Weather and We're Better!!!

Last week was a wild week... we started the week off with all my friends, but by the end these two were the only two left standing!!  I am glad that dreaded stomach bug didn't get them!!  

Well, since we didn't really get to explore our next phase of our weather unit, I decided to just pretend last week didn't happen (curriculum wise) and do all that stuff we planned this week.  The weather was great this morning.  We had FOG!!!  I have a really nice camera, but the image of the fog just wouldn't come out.  I was pretty disappointed.  We did get to take a little run through the fog though, and the kids felt the droplets of water on their faces.  Before we went outside I had them feel their hair, clothing and face to see what it was like... soft, pretty, clean :) (loved that one) and finally, DRY.  Then when we came back in we compared each thing again... and almost immediately they said, "WET!!"  

My friends that come early in the morning took some time to read a book on the couch!!

After snack this morning we took a weather walk.  We thought of all the things we could find while walking, like... breezy leaves, rain or rain puddles, sunshine, fog, clouds, and flowers (that grow in the sunshine).

Gotta love the hat!!!

Lil Bit was examining some dandelions when she realized the rest of the crew was going on without her...
I was behind her, so she was NEVER alone, but I am not the one she wanted to be with!!!  

SUNSHINE!!
I see a Cross on Little Man's shirt... that was caused by a smudge on my camera lens and the shining sun, Wow.  

We took some time to play at the park!!
Scamp was watching those big girls balance and make their way around the  mulch barrier, well, she HAD to try it!!

She did a great job of figuring it out.  She fell a few times, but was persistent until she figured it out!!

We also watched a video on the internet about the weather.  It was very cute and great for the 1 to 4 age group.  It is on a website called dreamenglish.com.  Lil Bit's Mommy told me about it and I opened it on my phone while at a baseball practice for my youngest guy... there was a cute little weather song, then all the little girls around me (waiting for brothers to finish) heard the song and were soon hanging over my shoulder to peer at the little screen.  It was very cute. Anyway, we never got a chance to watch it last week, so I decided today to show it.  They loved it!!  We watched it a few times before our walk and tomorrow we will use the weather cards that Lil Bit's Mommy made for us.  The kids will hold up the correct card when they hear it in the song.  I talked a lot about the picture and held up each card today during the song, hopefully tomorrow it will come together, if not, we have all week!!!

Raindrop Painting

Okay, by the time we got the paint out ready to do the real raindrop painting, the rain stopped falling.  We usually take powdered tempera paint and make designs on the paper and then leave it out in the rain for a while to see what happens.  Oh well, we did the next best thing... we got out our droppers and some watered down paint and made rainbow raindrops.  The kids loved it.  Practicing their fine motor skills, with squeezing those droppers was just an added bonus.  It took a little while to get the hang of it, but once they did they were off and raining!!!  When we were finished with our rainbow drops we folded the paper over and pretended that our hands were like our feet when we jumped in the puddles outside and pressed, banged, and thumped... what  a surprise when we opened them up.

I really wish the camera went off a second before, the look on her face was priceless.
The surprise in her eyes was great!!

Lil Bit LOVED  the top of the dropper!!!  She loved that paint came out, but she just kept squeezing the top :)

We had a lot of fun doing our raindrop painting, and when we got outside we were able to find some real puddles to jump into.  Maybe tomorrow we will get out our spray bottles to see what we can do with some watered down paint, spray bottles and a sheet... hmmm :)

How Lucky Am I??

I was sitting in my living room last night thinking over my day yesterday... You see I didn't sleep well Sunday night and when I did finally fall asleep the alarm went off way to fast.  So making it through a Monday would haved been hard enough, but I also learned my teenage son didn't finish an assignment he had all week to do, that baseball skills night for my other teenage son was at the same time as my 6 yr old's new ACROFITNESS class, and that  my coffee creamer was running far to low, all before 7am, let's just say it was going to be a long day.  

But it wasn't.  It was a wonderful day.  The kids cooperated, there was laughing, silliness, happiness, and not so many tears, bickering, or tattling.  

How lucky am I?? I ask myself.  I am not only lucky to have a group of parents that appreciate what I do and how much I love their children, but I have a group of GRANDPARENTS!!!  Especially one Grammy that is absolutely wonderful!!  She not only reads my posts, she comments to let me know how much it means to her to be able to see her Lil Bit each day.  That had me thinking I was luck enough!!!  Yet, she had more to give, look at how happy these TUTU's have made EVERYONE... 

