fall theme - sept 23rd (katrina)

Sorry gang, I wasn't as good at taking photos this session, but after reading Annelisa's comment about Mason enjoying seeing himself in the blog and remembering what he did, I will recommit to this whole process. In fact, I was beginning to think it wasn't a good idea and that it was asking too much to ask of us busy moms. With that said, do what you can, and we'll enjoy whatever we can do :).

Anyways...

Centers for last Tuesday began rather early for me...my kiddos decided to do the art center as soon as I set it up. The goal with the art center today was for the kids to paint bugs that they had seen on their great bug hunt. I was pleased to see that the boys were also interested in painting letters...especially those in their name and last week's letter "C."

Mason and Carsten enjoyed the shaving cream letters together. Then they joined Jack in the Math grab bag center, where they chose a printed number and then placed beans on the paper that represented the number. I'm excited to do this again next center and add some more numbers. (i only did 1-10, but want to see how far they can go) :)

Mason then went and worked in the water measuring center alone. I think I'll bring this one out next theme i teach (colors), but use colored water for them to measure and mix with.

We cleaned up and sang following the leader to peter pan's music, and joined Ray and Brigham in at Circle Time. After some Calendar fun and a welcome song, we read, Color Dance and sang Do you know the colors of our rainbow?

Soon it was time for a potty break and washing up for Snack Time. Sara brought some raisins and carrots? (Sorry, i can't remember...i think it was carrots with ranch dressing). The big excitement, however, was the homemade chocolate cupcakes that Brigham and his Daddy had made together. The pictures are a bit dark, but you get the idea...



While the kiddos were enjoying their snack, we went through the "Dd" box together. They loved the sounds that came out of the "Dd" box just before a new item appeared :).

During Music and movement, we started reading and moving to Dance. The boys were very excited to follow and copy the dancer's movements. We also sang and moved to the Hokey Pokey. Last, we did our Across the Floor activity...always a big running and moving hit (thank goodness for Sara's great help with them stopping and slowing between each trick/movement.

It was time for our activity. We read the adventures of Brady the grasshopper as we put on our shoes. Outside, we gathered leaves and said hello to many of our neighbor's animals (the leaves had been blown from their tree...our only trees are deciduous!) I think it was Ray that was sure they had seen a bear (a black bull), and they also enjoyed the chickens and rooster.

With our great leaf finds, we rubbed on large sheets of paper outside and watched the leaf prints appear.

Next session we'll use these leaves in our art center...:)

And a few more pics:

Carsten & Anneclaire in the Art Center
Mason in the Math Center
Carsten counting beans
Mason pouring carefully

Jack studiously engaged in the Math Center

See you next time...looking forward to our Pumpkin cookies...:)

fall theme - Sept. 18th (katrina)

We had a great session in Centers today. Our Centers were:

the water measuring center

shaving cream literacy center

play dough center

and

the train center

I think Mason hit all of the centers today, measuring, creating, and learning as he went.

Mason and Ray not only enjoyed drawing their letters in the shaving cream, but they also enjoyed the clean up as well.

The boys were very busy in the Play dough Center, particularly enamoured with all of the tools.

The boys didn't get nearly as wet at the measuring center today. They are getting better at pouring and estimating how much room is left in the bowls, etc, and learning how to use each of the tools to achieve their desires.

More good playing, sharing and building in the Train Center
After Centers, we sang Following the Leader and headed to Circle Time where we talked about the letter "Cc," sang Do you know the colors of the Rainbow, worked on our Calendar, and read The Mixed Up Chameleon.

Sara brought a big hit of a snack today: "C"hicken "c"rackers with "c"heese. Not just any cheese, but squeezy cheese that she used to write the boy's choice of letters on their crackers. They loved it and I think that snack time would have lasted another half hour if Sara's had would have held up :).

We sang, The Bear went over the Mountain and began Music and Movement. The boys moved to Eric Carle's From Head to Toe, sang and moved to the Hokey Pokey, and practiced our hopping, jumping, rolling, skipping, etc. for Across the Floor time.

It was time for our activity of the day: The Great Bug Hunt. We gathered in the mud room, read, The Hungry Caterpillar, and got our shoes on for the hunt.

The first thing we discovered on our great bug hunt, was a watermelon...yup, in the grass (maybe josh had something to do with that...:)), anyways, we decided that the bugs would like to eat it.

Right away, Brigham found a grasshopper that later hopped onto his shoe and big toe. Brigham wanted to find a lady bug...sadly, we didn't find any today.
The boys found grasshoppers, a wasp, preying mantis, spiders, ants, butterflies, and crickets.

The boys looked for bugs beneath rocks, within the tall grass, and in the air.

Miss Sara was soo excited to find her very favorite bug: the preying mantis. The boys were also very happy to see it.
After the preying mantis sighting, the kiddos saw a magnificent spider web with a spider of course.
Brigham was very gentle with the preying mantis. He is our bug expert, loves to catch and hold the bugs and did it so carefully.
This is the group looking at the spider web
The boys took turns looking at the bugs through the binoculars

After our great bug hunt, we drew pictures of the bugs that we saw. Some of the highlights: Jack was very concerned that we not forget the little black ants. Brigham made sure that we drew his shoe and big toe that the grasshopper had landed on. Mason wanted a spider on our drawing. He and Ray were busy drawing while the others were telling me what to draw.

