Last Day

The last day and we get to add one more visiting animal to our list of pets brought in by the kids. Kimber and his mommy found this turtle on the road and brought it in the share with us. We did end up sitting him outside . He became a little stinky. :)

Today is a bitter sweet day. We have spent a year getting to know these little guys and teaching them while we play and today is our last day. Some of them will move on to kindergarten while others will return next year.

Dear Parents,

I give you back your child, the same child you confidently entrusted to my care last fall.

I give him back pounds heavier, inches taller, months wiser, more responsible,

and more mature then he was then.

Although he would have attained his growth in spite of me, it has been my pleasure

and privilege to watch his personality unfold day by day and marvel at this

splendid miracle of development.

I give him back reluctantly, for having spent nine months together in the narrow

confines of a crowded classroom, we have grown close, have become a part of each other,

and we shall always retain a little of each other.

Ten years from now if we met on the street, your child and I, a light will shine to our eyes,

a smile to our lips, and we shall feel the bond of understanding once more,

this bond we feel today.

We have lived, loved, laughed, played, studied, learned, and enriched our

lives together this year.

I wish it could go on indefinitely, but give him back I must.

Take care of him, for he is precious.

Remember that I shall always be interested in your child and his destiny,

wherever he goes, whatever he does, whoever he becomes.

His joys and sorrows I’ll be happy to share.

I shall always be his friend.

~Author Unknown~

I look forward to seeing what each child will do in the future. If there comes a time you have to " take away" something - make sure it isnt your child's faith in adults, their confidence or their spirit. No matter what we give kids, these are some of the most important there are.

I will not be blogging every day this summer but I will periodicially as I clean, purge and remodel our playrooms over the summer. I have never had this much time at home at one time. Randy and I are not traveling as much doing concerts this summer so I have a summer bucket list a mile long.

Thanks ... for letting us love your child.

Green !

Today we were all about green. I had intended to show them color mixing but with five kids out I decided to wait until tomorrow so the missing kiddos can enjoy color mixing too ! But it WAS Muffin Tin Monday. All our food was GREEN. So, mom and dad.. if you see something coming out in the restroom in the next few days that is a little more green than usual, dont be alarmed. :)

We brainstormed things that are green !

Some of the new experiences on the table are color matching . This game is made from paint chips and clothes pins. The game in the basket is a sorting activity .

Lucky leprechauns are everywhere!

Orrin playing with the rainbow. This is a self correcting toy . It has numbers on the top.

Our St Patricks Day sensory tub.

Green Hair ?

Mr. Randy doing a science experiment with the kids.

Andrea brought her puppy in to see her friends today.

We also watched a real Irish Jig on you tube and then tried to do one ourselves !

Ssssssnakes!

On days it is raining outside we add a little more gross motor play like this fun jungle toss.

Ever feel like there was a monkey on your back ?

Five little monkeys jumping on the bed.

We can practice our writing with fun cards that have words on them.

Roar like a lion ! Ok.. a sweet smiling lion...

Dillion is acting out the 5 monkeys song !

The boys are using their legs as drums to an african beat .

For other gross motor we played a game called " We Can Move."

Remember the plates we painted green yesterday ? Today we made snakes with them .

Audreys pretty picture .

We will finish the day with snake breadsticks and milk.... made by our short chefs !

More Wild Animals

We's had another fun day at preschool. Here is Orrin . We learned that an elephant sucks water up his nose and them puts it into his mouth. Practicing this with a turkey baster from one dish to another dish was fun !

One game we played was a file folder game called Lions Lollipops. Each of the children had pictures of various objects. If it started with the L sound they placed their pictures on the lollipop.

After reading the book " Caps for Sale" we painted paper plates green. Why ? It's top secret for a project we are doing tomorrow!

One of the kids favorite songs we are singing this weeks is " Im being eaten by a boa constrictor". Each day someone uses this laundry bag and acts out the song. Other songs we are singing are "Miss Mary Mack" , " We're Going on a Lion Hunt", and " Five Monkeys Jumping on the Bed."

Small groups was when we read the story " Caps for Sale." We used the BIG BOOK and I pointed to the words as I read. Another important thing to do when reading with your child is asking " what do you think will happen next?" and letting them turn the pages one by one. In circle time we used the " Caps for Sale" magnetic board pieces to retell the story. I allowed the children to tell me the story.

Other things we did today were listened to several different types of music. We were reminded of the story about the giraffe that we read yesterday. The cricket told him " Sometimes you just need a different type of music." We listened to snipits of classical, pop, country , blues , a lullaby and many more. The kids favorite of course was Justin Bieber.

I love it when I hear the kids playing and something automatically turns into a learning experience. At lunch today Daniel was talking to the other children and he turned around and noticed the thermometer hanging on the window. He asked me what it was. It turned into a group discussion on what a thermometer is, when it is hot does the red go up or down and why. Loved it... .

Its the KIDDOS!

Most of you know that Randy and I travel doing children's music. We don't do many during the school year so we havent done a concert since September. We are doing a concert tomorrow in Van Buren for a new library down there. The kids let us do a run through for them !

The sound is awful on the camera that I used. I still havent found my battery charger so I am using my moms old camera. So , please.. forgive. :)

We also read another book today by Julia Cook. This one was called " A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue." The book talks about a tattle telling and when it is appropriate. Actually , if it is appropriate it isnt called tattling it is called "Warning." The 4 rules for tattling are :

1. Be a Danger Ranger- is someone hurt ?

2. Now or Later ? Is this something that could be taken care of later ?

3. Is there another solution? ( work it out yourself )

4. MYOB Mind your own business.

I love this book too. It talks about a little boy that tattles a lot. His tongue turns yellow and grows long . It also gets purple spots on it. Another repercussion in the book is that no one will play with the little boy and he is sad. Prince Tattle comes to tell him the rules and his " Bad Case of Tattle Tongue" goes away.

The pictures below are of our tongue check. So far.... so good. :)

Outside time today was wonderful ... Was it really 15 degrees below 0 last week ?

Want to cluck a little ?

Some pictures from yesterday when I was being a whine bag and didnt post. :)

Cutting lanterns is a great fine motor activity and great for teaching how important it is to listen and follow directions. If you dont stop on the line your lantern gets smaller and smaller. I was really impressed with the improved cutting skills I saw.



Mr Randy helped us play a song with the bells today !





Today we talked about Russia and how they celebrate Christmas . I found two traditions that I thought the kids would find very interesting. First they spread hay all over the floor for their horses to eat in hopes that they will grow larger the next year. And second, to wish many eggs on their chickens they go around clucking... yes clucking. I am sure many of the modern families do not do this but I knew the kids would find it funny.

Today has been a drama free day - so thankful. The carpet cleaner is coming this afternoon incase there was any bacteria left on the floor from the plumbing incident yesterday.