We started out the beautiful day in the big backyard. We checked on our lovely sprouts which have been getting bigger and bigger each day. Every one had a chance to do their thing until it was time to come in for morning snack.  While we lined up at the fence, we had a chance to sing songs by request. We did the “ABCD’s” as Theo was calling them, together. Paislie really enjoys singing along. Promptly after snack, we had a fun circle time. We read Ivy’s book “What does a Lion Sound Like?” and every one had fun trying to stay quiet and listen, as the book suggests.  Ancel enjoyed laying down in the front laughing at the story. Ivy, Teo, Noah, Olive, and Paislie were especially attentive, and Theo and Asher were very enthusiastic to make gorilla sounds when the time was right! We sang the Days of the Week song, a few others, and finally moved on to our activity. Some friends who didn’t have a chance to finish their lady bug L’s finished them up as Alanna, Ivy, Theo, Asher, Paislie, Olive, and Ancel did their Love paintings.  Alanna and Ivy enjoyed following the directions carefully, trying to cover up all the tape that spelled love with paint. Asher was really excited to put spots and circles on his painting, Theo was having a sensory experience with the paint, Olive insisted on not painting her “L” and Ancel was very excited to use the color pink, which he requested many times over. Eventually we went outside, but only for a few minutes before it was time to come in for lunch.

After nap, Noah had a chance to do his Love painting, and he was very excited to ask for more and more paint. When I asked him to color the tape, he did so very carefully. Some of our friends had a chance to look at the interesting bird nest that built out of sticks and trash, and finally Ms. Abby was present and we did yoga. Jasper and Joey joined us for yoga, and we all had a blast. Teo, Alanna, and Theo were able to do some of the more difficult poses with Jasper and Joey, and Olive spent much of her time carefully observing. Asher, Ancel, Paislie, and Noah had a great time dancing around and marching like dinosaurs. Ivy was very excited to do Little Yoga Clock. We also spent a lot of time “swimming” in the ocean like fish! We wrapped up the day with snack, and headed outside!

Most friends were excited to get to school, while a few had a rough drop off, but once they were in their groove, they got busy all morning. Paislie found a pretty big roly poly, and wanted to show me, how it crawled up and down her hand. Ivy and Theo were checking out the newest Sprouts from Earth Day, while Ancel was under the dome climber, while i climbed to the top, trying to squirt me with a squirt bottle. We marched inside after a long morning of exploring to check on our plants and Snarl. We gathered around the table to re plant our plants in the classroom, and everyone took a turn watering them!

After nap, we woke up to books, milk, and potty/diaper changes. Jackie soon got there, and we started our Lesson on the Letter L. Everyone gathered around, and looked at the chalk board which had a Lemon, Ladybug, Light rays from the sun, and a Leaf! Most friends clearly recognized the Leaf and the Ladybug, which led us into our art activity for the afternoon.  I drew a picture of "L" big and little to show my friends. I then took some red paint, and put it on my thumb. I took the piece of paper, and proceeded to make thumb prints in the letter L. I added black spots, eyes, and antennas and they excitedly said "Ladybug"! :) Alanna, who was patiently sitting, asked to go first! She showed me her thumbs and were excited to get them painted. Theo and Ivy went next, all pushing their thumb down inside the L, making lots of Ladybugs, Paislie went last, as it was soon Yoga time. We had a quick snack and marched out to enjoy the afternoon!

Much Love
Dom and Jackie 

Friday morning started with Dance Party, combining both toddler and primary friends, in the toddler room! We soon made our way outside and had a school wide, awesome morning snack/picnic under the dome climber! It was so cute to see everyone mixed in together, helping each other out, enjoying a great morning snack of watermelon and banana.

after nap, we worked on our letter K kites, gluing pictures of "kangaroos", "kites", "keys", and letter K's. We soon marched outside, to explore the gardens after the rain, searching for Roly Polies, Earthworms, and ladybugs. Ms Paislie made her way to the broccoli plant, smelling it and touching it gently, asking "what's that?"! Jackie discovered a ladybug, and called everyone over to check it out! They loved how it crawled on their hands and fingers, and laughed and said it tickled them! It was a cool, breezy afternoon with everyone enjoying themselves outdoors!

