The Story of Ping Storytime/ Eggs Storytime

We do our storytimes on Tues/Thurs from 9-11am.

The Tuesday storytime was The Story of Ping- about a little duck who lives on a boat on the Yangtze River in China. So we talked briefly about China. We also talked about consequences when you do something wrong (Ping is trying to avoid a punishment and hides so he gets left behind from his family)

We ate our snack (goldfish crackers) with chopsticks. (The Buzz Lightyear costume is optional, lol!) I rigged them so they are easy for little hands to manipulate- just put a little rolled up piece of paper and a rubberband.

You could do a science activity about what floats and bouyancy (one point a little boy falls in the water and floats because he is tied to a barrel). You could do a counting activity (was too advanced for my barely 3year olds with the attention span of a gnat) For an activity I had the outline of a duck and they snipped yellow paper with their scissors into 'feathers' and used their gluesticks to glue the feathers on their ducks.

For the Thursday storytime we talked about EGGS and what comes out of eggs- not just birds! We read Flap Your Wings (love this book!) and skimmed parts of Chicken's Aren't the Only Ones. We had a bunch of plastic (easter) eggs in the center of our circle and took turns opening them to see what kinds of animals 'hatched' from them (small pieces of paper with pictures on them: dinosaurs, insects, fish, octopus, lizards, snakes, birds, frogs)

Valentines Storytime

My son is in a preschool storytime group and one of the moms did a crackerjack job the week of Valentines. This is what she said when I asked for more info about what they had done (it was two storytimes- Tue, Thurs 9-11am. Then on Thurs at 11 they took a field trip to the local retirement home to deliver Valentines to the residents and sing 'Skinamarink'

Skinamarinka dinky dink
Skinamarinka doo,
I love you

So cute! I also put a photo of the Valentine that her daughter handed out at their playgroup- a heartshaped lollypop with heart wings and a little face drawn on with a sharpie and little antennas.

She says:

The books I chose were placed on top of the bookshelves at the library by the librarian. I'm sure there are lots of valentine books available that may be cuter than what I used. I just worked with what I found.

On Tuesday we read two books. I don't remember the name of one of the them it was just generic about a class having a valentine's party and a girl giving valentine's to her family. The other was called "1,2,3 Valentine's Day" by Jeanne Modesitt. I really liked this one because there was counting, rhyming, and repetition. So the kids could chime in and say some of the words with me.

On Thursday we read "Secret Valentine" by Catherine Stock and "The Valentine Express" by Nancy Wallace. The Secret Valentine was shorter and more at the level of the boys' attention span (the boys are 3yo and very active), but the Valentine Express is a cuter book which Miriam (4 years old) really enjoyed. Both of them relate to making valentines for older people who may not get any valentines. This inspired the idea to make them for the people at Sunrise (retirement home).

Here are the directions that inspired the valentines hat.

Valentine Crown added 1-26-00 Original Author Unknown

Need: paper, tape, glue

Directions: Cut a 2" wide strip of red paper long enough to fit around your head. Tape or staple the ends together. Cut two more strips of paper, each 1" wide and 12" long. Fold one strip in half and make a 2" cut in the center. Glue that strip from one side of the headband to the other. Glue the second strip on so that the band is divided into quarters. Tuck and glue the center of the second strip into the cut of the first. Cut a heart and glue into the center. Decorate the crown with white and pink hearts.
The pipe cleaner heart was my own variation. And we used potatoes to stamp the hearts. You cut the potato in half, then push a heart cookie cutter down into it, trim away the outside, and then take off the cookie cutter. Dip it in paint and you have a fun and easy stamp.

For games we played "Hug, Hug, Kiss" (duck,duck, goose). It amazes me how this game never gets old to them!

We also played a bean bag toss. I cut out a big heart and put it on the floor and they took turns standing behind a line and throwing the bean bag, trying to land them on the heart.

