Friday, December 17, 2010

Photo's & Firsts




Our week in Photo's....



And Firsts... Little Man learned how to sit up from his belly!!!
Oh no, what's next... Crawling??

















Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Busy Days

So much going on last week and this, sickness going through Child Care, trying to finish our holiday ornaments, and just the normal ups and downs with a multi-aged group, I haven't been able to post like usual.

I will put up some photos on Friday of what we have been up too, but otherwise we have just been playing, learning and exploring like usual. We are all getting ready for our 2 week Christmas break and when we get back we will get down to business again. With the holiday festivities over we will hopefully get our heads back into our routine.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Monday, December 6, 2010

Mondays

Mondays... What a day.

It was chilly here today. I think we lasted about 15 minutes at a time outside today. The wind was blowing and our cheeks and noses were red and rosy, as well as runny :) We found lots of layers of ice in the front and backyards. The kids loved looking at it, touching it (even though their little gloved hands got wet and cold) and then breaking it. Seeing the ice in tiny, shiny pieces was amazing to them. I think it looked, to them, like shiny gems or jewels lying in the sun like that.

We also put up our Child Care Christmas Tree.... it is a cute little, pre-lit tree I bought a couple of years ago, but we love putting it up and decorating it for the holidays. The wrapping paper came out and a wrapping frenzy began. We had tape, blocks, toys, and paper pretty much covering the whole playroom at one point. You know, I love these types of leaning moments. I didn't actually "teach" any specific thing, but the kids learned about sharing, patience, using their words to express frustration when the paper didn't do what they wanted it to and co-existing with their peers (something that doesn't always come easy to a 2 yr old). That doesn't include the measuring, the estimating, the predicting, sorting, and the creating going on. We worked together, helping each other have fun and learn within a child centered moment. I was only there to help, not lead. Now, the funny part... it took them about an hour to wrap these "presents" for under our little tree... it took about 3 minutes of happy, laughing, wonderful glee to open them up. I never saw a child so excited to open a square, wooden block before.

We had messes today, but we had fun!! Oh, and we did review our letters A thru J, did our calendar, checked out the weather, sang some songs to the Little Man, read some more holiday stories, and made a gift for Ms Courtney... what a busy Monday.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Books, Crafts & Walks

We have been very busy learning about the letter Jj, Jolly 'Ol St. Nicholas, Christmas, and the birth of a very special Person, Jesus. Our favorite stories right now are, The Story of Christmas, by Patricia Pingry and Merry Christmas Big Hungry Bear, by Don and Audrey Woods (2 of my most favorite authors!!).

Our crafts have been keeping us busy also. We have made some cute wreaths, hand print snowflakes, Christmas trees, and Starlet, the star from the board book The Tiny Star, by Arthur Ginolfi, who is so small no one can see her. She shines up in the sky for many years, with no one seeing her beauty, until the night Jesus is born. She then comes down to the stable, and seeing the newborn babe in the cold and dark stable, she begins to shine so warm and bright that she floats up in the sky to become the beacon for the Shepherds and Wise Men to find Baby Jesus. It was another favorite book of ours.

I wish I could show you some photos, but my camera cables are missing. I am the queen of clutter, so I am sure they will turn up soon and I will download them then.

We have had some rainy weather here, and my yard is sometimes very muddy, usually we don't mind, but it has also grown cold... and wet, muddy hands make for some unhappy children. We have also been taking some really wonderful neighborhood walks. Going to the park, our Rain Walk, Nature Hunt walk, and today we went to see how many Santa's we could find hanging out in our neighborhood (we found 6). The kids are getting some needed outdoor time, fresh air and having a lot of fun exploring their environment. (them getting tired and sleepy is just an added bonus :) )