Much Love
Dom and Jack

Today was a special day, as it was Noah's 2nd Birthday! We celebrated with a picnic outside with our primary friends in the AM. We spent a good chunk of our morning enjoying the outdoors.

After nap, we decorated a card for Noah, all adding art and stickers to the card. We also sang and had special birthday cupcakes! We marched outside, where we met the pre-tots, Ms Ashley brought out her cool, big bubble maker, and we spent our afternoon chasing and popping bubbles! It was a lovely Thursday!

Much Love
Dom and Jackie

Today was full of "K" art activities and fun sensory/gross motor activities. We stayed in for a short part of the morning, working with letter and number stamps. When we marched outside, we found kick balls and foot balls to "Kick", running after the balls, and kicking them to friends.


Due to construction out on the playground, we ended out afternoon on the deck, classes combined, enjoying the afternoon!

Much Love
Dom and Jackie

It was another fabulous Tuesday at the Sprout spent hanging out outside, checking on the toddlers’ own sprouts along the fence! Alanna, Ivy, Paislie, Theo, Teo have been interested in noticing the small increments of growth, while Ancel, Noah, and Olive have been interested in poking in the dirt. Asher prefers to water the garden as well as collect water from the hose while other friends are watering the garden. Olive is very curious about eating plants from the big garden, especially kale! We took the opportunity this morning to do some “kale tasting” as part of our “k” theme for the week. As we were heading in, we stopped on the fence to talk about the weather, days of the week, the letter “k” and sing songs by request. We had snack, and headed out again to climb the dome, shovel sand into huge mountains, and have pretend birthday parties. Soon it was time for lunch and nap. After nap, we used our centers and those who wanted to start decorating parts of their kites were able to! Teo, Noah, Paislie, Olive, Ancel, and Alanna were especially interested in stamps to start decorating. Soon it was yoga time, and every one had fun participating. We read a story called “Peace Week in Miss Fox’s Class” which was a great hit for the kids with a great message of peace! After the book, we took turns calling out different animals we remembered so that we could mimic them with yoga poses. Ivy remembered a frog, and Teo remembered a raccoon! We had second snack and headed outside to end the day.

Happy Earth Day! We spent our morning outdoors taking full advantage of this beautiful day, by gardening, doing art, and having an awesome combined lunch outdoors. We brought out tables, and had different activities for the kiddos to do while outside. We made bird feeders, with pinecones, peanut butter, and seeds. We had a table for coloring, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle pictures! And other tables full of soil and seeds and different recyclable containers to put them in!

After nap, we had a pre yoga sesh. Teo, Ivy, Alanna, Olive, and Theo all picked a yoga mat, and Theo led them in some yoga moves, then began Ring around the Yogi J  Ms Abby soon made her way to our room, and we started with our breathing. Butterfly pose, then went on a “nature walk”. We named animals we would see in nature, and we agreed we would see Lions, Snack, Trees, Lizards, and Water, all practicing the pose as we continued our “walk”. We closed out with our Namaste song, and then marched outside for our Earth Day Celebration!

Much love

Dom and Jackie

As always, Friday begins with dance party outside, and an awesome cooking class/food lesson by Liz.

Today she brought POLENTA (cookie cut into fun shapes), CHEESE, TOMATO SAUCE, and ingredients to make fresh PESTO! Each friend used a tray, and Ms Liz added different foods for them to try. Ms Liz added the ingredients into her surbachi, and went around asking each friend to help her smash the garlic, basil, and pine nuts. She gave each child a taste along with their other foods. It was a very yummy snack, as each friend definitely asked for seconds, and gobbled it up before saying goodbye to Ms Liz, and marching outside for our outdoor/sensory exploration.

 I rinsed out the sensory tub, and gathered my friends around. I poured them into the sensory tub, and let them go at it! One was filled with “jewels”, and the other was not. Alanna, Teo, Paislie and Ivy searched for the jewels, while Olive, Theo, and Noah enjoyed squishing, swirling, poking and smashing the jello. Some Pretot friends even came over and joined in on the fun! Most friends spent their time at the sensory tub, while some helped water the garden, before it was time to march inside for lunch and nap.

