Preschool Playbook

The End of the Alphabet

2012-05-27T14:49:00.012-04:00

I was worried! I wasn't sure if I was going to make it. It seemed like the end of the year was getting closer and closer, but the letters of the alphabet just coming and coming. I did make it, and I had a few classes to spare. Whew.

To finish up our books we needed to do the letters N, W, X, Y, and Z. Then Mrs. M and I added a cover and stapled them together.

For N our page was "Nightingale in a Nest. I thought it would be fun to use noodles in our craft for that letter. I drew a capital N and let the children glue noodles to it.

W was a "Walrus in the Water." I had thought I wanted to make a windmill. I toyed and toyed with different ideas, but never came up with any I liked. So we ended up making a watermelon. I had cut out a green and red piece for them to glue together to make the watermelon. Then I had them dip their finger in a black ink pad and put some seeds in the watermelon.

X was a "Fox in a Box." Here was another tricky one. I was thinking of making a xylophone, but truth be told, the craft day came around before I was prepared. I was going to cut out different color rectangles and let them glue them next to each other. But, since I didn't get there, we made an EXIT sign. The children stamped the letters E, I, and T. Then we put the capital X from our letter pad in the X spot. They actually turned out better than expected.

Y was a "Yak in the Yard." Many of them had not heard of a yak before so we discussed that a bit. Also, yam was a popular Y word which some had not heard of. Luckily one of my students brought one in for our Y show-n-share. I decided on yellow for craft fun. We had to split this up into two days. Day one I had them paint a piece of paper yellow. On day two they tackied down some different yellow objects. Such as: pom poms, foam shapes, beads, or buttons.

Finally to letter Z. What else but a "Zebra in a Zoo?" Here is another one I put my thinking cap on for. I had wanted to make a zipper, since zebra is so popular, but again my brain could not configure one in my head--I don't know maybe because it was the end of the year. So I did end up making a zebra. I had a horse shape on their paper with the word zebra. I then gave them a black strip of paper which they cut out small strips from. They then glued the strips to the "horse" to create the zebra.

So we finished them all. They did a great job and I thought it was fun to create different things from each letter. I think mom and dad, and the children, really enjoyed their books.

Milkshake Day

2012-05-21T13:40:00.005-04:00

For our last day I wanted to do something fun. Unfortunately, our weather did not allow us to enjoy the outdoors this day so we had to rely on indoor fun.

I had to start the day out with our graduation practice. Of course, this is very important so that everyone knows what is going to happen on graduation evening.

I had decided it would be fun to let the children make milkshakes.

I got each child a 99 cent cup at our local CVS. The cups had Avenger characters or Disney princesses on them. I also bought a pack of milkshake straws.

On milkshake day I brought in vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup, and milk. I then had a small hand mixer to mix everything up.

Each child got to choose a vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry milkshake. The children added the ice cream to the mixing cup, poured in the syrup if needed, I poured in the milk because it was a new gallon jug. Then I showed them how to push the button on the mixer to mix everything together. (I guided now and then too.)

After everything was mixed, they poured it into their cup, added a straw and ENJOYED! Mmm Mmm good!

The last part of the project was for the children to wash out their cup, dry it, and put it in their backpack to go home. Remember how fun it was to wash dishes when you were little? Oh so long ago.

My Little Graduates

2012-05-20T20:40:00.005-04:00

Well, the Pre-K class had their graduation ceremony. They're all grown up and leaving the nest:(.

It was a wonderful evening. We practiced all our songs for about a week. They were singing like professionals. Add about 100 people on graduation evening and suddenly all their voices disappeared:).

Actually, I was very proud. They did a great job and held up like troopers.

I really can't believe the year is over. It seems like just yesterday that I was fretting I was never going to make it through. What would I do? Would I be able to plan enough for all those days? Would the children have a good time? Would I help them complete the skills they needed for kindergarten?

I think the year went great. I never was looking for anything to do. I was actually looking for more time to do things I wanted to. And the children? All top scholars. Of course, they are just geniuses anyway.

Happy Summer!

What Did We Do For Mom?

2012-05-15T21:35:00.006-04:00

I am finished with school this year, so I hope to be able to post all the things I haven't been able to get to. Of course, nothing will be in order, but at least I will finally get to it.

I wanted to show you what we did for this past Mother's Day. I hope you all had a wonderful day.

The three-year-old class made their mom our usual "cup of tea." For the Pre-K, I found a wonderful picture in one of our Mailbox publications.

The children made a flower with their handprint. I painted the palm one color and the fingers another color. The following day we added a stem, leaf, heart, and a poem. I also had the children write their name on the "card" too.

