Welcome Back Wacky Week!!

Welcome Back and Happy New Year! I hope you throughly enjoyed your vacation. I know I feel refreshed and ready to get back to the routine of things! While we work on getting back into the routine, this week we plan to be a little "WACKY"! I am sure  this week it will take awhile to get back to the "normal", so we might as well be a little wacky on the way!  Here is the lineup for the rest of the week!

Wednesday- Inside Out Day! Have your child wear one item of clothing inside out just for today.

Thursday-Backwards Day! Dress your child with the pockets in the front or the writing in the back for this silly day!


Friday-Wacky Hair Day! If you don't have the time to fix some wacky hair for them in the morn, why not let them wear their "bedhead"..that's sure to be wacky!

Other Activities.......
We plan to watch the silly show Green Eggs and Ham, learn the song "Do Your Ears Hang Low?", make some crazy creatures, go on a "What's Outta Wack?", hunt around the house and much more! Excited for a week full of Wacky, Silly, Out-of-the Norm fun! :)

Our Snowman/Winter Gear Reminder

You don't need snow for a snowman! :) The kids had a fun time yesterday creating our snowman out of leaves in the play yard. Now we are hoping for some snow so we can make the REAL thing! :)

Speaking of being outside, I just wanted to remind you all to make sure your child comes with gloves(they will keep on), a stocking hat and coat each day. We WILL continue to go outside each day, weather permitting, and I want each child to be warm and comfortable so they can get some fresh air and run around with their friends. Please, please remember to pack these each day, no matter if it looks nice and sunny or not. You know what they say about Colorado weather, wait 15 minutes, it will change!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..inside the house anyway!

Though the bright sunny weather and lack of snow makes it feel like spring, not the middle of December, we've been having a jolly-good time getting ready for Christmas! Today we decorated this"tiny tree" together. I was a little nervous about setting out a bowl of Fruit Loops; that the "decoration" would soon become someone's second breakfast....haha. However, all the kids listened well (hooray!) and either used their fine motor skills to make fun colored garland or practiced finding the correct colors of fruit loops from the bowl. It was a little messy(but messy=fun in preschool land, right?) and we had some crushed fruit loops in the carpet, but nothing a little vacuuming couldn't clean up. When the tree was all done, we had a countdown to the lighting of our tree and shouted "Merry Christmas!" The rest of the day we plan to continue practicing our "Christmas Tree" song...Perhaps by the end of the week your child will be able to perform it for your family at home! 

Blizzard in the Playroom!!

There is a blizzard in the playroom!! This week we are busy welcoming winter and a blizzard has been created in the corner of the playroom...Glad it's a nice and warm blizzard and we aren't really getting cold and wet! :)

A Still Butterfly

A couple of weeks ago we were out in the play yard and amongst the yellow fallen leaves the kids discovered this yellow butterfly. It did not move, probably because its chilled fragile wings would not allow it. The kids marveled over it for about 15 minutes though it did nothing but sit there. It was delightful to see their faces filled with wonder and awe. Butterflies usually don't sit still for them to observe, so they took advantage of it, soaked in the beauty of the tiny creature that usually flies away as quickly as it lands in the summertime. This little moment in our day got me thinking about how sometimes the kids are like butterflies in the summer.. their days filled with activity, flying around from here to there, so often I am just trying to get them to slow down long enough to eat, do an activity, wash their hands, take a nap that I forget to soak in the more calm moments and marvel at who they are and let them know what amazing little people they are becoming. Sometimes I get so busy with all the "doing" and forget to marvel at their "being." Each of your children are so special, unique and growing soooo fast. I truly treasure each one. It is my prayer that each day I will remember to (as they did with the butterfly) get down on their level and marvel at their wonderful, unique nature. 

Using sight, sound, touch and taste to experience the ocean and its creatures!!

This week we are learning about the ocean and its creatures! Early in the week we watched a video online of a real, live octupus underwater...well, we watched it about 3 times because it was REALLY fascinating and the squeals of delight and amazement were too precious to not be repeated! Then we tasted salt water and talked about how the ocean is very salty and not very good water to drink. On Wednesday I was very excited for our little tactile experiment using plastic bags, blue hair gel and gummy fish to create an ocean and fish we could squish. The kids definitely LOVED squishing around the fish in the gel, the only problem was that eventually the fish disolved into the hair gel creating a nice purple mush that you all got to see when brought home! At least it was kept contained in the ziploc! :PWell, hopefully all the way home..:)  We also listened to different nature sounds; the kids did a great job distinguishing between a babbling brook and the ocean. Of course we also read some sea creature themed books(Commotion in the Ocean and an underwater animal pop up book) and sang our fish song with hand motions each day, along with craft projects. Now if only there was a Red Lobster nearby for a field trip..now that would make our week complete! :P

I am a little scarecrow, ragedy and worn, I wear a hat and a shirt that is torn....

Hello all! I hope you are enjoying fall!  I was so sorry to have to cancel Fall Family Night due to illness, but would much rather have everyone, including myself, feeling healthy ALL WEEK LONG. I would love to reschedule, however, our schedule on the weekend is pretty booked all the way until Thanksgiving. Perhaps we can all get together for the Parade of Lights the first week of December; we could tailgate it with hot chocolate and snacks! :) Let me know your thoughts!


This week we are having a lot of fun learning about scarecrows with a week-long project where each child is making a lifesized scarecrow of themselves! We started this project today by tracing around their little bodies on paper and coloring them. We will add patches to their knees and elbows, a picture of their face so it truly looks like each of them, a hat and of course some straw! I am sure they will be proud to bring home their scarecrow twin later this week! Here is the start of our project; can you tell who is who?!