MONDAY:
Starting out the last Monday of the 2013 school year, outside, excited and happy enjoying the beautiful weather! We went in for a bit to have circle time and work time, which friends have been looking forward to focusing on their work, and mastering certain lessons, to move forward with newer lessons. 

Yoga Mondays are always exciting! As we get to stretch, tumble, bend and flex our muscles and bodies, while learning breathing exercises! We love to read books and practice the poses of the certain animals involved. We said good bye to Miss Colette and marched outside for the afternoon!

TUESDAY:
We spent the majority of the day, working on our projects and posing for pictures for our home made school gift! Everyone is so photogenic, they loved having their picture taken, and smiled so big!!! :D

We got word in the afternoon that yoga was rescheduled, so Miss Arielle suggested having yoga outside, so we got out the mats and took them out. She had friends join her for some yoga time while other friends played, waiting for our other friends to come out!

WEDNESDAY:
 Today our friend Olive and Milou joined us for a playdate! Olive was very eager to work on the Signing Puzzle, showing me her signs, and working on ones she had questions about. She was very proud when we completed the puzzle and looked forward to finding something else to work on. Paige worked on the Pink Tower, while Colette worked with the practical life lesson, pinching clothes pins and putting them on the edge on the basket. Miya worked with the abacus, counting aloud, while Hank worked with the magnets!

THURSDAY:
It was a SNOW DAY, today!!!! Using some InstaSnow, we "made" snow in the sensory tables, with our Primary and Pre-Tot friends. Then we decided to make snow men with clear balloons, white glue and the "snow"! first, we painted glue onto the balloons, then we sprinkled snow on them. Some friends added stickers as eyes, noses and a mouth, other friends wanted to keep their snowmen "just white"! :) It was an awesome sensory exploration which we later shared with the toddlers, and even the babies got in on the fun, sprinkling and patting the snow!
Miss Daphne joined us in the afternoon, starting the class with our Adios song, then placing the cards out for the Memory game, we went around the circle taking turns picking cards and hopefully matching them!They get so excited, and clap for their friends, then repeat Miss Daphne as she pronounces the animal is Espanol, and ask everyone to repeat! We said goodbye and headed outside!

FRIDAY:
Dance Party Friday, Holiday Edition!! :) We enjoyed the lovely morning outside, enjoying our last day of the 2013 school year at Green Sprout! We decorated gingerbread men, with stickers, markers, crayons, and stampers! Our day was super laid back as we enjoyed the outside morning, while inside we finished up our gifts to our Parents, had a fun, gingerbread cooking project, and reading Holiday books brought by our friends!

HAPPIEST OF HOLIDAYS TO YOU ALL AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

XO
Dom

MONDAY:

Welcoming Monday with some Christmas art; Paige, Colette, Tristan and Ivy all working on their Winter Wonderland. While Miss Lizzie set up a poster board, and showed Jasper and Wren how to make snow flakes, using coffee filters and a spray bottle with blue ink! They added some glue, and glitter and loved the way it sparkled! The weather was pretty chilly, as we stayed in for the morning, working in our Dramatic Play and Construction centers. Many friends like to work with the doctor's equipment, especially our friend Paislie :) While other friends have made make shift "tunnels" and car schutes using old paper rolls.
After nap, it was Yoga time!!! Colette made her way to our room, as we split the class, our older sunflowers went with Miss Colette, while our younger sunflowers, sat at the table with Miss Arielle playing a yoga filler game! They chose a block from the table, which had a pose or activity to play. Jasper and Byron enjoyed picking and posing, practicing their tree pose, and Airplane pose. Ivy and Paislie soon got up and joined in. While Colette worked with our older friends on the carpet, practicing and reading books which were filled with different animals, which they would practice doing the pose and learning the name.
Happy Monday!

TUESDAY:
We began this Tuesday with centers and art activities pertaining to our lesson of the month, winter holidays around the world! This week we are focusing on Christmas and the winter solstice!! We decorated our winter wonderland, using cotton balls, glitter, glue, and our imaginations!!! Friends also had the option to decorate using Christmas stickers or decorating penguins! Which we identified, as living in cold weather!
Miss Toni came in with a special treat for primary sunflowers! Toni and I baked vegan cookies for all of GS employees and had a few bits and pieces left over which we wanted to share! She explained how there was no dairy in these "crumbs" of cookies and so our friends Paige and ms Arielle could have one! Everyone was so thankful and excited :) we closed out our morning with some outside time, finally! Which everyone loved, especially seeing the sun out! We transitioned inside before lunch, read, chew chew, gulp then proceeded to eat and nap time.
After nap, we sat quietly in the carpet as ms Arielle read a few books. Miss emilia came for yoga, which everyone was super excited for!! We gathered our yoga mats and made our way to the rug. Emilia started with the routine opening stretches and songs. She then asked our friends which animals move fast and which move slow! Wren said a turtle, a turtle moves slooow! And Ben said a bee! Then giggled. Miss emilia brought up a sloth, which she described as slow moving, with claws. She then got on her back and curled up pretending to be a sloth. Many friends followed, giggling with their feet in the air. We said our goodbyes, got shoes coats and hats on and marched outside!

