Joy School Today September 27th, 2011 "Eating Theme"

So....Joy school today was wild. Haha We studied the fall colored trees and talked about the weather changing. We had sharing time. Everyone brought something to share except for Lucy, so we improvised. She had a beautiful braid in her hair so she shared that and the kids loved it. When we do sharing at my house, i have the kids get up, share, and then we pass the sharing around so we can feel it or get a closer look at it and the kids love that. They all feel more involved that way. My son conrad is also here this week, so we went around the circle and everyone told him their names and he told them his.

We had a little dance party to get things started. It was going well till Jack fell and bumped his crown....haha couldnt resist. He also hit his arm so we all gathered around to make sure he was ok and to let him know he was loved.

Then we went to the kitchen and talked about fruit and veggies. They all got a picture of an apple to color. They had fun with that. It was pretty cute. We were down one chair, so, as i was getting another one for conrad, lucy scoots over on her chair and says he can share with me...looking at him with her big doe eyes. haha Conrad declined and wanted his own chair. Ethan was watching the whole thing. It was pretty funny! I wish someone else was here to see it.

After coloring our pictures, we had the main event. The tasting and eating of different fruits and veggies. They loved this. They got to dip their goods in a honey yougurt sauce and an onion dip. They all did excellent with this! Most of them tried everything. I was really proud of them all for at least trying them. We had strawberries, blueberries, bananas, apples, celery, cucumbers, Snow peas and carrots. This was a fun tasty snack!

Lucy kindly demonstrated what we were doing for the picture. First you dip and then you eat it. Thanks Lucy for helping with that.

To finish the day off we had story time. All the kids sat or cuddled on the couch and listened. We read the giving tree and chicka chicka boom boom. Then they all got to have play time till the parents showed up.

All in all it was a good day. There were some CRAZY moments for sure. But they are kids, im the newest teacher. Its ok. Im sure it will get a little easier as the weeks/months go on.

On Thursday we are taking our first field trip to the Fire department. It should be a fun day!

Days #5 & #6: Summer Breezes & Bouncing Balls

It was our turn to do Preschool this week, and we had a wild and crazy time! It was so fun to see every child's little personality and how they all interact!

Day #5
Our letter of the week was C, and our word was Caring.

On Tuesday we talked about Summer Breezes, which we extrapolated into talking about wind in general. We started off by blowing crepe paper in front of our faces, making our own "wind".

Then we made some plastic bag kites, and the kids had a fantastic time running around the garage watching their kites fly. I think this portion of the day ended when several people all bonked into each other . . .

After flying our kites, we did a little art project of glueing scrap paper to a picture of a kite. Wow, do these kids love glue! Some of them got really into putting lots of little pieces of paper onto their sheet and others just got into putting lots of glue on their pieces of paper! This was a popular project, for sure.

Day #6
Today we talked about bouncing balls, which was a fun topic. But before getting into the balls, we talked some more about the letter C and the word "Caring." All the kids got to pretend that they had fallen or were otherwise in need of help, and I showed them how I cared about them and wanted to help them feel better. They were pretty good at feigning pain, which I'm sure is not shocking to any of us :).

One of the things we did to talk about balls was to do a felt board story about a family who lost their ball. Wow, the kids LOVED the felt board story -- thanks for the great idea, Natalie! They also seemed glad that the parents "cared" about the kids enough to help them find their ball. Here's a picture of the kids watching the story (tongues were out just for the picture; what a bunch of fuddy-duddies we've got!). I hope none of you ever see the figure people I made for the felt board; they are truly heinous, and I'm lucky they didn't scare the poor children.

Since we were talking about balls, we decided to decorate paper grocery bags and then make them into "balls". The kids really liked coloring the bags and even got creative with the crayons, sticking them between their toes (Mason pictured below).

We then did a little science experiment with our "balls" and tested whether our right or left legs kicked them further, whether we could throw them or kick them further, and if it was hard or easy to balance them on our heads. Good job little scientists!

And at the end of the day, the kids were super excited to have toy time, even though they spent part of it just resting (I think all of our balling wore them out).

All in all, we had a great week! And . . . I'm really going to enjoy the next four weeks, 'cause this teaching is a lot of work!

Day#4: Picnics

 Today was awesome! We started out with our welcome tree, sang some songs, and read a book about picnics. We did a felt board finger play about ladybugs. Then, we made some little ladybugs. The kids seemed to have fun with those. Since I had some music playing, when they finished their ladybug they started dancing. After we got things cleaned up we all sat down and read the book "The Bears Picnic" by Stan Berenstain.

It was a cute book, but in retrospect I probably wouldn't have chosen that one before we set off on our picnic. Each time the bears sat down, something awful would happen and they would have to move their picnic and find somewhere else to sit. They eventually ended up eating at home.

Right after I said "Say cheese!" the sprinklers set off.

We set off to find the perfect picnic spot. Lucy found a nice dry patch of cement in the middle of the grass and everyone agreed it was perfect. As I was laying the blanket out on it I remember thinking, "Wow, the blanket even fits perfectly over the cement. This is almost too perfect." As I had everyone sit down for a picture, the moment I said, "Say cheese!" The sprinklers went off.

Jack, not sure how much he likes acting out what we read in the book...

