Travel Tots!

I'm excited to let everyone know that Travel Tots will be back next month..... The kids have missed their travel adventures, and we will be getting a new teacher. Travel Tots will be starting up September 9. (9:00 - 10:00).

I do have them scheduled to come once a week, and the additional cost for the other weeks, I will cover. The cost will still be the same $5.00 per child, per session. (Parents will cover 2 sessions a month). Please add $10.00 a month, per child to your 1st months check. Thank you.... I know the kids will be excited....
Jean :)

Parent Aware Video Shoot

We had the Parent Aware video shoot today, and I think it went great.... The kids were perfect.... :)
We got done at 12:00. Kids go to nap at that time, so after lunch they got down late, but they were still troopers having their schedule messed with.... :)
I will find out in 3 weeks, when they get the video done, what they all used. They said I could either come to a screening of the video or they could come out and show it. I think I would like that so the kids can see themselves. I will also get a copy....
Now to relax because I stressed about it all week. :)

Painting with Chalk

We had a fun time this morning painting with chalk. First we has to break the chalk up. We did this by putting it into baggies and using our hammers from the wood center, we mashed them up... We then poured the chalk pieces into a bowl, added water and mixed it like a cake.

We had so much fun, and when we got done, lean up was so easy.

We also ran around and left our footprints all over.

We're looking for different ways to paint... :)

Messy Fun

I'm adding an art center outside in the playyard. One of the new items are the easels. There are 3 of them. I put shaving cream on them this afternoon and let the boys "paint" the easel with their hands. They practiced writing some letters also.

Clean up wasn't too bad. I had to spray them down with the hose, but they stayed pretty dry considering.

I'll be adding some play doh, real paints, and some other items. Next time I would like to bring out the food coloring for when we do shaving cream. I think they would love to see how the colors change.

Underwater Adventures

Underwater Adventures was a big hit with both the children and the adults that attended. The children started out learning about some of the different animals that lived under the sea. After their learning session, they got to go to 6 different stations scattered around a part of the play yard. There were books and puppets, flannel board with different animals, cards and plastic sea animals to match, and more.... The favorite center was where the baby shark, starfish and crab were. How fun to touch the sea creatures.... :)
I say it was a successful adventure and we didn't even get wet.. :)

I love my cement slab... :)

I use it for so much... :)
Today I drew squares wit hthe letter sof the alphabet scattered. They got to throw a bean bag and whatever letter it landed on, they got to go stand on the letter - say what letter it was and give us a word that started with that letter. They played for over 30 minutes. I was surprised...
I also had them giving me several words per letter. I have such smart kids. :)

Car Wash

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Wood Center

We checked out our wood center today with the hammer, nails and other tools. Even Wyatt got into the act with his little red hammer. Mason ended up making a dragonfly, and the others just got into the hang of pounding real nails into wood. I say the wood center was a big hit.

I love the addition of the Home Depot aprons that Home Depot in Maplewood donated.... :)

I will load all pictures on Photobucket and let you know when they are added.

Underwater World

I am very excited to let you know that Underwater Adventures from Mall of America will be coming to Treasures of the Heart Preschool and Child Care on Friday July 10. They will come from 3:00 - 4:00 in the afternoon.

Each child that attends will also receive a come-back coupon to go visit Underwater World at Mall of America, and receive free admission

Below is a description of the adventure we will be taking.... :)

Sort Out the Sea

From the clownfish in the coral reef to the sharks in the open ocean, help us sort out the faces and places you can find in the sea! In this class, students will understand that there are different places in the ocean where animals can be found, they will know animals that live in each of the places in the ocean, and they will match sea animals to their homes using felt boards. Students will touch stingray tails and jaws, shark fins, jaws, and skin, and sea turtle shells. Students will also have the opportunity to touch live animals!

Learning About Why We have 4th of July. :)

This morning we talked about why we celebrate the 4th of July. We are celebrating the birthday of the United States, where we live.

Micah and Mason made sure we knew that their birthdays are in July also.....

We did a color sheet and we also colored a flag.

We used the flag while we did the song below. We took turns marching while singing the song.

The children will bring the flags home on Thursday since I am closed on Friday. Ask them to sing the song for you and see if they remember. :)

Way Up in the Sky

(Sung to: "Row, Row, Row Your Boat")

Wave, wave, wave the flag.

Hold it very high.

Watch the colors gently wave.

Way up in the sky!

March, march, march around,

Hold the flag up high.

Wave, wave, wave the flag.

Way up in the sky.

The kids had a blast marching around!

Monday - August 29

We spend the lst 2 weeks doing some testing. I wanted to review and see what letters, colors, numbers and shapes the children knew plus some other things. The kids are doing awesome I'm excited to say...

Today we spend the morning making 4h of July t-shirts. They turned out awesome...

~Testing~

We're spending that next week or 2 on testing and evaluating. I like to find out every 6 months or so where the kids are with their ABC's, etc. I will give you the results of your child's process when I am done.
We have also been spending every free minute outside, enjoying the cool weather. I'm wondering if we're going to see summer soon!

Abby and Riley will be leaving the end of this week to spend the summer at home with mom and their new baby brother Gavin. We'll see them back in the fall. :)

Our Butterflies :)

Well our butterfly are all grown up and they have ventured out into the world on their own. We let them go on Wednesday and they were anxious to get out and discover the world. We were lucky that they left one at a time so that we could watch them just a little bit longer. Out of 5 caterpillars - 4 turned into butterflies. The last one stayed in his cocoon. I'm going to put that in a small jar and add it to ur science center.

Our New Toy!

Today we got a couple new sand diggers. I heard about them from another child care provider and Marie was nice enough to run out to Woodbury to get me a couple. I did put one together, and the other one I'll put together after naptime...

I wish I could buy this stuff already out together. :)

The kids did enjoy it though....

Our Butterflies Have Emerged!

Over the week-end, we had 2 more butterflied emerge from their cocoon. We have one still waiting. I know the kids will be excited. We will let them go either today or tomorrow.