Puppet Show!

We made Christmas puppets today, which was fun in itself. Then Mason remembered that Chloe had made a puppet theater last summer, and I still had it in the basement! 

The shows had little to do with what Santa and Rudolph were up to, but instead the focus was on where the audience members were supposed to sit, if they had the right tickets to see the show, and if the show had to be cancelled for one reason or another. 

November 8, 2012

Such great friends!

We played outside for a good portion of the morning today! It was so great to be able to spend some time outside before it gets really cold. Of course, I had to drag them back in when I got too cold. They would have stayed out forever, I think.

Our newest "Name Writers" 

Sadie and Preston!!

Mason has been writing his for a while now, but still, he is so proud of himself!

Getting Messy!

After we had painted our pumpkins and ghosts, the table was awfully messy. The best way to clean paint off of a table...shaving cream! It's a pretty fun way to clean (and practice writing letters) as well.

Fall Adventures

Fall is my favorite time to explore nature with the kids because so much is going on outside. Before the leaves started falling outside, we made our leaves blow around and fall inside.

We also walked the big kids to school and on our way home discovered many different colors on trees and plants. As the wind blew gently, we tried to count how many leaves it blew down...there were so many with each breeze!

We also have been playing "board games" that come with our curriculum each month. Although the concepts are mostly matching and counting, the turn-taking aspect of playing is what we are focusing on. They do pretty well!

One of the most special characteristics of this group though, is by far how they encourage each other! I love it when I hear a friend say to another, "What a great job!", "I love what you made!", or "I am so proud of you!"

Farm Week

We are learning all about farms and farm animals this week, so of course we have to do the Chicken Dance!

Who doesn't love BIRTHDAYS?!?!

Taking Preston to Speech

Every Wednesday and Friday we get to take a quick field trip to ISU for Preston to attend a speech class. Originally, I planned for Rachel or Brooke to stay home with the kids, but they liked it so much the first time, that I let them keep coming with. While Preston is with the therapist, the kids and I hang out in a playroom where we can listen to Preston's session on headphones and watch him on the computer, or they can play.

It is funny when they are busy playing and then run over to put the headphones on for a minute...you know, just checking in on Preston! They all love to see what fun games he gets to play at speech.
They also are great about waiting with one hand on the wall while I talk to Preston's therapist. Such great kiddos! Everyone who sees them is impressed!

Nolan is starting to eat some "real food" now, which is also very entertaining for all of the kids. They can not believe that he gets to spit out his food when he doesn't like it. I must say, I never have enjoyed this phase where babies take a mouth full of baby food and then blow "raspberries" with it. Yuck! It does get a good laugh though!

When life gives you rain...

JUMP IN THE PUDDLES!

and find a baby beetle on a basketball and say it a bunch of times really fast...a baby beetle on a basketball, a baby beetle on a basketball, a baby beetle on a basketball...

Graphing Us!

After the kids cut out the pictures of themselves, which they thought were so cool,  we had to look in the mirror to be sure we had accurate data to graph our characteristics! We talked about the concepts of more than, less than and the same.

Preston still laughs and says "noooo!" every time I say that Joanna has red hair. He completely thinks I am joking because her hair doesn't look red to him!

We are special!

Our pre-school curriculum officially started this week with the theme, "You are Special!"
I asked the kids what makes each of them special and these were the responses:

Joanna: Because I take such good care of my mom.
Mason: I don't know. I want to wait and see what other people say.
Preston: 'Cause I have straight hair.
Sadie: I have a special Mommy!
Genevieve: Because I play!

Clearly there is more work to be done on defining special. I am know that each child in this group is extremely confident that they are the coolest thing since sliced bread though, so I am not worried.

We made hand prints today and talked about our unique finger prints. Each child also made a self portrait.

As we have been working on writing our names, Joanna told me she didn't want to write any more today, she just wanted to read. So, that is just what she did. I wrote words on the board and she read them! She was so proud of her new found ability, that she insisted on teaching all of her friends!

Don't get too excited! ;)

My last post was in December of 2011, the post before that was October of 2011, so don't get too excited, but I think/hope that I am once again in a place where I can keep up with the blog! I know that it is a very important glimpse into the lives of your children, and I love documenting the memories. So, here we go!

Little Friends 2012-2013

Where did they all go, you may ask? I must say, it is STRANGE having only 6 kids here all day long...and none of them are mine! I have loved every crazy, fun, busy moment of loving on and teaching the masses, but this is a good transition into whatever God has planned for me next. (We will have 7 on the days that "Little Parker" is here, and when Mason's mom has her baby, he or she will be here full time as well, so some days we will get up to 8!)

Today, the 5 big ones played outside, and we explored anthills, a bird's nest, and dandelions. The kids told me that they found a "daddy praying mantis", and they were right! This guy was huge!

(Preston wasn't back from his appt yet, so he didn't get in on the photo op.)

 

Our Funshine Express Preschool Curriculum begins September 4th, so keep an eye out for the newsletters and fun projects that accompany our learning!