's opinion version ) it is our job to worry and protect our children. If you are visibly shaken- they will be also. I feel our kids are too young to understand the complications of weather patterns and the consequences of weather so why worry them with it? Sure teach them to be safe - but at 3 and 4 it is our job ( again ) to keep them safe. Just call me Mary Poppins but I dont like to see kids stressed out . SURE! We know what to do incase of an emergency but even that is done with routine and lack of drama. ( ALSO, NOT assuming that this was what was wrong with these kids this morning and you are a drama mama ( HA) Just found this as an opportunity to teach.)

Ok. Moving on...

Today I introduced the kids to Al. Al teachers us that we should be nice to our friends. So far, he only talks to Ms Debbie ( weird huh ?).

The kids LOVE this song by Laurie Berkner. We have the book and she sings the words. We are lucky enough to have Mr Randy and his guitar and we can do it all by ourself. Aveary really loves this song, She asked me this morning if I would do it again before we even started circle time. That made me smile.

But before that we read stories about rain and puddles and then we went outside to explore.

We jumped the puddles. We saw our reflection in the puddle.

We looked to see if we saw anything living in the puddle.

We even JUMPED OVER the puddles !

The boys telling us what they know about puddles. I love watching these videos . I mean, they all walked off at the end. Like seriously Ms Debbie, this is NOT interesting right now, stop quizzing us for the camera and let us be kids.

It was a good day.

Learning Outside ! OH YEAH!

What a beautiful wonderful fantastic ( any more great adjectives I can throw in there ) day it has been today. Days like this renew my spirit and make my heart smile. When the weather is warmer many days we meet the kids outside in the fence to get a little play time outside before we head in for breakfast. Today, when it was time all I heard we GROANS..... So, I smiled and said " Ok, lets go in to eat breakfast and then we will decide where we want to play." If course, after the kids wolfed down their english muffins , green apples and milk they were ready to head back to the play yard. I grabbed our theme box and out we went !

My day did start with this HUGE bow made from newspaper that Mary ( Williams mom ) made for me. Everyone else got paper hats yesterday and she knows how I am about hats so she made me this bow ! CUTE!

The kids LOVE this little toy that Kayla is playing with . I think it is called a " Pop-up." You pop the ball up and try to catch it in the basket part as it comes down.

Randy also took out the parachute. I found my parachute book . Did you know that just like any other teaching aid there is a METHOD for using a parachute. There are 8 sessions. The first one we did today . ( Up until this point I guess Randy just let them bounce balls in it.) The lesson today was teaching the " thumbs up" grip. Some of the games in the book call for thumbs up others for thumbs down. So, we practiced thumbs up and sang " Where is Thumbkin" while we did it. Then we practiced " the wave." The wave is created simply by going up and down with our arms in the thumbs up position. We tried it fast and slow and listening when the teacher calls freeze. The kids loved it.

Periodically I would ring the bell two short times. That was a call for the children to come to the porch and talk or read or sing. Randy was getting lunch on the table during this time so Geneviette took a picture of me reading . I think she may grow up to be a photographer. She handed me the camera and said " I took two. I took one of Nolan and Dillion." When I looked at the pictures I smile. What a sweet picture to take of the boys.

We can see rainbows on demand !

Kimber is going to be so excited come May. We will be doing a huge Farm unit. Today he was playing with the tractor on the porch . I loved the way he had his food in the trailer pulling it.

And last but not least... You do know that leprechauns will run away if you blink. So, we practiced staring.

Here is your Friday Flick.

Trains!

Today we walked down to the railroad tracks in hopes of seeing the train and WE DID! We were there about 10 minutes and hear the whistle blow. The kids were so excited ! The bummer part of that story is in the process I dropped my camera which is now BROKEN.. bummer......

Many of you know I have spent the last 6 months working out with a trainer. His gym was on our way so we stopped by to see him and let the kids see the gym. They loved it. The second picture is the kids fighting in the ring. They asked me what it was and I replied " That is the cage they fight in..." And.. well, off they went. The funny thing is that no one was hurt. I told Cassidy maybe we will come in once a week to work out aggression . We have discussed a kids fitness class and even a night for all my moms to come in for an introductory free class and try it out. I LOVE it... It is intense.

And for your Friday flicks !

Man.. I hate when I cover the speaker by mistake with my finger !

The kids really enjoyed this one !

Friday Flick- Jungle style

Today was our last day on the jungle unit. We have had a lot of fun exploring animals that live in the jungle . Early this morning we read " Good Night Gorilla" and afterwards had a special visitor !

A GORILLA!!!

His teeth looked a little mean.. so I warned the children ahead of time that he was coming and not to be scared that he wouldnt hurt them. No one cried , ran or screamed. In less than a minute Randy took the head piece off so they could see that it was him !

We also made a favorite animals graph today - with our BODIES! I lined the animals up on the table and the kids lined up in front of their favorite jungle animal. Then we talked about terms like more, less, most and least.

We had our Friday dance party . I LOVE to see Orrin dance... he dances with every ounce of body he has.

William stopped by. He had his tonsils and adnoids removed on Wednesday. The kids were very curious and caring. They said " We miss you William."

We also read this book below today and talked about patterns.

It was another fun day. Enjoy our friday flick !