Even siblings took a shine to them!!!

First thing this morning he grabbed a tutu and wore it all morning.
(he did play a little basketball with it on too, which was a sight to see ;) )

I've always said, "Everything is better wearing a tutu!!"

So I would like to give a huge THANK YOU to Lil Bit's Grammy!!!  I cannot express how much I appreciate all the work that went into making those sweet tutu's for the kids, how much I appreciate the thoughtfulness for thinking of us and sending them to us!!  They will not only be well loved, but worn daily.  

THANK YOU  for thinking of our Little Man and Big Guy and sending them their Pirate Wear!!  Again, it has already crossed gender lines and has been used by all the kids throughout the day!!  Our Costumes now have that boost it sometimes needs to keep things from getting boring!!!  

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU

Now friends... do you see how lucky I am???

I introduced the Weather Unit yesterday, today we talked about the Sun, how hot it must be, where it is, when we can see it, and what color it is.  There was a lot of yellow, red, and orange (well, orange was more my guess really) so we decided to put all the colors together and see if we could make our very own Sunshine.  The kids will be making a weather booklet, and this will be our first page.  I love how different they all look.

We have more than this, these are just the first ones to be done, so the first to be photographed.

Little Man put his little finger in a whole on the other side of the sponge.
He thought it was pretty cool to be able to paint like that ;)

Scamp has learned to say cheese... how proud she was!!!
Her little voice is so cute.

I sit here as I write and really feel how lucky I am to be right where I am.  I love seeing these little ones learn and grow.  I love being a part of their lives and helping them to become the fabulous, creative, strong, smart, loving, caring, and beautiful people they will grow into.  Thank you all for that privilege.

Monday!!

Last night in the car my twin son's and I were talking about having a 3 day weekend every week, how cool that would be.  J wanted to have off Friday, and C thought Monday would be better.  I agreed with C!!  I look forward to Friday.  I feel like Friday is the "real" start of the weekend and if I had it off, then Thursday wouldn't be the same.  I can't feel like Thursday could ever be like Friday... where as having Monday off would be like you get a whole nother day in your weekend.  Monday seems so far away from Friday, but Tuesday, now that is close to Wednesday and once your at Wednesday your almost done with the week :)  Then on Sunday night there is no feeling of dread that you have to go to work the next day.  I don't know, it made sense to us.  Sorry for the tangent.  

Today we spent a good amount of time sorting toys, dusting shelves, emptying the sensory table and washing toys and tables.  We are getting ready to start a new unit about Weather and I thought it would be great for the kids to help transition us into it.  Tomorrow we will talk about some new things we could put out on the shelves and how to use them and put them back again when we are through playing with them.  I am trying to get the little ones used to taking something out and putting it back so we can incorporate more Montessori into our day.  I miss our work trays and letting the kids be more independent.  I do allow the kids to get their own plates, silverware, bowl or cups out and help set the table.  The big girls like to help pour the drinks, that has been a big adjustment for them.  Stopping before it overflows can be tricky :)

With all the moving, playing, working going on we didn't get any photos today... sorry.  I am hopeful that tomorrow will be a more photogenic day!!  Oh, we also went outside today!!  It was such a WINDY day!!  It was a great way to introduce our Weather Theme to the kids.  Having the wind almost blow you over can't be easily forgotten and when we talked about it at lunch today there was a lot of interesting comments like, "Wow I thought the whole world would blow away" and "The tree's were bending to the playground," and my favorite, "Did you see my hair it was flying on my head."  I am hoping the wind will die down soon, but it was nice to be able to talk about the wind today.  

Water, Rain Sticks, & Walking

There are pro's and con's to warm weather for a baby who isn't walking yet...

Pro... Con... Got the water table going outside today. Water is such a wonderful Early Childhood tool. It add so much to our program. They use so many skills: Vocabulary, Problem Solving, Experimenting, Investigation, Patience, Independence, Cooperation... the list could go on and on. I am just glad we have more than one water table, inside, outside, in the mud pit, and near the sand box. It is such a valuable tool.

