Should I Worry?

I love reading other Preschool Blogs or Childcare Blogs, because I usually find that they are thinking or worrying about the same things as I am. I got on the computer this morning and saw Teacher Tom's new post and smiled. Last night, as I lay in bed, I was thinking about the 3 children in my care that are going off to Kindergarten... are they ready?? Please go over to Teacher Tom's and take a look. Also, Deborah at Excellence in Early Childhood Education, has sooo much insight and information for both Parents and Teachers... and Deborah has so many great links... pop over and take a look!!!

On Friday a sibling came in at pick up time, we began talking about Homework... She asked me why I didn't send home "homework" for her brother. This is something I have spent a long time thinking about. I know the kids sometimes want to "do homework" when their siblings are doing theirs... but this is what I said, "Well, I think that we do sooo much learning during the day, and they have 12 years of homework in front of them, I wanted to save all that wonderful anticipation they have for homework for their Kindergarten Teacher and the homework she will need to send home :)" She shook her head, but it was her Mom who smiled and said, "Yeah."

I have had Parent's ask for homework, but I feel that the kids need play, running, and the anticipation of school. I send home little books for the kids to "read" to their families, or if we are doing a special color or letter I send home a note asking them to go on a scavenger hunt at home for something to go with the color or letter. Other than that I don't feel it is necessary for me to do more than that.

I want the children in my care to be able to experience being a kid. Introducing them to the "academic" part of it is great, but ultimately they will learn all they need to in Kindergarten. Having an environment that provides for learning in a playful style is the key for me. We can have a great time, and we learn in the process. Providing them with a place to experiment and make mistakes, learn when to sit still and when to run and jump, to problem solve, question, and be happy.

When the children go off to Kindergarten, I am confident that they will be happy, smart, and well adjusted kids. They will leave knowing what they need to know, and if they don't know it they will have the skills to figure it out, and the confidence to ask for help if they need it.

Slime Revisited

We started our morning with lots of free-play. On Mondays I like for the kids to get reacquainted by having a nice block of time for free play. We start all of our mornings off with free play, but usually we start our circle time at around 9 or 9:30... but Monday's we don't start until 10 or so. I also decided to change up our week a little. I was going to read The Mitten by Jan Brett and focus on the letter Oo... but I changed it up to do the letter Gg for Groundhog, and read some of the Groundhog books I have. It fits into the Winter/Animal theme we have for the month... so I ran with it. (Which I love that I can do!!!)



We have calendar, introduction of our Theme for the week, letter, shape, etc... then we break up into our Quiet Work Time (which is really Center Time... using the word Quiet helps with the noise level). We read Groundhog Day by Margaret McNamara to understand what Groundhog Day is all about. This book also helped us with the concept of Pretend, as they use a Hamster to be the Groundhog, and Shadow. We also went outside and played with all our riding toys with the School Aged Kids, who were home from school due to a Teacher Work Day. (I need some of those :) ) While outside we ran after our Shadow's and wondered what it meant if WE saw our Shadows.



During Free Play we took the Slime our of the fridge again and had a grand time... We started off on the table. We love how cold it is when you first take it out of the fridge and how it doesn't stick to your hands to much.






The kids then decided that the Sensory Table looked lonely without any flour in it and moved the Slime there. We then added some animals.

The animals were a great hit and got some of the more apprehensive kids involved, since they didn't really need to touch it. They just moved it around with their animal.

Though Mr A decided to try it. "It's COLD Shell!!!" We only got him to play with it with that 1 finger and his animals... but he did and that is great!!!

The kids also loved the suction noise the Slime would make when they would press one of the animals into it and then take it out. (The School Agers taught them that) It was also interesting that when they took the toy out of the Slime the Slime didn't stick to the bottom of the animal, just to the top. HUM....

So, even though we wanted to focus on the Groundhog today, Slime was the hands down winner of the morning. Fun was had by all!!! Tomorrow is a new day :)


Yesterday I posted about my dismal organization skills. Thank you Bev and Ms Debbie... It is nice to know I am not alone!!! I did get to that area next to the fridge. OK, I know it doesn't look perfect and I haven't really addressed the issue of the pile (that keeps piling up) yet, but I will get there. Baby Steps :) I think I may follow Bev's advice and put up a couple of those plastic magazine rack kinda things on the wall over there, that will at least help make the counter stay clean. I also will look into where I can put some sort of desk/Armoire thingy to hold my "office." IKEA might be a good place for that.

