Tinkle has been spotted!!!

It's December 1st and Tinkle is back! For those of you new this Christmas...Tinkle is an elf sent by Santa to watch over us. He flies back each night to report whether we have been naughty OR nice. Then flies back and hides in a new place! It is fun to find him in the morning.

There are a couple of rules to follow:
1. We can never touch him because it takes away his magic and he would not be able to travel back to Santa.
2. He is not allowed to talk to us but we can tell him anything....he is a very good listener...we can even tell him a message for Santa...he hears EVERYTHING.

Last year was the first year Santa sent Tinkle to us! We even got to name him and we wrote a poem about him:

Tinkle Tinkle little elf

Sitting high up on a shelf

Up above my head so high…

Like a diamond in the sky

In the dark blue sky you leap,

For a promise you must keep

You fly to Santa in the night

To tell him if we’ve been alright

As you travel back to me

I know not where you’ll be…

Until I search and see…

You looking at ME!

Happy Thanksgiving....

Today we watched a short video on Squanto and the first Thanksgiving. Afterwards we had our own first thanksgiving feast with......fruits, berries, nuts, and pumpkin dessert!! We know you will enjoy the gift we made for you......the beautiful artwork was created by your children and the messages/quotes/photo are from me to you (and to your children when they can understand). There is so much wisdom in those words.....I hope you enjoy reading them. The photos are priceless and you will really enjoy them when your child is 11 years old and taller than you (haha). We were to use these at our Thanksgiving Potluck as a place mat......oh well things don't always work out the way we expect. On another note.... I hope you all have some time set aside to spend with friends and family! This is my absolute favorite week of the year. My mom rents a beach house for us (my brother and our families) in Emerald Isle, NC. This will be our 10th year in the same house! We started out with mom, Bobby, Brad, Anna (18mo) and me......now Bobby is married with 3 kids of his own. It is truly a blessing to have that sacred time with family each year. BONUS: I'm no where close to Town Center Mall on BLACK friday....lol. God bless all of you and your beautiful children. I am grateful each day to have the opportunity to see the world through "little" eyes.....I am blessed. Much love to you all..........Angela

TREES with "finger print" leaves....

I remembered this artwork we did last year and decided to do it again......the kids loved it. Basically, I draw their arms and hand on paper then they take their finger and make "Autumn" leaves.....they turned out really cute. I'll send them home next week.

Let's be thankful for this day (new blessing)

November is upon us...

As you all know I am all about "Gratitude" and "Simplicity". Everywhere I turn Christmas is being presented. I love love love Thanksgiving...it is my favorite holiday. I think we are being duped by all the Christmas stuff already out!!! So in our little world.......we are not talking about Christmas there is plenty of time for that after Turkey Day!! We are learning a new blessing and I have lots of fun stuff planned! Last year Jennifer Paire organized a Thanksgiving Potluck dinner and it was wonderful!!! I would love to do it again this year so mark your calendars for Wednesday, Nov. 17th 6pm.

Spooky Storytime...

We have been reading about ghosts, witches, haunted houses, and jack-o-lanterns! I have been turning out the lights and reading by the light of our jack-o-lanterns. I tried to take a picture but it isn't very good....the kids loved it!

Rainbow Room...completed 95%......lol

Finally!! There is always some thing left to do.... I just need to get the second coat of paint on the floor. This project took me a lot longer than I anticipated. As I was moving through it I would think.......ohhhhhh I should go ahead and take care of this while everything is torn apart. Unfortunately, I had a lot of those little things pop up. As I near the end I am very happy with the "rainbow room" concept. I really have wanted to do this for a long time but knew it was going to be a lot of work. I got in my head I wanted to FILL all of the wood cracks where I had a 2x4 up against another, etc... I wanted it to look like "1" post (I spoiled myself after getting the ones for the front of the house). I laugh now because it doesn't look that much different but I know what's behind it. I repainted/re-trimmed the chalkboards, added my "information/inspiration" board at the exit door, and hung our beloved thermometer beside it! Just so you know......the blue represents the beautiful "Carolina" blue sky, white is the clouds, and of course the rafters make the rainbow. The kids love it. Today when we were outside finishing our "fall color" book and enjoying the beautiful blue sky day....I mentioned we can always have a beautiful blue sky day with our new rainbow room

We made a book...."Fall Colors"

They will be bringing these home today!! Have your little one read it to you this weekend! They were all so proud today when we finished. Camden and Addison spent the rest of the morning pretending to be mom/dad with child reading to each other...so cute!

We have a new friend....Jayce Crews!

