Rhymin' To The Beat

There's this great CD titled, "Rhymin' to the Beat", by Jack Hartmann. All of the old nursery rhymes are sang to upbeat rhythms. I have a bag of props I use with the kids that they get to use when I play the cd. (I.E. egg for Humpty Dumpty, candlestick for Jack Be Nimble, teapot for I'm a Little Teapot,etc.) They love using these props!
The great thing about the nursery rhymes is that they RHYME! Rhyming is a fun and easy way for kids to work on reading. Now your child may be only 3 years old, but they may be already rhyming. There's a definite connection between rhyming, music and reading. The more the child rhymes and plays music, the better reader they will be!

Rainy Monday

Monday was a rainy day and the daycare kids were a little "stir crazy." I decided to put on "Crazy Frog" music for them. That was hilarious! Tanner and Megan had to dance in front of the fireplace...because the fireplace has a glass case and they can see themselves dancing! They began to shake their bodies and then began to laugh their eyeballs out!! It was so good to hear them laughing from the tips of their toes. :)

Easter Egg Hunt

Well, the kids certainly had a fun time with the Easter Egg Hunt! I hid the eggs around the house and outside. Then I told them they could each find 8 eggs and 1 book! So, they were running all over the place, searching high and low for eggs. Tanner was grabbing eggs before anyone could even make a grab! He was done with finding his eggs first! After their hunt, they all had a couple of pieces of candy to eat. Martin was so funny. He says, "Mardeen, after snack we can have more candy, right?!" I told him that "No, you get to eat the rest at home!" He sure didn't like that answer!!!

March Birthday and St. Patrick's Day Celebrations

We had two of birthdays to celebrate this past month! Martin turned five years old while Tanner turned four! They were very excited to eat their cupcakes and open their gifts. (Probably more excited about opening their gifts!)

St. Patrick's Day was a hoot. Lots of irish music .... we were "trying" to step dance to the music....I sure wish I had a video camera for that one. Also, the kids listened to "Danny Boy". When they sang it, the song was more like, "Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy, Danny boy, Danny boy, etc.....the same words over and over again! The week of 3/16 was really a big St. Paddy's day celebration. We read every single St. Patrick's Day book I had (6 of them) over and over and the kids never tired of them! The little leprechauns loved this week!

Drumming to the Pirates of Caribbean

The coolest thing happened today! I've been working with the kids in how to use and play with drums. It's been since December....I use them for counting numbers and telling stories and for rhythmic patterning. Well, today I decided to try a little experiment! I decided to play a "Pirates of the Caribbean" song on the piano. I asked the kids to beat in time. I showed them what I meant and they did it!!!! I was so happy for them! They kept the beat while I played that song!

Snow Angels

The kids have been so happy to play outside! I have been calling the kids my "snow angels" because they've been perfect little angels outside! Between creating actual snow angels (imprints of their little bodies on the snow), eating snow, playing snow tag, creating an "angel cave" and eating more snow, they have been so busy and happy. Our winter has been so cold and with this wonderful warm up outside, these little kids are like rays of sunshine! When I see them so happy, it makes me happy too! I love seeing their little faces alive with joy!

Lady Bugs and Spiders

I've decided to do a bug theme with the kids. Every week now I'm talking about a specific kind of bug! Last week we talked about Lady Bugs. The kids had found one in my house and of course were very fascinated with it. You could hear them saying "Where did it come from?" "I thought you vacumed them all up!?!" Well, despite the vacuuming, they still appear!!

This week is all about Spiders! We've been singing our old "Itsy Bitsy Spider" song and I just taught them "Little Miss Muffet!" We've been looking at pictures and books about these things. The kids have also created their own little books about them too! This is actually an easy way to keep their interest....all about bugs!! I had a whole different learning plan for them. But, when the lady bug appeared, I realized this would be more fun for them to learn about. So, the next few weeks will be about bugs! We'll be answering their questions and I'm sure they'll be on the lookout for them everywhere they go!

Fun activities with the Kids

Time gets away from me and I forget to write what we did! Here's a list of a few fun activities from the past week: Getting Ready for Superbowl Sunday, All About Groundhog Day and Making a Friendship Chain.
Getting Ready for Superbowl Sunday was funny. I had lots of football coloring sheets and had the kids cut out a football. Then they got to pick either the Arizona Cardinals or the Pittsburgh Steelers. I wrote their picks on their footballs. Tanner picked Arizona and Megan picked Pittsburgh! We even pretended to play a game of football. Tanner was trying to make it more of a wrestling match! It was hilarious to hear Tanner's Dad find out Tanner had picked Arizona. ( I think He's a Steeler's fan!) When Tanner came back on Monday, his Dad told me all about the game and how Tanner was rooting for the Cardinals. Very cool!
Groundhog day was fun for the kids. We colored pictures of the groundhogs and I told them stories and then the kids acted out what happens on groundhog day.
Making a Friendship Chain was part of my pre-valentines day activities for the kids. We're talking about friends and what they mean to us....Who are our friends...What do we play with our friends? How do we be nice to our friends?
Next Wednesday is our Valentine's Day party! The kids always love party days! (So do I!)

All About Snowflakes

Monday was a day full of snow fun. Even though it was too cold to go outside, I spent a good deal of the morning talking about snowflakes and snow. I read Tracks in the Snow and Winter Poems and Froggy's Best Christmas. (The last title was handpicked by Martin.)

I had this great idea of having them cut out a snowflake pattern out of folded paper. But, I quickly realized that the snowflake pattern was too intricate for the preschoolers. So, I improvised with a folded up coffee filter which I drew the lines on. That worked great! Tanner and Megan were very pleased with their snowflakes! I asked them if they wanted to create another one. But, no that one snowflake taxed their hands and scissor skills!

I also brought into the house a handful of snow....the kids were mesmerized by it. Mostly Tanner wanted to eat it! But, I had them pick out snowflakes. That was very enjoyable to watch. They loved it too!

Teddy Bear Picnic

Greetings! It's been awhile since I've posted anything. Last Thursday was a no school day and very cold 45 degrees below zero! I was planning on doing a Teddy Bear Picnic later in the month. But, when I realized how cold it would be, I decided to move the Teddy Bear Picnic Date up. Every child brought their teddy bears. Some were old and some were new. Each bear had a name like "cookie", "sparkles", and "feather". They played with them throughout the morning-getting very upset if anyone touched or took their bear! Then we had our Teddy Bear Picnic for lunch. I laid out a huge blanket and had sandwiches ready for the kids. They all ate on the blanket with their teddy bears-pretending to feed them too. Mostly they were feeding them fruit snacks! I have this great song by Trout Fishing in America called "Teddy Bear's Picnic." I must have played that song about 20 times! The kids danced with their bears to that song. We also chanted/sang to"Going on a Bear Hunt" and "The Bear Went Over The Mountain". I wish I had pictures to share. .. but my digital camera is still on the blink.....
Next up: "All About Snowflakes"