Before After :)

Slime Day

I can't believe it is Friday!! We have had a lot of fun working with the letter S, learning about Animals we would find in a Pond, counting, reviewing and experimenting!!

Today we finally made Slime!!! We were going to make a make-shift version on Monday with Flour and Water... but the kids really had and are having a blast with the flour as it is, so we decided not to do that. Even the School Age Kids are loving the flour table :) So, I asked some teacher friends of mine if they knew the real recipe for Slime and The Princess's Mom told me Borax and Glue... Ok... I can do that!! She didn't know the exact recipe so I went online (gotta love the Internet) and found a whole bunch of recipes... I followed this one. I liked it because it said to but the mixture in a ziplock bag and let the kids knead it. They loved it. It took about 10 minutes to knead it to perfection, and we had to help towards the end, but it wasn't to bad.

Tip: Use a real ziplock bag and not the zipper kind as the area at the end, where it closes, leaked :) Little Miss M wanted to do it and when I gave it to her she did a great job, but it started to come out at that one spot so we had to stop.



Here is a picture of the ingredients and of Ryan combining them. They enjoyed the fun of measuring and mixing... It was really neat to see the glue quickly turn solid, but not solid. (Is there a technical name for that??)

Here we are kneading the mixture... They used their observation and prediction skills to tell me what was happening... Some could figure out it was getting thicker, others just wanted to play with it as soon as possible.

We all loved looking at the Slime... again we used our observation skills... before we touched it... we thought it might be wet, cold, slimy (of course), bumpy, squishy, and slippery. We have been using a lot of descriptive S words this week and it is really great to hear them being used :)

Finally we get to dive in and touch the stuff we made... they confirmed that indeed it was definitely cold, slippery, squishy and SLIMY!!! They continued to play with it and experiment with it. Would it keep the shape of their hand? Would it ever warm up?? How about cutting, could we cut it??

I wish I could post all my photos, but I would have to many. I want to show everything we do, but there isn't always room. Instead... we also had calendar, show-in-tell, circle time, singing, counting and free play. We then got to go outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. It is finally getting back up to the upper 50's and it feels great. I miss the snow, but we were getting antsy to go back outside :)

We found this ice left over from our cold spell... the kids had fun trying to get it to move, come out of the turtle, and trying to break it into pieces... That is what it looked like when we went back inside... so we didn't get to far. We did predict that it would be melted by Tuesday (we have off on Monday)... so we will have to see. We put the top on the turtle and I will have to make sure my own children don't get into it... but we'll see, they can be pretty crafty boys :)

Tuesday Fun

Snow!! OK not really, it was just flour in the sensory table... but for a little while we pretended it was snow :)

These 2 boys played in that table for almost 2 hrs. At 8:30 this morning they started out with the regular sifting, dumping, piling, etc... but it turned into endless possibilities when I told them it was snow.

You see, I was going to make Slime. I told the kids they could play in the flour like it was until our friends came over to play, and they didn't want me to make it wet and slimy... I said, "But it won't be SLIME then." They laughed and said they didn't care... that is when I said, "Well, it must be SNOW!!" "YEAH!!!" Then the animals, cars and little people all came out of hibernation and started playing in the "Snow" Thankfully no one else really wanted a turn at the sensory table because these 2 guys were having none of the sharing thing. :)

This is the start of it all....

(sorry the pictures came up in the wrong order... no worries though, I know you can tell what's going on)

These 2 finally got to have a turn... Yes, she is falling off the chair. She knows she wants to be like the big kids and sit in the chair while she plays, she just forgets to push it in. She didn't actually fall, she is pretty quick and got her feet down in time. We moved her chair closer, but then she couldn't reach... what a dilemma.