WEDNESDAY:
We spent the majority of our Wednesday outside, thankful for the beautiful weather! There's been some talk about camping, so Ivy, Miya, and Addie decided to build a "tent" with sheets over the dome climber! Soon everyone joined in adding their own thing to the tent, and we soon talked about making a "bonfire" to stay warm. Dax found some sticks, and a bucket, while Jasper, Asher, and Ben found "leaves" that were the fire! We sat around under the "tent" and looked up at the sky :)
Daphne joined us on the deck, after we had snack, for a lesson in Spanish! She read a pop out book about animals, which she translated from English to Spanish.

THURSDAY:
We started our morning inside due to the cold  weather, but there was definitely no objections as friends found books to read and cars to roll! We broke off into our work centers; Olin found the magnetic counting puzzle, while colette worked with the coins and bank. Addie counted aloud as she counted beads and hung them under their number. and Paige worked on the knobbed cylinders.  Asher worked with the long red rods, as Dax worked on the numbered long rods. placing them in order according to length. Ivy worked with the sound boxes, matching each sound and color to each other. It was a very quiet, calm work time before we cleaned up, and marched outside!
Daphne joined us, after nap and snack, for another lesson in Spanish! introducing new words and pictures, for our friends to look at. She then had them take turns, picking up cards that were turned over to see if they could find the matching one! They had pictures of a farm animals with their spanish translation, so even if they did not find the matching one, they learned the name and pronunciation of both of the animals, which everyone enjoyed, repeating after Miss Daphne, and taking a turn! It was a great day!

FRIDAY:
As usual our Fridays consist of dance party, lately, however we've been rocking Fridays as pajama day, which has quickly become a favorite! Friends arrived showing off their festive, super hero, and princess pjs all excited! We squeezed in some Christmas art before attempting to go outside. The rain shortened our outside time, so we came in and prepared for our special Friday AM snack, vegan waffles!!!! The toddlers joined us, as we introduced ingredients, had each kiddo help out, and poured the batter into Ms Arielle's waffle maker, which her dad so kindly lent us! Each friend sitting patiently as they waited for them to cool, while Mrs Jackie led us in songs! Our first batch was out and a huge success! They loved it! :) the next batch we made with blueberries, and friends were patiently waiting to taste. It was a huge thumbs up, as we enjoyed warm waffles on this cold, rainy morning.
After snack, we worked on our Kwanzaa holiday art, and our awesome "fire place", Ms Arielle drew on big, white paper! It was soon time for lunch, secret sack and nap time!
After nap, mr mike joined us for Our Friday cooking project. Today we learned how to make Latkes! Mr mike explained the story of the latkes, and explained how we make them with potatoes. He sliced a potato for our friends to see, smell, and feel. his special helper for the day was Jasper, who for to help mix the shredded potatoes, flour and water! He was very excited :)


Much Love
Dom

MONDAY:
We had an awesome Monday morning outside, greeting our friends as they arrived, until it was circle time and work time.  BYRON got busy working with the rough and smooth boards. It is 2 wooden boards, 1 half has a smooth surface, whereas the other half is covered with sandpaper.  The other board contains sandpaper gradually increasing in coarseness for sensory exploration. ASHER found one of our newest puzzles, it is a bit more difficult, but he never got frustrated and gladly asked for help from his fellow classmates and guides. WREN proudly worked with the coin and bank, counting aloud as he dropped a coin in, starting over again when he ran out. IVY and TEO working on the carpet, each focusing on their lesson. PAISLIE working on the number/picture puzzle, matching pictures with the amount corresponding. DAX working with one of his favorites, that he has mastered, the Binomial Cube. BEN worked quietly on the Pink Tower, while JASPER and ADDIE enjoyed a yummy snack. Colette asked for a presentation on the magnets, and was quickly excited to take over independently, matching up the magnets to the picture, taking into mind the positive and negative of the magnets. 

After Nap, Miss Colette joined us for yoga on the deck in the beautiful weather! It was a lovely way to end the Monday!

