Back in town !

Being on Spring Break might have been a LITTLE more fun had it been warm. Randy , Geneviette and I headed to Kansas City, Mo. Which, by the way is an excellent place to hang out with grandkids during cold days. Our hotel, the Westin , had a link that went to most anything that we wanted to do and much of it was free. Below you see one of the first dinner stops. It was FRITZ's railway station. You used the phone to call in your order and it is delivered by a model train that goes around the top of the room on a track. When it gets to your table it drops. I'm not 5 but I was still impressed !

Advice- dont promise your grandchild swimming until you make SURE it is an indoor pool. The brochure said " heated". It was .. and outside. They said that people swim in it year round. So.. we did. The cold was NOTHING compared to having to go out there with a glass window from the athletic room surrounding the pool like a TV. Ugh.....

G had her first cab ride that she can remember !

Maturity is optional.

Before we got out of town we found this field of flowers/ weeds and had to take some pictures. G loved it .

Toy Story 3 Disney on Ice. Carry a BIG wallet and do not make eye contact with the hawkers.

TREX Cafe-- this was our last stop and one of our favorites. This is a must for preschool kiddos!

Yesterday I was in meetings all day. I left town at 6:30 to get to Fort Smith. I was in a budget meeting for Arkansas Better Chance funding. Organizing finances are MY least favorite thing to do. I am the queen of losing receipts. Not... a good... day.

After that meeting was over I headed to Bentonville and met Randy for another training on quality environment rating scales. As always, good information on how to create better learning opportunities for our kiddos! Home at 10 pm. :)

All in a days work.

FINALLY we have made it to today ! We were excited to see the city workers arrive to fix the alley. If you have HATED driving through there - you will be excited too. The great thing about this alley fix is that they kids got to watch the machines work . BONUS!

We are slowly getting into our spring unit. Today we talked about wind. Can you see it? Can you hear it ? Can you feel it ? We used a fan to do some experiments with air. Will a wooden egg float in the air when the fan is turned on ? Will a scarf ? Why ? We also used air from our bodies to do some nice blow art. During circle time we blew up a swimming ring. It was clear on the front. As I blew it up we talked about how it was getting bigger but we couldnt see anything inside. The kids put their hands on their chest. We took a deep breath in... our best rose. Why ? We talked about our lungs. Our lungs are a lot like a balloon or a swimming ring... air goes in and it gets bigger or raises ( like our chest ) when the air goes out it goes down.

It was a good day.

Some of the new materials out this week are spring themed erasers for sorting.

Flower gardens !

What is Easter?

After breakfast today I got the kids started on an orange collage. I heard many things:

Is this a pumpkin?

Is today orange day?

You will see the end result tomorrow!

Easter bunny board game - I wish I knew why playing board games it my LEAST favorite thing to do during the day. I see all the benefits :

Learning to take turns.

Counting

Learning to be a gracious loser

Following 2 and 3 step directions

But .. it drives me CRAZY waiting. The kids on the other hand enjoyed this game.

I know it seems like we do a lot of sorting which is a great math activity ,but we are working fine motor skill in this activity to be better writers. See the strawberry huller they pinch to pick up the pom pom?

Today Randy made Carrot Salad with the kids. They love cooking . For lunch we had cooked carrots, carrot salad and crunchy ( fresh ) carrots as side dishes. After eating we graphed which was our favorite.

One of the groups planted seeds today. They are in the window and we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of flowers !

It was a wonderful day. We couldn't ask for better weather.

If the kids tell you we had a visitor today, we did. A man from the state came by to check our water heater. Once a year he does this and sends us a bill for $25 . He was in the house about 3 minutes IF THAT. What a job....

In circle time I asked the kids " What is Easter?" I got LOTS of candy and eggs and easter bunny answers. And one - when Jesus died on the cross and came back to life for us. I am always leary with this age on what they can really REALLY understand. I think some can grasp the concept but others can't. My grand daughter who just went through losing her great grandfather ( my dad ) and has had many discussions with her parents about it said " but when you die you can't come back to normal." My reply was " Jesus did, isnt that amazing?" Christmas is so much easier to teach. I mean, we have a baby and angels and shepherds and camels.. not crosses and stones that rolled away. Don't get me wrong, I am thankful for Easter and what it means to me but just not sure how to approach it with the kids . But then, when I just accept the Easter Bunny answers without telling the " real reason" I feel like a fraud. Parents or teachers, what is your take on this? How do you approach it with your child or your class? I have 3 more days to get it right.

Calling Santa

Did you know we practice our math skills when we are putting our toys away. Sorting by one or more attributes is a math skill !

We sort all over the rooms. You have to admit when you look at our room it is fairly clean most of the time and everything is in it's place. That is because everything HAS A PLACE. Try this at home. I bet it will work there too!

I love watching the boys work together!

We read a book about Christmas and graphed if we had a tree up yet and whether it was real or fake. Most of the kids were saying real.. so we had to backtrack a little and explain what " real" and " fake" mean. Finally, I think we determined it was safe to say if your tree came out of a box, it was probably not real - or fake. I never thought about it , but I guess for most kids a Christmas tree is a little magic and in some ways they are all " real". I did have one little boy say mine is real. It did not come out of a box, it came out of my garage. :)

Wanna call Santa? Here is his number posted in the playroom for the children to make that special call.

My grand daughter, Geneviette. Here mommy is a nurse now. I am guessing this is where her medical knowledge comes from. See the shirt with the bulge. Look under... a baby. What happened to kids thinking that moms just picked them up at the hospital or under a rock? :)

And let the Christmas crafts begin!

I am not a big fan of teacher directed art but sometimes it is ok, fun and a great way to do assessments. I drew lines on the green sheets of paper and the kids were cutting on the lines to make a tree. I did this in small groups so I could see the child's " cutting form" and help instruct the correct way. Look at the two pics side by side. Can you see the difference in the development of the child's fine motor skills? They all get there.... this just tells me I need to make sure I encourage more scissor- cutting in the art center. See.. it is my job to see what I need to do to my room or say.. in conversation to the kids to encourage certain skills. ( This activity also taught sequencing from largest to smallest. )

It's beginning to look at lot like Christmas.... Tuesday the kids painted the paper plate circles and yesterday they added the berries!

Random: Geneviette was in the art center for quite a while today. When she came out she had this large piece of paper with drawings on it. She said it was her map. ( To treasure?) No, to an island. She got on her horse and rode away. Cute. Did you know her daddy lives on an island? Honolulu. So.. this pretend play was even more precious to me and was a clear sign that she missed her daddy.. my little boy. :)

More random. " Look Ms Debbie , it is Obama. We cheer for him! " Pride in our country whether we agree with the decisions or not can start this young.

Today the kids made the most beautiful Christmas tree ornaments from pinecones. I actually bought the pine cones already dipped in bright breen glitter at a thrift store. The kids added glue and beads. SOOO pretty. Keepsakes...

You know teaching moments also happen when you least expect it. For instance, look at the picture with the shadow and the sparkles. The sun hit the glitter and made sparkles on the table and a shadow.