it's in the mail. . .

We missed having Addi, Laine, and Quinn at preschool today, where we talked about mail carriers and other community helpers!  We had a great circle time and had fun pretending to deliver mail in our postal hats, and we read two books about crazy things that got delivered in the mail.  We also played a math game where they had to deliver postcards to the right baskets, depending on how many sticker dots were on the cards.  We did our "W" workbook pages, did a little dancing (this wasn't that popular today), had yummy soup and breadsticks for lunch (this WAS popular today!), and lots of playtime because that seemed to be just what everyone needed.  Mason really loved spinning around at music time today, and I heard him say, "I'm making myself busy!"

  

At circle time we talked about different things they could do when they grew up.  Miriam jumped right up and said, "When I grow up, I'm going to be Sarah's mom!"

Me:  Mason, what do you want to be when you grow up?

Mason:  A fireman!

Elizabeth:  You can't be a fireman.  You have to grow up and be my husband!

Miriam:  "Elizabeth, can I please play with your temple?"

Muffin Tin Monday

I came across the cutest idea that I want to use for preschool one day or just with my own kids.  It's called Muffin Tin Monday, where your meal is served in a muffin tin with different themes.  Most of the ideas looked like lunch, but I bet it would make the cutest dinners! 

Here's the link:    http://thedomesticnotebook.blogspot.com/2009/08/muffin-tin-monday.html

A cool website

So I found out about a great website called No Time For Flashcards. It's packed with easy art projects and books that go along with them. Also, letter activities. I posted it here. And I did the letter S even though I figured Teri would do V for the party week. We can catch up with T and U soon, right?

Doctors and Dentists

I wish I'd had a photographer on Wednesday to capture the rapture of Doctor day. I dressed up in Ryan's scrubs and white coat and demonstrated how to use the tools of a doctor.

Each child got to hear his/her own heartbeat through the stethoscope and eager volunteers like Addi got to wear the blood pressure cuff and feel the squeeze. Ryann let us look into her ear with the otoscope, but then she wanted a turn to see too of course. The tuning fork was another fun one. Each preschooler had a turn to get it touched onto their head and hear the pitch.

Playtime is when I took the only picture of the day. Elizabeth set up an extensive retail business with no more than a plastic cash register and a lot of ingenuity and sold most of Quinn and Lane's possessions to the glad shoppers. She took pains to explain that her name was in fact Caralina, not Elizabeth.

For the letter S and number 19 we tried a less structured art project. The plan was to draw 19 snakes. It was interesting to see how each child reacted. Mason ended up drawing a striped snake, unlike any of the examples I had drawn, and it turned out he actually had drawn 19 stripes without realizing it! Elizabeth took care to make some detailed snakes and didn't mind if there weren't 19 by the end. Addi and Laine both surprise me at how they keep up with the kids who are much older.

At lunch Elizabeth had us guess what her first baby's name would be and surprise, it turned out to be Caralina. She is a good caretaker of the younger kids throughout all of our activities. I think she enjoys the roll of near-expert, and honestly, I enjoy her help and hilarious comments!


We read two books about dentists (and found out all about Thomas and Hyrum's cavities) and passed out the exciting gift bag from Quinn and Lane's nice dentist. Every girl was a good sport about the fact that some toothbrushes were pink and some were orange and "you get what you get".

Healthy Bodies

Tuesday's lessons were all about bodies and how we can keep them healthy. We discussed and read about four main ways to stay healthy: exercise, eat healthy foods, keep clean, and rest. Then we more fully experienced each method.

For exercising, we boogied to some fun preschool songs that required silly dancing...Including Go Bananas (thanks, Miss Yolanda). It should come as no surprise that Elizabeth, Quinn, and Miriam were totally into this. Ryann didn't enjoy it as much and looked forward to playtime when she could place the coveted plastic tiger into the helicopter for a long flight.





The kids knew a lot about healthy vs. unhealthy foods. They also seemed to understand the principal that it's okay to eat a little bit of unhealthy food as long as you first have plenty of good food to build your muscles and give you energy.

We had a highly anticipated whole grain popped snack and I placed two white chocolate chips in the bottom of each bowl of popcorn to illustrate the idea of treats after good food.

My favorite part of our lesson was about keeping clean. I acted out several situations where I made unhealthy choices (skipped hand washing after using bathroom, sneezed and coughed on all the preschoolers, got dressed without changing my undies for several days, washed only my tummy in the bath tub, played in the dirt and didn't wash hands before eating, etc.) and the kids laughed their heads off at me and explained how to do better.
Mason and Elizabeth were especially fastidious about their art project. And Elizabeth had forgotten her crayons, so several generous friends offered to share.

a demonstration of what our muscles and bones can do together...

Valentine's Day Prep

Hickety Pickety Bumble Bee was a big hit! Everyone sang and loved to stand up and hold the bee during their turn. Addi held the flag for the pledge of allegiance and she was so pleased to be the special flag holder she beamed all day. The rhyming eggs today had "an" endings and Elizabeth read all the words "The egg is in the books" by herself so everyone knew where to run to find the egg. We learned the letter V and practiced making it with our hands. Then we learned a fingerplay for Valentine's Day--here it is so you can do it at home:

I put my hands together,

This is how I start

I curl my fingers right around

And I can make a heart.

We sang a Valentine's version of BINGO--here it is as well--Miriam and Laine were such great singers, and they knew all the letters!

There is a shape

And it means love

And HEART is it's name-o

H E A R T . . . etc.

Stories for today were Roses are Pink Your Feet Really Stink, and One Zillion Valentines. Then we made "one zillion valentines". The kids were really creative with their valentines--they knew exactly who they wanted to make them for and they wanted to write all by themselves. Quinn especially--he wanted me to help him spell names of all his cousins and even after everyone else took off for playtime he wanted to stay and make valentines. We painted valentine mail boxes--which truthfully was almost a huge disaster because I gave all these little people their own bowls of water to clean their brushes. Can you picture it? As Tiffany says, "They may not have a lot of artistic ability but it's the process they enjoy."

We were fortunate today that the weather was warm and we got to play outside and ride bikes and scooters. Mason was SO happy riding bikes--he was smiling so big--and Ryann was really good at sharing her bike so everyone had a turn. We had pizza and veggies for lunch and overall it was a good day. My little Sydney wasn't as well-behaved as I would have liked--and Addi was especially concerned when I got baby Charlie out of her bed, "You have ANOTHER baby? Where did all these babies come from?" "My tummy" I explained. "My mommy doesn't have any babies in her tummy," she told me. :)