Today we did a review. We have a black, large "D" with words beginning with the d sound in the shape of an oval. Then we have a smaller, orange letter E with words beginning with the short e sound in the shape of an oval. 


On another note- it was 43 degrees and wet when we went outside today. I was wearing my winter coat and was not too warm. Also, my hands were cold without gloves. I know some children were very cold. Please keep in mind the weather conditions of 10am, not just the high of 1pm. This is a good time of year for layers and those nice cotton gloves. You can get 2 pair at Target for $1 or $2. Then you can even keep one here so you don't have to remember every day or keep track of them.
We weren't outside for too long because it started raining. When we don't get as much outside time, we usually listen to preschool music and dance. I have some great ones that have many variations of the ABC songs and some nice preschool praise music.

Wednesday

Today was still windy, but also nice and sunny. We set up nature stations. We took a box and filled it with leaves. Then one with walnuts, one with pine cones, one with rocks, one with various plants and then collected various logs, sticks and twigs and bark. We compared and contrasted, smelled, touched, turned over, and investigated. I went through each station with the kids and modeled how to explore our findings and gave encouragement. Then I let free time happen. I wondered if they would run straight towards the toys or stay with the nature stations. They stayed at the nature stations! This is a part of my outdoor classroom that I am creating for an early childhood education class "Children and Nature". Doing some modeling and giving ideas for investigating nature and inspiring curiosity is great, but its even more important to then let the children have unstructured play time amongst nature. We learn about our colors (orange leaves and pumpkins for example) and opposites (large branches and small twigs), shapes (oval rocks), but mostly a general appreciation for the "earth" by starting with our own backyards. We discover "wooly bear" caterpillars, which just happen to be orange and black and after observing it for awhile, we put them in the tall grass (so they don't get trampled by the giants a.ka. us). We also had a slug visitor while at our nature stations. What  a great way to spend a windy Wednesday!

Tuesday

Tuesday was a different day! We had high winds and tornado warnings, so we did not go outside. We went into our top secret fort in the basement and wore secret mission helmets. We read books. The kids had fun!

Before all the drama, we were learning about the color black. We colored a sheet with black items and made a black sheep using our hand tracings for the legs. We also said the rhyme "Baa Baa Black Sheep".

Obviously, the colors orange and black go well for Halloween, so we will be seeing many orange and black things and even eating some! Yum!

Today we learned about the number 2. You'll see that we colored a large 2 orange. We colored and practiced writing the number 2 in black and we also colored 2 elephants (big and small, and one of the animals of the month). We also have 2 eyes, 2 ears, 2 lips (but only one mouth), 2 arms, 2 hands, 2 shoulders, 2 elbows, 2 knees, 2 legs, 2 feet! The body is a great way to teach the number 2!


We also introduced black by coloring with black and finding things around the house that are black. Shoes, bags, bird feet, binders, etc. and talking about things that are black. Some cats are. Annie's not, but has black stripes. Some hair, bats, come cars, and so forth.


We say a prayer before lunch. Braden's prayer today:


Thank you God for trees and leaves, cars, apple trees, peas, chicken and rice, Branden, Deeken and me. Thank you for pumpkins. And thank you for Jesus and God. Amen.

It's Cold!

Today, when we went outside at 10:30 am, it was 43 degrees and felt like 39. Was your child wearing appropriate attire for this weather? The leaves are very wet, and kids love to play in leaves. The cold and the wet are great nature experiences- but children cannot enjoy it when shivering and with sore, cold skin.
No one was that bad off today, but the weather will be getting colder and wetter, so PLEASE keep this in mind. I only stress this because in the 13 years I've done daycare, there is a child every day that is not prepared.

Today we learned the letter E! We colored some elephant pictures (one of them is orange!) and found letter e in the elephants. Also, two of the pictures have big elephants and little elephants (our opposites of the month). We saw real photos of elephants and talked about elephants.
Elephants are a BIG animal (the African elephant is the biggest living land mammal). Elephants have BIG ears but little tails. Elephants have a trunk. Baby elephants are little elephants, but big babies; a newborn elephant weighs 225 pounds! That's like 28 newborn human babies! Elephants use their trunks to pick up food and water, smell, hug and lift things. An African elephant's trunk is longer than our daddies!!! It's seven feet long- oh my! See the link to see what we saw today- It's from National Geographic and very cool!
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/african-elephant/

Tuesday October 19, 2010

Today we learned about David and Goliath (D for David). David had God in his heart and God gave him courage to fight Goliath. I spoke with the kids that God does not like fighting, but since not everyone has God in their heart, fighting does happen sometimes, and God will help and give courage if someone asks God and it is for His good.
We also spoke about the opposites of little (David) and big (Goliath). The kids colored a picture with a bible verse on it about the story and also watched a short cartoon about it.