TUESDAY:
Another beautiful morning at the Sprout, as amazing energies were flowing with our friends, as they enjoyed the outdoors! During circle time, we had a discussion, asking what everyone would like to make for their mommies and daddies for christmas/winter holidays. We brainstormed for a while, some friends saying "Pictures", while others said "Hot Dogs and Spicy Foods" :) We concluded for the time, and went to work in our centers. MIYA began work with the Colored Bead Stairs, which help with the understanding of the consecutive numbers 1-9. Noah (who joined us for a playdate) was busy working the magnifying glasses and bugs, carefully examining them, so excited. ADDIE worked with push pin exercise, while SOPHIE (who also joined us for a playdate) was working with the Magnets, excited when they would "stick" together, confused when they rejected one another. PAISLIE was busy, concentrating on the magnetic counting puzzle, slowly transferring magnetic balls with her wand. OLIN was interested in the Tree Puzzle, manipulating pieces to fit, while MAJOR worked with the coin and bank, dropping coins in and then taking them out.  NOAH found another lesson he wanted to explore, the dust pan and poms-poms, he would dump them on the tray and use the brush to sweep them up. PAIGE, too, was interested in the Tree Puzzle and worked at the table with it.

Another great afternoon of yoga outside, This time with Miss Anh, who took a small group outside to practice yoga, while another group worked with Miss Lizzie inside!

WEDNESDAY:
SHOW AND TELL and a special visitor today! It was a great day, as friends brought it some of their most favorite, precious things to show to their friends. We each took ten seconds to check out our friends belongings before passing it the friend either right or left of us, before getting something else. Many friends enjoyed this, and ended up with their own belonging by the end which is showing progress :) !!

After nap, we read quietly, before snack, and meeting our new Spanish Teacher, Ms Daphne! Most friends were super excited, as she came out quickly speaking to them in Spanish, asking them "como te llamas?" (what is your name?) and greeting them with "Hola" (Hello)! We learned 2 new spanish songs, and practiced counting to 10 in Spanish. BYRON exploded with his spanish speaking by counting along with her, all the way to the ten! Way to go, BYRON! We told Ms Daphne, "Adios" (bye), as we looked forward to seeing her the next day!

THURSDAY:
Chilly mornings call for inside drop off, and lots of "work" in the construction area! HANK and DAX building slides, and chutes for their cars in the construction area. TEO was working hard to build a tall tower which he was very proud of.. and PAIGE working on HANUKKAH art as we waited for more friends to arrive.

After nap, Miss Daphne was here again! My friends immediately sat criss cross apple sauce and was ready to hear what Ms Daphne had to say. We practiced introducing ourselves, a few shy friends, but overall great participation. We also went over our new 2 spanish songs, practicing, naming animals in Spanish. We soon told Miss Daphne, Thank You and Good Bye!

FRIDAY:

PAJAMA PARTY FRIDAY!!! Everyone had such a great day, relaxed and warm in their PJS! We also enjoyed a hot cocoa party in the afternoon, staying warm, inside, we ended this Fantastic Friday in the construction/dramatic play area.!

Much Love
Dom

MONDAY:

Beginning our day inside, due to the weather. Dax and Miya worked with stencils, while other friends worked in the construction/dramatic play area. We had a new friend, Elliot, join us, so we went around the room, said our introductions and took him for a short tour around the classroom.

More friends arrived, and we stayed in to work on our Friendsgiving Day place mats. First, they painted using red, yellow, and orange. We waited till they dried, before covering them with contact paper. 

We then went into circle time and work time.

After Nap, Abby came by for yoga. We had a very fun, yoga class, ms Abby introducing new poses. After yoga, we sat at the table for a afternoon Hot Chocolate Party!!! The weather was just perfect, as everyone scooped their own chocolate and stirred their water and hot chocolate! Each friend blew on it, til it was warm enough to sip, we finished out our day sipping hot cocoa and reading books together :)

TUESDAY:

Again, we started our day inside, due to the chilly weather and rain. Miss Lizzie sat on the carpet with friends around reading books. We had a special playdate (Sophie) join our room for the day, and introduced everyone. We made our way to the table to enjoy some yummy cranberry juice while Arielle read books.

Most of our friends had lots of energy so we attempted to go outside to burn off some energy. We got all bundled up, and headed out. We weren't out to long before friends were saying it was cold, and we marched back inside for centers and transition to lunch and nap.

After nap, Miss Abby came by for another yoga sesh! this time, she took the older group and had them quietly coloring Mandala's at the table, while the younger group went with her to the carpet for some yoga practices. After, both groups switched.  We said goodbye to Miss Abby and headed to table for snack.  We ended the day inside, wishing everyone a Happy Friends