Today we started off inside until we were finished with snack, then headed outside since it had warmed up. While out there, Kai rode a red bike, Genevieve scooped sand with a shovel, Jackson greeted friends from the top of the playscape, Olive enjoyed being hung upside down by Arielle, Wynn raked, Clara played with a toy pig (slid it down the slide to Noah,) and Sophie rolled wheeled toys down the playscape. Noah spent his morning with the toddlers on a playdate!

            We had a fire drill today at 10:40 am. Our friends did fantastic! After the drill we celebrated how successful and safe we were by singing Zoom Zoom Zoom!

            In the afternoon we painted. Some friends chose to paint and some just observed. We did the painting outside on a large sheet of butcher paper. It was awesome.

            Sorry about the short blog tonight, both Cherokee and Arielle have educator training (required by licensing) tonight so we don’t have much time to blog. Tomorrow is our last day with our little loves (as their full-time teachers)…it’s going to be a very love-filled day (but what day isn’t?)
 The camera battery also ran out early today so we are lacking lots of photos. Sorry1

Hey guys!!! It has only been 2 days of not being around our little guys and I already miss them like crazy. It’s crazy to know that they are so close and yet they seem so far. It makes me sad to think that I won’t be able to see them as much as I’d like. On the other hand, I got to be with them all day today and will be finishing out the rest of this week with them; yay!!!

We began our morning with outside drop-off, and despite the fact that it was a little bit chilly out everyone was in good spirits. Hunter and Wynn both played with the mini kitchen and were placing little bowls in the little oven area. Genevieve hopped onto one of the push cars and tried scooting herself across the mulch on the playground; it was a struggle but she kept with it for a good while before going to something else. Jackson played peek-a-boo with me while on the playscape and would poke his head out at me a few times. When Noah arrived he went straight for the radio flyer push-car; it’s usually one of the favorites among the kiddos. Olive arrived shortly after and played in the sandbox for a while and practiced pouring sand into small containers. Sophie was being an awesome little helper and was pretending to sweep the playground using the little broom.

Afterwards, we all headed in for snack. During snack we went over the days of the week and sang our days of the week song. When I asked what day it was today Genevieve said, “Monday!” Once snack was done and everyone cleaned up we were ready to head back outside for some chalk art! This time I placed the chalk in some water before handing it to them and the color and texture of the chalk was a little bit different for them. They all seemed to have a blast coloring on the wall outside on the playground. Once they were all done with the chalk activity they all dispersed and found other things to do on the playground.

Also, Miss Arielle spent her day with the primary class so she can learn their routine and Mr. Nick spent his day with us! The kiddos loved having Mr. Nick around, Sophie, Wynn and Genevieve even tried saying his name.

In the afternoon we will have some snack and then wait for Miss Leona to come and sing Spanish songs with us! Afterwards, we will be gluing some pasta to paper for our sensory/art activity. Then we will end our day back outside and enjoy some free play.

Tomorrow we will be using paint for our art and playing with soapy water for our sensory activity. We will also be going over all of the body parts we have learned so far which include head, nose, eyes, ears, mouth, shoulders, arms, and hands.

I look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow!

<3 Cherokee

I'm sorry that this is short, but I'm pretty busy tonight. Magdalen and Cherokee switched classrooms and the tots got to hang out with Magdalen and Arielle all day. We had a great day of playing outside, popping bubbles, doing yoga, singing songs, laughing, and exploring. The kiddos loved spending time with Magdalen and Abby, their yoga teacher. Cherokee and Arielle are sad that this is their last week teaching the pre tots before switching to other classes. We are going to be giving lots and lots of love this week!

Hey guys! It’s been a very cloudy and a little bit of a chilly morning, however, that didn’t stop us from playing outside! All the kiddos were running and playing as normal and shortly after the sun was out and shining on us all.

Sophie spent her morning playing in the sandbox and using some of our new shovels to scoop up sand. Hunter was pretending to drive a car using the green steering wheel located underneath the playscape. Genevieve played with one of our new bouncy balls and practiced throwing it in the air. Wynn and Sophie played a game of peek-a-boo with me as I took pictures of them. Olive got on one of the push cars and rode around the playground while Hunter tagged along behind her patiently waiting for her turn.

