Preschool/Tot School Begins...

We will be beginning our "School Year" on Monday. I am looking forward to the routine and learning that will be happening. I have started rearranging the playroom furniture from Summer Play to Learning Play. We will be having our Montessori material in centers this year and hope this will help the kids in putting their work away. We have 3 preschoolers this year that will "graduate" to Kindergarten at the end of the year... OMG!!! I can't believe my babies will go to Kindergarten. How time flies... just yesterday it seems that they were in diapers and playing in the sensory table outside.

I think the kids are excited to get back to a routine also, they have been loving our summer circle time lately since I have been reading a theme book and doing a craft to go with that theme. They are eager to know what the new centers will be and what will be in them. I am excited for them to come on Monday and have a great morning.

Our Tot's will be having some fun too... Beth and I are carrying our Theme over to them and incorporating them into our School Time Adventures!!! It will be a learning process for us and the Tot's, but I think it will be worth it. They really love to be involved and touch the "big" kids work... so know we will offer it to them in a more age appropriate form. Beth and I are learning that just because the Tot's don't often sit through a whole story... they listen as they are playing. They may not finish an art project... but they come back to it time and time again throughout the day and touch it, look at it, smell it & of course try to taste it :) It is amazing to see the Tot's learn each day... everything is a learning experience... all their time is occupied exploring and experimenting. I am so happy that we can provide them with an environment that gives them those opportunities.

So... now I am off to complete my Math/Science Center... I think I want to introduce something in that center... just not sure what. I want to keep it small right now, until we all learn or relearn the rules of taking out, using, & putting back. I think it will be an interesting week :)

Sand Box

The sand box is a important part of our daycare program... On this day, we decided to have a sand creation day... the kids had to make sure their creations had sand, 5 pieces of wood and 6 rocks in each of their creations. They worked so well together... letting the little ones have their say and letting them add whatever they wanted. I love to see them work together.

Welcome

Welcome, Welcome, Welcome

We want to Welcome a new Friend to Kozy Kids... Little N started full time this week and we are soooo happy to have him. The kids love playing with him and it seems that he loves playing with them!! Welcome N... we are so Happy to have YOU!!!!

This next photo is my favorite... it makes me so happy that our Big Kids are so loving and patient with the Little Ones!!! In the photo below, S is allowing N to dump sand on his back and wipe it off... over and over and over!!! It was just so sweet, no yelling, no pushing, no mean "Stop That" words... just patience and kindness... Again, I love my job!!!!

POPCORN DAY

We had a great day... just wanted to post some pictures...

First, we did a blindfold test to see which popcorn we liked better...

Microwave or Original Stove Top

HHMMMM... WHICH ONE??

Can you believe it... the liked the Stove Top one the best!!!

We then took the left over popcorn and made popcorn pictures...

Well, we liked gluing and eating... just hopefully no one ate the glue on the popcorn :)

It was a fun day!!

Celebration Week

We made it through the BIG week!! We had a lot of kids, we did a lot of stuff, and we SURVIVED!!! I think the kids had a great time... they all came back everyday!! :)

During our Celebration Week we celebrated while making crafts, going to the pool, making ice cream, building forts, and playing with the parachute...

Making our Cookies for Cookie Day!!

We also had Buster Bunny come and visit for the week!! He was Great Fun!!

The kids loved holding him and running after him!!

We put his cage in the middle of the room so we all could get a good look at him, but after reading more about bunnies, I realized that wasn't the best place for him. He likes being up against the wall so he could feel safe and no one could sneak up behind him.

We made homemade ice cream... YUMMY!!!

We made Friendship Bracelets for Friendship Day!!!

We enjoyed making spin art with the salad spinner... I looked for the post I got this idea from... I am sorry I can't give the proper credit to the right person because I can't find the blog. Sorry!!!

We always leave time for simple stuff, like playing in the sandbox together!!

We started our week with some Friendship Games and Cooperation Games... like this building a tall tower out of marshmallows and straws... then we tried a game called Waballoony... which was great fun. The kids had to keep a balloon up in the air... the twist was that there was a marble in the balloon throwing it off balance... The kids had to work together to keep it up. I wish I got some pictures of the bigger kids helping the preschoolers. Very cute!!

It's Here...

