Goofing Off Is Necessary

We felt like goofing off.  We got out the dress up and I thought it would be fun to try to take an "ussie", as my teenager always corrects me when I call it a "selfie".  It took a while because I am still trying to figure out the new camera. 

Forgot to look at the lens..  Where were the rest of us?

Wait.. what?

Well, there are some of them.

Foggy day today.. and feeling a bit sideways.

Do you think I was driving her crazy?  (On the left.. her expression made me laugh out loud this morning.)

On to the next bit of Tom-Foolery.  The good old "run and slide."  These floors are a wonderland for kids in socks.  

I'm telling you- sometimes it is the most useless parts of our days that make them stand out. 

Chippy was here for quite a while yesterday!  She ate the entire cob of corn and then came to ask for peanuts.

Hooray for a camera that has a powerful zoom!  I didn't even have to open the back door to get this shot. 

♥♥♥Happy Friday!♥♥♥

Rectangle Paper Blocks

We are working on noticing the rectangle shape around us.  The kids have noticed the doors, some books, rugs, windows and paper towels.  I thought it might be fun to have a free art day, but to supply them with only rectangle shapes and markers.  The kids are great at building with blocks, and they had blank faces when I told them that they could create anything out of the rectangles.  I "built" two houses on the table to show them what I meant.  It was the same as blocks. 

They got busy!  I provided them with rectangles of many colors and sizes.

I encouraged them to "build" a bit on the paper before they begin to glue.  This way they could try to envision something and move pieces around until they were ready to secure them.

 When they were ready, they glued.  After that, I let them have free reign of the markers.  

 Is there anything better than a face drawn by a child?  I should have them printed up on some business cards.  She created a bridge at the office, with drawings on the bridge for the fish.

It was busy, and the table was full of excited sharing and chatter. 

At the little red table, the kids enjoyed playing with the wooden puzzles.   Even four year olds love to play with these toys geared towards much younger children.  They don't see these puzzles all of the time.  I love the little red table. It's like my secret weapon, called "distraction". 

Meanwhile, my beautiful mom brought this plant over for me.  It's a Christmas Cactus that has been grown from starts off of my Great Grandmother's plant and passed down through generations of the family.  Needless to say- I AM TERRIFIED that I will kill it.  Houseplants do not survive in our house.  I am able to keep gardens outside, but every indoor plant has died.  She ensured me that I couldn't possibly kill it-- I sure hope not!! It's neat to have a plant with a family history.  I also have some bluebells outside from the same Great Grandmother's garden. 

Here she is, my Great Grandma Inez Ventoza.  She is holding my big brother.

♥♥♥Happy Thursday!♥♥♥

Painting Purple, & We Miss Summer

I love the purple paint.  I am still figuring out how to operate my camera, and the color seems off in this photo.  The Crayola paint is much bolder in person.

We are now looking at and counting to nine!

The kids glued the number nine onto their papers.

We are looking for purple items each day, too.  I thought that purple paint was perfect for filling in the white space around the number nine.  It's nice to work with several mediums at the art table.  Paper, paint and glue.

Next, we added nine glue blobs onto the paper and the kids glued nine foam shapes around the number nine.

 Each child spent some time with me and we counted together.  

I love the bright colors on the art wall!  Especially since it is so gray outside.  Several of the kids are missing summer.

I miss it, too!  I miss digging in the gardens and feeling the sunshine.  I miss hearing the morning birds chirping.  I just keep reminding the kids that God has the seasons timed just perfect, and that in due time, Spring will arrive. 

♥  Meanwhile, just stare at this for a while.  ♥

At least until you can hear the water.

♥♥♥Happy Wednesday!♥♥♥

Group Time & Insects & Loving It

I love group time!  Most of the time when the kids are told that it is time to clean up for group time, they cheer.  The rest of the time, I am upsetting their in depth play time.  They quickly forget about it because group time is fun and engaging.  Here we were, yesterday, showing and counting 8 fingers.

Believe it or not- the kids actually ASK me to get out the name cards.  They LOVE the recognition and praise that they get when they can show me when they see their name. 

I always ask them, "Alright, what should you do when you see YOUR name?"  They tell me, "Raise your hand!"  I always remind them, "Do we tell someone else when it is THEIR name?"   They respond, "NO!"  The kids pay very close attention, because if they do not raise their hand when they see their name, they could miss the chance to spell it out loud.  I love that they look forward to this. ♥

Out comes "The Good Job Jar"  any time I feel that someone has remembered something spectacular.  For instance, the letter that I point to, or excellent job sitting in group time.   The reward is one MnM or Reeses Pieces from the jar. 

Now, group time for 3 and 4 year olds should include some movement.  It's an excellent time to implement songs,  particularly ones that involve hand motions or dancing.  We sang "Four Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed" because there were four kids.  Their cushions are the beds, and as we sing, I choose one child's name to be the next to fall of of the bed.  They love it.

Here they are, showing the blinkers on the bus, going blink blink blink. 

We review the shapes that we have learned, as well as the colors.  We look around the room to see if we can notice the shapes and colors anywhere.

We take a moment to discuss what the weather is doing and put up the appropriate weather card.  It helps that we go to the bus stop each morning.  The kids are noticing and keeping it in mind for group time.

Off we go to the table for our work after snack and book time.  We are working on the letter Ii, and I thought this would be a great opportunity to create insects. 

We used these paint dotters for the insect bodies.

I showed them a simple example, and they all just worked independently on the insects.  

I loved them!! 

Now we carry on again this morning.  I am so lucky to get to do this all over again.  Still LOVE this job.

♥♥♥Happy Tuesday!♥♥♥

Day Or Night

Happy Monday!  This morning at the little red table, the kids are playing with a rice and beans bin.  There are countless ways to play with this- just add and remove props.  I added some cooking utensils, measuring spoons and baking pans this time.   I am so happy to have the red table back in place!  It's a great distraction for the kids, and keeps them out of the way for other arriving children.

Friday we worked on the concepts of day and night.  We have done this type of activity before- but my brain shut down and I couldn't come up with anything to replace it with.  

Half of the paper was black, to represent night.  The other half was light purple, to represent day.  Purple??  Proof of my brain freeze.  I was mentally checked out, I'm sure. 

Anyway- they enjoyed sorting and gluing the small pictures into the correct time of day. 

A few years ago, I was lamenting about how to get the kids to try the tomato soup when it was served for lunch.  Adding goldfish STILL works!  I believe that I even blogged about this when it happened way back then, but I'm still happy to see the kids trying their soup when we have it.

Everyone is sporting their Seahawks gear lately!  One of these days I will try to get a group shot.  Might have to wait until "Blue Friday".  We are all pretty excited to see the Seahawks return to the Superbowl again!

♥♥♥Happy Monday!♥♥♥