Good-Bye Miss Lisa!

Just a little good-bye slideshow to dedicate to such an amazing teacher Miss Lisa. She is so great with the toddlers, and an amazing co-worker to work with. I will miss her very much, I wish her many blessings in the future!

click the link

http://www.smilebox.com/playBlog/4e4451774e4459354e7a513d0d0a&blogview=true

Bright Colors!

This was by far in the top 5 for messy crafts that we have done. The paint felt like jelly and they had fun smearing it around on the slippery foil. It took many wet wipes for cleanup and I'm pretty sure they got most of it on me!

We have a track star in the future! 

I bought this on Amazon the other night and I have been excited to use it on a windy day. It was fun watching which ones were brave enough to run under it. 

Our Cutest Moments:

Fresh air makes us so sleepy!!!

This craft only cost me $2 at the Dollar Store, silly straws and felt paper. This activity lasted the toddlers a whole twenty minutes this morning! 

We are practicing staying together more, so what better way to stay together then walking with the "colored walking rope", we did have one runner that thought he could out run Miss Deb's running skills as you can see in the photo!

After we come in from outside we wash our hands. We took turns taking the younger toddlers to the bathroom to wash their hands in the sinks. 

After were done, we get to take turns taking a drink from the water fountain.

All this fresh air we can barley stay awake for story time or lunch these days and we haven't even reached swimming days yet...

Our Cutest Moments:

Colors Lesson Plan

Just want to thank all my parents for bringing me in special cards and gifts, it was so very thoughtful of all of you and it made my day a little brighter! My family got me Jeans and Shoes, just what I needed to be around my busy toddlers all day! I'm so sad that Lisa's last day is on Friday and she hasn't even had a chance to be in our classroom. She is such a good teacher and she will be very missed by me and the toddlers. 

I think my toddlers really liked the ice cream I brought in...

Our Cutest Moments:

This week we will be learning about Colors, here is the lesson plan!

Music & Movement (Self-Expression, Songs, Instruments-rattles & shakers)	Bible Songs with Miss Beth	The Color Song!	Singing ABC’s and counting with our fingers	Jumping/walking on bubble wrap barefoot	Music playing  dancing with colored scarves
Literacy & Language (Book titles or language activities)	Reading: Jam berry Bear	Introducing Color Flash Cards	Introducing  Color Shapes	Reading: Brown Bear, What Do you See?	Reading: Freight Train
Gross Motor Indoor & Outdoor (Toddler Games, Physical Coordination)	Playing in the gym Playing outside	Going for a walk outside holding onto colored rope	Colored Bean Bag Tossing	Parachute Play	Glow sticks in water sensory tub
Fine Motor (Manipulatives)	Pop Beads	Scribbling with markers	Gluing down tissue paper pieces	Ripping Paper	Wiffle Balls and Pipe Cleaners
Creative Experiences (Art and Sensory experiences)	Teacher’s Choice	Picking out a color to finger painting with	Tissue Paper Sea Horse	Mixing colors on foil paper	Color Bingo Dabbers

Crazy Weather!

I know I put spring weather down as my theme this week, but wow what crazy days we've had. First it sprinkles, then it rains, then downpouring, we got stuck in down pouring rain this morning while outside. This afternoon we took another chance to scribble with chalk outside before it started raining again. Good thing we still have our snow boots we may wear them to go stomping in puddles next week. Please keep bringing in a hat as some days it's still a bit windy outside. 

Who knew all we needed was to move the tables out of the way and strip them down to their diapers to get some silly dance moves.. this clip cracks me up, sorry it's kinda shakey. 

Our little dancing king!!!

We did water play inside yesterday afternoon with foam shapes and paint brushes. They loved sticking the shapes to each other's backs, legs and bellies. They were clean and so was my floor! 

We love coloring with chalk outside!!!

Our Cutest Moments:

April Newsletter and Spring Weather Lesson Plan

It takes me most of the day to write my newsletters, but in the end I enjoy doing it and printing them off to inform all of you what I do in my toddler classroom. 

Dear Families,

April is here, and along with it comes spring and April showers. Showers lead to beautiful flowers and green grass – fun colors, textures, and scents for our toddlers to experience. Spring provides us with lots of opportunities to explore, observe and talk. Our themes for this month include Eric Carle, Spring Weather, Baby Animals, Colors, and Bugs.  April 8^th is Miss Becky’s birthday, and I will be bringing in ice cream for our toddlers to enjoy for their afternoon snack. We will be saying goodbye to Miss Lisa as she is leaving us in a couple of weeks; we wish her many blessings as she embarks on her new life!

When the weather changes from the cold, blustery days of winter to the wild, unpredictable days of spring, the storms also begin to brew in our Toddler Room! Every child, from the youngest to the oldest begins to feel stronger and more confident in the spring of the year. They have all developed an amazing sense of awareness, aware of themselves and their world. Their development takes off with a bang! Most of our older toddlers have begun to use their language to express their social needs. We have heard our toddlers say “I don’t like that”. Our youngest toddlers are saying “No!” as well. Sometimes their emotions are so powerful that our toddlers still bite, slap, hit, or pinch. Although our toddlers are now responding by saying “No Hitting!” and “No biting!” etc. it is important to remember that using language to negotiate in a social situation is a sophisticated skill. The children are just now beginning to take their first steps. However, we have been very impressed with just how quickly our toddlers are learning social words or phrases to problem-solve.

Some new books we will be reading this month include “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle. The children will be exposed to colors and what different foods taste like. We will also be reading “Bees like Flowers” by Rebecca Bielawski and many baby animal books. Some finger plays we will do this month include 10 Little Bumblebees with finger puppets, I’m Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee, and Jesus Loves Me, with actions.

 Our activities this month will be exploring cold, wet, colored spaghetti noodles in the sensory tub during kitchen play and making contact paper butterflies and contact paper flowers. Both of these activities expose the children to decision making by allowing them to choose how many pieces of paper and what color flowers they want to add to their pictures. It also gives the teachers a chance to talk to the children about color recognition and counting skills as they watch the children create their art work. We will also be marble painting. This activity helps children develop their upper body strength and allows them to be independent. They will also be making glitter rain drops and finger paint umbrellas, as well as some cute hand and footprint art crafts!

Check out our blog for lots of fun pictures and activities! http://cookingandcuddling.blogspot.com

This week's lesson plan for April 4th through April 8th

Music & Movement (Self-Expression, Songs, Instruments-rattles & shakers)	Bible Songs with Miss Beth	I’m bringing home a baby bumble bee	Rain and Thunder White Noise Music	Mr. Sun Finger Play	Christian Radio playing
Literacy & Language (Book titles or language activities)	Reading: Bunny Eats Lunch	Reading: Jamberry!	Reading: Goodnight Moon	Reading: Duck and Goose	Reading: You are my Cupcake!
Gross Motor Indoor & Outdoor (Toddler Games, Physical Coordination)	Playing in the gym Playing outside	Kicking Soccer Balls	Duck Pond Water play with blue foam circles	Parachute goes up and down!	Building with magnet Shapes
Fine Motor (Manipulatives)	Pop Beads	Scribbling with chalk outside	Foam Shapes on the windows	Painting with a yellow using a paint brush	Scribbling with Markers and Crayons
Creative Experiences (Art and Sensory experiences)	Teacher’s Choice	Handprint Kite	Blue Paint and Cotton Balls	Tracing Hands	Bingo Dabbing a Flower Coloring Sheet