(Looks like someone is having fun!!)

Rain Sticks were also on our agenda this week. We haven't gotten to them until today. I set everything out and they worked on them for a few minutes before the water pulled them away again. We will try to finish them after nap, if not, we will do them Monday morning. Flexibility... that is our mantra here!! I try not to lose sight of each child's childhood... Play, that is the most important job of our young children. That is where they learn the skills that will follow them throughout life, skills that will lead them on a successful journey.

Our Little Man is getting so big, so fast!! I think he will be walking soon. Here he is looking so big. He has started standing and pushing on anything that will move, to practice his walking.

Let me tell you, he is very proud of himself too!!

A little Science, A Lot of Fun

Busy, Busy, Busy... that's what we are. We had a busy, fun morning completeing some crafts we didn't get to yesterday and doing our Tornado "experiment." I bought one of those little plastic pieces that you attach 2 soda pop bottles to, then twirl it around and it makes a "Tornado" inside the bottles. The kids enjoyed making it, but when they firgured out what it did, they thought that was even cooler. We first watched a You Tube video on Tornado's and then watched one that showed an actual Tornado touching down in an open field. The kids loved watching it, and trying to guess where it would show up on the screen. On some of the video the Tornado seemed to come out of no where. Very interesting.

Yesterday we didn't get to do our Cloud craft, so we finished it today. Glue, cotton balls, & construction paper... they loved it!! We will spray the Rain Cloud with diluted black/gray paint so the cloud is not a fluffy white. Princess loved making the Rain Cloud, but it was her who said to me that the "cloud" part needed to be darker, not the white from the cotton ball... Love Her!!!

Exploring the letter Ww has been a lot of fun this week. I found this on my camera when I downloaded the photos, not sure who took the photo, a childcare child or one of my sons, but I like the colors so I put it on.

We really love our I Spy Letter bags. We have been using them to play different letter games, sound games, I Spy games, and even gross motor activities. Today we threw them back and forth, and when you caught the bag you found an item and said it's name. It's a great game for the Toddlers, for both their vocabulary and gross motor skills. The preschoolers loved throwing and catching the bag too.

I hope we get in all the activities I have planned this week, but I am not sure we will get to our worm activities. We will be doing a planting activity soon, so maybe we will make the connection to worms, dirt, and the letter Ww as a review later in the month. We'll see.

W is for Weather

A new week is upon us and we got busy playing and learning!! I bought a few new bouncy balls and Little Man found them right away this morning. Those balls kept him busy for a half an hour, he just pushed them, crawled after them, and held onto them... then repeated, over and over again. Mastering a skill, loving it!! We had some Practical Life work going on also. Last week I introduced a "tray" with a bucket, some cute character wash clothes, and a small scrub brush and showed them how to wash the tables. I'm sure you can imagine, it was a hit. I have the cleanest tables. I think I need to introduce the dusting work next, my shelves always need to be dusted.

( Even Little Man wants to help)

During Circle today we talked about the letter Ww. It is a tricky letter, because it's sound isn't the same as how you pronounce the letter. They want to make the sound "da"... so we first talked about it's sound. Then we thought about different words we could think of that started with a W... Worm, Watermelon, Wagon, Walk, and (with my hinting) Weather!!

We read the book, The Sun is My Favorite Star, by Frank Asch, and Oh Say Can You Say What's the Weather Today? by Tish Rabe, which is from The Cat in the Hat's Learning Library series. We mostly talked about today's weather, Sunny, Warm, and VERY Windy. I introduced them to their Weather Journal that we will record the weather this week and unanimously decided that after such a rainy, cold week last week, the weather was telling us to bag our plans for the day and get to the park... so that is just what we did. On the walk we talked about the wind, how it was blowing the trees, leaves, etc... and especially how it was blowing the clouds away. That was something we learned about in our weather book. Connections being made, Yeah!!!

(Ok, I know you won't believe this, but Little Miss M is doing Acupuncture on Sprout. Her Aunt does it to her, to cute!!!)

Having Fun!!!

The boat became a House today. They read books in there, played house, and built with the blocks to make a castle. By the end of the morning they wanted to turn it back into a boat though, we'll see what it become tomorrow.

Tomorrow we will get back to experimenting with the weather, but I'm glad we were able to get out and have fun.