Letter H Obstacle Course

During letter H week we had a blast doing a letter H themed obstacle course. They did a hopscotch, hulahoop, hopped across some bases, ran around the tree, and hit the ball.

. . . hopsotch

. . . hulahoop . . . hopping . . . hit

E is for Emotions

When you work with children you aren't just teaching them academics. You are helping them learn how to be a human being that is part of a community. For my kids, our community is our classroom and hopefully the things they are learning in class will go with them out into the world.

     Talking about emotions is kind of a big deal with 3, 4, and 5 year olds. It's pretty obvious that controlling emotions isn't necessarily their strong suit and that's where we come in. When talking to little ones about emotions there are some important truths to help them understand.

1. Feeling emotions is totally normal. Everyone feels sad sometimes, everyone feels angry sometimes, it is normal.

2. Recognizing how you are feeling is a huge deal. As adults, we can teach our kids empathy when we help them see that we recognize how they are feeling and help them through it. My son Brandon was crying during carpet time. So we stopped to talk about it as a class. Why are you crying? "We put away his blocks when it was time to clean up and he wasn't done." Did you know we would clean up even if he wasn't done? "Yes" I asked the other kids, what are things you do when you are feeling sad to cheer yourself up? Madden sang a cute song about taking 4 deep breaths. Jaxon said he goes to his room to cry and then comes out to play when he's done. I said I like to get hugs or sometimes listen to music. Then we asked Brandon if he has a favorite song we could sing to cheer him up. So we rocked out to Dr. Jean's "Bear Hunt" and he felt better.

2. What we do when we are feeling those emotions is important. Yes we feel angry, but is hitting someone okay? Nope. Is there something you can do to help you calm down? Take deep breaths, run around outside, kick a soccer ball outside, talk to a friend . . . This is our job, to give them tools to keep in their tool belt that they can pull out when they are struggling.

      One of my kids especially struggles with keeping her emotions in check. So we have worked on putting tools her tool belt.  When she is upset I can use key words to talk to her about choosing a strategy to help her through those hard times. Here's what we talk about - balloon breaths (breath in deep, puff out your cheeks and blow the air out slowly like you are blowing up a balloon), belly breaths (breathing deeply and slowly so your belly goes in and out - in the nose and out the mouth), get a hug (it's usually a pretty long hug), lay in bed and snuggle your favorite stuffed animal, put on headphones and listen to music (we have a kid friendly mp3 player with a playlist on it of their favorite, appropriate songs. This one is HUGE for kids who can get out of control. On a side note, this also helps get them going on doing their chores too), are we being flexible, are we trusting mom that everything will be okay, or read a book. It's not perfect and we have been working on it for years, adding new strategies to fit her age, but it has helped improve the melt downs and stress.

  We spent some time in class talking about emotions. We discussed what emotions are. We listed different kinds of emotions. We read Today I Feel Silly by Jamie Lee Curtis.

Then we used my new favorite activity to explore emotions more deeply. I found this amazing make a face toy at Mr.Printables.com. We took turns making our face show different emotions. First I made a few faces and the kids talked about what emotion they are seeing. Then, we had two friends come up. One friend made a face and the other friend changed the paper face to match. It was really fun and a really great way to explore our emotions.

He couldn't quite do mad without smiling. 

You should definitely give it a try. It might just be so much fun that you find a single tear of joy rolling down your face. Have a great afternoon! 

"A Lesson in Cheering Yourself Up"

 I'm sure you've seen these calm down jars floating around the internet. They are mesmerizing. They can be a great tool in helping kids learn about regulating their emotions and taking time to be calm when they are feeling upset. 

