Big Energy-Little Learners...Can I do it all?

Sensory Play I had kitchen sensory bin written in my lesson plan but I could not remember what I had in mind when I wrote it.  I didn't write down any clues or tags to jog my memory.  The kids have a toy kitchen in the playroom but they tend to enjoy playing with real kitchen utensils more.   I put some spices in the bin along with some measuring cups filled with some leftover baking supplies,  walnuts and butterscotch chips.  I also added potatoes.  They don't make a mess and won't spoil or bruise easily.  Of course there were also pans, spoons, plates, and bowls.   Creative Play Together Little Dragon and I built a Lego Castle.  Little Dragon lay down his blanket for the moat.  He also built two Lego boats for the moat. He also built chairs for our Lego people to sit it.  We worked on number recognition with the number Legos.  Once the castle was finished we played pretend with the people.  D...

Today we wrapped up our letter x activities.  I am pleasantly surprised that I was able to finish the week in a week. I thought I might need the weekend days to finish up. Sensory Activity My lesson plan calls for a sensory activity each week. We may explore things that may be considered sensory but these once a week activities are more the 'sensory bin' types or small world play. I ended up with two bins this week.  1 planned, 1 spontaneous but it worked out great! As you know we have been practicing rectangles.  As I was cleaning up toys I noticed a lot of the toys were rectangles. What a perfect way to practice rectangles! The second bin was a rice sensory bin.   To go along with our explorers theme I hid purple gems in the rice for my little dragon to find.  He had to explore the rice to find the gems. I thought he would enjoy finding them all but every one he found he buried again.  Therefore the rice is still full of gems. :) Circl...

Day 2 of 'X Marks the Spot' started really late.  Spencer arrived after noon, had a snack, and went down for his nap.  Usually we get half of the day if not more done before nap time.  A late lunch/early dinner when he woke up.  Once it was cleaned up, after 4 pm, we started. Circle Time The list I posted yesterday was what we went over again today.  It will be the base of our daily Circle Time. To help remember the letter X we added a body movement.  While making the /x/ sound we cross our forearms making the letter x.  This was a great reminder for Spencer.  Every time I asked him 'what is that letter' he would do the movement to remind himself.  I thought it was adorable.  Perhaps I should take a video!   Today I added some exploring of rectangles!   I found foam shape sheets at the dollar store and cut them up.  There were at least twenty rectangles.  We said rectangle just as many times at lea...

After waiting a week to start preschool I was definitely ready to get the ball rolling this morning.  I was up and out of bed with coffee going as soon as the alarm went off.  No slouching on the couch trying to get another 10 minutes of sleep. Jerry headed off to work and to pick up Athena giving me some time to set up a couple things.  I could have done it the night before, which was my original plan, but knowing I had a few hours of extra time in the morning I decided to wait.  Spencer really enjoyed setting up with me too.  He was so excited to start while we were prepping. His favorite prep was the Forest Dramatic Play area int he playroom.  When we were finished getting ready Spencer and I headed upstairs so I could quickly  make new behavior cards and check in with Jerry on his ETA.  There was no good news.  After the week of vacation we were excited to see Athena again.  Jerry contacted the mother and she said Athena wou...