Fun Fun Fun Friday

Our kiddos were eager to start the day as they sat on the fence waiting to take off their shoes and go inside. We brought the bucket of shoes down and explored some rain boots, then struggled getting stuck shoes off of small feet. Theo was our helper and went around saying “I help you take shoes off.” We walked up the ramp and went straight inside, Ivy and Joey leading the way to the sink. It was another successful line up! Way to go guys! I noticed that some of our friends were having trouble jockeying for position in line…this easily turned into some babble conversations and games of high fives, however.  We had our snacks of apple and talked about what circle time was going to be like. Some of our friends noticed my guitar from earlier, and Wren, Joey, Theo, Alanna and Ivy were having fun saying “guitar” just before we moved on to circle time. As we transitioned, railroad tracks and cars were set out. Annabelle observed how Wren and Alanna lined the tracks up to drive cars on. Soon every one was building a highway and making car sounds! We picked up our tracks and cars and put them aside. Joey and Ben had fun singing the clean up song together while working hard to clear the floor for us.

We sang a name song and came up with a beat for our days of the week. Ivy, Theo, Wren, and Joey were voicing themselves saying “days of the week!” just as we were beginning. We learned that today is Friday! Then I brought out the guitar and together we sang some old classics that everyone loves.  We went over the whole alphabet slow and fast. Then, sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in English and Spanish. Many of our friends were strumming along with me. Jasper was hopping all over the floor. Ivy was hopping and break dancing. Annabelle was listening carefully, and Wren had a front row seat where he could study my hands closely. We sang the Wheels on the Bus, and we all whispered slowly and quietly, imagining that we were putting a baby to sleep. Friends had fingers in front of their lips showing us how the quiet part of the song goes (Joey and Paislie love doing this!). Everyone was soon ready to move on, but not before the pre-tots made a quick stop to dance with us. I went to the pre-tot room for a couple of minutes to sing some songs, and when I came back, every one was finding something interesting to do. Jasper, Paislie, Ivy, Koichi, and Teo spent time drawing on construction paper. Joey, Theo and Alanna were sweeping fur balls in the kitchen. Annabelle was fascinated by the magnets she found.

Later, we gathered the classroom plants and let everyone practice being gentle and showing respect to our plants. We talked about how plants are our friends and how the make oxygen which helps us breathe. Jasper and Joey busied themselves up spraying bottles of water to help the plants grow. Ben, Koichi, and Teo were also fascinated by the spray bottles. We also brought out a cricket that Wren found yesterday. He’s dead, and we kept him in a measuring cup for observation. Wren, Ivy, Alanna, and Paislie felt strongly about wanting to touch the cricket, and so everyone got to poke the cricket, but then we practiced looking only with our eyes. We discussed how the cricket was not red, not yellow, but black! As we got ready for lunch, Miss Toni stopped by for a visit, and Annabelle, Joey, Ivy, and Alanna ran up to give her some love. Soon the whole class was interested in giving lots of hugs. We got ready for lunch and as we were eating, we all said by to Paislie as she left early. Theo and Annabelle finished up their food together and had a long chat (they really paced out their eating!). Many of our friends sat on the potty, and Ivy was able to show us a “big ol’ poop” that she made. We all congratulated her and talked about how poop goes in the potty.

As we woke up from nap time Ben, Theo, and Koichi were ready to play with trucks and read books on the other side of the room. Joey, Ivy, and Wren headed straight for the potties, and others followed after them (with or without a diaper on!). Once lights were on, we went to the table to find many small pieces of tape along the edges. Our friends were able to take tape as they wanted, and find materials and paper to tape to things. Teo kept saying “wa ma (translation: want more!)” while Annabelle was saying “I want a big one!” and Theo was saying “Iwa Iwa Iwa Iwa want more tape, please.” Ivy was saying “I want some too, I want some too” and wouldn’t let go of her tangled piece of tape. The taping frenzy turned into a playdough frenzy, as Ben, Koichi, and Joey, and Alanna were ready  to use our play dough tools to squish and slice pieces. Wren was busy rolling around magnets and Jasper was quietly reading about jobs at the same table.  Soon we did a clean up and headed outside to finally end our day. Jasper, Joey, and Ben spotted a big and fast squirrel! Joey told us “he gets acorns.”

Thanks friends! See every one Monday!

Love,

 Jackie