Another game I wanted to play was stack the conversation hearts. I bought Sweettart hearts because I don't really like the flavor of conversation hearts, but it turns out that they are slightly rounded so it was impossible to stack more than two high. But I think if I had flat traditional conversation hearts, they would have stacked. I was going to give them each 30 seconds to see how tall of a tower they could make.

6x6x6

Laura tagged me in this crazy thing you have to go to your photo file and pick the 6th folder and the 6th photo. This is mine. One of my many attempts to get a christmas photo two years ago.

Then I"m supposed to tag 6 people. I don't think 6 people read my blog. If you do, consider yourself tagged- post a photo and leave a comment.

February 8, 2009

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

These books are hilarious! My 10yo is reading them- he got the newest one (the green one) today as a reward for a great report card. I picked it up while waiting for my 3yo to play at the mall playarea, and it had me laughing. I was laughing out loud in several parts.

My kids tell me I am behind the times- they have a website you can read (that is slightly different than the books, but you get the general idea)

http://www.funbrain.com/journal/Journal.html?ThisJournalDay=1&ThisPage=1

This series is recommended for reluctant readers, boys, anyone obnoxious, OR anyone who knows a reluctant reader, a boy or anyone obnoxious

Three Bears Storytime

We had our preschool storytime today- Sorry, I don't have any photos. But this is what we did

The kids brought their teddy bears from home. They held them while we listened to the story and then we put them in order from smallest to largest. We also talked about small, medium and large and sorted different items I had (balls, cars, socks, pokemon)

You can make a bear den from chairs and a blanket for your storytime.

Book: The Three Bears (I read the version from Tomie dePaola's Faborite Nursery Tales)
Snack: was going to be porridge (oatmeal) but then we had oatmeal cookies instead
Song/Poem: The Bear Went Over the Mountain and Fuzzy Wuzzy was a Bear
Activity: we made a bear mask

Interview

Anjeny sent me some interview questions of deep dark secrets people want to know about me... well, not really. But she did send me a few questions. Here are the answers everyone wants to know:

1. This one is very simple...how long have you been married? 15 years! We met out at BYU dance. He asked me to dance. I thought "I hope he doesn't ask for my phone number" and then he didn't. Which made me mad. If you ask him what he remembers about that night he will tell you the refreshments they had: Hot Nachos. I know what you are thinking: What a romantic story!

2. If you and your husband were to suddenly able to go on a trip all by yourselves, where would you go and why? We have taken several trips by ourselves- last was a long weekend down to the Florida Keys. That was just about perfect- a lot of vacation relaxing for your travel buck. If we could pick one place to go right now it would probably be England/Scotland. We keep moving that trip to the back burner as it seems it should be easy to get to and do, but we haven't (yet)

3. What do you do to pamper yourself when you have an alone time/me moment? If you have any. Take a nap. What a rowdy wild woman I am.

4. If you win a million dollar, what would be the three top most things you would spend the money on? One- Pay off my credit cards and house. Two- Take a big family trip (everyone invited- siblings, cousins, etc) on a cruise around the world. Or Alaska. Three- Lasik eye surgery and a $500 haircut from Nick Arojo (the stylist from What Not to Wear)

5. I notice you have at least three blogs that you manage. With all the things you have to do as a mom/wife/daughter/sister/friend, how do you find time to get those blogs updated almost on a regular basis? I don't clean. Or cook. Or shower. and I neglect my kids. Now you know my time management secrets

6. What is the most embarrassing thing you can think to tell us about your sister, Swirl? I can't believe you'd ask me that! I don't think I should say. I know so many things.. Actually, I really can't think of anything. Except she has some funny stories. Like the time she and her friends were at a fast food restaurant and there was a sticky mousetrap under the table that got stuck to her friend's foot. And it had a mouse stuck on it. A live mouse. Probably the funniest thing was how she was such a nerd when she got home from her mission and she had a hard transition back to normal life. But I don't know any good embarrassing stories about her. She knows way more about me, I'm sure.

Now, here are the rules to pass it on:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions, so make sure you
leave me your email address. (I get to pick the questions).
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others
in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.