Pets !

With this fish in a bowl game the kids rolled a dice and did some addition and subtraction. Jodie had a funny story about Dillion. She said he has all the fish sitting upright on the page and one fell over. He said " Well , that one is dead." Kids say the funniest things.

Early blog today . I am headed out of town ! It was good to be around the house this morning and watching and listening to Jodie and Devin work with the kids. They are excellent and it gives me a great feeling of confidence for the days I need to be gone. My cousins were in town visiting last night and walked in a room and " caught" Ms Jodie wearing a sombrero and dancing. I told them we dont worry too much about it unless she is in a room with no children. Thats our job... to play. Thanks Girls for being such great help !

Matching game made from pet stickers and milk caps.

Autum was proud of her castle !

Noah and his mom brought in Tom and Jerry , two cats to share with us !

Malia's parent brought in Toto ( the cute dog ) and Floppy ( a bunny )

Company in town

This will be a short blog as I have company in town and I have waited until everyone is in bed to post. My cousin Barbara and her husband Larry are here . They live in Brinkley. We have had a great time look at old pictures and videos of my mom and dad.

I was here for part of the day today . Some of the fun we had was reading books about dogs. Two of the kids favorites are called " Harry the Dirty Dog" and " The Wet Dog." In small groups we looked at a couple books about dogs, read the Dr Suess book called " Go Dog Go" and then made a little book about how to take are of our animals.

In circle time the kids sang BINGO and "Three Little Kittens Lost Their Mittens" and played a rhyming game using dog and cat. Later in the day the kids helped Jodie make puppy chow.

Click HERE for the recipe. The kids loved it !

A New Friend !

Can someone turn on the heat please ! It is SO cold outside today! Even in the freezing temperatures we had a brave new friend start school with us today. The little girl with Malia in the picture below is Andrea. Andrea is Daniel's cousin. Andrea is taking Danny's place.

I love watching the kids play with the light table and the mirror !

Kayla was so proud of her outfit today .

Nolan and Dillion sorted the color wheels at the light table without being asked. This is how " learning while we play " works. The kids start to do things without being promoted. They are naturally curious.

William playing in the water table.

We took out new pet themed puzzles today.

Randy reading a book with Nolan .

Another natural progression of play. The kids extend what I talk about in circle time to their play. I walked in the room and the girls were in there and had set up a little " pet grooming " shop.

Furby's ! Remember these ? I know they aren't real pets but Ive been itching to get them out !

Andreas first painting at school.

I love how the veteran kiddos put their arms around the new friends and welcome them in.

Rainy Day toys came out today! When it is not possible for us to go outside ( and that doesnt happen very often ) we still provide gross motor play !

For art today the kids were prompted to make a kitten puppet. I took these two pictures to show you something . By looking at these two cat pictures one might assume that the child's picture on the left is younger or a boy and the one on the right might be an older child and a girl. Both of these pictures were colored by boys that will be going to kindergarten next year. And actually the one on the left started writing his name long before the one on the right. Some kids just LIKE to color or write and for some it is far too boring and they just want to get finished. That was the case here. When I look at these pictures I dont think one child is more advanced than the other , I just see that one wanted to color and one didnt. Eventually, the boys ( and girls ) will need to get to a point that they have the patience to follow the task through and to the best of their ability - but not in preschool. Exposure is all the activity was for them. We did use them later to sing the " Three Little Kittens " . The kids sometimes LOVE this type of activity. Some never will... we are all different. Kids are all different. The old saying is you can't judge a book by it's cover. In this case, you can't judge a preschooler by his coloring skills .