I really think they turned out cute. The poem was written by Kathleen Lademan. It reads as follows: A piece of me I give to you. I painted this flower to say "I love you." The heart is you, the hand is me,. to show we are friends-the best there can be. I hope you will save it and look back someday at the flower we shared on your special day.

I hope mom enjoyed it.

Tooting My Own Horn

2012-05-09T19:44:00.002-04:00

Actually I am tooting my husband's horn. We learned today that our local Intermediate Unit is using one of our fingerplays in their therapy. A friend's child has been going to the intermediate unit and today in the session, the teacher said it was time to do some fingerplays.

Imagine our surprise when the teacher brought up the Jellyfish Fingerplay my husband came up with? I was shocked and amazed. They recommended the fingerplaly for "the proprioceptive input: clapping and coordinated finger waving." And here we were just trying to come up with a fun fingerplay about jellyfish!

I just thought it was pretty great that an institution to better develop children's skills found our fingerplay helpful!

The Big Yellow School Bus

2012-05-09T08:46:00.007-04:00

We are very lucky to be able to have our local school district lend us a bus and bus driver for the children to get a chance to ride a bus. Last week both classes got to take advantage of a bus ride and they had a ball. (We are only allowed to ride around the church complex, but they still thought it was great!)

I then had each child paint a yellow bus. Both classes made the same bus, I just tweaked it a bit for the older class.

For the 3yr. class I had pre-drawn a bus shape on a large piece of paper. They then painted that yellow. When the bus dried, I cut the bus out and they added wheels, windows, a stop sign, and people on the bus.

For the Pre-K class I did it a bit differently. First they had to trace the bus on the paper. Then they painted it and let it dry. The next day they cut the bus out themselves. Finally they added wheels, a stop sign, windows, people, and lights. I did not write the word STOP on the stop sign. I had written the word on the board and let the children write it on the sign.

The three year old class is done tomorrow. We finish up with Mother's Day activities, then everything goes home. We will get together one time next week for a picnic and ta-da, summer vacation. WOW!

"School" of Fish

2012-05-02T19:43:00.010-04:00

Usually when we talk about pets I always end up making fish. I"m not sure why, I think I just like the crafts.

Both of the classes made fish during this unit. For the 3's I had a fishbowl with two plants drawn in it. The children colored the plants with crayon, then watercolored the rest. After the fishbowl was dry, I cut it out and they added fish stickers.

I found a great "Mailbox" craft for the Pre-K. I gave each child a 9x12 piece of white paper. Then I made what the Mailbox person called--bubble wrap mitts. I took a piece of bubble wrap, folded it in half so that the bubbles where on the outside, then stapled the side edge together.

I then put out four plates of paint. The children slid their hand into the bubble wrap mitt, laid the mitt in the paint of their choice, then tapped down on the paper to make a bubble wrap print. I let them use two different colors. (Watch out for splattering paint--I now have paints with red paint splatter on them.)

After the children did their paint splatters, they sprinkled glitter on the paint.

The next day, after the paintings were dry, I had made a fish template. Each child traced the template by themselves, then cut the fish out. The final step was to add a smile and a big google eye.

I just love these fish. I didn't let the children take them home yet because I thought they looked great on the wall.

Book Review: For My UK Readers

2012-04-29T22:06:00.003-04:00

Back about an eon ago I was asked to review a book about by Hilary Hawkes called Preschool Choice, A Parent's Guide. I apologize for it taking me so long to get to post my review, life keeps spinning.

Preschool Choices is a book to help parents from the UK decide on a path for them and their child. I think by me not knowing a thing about the programs or procedures in the UK, I may have been a good choice for this review.

This book is extremely thorough. Not only did it educate me to all the programs that are available in, but it also helped educate about the development of children.

Ms. Hawkes begins her book by helping to educate parents about early childhood development. She takes a parents through birth to four plus. She covers mental, cognitive, language, physical, social, and emotional development. Ms. Hawkes wrote her book in such a manner that it easy to read and easy to understand. She also includes many, many other sources that parents may use for further research.

Ms. Hawkes then continues on to tout the importance of play. If any of you know my from my posts, you will know that I wholeheartedly agree with the importance of play for little ones. She writes about the benefit of play in all aspects of little ones lives. She then continues by including a chapter on activities that are beneficial for little ones. She even includes places and websites that may be helpful for those in the UK.

Finally the many aspects of making preschool choices for parent's little ones. Ms. Hawkes lists the different types of programs available and then goes into various details about them. She even has some charts that will spell out specifics for the different countries of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

I honestly believe that if you are a parent from the UK with a little one this book will be beneficial. It has so much information for parents that they will find helpful with making choices for their children. The book is easy to read and understand, and it contains so many extra places to find helpful resources. A definite book for your bookshelf.