When the had finished their bug posters, they raced through the grass hopping like grasshoppers, jumping like spiders, running like aunts and crawling like a preying mantis. These boys are so much fun!

fall theme - sept 16th ( miss katrina)

What an enjoyable session! The boys were so good today: listening, working together, problem solving...well, you decide for your self. Here is how our day went:


We began in Centers. The Centers for the day were:
the water measuring center,
the playdough center
the train center
and the shaving cream abc's center


Sara and I set up a good portion of the track before we began the session. The boys could choose two trains to use. They could add on to the tracks if they wanted to as well. They were told that if there was any unkind behavior, the train center would be put away. Sara and I were amazed at how well they all played together. In the beginning, Jack, Anneclaire, and Carsten were at the train center together. As Mason, Brigham & Ray joined in, Carsten & Anneclaire moved over to the playdough center. There were 4 boys in the train center and things were moving quite nicely. Trains were patiently waiting as others zoomed by, some train following was going on and they had a great time together. (a big relief, we weren't sure how it was going to go, but are excited to do it again :)).


Soon, Carsten, Ray & Jack were out on the deck measuring water together. Yes, they did get wet, but we now know how much water to let them have :). Helping each other, and enjoying the various tools, they had a great time together. Mason was soon there, and keeping the wetness to a minimum (requesting towels, etc. :)).


Meanwhile, Brigham was still at the train center. Alone, he built a village for his trains with trees, up on the couch.

Soon, it was time to clean up. As we sang the clean-up song, Sara and I made our way around, helping the boys clean the centers. We were informed that we were not to help with the train center. The kiddos were happily doing it all by themselves! All 6 of them smiling and running between the train track pile and the bucket:

As we left our Center Time, the boys sang and followed me through the house singing, "Following the Leader" to our rainbow blanket and Circle Time.

In Circle time today, we added to our calendar, sang, "Do you know the colors of our rainbow?" Then we read Eric Carle's Mixed Up Chameleon, which reviews colors, animals, and our theme from the past two weeks, all about me...being happy to be ourselves. The boys were all attentive, answering questions about the animals and colors.

Pictured above are the boys following me to Circle Time.

After circle time, the boys prepared for snack by making a potty/wash hands visit. They sang the Wheels on the Bus with Miss Sara on their way.

For snack, the kiddos helped make smoothies. We talked about the blender, it's motor, the need for a lid, and they each helped add the milk, bananas and strawberries. If you'd like to help them make it at home:

2 cups milk

3 bananas

12 frozen strawberries

Those that were still hungry ate some pancakes from this morning's breakfast.

The pic below is a bit dark, but Sara and I got a kick out of how they would all cover their ears when the blender began.

After snack, we sang The Bear Went Over the Mountain and made our way back in the living room for music and movement. We read Eric Carl's I am I and the boys followed along with the movement described in the book. Then we listened, moved, and sang along to The Hokey Pokey. I was impressed with how many of them put their correct hand or foot in the circle. Finally, we began Across the floor, where the boys would walk big, small, run, hop, walk backward, spin, and take baby steps across the carpet and around the wall.

Our big activity for the day was Sand Construction. Before heading outside, we sat and read together Construction Countdown, a colorful book about large construction machinery, what each vehicle is called and what it does. It is also a counting book. The boys were great counting each vehicle with me, and listening to the description of each machine. They were very excited to use their own machinery to build their construction site. As the moms probably figured out, yes, there was water involved. Sorry about the sand and mud that the boys brought home. It was worth it though. We watched them build alone, together as a team, create, wash, and communicate with one another. It was a messy learning experience.

Ray and Carsten working together in the rich wet sand.

Mason was surprised to find that when his bus was filled with water, that the water escaped. Soon he realized that it was oozing through the doors.

Carsten and Ray worked for a while away from the main water area, digging, sand dumping, and coming back to the hose for water. They worked so well together. Way to go boys!

Brigham was busy creating his own "river" and site. The other boys enjoyed watching what he was up to. Here he is telling Miss Katrina where he wants the water to clean his dump truck.

After a while, Mason wanted to help Brigham in his river/lake building. Instead of waiting for me to bring the hose to him, he would take the bucket to wherever I was, fill it, and return to his buddy Brigham. Great problem solving skills Mason :).

Soon, the main lake/river was getting pretty big. It became the main dump truck car wash. I've never seen such a desire from boys to clean their vehicles. It was fun to watch. Pictured above is Mason helping Jack wash his tractor. Jack was very detailed about the cleaning process and would make sure that you got every bit of sand off :).

After getting pretty muddy and wet, Ray decided it was time to "climb the mountain!" Carsten, Anneclaire, Sara, and Will joined him on the adventure. When the crew reached the top they waved at all of us down at the construction site.

Thanks to Sara and all the boys for a wonderful preschool day. I had so much fun and am looking forward to more good fun tomorrow! miss katrina