If You Give a Moose a Muffin
Whew we are back from Little Rock and we hit the floor running this morning.
This week we are talking about Health and Nutrition. What better story to read than ” If you Give a Mouse a Muffin. ” This is called a circle story because the story line goes in a huge circle. If you have heard the term, chase a squirrel , that is what this story does. Chandler dressed up as a little chef and sat next to me to help me read the story to his friends.
We also sorted a large basket of foods. We sorted them into four groups. We found bread, meat , fruits and vegetables. Some of the foods brought up great conversations of what is healthy and what is not . We had a plastic toy of McDonalds french fries. I said ” Where do french fries come from ?” And you know it.. the all yelled Mc Donalds ! 🙂
We also tasted veggies that are good for dipping and graphed who liked which ones. We had broccolli , cauliflower, cucumbers and carrots and of course ranch dressing . We also taste tested white , chocolate and strawberry milk . We introduced tally marks as a way to count how many people liked each kind. Can you believe the strawberry milk was not pink ? That was a little confusing .
When the children are allowed to have loose parts play magical things happen. Math lessons appear where they are not planned. Look at this ABC ABC ABC pattern. Smart kiddos !
As we talked after our meeting about the things that each child needs from us Chapman came to mind. He loves to lead and be in charge. We decided giving him a special classroom job might be just what he needs. Today Chapman started being the kindness reporter . When Chapman sees one of his friends being kind to someone else, he will let us know and we will write it together on a post it note and post it on the tree. We are taught in conscious discipline that you get more of what you are looking for so if we look for kindness instead of the not so kind acts through out the day we will begin to see kindness grow. Chapman did a great job as the kindness reporter today.
It was a busy day back. The children all seemed to miss us and we missed them. One of the dads ( Nathan, cough ) made a comment this morning about me being at work more than three days in a row. I know he was teasing but also know some of you may wonder . I know it does seem that I have been out a lot but please know they have all been necessary. I have three more times this morning that I am scheduled in Little Rock but I plan to cancel one. Going to LIttle Rock three times in a 5 day period does not sound fun and… it is for a committee meeting that will meet all year., one absence will not make a difference. The other times I am gone I am learning or advocating . The learning is important. When I feel like I have learned all I can.. it is time for me to retire. Trainings keep me motivated to grow and do better and keeps me on top of current education trends. The meetings are important as well. The next meeting I will attend will be a Kindergarten Readiness Summit . There will be several people at a table from Siloam and we will discuss what will make that transition from preschool to kindergarten easier. We will talk about how we can all work together to improve early care in our town. I am very excited and it is a privilege to be a part of such exciting things happening in Arkansas. I am involved in a lot, I know. I do try to pick and choose my battles and my battle ground but some things protect the way I do preschool and the way your children are educated so it is important and beneficial for me to be ” at the table.” Thanks for understanding.