Hello, Anybody Home?

2012-04-23T15:14:00.001-04:00

We are coming down to the wire at school. I have been trying to finish up the children's Me Books along with our other units that we have been doing.

Recently we added two pages to their books; an address page and a telephone page.

The address page consisted of the children picking out a color house they liked. The cut the house out and glued it to and "Here is My Address" page. Then I let them decorate the house with markers if they wanted to.

I had printed the children's addresses on labels. We went over their address and they put the label on their house.

The next page was "This is My Phone Number." I have to say I was pretty impressed with the number of children that did know their phone numbers.

This page was completed by letting the children cut out a "phone" in their choice of color. I than had numerals 0-9. If the children knew their numbers they selected the correct letters and glued them to the paper. I recited it for them so they would be in order. Children that didn't know the phone numbers, I would recite the numbers, have them pick the correct one and glue them down.

Let Those Flowers Bloom

2012-04-18T19:17:00.008-04:00

During the month of March we had to concentrate on Easter more than spring. So, this month we will be discussing beautiful flowers.

To begin with, for the three-year-old class, we took our annual trip to Ott's Exotic Plants. This is a local nursery that is just magnificent. I love going here with the children. It is a nursery, but up a few notches. There are some of the most gorgeous plants around here and they are huge. There is a small mountain inside that we can climb that has a waterfall, and outside there is a huge mountain we can climb. It's great fun.

The three year class made pussywillows. To make these I had the children draw some branches with a marker. Then they put on the pussywillow using their thumbprint and an ink pad. They had a ball with this. The trick was to catch them before they left the table so that we didn't have fingerprints all over the room.

Next, both classes planted some seeds to watch them grow. What do plants need to grow, etc? We will watch these plants grow and send them home around Mother's Day.

The three's made some cute flowers with various foam shapes. I was very proud of the children. I had this out as a type of center. I had explained to the children what to do here if they wished to make a flower and I had showed them at circle time. Then I let them go. They really made some cute flowers all by themselves. On Thursday we will do some flower painting with dish scrubbers.

For the Pre-K class we painted sunflowers. Now I know these don't bloom until summer, but I found it in a Mailbox magazine and thought they were adorable. The children painted a brown spot in the center of the paper. Then we painted their hands yellow and they pressed them around the brown center.

The next day we added real sunflower seeds to the brown center. I had bought the kind of sunflower seeds that can be eaten and let the children try them. Three of the children loved them, a couple said they were okay, and others made faces. But, at least they tried them.

During this time I also had a container of dirt out for the children to play in for a sensory activity. We had a couple of shovels, some cups, and "snakes."

Spring Ahead

2012-04-09T19:43:00.006-04:00

During the month of March that wonderful season of spring arrived. Of course, we had a bit of fun with that. I already posted the cute baby birds that the Pre-K class made, but I didn't get a chance to post the three-year-old's activity.

To begin the day since it was beautiful out, we went for a nature walk. We looked for all kinds of signs of spring. We looked for leaves on the trees, flowers in the garden, robins, worms, ants, etc. It's fun to take a walk first thing in the morning.

Our craft for the day was apple blossom trees. You could really call them any kind of blossom tree you would like. They are made with popcorn so I think they look like apple blossoms. I couldn't call them cherry blossom trees as the "flowers" aren't pink. They look good--and smell good-no matter what you call them.

The branches are made with marker, construction paper leaves, and popcorn. The children draw a branch, glue on some leaves, then we use tacky to add popcorn for the blossom.

We should get to more activities this month. I don't know though our time at school is getting very short. The three-year-old class only has 10 more classes. Can you believe that?

Celebrating Easter

2012-04-05T19:38:00.011-04:00

It seems as soon as I get comfortable at school celebrating something and all of a sudden we are finished. Easter, at school, came and went in an instant.

Our classes celebrated by making Easter Bunny baskets, dying Easter eggs, learning some new songs, creating a special craft, and having an egg hunt. We were lucky enough to have the "Easter Bunny" come and hide eggs for us and fill our Easter baskets.

For the children's baskets we made bunnies from white paper bags. We added wiggle eyes, pom pom noses, whiskers, and a cotton ball tail. Both baskets were very similar. The 3yr. class cut out ears and glued them on. The Pre-K got white bags that we cut the top to make it look like ears.

For both classes we had a day where they brought hard boiled eggs to school and we dyed them for our egg hunt. On that day I also had them watercolor an egg to cut out the next time they came to school.

