Quincy on the Run

Q is loving the girls on the run program! I was early for pickup and caught this cute pic of her (left, pink) 

Quincy has really come along as a runner!  I was a bit surprised to see her cruising along the track so comfortably. She is loving every minute of GOTR and is really happy to be signed up for the program. Great work runner girl! 

Young Learners: Apples

I created a new preschool unit, this week, that I've never done before. Apple week was a success! Here is some of the apple fun we had. 

Sensory: Apple taste test

We sampled red, yellow, and green apples. Which one is your favorite? 

Math: favorites chart. Our class likes red apples best and yellow apples least. 

Math: Apple sort. I bought a set of sorting apples and we categorized them by color, then by size, then by characteristics (stem, leaf, worm). 

Dramatic Play: Apple Pie bakery! The kids had aprons and whisks, oven mitts, a kitchen, and wooden sliceable apples to fill Melissa and Doug apple pies with. Delicious! 

Motor Skills: cranking out some apple spirals in the apple peeler slicer corer. This was great fun. 

Cooking: homemade applesauce 

I provided potato mashers and they smashed those spirals to smithereens. We put them in a pot on a hot plate, added some sugar and cinnamon, and had a hot apple snack. 

Science: Apple growth cycle. We read "I am an Apple" and followed the apple from seed to blossom to yummy fruit. 

History: who was Johnny Appleseed? 

Silly Mrs Meg wore a pot on her head and we read about Johnathan Chapman and his contribution to American pioneers. 

Literature: Ten Apples Up On Top by Dr Seuss

After reading this fun book, I traced each of the children on butcher paper. How cute is Soren's curly haired silhouette?!  

Then, they counted out ten apples each and glued them on their own heads, shoulders, and fingertips, just like the silly animals in the book! 

Women's General Broadcast

LDS General Conference is here! The bi-annual women's broadcast was last night. I wrote down a lot of personal notes, but I wanted to share a few favorite parts of the broadcast.  Jean Bingham spoke about charity. Cause and effect is a concept that speaks very clearly to me. I liked how her explanation that found hope and strengthened faith are natural results for both givers and receivers of charity. I have experienced this many times and know it to be true.  

Carole Stephens spoke of Living Water, Light, and likened the Atonement to medicine with the power to relieve, heal, and comfort us from pain caused by sin, others, and mortality. 

 I really loved Bonnie Oscarson's choice of words as she calls on women to "inoculate" children against the threats of the adversary and learn to detect deception. The world has a buffet of lies offered for women to believe. I appreciate the trust Sister Oscarson's has in women of Faith to build testimonies and become a force for good that will speak louder than the world. 

I felt the Spirit as Deiter Uchtdorf spoke about what faith can and cannot do and received an answer to act on a pending decision I have hesitated to make.  

I loved singing I Believe In Christ with millions of women, worldwide, including my mom and daughters sitting beside me. Quincy sang her heart out. 

 Here we are at our last minute "fancy dinner" at Popeye's chicken. It was just the reset button that we all needed.

Twilight Bike Ride

I haven't been out for a run since Labor Day and I can feel it as my sanity starts to go. Tonight, I had just exactly 1 hour of daylight between dinner and bedtime. Reese and I loaded up a couple of bikes a did a quick 4+ miles over at the lake. We found a dozen Bella Vista rocks along the way!   Every trip to the lake is now a treasure hunt. This Indian Summer we're having is hot and humid and we are too bogged down with commitments to fully enjoy it. Tonight, I just needed to move  my body and Reese was excellent company. Bike rides are the new date of choice for one on one time with mom.  If only the daylight would stay up with us for another month! 

Surrender the Booty!

What do you do when Talk Like a Oirste Day is on a Monday. You get 9 dozen free Krispy Kreme donuts for family night. 

Looking fierce, grandpa. 

Ahoy, Matey! Reese sent me ages pirate joke texts today. They made my day. 

Shiver me timbers! 

Lady was a good sport and wore the wig. I tried to talk her into a temporary tattoo of the Jolly Roger on her cleavage, but she is a classy pirate lass and declined my totally awesome offer. She rocked the wig though!  

We shared our bounteous treasure with the neighbors and the rest will go to the youth at the church tomorrow night. 

Nine. Dozen. Donuts. Yar!!!!

Reese on the Run

Wow! Girls on the Run IS so much fun! Reese got to meet Dominique Scott (Rio 2016 Olympian and Razorback distance runner at her practice today! Go runner girls! 

Young Learners: I Live in a House

Literature: The Three Little Pigs, The House that Jack Built, The Best Nest, Where Do I Live?, Maisy's House

Dramatic Play: I pulled out the big 3 Little Pig house backdrops that I painted years ago. They still provide so much fun with this unit every year. I failed to take a single picture of them, but there are pics of them from past years on the blog, so good enough ;)

I also had a flannel board story of the 3 Little Pigs. Can you believe only 1 out of 6 children recognized the story? They were horrified that the big bad wolf would eat the big, or destroy his home. Kids books are too soft, these days! Haha Gotta pull out the classics for a bad guy--especially one that meets his demise in a pot in the fireplace at the end of the book!  

 

H is for Handy men and women. They hammered, sawed, screwed, painted, measured, painted and fixed everything in our classroom today! The toy tool collection seems to grow every year. I need to invest in a little workbench.

H is for House

We build a town of log cabins 

Music: The House that Jack Built, My Hat Has 3 Corners

Fine Motor: house stencils

Fine Motor: House Puzzles. The children match mother animals with their babies and homes. For example, mama rabbit with baby bunnies in a bunny hutch. 

Math: Doghouse Pattern Bingo

This was a fun group activity. It's like a combo of tic tac toe and bingo. The children draw cards with a color, pattern, or shape on them, and then place a dog on their sheet (with 9 doghouse so it, each sporting different colors, patterns, and shape tags on them). Three doghouses in a row wins!

Snack: before we loaded up the plates with banana circles and more pretzels, the kids made a letter H with pretzel sticks. 

Art: painting birdhouses. I have a puppet set of birds and a wooden birdhouse for when we read The Best Nest by P.D. Eastman. The kids painted their own "best nests" and I interviewed each totall me about where they live for the class book.