Music Day-April 26

We were planning on visiting the Strawberry Patch, since we just learned about gardens, but it rained all night and rather than get all muddy, I put together a last minute music day!

First we watched Step in Time from Mary Poppins to get the kids excited!  Then we put on our own performance!  (They did perfect when I did it with them, but it was harder when I was filming while holding Levi!)  They all took it seriously and had a lot of fun!



 Next a lesson about notes and how many beats they get.  We clapped the beats of 1/4 notes, 1/2 notes and whole notes.  Then I had the kids pick their favorite and we clapped them out.

I got out the music shakers and we sang children's songs and they watched me for when to shake and when to hold still.  They were all naturals!  They took turns with all the instruments really well!

Check them out in action:


We finished by making our own egg shakers!  I took some old Easter Eggs and the kids filled one with beans, and the other with rice, and I glued them shut with a glue gun.

Such a fun day!  I love pulling things together last minute, because instead of focusing on what we have to accomplish, we just go with the flow and I feel like the kids really enjoy the spontaneity!  Great job little musicians!

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 :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

 Everyone was so excited to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, especially with these cheesy little hats from the dollar store.  Ethan was excited to put his hat on, but then it was uncomfortable and he has the cutest sad look going on in this picture!

 I read "Green Eggs and Ham," which completely captivated everyone. (Not all the stories I have read have done this, so you know Dr. Suess is just genius!)

 

Then I told everyone we were going to try green food just like the character from the book and since the letter was "Y"  we would decide if foods tasted Yummy or Yucky.  The one rule was that you couldn't say if it was Yummy or Yucky until you tried it.

 Look at all that Yummy green food!

Apples
Celery
Spinach
Kiwi
Green Eggs
Lucky Charms (not pictured below, use imagination)

 The kids were awesome at trying food and shockingly everybody liked almost everything.  Mason, London, Lucy and Ethan all said Yummy to everything (I don't know if it was just good peer pressure?)  Matthew stood his ground and said Yucky to celery, kiwi, and green eggs, but yummy for apples, spinach and Lucky Charms.  I could not convince him that green eggs tasted the same as yellow ones, and I think he just barely licked them, so I don't know if that was a fair test! But he tried!

Then it was time for Riverdance!  I showed them a video and then put them in a line and told them to try it

Here is the Rehearsal (Basically Riverdance Moshpit, I edited out all the violence):


And the moment you have all been waiting for the final performance (which was made complete with a single line of duct tape...sure eased Lucy's nerves too!):

Dave didn't have to go into work until later, so he helped out with some entertainment!

We made some fun 4 leaf clover crafts and then got ready to hunt down the pot of gold!

Inside we found gold chocolate and four leaf clover bubbles!

ABC Scavenger Hunt

March 13, 2012

Hunting for letters was so much fun! We walked through the Batiquitos Lagoon hunting for all the letters from A to Z. Other than mild dramas about who found which letter, we had so much fun (although we missed London and Mason).

 Running ahead to find the letters!

 Little Horses

 Lucy really wanted to find the "L," so I re-hid it after Matthew found it.

 "Z" was way up high

 Off in the Wilderness together

Ethan wonders if Matthew has anything good in his lunch. 

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.