Vegetable Garden- April 24th

It was just Lucy, Ethan and Mason today.  We missed Matthew, who was at Disneyland (lucky duck) and London who wasn't feeling well (feel better sweet girl).

We started out talking about which vegetables grow underground and which ones grow above ground.  The kids would hold up their pretend vegetables and then stand up and shout "Above Ground" or get in a small ball and say "Below Ground"

 Just for your enjoyment, I posted how cheesy I am. I had Lucy take a picture of me during the next activity.  I pretended like the radishes were growing in the ground (yeah the paper bag is pretend soil) and each child had to hop like a bunny and come pick their radish.

Then they got to eat them!

Yum!

Lucy and Mason didn't like the radishes, but they tried them so that was awesome.  Ethan kept eating his and then licking his lips and saying "Spicy!" and then took another bite.  After about 5 bites, he looked up and urgently asked "Water!"  I really praised Ethan for being the most like a bunny and eating his whole radish, which made Lucy jealous, so she started chomping down on her radish.  Then she ran to the trash can and spit it all out and decided it wasn't worth it to be the best bunny.

 Then we pretended to make a vegetable soup and each child took a turn in the middle of our circle, while we stirred them into our human soup.

Next we planted basil!  The kids loved it. Mason kept packing his and packing his.  He was really into it.  He tried to be super careful and was a little worried that he spilled some, but I told him we all spill a little and then he brightened up!  

We put our plants on the windowsill to get some sun, but Levi went out and dumped Ethan's on the ground.  I secretly replanted it all during our soup making.  When Ethan went outside to look at his plant, he was so excited it was already growing (probably because of the dirt I picked up from the ground had more particles in it)!  What a good imagination Ethan!

I wasn't planning on going to the park, but Mason was begging to go, so we went for 10 minutes.  Caught them on the way back all holding hands!  So adorable.  I am so glad they have become such good friends throughout the year.

 After the park we made soup for our Mommies!  I pulled out all the vegetables I could think of!  We started with some chicken broth and then added Broccoli, White Beans, Red Chard, Artichoke Hearts, Carrots, Zucchini, pasta noodles and Italian Seasoning.  The kids loved ripping up the red chard and pulling apart the broccoli.  I encouraged them to eat whatever they wanted while we were making it. It turned out really yummy, I thought, although the kids didn't eat very much!  Oh well!  More for the Mommies!

I caught this Lizard out by the plants at the end of the day.  Lucy and Ethan tried to catch it, but it was too fast.  Keep practicing guys.  Maybe someday!

Now I Know My ABC's!

We have covered the letters X, Y, & Z the last few weeks. Wendy took us on an adventure to the Batiquitos Lagoon in search of the "Lost Letters." We'll be posting photos from that soon...

Today we reviewed our ABC's and started the alphabet from the top, at the letter A. The lesson was on apples and so we made a craft. Each child was supposed to create a story around the apple tree. We had children picking flowers, children laying on blankets, huge storm clouds approaching, and children picking apples from the tree.

We read some stories and did some apple story fingerplay. The children had snack time and all of the apples were devoured.

Here is a video from a song we learned that went with the topic of the day.

We spent a little time playing at the park. Most of the children wanted to try the monkey bars. Lucy could do them and so peaked a lot of interest.

We came inside for a little bit and reviewed the day. It was fun :)

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!

Bags

February 7, 2010 - Bags

First we just played! Usually the kids are so excited to see each other that we just play for 15 minutes. I found it so cute to see them all under our desk together! They are such good friends!


I pulled out all kinds of bags and threw them all over the room. We took turns talking about what they were made out of and what we could use them for.

We debated what type of grocery bag was better...paper or plastic? We tried putting a bunch of things in each bag and seeing which one was easier to carry. Everyone agreed on plastic...until I pulled out Dave's Kettle Bells and filled the bags. Of course the plastic one broke, so paper won. We decided it depended what you were carrying...all the while... all the boys really wanted to do was flex their muscles!

