Keeping it fun

Our motto is:  "Where Fun and Learning are Child's Play".  If it isn't fun then they probably aren't learning.  So, to keep things fun, we added in some ice and penguins.  This not only allowed for fun fine motor play, it also brought questions such as "why are these penguins different?" and talking about colors, sizes, how they are different, and why they are in the different poses.  Some are for sliding, some for walking, and some for swimming. As the children played in the ice it became ice with some water, then water.  Of course we then could ask how it is different now, why is it water now, and what temperature the water is (still cold).  Then it because ocean water for the penguins to swim in. :) Not all penguins like the cold and we addressed this briefly.  We will go into more detail before the end of the week.

Hmmm, this might not be simple penguin play.....

 We purchased a book about penguins to come this week. Penguin book
The penguins we purchased were a Toob of Penguins from Amazon.  Below are the books we read today.  As you can see they are about cold weather animals and cookies, 😋 Gingerbread Friends cookies to be exact (I love Jan Brett stories!).  The children also requested The Gingerbread Kid Goes to School, another fun gingerbread story.

 The one and two year olds chose these books to be read today.  Three year olds usually choose to come to the bigger kid story time.  The one and two year olds are welcome to join the bigger children for their story time, or they can read books later.  Sometimes they aren't ready to sit for reading.  We try to allow them flexibility at the story time circle.  Sometimes it's just too distracting. 😜  Other choices for the younger children during story time are puzzles, coloring, or playroom with it's centers.  What they choose is whatever they feel like for that time.  After the afternoon snack time, Papa Joe was reading We're Going on a Bear Hunt and just happened to be at the snowstorm page when I snapped this picture.  Most of the children had gone home at this point, if they had been here they would have been at story time.  Everyone LOVES Papa Joe's reading of We're Going On A Bear Hunt!  If you need "We're Going On A Bear Hunt" for yourself you can get one on Scholastic Book Clubs or on Amazon.  Contact me if you need the group code.

We also had the centers that we are working on this week.  We also brought in the easel for chalk and magnetic letter fun.  The children used teamwork in a few of the centers, or at least more collaboration between each other while working beside each other.  The day was much more cheerful and fun with the camaraderie.  We also added 9 chains to our Super Friend Chain today with all the sweet Super Friends.

I know you can't see their faces, but boy were they proud of their hard work!

 The picture cards are working very well for the ten frame centers.

 After their centers were finished one of the things they chose was the small legos to build cars and other structures.  They worked for a long time, and brought it out in the afternoon again.  Side note, this is all girls; the boys were in the penguins/ice.

 Two of the younger children working below.  The first is doing some pre-writing.  She had noticed the older children writing their names and friends names.  The youngest below is learning about opening and closing, and pressing buttons.

The menu today was:
Breakfast:  Multigrain Cheerios, Apple Slices, and Milk
Lunch:  Beenie Weenies, Cooked Carrots, Whole Wheat Bread, Milk
Snack:  Yogurt and Bananas was replaced with Applesauce and Graham Crackers since we didn't have the yogurt we thought we did.  Sorry!

They ate the usual amounts at breakfast - at least one serving. 
At lunch we had about two servings left after multiple servings per child.  In case you are wondering the beef franks are sliced long ways, then into small sections from there so they are safe for eating.
At snack, only a few children had a little bit of graham cracker left.