Goldilocks

Today we explored the concept of opposites. We watched some sea creatures grow from small to large (well, somewhat larger, anyway) as they soaked up water.

We had an interactive telling of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, following the golden-haired girl's misadventures through the home of her unwitting hosts. Some props were used to illustrate large and small, hard and soft, high and low.

Story time included readings of Five Little Ducks, Polar Bear Polar Bear What Do You Hear?, Panda Bear Panda Bear What Do You See?, The Little Farm, and The Little Airplane. We danced and jumped around to "Five Little Monkeys" and revisited the "Tap Your Sticks" song from last week. Everyone enjoyed their cheese tortellinis for lunch.

"Over" and "Under."

Tap Your Sticks

Little Monkeys

Today we spent a lot of time on numbers and counting. We read "The Big Fat Hen," a nice illustrated version of the 1,2 buckle my shoe rhyme, with lots of counting on each page!

We also had lots of fun playing with plastic eggs, building egg towers and watching chicks "hatch." We did a great job with some group singing of Twinkle, Twinkle, ABCs, and Old MacDonald. The kids played with play-doh and made lots of letters, numbers, and snowballs! Cleaning up the different colored play-doh into their respective jars with lids was almost as much fun!

The kids also went crazy jumping to the 5 Little Monkeys song, and playing follow the leader. In the kitchen, they each had their turn making hand prints to take home, and everybody seemed to really enjoy their pbj/nutella and apple butter sandwiches. Lastly, following along with the "Tap your Sticks" song was a real hit!

Click below for the rest of today's photos.

Little Monkeys

Megan B

The Big Hungry Bear

Today we read The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear. Because it was so beautiful, we also did a lot of outside time.  At snack, all the children had a chance to practice cutting a strawberry in half with a butter knife.  We also read about the letters s, e, and b, played with the parachute and sang "Three Blind Mice" and "Pop Goes the Weasel," and made English Muffin Pizzas for lunch.  (They were a HUGE hit.)  The kids pretended to plant seeds and talked a lot about sharing.  They also all did a great job of taking turns and cleaning the table!

Three Blind Mice... See how they run!

English Muffin Pizzas

Update on the Ladybugs

Ladybug, Fly Away Home!

Snack!

Newest Member

Drum Circle

Free Play Time

Art Project

I know they also read The Grouchy Ladybug and did a puzzle on fractions, worked on their nice manners, and had potty practice.  Hopefully one of today's team will post more details! 

Coming Up!

I cannot believe it is September already, but the calendar does not lie!  This morning I was privileged to see a beautiful "V" of geese flying over on their way to warmer parts.  Their shadows crossed the roofs of the houses while they sang their honking song to one another... so perfect a detail on a day when we started planning our Fall session!

We had a great planning powwow today... okay, the moms did.  The kids did tons of outdoor, creative play and listened to us read them Little Apple Goat, Yummy, and Gingerbread Baby whenever they came to us for attention. Three great books which tie in very well to the stories we've been doing all summer!

A sneak peek of our fall plans for you:  The Building Blocks kiddos are going to be very excited about continuing to explore The Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Three Little Pigs, The Gingerbread Man, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and they are also going to really enjoy introductions to Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, The Emperor's New Clothes, and The Ugly Duckling!  We'll be finding ways to tie in all the holidays, science, the seasons, and life in our world through these classic stories.  We're all excited!

Last year we focused on good habits and nice manners, like cleaning up, hand washing, hanging up our coats, and saying "yes please" and "no thank you."  This year we'll have lots of opportunities to practice those things and also to talk about feelings, practice good sharing, and learn to work it out when we disagree!  We've been practicing all those skills all summer and we'll of course carry them over to fall.