We had a super messy snack, apples with sugar and cinnamon (next time...outside) and peanut butter and honey sandwiches...while I taught about the letter T !

We "Tidied" up the room and then each took a turn tracing my letter "T" and then drawing our own. I was impressed what great "T's" everyone could draw!

Mason

Matthew


Ethan

Game Time! We played "Friend in the bag"

All the kids closed their eyes and sang "Friend in the bag, Friend in the bag, who is that friend in the bag" meanwhile I chose someone and put the bag on them. The kids loved guessing who it was in the bag!


Then we passed around our secret objects inside our bag (pillowcase) and tried to guess what they were.

Next we used our pillowcases for hopping, jumping, racing and even pretended we were mermaids and the bags were our fins (Lucy insisted and I was surprised none of the boys seemed to mind).



We topped off the day by making hats out of paper grocery bags!


Cute Little Annie
And Ethan's face says it all!
Whoever knew bags could be so much fun?!!

I Can...

January 5, 2012 - I CAN

Playing before school


Today's lesson was all about the things "I Can do"!!!!

We started by talking about all the things the kids could do and compared them to Levi and how he could not do many things they could do. Then we all shared something we could do and I wrote it down on a slip of paper and put it in the "I CAN" jar.

Matthew said "I can sleep by myself"

Lucy said "I can snap"

Mason said "I can jump really high"

London said "I can skip"

Sadly we were missing Ethan.






We had a lesson about the letter "O" and our word for the week "Optimistic."

I read them a story about Thomas the Train and emphasized some of the things he was able to do.

Then it was time for the Hokey Pokey...just to show off all the things we could do.



Well after the first minute no one wanted to do it anymore. They just wanted to run around. I took a quick little video of the kids running in circles until they were silly!





Then I had to cover them up with the blanket to get their attention again! We spontanteously played a game to see if "I Can" be quiet or loud.

We finished the day making owls. The kids were so cute while they were making them. At first someone said it was hard and I said "You have to be optimistic. Say I can do it. I am optimistic!" The entire craft time, each time anyone glued anything thing on they shouted "I can do it! I am optimistic!" It was so funny and cute!

Nursery Rhymes

January 3, 2012 - Nursery Rhymes

The kids were so glad to be together again after a long Christmas Break! We welcomed Matthew today! He was so much fun and we are so excited to have him in our Joyschool!

Today we learned about Nursery Rhymes! I forgot to take any pictures! SAD! So I took some of the Nursery Rhymes to put a little color in the post, although I know it doesn't make up for seeing what our cute kids were up to!

Anyway, I pulled out my favorite book and read lots of rhymes to the children. (I think the cute little boy on the cover of the book looks just like Matthew)


First we read "The Old Woman who lived in a Shoe"
and then I scattered all kinds of shoes all over the living room and let the kids match them up. We all picked which shoe we would want to live in and had to explain why. The kids had such darling explanations...(wish I could remember them all and share, alas I am writing this post about 6 weeks late!)


Next we read "Old Mother Hubbard"

I already had all of Lucy's pretend food setup in the kitchen like a grocery store, so I let the kids fill up a grocery cart and take it to an empty box and stock "Old Mother Hubbard's Cupboard"

They really had fun!

Then we read "Jack be nimble"

and practiced jumping over things.

"Little Bo Peep"

We went to the park and played hide and go seek, except the ones hiding were the sheep and they had to "baaaaa."

Last, but not least "Jack and Jill"

Since it was blazing hot... I brought 2 bowls and some cups. I filled the first bowl with water and put it at the top of the play structure. Then I put the empty bowl at the bottom of the park. I gave all the kids cups and told them they were "Pales" like in the nursery rhyme. We had to say the rhyme over and over while we went "up the hill" and filled our cups with water, and then emptied them into the bowl on the ground. We went until the bowl was completely full and since it was hot the kids started drinking their "pales of water."

It turned out to be a very fun game the kids loved. We had so much fun!