She finally just stood on her tippy toes and played... she did a great job too, no flour in her mouth :)

We also had the Snake Table going again since we had friends over to play. They wanted a chance to make a Slithery Slimy Squiggly Stinky Snake too!!!

Glue... what fun :)

We also sang a snake song:

1 little, 2 little, 3 little Snakes

4 little, 5 little, 6 little Snakes

7 little, 8 little, 9 little Snakes

*Slithering across the pond, then

*Soaking in the Sun, then

*Sliding down the hill, then

*Smelling Emily's Toes, then

of course Smelling EVERYONE'S Toes!!!

We had loads of fun with that song!!

We also sang a song, One Green Frog Went Hop, Hop, Hop... that Deborah Stewart from Little Fingers That Play & Excellence in Early Childhood Education mentioned that we may like, about Frogs!! It was great and I hope to get it on video so we can show just how much we liked it. It's hard when your a lone, you can't always get the things you want. If our friends come over again hopefully we can get it captured on digital :) THANKS DEBORAH!!!!

We also had Slimy Snakes for lunch (spaghetti w/butter) which is always fun... we had to capture those Slimy Snakes before they Slithered down our backs :)

We had OUTSIDE time today!!! It was warm enough that we actually got to go outside for more than 5 minutes. We ran, swung, slithered like snakes, raced cars, & just ran and played... it was time and we were very happy for the outlet!!!

A Great Start to A Great Week

We have started a new week and I think it has gotten off to a great start!! It is Muffin Tin Monday. If you don't know what that is you can link over to Her Cup Overfloweth and read all about it, as well as some other great ideas she has. As you can see we had: Strawberries & Blueberries, Bologna, Salad, Crackers, and Cheese. We have some S foods in there and the kids were able to pick them our while they were eating.








This morning at circle I introduced the letter "S" for Snake. We will continue with our Pond/Animal Theme again this week and we decided that a Snake would go nicely with that theme. We also decided that at the art table we would make snakes... hum... but we decided it couldn't be just a boring old snake, it had to be a Slithery Snake, No... a Slithery Slimy Snake... Yes... What about a Slithery Slimy Squiggly Snake... Now we're on a role... We loved coming up with great S words to describe our Snake. When it was all through, Sydney decided her Snake would be best Cut into Little Tiny Pieces :)

Here is our Princess who decided to make a Snake that was "Sixty Hundred Times Big."

"It's the Silliest Long Snake Ever!!"



This is B's Snake... he wanted to have him slithering down the pond... that's why he looks upside down. He is prowling for frogs to eat :)

As you can see The Princess' snake Squirms all around the pond... not even noticing the frogs. But, B's Snake is Sneaking up on those frogs below and will Snatch one right up :) (At least that's what B said)





Here are those poor frogs... just waiting to be eaten :) We made them last week when we started our Pond Theme.

Here is an activity that the kids seem to have taken to. They are the Melissa & Doug Wooden Magnetic Doll Sets. I bought some at a consignment sale and a parent just gave me some more. We now have quite an assortment and the kids can make some pretty crazy ballerinas and firemen. They are having fun with them.

We also did some review of our past letters and numbers, we did some center work with Shapes and I added some games to the Math Center. The Sand Studio, Blocks, Art Table, and Magnetic Dolls still seem to be the most popular today, but we will continue to make the Math and Science Centers as Open Ended as possible. They really do like that style of learning better.

Have a Great Day!!!

Getting Ready

I emptied out the playroom for our Holiday Program and it stood empty for the last 2 weeks. Well, not really empty, but I took out all the shelves and material to make room for the chairs and "stage" for the program. Over the last few days I started bringing everything back in and took the time to change things up. I am one of those teachers that need to move everything around every few weeks to every few months. I love the change and the kids like to come in after the long break or even a weekend and explore. It gives us a chance to relearn the rules and practice using our materials again after a break.

I took some pictures, but of course I can't get my upload to work. I got a new camera for Christmas and I guess the software wasn't installed correctly. Oh well... I will get my husband to look at it and hopefully he will get it to work. If not, I will go back to my old camera. Which works fine with the computer.

