I hope you all have enjoyed your summer vacation. Geneva and I stayed home to relax and prepare/recharge for the new children who will be joining us in August. Of course we will miss all the young "graduates", and we hope they will visit us occasionally. That is the cycle of life here.
I believe that the children learned much about insects gardening (and that will always continue informally). May I remind you that I try to instill a reverence for all life - and that includes insects. So, if you must kill insects (spiders, ants), please don't do it in front of the children. I make exceptions for mosquitos, telling the children that they might have a disease and I don't want them to bite me.
Aldrin is two years old now.
Snake searching for Alex!
Amelia likes yogure - see.........
Ava reading to the class at circle.
I am teaching the children to not be afraid of snakes. Success - I don't think any of the children were fearful.
Elizabeth and Charlie are good friends.
Girls (like Hailey) enjoy trucks also.
Grayson is now three years old.
Taking turns to groom Jango (someone has to do it!)
The children are having their own private circle (with pretend food).
Many thanks to Rachel and Larry for gracing us with their music.
I learned how to get their attention!
Observing birds. I love how interested the children are to see birds.
Parisa telling her story at circle time.
Ryan and Aldrin taking out the trash - and doing a fine job.
Demo of how to make a walking stick (insect). The children then went out back to find their own sticks.
First we assembled (found matching parts for) several dozen flags. Each child chose their favorite flag; we found the country on the map; and then they colored, painted and glued on a stick. They were quite proud of their project (and I was quite pround of them!)
LeeAnn and Eli working hard to clean the table before snack.
Zachary is leading circle with the "Three Little Ducks" song.
Have you met our new dancing chicken?
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When the children return they will be learning about marine life. We will begin with sharks and whales - always a favorite. After that we will explore manatees, jellyfish, octupus, fish and seashells.
The following are some of the books that the children will learn to "act out" the story with props:
Baby Beluga, by Raffi
Is This a Home for Hermit Crab, Megan McDonald
Sam the Sea Cow, Francine Jacobs
Swimmy, Leo Lionni
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Trout, Teri Sloat
There are many other wonderful stories without props too, including the following:
Rainbow Fish, Marcus Pfister
I Can Save the Ocean, Alison Inches
Some of our songs are the following:
Sammy the Seal (with a darling seal puppet)
Sammy the seal is a real fun pup
He dives down deep, and then he pops up
Sammy the seal goes out to play
He swims for fish in the water all day.
He clumbs up the rocks to rest in the sun
and then he goies back to have more fun.
Counting Song
1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Once I caught a fish alive
6, 7, 8 9,. 10
Then I threw him back again
Why did you let him go?
Because he bit my finger so.
Which finger did he bite?
This little finger on the right.
Crab and the Lobster
The crab and the lobster like to creep and pinch, creep and pinch, creep and pinch
The crab " " all along the shore.
The preface to this song is to describe the differences and similarities of crabs and lobsters.
During the song, the crab and lobster like to bite all the little toes at circle time.
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If you have the opportunity to go to the Aquarium, let me know so I will be sure to ask about some of the creatures we will be learning If you go to a beach, think about bringing back a "show and tell" item. Right before break, at circle time, I asked each child to stand up and tell the class a story. I was amazed at their confidence and competence! This is something we will be doing on a regular basis in the future. Talking about their trips, vacations, fantasies should be lots!