After nap, we all sat around the 2 tables, for afternoon snack. I brought out the cherry jello we made, and placed on a tray. I put it In the middle of the tables for all my friends to see. It jiggled as I placed it down, which made most of my friends laugh and ask for more. It was very popular among Paislie, Asher, Noah, and Teo. Ivy had mixed feelings about it, while my other friends were just trying to get it from slipping off of their spoons! J They enjoyed their snack, as I read the books our friends, Teo and Olive brought, which were very popular and each child was super excited to share with their friends!

We got shoes on and marched out to enjoy the beautiful, Friday afternoon.

Much Love

Dom and Jackie  

We got started with our Thursday activities early and every one was involved. We learned that the “straight side” of a puzzle piece could be called the “edge” or the “border.” Theo was sure to say “oh” as we pointed these special pieces out. Alanna was excited that the picture was a castle and kept saying “Jackie! Dom Dom! It’s a castle!” When Paislie fit pieces she said, “Oh, look!” Asher spent a good amount of time trying to fit together pieces whose shape seemed to fit, but had different pictures. We learned that looking at the colors and shapes could help us find pieces that fit together. Teo was very involved in pointing out different parts of the pictures to help us match them, and Olive was excited to adjust and pat down pieces that fit! After time focusing, every one had a case of the wiggles, and since we couldn’t go outside (due to the rain) we decided it was time for a dance party. We turned the lights down low and grabbed different kinds of cool lights. Theo was excited to shine the lights on different body parts and talk about how the lights move on him. Alanna had fun shining the lights on her friends and telling her friends, “Look Paislie, look Olive…” At one point, Olive and Noah were each trading black lights and shining them against their socks and shoes. Ivy waited very patiently for a turn with a particular light, and when she finally got it, she was super excited to shine it on her body. Then, we sat down to read a book and have circle time while we set up to make jello. We read Where’s my Dinosaur? and friends had fun pointing him out, hidden in the picture. Finally, we were ready to receive spoons to help us mix the jello. During this time, Cherokee came for a short visit, and gave a big hug to every one. First, we observed the steam that was coming from the hot water in the bowl and talked about the “vapor.” Each person had a chance to stir the mixture, and every one was very focused on finding parts of powder that needed mixing.  

As we prepared our second batch of jello, every one had a chance to sort through shells, sequins, and “jewels.” Friends were asked to pick out the jewels and save them for the jello. One by one, we dropped the jewels into the jello to watch some float and some sink. After this activity, we washed hands and had snack. After snack, we moved on to Play-Dough. Each person got to pick the color of their choice, and they were quick to start making different objects, or start exploring the qualities of the dough.  Alanna was busy making fat snakes and counting them. Ivy made every one blueberry pancakes, and Olive was very happy to put the crab-shaped cookie cutter on top of her dough and exclaim, “crab!” Every one had a blast. We each switched toys by giving our toy to the person on our left, and then switched colors by giving our play-dough to our friend on the right.  Finally, friends started moving on to other projects, but Paislie remained engrossed in the play-dough activity until lunchtime. (She was seen brushing her hair with one of the play dough tools as well).

After lunch, we were delighted to find out that the skies were clearing up and the ground was dry enough for play. As we headed out, Teo, Theo, Asher and Noah were particularly interested in observing the sprouts growing from the seeds we planted last week. Each day we’ve been making it a point to invite every one to see how our sprouts are growing each day as part of our focus on the environment. The cool crisp air was a lovely way to end our day!

Putting in a new garden is O so much fun! We spent most of our day outdoors, checking on the new tomato, cantaloupe, and chocolate mint plants. Olive was very interested in tasting the leaves off of the kale and cabbage plant, which led Alanna and Paislie to taste some too! Ms Toni and Jackie started watering the garden, while Ivy and Teo helped hold the hose!

It was a pleasant day with everyone in high spirits!

Much Love
Dom and Jackie