Safety at the Sand Table

           Hey!  Guess what?!?  Being safe is cool.  That's right.  We follow the rules and we have tons of fun, dude.

           If you play in the sand, you need googles.  Otherwise you might get sand in your eyes and that is no fun.  Especially if your mom has to pick you up from school and take you to the doctor.  And you have to keep your eye shut because it burns to open it.

           Plus, at the Dollar Store, guess what?  Goggles are a dollar!  You can get like five or ten of them!  They are also good for baking soda play, pounding golf tees, cornstarch and shaving cream play.  Oh, yeah, and SWIMMING?  You name it.  Also, you can pretend you wear glasses even if you don't. 

           I hope you go out and get some goggles so you can be as cool as us!!!

Parent Lending Library

Over the years, we have had many parent libraries.  For the most part, the parent library has taken up valuable space an hasn't been utilized very much.

Using a rain gutter has been our most successful parent library display so far.  We were able to put it on the wall, so we didn't take up much needed shelf space.  The books are able to sit with the covers facing out.   This has encouraged much more browsing than when we had the spine facing out.

Finally, the shelf is small enough, that we have to change out the books once a month or more.  It changes ofter, thus encouraging more browsing by parents.

Communication has opened up with parents because of the lending library.  Several times in the last month, I have been asked if I had resources on certain topics like biting, and encouraging friendships.  I am so happy to find information for our parents.  I want to be their go to person!  I hope that our library gets lots and lots of use!

A Month of Child Care/Preschool Menues

I make this a simple task for myself.  First of all, we have the same 5 breakfasts and the same 5 snacks sometimes for weeks at a time.  This cycle breakfast is:
Monday:             Pancakes
Tuesday:             Banana Bread
Wednesday:        Cheerios
Thursday:            Waffles
Friday:                 Biscuits

For snack it is:
Monday:             Crackers and O.J
Tuesday:              Vegetable with Peanut Butter/Yogurt Dip
Wednesday:         Taco Chips w/ Salsa
Thursday:             Trail Mix with Milk
Friday:                  Quick Bread and Milk

The reason I don't list a fruit or vegetable with breadfast is because we belong to a food co-op called Bountiful Baskets.  I never know what surprises we will be serving until I pick up my basket.  It means that we always have a big variety and are always trying new things.  I just add them to the menu after I know what they are.

Here is our lunch cycle menu for the next three months.  We cycle every 28 days and this only shows during the week.  My family eats the same thing we serve to the child care.

Tator Tot Casserole
Chicken and Stuffing
Quesadillas with Pinto Beans
Ham and Potato Soup
Meatloaf
Sweet and Sour Meatballs
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
Chicken Enchiladas
Mac and Cheese (We use Butternut Squash and a little cheese)
Pancake Sausage Sandwich
Chili
Chicken Fettucine
Scallaped Potatoes with Ham
Grilled Cheese
Cheesy Mosticolli Bake
Beef Stew
Chicken Rice Casserole
Bean Burritoes
Sloppy Joes
Pork Roast

Crazy Preschool Science

I went to a super fun conference!  The author of Let Them Play,  Denita Dinger showed us so many fun ways to incorporate science into our play.  She also explained how much we want our preschoolers to use their pincher grips and showed us many ways they could do both at the same time!

This experiment was just using baking soda and colored vinegar.  To incorporate the pincher grip, give the children pipettes to drop vinegar solution into a cut off straw.  They can use as many colors as they want. 

 One of the things that I love about this activity is that it really keeps the children's interest for a long time. And when they are finished, it looks like a piece of art!

Wardrobe for Preschool

Our preschool had a really nice dresser to put our play clothes in.  The problem was that everything just got shoved in there at clean up time.  When we went to clean it out and organize the drawers, we found a lot of things that we had been searching for for a very long time!   

This project was fun, because it turned out cute and because I got to use TOOLS!!  The dresser had really nice rolling drawers.  In between each drawer was a wooden separator rod.  I took the hammer and did some damage!  After the drawers were removed (I saved them for another project down the road), I lined the dresser with shelf liner from the dollar store.  We had a shower curtain bar from I don't know where, so I put that in there.

 

We needed a way to organize all of the little things that are kept in our dress up center.  I was at a garage sale, and these cute little drawer organizers were 25 cents!!  I covered them with shelf paper, too.  Then I organized all of our different collections of dress up things.  I took these pictures and had them developed into wallet sized photos on Costco.com.  We taped them inside the drawers so that the children would know how to put everything away on their own.

 

What do you think?  The children hang up their own things to get manipulative experience.  They are really proud of themselves for keeping it neat and organized.  

 

Whoever You Are

Have you read the book "Whoever You Are" by Mem Fox?  It is a wonderful story about how even though children don't all look the same, they are all the same in the inside.  All over the world.  It is an inspirational book for children.

The children at our school enjoyed it so much, we decided to make a mural.  Now we can look up on the wall and remember we are all the same and we ALL have feelings.

We used a ceiling tile for our mural.  First we glued pieces of tissue paper all over except where we were going to paint our world.

 Then we began painting the world.  The children really liked this part!  We have parts on our world that no one has ever seen before!

I painted a bronze border around the entire tile.  Then we glitter glued sequins around it.  I took pictures of the children in our class and we glued them around our world.  The last thing we needed to add was a sun and a moon.  Now we have a fantastic permanent piece of art hanging in our math and science area.  It reminds us that we all have feelings.  That is a good reason to be kind to one another.

The children picked and glued where they wanted to be.

I admit, the sun and the moon were an after thought.  Our picture just didn't look right, so I referred back to the book.  Oh!  A sun

Alvin 04-5680 Crayola Ultimate Art Supplies Kit (Google Affiliate Ad)

This project took us several days.  We practiced cooperation and thoughtful respect.  I am looking forward to the next project that is so meaningful to our families and preschoolers!!

http://www.amazon.com/Whoever-You-Reading-Rainbow-Books/dp/0152060308/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357253226&sr=8-1&keywords=who+ever+you+are

Pizza!

I have never met a person who doesn't like pizza!  I like to serve my childcare and my family all homemade bread products (even noodles).  The thought of mixing the dough, letting it rise, rolling it out, and then baking it makes the thought of ordering pizza much more appealing.

I thought I would share you how to easily and conviently have pizza crush ready at any time!  My most favorite pizza crust recipe comes from  Tightwad Gazette II .  I mix up the recipe exactly how the way it says in the food processor EXCEPT I double it.  I take the dough out, divide it in half, and then guess what?  I put it in a small zip lock freezer bag and stick it in the freezer.  Then I repeat the process 4 more times so that I don't have to do it again until I've made 10 pizzas :)

When it is time for pizza, I pull one out, take it out of the bag put it on a plate and put a damp towel on it.  I put the plate in the microwave and cook for 5 minutes at 20 percent power.  I do this until the pizza crust is completely defrosted, making sure the towel stays damp.

It won't take as long if you set it out the meal before you are going to use it, but be sure to keep it covered with a damp towel or it will have dried out areas on it. 

Then you are ready to roll it out, put your favorite toppings on it, bake at 375 degrees until bubbly and cooked - 20 to 30 minutes.  Enjoy!