Joy of Trust & Confidence Day 1

Today we started with everyone saying one thing they are particularly good at. Kai said he is good at Karate; Joseph said he is good at Robots; Emily said she is good at drawing princesses; and, Grant and Isabel both said they were good at puzzles. We missed Eve (but, like the others, we're sure she's good at lots of things). They all then drew pictures in their journals of the things they are good at. Afterwards, we talked about not being afraid to try things we have never done before and that we can practice things and get better at them. To go along with this discussion, we read "Seven Diving Ducks" a story about seven ducklings, six of which jump right in and learn to swim and dive easily, while the seventh has trouble because he is afraid. With practice the seventh duckling learns to swim and dive as easily as his siblings. Everyone seemed to like the story.

We then did outside freeplay which involved several skills games for them each to practice. We practiced shooting baskets, ringtoss, beanbag toss and walking a straight line, toe to heel. All the children tried all the games and understood that they didn't have to be perfect the first time they tried, but that with practice they could get better.






















After freeplay, we had snack time which involved trying news foods. All the children were really great about trying the foods. We had kiwi, sunflower seeds (also for our letter S), chocolate covered sunflower seeds, and blood oranges. Joseph was the only one who tried (and liked) all the foods. Emily is the one one who already knew what Kiwi was and didn't want to try it again because she said she didn't like it the first time. Everyone liked the blood oranges and the sunflower seeds.















The final part of our fun first day was reading "The Little Engine That Could" which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. We finished with painting little wooden trains to remind the children that they shouldn't give up if something seems hard and that if they try their best they can accomplish great, seemingly impossible tasks just like the little engine.

Barkworks Puppy Store

The Joy of Spontaneous Delight--Day 3

Kai brought the share today--pirates. There were enough for the kids to each hold a different one. After practicing writing the letter Q, singing some fun songs and reading some silly stories, we went in the kitchen for snack. I brought the popcorn popper right down on the table, and the kids were "delighted" watching it all pop in front of them. They loved the snack, and even had to pop a second batch which they devoured as well. After outside playtime, they came into the living room to see a giant present in the middle of the room. They all sat like angels so they could be chosen to unwrap it. Grant unwrapped the box, but inside it was another wrapped box, and so on until all of the children had a turn to unwrap a box. Eve unwrapped the last box to reaveal a small treat for everyone. We then used the biggest box to play "Jack in the Box". Each kid got a turn to "pop" out of the box after we all sang "Pop Goes the Weasel". I could tell they loved it. We then talked about the delighted feeling we have whenever we see a rainbow in the sky, and then made a rainbow craft before everyone went home. It was so fun to see so many happy smiles during this unit with our activities that brought on "Spontaneous Delight"!

The Joy of Spontaneous Delight--Day 2

Today we focused on a President's Day theme (since the curriculum only had 2 days planned for this unit, we had time to spare). We sang a Singin' Smart song naming all of the US Presidents, then sang "Old Abe Lincoln". We then read "Duck for President" (same author and characters as "Giggle, Giggle, Quack"). We talked about George Washington's legend of the cherry tree before eating cherry flavored jello for snack. To go with Spontaneous Delight, we mixed baking soda with vinegar, using 6 cups each with a different color hidden in the baking soda. The kids squealed with "delight" watching them all fizz up. The kids loved making little Abe Lincoln log cabins. I could tell it was very on their level as they were so engaged the whole time and didn't need much help.

Joy of Spontaneous Delight--Day 1

We jumped right into the Spontaneous Delight unit by blowing up and playing with balloons. Everyone had their own balloon and it was a party! Isabel brought the share today--a scary dragon. We practiced writing the letter P on the chalkboards and then Joy Boy came to visit and introduce our unit. We sang, "If you're happy and you know it" accompanied by our great little instruments. After reading "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" and "Things that are Most in the World" we had a fun snack of chocolate covered valentine pretzels. We blew bubbles during playtime. We then read Grandpa's Farm story activity for the lesson, and did more letter P practice. For the craft we finger-painted with shaving cream along with a few drops of red food coloring to swirl around. The kids loved getting all messy and creating their own designs. I wasn't quite brave enough to follow the lesson's suggestion to do it with our feet! We sprinkled red glitter on top so we can cut them into Valentine hearts after drying. We then wrote in our journals before leaving--the letter P and a picture of what we did today. A fun day with the kids!

Valentine Party!