The 3's made our fun chick in an egg--they love this craft, it gets lots of smiles. We also made a bunny from paper plates.

For Pre-K I had the make suncatchers with contact paper and tissue paper squares. I gave each child 2 squares of contact paper. On one piece they stuck on some colored tissue paper squares. Then the second piece of contact paper was placed on top. Then I had three patterns, an egg, a flower, and a cross, cut out of tag board. The children picked the shape they wanted and traced it on their contact paper. Then they cut it out. (They all wanted eggs.)

We also made a footprint bunny. I traced the children's foot, they cut it out, and we added ears, eyes, nose, and tail.

I had to show you this cute cupcake one of our parents sent in. It's a cupcake with white icing, covered in mini marshmallows, with black licorice for the face. I thought they were adorable.

The final day was our egg hunt and other Easter fun. I brought balloons in for some fun with music to end the day. It was a whirlwind, but full of fun.

Have a Happy and Blessed Easter.

Speaking of Letters....

2012-04-03T14:12:00.004-04:00

A while back Ms. Cindy Johnson asked me to review an ebook she had written called; Alphamania: An Alphabet Resource for Teachers and Parents. Ms. Johnson probably thought I forgot about her--but I didn't. I thank her for being patient with me.

Alphamania is the first book written by Ms. Johnson and was inspired by her years of teaching elementary school. Alphamania is put together very basically so it is very easy to use as a resource guide. The chapters in each book are divided by letter, and each letter has the same categories for ease of use.

There are nine separate categories for exploration of each letter; Crafty Creations, Activities, Tiny Tastes, Special Guests and/or Road Trips, What to Watch, What to Read, Letter Stretchers, Where on Earth is...?, and Musical Notes.

A user can go to the letter they are concentrating on and depending on the type of project or activity they wish to do, go right to the category they desire. Ms. Johnson has listed all types of ideas for each category.

I think Alphamania is a great resource for anyone introducing letter to young learners. There are many ideas presented and the book is very user friendly. If you were thinking of purchasing a book to help with letter lessons, take a look, I think it could be very helpful.

Ms. Johnson has also created an Alphamania Blog with more ideas. If you would like a sample download, or to purchase the book click here: http://smashwords.com/books/view/122048.

Gotta love letter learning!

March Letters: R, K, A, V, and M

2012-04-01T10:46:00.009-04:00

It seems like it has been a while since I wrote about the letters we had done. Yet, it also seems like the month of March just flew by. For each letter, the page for our alphabet book was from Scholastic's Cut, Paste, & Wri te ABC Activity Pages.

For letter R we made a Rabbit by a River. I then made a rabbit craft on Friday. For this craft I used two pom poms, wiggle eyes, and the children drew some ears with a marker. We used tacky glue to glue this to our page that said "Rabbit." The children also added their capital and lower case R.

Letter K was a King with a Kite. Since we had done lots of kites during this week I didn't want to make another kite for our letter craft day. This turned out to be an easy one. I had wrote the work "Kiss" on their paper and they glued two Hershey Kisses to it. I know it was super easy, but they were excited because they all got to eat one also. (I'm not sure why, but I don't have pictures of our "Kiss.")

Our next letter was letter A. Here we had an Ape by an Apple Tree. (I have to say our ape looked a bit more like a bear, but you get the gist.) Then on Friday we made apple prints for our craft day. I have used paint for this before, but today we just used an ink pad. They made their print and added the capital and lower case A. We also printed them in green because it was our St. Patrick's Day celebration.

Next came V. Here we had a Viper on a Vine. This letter helped many of the children learn the word viper. To them it was just a snake, but by the end of the week there was not hesitation in calling him a viper. We even added viper to our V word list. Our craft was one of my cuter ideas, if I do say so myself. We made a vine. To do this Mrs. M made a line of tacky glue and the children glued a piece of yarn down. Then I had precut leaves that they glued next to it. As always, they added the upper case and lower case V.

Finally we had letter M. This page was a Mouse in a Meadow. The craft page was a mask. I had some decorative paper in the closet. I had cut some mask shapes from the paper. The children glued them down and added some eyes, nose, and mouth with a crayon. Then they glued down the M's.

So, we are just about done. We add our final letters during the month of April: N, W, X, Y, and Z. I wasn't sure I was going to make it. School is finished in mid-May. Which I know sounds crazy, but it's just around the corner.

Off to A.C. Moore

2012-03-30T17:06:00.000-04:00

On Wednesday we had a fun trip to one of our local craft supply stores, A.C. Moore. The children were able to take a tour of the facility and see the many different types of mediums available for creating all types of projects.

