Another Manic… Wednesday
As Dallas was leaving today she said ” What is on the agenda tomorrow ????? Is it a normal day ? ” I laughed and said , “YES ! Tomorrow and tomorrow alone is a NORMAL DAY!” * ( Whatever a normal day in a classroom means. ) Monday was well…. like every Monday for the most part as we all get settled back into a routine. Tuesday and Wednesday I was out of the classroom a lot for conferences at Northside. Two hours doesnt sound like a long time but if you look at that in the scope of the time we have in the mornings for special activities and small groups it takes quite a chunk out of our day. We have been a lot of fun activities that are building stronger foundations for school readiness that are centered around Valentines Day this week but we have also still tried to do several of the WISE curriculum projects with food as well.
As the children came in they washed their hands and came upstairs to make their own berry smoothies.
( You can see the video I posted on facebook. )
Although it isnt something you eat there was another cooking experience later in the morning and the kids and Dallas made pink playdoh and colored it with raspberry jello.
For lunch today we had a green leaf salad that was topped with strawberries the kids sliced and cut up. They used plastic knives for safety and they loved it. Channing said ” Ms Debbie, this is like we are grown ups. ” Allowing children to do activities we might consider unsafe but minimizing the risk by modifying ( in this case plastic knives ) builds confidence .
In circle time we talked about the word strawberry and why we thought it has that name. Kaden came up with a good answer. He said ” yesterday you told us that the farmer covers up the berries when its cold with straw so maybe that is how.” I thought that was very insightful. How do you think a strawberry came to be called strawberry ?
We also talked about all the hearts we have cut and glued this week. I explained that inside your body is a heart that pumps blood and oxygen all over your body. We eat healthy food to help our heart stay healthy and working. In addition to good food we need to exercise. We all had fun touching our toes, jogging in place, doing push ups and sit-ups. We felt out heart beat faster after we exercised. ( On a side note I showed them a picture of our heart – a real picture. One of the little girls asked ” How does Jesus get in your heart if it looks like that? ” Another child remarked that maybe he flies up those little tubes that were on the bottom.” I didnt even know how to answer. Explaining to a child such a hard heavy concept is not only difficult but not a responsibility that I feel comfortable with at this age. I know that is term that is said a lot.. that we have Jesus in our heart but preschoolers are very literal thinkers. When we say that they picture a white guy with a beard and long hair sitting on a heart. This is just your heads up if this conversation comes up. I dont know what you should say. Perhaps you can just redirect their question like we do and move on to the next thing. :/ Good luck. )
And.. then we did a little science experiment. What will happen to conversation heart candy placed in room temperature water ? What is it is heated in the microwave ? What if we freeze it ? We recorded our answers today and we will finish up the activity tomorrow after the water with the candy has frozen.
We did get some play time in today but wow was it muddy.
Whew… two more days this week !