Monday, September 29th

Letter of the week “E”
Word of the day: Expedition (English) Estrella (Spanish)
Theme of the week “All About Me”
9:30-9:45 Opening Circle time. Opening song (“Good Morning/Buenos Dias”). Calendar time. How was your weekend? What is a “Weekend”? Introduce letter of the week & words of the day.
9:45-10:15 Center exploration: Color/trace letter of the week, Paint, Play dough, foam shape art, interview each child for the “All About Me” questionnaire. Take picture of each child to put on the questionnaire for that day. Hermit crabs.
10:15-10:30 Special project: Crayon Melting
10:30-10:45 Story time, “Shopping Expedition” and “Zen Shorts”
10:45-11:15 Wash hands/Snack time
11:15-11:45 Free play time
11:45-12:00 Closing circle time: Movement/stretching using the exercise step.
Today was a busy day. Lorien & Darius told us about their weekend, both participated in the Primary Program the day before so we talked about it amongst other things. Darius was eager to tell us that him & Papa went to the dumpster, while Lorien shared with us that she went hiking wither her Mommy. The children loved the special project, ‘crayon melting’. We used an electric griddle, and lined it with two 8x11” foil paper sheets. The children were very careful, thankfully, and had a great time making art. We even pulled out the glitter & some Q-tips to enhance their experience! The rest of our school day was filled with stories & lots of activity. The children played well during free play time & such it was such a beautiful day, we decided to having closing circle time outside in the backyard! We sung some songs while running around, did some stretching, and then used the “Step” to do some more stretching & exercising. Of course, Leilah & Vanessa were eager to join in on the fun!

Library Time, again. . .

Our wonderful disguises, Vanessa is a fairy, Leila is a rock star, Lorien is a Lady, and Darius is Mysterio Jay (I think!). We look so good undercover! Darius is trying to help Leila keep her wig on.

We're trying to get Leila to keep her wig on!

Perfect fit!

For free craft time Darius decided to observe the Hermies.

9-26-08

Circle Time, 9:30am: Sing opening songs (we need to start saying the Pledge of Allegiance). We checked out our disguises, went over D words and meanings. Found out what day it is, Library Day!

9:45am: Color in Journal, Free Art time: Lorien and Darius played with play dough, and Darius observed the Hermies.
10:15am: Wash Hands for snack time. We read A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle while the kids ate.
10:40am: Library time. I was looking for E books and found a dragon book I loved! I wish I had found it last week. The art was awesome! So here it is: The Dragon Snatcher by M.P Robertson. I read it to them after their time with the librarian. I think they liked it. And we discovered that Darius can spell Pokemon all by himself. It was an amazing day!

Feed the Birds

Farah Cuenca is brave!

Lorien's dumping ingredients into our bird feed mix.

Darius is mixing the lard into the mix.

Time to hang them up!

9-24-08

Circle Time, 9:30: Sing Opening Song. Share and Tell, Lorien brought her Deputy Badge that she got from the Home and Garden/Family Expo. Darius brought his Dump Truck, it carries dirt, sand and rocks. Then we went over the new English and Spanish D words (Delta, Dia) and what they mean. Figured out the date on the Calendar. Then they Colored D pages. I told them their Assignment for Friday was to bring or wear a disguise on Friday.
10:00 Free craft time: Paint, Play Dough, Building blocks, Train.
10:30 Feed Hermit Crabs, Darius got the food and Lorien did the water. Farah tried to get us all to hold the hermies, but we were a bit nervous about those claws!

10:45Science: We mixed bread crumbs, bird seed, crushed nuts, oats and lard together to form bird food cakes. The only problem was that lard melts. So after we hung the cakes up they melted. Darius scooped it all up into one cup. So now we need to find another way. Perhaps we'll do peanut butter next and see if we get better results.

11:30am Read 2 Books: Dreams by Ezra Jack Keats and Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
11:45: Wash Hands, Eat, free play.
12:00pm: Closing Circle time, reminded everyone to bring disguises.

It's D Week!

He really is having fun!

Very serious buisness!

Chillin' at snack time. . .

Yeah, they're done!

This is Darius' project. I would have had to dig Lorien's out.