Jayce started with us last week! He is 2-1/2 years old and has a big sister named Sienna. Anna and I are so excited to have another pair of brown eyes in our group!!! He is ALL boy and loves to play outside. He is coming 3 days a week......Tues, Wed, and Thurs. His mom's name is Denise and will be the primary picking up so introduce yourself if you see her.......daddy's name is Jayson. Jayce is a great addition to our MSC Family......please welcome him the next time your are in the classroom.

Autumn Leaves are falling.....

We found some leaves this week. We took our leaf and put it underneath our blank "newspaper" then we took a crayon (without paper) and ran it side ways across the paper, over the leaf.....guess what?!! We could see the outline of the leaf!! They will be bringing home their drawings today along with a blank sheet of paper so you can do it with them at home! This is a bit of "home" work and they are expected to bring them back after the weekend. It would be great if you can find/use some other fall colors that your child didn't use on their original!!! Have fun and good luck......

Winners Never Quit! by Mia Hamm

Today we read a book written by Mia Hamm.She talked about the importance of being a part of a teamand how to loose gracefully. We discussed how importantit is to "play" the game and not about who wins or who looses!And we are a team here at Mrs. Angies......we help each other bylearning and playing together. It is important for the older children to help the younger ones learn, etc....
Whatever you love to do remember....
WINNERS NEVER QUIT!

WR Tools Help Us Learn

Today we finished up....."Tools Help Us Learn". Please take the time to look through your child's work with them. The picture above is from our use of scissors and glue sticks. We each cut our own color of construction paper and then we put the scraps in the middle of the table. Then we glued them onto our papers.....we call this our FRIEND COLLAGE. We used colored pencils on Mr. Pencil and used crayons on Mrs. Crayon. The only tool the children did not have access to was the computer. But I used it to find Mr. Pencil and Mrs. Crayon. I explained to them that when they enter kindergarten they will be using the computer. Brooke often works on the computer with Anna when completing her homework so this made perfect sense. On another note...I believe they will have plenty of electronics/computers soon enough.....I try to keep it simple. Our next Weekly Reader is about fire safety!!

Addison is turning 3 tomorrow!
We will be having a party after nap!
I hope to see everyone at her birthday party
on Saturday morning.

WR Coming home today..How Do You Feel Today?

"How Do You Feel Today". Please take a few minutes to look at this with your child. They have really been interested in this subject!!

WR How Do you Feel Today?

We started reading "How Do You Feel Today?". It discusses different feelings we all have on a daily basis. Some of us were sad today....missing daddy and some of us were mad today.....just because... LOL...... I am happy today because I really love my job!! Thanks to you and your sweet children.

We will be discussing this more throughout the week so start up a conversation with your child and see how they are feeling!!! Be ready for anything......

We can feel HAPPY, or we can feel SAD.

We might feel SILLY, or we might get MAD.

We can be SURPRISED. We might cry boohoo...

We all have feelings. Well, what about you?

A few pictures from Rainbow Club Visit

RAINBOW CLUB in the house.....

How great it was to have everyone here! We started off with breakfast together. Then we read about APPLES, discussed APPLES, colored APPLES, and then ate APPLES. Ask your little one which apple they liked best! I can promise it wasn't the Granny Smith LOL. We tried....Red Delicious, Yellow, and Granny Smith. For morning snack we had every one's favorite.....yogurt with cheerios!! Then we headed outside to play in the sand. I can tell they've missed it. They reminded me of Santa's little elves......busy busy. We finished up our morning by having a PICNIC outside. I let the older kids take their sack lunches and eat anywhere they wanted. This was a REAL treat as we usually would sit all together. They tended to stay together anyway......SO SWEET! I will send the pictures from today in a separate email. I'm not sure how to attach all of them to the blog?? We had a fantastic day and enjoyed seeing each other very much! Please keep in touch.......love to all......A

First Aid Kit - Protective Eyewear

Recently Bright From the Start has changed it's regulations. One of the changes requires all childcare providers to have a face mask and protective eye wear on hand at all times! The goggles do not fit in my first aid kit so they are hanging up on the outside of my bag. This morning Addison fell and scraped her knee so.......I got my kit to clean it up, etc... And they all wanted me to put on the goggles so I wouldn't get the blood in my eye......LOL!! So I did and they just loved it. Of course there wasn't ANY blood at all just a small scrape

Our Hands Can.... "Wall"

This wall is where you can check out what your child is doing on a weekly basis! I plan on displaying artwork, class work, pictures I've taken, and even things your child brings in from home! Look for your childs "color" clothespin to locate thier work quickly. Feel free to send artwork or any pictures you take of them and your family doing activities, trips, etc..

New Classroom!

I am almost complete with classroom renovation!!! Please check it out the next time you are in the classroom. We have started back to school and have just completed our first Weekly Reader. Make sure to read it with your child when it comes home.