An Excellent Article on Toilet Training

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/10/T106600.asp#T106602

WEATHER

We play outside every day unless the weather is bad. We usually go out for the first time around 10 or 10:30 am, so when looking at the weather, keep in mind what it will be like at that time of day. It is usually a little colder and wetter. Also, with a lot more rain during this season and the leaves being moist underneath, kids will be getting wet. As it gets colder, hats, and cotton gloves will be appropriate. With snow, cotton gloves are NOT appropriate. Waterproof mittens and gloves are necessary to prevent injury to the skin. I cannot tell you how many times I have had to have a child sit on the steps and shiver because of no snow pants, no gloves, etc. They have to watch others play, while sitting there bored, so PLEASE be sure to pack accordingly. If you want to leave extras here, that is wonderful. Make sure to label everything, at all times if you want it back. Snow pants all look the same to me! Label it whether it stays here or not. Basically, if it comes to daycare, label it. 


There are many studies on the importance of children playing in nature. It prevents and treats ADD, ADHD, depression, obesity, and so forth. It is important for the children to bond with nature in their own way. I have to keep the kids safe, so running with sticks and stuff like that is not an option. However, digging the dirt or mud, jumping in leaves (wet or dry), getting grass stains, playing in the wet, cold snow, playing in grass and on toys that have dew or leftover rain... these and more are all parts of playing outside. I suggest the children always wear clothing that can get ruined and you won't care. 
This goes for spaghetti, painting, and other crafts as well. The kids learn more by delving right in. I put on bibs and art shirts, but it only works so much, and I often have several kids I'm watching at once, so I can't always be there to stop a mess. Learning to eat with utensils, drinking from a cup, painting by oneself, and many other things means messy, messy, and even messier! Thanks for understanding :)

Monday October 18, 2010

Fire Saftey

Stay away from matches and lighters! DANGER!DANGER!
If there's a fire, DON'T HIDE, GO OUTSIDE!
Go out the door, or out the window- be safe!
 Don't save toys or pets- meet at the safe place!
Firemen are not scary, they help us.
Have smoke detectors by every bedroom and on every floor!
If your smoke detector chirps like a bird, tell an adult to get new batteries.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JqWpGGARjc&feature=related

OCTOBER

I forgot to post our monthly October cirriculum. Here it is!


Colors: orange and black (pumpkins, leaves, bats, spiders, Halloween!)
Food: Pumpkins and Carrots
Shape: Oval
Letters: D, E
Career: Doctor
Fire Safety
Opposites:large/small, big/little
Number:2
Animals: Dinosaurs, Elephants
Christian Message: David and Goliath (Courage)

Friday October 15, 2010

Today was a wonderful day! The weather has been beautiful and today I took Branden and Braden to the Nature Center. We walked some trails this morning while the sun filtered through the brilliant autumn trees. There were many leaves on the ground which still had drops of dew. We also explored inside the interpretive center at the fish, the furs, and got to see an albino corn snake. Braden was all over it, but Branden wouldn't get withing 5 feet of it! There was so much to see though, it's too bad we couldn't stay longer.

After the Nature Center, we ate lunch at McDonald's; a rare treat, indeed! I let the boys play in the funland for awhile, then we washed our hands REALLY good :)

This afternoon, we colored pumpkins and fall trees, and played outside some more. I just love Autumn!

Wednesday October 13, 2010

Today we are investigating the color orange. We have been observing the color orange outdoors, indoors, and especially on our walks. We see orange pumpkins everywhere, trees with orange leaves and orange leaves on the ground. We also see orange recycling bins and some orange cars.


Here are a couple of links for the color orange: http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=2Mh&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=orange+pics&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=1rK1TPzFHobhnQfHu7HsDw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CB8QsAQwAA&biw=1152&bih=604

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYbSUm3fftA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHAtrnbu8ts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHi0Vd40Y1M

Tuesday October 12, 2010

Today we are learning about a career and that career is Doctor (starts with the letter D). We watched some cute clips about doctors and talked about how you must know a lot and go to lots of school to be a doctor. We talked about the things a doctor does such as: listen to your heart and lungs, look in your throat,ears, eyes, and nose, check your belly and give shots to keep us from getting sick. We talked about how both grown up girls and grown up boys can be doctors. Doctors help us when we're sick, but also when we are well to teach us how not to get sick as much.
Here are the clips we watched:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYQzmtZ8Rsw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVQSe3N4mVc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAEzM9tzV9c

We also have some coloring pages with doctors on them and some doctor's tools. We will pretend to be doctors and patients. 