Well, the Big Week is finally here. My "kids" are back tomorrow. I am so excited!!! I have seen them here and there throughout the summer, but I can't wait to see them everyday on a regular basis!!! I have been getting them back one at a time kinda, but as of tomorrow, I get them ALL back. I am excited to do all the great theme's I have come up with. We are having a week of Celebrations... (I posted about that earlier)... and I know they will have a lot of fun. I will take lots of photo's and post them throughout the week.
I am busy tonight finishing up moving and creating centers. I won't put out our Montessori Trays until after all the School Age kids go back to school, we will then get back to the real nitty gritty of learning and getting ready for Kindergarten for some of the kids. I am trying to implement a more creative Montessori Curriculum. More open ended, process over product, arts & crafts. More practical life areas and trays, and definitely more sensorial trays. I have been looking into buying some more materials for that area, and am excited about what I see out there. I think I can make a lot of stuff too. We have already purchased some scented candles to match and I am looking into buying some taste testing material. I love all things Montessori. I did purchase some great pitchers and baskets for snack and lunch times. I can't wait to introduce some of the more independent lessons to the littler ones. I think that some of them are ready to start pouring lessons and setting the table lessons. Oh, so many ideas swirling around my head!!!
Well, I will keep posting about our week and hope the kids enjoy it!!! :)

Summer Photos

We did lots of great things this week... we had an array of friends come to play and did a lot of end of the summer cleaning and prep work for the new school year. We have had fun playing and exploring with a lot of different things this summer, but it will be nice to get back to a routine and some structured activities.
I took some random photos this week of a little of everything. We Welcomed a new Friend to the Daycare and we are so excited Little N is here!!! I know he will fit in well and have lots of fun. We played outside, in the sensory table, made kites, and just had fun with our friends!!

Little N showing us his Climbing Skills!!

New Friends!!

Kite Making... Will we have enough wind to fly them??

(Unfortunately we didn't)

We built lots of building, and had fun knocking them down :)

We went on a walk to the "Nature" Park in our community

We had fun running up and down the hills, finding leaves, twigs and just running in the "woods"

Oh... We had lots of yummy snacks!! This Little One loved the chocolate and had fun eating it on her own :)

We had fun washing tables

We set up the water table for the Tot's and they loved it!!!

We did some water painting... always a favorite activity

Fun in the Sun!!!

Celebration Week

We have been busy this past week gearing up for our week before school camp... it seems all the teacher's go back to school... their children do not. So we get a few extra for the week before school starts. So I choose to do a Celebration Week... we will be celebrating Popcorn, Friendship, Water, Cookies, and Friday!! We will also have a End of Summer Picnic Bash on the Monday before school starts!!! I am excited. I think the kids will love getting into a routine again, though peeling those big kids away from the video games will be hard. I have learned some fun facts about cookies... I didn't even know there was a National Cookie Day... it seems to fall on December 4th this year... (I think). I will post some fun pictures of our week and maybe even some fun facts about Popcorn... I know everyone is on the edge of their seats for that one :)
That is why I haven't been able to blog each night. I have been searching the Montessori Blog World for idea's for some practical life trays, how to make a hand washing station with what I have in my house, and drooling over the light table I saw on Annie's slide show at Annie's Alphabet Childcare. So, I will keep you posted on how our week goes and what I decide to put on my shelves!!

What We've Been Doing...

Wow!!! We are back!!! It has taken me a while to get my camera downloaded on to the computer, but I have finally done it. Here are just a few pic's of our last couple of weeks. We have still been in summer mode and not really in a school type of routine. We just are having a lot of free play, creative activities, and playing with the babies!! The girls love those babies and the babies love the little girls.

We did some chalk art on the driveway.

The kids found a Highlights magazine and had a lot of fun finding the pictures on the search page.







We made some Dino-Lime Kool-aid Play-doh... A Huge Hit!!

We went to our Community Playground for some early morning cool weather play...

Kid Pic... I gave the camera to the kids to see what we would come up with, well... we got a lot of blurry pictures, some backs of heads, and lots of photos from far away.

We had some fun with shaving cream

We made some Dino Pictures

I love this photo of Ry in mid air... the kids love to climb and jump off this Kangaroo Climber... It helps get those wiggles & giggles out when we are stuck inside due to HOT weather...

Can you believe we complain when it's cold... We complain when it's Hot...

Fort making was the thing to do last week... every morning we gathered up the blankets, pillows, duct tape, chairs and anything else we could find to help make our Forts... A fun time was had by all the kids... even the littlest ones loved crawling in and out of them...

So that's just a few things we did in the last couple of weeks... we also went to the pool, had some baseball/wiffleball games, lots of scooter riding, and playing in the sandbox.

We will be getting back to "Tot School" soon. I can't believe our summer is almost over. The boys are not liking the fact the back to school stuff is out, and I am getting curriculum ready for the Tot School Year. They want the summer to never end and I want to get back to the routine of my days when they are at school.

Has anyone seen that Staples commercial, where the Dad is pushing the cart to the song, "The Most Wonderful Time of The Year" and the kids are behind him with the long faces... I love that commercial and enjoy teasing my boys with it when they are getting on my last nerve. Though, I don't really look forward to school starting for my boys, to much homework, Fall Ball starts up again and sorting out all the logistics is sometimes a nightmare.