Mud, Glorious Mud!

 I meant to post this yesterday, but my day was busy and it got away from me and only when I was on my way to Windsor to take our son to a hockey game last night did I remember.  Better late than never I think is going to be my new motto!

 Yesterday, I got to go to playground and it was so much fun to watch the children.  Not only did I get to see the amazing mud play unfold but I got to watch the tender relationships that have evolved between some of the children.

I know your child's gear is a write off at the end of the day these days but know this, they are having the most marvelous time making soup, mud pies and well just plan old fashioned fun.

Happy Weekend!

Wide Eye Wonder

 Enough said Right?  How cute is the miss in the pink Tutu dress adjusting things?  The space play area is so well used.  It really does make me think.....what should we do next?

Rocket and Roll

 Ms. Stephanie came up with this fantastic game that we  have on the shelf right now.  The children roll the die and match the felt shape to the correct spot on the rocket.  We have noticed that this game gets played alot and and it is a great first introduction into game playing.   In my house, we've started to make an effort to play board games with our youngest and we played a lot during the Christmas holidays.  I must say it brings out the best, worst and the crazies in all of us.  I can't remember a time when I laughed more.  There are great lessons to learn in turn taking, patience and consideration.  Take some time to get into a board game with your child.  It is a great way to connect and laugh ALOT!!

Things have gotten Spacey

 Things have gotten spacey around here for sure and I don't just mean me!  We have shifted away from love and hearts and moved onto Space.  We been planning this for some time and Ms. Melanie and I were at the school very late last night setting things up.  It always feels like Christmas when we watch the children enter the classroom and see a new theme set up.  For us, it's the anticipation and the children never disappoint.  The excitement is contagious and everyone is engrossed and settled into new work again.

 We hung this model of the Solar system above our imaginative play area that has many spaceships, moon rocks and astronauts.  It is a very fun and starry place to stop and play for a few minutes during the day.

 I ordered this book a while ago and we presented it to the children today. It has sounds and beautiful pop up pictures.  I said it is a book to look at with a teacher and that it is very fragile (it already has a few rips).   It was ordered at Chapters.

Of course we couldn't help ourselves, and we continued the theme at the art table.  So much color and so much fun.

A peek at the week...

 Just popping in to wish you Light and Love as we head into this weekend.  Yes, I am in weekend mode already!  I'm out for a few days enjoying some down time with my sister and nephew.  Take some time to really appreciate those moments this weekend with your children.

Different kinds of Families

Since the holiday break, we have been learning about instrument families in music class.  We began with the percussion instruments, which the children will tell you is any instrument which is shaken or tapped to make music.  We have also learned about wind instruments (which we sometimes call "blowing" instruments) and we will soon move to the stringed instrument family.

With this unit there is a great deal of focused listening, which sharpens auditory skills to discern subtle differences in the sounds, in this case the timbres and pitches, of what we hear.  For example, we have been listening to Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, the percussion variation.  The children learned to distinguish between the eight percussion instruments they heard: drums, glockenspiel, triangle, woodblock, tambourine, clacker, whip and cymbal.

Other orchestral pieces we use to learn about instrument families are Saint-Saens  Carnival of the Animals and Prokofieff's  Peter and the Wolf.  There are also lots of instrument demonstrations these days, including recorder, trumpet, violin, cello, and lots of percussion.  So if your child suddenly develops an intense interest in the piccolo, you'll know why!  ~Ms. Susanne

Love is in the Air and our Classroom

 There is all kinds of valentine making going on today.  So much glue and glitter really sets my heart a flutter!  I LOVE this time of the year.  The children are excited almost as much as Christmas.  The thought of making and giving a token of ones affection is so much fun.

 For our part, we've designed a few different ways in which the children can create and give either to a friend in our extended family at Maple Tree or a loved one at home.  We will be setting up our mail box tomorrow to receive our cards and notes to be shared on February 14th.  We are choosing to have each child make one valentine and place it in our mailbox and each one will get one valentine in return from the mail box.  I love how this works and how special a project this has become.  Not to mention how much easier it is over sorting valentines for all our children at the school.  Less is definitely more!

February Give Away.....

These are two fantastic books that inspire outside play and activities.  Given that we are dealing with more mud then snow I thought it was a good time to pull these out of my stash.  I haven't decided to whether to give these away as one or two gifts.  So we shall see at the end of the month!