9-22-08

9:30am Circle time: Sing good morning songs,Talk about date, Letter of the week, words of the day (Delta, Dinosaurio). Go over day on the Calendar. 10:00am Color letters in book and Spanish page.
10:15am Science: Talked about Fossils and how they were made. Fossils are made when a plant or animal dies and the mud around it hardens. The plant or animal or insect deteriorates. That leaves an empty space, which forms an imprint of a fossil. Sometimes that space is filled up with minerals that become hard rock, that’s called a fossil. I brought plaster mix and jewels and shells. This kids grabbed rocks from the yard. They had such a fun time stiring the plaster. And of course it got all over the work table! But I think the best part was puting the jewels in it. Lorien's shell was too buried in the plaster to work, but Darius' worked just fine!
Math: Work on adding and subtracting things. Have the kids go out into the yard to find rocks or sticks or leaves, bark. Write problems down on paper. So this kind of worked. We'll have to try again on Wednesday. . .
11:00am Exercise: We pretended that the rocks were lava and we couldn't step on them. It was fun to "explore". Darius led the exploration first and then Lorien got a turn. We played Duck Duck Goose. It was a little tricky with just 3 of us. Maybe we'll get the babies to help us out next time. I couldn't get them to stretch with me. Oh well! Too many things to do.

11:30am Read two books. The Dragon Nanny by C.L.G. Martin illustrated by Robert Rayevsky and There's a Dragon in My Sleeping Bag by by James Howe illustrated by David S. Rose. They really enjoyed both books. They asked questions and I'm pretty sure they used their imaginations to see the story. It was great!
11:40am Wash Hands and eat, free play time.
12:00pm Closing Circle time: Talk about assignment to bring something that starts with “D” on Wednesday. I read the following nursery rhyme and tried to sing Do Your Ears Hang Low and Down by the Station. They did not know the songs very well. I'll have to do them again on Wed.

Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John,Went to bed with his trousers on;One shoe off, and one shoe on,Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John!

Do Your Ears Hang Low?
Do your ears hang low? Do they wobble to and fro?
Can you tie them in a knot? Can you tie them in a bow?
Can you throw them o'er your shoulder like a Continental Soldier?
Do your ears hang low?

Down by the station early in the morning, See the little puffer bellies all in a row.See the engine driver pull the little throttle:Puff, Puff, Toot! Toot! Off we go!

Friday October 19th

Is was macaroni day. And Lorien pointed out that we forgot to do the Hungry Caterpiller puzzle. She loved it. I made the mistake of trying to help Darius with his macaroni structure, and he did not appreciate it. Now I know why you shouldn't "help" on the kids projects. They get very attached to thier own creativity. It was a great learning experience for me. We went to the library and had a great time searching for D books.

Wednesday, September 17th
9:30-10:00 Circle time- Sing “Good Morning/Buenos Dias” Review letter/words from Monday, introduce new words: Catapult/Comida. Sharing time, introduce special projects for the day. Read “Apples”
10:00-10:35- Make apple sauce together!
10:35-11:15 Free Play + Centers- Journal writing + free arts/crafts. Making crafty caterpillars!
11:15-12:00 wash hands/lunch/TASTE APPLE SAUCE!
We got off to a bit of a late start, but things really took off as we had such a busy day planned! As we had opening circle time Anne was busy peeling/cutting up apples. When the children arrived in the kitchen they washed some apples by using a sponge & tooth brush. They sure did a great job! Lorien found a “grub” on top of one of her apples! Some found it cute, I found it repulsive!
After they children were done cleaning some apples, they came over to the kitchen scale & weight out 3lbs of apples. They weighed a little bit over, so Lorien & Darius had no problem eating the extras to make weight! In fact, I couldn’t get Darius to stop eating them!
Making the apple sauce was a success, and we were eager to taste it- boy was it good- not good, GREAT!
Making the caterpillars during their free play time was time consuming, but the children were able to use some great skills while making them- they used scissors, painted, and threaded yarn through the holes, all with the assistance of Sister Stevens (THANK YOU!).
We had a good day.

Monday, September 15th

9:30-10:00 Circle time- review calendar days in English and Spanish, introduce letter of the week (C) and words of the day: Courage, Corazon. Introduce routine opening song, "Good Morning/Buenos Dias"
10:00-10:45 Free play+centers
10:45-11:10 Story time "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle
11:10-11:45 Wash hands/lunch time
11:45-12:00 Closing circle time- review letter/words. Sing "if you're happy & you know it"

Good morning/Buenos dias (to the tune of "where is Thumbkin")

Good morning, good morning

How are you? How are you?

Very well, Thank you

Very well, Thank you

How about you?

How about you?

Buenos Dias

Buenos Dias

Como estas?

Como estas?

Muy bien, gracias

Muy bien, gracias

y usted?

y usted?

Busy, fun day. Introduced the "Good morning" song, which will be our routine opening song. Anne kept the babies busy by exercising with them & having them eat...I mean "color" with crayons:) The children completed a caterpillar craft project and we read one of my favorites, "The Very Hungy Caterpillar" by Eric Carle.