After being outside for a little while we all headed in for snack. During snack we went over the days of the week and sang our days of the week song. Then we all counted the number of days. Every time we count the number of days Wynn, Genevieve, and Olive always try to count with us; super cute! Kai also brought in one of his toys to share with his friends! Everyone, especially Wynn and Genevieve, loved taking turns and shaking it to listen to the funny sound it made. After snack we were joined by our friend Noah! Noah also got to take a turn shaking Kai’s noise maker. Once everyone got a turn shaking the noise maker we all got ready to head back outside for our Friday dance party!!!

Miss Lizzie brought out the radio from the primary room and played Olive’s dance party mix. All of our friends joined in on the dancing spree. Genevieve danced to every single song on Olive’s cd. Even Kai and Noah showed off some of their dance moves. After a session of rump shaking and gettin’ jiggy wit it, we all headed back in for lunch.

During lunch we talked about what kind of foods we had in our lunch boxes. We also talked about the different body parts we have learned about all this week. When some of our friends finished with their lunch they washed their hands and sat on the carpet with Miss Arielle to read Olive’s book that she brought in to share with us. As soon as all of our friends were finished with lunch they all went into the nap area and rested their little bodies.

After nap, the kiddos who were awake first went to go wash hands and get ready for our afternoon snack. The kiddos enjoyed some black beans with whole grain chips; Mmmm. After snack we all got ready for Miss Jackie to come and play music on her guitar! At this point I had switched with Miss Magdalen and went to the baby room to prepare for my all day play-date on Monday.

I hope everyone has a safe and fun weekend!

See you guys next week!

<3 Cherokee

Hello pre-tot families! It’s been a little bit of a cloudy and windy morning but it didn’t last very long, before we knew it the sun was out and shining on us all. We had lots of new toys, shovels and balls on the playground this morning; combine that with all the new sand we have in our sandbox and you’ve got yourself some very happy children. Noah got to play with one of our new bouncy balls and was throwing and kicking it. Genevieve also played with one of the new bouncy balls and would throw it in the air and then run after it. Kai picked up one of the shovels and attempted to dig a hole in the ground; however the ground was a bit hard to break through. Wynn spent a lot of time playing in the kangaroo climber and going down the slide several times. Olive brought out her cookie monster doll and showed it to all of her friends; then she asked me to hold on to him while she went and played in the sandbox. Clara also played in the sandbox and practiced pouring sand into small containers. Ancel spent the entire day with the toddlers! Dom told me that he has been having a blast in there.

Afterwards, we all decided to have our snack outside; picnic style. We washed the kiddo’s hands and then sat them all down on our blanket to enjoy some delicious bananas. During snack we decided to also have our circle time. First we sang the hello song and then we talked about all the different body parts we have learned so far.

Once we were done with snack we continued with more outside play. Shortly after we were joined by our good friend Sophie who had just came from a check-up with the doctor. Then Miss Arielle brought out some shaving cream for our sensory activity. Wynn, Noah, Clara and Sophie loved this activity! They seemed to have so much fun squishing and rubbing the shaving cream all over the little yellow table. We also showed them how they can also draw and make pictures in the shaving cream. We then got them all cleaned up and ready to go inside for lunch.

During lunch we went over the days of the week and sang our days of the week song. Then we counted the number of days. We also talked about body parts that we have gone over and had the kiddos point to each body part that we mentioned. We also practiced our animal sounds.

After nap, we all headed over to the tables to have our afternoon snack. Miss Leona was out again today unfortunately because she is sick. We hope she feels better soon and hope to see her next week.

After snack we prepared to do our stamp art activity. Some of our friends wanted to go outside so Miss Arielle took them out to the deck while Kai and Genevieve stayed in with me. Kai and Genevieve did extremely well with the stamp activity and stamped their entire page.

Tomorrow we will be doing a sensory activity using felt and an art activity using paint. We will also continue to go over all the body parts we have learned so far. For tomorrow the key body part is shoulders.

See you guys tomorrow!

<3 Cherokee

Sorry for the lack of photos today! We ran out of memory on the camera and I don't feel we have enough of each child. Sorry about that! We will clear up that memory card asap!

Today Cherokee was out for a doctors appointment so Kenny subbed. We played outside all morning except during snack, when I went to kinder blossom for an hour and Lizzie took over. While outside we played with the new sand and sand toys Toni recently purchased for the school. Also, Noah shared his Mickey Mouse balloon with his friends, Sophie gave hugs, Jackson greeted his friends ("hi!"), Olive hung out with Kenny, Hunter hung out near the dome, Wynn waved hi to friends arriving at school (and really enjoyed the new kitchen set on the playground), and Genevieve checked out what everybody was up to. Ancel spent the day rocking out with the toddlers!

