Birthday Fun

Happy 2nd Birthday, Genevieve! I can not believe that "Baby Evie" is so grown up!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Mason!! What a big year it has been for you. You are such a kind and smart little "diaper man".

Some other fun fall photos...

September

A is for Apple!
We have been exploring apples lately, eating apples, and making apple crafts. Check out our bulletin board to see the fun apple trees we made by tracing our hands!

The kids should be able to tell you the difference between the peel of an apple and the "flesh" of the apple. There is great debate amongst the kids regarding whether or not you should eat the peel of an apple. Some kids love to eat the peel and others are completely turned off by the thought of an unpeeled apple. We have talked about how many extra vitamins are in the peel, but they don't seem to make their decisions based on nutritional value!

We have also been using apples to count and do math problems. Mason wanted to put 200 apples on his apple tree, but when he started counting he realized that it would take a long time, so ultimately, he decided to stop with 7 apples on his tree. It is fun to see their brains working to figure out 1)how many more apples we would need to get to a certain number 2)how many would be left if we took apples away and 3) how many we would have if more apples grew.

Aside from the curriculum, we have made good use of the sun shiny days to play outside, ride bikes and run while we still can! The younger set have been adjusting so well to the structure of our pre-school time! They love to "Shake Their Sillies Out" and "Sing Hello, Hello" but once we get to the table and they realize that there is no food involved in our projects, they are quick to head downstairs with Miss Brooke to play.

Baby Eleanor has begun making appearances at daycare. The kids are quite disappointed that she doesn't want to play yet and that she spends so much time sleeping. I have no doubt though that she will be a rockstar soon enough, and the kids are going to love watching a baby grow up over the next year!

Science is EVERYWHERE!

"New" toys have been rotated into the mix this week, and it's always fun to see the excitement and the creativity when the kids are given new tools for learning! Blocks have been one of the simple toys that have brought out such thought and creativity from the kids.

Have you ever watched an episode of "Sid the Science Kid"? I LOVE that show, and I am always jealous of how the teacher always has a lessson prepared for exactly the same topic that all of the students are currently wondering about. I have long hoped for a program where the children are motivated, curious and completely enthralled with what is being taught.

So, you can imagine the excitement I felt when we had a day just like that! While playing out in the backyard we came across this big, fat caterpillar. It was just like the one from one of our favorite books, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar".

We named that caterpillar "Slinky Emma Sophia"....Ella has cousins named Emma and Sophia, so she that would be good. They were completely taken by this new friend...it was so awesome to see!

Just like Sid and his class, we observed the way Slinky moved, the way he looked and what he ate. We used the computer to find out more about him and what he might turn into.

(Nevermind the fact that we found out he is a Tomato Worm, turns into a moth, and really is more of a nuisance than anything else. I also had to let him go one weekend when Slinky and the 8 other caterpillars we found were no longer thriving in our cage.) They sure were fun while we had them!

Then, when we were playing outside, a Praying Mantis flew right up to us. Wren proceeded to scream and freak out, while all of the other kids were happy to hold him, look at him and talk to him.

This week we also began the new pre-school year by starting our curriculum. FunShine Express has made many very cool changes to improve the lessons and communication between teachers and parents. Please read the newsletters that will be sent home at the beginning of each month to see what we will be learning about.

One neat addition this year is monthly journals that the kids will work on here. Rather than sending home worksheets each day, we will do a page in our journals and then send them home when we are done. If you want to check out your child's journal at any point throughout the month, they know where they are and can get them to show you! 

Transition

In the fall, I always expect an adjustment period. Typically that adjustment is for the kids though. After a very fun, very busy, very full summer with lots of school aged kids, I didn't know what to do with myself as I sat there yesterday with Miss Brooke and just 6 children! It was as if I had never done daycare without the "big kids". The pre-schoolers just sat and played. There was no bickering, no wild running, testing the limits of all the toys and finding that their strength and size is greater than the limits of our toddler toys.

If these boys don't look like trouble, I don't know what does! ;-)

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE those school kids, it is just so different suddenly with them in school.

So, yesterday, the first full day of school we all transitioned back to what will now be our typical days. Get the big kids off to school, eat a semi-quiet breakfast with all of the younger kids, and find each and every teachable moment throughout the day to make a game or activity out of.

Our wonderful Miss Brooke had some leis and had found the idea to make grass skirts out of garbage bags, so we learned about Hawaii...hula dancing and volcanoes and beaches, oh my!

Some kids liked the dancing most, while others were obsessed with watching videos of volcanoes erupting and the lava oozing everywhere. Fun stuff!

The Fabulous Miss Brooke

It was not planned, but it turned out so perfect to have Brooke begin working in the summer months (aka: the crazy months). Now her job this fall seems easy in comparison!

Truly though, it has been such a blessing to me and the kids to welcome Miss Brooke, her husband, Brad, and her boys, Brayden and Brice into the Little Friends Family. I can not wait to see how dynamic this year will be!

The kids instantly fell in love with Miss Brooke when she subbed with me last year on and off, and they have been waiting for her to be with us every day since! Brooke and her family live just down the street from us on Belclare Rd, and her boys are in the same classes as Chloe and Carter at Prairieland.

Brooke has a degree in Elementary Education (How cool is that?!?!?!) from Millikin University, so it is our hope to share in the teaching and planning this year. Brooke also has a love of learning, a love for kids, and a love for God that is so big! I am thrilled to see the new ideas and fresh perspective she will bring!

Summer Fun!

Claire is just hanging out, looking sweet with her "floop loops".

Miss Brooke brought over her tadpoles for us to play with and look at. Joanna was awfully brave catching them and watching them hop back in the water. Parker and Claire were happy to let Joanna do all of the catching and holding.

 We have had so many fun days at the pool, but it's also fun to play simple fun water games at home. Squirting spray bottles, "washing" the van and Splish, Splish, Splash (like Duck, Duck, Goose) are some favorites.

 Our trip to Wild West Town started off our summer with a bang!

Volcanoes and SPRING!

The hit of V week was the volcano that Lindsay erupted in the playroom.

Could they be any more excited?!?!

 And then, of course, we had to touch it and ask a million questions. So curious!
Real volcanoes are hot. Is this hot? Lava is supposed to be red. Why is this white? Can I touch it? Will it burn me? Claire, you touch it first! :-)

The long awaited spring finally seems to have arrived. We had centers outside today, and it was wonderful! Some of you may have heard about "Teddy Bear Math". These kids are just so smart, that I want to be introducing them to concepts that they will see later on in life, such as the symbols used in basic math. The kids put some teddy bear counters on the first line and second line and then put them all together on the third line to find the total or the answer to their math problem.

Being outside also means that we can bring out the balance beam. Not only did the kids have fun testing how fast they could run without falling, but some of them were teaching us tricks that they have learned in gymnastics on the beam.

Thanks to the "dirt place" we have added dandelion picking as a center. Claire was very curious about the smell...can you tell?