Hump Day is a Good Day

Happy Birthday

Birthday Girl!!!!!

Today we had Calendar, letter & number review and read our Penguin story... Yesterday and Today we read Tacky & the Winter Games, by Helen Lester (we also touched on what Winter Games might mean, since the Olympics are coming up and we want to be ready for them). We like Tacky the Penguin and find that he is definitely a funny bird!

We read this poem from Jackie at Pocketful of Posies... which the kids loved since we were learning how the Daddy Penguin keeps his baby warm on his feet. We then circled all the P's we could find and then The Princess said, "look there's an A... can we circle all the A's too??" So, we circled and counted 13 A's and 3 P's... then figured out which letter had more!!

We started this book yesterday. It is a silly book that talks about silly penguins of different colors and designs... Like, A Purple Penguin?? or A Plaid Penguin?? and the kids color and design the penguin... and the last page is A Perfect Penguin!! (because they colored him black, white & orange) We then read it and they can now take it home to read to Mom, Dad, Siblings, etc...

We also figured our that the first "word" A is a letter we know... so now we know an actual WORD by sight :) They were pretty intrigued by that :)

I got this idea & templates from Tired Need Sleep. I was so excited when I saw how she adjusted the idea from Handwriting Without Tears. I wanted to buy the wooden letter makers for a long time, just never had the money. Now I have a great version of it and can always make new ones if these get lost or destroyed. I can also make them in different colors for the little ones.

I know I am showing a B, but we practiced with the P today... I will start adding all the templates for the letters we have learned so far. I am just going slow to make sure we use the material properly.

We ended our morning with our Outside Time!! It has been beautiful... in the 60's this week and we have been taking advantage of the great weather!!! I told you about the ice that we found last week (in this post) well, we found that it melted yesterday. The kids were in to playing other things and didn't really care about it. Today though they decided it would be a GREAT day to get muddy!!! I always tell the Parents... we get muddy & dirty inside and out here at Kozy Kids... so send messy clothes!!! We needed it today :)

I don't know if you can tell they have dumped the water and are fascinated by the "river" it made going down the hill.



I love the way the sun bounces off the water... they were mesmerized by the trickling of the water going down.

MUD!!!

Ah... the wonders of mud!! We spent a lot of time dumping dirt into the "ice mix" to see what color we could get it.

We of course then had to transport the water to any other vessel that would hold it.

Working together takes a lot of work... who's the boss, who is doing what and where and when. They navigate the situation so well when they all have the same goal in mind.

We as Parent's sometimes forget the learning aspect of play. The problem solving that goes into an undertaking of this magnitude. The different tasks that need to be done, the mishaps, the self correcting, the negotiations, the whole social aspect of finding an interest and building upon it. These are the skills our kids need most to go to Kindergarten... these are the skills that all the math, reading, music, social studies, and science build off of.

What... can't I play too??

Little Miss M is practicing brushing her hands off... oblivious to the kids getting and taking water to other area's of the yard, she just looks at the water, touches it, looks at me and smiles, then brushes her hands off. Over & over again... what she is processing I'm not sure... she is a smart one, so is it "Can I get away with playing in this mess?" or "What exactly is this brown yucky stuff anyway?" or "I like this"

I wonder.

I love that these kids can play, get dirty and figure out the wonders of their environment. As a Provider I always want the new toys that "teach" something, trying to keep up with the big centers and all their glitzy, shiny equipment... but I am glad I still remember that a touch of water, a fistful of dirt, and some adventurous minds is all it takes to learn and have fun while learning a lot in the process.