Opposites

Lately we have been talking a lot about opposites.  The difference between Hot and Cold, Soft and Hard, and Wet and Dry.  I haven't made a board for the wet/dry yet.  We mainly talk about that one in the sand box and at the dirt pile.  Sand is a good way to show wet and dry because sand will run out of your hand when it is dry and just sit there when it is wet.  Even though the kids already know pretty much when something is hot or cold I believe it teaches the differences in things and also defining words for objects.

For examples on the Soft/Dry board, we talked and came up with suggestions for each then looked for things that applied.  We found feathers from the geese outside and a got a rock from our collection. 

For the board on Hot and Cold, I resorted to the internet for pictures I could cut out.  I laid them all out and let each child look at them and choose which ones were hot and which ones were cold.  Then we glued them in to their proper places on the board.

For the board I used black card stock.  At first I used chalk to write but then decided there would be too much touching and smearing so I typed, printed and cut out words.  I also used cheap, certificate frames and took the glass out.  I hung them up and put some pretty good double faced tape behind them to secure them to the wall but they can also be moved later on.

 

four little wishes

 

 

four little wishes from buckets to fishes! 

These are items I plan on obtaining sometime before school lets out if all works out. 

 

1.  we have a tank and the accessories and will soon have a little friend swimming around!

 2.  awesome musical instrument collection here.  most of our we have hand made.

3.  summer time for the older kids should include barbie! 

4.  our sandbox definitely needs more buckets and shovels!

Book of the Week

Our book for this week is:

 

under GROUND

 

By: Denise Fleming

 

 

I really enjoyed this book as well as the kids.  The illustrations are done by the author and are created by pulp painting, a paper making technique.  I read through this book once, with interested eyes on it, and wound up laying the book on the floor for the children to get a really good look at the pages.  There was more to look at than read.  It showed things that are under ground and that was everything from moles to keys.  Made me want to go outside and dig!

 

Checked Out Rating: 9

 



Fantastic Five

 

 

Fantastic Five: art supplies we love!  These are items that we have made many, many crafts using and are items that we use the most.  Craft supply staples if you will! 

You can find them in craft stores and even Walmart which is where the paint brushes came from. 

Book of the Week

Our book of the week this week is:

 

The Little Fire Engine

 

By: Lois Lenski

 

 

So.  The Little Fire Engine is a good read, especially if you have a kid that is interested and has discovered fire engines and fire.  Which, to me, can be a good thing and a bad thing.  I like this book and the way the fire engine was described when going to an emergency of a house fire and hooking up the hose and where all the parts are on the fire engine.  All that was cool.  The part I didn't like so much was the actual putting out of the fire and the family going back in the house to get furniture as the picture showed flames coming out the windows and then the fireman telling them to move it all back in, the fire's out.  I know it is hard to explain reality to a child when it comes to the seriousness of fire.  Maybe I have a hard time tapping in to the innocent, child-like mind view of the "Yay" factor.  Maybe I get slightly thrown off at times.  It can, however, lead to other conversations to have with children about what you would do in case of a fire.  Still, the rating is theirs to give and they asked me to read it one more time after the initial reading.

 

Again, Again Rating: 6

 

 

Little Hats

We have a set of grocery type baskets in the playroom that are played with every day in many ways.  One of the ways they love to use them is on their heads, which is great until one gets stuck.  It really is a safe place to play folks. 

I had an idea to come up with hats for the kids to play with.  I used plastic bowls that whipped topping comes in.  I cut slits on two sides, strung a piece of elastic through and secured the elastic by sewing a button on each side.  Easy!  Then I let the kids decorate their hats with bits of construction paper and glue sticks.  It is so fun to listen to the games they play while wearing their hats from dirt bike rider to birthday party.  So fun and easy.

four little wishes

 

1.   2.   3.   4.

I have so much fun putting together my "Four Fanciful Things" blog posts for peppysis! I was thinking about our wish list here at the DC and thought... why not share what we are wishing for?!

They may be something you could get for your own child sometime that you might not have seen or thought of else wise or if you just want to... for US!  If you want to view the items that I found for sale online, please click on the corresponding number below the wishes.  Or if you are from around here and spot this kind of stuff at a yard sale or thrift give me a holler! 

Book of the Week

Our book of the week for this week is...

 

 

When Dinosaurs Go to School

 

By: Linda Martin

 

 

This is another book that the children have asked for multiple times during story time.  It is about a normal day of getting ready and going to school for your average dinosaur.  The pages are very colorful and full of action and illustrations of what is going on with each page read.  I could just see the kid's eyes dancing around the pages trying to take everything in before the page was turned. 

We have even gone back through the pages and I would ask them if they could find certain things like a clock, a flag or even spot the teacher.  It is funny that even at two and three year olds can spot the teacher in an instant.  It is a super cute book that these kids really enjoyed.

 

 

Again, Again Rating:  10

 

 

 



Story Time Guidelines

When I was a child, and in elementary school, I strongly remember sitting on the floor in the library as the librarian read books to us.  I'm not sure how often this actually happened in reality but in my mind it was a lot.  The librarian had a little spill that she would recite to us each time we sat down during story time to make sure she had our attention.  To this day I remember my friend Annemarie and I teasing to each other about the way she pronounced watching as wartching.  We giggled and giggled about that. 

 

Now, during story time each day, I find myself using the very same spill with the children.  It really does work.  It is like a little agreement when they first sit down that all eyes are on what is going on right in front of them.   The magic spill goes like this...

Are your hands in your lap?

Are your eyes watching?

Are your ears listening?

Are your mouths silent? (in a whisper)

 

And then the book can begin.  Little bodies are still.  Little pairs of eyes are focused on the book and the colorful pages unfolding as they listen to the story.  And most of all they are quiet so that everyone can listen to the story. 

 

I also add motion to the spill, pointing to my eyes, hand behind my ear, fingers move across my mouth in a zippy motion.  They actually love this part of story time and I catch them saying this to each other when one of them decides they are going to read to the others.  It is fantastic.