On St. Patty's Day we ate green mac n cheese, green apples, and cucumbers. We went on a leprechan hunt and had rainbow cupcakes. We also did cloud art and learned about rain.

In March we learned about wind and made paintings with our own "wind."

Here are a couple of shots from our farm animal week. Donkey tails game. And a couple from Gateway Discovery. But sorry, I was in mom mode and just took pics of my own son there.

Mother's Day

Today we learned about MOTHERS! We read Are You My Mother? And we made a special Mother's Day gift. So if your child forgets to give it to you on Sunday maybe you could remind him/her. The sight word we worked on today was "by". The kids found hidden rhyming eggs ending in y (my, try, by etc). They each got to take one home. Since it was a new month, they kids helped me set up the calendar. We worked together on finding the right number and putting it in order on the calendar. It was a good way to review numbers.

They had some good play time in the basement--especially after they found a spider. :) Then it turned into a tarantula, then it was a "spider full of poison". Mason was quick to explain that tarantula's are just another kind of spider and only orange spiders have poison. :) Then we painted the covers of our All About Me books and had pizza, bananas and yogurt for lunch. Everyone rode bikes outside and then. . .

We came in and drew our families for our All About Me books. I'm still laughing about it now. . . Mason drew his mom--with two circles on her chest. "These are her boobs," he said. :)

Crickets are Insects, Worms are Not

I forgot I had these great pictures to post from our insects week in April.

First we learned about caterpillars, butterflies and moths. We read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and Butterflies and Moths by Nic Bishop. Then we started as caterpillars and ate caterpillar food (a lettuce leaf with dip and an egg). Then we made a caterpillar craft. We learned that most caterpillars have 6 real legs--that turn into the actual legs of the butterfly or moth, and 10 prolegs, or false legs. Who knew? :) Then everyone climbed into their sleeping bags for metamorphosis and came out as butterflies with actual wings. We had butterfly food for lunch (juice through a flower straw and flower shaped sandwiches) and made a butterfly craft. Last we learned that insects have 6 legs, a hard exoskeleton, and 3 body parts.

THEN CAME THE CRICKETS!!! We read The Very Quite Cricket by Eric Carle and Singing Crickets by Linda Glaser. Then we made cricket houses. Each student got a boy cricket and a girl cricket purchased from the pet store. Girls have a "tail", an egg-laying chute while only boy crickets sing. They put some grass, an apple slice, some dry cereal and a small sponge with water in a jar covered with toole for a cricket house and viola! New pets. :)

The next day we reviewed all that we'd learned about insects and then read the book WORMS by Ann Heinrichs. We learned that worms are not insects. Then we set up a worm experiment layering different colors of dirt and sand in a plastic cup. We added worms on top and we were supposed to see that a worm's job is to mix dirt. Unfortunately, the worms I bought were old from Walmart and the ones in my kids cups died right away. OOPS. Sorry.

March 1, 3 "Wild" Animals

Quinn looking for "wild" animals. :)

This hen didn't mind being petted.

Ryan petting a hen. She loved it for a while then she must have found the one fiesty one. Suddenly she began screaming. I went over to her and she was crying she wanted to go home. "That hen pecked me!" Sorry it pecked you. Good experience for you.

Ryan was so facsinated by the hens I let them out so she could watch them go around. She's currently watching them eat the dog food. Then she asked if she could pet them. I said there was one feisty one. "Which one?" "I'm not sure. Just be soft."

Tiffany, Do you remember when Elizabeth was frightened by Mia?




We painted a jungle with water colors.

It was a combined effort.

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. :)

getting ready for christmas

Making our potpourri gift bags

Getting the cloves into the oranges was a little more difficult for them than I thought it would be! But they did a great job.

Quinn, getting his picture taken for the wreath ornaments we made.  We missed having Addi that day.  Sorry it took me so long to finish them and give them to you, but I guess that's the way it goes sometimes! 

Mason

Miriam

Ryann

Elizabeth

Laine

We had fun making our potpourri bags and ornaments today, and talking about giving gifts to others.  Kudos to Missy the previous week for teaching them about gracious receiving.  I love that she emphasized that, because it's definitely a learned art!

We also did some painting with evergreen branches, which turned out to be REALLY messy....but fun.  The kids had lots of free time today and especially loved playing dress-up with the nativity costumes.  I didn't direct them in this, so it was fun to observe them telling sides of the story that weren't in the Bible!  Almost all of them wanted to be animals, so there was a lot of funny interaction there as they went to see the baby Jesus.  I think the Barbies even took a trip in their minivan to see him!