Winter is blowing by… Part 1

January went by fast…

we had spent the month enjoying our Winter Theme.

Our nature tree was as naked as the trees outside,
so we added our winter mitten craft to add some color.
We included some mitten games while we were at it.

as well as having had enjoyed some hot cocoa days.
Need an easy hot cocoa recipe?
Here’s one from my daughter; enjoy
Easy Hot Cocoa Recipe

Books and winter activities were a blast,

as we were teased by a few dustings of snow.

Outside we adventured a few nature walks in the brisk air.

Inside we enjoyed circle time with our preschool friends,
as well as some table time activities.

Indeed, none of these littles are mine.
I’m not sure when it happened,
but my “littles” are no longer little.  *sigh*

The older kids entertain themselves well.
(The two on the left are my “littles”,
see what I mean?  not.so.little)

I’m so grateful to spend my days with all these people;
littles, bigs, and the handful of moms I get to enjoy each week!

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth,
for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire:
it is the time for home.”       ― Edith Sitwell

 

Public School guests join Homeschooler’s for a Day!

We had “guest” students in class today!

Learning about Adjectives

while learning some phonics and spelling rules;
y = the long e sound
(grammar)

while enjoying a snack!

Next was history…

Where we read that the Israelites received Manna by morning,
(cooking class for all ages, yumm)

and Quail by evenings.
(arts and crafts)

We followed up the bird topic by learning all about nest parasites;
the cow birds; Thank you Wild Kratts
(nature science)

while having pizza for lunch.

And finally…

getting ready for battle;

RECESS at it’s homeschool finest!

*Childcare does not need to be an interference to homeschool
but rather an encouragement to share the FUN!!!

Our guests were a delight,  and I’m pretty sure they enjoyed the day too!

Letter Cc week

Our OCTOBER sensory bin seems to compliment the Cc week theme.

I can’t believe how much everyone of ALL ages loves this bin.
Even parents play with it; me included.  *smile*

MONDAY

Cc is for Caterpillar

We used brown construction paper of a child’s hand and arm for a tree branch, added a cut out leaf, and created a pom pom caterpillar.

Snack was a caterpillar (grapes) on a large romaine leaf…

This cutie decided to be the caterpillar and eat the leaf herself!

We then did a Color sort to Create our Caterpillars

WEDNESDAY

Cc is for Car

Admittedly, I found this idea here at Crystal & Co.
I thought is was pretty cute!

We then used our toy cars to roll in paint to paint with.
I was hoping for a more track like effect, but hey,
they’re preschoolers,and they had fun!

The kids really enjoyed red light, green light.
*This is a game that I overly emphasize with my own kids, then also any kids in my care.  We start first with the signs; stop, go, slow… once the kids are familiar with the motions, we switch to “green light”, “red light”, and “yellow light”.  Eventually the signs are no longer used, but I continue the “game” randomly; in the house, on our nature walks, during outdoor play.  Soon it becomes second nature to respond when I shout “red light” as all the kids will “freeze”, then begin to play again when I say “green light”.  My reasoning on such a lesson is that it is highly effective when one is at the grocery store, in parking lots, or within crowded places to get a child to respond immediately to a request.  Ever have a kid just not paying attention, where you needed them to stop and look around before continuing on?  I have! plenty of times.  This “game” is a life saver.  Give it a try. 

Lastly, we used chalk to draw our town,
train tracks and all.  Kids played outside for a long time.

FRIDAY

Cc is for Clouds

I had the kids use cotton ball “clouds” to paint clouds on sky colored paper.

We followed that simple activity with “cloud” play;
ie shaving cream on a cookie sheet!!  Fun stuff!

Fun game to follow…

“that cloud looks like….”

of course this has to be done on a somewhat clear but cloudy day.
Overcast days just aren’t the same, eh?

Normally, I would have had my older kids follow up this activity with a more in-depth concept about clouds themselves, but this day was just a whim of an idea for our youngest student, the 2 yr old.

 

Letter Bb week

There is fun to be had at Little Friends Discovery Place!
Yes, I named my preschool/daycare.
Admittedly, I have had several people lately ask how I can “do it all”,
with homeschooling, childcare, and doing a preschool co op in my home.
My response?  “Are you kidding?  I get to play all day!”
All kidding aside, I do believe it is a matter of attitude.
Simply said, I enjoy what I do.

BEES

Honeycomb cereal to make a honey comb;
pretty fitting, right?

Next we tossed “pollen” into the honeycomb.
Admittedly, this was a late-night, last-minute idea
that just happened to be a success.

Then we played pin-the-bee on the hive.

We completed our BEE activities by singing
“I’m bringing home a baby bumblebee”

I think the COOL (unphotographed) part was that we actually had captured a bee in a jar for our lesson time.  Of course we set it free when we were done.
Also, netflix has a fun Magic School Bus In a Bee Hive episode that complimented our lesson for this day.

BIRDS

For story time we read “Are you My Mother?” by Dr Seuss

We made paper bag bird puppets, as well as pinecone bird feeders.

Our snack was to make a bird’s nest out of pretzels,
then lay the “eggs” (grapes) on the nest.

The kids really enjoyed playing with the bird seeds…

which unintentionally became a really cool sensory bin,
bare feet and all!

Yeah, Bb week was pretty successful!

 

Our Nature Tree

Fun For the Classroom!!

This lovely lady painted me a “nature tree”.
Over the years I have used a paper one that is old and worn.
Now, at our new house, the tree is on the wall,
and we are ready to explore our seasons and all things nature.

Didn’t it turn out cute? 

and because she knows me so well,
she signed her sketch of the project
and left it for me.  “love” it!

Just sharing a little joy in my days…

A Random Day in the Life of Miss Sheri

At my house, we open our home to many people of many ages.

Our house rules:

Be kind
Have fun

Yesterday was a kid kind-of-day!

I had a few kids over (age 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, & 10) ,
and Katie-girl was babysitting three boys (age 3, 5, & 7).

That makes for a FUN kind-of-day!

The girls crafted.

The boys battled scenarios.

They created a tape town for cars.
ok, so I had minimum masking tape,
so I perused a big brothers room for painting tape,
thus the two colors.  Not pinterest picture perfect,
but creative enough perfect, right?  *smile*

We had play dough time,
with apple spiced scented dough.

as well as a Bible lesson with a craft;
today was about Jacob’s ladder.
We experimented with a new puff paint recipe.

Next was some quiet time,
watching How to Train Your Dragon…

as well as a little bit of story time.

We then wrapped up the day with…

Katie girl playing Polly Pockets with some kids…

while TJ joined in with some car action.

I LOVE living back in town again.
I feel so blessed to enjoy my day by playing with my young friends!

Life is Good, and God is Great
and kids are a blessing from the Lord!!