Lunch was fun, as Kenny used his iPad to play us a variety of tunes during our dining experience. Some friends (especially Sophie and Wynn) liked it so much they jumped up and danced!

After nap we gave lots of hugs and listened to some of Wynn's Cuban music. Judah from the infant room came to join us, too! Jackson immediately was super happy to see him. We did some art with crayons, which we later took to the deck and added glue and rice to the papers we used to draw on. We also blew lots of bubbles that Noah brought. These weren't any ordinary bubbles, though...they were non-popping bubbles! The whole room was covered in bubbly fun. If you find some weird residue in your child's hair, it's bubbles! Thanks, Noah, for the bubbles! If only we could have taken some pictures of the bubbly excitement! We brought the bubble fun out to the deck, along with our art.

While on the deck Genevieve got to see her good friend and future teachers (again), Magdalen! Olive banged on the drum and Hunter held on tight to her cool water bottle while she stomped around. All our sprouts had so much fun with Kenny today.

I love your children SOOOO MUCH! You have no idea how hard it's going to be for me when the teacher transition takes place. I know they will love their future teachers, Magdalen and Sandy, so very, very much, though. I'm glad they are going to be in good hands. :)

We started our day as the only class outside in the morning. We loved it! Fresh sand, new toys, sunshine...the works.

Genevieve scooped sand with Sophie. Kai did some cool yoga-looking moves in the sand. Wynn showed us where his head is. Jackson found a stick ("stick!") Olive was extra cuddly. Ancel scooped sand into cups and served them. Clara played with some bubbles.  Noah loved playing with a toy remote.

Happy Friday everyone! We started our morning inside and spent some time playing in the primary and toddler rooms. In the toddler room Hunter and Sophie played with the little kitchen set. Genevieve spent some time trying to place a puzzle back together that was on the table. As soon as most of our pre-tot friends arrived we transitioned into our room. Once we were in our room we all worked on a going away card for Miss Jackie (one of the infant teachers) who will be leaving Green Sprout and moving to Colorado. Olive and Noah loved drawing on Miss Jackie’s card.

Afterwards we all sat down to have snack. During snack I went over the days of the week while our awesome sub Miss Cate took pictures. Then we got to sing our days of the week song and count the number of days. Once all of our kiddos had their fill of snack we all headed out to the backyard for some exploring.

Ancel, Noah, Kai and Wynn all headed to the sandbox. They were so excited to play with all of our new sand that was put in there yesterday by Mr. Nick. While outside I also read the kiddos a story titled “The Nightmare in my Closet.” Genevieve and Olive were part of my small audience.

I apologize for this short blog. I had a Dr. appt today and left early.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and I’ll see you guys Tuesday!

<3 Cherokee   

Today we started off our day in the classroom. Kai loved playing with some trains while Olive, Noah, Genevieve, and Sophie played with play doh. When Clara arrived we blew some bubbles and then had snack, during which we went over the calendar and sang the days of the week song. We then put our jackets on and headed out to the playground. We were the only class out there, which gave us much more room to explore. As we were playing out there Ancel arrived and found a rock that he was holding onto yesterday and is very proud of. He kept it close to him while he worked hard in the sandbox, scooping sand into cups. Soon the toddlers arrived and so did Wynn. He really liked walking around with a child-sized broom.

While outside our friends helped Dom plant some plants in our garden. They held the plants before they went into the ground and really enjoyed feeling the cool, wet soil. When they weren't helping Dom, they enjoyed popping more bubbles (it never gets old,) sweeping the ground, or riding on bikes.

We went inside for lunch and listened to a book that Ancel brought today called Clap Your Hands (thanks, Ancel!) The book pretty much recited the song but had pictures of teddy bears acting out each verse. The tots enjoyed eating and listening to a read aloud at the same time. Perhaps we should read books aloud during lunch more often.

We settled down for nap after lunch and after waking up we drew with markers on paper, which is one of our favorite activities. We also talked about our head, nose, eyes, ears, and mouth. Afterwards, Leona arrived and we ate snack while she taught another fun Spanish lesson. We will end our day outside in the beautiful, sunny, Texas winter weather.

Tomorow I (Arielle) will be out of town. Our super awesome and much-loved sub, Cate, will sub.