It was also great, as they knew we were concentrating on community helpers, that when we reached the Melissa and Doug section, our tour guide was sure to show the children all the wonderful puppets and dress up clothes they had for many different kinds of helpers.

After traveling through the store we got to go to the "classroom" and create a "Dream It" picture. The children were encourage to think about what they wanted to be when they grew up, and draw a picture of that. When we were finished we were even treated to a goodie bag.

This was my first trip to this store--in this capacity. I thought it was very nice of them, but I would have liked to been able to let the children get a little closer to many of the things she was talking about. We had to look down the aisle she was speaking about each time. I think some of it got lost.

It was still very kind of them to allow us to come to the store and create something. We thank them immensely.

Guest Post: Nutrition for Kids

2012-03-29T19:00:00.003-04:00

Nutrition for Kids

Getting kids to eat healthy, satisfying snacks and meals throughout the day can be difficult with all of the pre-made, sugar-laden and fat-filled snacks available and marketed at parents and kids. However healthy eating doesn’t have to be non-existent, it just needs a little foresight and planning from the parents, nannies, and babysitters. To make sure that your kids are getting the nutrients they need try implementing these switches to their diets:

1. Keep healthy snacks on hand

One of the reasons that kids gravitate towards foods like chips and cookies is that they’re usually readily available and no prep work is involved. Always have a bowl of grapes or baby carrots available in the fridge so that they can quickly grab some when they get hungry. Paired with healthy dips like peanut butter or hummus, they’ll have a satisfying snack packed with a nutrient punch while still fulfilling a sweet or salty craving.

2. Skip the sugary sodas

Instead of giving kids sodas, which are full of empty calories and devoid of any nutritional value, let them drink water or lower-calorie flavored teas. If your kids are craving a sweet beverage use the individual servings of sugar-free, flavored sweeteners to give them a juice-like drink sans the calories or sugar.

3. Pack their school lunches

Even though there have been recent strides in providing more healthy cafeteria lunch fare, the food there is still notoriously unhealthy. Pack a sack lunch for your kids to make sure that they’re getting the nutrition they need. You can make lunch more fun by making fun-shaped sandwiches with cookie cutters and trying delicious new twists on old standby favorites.

4. Don’t let them skip breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, especially for kids. Serve them breakfasts with equal parts protein, healthy fats, and carbohydrates to start their day off on the right foot. Instead of pouring a bowl of cereal try making eggs in a basket or a fruit smoothie. Getting them into a routine of regularly eating a healthy breakfast while they’re young is a great habit to make.

5. Switch up dessert

When it comes time for dessert skip the ice cream and make homemade desserts, like fruit popsicles made out of frozen fruits or Greek yogurt and fresh berries. Frozen fruits or fresh berries will satisfy a sweet craving, and the thick, creamy texture of Greek yogurt will still taste indulgent. For an extra creamy and delicious treat try mixing Greek yogurt with a spoonful of peanut butter. It’s exactly the type of dessert everyone needs – satisfying, decadent tasting, and yet still healthy!

Eating nutritious snacks and meals doesn’t have to be boring for your kids. Make meal time fun by constantly trying new fruits, veggies, whole grains, and proteins and include the kids when you’re preparing them. By showing them early on that being healthy is still delicious and fun they’ll learn habits that can stick with them for a lifetime.

Author Bio

Sara is an active nanny as well as an active freelance writer. She is a frequent contributor of nanny agency. You can reach her at saradawkins61ATgmail.com.

Adorable Spring Birds

2012-03-28T16:00:00.006-04:00

With spring upon us it was a time for an adorable spring time craft. What better craft than birds? And, what better place to find an adorable one than in my Mailbox magazine.

This craft is from mailbox. It's a little bird in a nest.

For the craft you need:

brown lunch bag

2 large pom poms (I used 2 inch)

brown straw/grass/paper shreds

feathers

wiggle eyes

beak

tacky

The first step was to make the actual nest using a brown lunch bag. I had done this part for the children as it was a bit tricky. I'm sure older children could accomplish this task. You start from the top and roll the bag down until it is nest shape.

Next I had the children fill the nest with the paper shreds. They then picked any two pom poms they desired. Using the tacky they glue the two pom poms together and put the wiggle eyes on. I had them pick out some feathers, dip them in the tacky, then lay them on the pom poms.

The final piece was a small orange beak. I had cut out small orange diamonds. We folded them in half, then dipped the fold in the tacky and stuck it to the front of the pom pom.

We placed the bird in the nest and he was ready to go home.

Early Literacy Activities

2012-03-27T14:44:00.003-04:00

Here is a guest post by Lisa who gives some good tips to helping your little one become a readrer.