This sent our little group into a major panic attack! There were kids laughing, screaming, crying, and running. I was laughing because I couldn't believe how ironic it was. 

We found a nice dry spot under a tree. It took some of the children a little bit to relax. One child kept thinking that everything that happened in the book was going to happen to us. "I am going to get bit!","A plane is going to crash on me!", "I don't want to get dumped on!!!"  While everyone was eating, we read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See?" (reviewed Spanish colors.) At this point everyone was happy and calm again. I had the children look for things that they saw. 

While I was cleaning up the picnic the children played with bubbles. Jack was a big help in getting things cleaned up. He carried some shoes and trash back to the house. When he got in, he dumped it all and sighed "Wow guys, that was a close call." It was adorable. 

We sang some more songs about the letter B and bugs. Did another felt board story, then read "Little Red Riding Hood." We talked about how the woodcutter was Brave when he decided to help the little old Grandma. 

Overall, it was the perfect adventure.

Day #3: Colors

Colors!

We started out with our welcome tree, then talked about the letter B, and what it means to be Brave. Today’s lesson was on colors so we did some finger play/singing and each child got a color card to hold and discuss. We later cut those cards up and used them for a little art project.


We had play time while I prepared a snack: crackers & colorful sundaes.

Sundaes & Crackers

After snack, the children were quite tame and focused. I read them a story in Spanish about colors and how they mix together. They learned how to say: azul (blue), verde (green), rojo (red), amarillo (yellow), violeta (violet), and anaranjado (orange). Maybe we can somehow integrate that into our future lesson plans?

We practiced mixing the primary colors together with watercolor pencils. 

Watercolor Pencils

While we waited for moms to come, we read “My “b” Sound Box.” They have one for each of the letters in the alphabet so you can check them out at the library for your letter if you’re interested. While I was reading that book, some of the classmates got “cozy" - I had to get a picture of it....

My "b" Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure

Post-class dancing to Brite music by Janeen Brady.

Day #2: Hello Friends!

We had a really fun second day of Joy School!  We started off with our "Hello" tree and welcomed our friends.  (We missed Jack!)  We also reviewed the letter "A" and "appreciation".  I told all of the kids to tell their mommies how much they appreciate their moms making them dinner tonight.  We'll see if any of them remember!  :)  

Then we had a yummy snack of oranges, cheez-its, and string cheese.

  Mmmm!

Then we headed outside to paint our T-shirts.  Let me tell ya-these kiddos were SO excited about doing this!  After realizing that they don't quite know how to squirt the paint out of the pens without making a giant glob, I told them to just use their hands to decorate them.  They loved it but it sure got messy!  We spent the next 20 minutes trying to get the paint off of their hands (and Ethan's pants but no luck :/ )!  But they did a great job and they loved it.  :)

  Their beautiful shirts.  

We headed back inside and did lots of different "nice to meet you" games.  One of which ended in tears because Mason and London collided during our "run under the parachute" game.  But they were fine and we had some extra play time today.

Having fun during our games.

Building castles with blocks during play time.

Spanish Language Exposure Opportunities

Cardiff Library 

1st Wednesday of every month. 
Carlsbad Library
Mondays, 3 p.m., Learning Center, ages 3 to 5 (and up)
Wednesdays, 10 a.m., Learning Center, ages 3 to 5 years

Day #1: Birthdays!

We had our first day of Joy School today and it was great!  

We have such a fun little group of kids.  

All five kids (+ Annie) for a quick picture before we got started.  :)
(Jack, London, Ethan, Lucy, Mason)

Our "Jump for Joy" banner!  The kids enjoyed jumping for joy.  :)

 Our picture tree!  We sang a song and welcomed each child to the group.

Everyone had a turn sharing a toy with the group for show and tell.  This was so cute seeing how proud each child was of their very own item to share.  Jack shared his airplane, Ethan shared his gun, London shared her white block, Mason shared his dragon ball, and Lucy shared her new goggles.  :)

We learned about the letter "A" and "appreciation".  During my "A" speech, Ethan told us that his gun was going to kill the big bad wolf.  And then the fact that "ant" starts with "A" reminded Mason to tell everyone that we had maggots in our house a few weeks ago.  Lucy helped me demonstrate the word "appreciation" by helping me pick up some toys that I dropped and I appreciated it very much.  ;)

Mason needed to go potty and so then of course almost everyone else had to take a potty break.  After everyone was rounded up again it was time for snacks!  (Olives, carrots and goldfish-everyone likes goldfish, but not everyone likes olives and carrot sticks.  Haha!)

After snacks, we learned all about birthdays.  We talked about how each of us was once a baby and now we're so big.  London and Lucy decided to show each of us their pretty princesses and polka dots on their "big girl" underwear.  Haha!  After talking all about our birthdays, everyone got to decorate their own birthday cake.  

I completely forgot to take a picture of the kids decorating their cakes but here are the finished products.  They colored and glued the shapes however they wanted.  :)

Each child was measured and here are the measurements: 

(I don't know how exactly accurate they are)

Mason: 37 3/4 inches

Ethan: 39 3/4 inches

Jack: 37 3/4 inches

London: 36 inches

Lucy: 39 inches

After we played another game, we celebrated Lucy and Ethan's birthdays by eating rice crispy treats!

We had some play time at the end.  We loved learning about the letter "A", appreciation, our birthdays and how old we are today!