The Little People Place: Valentine Work

The Little People Place: Valentine Work: "Here is what we will be working on for Valentines week! Our week at a glance Monday Mail boxes Heart sequencing Valentines day poem ..."

Valentine Work

Here is what we will be working on for Valentines week!

Our week at a glance

Monday
Mail boxes
Heart sequencing
Valentines day poem

Tuesday
Place mats
Post office play ( using the mail boxes we made)
Valentines day song
Pouring hearts

Wednesday
Painting Frames for our parents
Tonging
Heart Stamping

Thursday
Bird Valentines (we are making small bird feeders for our feathered friends)
Heart rubbing ( placing hearts under our paper and rubbing crayons over top)
spooning conversation hearts
Play dough

Friday
Making Valentines for each other
Word Matching
Baking Valentines day cookies

La La Love Valentines Day!

This Moment

this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember

How to bake with toddlers

The kids love baking and if they even see me move the flour in the cupboard they jump up on the chairs and announce to everyone that we are making something! I try once a week to have something for them to bake and here is how I make it work with so many little hands to help.

First I have everything set out, I do this either the night before or during nap.

Make sure the baby is happy

We take turns pouring things into the bowl

and stirring

If they can count how many chocolate chips I have in front of me they can eat them! I use this to help them count and to give me time to get the next ingredients ready.

Honestly we do this so often that we have very little mess at the end

and since they love to lick the spoon I pop three spoons into the bowl so everyone gets one!

I bake one tray and freeze the rest to cut down on the baking time and move onto the next activity.

Happy winter baking!

A Treat

I had this teacher in 5th grade who was kinda strict, our class was always behaved because he ran a tight ship but there always seemed to be that one kid who pushed the limit, who always seemed to be in trouble. I wasn't a great student but I was polite and always liked it if the teachers liked me. I never wanted to be that kid in trouble and wanted to save the one who was. It can be like that in daycare sometimes by the end of the day I feel like I have said no 100 times and removed a child from the group or activity that I just wish they would participate with respect and kindness. It always seems to be the same kid!
In school if were having one of those days we would come back in the room from lunch and that teacher would have put a licorice on each desk, even the bad kid! I remember him never making anyone feel like they were better then anyone, there was no teachers pet! At two years old these kids can understand if they are good or bad, they tell me all the time if someone is being bad and I always try to say they aren't being bad they are just learning to be good. At two years old these kids can understand if they are good or bad, they tell me all the time if someone is being bad and I always try to say they aren't being bad they are just learning to be good.

So on days when I feel like the morning has been rough and we need a pick me up I try to make a warm sweet smelling snack so that when little eyes wake we can start new and try to begin again.



I pre-make cookie dough on the weekend and freeze it in little balls, so that when I need a few for snack they are right there.

For Christmas I got the second of Jessica Seinfelds cook books Double Delicious!: Good, Simple Food for Busy, Complicated Lives and I love it just as much as the first Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food. This recipe is great because it has carrots in it and hardly any sugar so I feel good giving them to the kids. I'm sure that they would be just as happy with licorice as I was but after a grumpy morning I don't want to ad any extra sugar to encourage the behaviour!

I hope in 20 years they remember the cookies after nap time, even the bad kid who was learning to be good!

Winter

  

This year is a new year for me I have decided that I am going to love winter. Every year after Christmas I start wishing for summer and it makes the winter so long and so boring. NOT this year!
So for the month of January I planned a winter theme for the kids. Here are a few of things we are working on.

Action Cards
I found these images on google printed and laminated them with the corresponding action word. When I hold up the card the kids act out the action!

I am starting to work with nomenclature cards with the kids I am making them myself I made these winter cards and was thrilled today to see that even my youngest little person LOVED them.
Here is a great link if you are interested in learning more about montessori and nomenclature cards.

Color matching I made these little mittens and have set them out for the kids to use as color matching cards.

I had cut out little mittens for the kids to paint but they weren't interested (I think the mitts were to small and they needed a bigger work space) So they painted on regular paper I framed the paintings in the left over cut out scraps! I love the way they turned out! I keep a journal for each child so that I don't send so many arts and crafts home so these were a nice addition.

We are still working on our alphabet using the abc twiggles program here is the link. I added these size sequencing cards to our lesson this week and the kids loved them.

Hope everyone is enjoying the winter so far I am linking this post to Tot School
Sarah

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. Soule Mama