Early Literacy Activities You Can Do With Your Preschooler at Home

As a parent of a preschooler, you probably want to set your child up for academic success in the future. In kindergarten, your child will learn the basic building blocks of literacy. By the end of first grade, your child should have the fundamental building blocks of literacy down and be able to read a variety of age-appropriate books on her own. Reading isn’t necessarily the easiest thing to learn, though. Learning to read takes a lot of work on your part, your child’s part, and the part of her teachers. One of the best ways to give your child a head start when it comes to reading is to start exposing him to basic literacy concepts in preschool. Here are a few activities you can start engaging your child in now to help making learning to read in kindergarten and first grade easier:

1. Read simple, repetitive books together.

Pick out some books that feature the same, basic words on each page. These are the kind of books your child will read in kindergarten. They’re books that focus on words like “the,” “come,” “here,” “at,” “what,” “where,” etc. These basic, everyday words are called sight words, and your child will be expected to memorize them in kindergarten. Reading simple, repetitive books that feature these words with your child will expose your little one to words she’ll be seeing a lot more of in the future.

2. Create an alphabet book together using environmental print.

You can make an alphabet book out of construction paper together. Write each letter on each page, and they have your child practice writing each letter under your model letters. Don’t be surprised if your child has some difficultly writing all the letters. It’s completely normal for a preschooler to find writing challenging.

After your child is done writing all of the letters on all of the pages, go online and find some pictures of things that begin with each letter. Environmental print is basically pictures of things like cartoon characters, store logos, and even food and drink related images like Captain Crunch and Pizza Hut. Just pick out pictures you know your child is familiar with and print them out. Then you and your child can glue the pictures on the pages of your alphabet book, based on what letters those pictures start with. Children usually have more fun with environmental print than they do with pictures that are usually associated with the alphabet, like apples, bears, and caterpillars.

Once you’ve finished your alphabet book, you can punch some holes in the sides of it and bind it with string. After you’ve done this, you can flip through the book with your child and practice letters and sounds. Learning letters and sounds is essential to reading success in kindergarten. If your child learns letters and sounds in preschool, he’ll be ahead of the game.

3. Read fun, interesting books to your child.

Reading simple, repetitive books together will be useful, but your child won’t think it’s as fun as having longer, more interesting books read to him. So, be sure to read lots of fun books like those by Dr. Seuss, Eric Carle, and Shel Silverstein. It may also be good to add some non-fiction books into the mix about dinosaurs and other science related topics, if your child is interested in those topics. The purpose of reading fun, interesting books to your child is to instill a lifelong love of reading in her, which is arguably the most important thing you can do to set your child up for academic success!

Author’s Bio: Lisa is a mother and guest post writer on the subjects of parenting, child development, and even things like throwing your child the perfect Mario birthday party.

Off to the Grocery Store

2012-03-24T12:45:00.006-04:00

This week the Pre-K class got to visit our local Giant Supermarket. They had a great time. Our tour guide was wonderful and the children we so good.

During our visit we got to find the health care items, good foods like whole grain cereals and organic items, the deli, the bakery, meat department, dairy, and fruits and vegetables.

Some of their favorite parts were a "name the fruit game" in the produce section. Our leader had some fruits and veggies in a bag. The children had to close their eyes, pull something out, and see if they could tell what it was by feeling and smelling it.

They also got to pet "Larry the Lobster" in the seafood area. Some were a little hesitant, and some we couldn't get away. I thought this was pretty neat myself.

They also got to enjoy a piece of cheese from the deli and a yummy cookie from the bakery. I also got to enjoy a yummy cookie from the bakery--no way I was passing up a chocolate chip cookie.

One area we did not get to was the back room. Giant is a large place and we did a lot of walking. We thought it might be good to skip that. Next year, I am thinking maybe to skip the milk aisle and see the back room. I thought it would be fun for them to see where the food comes in and how it gets sorted. They were ready to be done though. The trip lasted about an hour.

Before we left we got a Giant reusable grocery bag with an apple, water, granola bar, and a Giant work hat. I thought it was a wonderful trip.

A Belated Happy St. Patrick's to You!

2012-03-20T18:23:00.010-04:00

Here it is, the 20th of March, the first day of spring, and I have yet to write a recent March post. St. Patrick's Day? Done. The lion and the lamb? Done. Well, you are going to get them anyway!

Today I am going to post our St. Patrick's Day fun for both classes. The three-year-olds had a blast our green rice with gold coins, the shamrock table, and the Lucky Charm sorting.

