Flying, Feelings, and Frogs

I should have taught about amnesia because I have a bad memory and misplaced all my notes about what we did the week I hosted. Forgive me for posting late. Here is what I remember...

Theme: FLYING

We made paper airplanes, butterfly cookies, and sang songs about things that fly. We also read the book, Ted and Fred Like to Fly by Peter Eastman.











Theme: FEELINGS

I didn't go into too many details, so this idea can definitely be used again. We talked about emotions and how we can react to the feelings we have.

I showed them pictures of kids with different expressions and then they had to describe how they think the child is feeling. Then we talked about how we can react when we have those feelings.

I told a story about a pumpkin in a pumpkin patch who wasn't picked and he felt lonely. Other animals came and tried to cheer him up. In the end a little boy noticed he had been forgotten and took him home. This made the pumpkin happy.

I made up a game called pass the pig. Here are some cute pictures!





Theme: Frogs, Frogs, and More Frogs

We learned all about frogs. We read a lot of books by Nic Bishop (Who by the way, will be a guest at the library in the month of April).




We also made these tree frogs. They turned out a little scary...I need some of Rebekeh's talent.





We played a dice game and whatever number they rolled, they had to hop that many times. Also, we played a tossing game where they tried to throw a frog into bowls for points.

For a snack we had fish eggs (aka: grapes) and swamp juice (aka: water colored green)

My favorite was reading and singing the CROKEY POKEY! I loved watching all the kids getting into it. I definitely recommend this book.



Theme: President's Day

We learned about George Washington. I loved hearing Annie say his name. We also learned there are pictures of presidents on money.

We learned the sound of the letter P (For President. Then we made these P's with pennies glued on them.

The Inuits

Since we talked about arctic animals on Tuesday, I decided to teach about people who live in the arctic for Thursday's joy school. First we sang some snow- themed songs. A few favorites were "Once There Was a Snowman" and "Snow is Falling All Around." We read and looked at the pictures of the Inuit people in these books:

We learned that the Inuits dig through thick ice to find fresh water and to fish, and that they build igloos from slabs of ice. They stay in these igloos when they hunt. They also enjoy carving, and they use snowmobiles to travel far distances. Dogs also help pull sleds. The kids learned that the Inuits live in the far northern areas, in places like Canada.

Then we talked about all of the clothing that an Inuit needs to wear to stay warm. Annie was our "Inuit" and put on snow pants, gloves, snow boots, a snow hat, coat, etc. We also talked about why we wear each item. (Hats are necessary to keep our heads warm, gloves keep our hands warm, boots protect our feet from the snow, etc.)

Next, I had the kids come to the kitchen table to do a few crafts. We practiced writing letters of the alphabet using our "snow" (shaving cream.) This is one of Annie's most favorite ways to practice her writing. We practiced writing an "I" for Inuit, a "p" for polar bear/penguin, "A" for Arctic, as well as the letters of our names.

Next, they each received a bar of soap and a little nail and they practiced "carving" into their soap, similarly to how the Inuits carve into wood, stone, and other materials. This kept their attention for longer than I expected.

The kids made igloos out of marshmallows and frosting, using a paper bowl as the foundation to build their igloos around.

We had a fun time today. Annie and I were so glad to be able to spend the day with your cute kiddos!

Geysers and Other Landscapes

Today the kids did bread making to begin. We put their creations on a tray to rise until they were ready to bake for snack time. Here is the recipe we used:

No Fail Bread

1 1/2 tablespoons of yeast
2 cups warm water
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons of oil
5 cups flour

Start with yeast and water, addthe sugar and oil. Let stand for a few minutes until mixture becomes bubbly, (or not...remember thisis fail proof...the bread will still turn out!) then add flour.

Bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

(Courtesy of the Chicago Waldorf School)

After that we cleaned hands and had a few minutes of free play while I cleaned the dough up.

Circle time:

Opening prayer (Calvin), hello song, weather, day of week & month

Did Rhyme games "Hanky Panky" and "Two Little Blackbirds"

Read "The Country Mouse and the City Mouse" - talked about how living in the country is different than living in the city. Did a few "Landscape" flashcards (moutain, lake, river, volcano, waterfall, canyon, hill, geyser, etc.)