We decided to try them out and as we were working, I realized that I have never shared one of my most favorite books on here. I seriously can't believe I haven't shared this book and I literally have butterflies in my stomach because I am so excited to tell you about it. One of my third graders got this book for me from the book fair when I was teaching 3rd grade and it is the best. Okay, are you ready? Eek, I'm stoked. Okay here it is:

The Blue Day Book for Kids by Bradley Trevor Greive

The book goes through what it might feel like to have a rough day and uses the most incredible animal pictures that are sweet, funny, and touching all at the same time. For example:

And then it invites the readers to turn a blue day into a new day and offer strategies for cheering yourself up. Like:

Another fun thing about this book? There's a grown up version too! 
So, you have to go check out this book ( maybe the one for adults too) and after you read it with one of the little people that you love, maybe hop over to Momma Owl's Lab for instructions on how to make a calming down jar. The thing that makes her site better than all the rest is that she tells you about the science behind it at the bottom and that is beyond cool. So make sure to read that part too. 

Okay. You totally have to tell me what you think of the book. Isn't it the best?!



Have an amazing summer and I may or may not see you again before the fall. ;)

Y is for Yoga

As part of our letter Y activities, we had an awesome guest helper. Tessa's mom came and taught the kids a few yoga stretches and poses. The kids had fun exploring the way their body moves and trying new things. Thank you so much Kimi!!

I am in no way a yogi, I'm more of a soccer girl myself, but I love the movement and calming breaths that accompany yoga. I think we forget to breath deeply too often. I remember a friend giving me some advice about meditation and it suggested you have a mantra that you focus on as you are breathing deeply. Mine is "believe in miracles." There's a long backstory about postpartum depression and other such issues that accompany it, but it helps me focus and calm. My challenge for all you amazing people who work with your littles is to breath deeply today. Those sweet little ones will eventually grow up and this can be a fun time if we master the art of calm and breathing. (Don't worry, I'm giving this advice to myself as well.)

Check out some of the fun stuff we did in the video below. (Sorry the angle is a little weird, but you have to work with what you've got.)

Grocery Shopping with Kids

I don't know about you, but grocery shopping is not my favorite time of the week. I am in love with those car carts that hold multiple children - greatest idea ever! However, the store we frequent doesn't have them. :( Hence, our shopping trip success greatly depends on what kind of mood my preschooler is in since she usually walks next to the cart while my toddler rides.

So, to make things a little more smooth, I hired my own personal shopper. She's really cute and is about 3 feet tall and she likes to call me mom. 

I made a list of what we are going to buy and then we looked in the weekly ad for our store to find pictures of some of the items. My personal shopper cut out the pictures and glued them onto a paper. While we were shopping, she looked for the items we needed. Then she crossed them off when we put them in the cart. 

It was a win - win. We talked about numbers and letters while we shopped. She had fun looking on the shelves for the things we needed. My preschooler was more engaged and I was able to take something mundane and turn it into a game where we were playing together and she was learning. Plus she was focused on the things on her list instead of asking for the hundred other things she usually wants and asks for during the trip. Instead, I just asked her if it was on the list. When it wasn't, she was okay with that.  So the next time you have to go shopping with your kids, just hire your own personal shopper to help get the job done!

Captain Band-aid to the Rescue!

     

    We all know how much a scrap or injury can rock the world of our little preschoolers. It becomes something that they tell to friends and sometimes strangers because the world needs to know of the injustice they experienced. 

   Talking about their injuries can be an important part of their healing process, but it can also help with preparation for other injuries that might occur. This is especially true when preschoolers are getting ready for their kindergarten shots. Shots can cause trepidation for our little ones, but we can help them feel comforted.

    Of course, we all know that there is a magic solution to any injury. . . captain band-aid. The band-aid possesses powers of comfort that have baffled many a mother. Just the application of it can stop tears and make any child feel brave. 

    We made captain band-aid art and told stories of a time we got hurt for an activity during letter O week. 

 

It's an easy and fun project. Each child creates a person out of a band-aid on the paper and then shares a story of when they had to get a band-aid to help them when they were hurt.  Have fun!

J is for Jumprope

For any of you out there who was once an 8 year old, or has an 8 year old at home, this post is for you because it is a walk down memory lane!

 

 We had fun jump-roping for letter J week. 

Now sometimes, preschoolers aren't the most coordinated group. So instead of doing over the head jump roping, I just swung it back and forth and Anya jumped over it. The rope never got much higher than her knees.