Our craft a Fruit Loop rainbow with Sugar Pop gold was a major hit too. That room smelled so good! I do have to say the children were a bit "sugared" us when it was time to go.

We finished up the day with our shamrock hunt and found a treat left by a leprechaun too. I told them to wait until they got home to eat the candy.

Pre-K had many of the same activities going on at the tables: green rice with coins, Lucky Charm sorting, and shamrock making. They had one extra table though--green applesauce. I had placed the applesauce in a bowl with some cups next to it. They spooned some applesauce in their cup and "sprinkled" some green sugar--like the kind used to make cookies. The only problem with this was that the sugar came out in a pour mode rather than a sprinkle mode.

The craft for the class was a rainbow leprechaun hat. Our previous Pre-K teacher used to make it with the children and I always thought it looked so festive.

Pre-K also got to finish up the day with the shamrock hunt and the leprechaun treat.

Oh, I have to show this great treat one of our parents brought in for the children. It is rainbow colored licorice and two gold chocolate coins. She had them in a bag with a poem that read:

You've got the gold at the end of the rainbow. Happy St. Patrick's day!

Guest Post: Eating Adventurously

2012-03-19T15:17:00.007-04:00

Hi everyone. Yes, I am still here. March is a hectic month for me. I'm trying to get back on track, but it's happening slowly. Below is a guest post written by Lauren Bailey. She offers some tips to get your child to eat "adventurously."

4 Tips for Encouraging your Toddler to Eat Adventurously

The title of this post could have easily been something to the effect of "tips for making your toddler eat her vegetables." And this is part of what this post will discuss. But the reason I prefer to go with the phrase "eat adventurously" is that getting your young charge to eat the right foods is all about how you present the idea of eating right. If you make it into a battle, one in which you force your child to eat her Brussels sprouts, then it will always be a battle. Soon it will be a battle you will tire of waging. On the other hand, if you teach your child early on the pleasures of food, not just the "because-I-said-so's" of food, then you'll see how much more open to new culinary experiences she'll be, both now and in the future. Here are some tips.

1. Don't insist on having your child finish everything.

This may be a hard-wired rule engrained in us by our parents, and their parents before them, but when you insist that your child finish everything on her plate, you invite them to feel resentful about food, and you also encourage overeating in the future. Instead of insisting on eating everything, insist on having, at the very least, two or three bites of everything.

2. Present troublesome foods in interesting ways on the plate.

Sometimes, it's not necessarily the taste of healthy foods that young children object to. Rather, it's the dull or weird way they look. Consider different ways of presenting the food so that it becomes more appealing. For example, arrange peas and carrots into a little smiley face, or think about preparing particularly colorful or interestingly shaped foods like bell peppers, star fruit, etc.

3. Don't let your child become accustomed to "kid's foods."

"Kid's foods," like chicken nuggets and mac 'n cheese, have mostly become kids foods through tradition, and not necessarily because they are specially liked by kids. Whenever you go out to a restaurant, eschew the kids menu and order your child smaller portions of adult foods, so that they can get used to the flavors of real foods early on.

4. Always emphasize taste, even over nutrition.

Parents usually operate under the assumption that if you explain to your child the health benefits of food, they'll want to eat it more. Saying things like "X will make you grow taller" or "Z will make your eyes see better," is really not all that interesting to a small child. They usually have only a very rudimentary concept of health, so health will certainly not motivate them. Instead of emphasizing nutrition, talk to your child about different tastes inherent in food and why they should be appreciated. Raise them to truly enjoy the freshness of fruits and vegetables, and the complex flavors of foods cooked in different ways. They'll be way more receptive than you think.

Although it may seem a bit over-the-top to try cultivating in your child a mature palate, you'll see that teaching this early will help them develop a healthier relationship with food overall, one in which enjoyment and moderation are at the center of the table.

By-line:

This guest post is contributed by Lauren Bailey, who regularly writes for accredited online colleges. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: blauren99 @gmail.com

Fun At the Library

2012-03-13T14:05:00.008-04:00

We have begun to discuss Community Helpers in our Pre-K class. To help us with the theme, I have been trying to schedule some trips or visitors from different walks of life. You may remember we had a dental hygienist in February--that was 1 part dental health, 1 part community helper.
Yesterday we took a trip to our local library. We were able to have a tour of the children's area of the library. After our tour we had story time.

I thought it was especially cute; Our tour guide asked the children if they had any questions. She was getting the usual responses like--"I like to play Wii," "My brother is at school," or "I watch movies." When all of a sudden one little boy raised his hand; of course, we were wondering what he wanted to tell us. Well, guess what? He actually had a question, and a great one at that. Mr. M wanted to know how many books there are in the library! I was very impressed as was our tour guide. Luckily she had an answer for him too.

