January 25 2019 Note…
Friday, January 25, 2019
Hello!
Here is some info for you about our Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!
Anine : )
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FYI Photos…
FYI there are about 125 new photos added in our Facebook group this week. Pictures from November 1st through 16th.
FYI Snow Day…
This was a short week since Martin Luther King Jr Day was Monday, and since we had a “snow day” on Tuesday. We departed a bit from our calendar plans this week, but should still be able to follow through with all of our planned calendar activities before the end of January.
Community Playthings “Chute”…
A box was delivered to our front porch last week. The kids and I opened it before the weekend, and then I installed our new purchase on Tuesday. We have a fun, new, clear acrylic tube (mounted a bit diagonally on a wall in our classroom), called a “chute”. The kids have been having fun experimenting with it and finding out what rolls through it and what gets stuck. This week they experimented with wooden blocks, foam blocks, a Batman motorcycle, a basket full of assorted miniature balls like basketballs, footballs & baseballs… the kids also tried out rolling Hot Wheels through the tube. They are enjoying it!
Chalkboard Station…
Over the weekend I also made a fun new chalkboard station for the kids and we mounted it on the wall in our classroom by the calendar. It is a long board 88’ x 10”, sanded, stained and mounted to the wall, and then attached to it are eight little chalkboards. We have a little bucket full of chalk nearby for the kids to use, and right above the row of chalkboards is an example of every upper- and lower-case letter of the alphabet so if they like, the kids can easily refer to the letter examples as they write. They have been having fun with that this last few days, too. Thank you to my husband and to my brother for helping me with that!
Pass the Cupcake…
After breakfast on Wednesday and Thursday we played a game called “Pass the Cupcake”. We had a cute pink silicone cupcake mold that we used to pass to each friend around the table, and the friend who was holding the “cupcake” got to have everyone’s attention for a moment, and tell a story about something fun that happened on their stay-home days or at their house recently. We play a game called Pass the Baton, too, that works the same way, but this week we used the “cupcake.” Several of the kids really liked that and asked if we could play it again. During our game, the kids told stories about things like sledding, about making sugar cookies with frosting and sprinkles, about making snow ice cream, about drinking hot chocolate, and about helping daddy shovel “I was helping, but I didn’t have a shovel – I had a broom!”
Ice Sculptures…
Today (Friday) the kids gathered around the table. I had three cake pans in the middle of the table that we filled with water, and then I gave each of the kids a stack of fun add-ins to use as we created “ice sculptures.” After gathering from an assortment of flower pots in the yard and in the garage, I gave the kids sprigs of fresh Rosemary, sprigs of Cedar, Spruce and Fir branches, dried flower blooms (pink mums), and then I also gave them frozen cranberries and fresh orange slices. Three kids worked on “decorating” one pan of water. Three kids worked on decorating a second pan of water, and two kids decorated the third pan of water. The kids floated all of their add-ins in the water and then we put them on the deck (where the kids could see them through the glass door) to freeze. Monday we will plan to pop the 8-inch circular disks of ice out of their pans, and then either hang our ice sculptures outside, or place them on the snow stepping-stone-style somewhere that the kids can see them each day until they melt.
Ice Marbles…
After making our ice sculptures we continued the fun and made five ice “marbles” using balloons, water, and food coloring. We filled one balloon with just plain water, one balloon with water and four colors of food coloring, and the other balloons with water and one color each. After the balloons have frozen, we can “pop” them, remove the balloon, and we should find some interesting marble-like ice creations inside. The kids had guesses about what would happen to the balloon that had all four colors in it. It will be interesting to see if they are right!
“Snowball” Spell Your Name Game / Homemade Books: “I am a Snowman” …
After today, everyone has finished their Snowball (mini-marshmallow) name activity, and everyone has also finished their homemade books, now, too.
Homework…
Each friend got to do some “homework” this week, either in the form of pages from one of their workbooks, in the form of a sheet I printed for them, or in the form of their homemade “snowman” book.
Books We Read…
“God Loves You Very Much” Stories: We have a new book called “The Berenstain Bears Bedtime Devotional” and inside are 90 very short stories (that don’t really have to be read at bedtime). This week we read one each day, and they all shared the message that “God loves you very much”.
We also heard fun facts and saw great pictures when we read about polar bears, puffins, harp seals, wolverines, Arctic foxes, walruses, Beluga whales, and moose in a book we have about Arctic animals.
Songs We Sang…
Some of the songs we sang this week included * Good Morning * the Hand Washing song * The Bear Went Over the Mountain * Ten on the Bed * The Green Grass Grows All Around * Alice the Camel * the Scissor Chant * Five Little Cupcakes * Jesus Loves the Little Children
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday Meals…
Wednesday Meals…
Breakfast was blueberry waffles, Multi Grain Cheerios, fresh blackberries and milk.
Lunch was Papa John’s pizza (beef), steamed peas, banana, and milk.
Snack was Wheat Thins, Kraft Sharp Cheddar, and apple juice.
Thursday Meals…
Breakfast was chocolate chip waffles, diced apples and milk
Lunch was taco casserole (ground turkey, pinto beans, kidney beans, black beans, corn, tomato sauce, brown/wild rice blend) pear halves, Pepperidge Farm whole-grain cinnamon-raisin-swirl bread/butter, and milk.
Snack – Somehow, I missed writing down what we had for snack on Thursday. If I remember correctly, it was Wheat Thins, diced red grapes and apple juice.
Friday Meals…
Friday breakfast was cinnamon toast waffles, applesauce, and milk.
Lunch was Chicken breast; carrots, peas, corn, parsnips, leek, & onions, diced apple, brown & wild rice, Orowheat Oat Nut bread/butter, and milk.
Snack was animal crackers, Multi Grain Cheerios, and apple juice. The kids also each had half of a fresh-baked oatmeal-chocolate-chip cookie if they wanted.
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