Geyser craft

Songs at the piano - ABC, Old MacDonald

Free Play

Snack time: Bread and sliced apples

Clean up and circle time - "I am a Child of God"

Thanks for letting your kiddos come play with us today!!

Animals of the Arctic!

We learned all about animals of the arctic. Here are the activities and crafts that went along with our arctic theme:
-First of all, we welcomed Elijah into our group! It was also fun to have Evelyn visiting with us for today.

-After our introduction and show and shares, we placed my felt animals onto two different felt boards. One board was for animals who live in the arctic, and the other board was for animals who typically live where it is much warmer. The kids loved doing this, and were excited to tell

me various facts they know about different animals.
-Then we read all about penguins and polar bears in these books:

-I should say that the polar bear book has some gruesome pictures of a polar bear eating animals and you see a little blood in the pictures. I wasn't planning on showing these pages in case some kids are too sensitive, but Annie saw it and piped in that they can all handle it since they aren't little anymore. :)

-We talked about how penguins slide on the bellies more than walk, and how the blubber on both animals helps them stay warm in such cold climates.
-The kids put a ball between their legs and practiced waddling like a penguin.
-They also slid on their bellies across the living room to "move" like a penguin. It was pretty funny to watch!
-Then we watched a really, really cute video I got from the library. We just watched a short 5 minute clip. The entire video is filled with catchy songs and footage of penguins sliding, diving, walking, etc. The entire time Ava, Annie, and Evelyn kept saying, "Ohhhh, how cute!!!" (Girls are so funny!) Here is the video in case you want to check it out:

-We did a craft at the table where they made a picture of a snowy scene with a polar bear, a penguin, and crumpled up tissue paper for snow. Here they are at work:

-After a yummy snack of apple wedges and whole grain fishes (a little healthier) and some juice, they had some playtime until the end.
-I have to say that this day was one of my most fun days I have ever had. The kids were really well behaved and there weren't any problems.
Thanks for an enjoyable day!

Numbers and Counting!

On Thursday for preschool I decided to do various activities involving numbers and counting. I had been noticing that Annie is confident with the letters but needs extra help with this, so I decided to make a day of it. Here is a recap of how our day went:
-We practiced extra hard being quiet while a friend showed his/her show and share. This part of our introduction went pretty well. We worked on waiting our turns, staying on our spot on the rugs, and listening while our friends shared.
-We read the book, One Duck Stuck! It is a pretty cute book where a duck gets stuck in some muck and his friends all try to help him. With each page, more and more friends come to help. I really liked seeing the kids act like snakes, hop like frogs, clomp like moose, swim like fish, etc. It got pretty silly! :)
-We had a number hunt where the kids raced to find numbers hidden all around the living room and kitchen. After our number hunt, we put the numbers in order from 1 to 10. I was curious to see if any of the kids could put the numbers in sequential order, and with a little help from me, it wasn't too hard.
-Then, we played a hopping game. I think this game would work REALLY well in your homes to help improve your child's counting and estimation skills. I glued pictures of various objects in my apartment (car keys, refrigerator, oven, couch, desk chair, car seat, cell phone, bookshelf, etc.) and the child would pick a card and have to guess how many hops it would take him/her to reach that object. If he/she guessed correctly, he/she got to keep that card. It ended up though that all the kids wanted to jump at the same time, which gets a little crowded in my small space. :) It was neat to see their estimations improve though over the course of the game. We have some good jumpers in our group!
-Then we came to the kitchen table and made little counting books with stickers for each number on the pages (one sticker on page one, two stickers on page two, etc.). This took a lot longer than I expected and was a little more difficult than I had thought it would be. We practiced one on one correspondence here. If I did this again, I would follow Rebekeh's idea and have the kids put the stickers in pairs or threes to practice odd and even numbers, and make it easier to count. Next time, I guess...
-I had the kids paint with q tips. They seemed to enjoy this. They traced the numbers I had written with paint. We practiced writing our numbers from top to bottom. I pointed out which numbers have straight lines, which are curvy, and which numbers I liked the best.
-During their free play, I got their snack and closing game ready. For snack, we had grapes and peanut butter crackers with water.
-The last number game we played was a fun one. I had taped numbers 1 to 10 in each cup in my muffin tin. Each kid took a turn and rolled a dice. Then we counted what number was rolled and placed the correct amount of M & M's in that spot. We also used two dice to practice adding and to fill all the muffin cups up to 10. Afterward, I took the M &M's and gave about six to each child. (I didn't want them to have too many but this game could have gone on much longer. Counting with candy is a hit. :)

