Teddy Bear Picnic

Today was such a fun day! We had a Teddy Bear picnic ! At 7:45 all the little bears came piling in with their kids in tow.

There were bears everywhere - on floors, in cubbies ...

We read the book " Corduroy." It is the story of a bear in a shop that loses his button and no one wants him. Finally , a little girl take him home. I have a collection of buttons. One of my fondest memories as a little girl is playing with my moms tin of buttons. Today I shared that story with the kids an shared my buttons. We put them on the table and really looked at all of them. We sorted them by shape and color and by size. I was even able to show the kids certain buttons that I remember from my clothes as a child.

After all that math we needed to get up and move around and have some fun . I had hid a button. So, we went on a search for Corduroys missing button.

We made pendants getting ready for our picnic !

We played toss the bear in the honey pot !

One of these bears is not like the other....

We even sorted our bears - small , large and dark and light.

We played the " hokey pokey" with our bears using words like BEHIND our backs.

We went outside with our bears and played teddy bear tag.

And then it was time for our teddy bear picnic !





Even the teddy bears lined up to go to the restroom.

Nap time ! Let's hibernate !

After nap ( which FYI moms and dad's was late ) we will eat teddy grahams.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Of course, our day started with "porridge. " We had good ole homemade oatmeal with butter sugar and cinnamon. Of course, we also threw a lot of it in the garbage. The kids didnt really like it.

The boys enjoyed sitting on the bear rug today reading.

We graphed gummy bears today!

I love when I see the kids repeat something that we did a pervious day without prompting. Here not only is a child taking the bears on a boat ride but they also sorted them by color !

Early next week I am going to do an assessment to see how the kiddos that are going into kindergarten are doing with their letters and numbers. I decided to take out a couple number puzzles to expose them a little more. Numbers are tough for preschoolers.

Book on CD on the table today.

We watched a 5 minute you tube video on my lap top today. The kids loved it. I will link it at the bottom of this page if you want to watch it with your child.

We sorted large , medium and small

Kayla made a necklace from the counting bears.

During circle time today we talked about the story of " Goldilocks and the Three Bears." We talked about the difference between real and not real. Here are some facts we came up with.

The bears in the story can talk. Real bears growl.

The bears in the story live in a house . Real bears live in a cave.

The bears in the story wear clothes. Real bears do not.

We had a few more. Ask your child for more that they remember.

I had a worksampling mentor visit today. Worksampling is the method that I observe and record things the children do so that I can make accurate assessments of where they are and what I might need to work more with them on . It went well. The ladies name is Kelsey if the kids happen to mention her.

Teddy Bear picnic is TOMORROW , NOT FRIDAY. We have special visitors coming on Friday ( a mock inspection for training purposes ) and it would be too hectic.

Here is your video to enjoy.

Bears on boats

Orrin working on some art .

For small group today we played with our counting bears. I had a block and I said, " This is my boat. I am going to take 4 bears for a boat ride." I then counted the bears one by one and put them on the boat. I drove the boat around the table and told a little story . " My bears are going to drive across the lake and have a picnic on the other side. They will have bread and honey . Bears like honey. " When I finished each child took a turn to load their boat and take a boat ride and tell a story. We had bears go to fun city and some ate pizza. This activity not only was a math activity but a language activity. After all our bears took a ride we lined up the boats and discussed which boat had the most and which had the least amount of bears on it. Don't assume that kids cant handle big description words - they can. That is how we expand their language. We were also able to use words like more, less and equal.

During circle time today we read a book called " I Dont Care". It is about a little bear that everyone keeps telling him " winter is coming , you need to get ready" but each time he answered " I dont care.." Of course at the end of the book he falls asleep because that is what bears do when it turns cold. This enabled us to talk about hibernation.

We also looked at a picture of a little girl with a fake arm. Somehow she had lost her arm. We show these pictures atleast weekly and talk about them. We talk about how people with disabilities might feel and how we should act around them. We talk about what things might be nice to say and what things would not be nice.

Instead of having our teddy bear picnic on Friday we are doing it on Thursday. We are having visitors on Friday and the day would be too hectic.

Bears and Birthdays

Today has been a slow day. Several of our friends are not here . Today we celebrated Martin Luther Kings birthday by talking about friendship and " getting along." In our group we do a pretty good job of that but it never hurts revisiting something so important.

We also started a unit on bears. The picture below ( which is SO flattering.. ) is me singing the song " Brown Bear Brown Bear " with the kids and using the storytelling props. The kids LOVE music already but sticking a hands on activity in there they dont even notice that we are learning !

Today was a teacher " YAY! " moment for me. Being in a classroom with different ages and abilities it is important to meet each child where they are and help and challenge. The kids love the furbies I took out last week so I am letting them hang out a little while longer. One of the children had taken them out and sorted them by color. " I love that!" I told the child. " Can you think of another way to sort them?" The child thought for a while . I asked him to look for things that were alike and different with the furbies. He replied " Hair!" I said " Yes, you can sort them by hair color!" He said or I can sort them by long hair or short hair. Well, yes you are right. I left the room and came back. He said look. Instead of having two distinct groups he had all the furbies in a line. He had lined them up from the shortest hair to the longest hair ! Wooo WHOO!! Way to go !