Tracks & Trails

Letter of the week: V
Theme: Tracks & Trails
Value: Victorious

When Ethan was first learning his letters he had a hard time remembering which one the letter V was. So, I taught him to make a V with his fingers and say "V, V for Victory!" He's never forgotten that letter since. We talked about how when we work hard for a goal, we can be victorious.

Each child had a chance to draw the letter V for the class on the whiteboard.

We fortunately did not have any marriage drama this week. All of the children got along really well and seemed healthy/happy.

We transitioned by reading a book about dragons. And then looked over an educational book about animal tracks. I asked the children if they wanted to go on a dragon hunt and they were all very excited. Matthew was the first to spot the dragon tracks outside on the cement. We found a little paper dragon next to the tree outside. I told the children that after snack and playtime, each of them would be able to make their own paper dragon.

I baked some soft pretzels and we went to the park for about 10 minutes to get the wiggles out before craft time.

The children usually seem to get really grabby and impatient during craft time. I feel like they've grown a lot in maturity this past school year. I asked them to all listen to me for a minute. I explained to them that this is a "big kid" craft project that requires a lot of listening and following directions. I feel like they really got it! I didn't have any major meltdowns and everyone seemed to do the craft well.

Birds - Letter V

Tuesday's lesson was on birds. We made a bird's nest and we used our "magic" binoculors to look for birds outside.

We talked about all of the variety of birds there are out there. We read books on birds and focused a lot of our attention on owls. The children seemed to really enjoy Jonathan Allen's book "I'm Not Cute."

Making the nest :)



Reuben H. Fleet Science Center Field Trip

We visited the Reuben Science Center for a field trip last week. We were able to watch an IMAX film about the Ocean. The film was so vivid some of the children thought the fish were actually going to swim into us!

After the movie we toured the center, played in their play zone upstairs and had lunch. A great outing!

 

A fun day :)

Valentine's Day!

We had a fun valentine's party!  We sang our welcome song and had sharing time for those that wanted to share something, then went over the letter "U", and then talked about this special holiday.  

Then...the festivities began!  We started off by decorating our valentine boxes for our valentine's.  While they did that, I asked each child who their valentine was on this special day.

Mason said Annie, London said everyone, Ethan said everyone in his family, Matthew said Lucy, and Lucy said her family. 

In between each activity at our little white table, I would let the kids go play while I got the next activity ready so there were lots of activities and lots of play time.  :)  So next, they ate giant rice crispy treat hearts!  Then, they decorated valentine's to give to someone special.

While they decorated their valentine's, I asked each child who they were going to give their special valentine to.

Ethan chose to make his for him mom.  

Mason chose to give his to his little sister, Annie.

London chose to give hers to her mom.

Lucy chose to give hers to Matthew.

Matthew chose to make his for Lucy.

Next, everyone got red velvet cupcakes!  Then, it was time to take turns passing out valentine's to each other.  The kids were so cute-they were SO excited to pass out their valentine's and collect them in their boxes!  We finished off with more play time.  It was lots of fun!  :)

I have to mention a funny story.

As soon as everyone was on the couch to get started, Lucy raised her had and absolutely had to say something.  She was sitting next to Matthew and Ethan and wanted to tell everyone that Matthew was her valentine.  Matthew looked so happy about this.  Ethan looked very upset about this.  (Mason and London had no reaction-haha)  So then later I asked everyone who their valentine was on this special holiday, and when it was Lucy's turn, she closed her eyes, bowed her head and said "My...family."  Matthew looked so confused and tapped Lucy on the shoulder and said, "Hey, what about me?"  Lucy closed her eyes again, shook her head and said "No."  Matthew looked crushed and confused.  But....everything turned out ok because later when we made valentines, Lucy gave hers to Matthew and he was happy once again.  
It was just so funny watching the kids reactions and listening to them.  Lucy's going to be a little heart breaker!  ;-)

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Community Helpers

February 9, 2012 - Community Helpers

Just Matthew, Ethan and Lucy today... we missed London and Mason.

As I started the lesson all these little cuties were so eager to answer the questions!



We talked about more things that start with "T" and then started talking about Teachers, which somehow led to all the community helpers.

Then I pulled out the costumes...because I can never resist dress up! Nobody fought over what they wanted to be. Matthew quickly chose fireman. Lucy wanted to be the Doctor and Ethan was a super cute little Chef.




I told the kids they would all get to try out being different community helpers...starting with a Chef! We broke out the aprons and got to work making biscuits.

Which they loved...despite the look on Matthew's face!

And then we practiced being "Tidy" once again, to go along with the letter "T" for the week.
Look at those helpers go! They can come tidy my house any day!


While our biscuits cooked, we played doctor.



Ethan has a hurt arm and is being such a good actor!



Then we enjoyed our biscuits, with a side of grapes. I don't know whether kids enjoyed cooking them or eating them more!



Last, but not least we got to practice being Firemen. Since it was a super hot day, I wanted to do something with water... so I made a little paper fire and taped it to a child. Then dressed another child as a Fireman. The remaining child was the person who needed saving. The Fireman had to go up the ladder with the squirt bottle, douse the "fire" and rescue the other person by taking them down the slide.

The kids loved it! What a fun day!