Thundercake !
Whew.. it was a REALLY busy day. That is what happens when I am determined to have a good day. What is that old saying ” an idle mind is the devils workshop ?” There was nothing idle about today. We were SO BUSY!
We started off our morning in small groups reading ” Thundercake.” ” Thundercake” is the story of a little girl who is staying with her grandma and a storm is coming . She is very afraid of storms so she hides under her bed. Grandma teachers her how to tell how far away the storm is. Do you remember how to do that from when you were a child ? Babushka told her that when she saw lightening to start counting and stop counting when she heard the thunder. Whatever number she got to is how many miles away the storm is. Babushka wanted to make a thunder cake before the storm arrived. She had her granddaughter finding all the ingredients including two special ingredients – tomato and strawberries.
While reading the story for sound effects I used my thunder tube. The kids loved it. It is used in group and trainings for drawing attention back to the speaker. I have never used it for that but it sure came in handy today when reading about thunder. The kids loved it.
Cooking with Ms Danielle is fun !
We didnt have all the ingredients for the thunder cake recipe in the book but as the morning went I felt so guilty. WHY read an exciting book about a thunder cake with special ingredients and not let the kids make it ? So, off Danielle went to the store. That was after she made sure I had a sifter. It was my moms , the old fashioned kind that you twist an handle back and forth. I had to train her how to use it. ( Our microwave is out . Yesterday she said ” but , how will I heat the corn up? ” ) After getting back from the store the kids helped Danielle cook a cake from SCRATCH! I am IMPRESSED ! They even used the special ingredients ! I wonder how a cake with tomato will taste ?
Another fun thing we did was talk about the rain and what would happen if we drew pictures with our markers and left them outside in the rain. Lets find out !
” A storm is coming ” is another fun book that we read today. It is about some animals on the farm . The farmer announces that a storm is coming and they think it is a visitor! This was another great opportunity to talk about storms and how to stay safe.
Outside was a lot of fun today. We haven’t had the paint outside during the winter but cranked it back up today. Lots of spring time fun going on in the yard.
When there is dirt and water available there will be mud. Perfect for dinosaur romping !
We finally got to do our puddle jumping. I showed the kids how to swing their arms to gain momentum to jump from one puddle to the next . ( Puddles AKA hula hoops and sorry for the visual of an old fat land trying to swing her arms and jump up. ) The goal was to land on two feet. Developing those gross motor skills and coordination is important. Here are some statistics that I have regarding the importance of helping your child develop gross ( large ) motor skills.
In addition to this, 60% of the identified students also have problems in areas such as: 1. speech 2. short attention span 3. poor listening 4. poor self concept 5. abnormal or unacceptable behavior 6. learning problems |
And we get to top off a wonderful day by eating the thundercake made by our very own hands!