Spring Has Sprung

Though it's officially now spring, it seems that in Texas it comes much sooner. We were still able to discuss the many changes that have occurred and will occur in the world around us. Spring has always been my favorite season and this week I was once again reminded why as these little children enthusiastically observed the wonders of our earth.

Avah putting letters together to make words.

Since the weather was a bit spring like outside (rainy) we made our own mud inside to play in. The children worked well together to get it just right.

Gooey gooey mud!

A fun game of musical chairs during music time.

Showing off their kites.

Boston and Avah worked hard together to create this "museum".

We grew a "resurrection plant" at preschool today. It starts out dry and brown but as the day progressed we watched it change.

Boston watering his freshly planted seeds.

Gideon chose watermelon, pumpkins and sunflowers for all of us to grow this year. I hope we are successful!

Happy Birthday Charlie!

Thumbprint flower pictures.

They were so clever when they created a "car wash" with the ribbon sticks. They did such a good job of taking turns.

Sometimes, they like to make their own music.

At the end of the day, we observed our plant and discovered it had turned green and spread it's leaves out. So fun!

Dr. Seuss on the Loose

Dr. Seuss has influenced the world of children's literature like no other author. His absurdly fun books are wonderful for pre reading preschoolers. So we celebrated his birthday (March 2nd) by embracing the books he wrote during our preschool time.

Gideon painting away on his hat and bow tie to look just like the Cat in the Hat.

Dr. Seuss published 46 children's book. We didn't read all of them, but we sure read a lot this week. Have I mentioned before how much I love story time!

After reading "Bartholomew and the Oobleck" we just had to play with oobleck ourselves. The kids were hesitant at first, but dug right in after I showed them just how much fun it is. (Oobleck is cornstarch, water and food coloring).

After reading (ok, we really just acted this book out) "Hop on Pop" we did some rhyming of our own. The children matched up objects that rhymed. It's so fun to watch their faces light up as they catch on to rhyming. A fun way to pass the time in the car together is to play rhyme time- try to make as many rhymes together as you can.

After reading "Green Eggs and Ham" we decided to make our own. After all the children cracked and egg I realized it would take far too long to fish out all the eggshells so we just talked about what it would be like to eat green eggs.

Then I surprised them with green eggs and ham that I'd previously made. They made their worst yucky face and tentatively tried them. They gobbled them right up when they realized I tricked them and made them out of chocolate.

Egg relay. The children designed the relay themselves and did a pretty good job. They are sure learning some great leadership skills as they work together at games.

After reading "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" we went fishing for letters. The children got to then match their lower case fish with the upper case fish mat. Who know learning could be so much fun!

Porsche catching her fish.

After reading "Oh the Places You'll Go" we tried to use our imaginations like Dr. Seuss and create our own silly creatures out of play dough.

Avah enjoyed playing library during play time with her library card and even got to tell a ladybug a story.

Cutest Cat in the Hat's ever!

What's Cooking?

Oh how we love to cook at preschool! The children showed off their culinary skills while learning about the foods that keep us healthy. We discussed the importance of eating from the rainbow and also talked about what red light/green light/yellow light foods they should eat. Preschool are notoriously picky eaters so be patient with them and with yourselves in the lifelong endeavor of healthy eating.

Counting and sorting pizza toppings!

Charlie cracking eggs- most of it went into the bowl!

Stirring the magic muffin mix.

Adding some freshly ground whole wheat flour.

Yummy!

Kooper dipping in the flour bin to make the perfect pizza dough.

Charlie rolling out the dough

Delicious!

Avah getting our fancy restaurant ready for customers.

Porsche taking orders, while the chef's worked furiously in the kitchen.

More yummy food created by the children.

Rootin' Tootin' Wild West!

Yee haw! We had a rootin' tootin' week learning all about the wild west. This time of year is so fun to educate our children on the life that many of our ancestors lived taming this land before modern conveniences. We talked all about horses and how valuable they are, how big they are, how they were measured by hands, how heavy their head are (12 pounds!) and how they don't see the way we do. First off though we had to learn how to keep our horses in the right spot by tying up our "horses". The children are doing great at tying and I anticipate many of them are ready to learn to tie their shoes. We also discussed the important job of being a cowboy/cowgirl and even got to practice being sheriffs and keeping the outlaws outta town. I'm so excited to take my kids to the rodeo now- yippee kai aye!

Boston tying up his horse.
We learned how flies really like horses and so after singing "Shoo Fly Don't Bother Me" we got out the fly swatter and played in the bubbles.
Kooper making his stick horse.
Kyler happily creating with his orange crayon.
Porsche tossing bean bags into the cowboy hats.
My handsome cowboy!
Avah coloring by number her cowgirl.

Another handsome cowboy.
Gideon and Charlie retelling the story of "Cowgirl Rosie". Giving them a chance to tell the story after you have done so is very helpful with their comprehension.
Yet another handsome cowboy out on the range.
And a whole group of handsome cowboys and beautiful cowgirls (and one boy I claim as mine being the cow)

Valentine's Day!

What a lovely Valentine's Day we had at Preschool. The children celebrated the holiday in such a friendly, fun way. We spent a lot of time talking about what it means to be a good friend and how we can help each other out.

Kooper working hard matching heart letters.

Kyler matching heart numbers.

Charlie counting out hearts.

Singing, singing, all the day!

Playing balloon games during music time.

What great friends they have all become.

The fun valentine exchange. I loved how excited they were to give their valentines vs. receive them.

Playing buddy games

Silly Avah.

Not sure how well this will work, but I took this video from my archaic camera. These kids are the best!