All in all, I enjoyed having the kids and plan to incorporate more counting activities into future joy school lessons so they can all get more practice. We missed you, Calvin!

The Little Red Hen

I liked how Cami and Kassie have talked about goal setting and mess vs. order, so I decided to have our joy school's lesson topic be about work. It was really nice because Rebekeh joined me and gave me a lot of help. We talked about how in a home, there are chores to be done to keep everything running smoothly. Then each child told us a couple of chores or things that he/she does to help his/her parents. Ideas such as unloading the dishwasher, picking up toys, helping my brother and sister, making dinner, folding laundry, making the bed, putting dirty clothes in the hamper, along with many others all came up. Rebekeh taped these chores to cans of soup, and then each child tried to carry all the chores (soup cans) in a basket across the room. It was doable, but very tiring and difficult. Then we split up the heavy load, and gave each child two cans to carry. I really wanted to emphasize that when a family all works together, rather than mom or dad doing all of the cleaning, then the work is done more quickly and the home is much happier. Hopefully, this object lesson stuck!
Then, we read the book, The Little Red Hen, retold by Heather Forest. I really like this version of the classic old fable. In the book, the little red hen lives with her friends the dog, the cat, and the mouse. Gavyn played the mouse, Ashton played the cat, Calvin played the dog, and Annie and Ava were the little red hens. They would pipe up, "Not I" when I got to their part. At the end of the story, each animal wants to help eat the cake, and the little red hen tells her friends that she loves to share with those who will help with the work. From that point on, the cat, the mouse, and the dog all help with the work and then they all eat together. I liked how the little red hen says, "For after all is said and done, working together makes working fun." Here are some cute pictures that Rebekeh took while I was reading the story:

Next, we put the story of The Little Red Hen in sequential order, and then we made our own little red hens:

But my favorite part was making Monkey Bread! Yum! This is really easy to make. Rebekeh found this recipe which we followed: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/05/monkey-bread/ Just so you know, in my oven, it took almost an hour. If you made the pieces smaller, or used a shallower pan, that might help, but after 35 minutes, it was still doughy, so I cooked it for longer. Here are some cute pictures of the kids shaking the bag to make the monkey dough:

This monkey bread is so delicious! It is definitely not a low calorie snack though! All in all, it was a really fun day. Thanks! And hopefully your kids are all more inclined to help out around at home now. :)

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

On Tuesday we had a Crazy Chicka Chicka Boom Boom class!
We welcomed everyone (had a few extra kids)
Sang some songs. had show and share

Then I read the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom - the kids thought it was SO funny!
I didn't learn to after the class, that there is a song for the book - here is the you tube video of the book in song
if you would like to watch it/show it to your littles later.
Chicka Chicka Boom boom  

We played an alphabet matching game lower case with the upper case. They kids did amazing! Once they chose a letter we made the sound and named different things that started with that sound. We talked about sneaky c and how it can sound like a  ssssssssnake OR it can sound like k k k kangaroo / city, cat.

We sang a couple of different versions of the ABC song - Annie even did a solo for us.
We sang some wiggle songs, and looked in the room for things of the sounds I shouted out.

We headed over to the "craft table" to make our palm trees - with our alphabet letters.
They all did such a cute job on these! I wish I would have gotten a group picture of the trees.

after we made our trees, the kids practiced writing their names.
I found a site where you can type in their names and they will print out the name (or word) so the child can
trace it, then practice on their own. Go here to make more for your child to practice.

we had graham crackers and pears for a snack (tried to make it look like this)

then enjoyed free play until pick up time.

Thanks for sharing your kids with me!