Monday October 11, 2010

Remember that if I don't post, it's not because we didn't do anything, it's because I didn't have time to post!


My printer was down for a couple of days (by the way if your printer is on but mysteriously stops printing, try unplugging it and plugging it back in- advice from my brother and it works every time, but I usually forget until I get really frustrated, LOL!)

Today was such a gorgeous day!  Branden was the only one here this afternoon, so we went a long, long walk. We talked about the colors and how when the leaves fall, it means it's fall. We looked for orange leaves, orange pumpkins, and other orange things. We talked about how the water is a creek and he practiced saying it several times. He examined various leaves, dandelions, and flowers. By examine, I mean smelled, touched, looked at, and tore piece by piece (every sense but taste, and that's only because I wouldn't let him!).

He had a lot of outside time too both this morning and this afternoon. It was a great day to be outside! We mostly concentrated on the color orange and the fall season as far as learning was concerned. We just notice the orange colors, ("look at that tree. It's orange. Look at the pumpkin. What color is it? What else do you see that's orange? Look at the recycling bin, sign, leaf, shirt, coat, car, etc..... ). I constantly say "You know it's fall when the leaves fall!"  and things like that. We also talk about the squirrels finding nuts because they are getting ready to hibernate for the cold, cold winter coming soon and how their bushy tails are like a blanket for them.

Wednesday October 6, 2010

 Today I introduced the letter "D". We played our ball game where we roll the ball back and forth saying words which start with D. We also talked a tiny bit about orange when we had orange carrots (which are circles), but will be formally introducing orange tomorrow.

Here are some D links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBINAdbgDBc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKzne7HqK00&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-3USLvkYiw&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOJXE1DWLAc&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbLZj7km5ZU

Additionally, I will  talk about potty training, since I don't get to see every parent at the end of the day. The children who are potty training go to the bathroom every 45 min. to every hour and a half. I ask continuously throughout the day, "Does anyone have to use the potty?" So far, I haven't been met with  a yes, but I ask to encourage initiative rather than just going. I like to take them often so that when we have a dry pullup, it can be a very positively reinforced event. This means that I get very excited and proud. I say, "WOW! I am so proud of you!" "I can't wait to tell your (Mom/Dad/Sister, etc.)!" I give a big-guy punch or a high five and hugs and kisses. We walk to the sticker station immediately after getting dressed and washing hands.
All of this needs to be done immediately for it to be effective. I also say, "Here is a sticker for keeping dry this time and I can't wait to give you a sticker again for staying dry!"

Keep in mind that I have many different kids throughout the day. I have to get kids breakfast, lunch and two snacks, and I have two different afternoon snack times for kids in school and out of school. I have to get kids on the bus twice during the day and get them off. I have parents dropping off, picking up, and calling at different times of the day. I do preschool activities, reading, and other activities and we go outside daily. It is not at all the same kind of attention that your child receives at home. I cannot possibly stick to a minute schedule and if someone else is using the potty, another child might have to wait. Being potty trained means going potty on his/her own and being able to hold it for a short time when necessary. One indication of potty training is not releasing urine less than every two hours. If this is not the case, your child is probably not biologically ready. Taking him/her potty and going, twice in two hours does not mean that they are biologically ready because if I left him/her in the diaper for that long it would be wet, in some cases.

When not dry, or when changing a poopy diaper, I keep it very low key. I do not express shame or anger. I do not give any attention. I say, "Oh. It's wet. Maybe next time we can get a sticker for being dry." or something like that. It is VERY important to not hug or comfort your child for feeling bad about it because that REINFORCES the behavior you do NOT want. It is equally important to not show anger or frustration because that also reinforces behavior. Attention is attention and children at this age LOVE attention. If your child begins to cry or say "ouch" when changing them, keep in mind that it might be a way to receive attention that they want and know they can get by manipulating, since this provided much attention before. Obviously if a child has a rash, they probably really do hurt, but children this age are very smart and can be very manipulative when wanting attention. (I am not saying manipulation is a negative character trait; I'm saying it's very normal 3 year old behavior and that as long as it is not reinforced,  he/she will not have a reason to continue being manipulative)

To sum up: Only give attention when the child displays good potty training behavior like staying dry, asking to use the toilet, going to use the toilet on his/her own, etc. Keep in mind to move up appropriately. For example, the children currently use the toilet every time I ask them to, so they are not rewarded for this anymore. They are rewarded for staying dry or asking to go, or going number 2. Since they will use the toilet regardless, it is pointless to reward them, and will only keep them at that level, since they are being rewarded.