It was a nice trip, especially for children that had never visited a library and seen the amount of items in a library.

I have to show the cute snack our resident creative mom sent in for the day. Since we were going on the trip she wanted to have a portable snack in case we needed it. What did she send? Adorable butterflies. To make the butterflies she had her children color clip type clothespins, and shaped a piece of pipe cleaner into antenna. Then using a snack size zipper bag, she put the clothespin in the middle of the bag. She then added grapes to one side of the "wings," and crackers to the other side of the "wing." I thought it was the cutest thing ever.

Our Pearly Whites

2012-03-06T14:21:00.014-05:00
In February we celebrated Dental Health month with some fun teeth activities for both classes. We we also lucky enough to have a dental hygienist from a local dentist come and talk to us about caring for our teeth.

The three-year-old class made our mouths with 10 teeth in it. They also made happy face full of marshmallow teeth--how healthy is that? Of course their favorite fun was brushing the egg "teeth." They get such a kick out of making those eggs white again. This year my eggs were still in one piece--imagine that.

The Pre-K also discussed good dental health, and we combined it with good foods. We are going to be visiting our local Giant Supermarket to continue healthy foods. We started by having them create a Me Book page about their favorite foods. The children had brought pictures from home and glued them into their book at school.

For a craft I had the children paint toothbrushes--with a toothbrush. I had cut out a large rectangle, then gave the children a toothbrush to paint with. When their toothbrush handle dried they needed to add the bristles. They cut some slits in a white rectangle and glued it to their toothbrush.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

2012-03-02T15:18:00.012-05:00

It sure does seem like I have been writing Happy Birthday a lot lately. But, of course, today is the celebration of Dr. Seuss' birthday. I guess there were a lot of famous people born around this time.

We actually had a ball today, and it wasn't even crazy. This day is our pajama day. We thought incorporating the Read Across America day and pajama day would be appropriate. Everyone came to school in their pj's and brought blankets, a bedtime buddy, or pillow. Then we just lounged around for the day, read stories, and kicked back. Well not really.

Yes, I even wore my pajamas, here's a picture of my leg--a little busy huh?

We started off the day by reading Green Eggs and Ham, and I showed the children the Cat in the Hat craft we planned on making. My big plan for the day was to make breakfast. I thought that still coincided with good foods, and being in our pajamas breakfast seemed like a reasonable idea.

In the play room the children had the option of making green eggs, or a pancake, or both. I had set a table with some napkins, forks, knives, butter, syrup, and juice. After the children made what they wanted they headed over to the table to eat up. I have to say they all ate what they made I was very impressed.

Cooking took a bit more time than I thought it would, so we did not make our Cat in the Hat craft. I have a picture of him at the top. Mrs. A found it on the internet. Her class made it and I thought it looked cute.

One of our parents brought us a great snack she found on the internet. I thought it was cute. They are Cat in the Hat treats made with marshmallows.

Mid play time we took a break for another story--Ten Apples Up On Top. Then back to a few more minutes of playtime.

After clean up the children put their shoes back on, packed up their pillows and blankets and we gathered on the rug for one more story--The Cat in the Hat, of course.

What a Wonderful Leap Day

2012-03-01T15:19:00.010-05:00

Yesterday was one of the first times I have gotten to celebrate Leap Day with the children at school. So, of course, I wanted to make it fun.
First off, we had to make a frog--I know he hops, but it's close. I used the frog the teacher from our animals camp made a few years ago.

We painted a large paper plate green, (I did this Monday so the plate would be dry on Wednesday). Then the plate gets folded in half. I give the children four strips of green paper, which they fold accordion style. The legs then get glued to the bottom of the plate.

Now that all important tongue has to be glued in. I just cut out a tongue shape and the children glue in in the mouth, with some of it sticking out.

Finally, those great big frog eyes. The children glue two cotton balls to the top of the frog, then two google eyes are glue to the cotton balls. He's pretty cute.

Speaking of the frogs sticky tongue I found a fun game in my Mailbox magazine that they had a blast playing. I had bought a couple bags of those party blower toys. Then on a table I set up two boxes. On top of each box I place 7 pompom "flies." The children used their party blower "tongues" to knock the flies off the box. It was pretty funny.

Another fun Mailbox frog idea was the jumping game. I had cut out three frogs; red, yellow, and blue. Then I made a starting line and put the frogs on the floor. The children stood at the line and jumped. We graphed how far the children jumped just for extra "fun." After we did the standing jump, we also did a running jump.

Before too long it was time to leap on home. Only four more years until we can celebrate this day again.