I am sorry to see this quiet week end, but I am looking forward to getting back into our routine. We are starting our Animal Theme this month, with Pond Life starting this week. Can you say Tadpoles, Frogs, Fish, Lily Pads, and Algae... because that is what we will immerse ourselves in this week. We have some cute activities to reinforce our colors, numbers, and alphabet. I would love to recreate a pond here in the house... still looking on-line for some doable ideas. I have to make sure everything is safe... so standing water in the house... well, I don't thing my registrar would like that or find it very safe... no matter how I enclosed it :)

We will have a great week pond or not... just getting back together, reading, playing, & learning... that's what it's all about. The other stuff is just icing on the cake :) Have a great week!!! Look forward to reading about how everyone else is doing!!!

A Quiet Week

What a week... no kids. I have loved having the week to unwind after family went home to NY and all the busy of the Holiday. I got to sleep until 10 o'clock in the morning... OMG... that hasn't happened in a really, really long time. I thought I could get used to it, but it is now Thursday and I have been waking up at 6:30 each morning... willing myself to go back to sleep. I did get to sit around and watch movies for 2 days straight... another thing I don't get to do often.
I rented Julia & Julie, what a great movie. I don't know something about it just touched me. Maybe it was because she blogged, or it could have been all the cooking. I love to cook. I never have enough time or the tools needed to make the meals Julie made, but how I wish I could. I made 2 New Years Resolution... 1 of course was losing some weight, so maybe this will be the year I start really cooking. Paying attention to what goes into my mouth as much as I pay attention to what goes into the kids mouth. Hmmmm.... what cookbook will I use?? One that I can combine what I like and what the kids will actually eat. Any ideas???
I also got to see The Proposal & Seven Pounds. I know totally opposite. I liked the Proposal... funny but very predictable. Seven Pounds, well... hmmm.... kinda weird... enough said :)
I have decided that I need to do this each year. Maybe take off this week every year... it has been a nice week.
I guess I should try to get the playroom ready for next week. Lesson plans need to be completed and materials put out. Well... there is always tomorrow :)

Have a Happy, Healthy & Blessed New Year to All!!!

Having Fun with Curriculum

I have been thinking about why I do what I do... I don't mean why am I a Family Daycare Provider, but why do I use the curriculum I do. I have a degree in Elementary Education, but have gravitated to Early Childhood Ed for as long as I can remember. So I guess I learned that I should have certain activities set up for the kids, why they should be exposed to certain things, etc... but I don't know. It still seems second nature to me that my kids should be able to play with play doh anytime they want (at the appropriate place, of course), have paint and crayons to experiment with, blocks of all sorts of shapes, sizes and textures, water to splash, logs to jump from, well you get it :)
I am finding out that not everyone thinks like that. Some providers don't want the mess, or the noise. It's not just in homes, I visited a preschool classroom where there was a sand table and the teacher laughed and said, "No, that's a book shelf!! Way to messy as a sensory table" Of course I decided that I would pursue the Daycare License instead of putting my son in that class. I wanted to provide for my children as well as others those experiences. So, each day I come up with activities that they can excel at. I follow a lot of different curriculum's, I love the blogs I read because there are so many wonderful people out there providing such unbelievable experiences for the kids in their care, that I get side tracked and have to do what they did :)
So I can't just follow 1 curriculum, I have to be flexible and be able to use whatever seems best at that moment.
As you can see below, we are really into blocks lately. Right now we are loving making ramps, towns, hills, and buildings for our Monster Trucks to go over, under, and through (at high speed and noise!!) I am glad I have a center based set up, this way they can move about the room and do what they feel their body is ready for that day.
We are also into reading. I have found some great emergent reader books that you can print from Hubbards Cupboard(http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/) that the kids really love. I put the sentences on sentence strips and in our pocket chart (Target $1...Yeah) and the kids use the pointer (lots & lots of fun with that) and read it whenever they want. We go over it each morning at circle time and they read with me and then by themselves. They are very simple and they memorize it quickly, but oh the looks on their faces the first time they "read" it on their own... PRICELESS!!!

My favorite picture.... We came in from the yard to find Shea with this trash can lid around her neck... We thought it was very funny and had a great time wondering what could have been in that trash can!! Lucky Shea!!