We had fun singing jump rope songs . . . Cinderella, dressed in yella, went upstairs to kiss a fella . . . It was so much fun to try to remember the ones I used to sing in elementary school. Oh the memories!

We had fun counting how many times she could jump over the rope. 

Then we ended with the jump rope snake game. Put the rope on the ground and wiggle it like a snake and try to jump over it without it touching you. 

If you are a solo act (like me) without someone to hold the other end of the rope, just tie it to a table leg and then you only need one person to turn the rope.

Bone X-Rays

As part of our discussion about broken bones and casts we discussed getting an x-ray. We read a great Franklin book (Franklin Goes to the Hospital) about getting x-rays and being brave at the doctor's office. We looked at real pictures of broken bones in the bones books we got from the library. Then we made x-ray pictures. 

We used white glue and q-tips to make our x-ray pictures. Thanks to pinterest for a fun idea!

Broken Bones & Casts

We had a sad thing happen this week. One of our baby dolls broke her foot. : ( So Doctor Emma helped us fix her up with a cast so she could heal. Luckily, she is being brave and letting mommy take care of her while she recovers. 

The girls had fun playing doctor (despite the fact that we don't have any doctor dress up stuff. I think we might have to remedy that pretty soon). When it was determined that baby would have to get a cast, we went right to work. 

We used paper mache and paint to create our pretend cast. It was pretty fun and it was actually pretty easy. Here's the step by step in case you are ever unfortunate enough to have your baby doll break their foot. 

Here's What You Need:

• plastic doll
• saran wrap
• newspaper
• white glue 
• water
• paint

Here's What You Do:

1. Make sure you are using a plastic doll in case the paint or paper mache gets onto the leg or foot. Cover the area with saran wrap to prevent the newspaper from bleeding onto the doll.

2. Cut your newspaper into small strips.

3. Mix  water into the glue so it's about a 3:1 ratio. I didn't measure, just added it until it looked good. Then dip the newspaper into the mixture. Carefully pinch out any extra moisture by running the strip between two of your fingers. Then wrap around the leg. Repeat until the whole area is covered.

4. After it has dried for a day or two, paint the cast.  - We did two coats. 

Hopefully, your baby will recover quickly! When it's time to cut the cast off, just use a pair of scissors.

B is for Bones - An Object Lesson

 We decided to study our bones for letter B week. Most kids don't understand what their bones are for. Here is a simple object lesson to teach what our bones are for.

Here's What You Need:

• Cut out of a human body on plain printer paper
• Popsicle sticks or skinny sticks (found by the popsicle sticks)
• Tape

Here's What You Do:

1. Discuss what different parts of our body are for: eyes - to see, ears - to hear, stomach - to hold food, mouth - to talk and eat, etc.

Ask  - What are our bones for?

2. Show the body cut out and ask the kids if it can stand up by itself.

Explain that this is what our body would be like if we didn't have bones. Bones help us have shape. They are like the frame for a house.

3. Tape popsicle sticks to the body cut out  - give it some bones - and then see if it can stand up.

What would we be without our bones? A puddle on the floor!

V is for Veggies

Letter V week is my favorite week of the year! Yes, we make volcanoes, and that is a lot of fun. But, it's my favorite because we have our vegetable taste testing day and I love watching the kiddoes eat veggies! Am I weird for saying that?

Each year we read the book Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens then we have a vegetable taste testing party. Here are the veggies - cucumber, cauliflower, broccoli, celery, carrots, and snap peas. (I peel the cucumber and par boil the broccoli and cauliflower.)

 

The kids graph the results of which vegetables the class likes. Each kid tries one bite, then decides if they like it. I was so proud because even my really picky eaters were willing to try a small bite of each. I know it took a lot of bravery for some of them and they did amazing! 

For my younger class, we made a graph together as a group. 

For my older class, they graphed the information on their own paper. 

It cracks me up because most of the kids will eat the vegetable for me in class and then when they go home, they won't. One of the kids even told his mom that he likes veggies now, but only Miss Laura's. (Big smile.)