USDA - Child and Adult Care Food Program

We had a visit today from Quality Care for Children. They monitor my participation in this program for the USDA. With federal funding being questioned they are starting to come down really hard on everyone - everywhere! Because of this I am now required to start keeping a In/Out Sheet with times EVERYDAY. So starting Monday there will be a sheet on the counter for the time and your signature (iniatials NOT ALLOWED). For those of you that drop off upstairs in the mornings I will write in your times and you will need to sign that as well as for pick-up. Please help me keep this maintained. I could loose the opportunity to be apart of this program and it is a big help to me in paying for high quality foods :-). Every little bit helps right!! Also, they will be making household contacts sometime in the next couple of weeks. If your child was not here today please make a mental note because they are going to ask if your child was in attendance on May 21, 2010. The reason they are calling is because I typically have 6-8 kids here and today I only had 5. I know some of you are part time BUT in order to be paid on the days that your child is here I've notated your days as "Days/Times Vary".....the easiet thing to say to them is....my schedule varies but they are typically there for all meals when they are at Angie's. Another thing that looked bad was the fact that they are comparing this week against the week of Spring Break which is when I had Caden and Madi here as well! Eventhough I do not charge for my family members I am allowed to claim meals on them as long as I have the proper paper work on file which I do......... Also, I am suppose to have my menu plan posted in the classroom which I keep on the REF.......of course I just took it down yesterday to make some changes. Sometimes it seems like too much of a hassle to be involved but bottom line it is for good healthy nutrition for our children......so I'll get my act together ha ha and do better. If you have any questions and/or concerns just ask.........THANKS EVERYONE ......have a great weekend.

P.S. They given me some stuff to send home and I'll be doing that sometime next week so be on the look-out and please always ask if you have any questions.

The Very Hungry Catepillar by Eric Carle

We are reading books by Eric Carle this month as well as our favorite book by him called......The Very Hungry Catepillar. The first spring I was open I bought this book along with a CD where Eric Carle (the author) read the book aloud to the class. I purchased (8) small books so the children could follow along with him and I turned the pages of the large book. This is a great way to give them another skill to help them READ. If you have this book at home read it with your child tonight.......THEY ABSOLUTELY love it as much today as they did last year. Take a look at the catepillars they made in class......they are hanging everywhere!!!

Perfect Plants

We started our new reader today! This morning started out a bit cloudy but soon the sun broke through......and we took our class outside. It was really a wonderful feeling to be teaching outside under the trees about things that grow!!! How appropriate....and the kids loved the change of scenery! As you are working outside or just stopping somewhere to look at flowers/plants ask them to point out things they know.....for example: stem, roots (in the dirt), flower, leaf.

Weekly Reader: PERFECT PLANTS

 

Mother's Day Flowers

I hope everyone had a wonderful mothers day! A couple of you asked about the flowers that the children made.......they painted coffee filters and then we put them together with a dot of hot glue so we could form them. I didn't haven't any tissue paper so I thought coffee filters might work well. My thought was to build them and then turn them upside down and dip into food coloring.....hoping the coloring would seep up into the flower. Well then I had NO food coloring so I thought maybe the kids could paint them with water colors........they had so much fun doing it this way! I was running out of time to dry them so I then threw them in the DRYER.........ha ha it worked really well and I think the flowers turned out so unique becuase of each child's painting style! Take a look at the picture and see how different they all were......I thought the bouquet was beautiful.

Clean It Up!

Today we finished our weekly reader: Clean It Up! The kids really worked hard and they understand that we all need to chip in and do our part for Mother Earth. In honor of Earth Day we made a new reading stick that reminds us of this message...Save our Earth....Reduce Reuse Recycle! AND we reused some old coffee cans and made a storage place for ALL of our reading sticks. I've printed a little message from me to them and asked them to put this somewhere in their room to remember for always. I would love for you to read it with them.....such a wonderful message!! If you still have some of the other sticks we made please pull them together and let your child add them to their collection. They are so proud and they LOVE the blue top that shows them how to really LOCK IT DOWN!! The reader and all their classwork will be coming home tonight......take a look at it with them.

It's Tuesday! Recycling day....

We take recycling up to the curb on Tuesdays! The children enjoy this so much and are really disappointed when it's raining. This week we had alot of boxes to breakdown so we had an extra load...they had a blast breaking those down. We have started our Weekly Reader, "Clean it Up!" so we will be talking and doing extra recycling activities. Remember Earth Day is 4/22/10 (and my 15th wedding anniversary for those of you who might be interested...ha ha)

NEXT: All About Eggs

March 31 - April 7

Tigers Roar!

We have finished our weekly reader and classwork. Please take the time to review this work and booklet with your child tonight if possible. We made special reading sticks and used them everyday to read our books! We had a lot of fun talking about tigers and learning about their environments.

Facts we discovered:

(1)Each tigers stripe are unique just like our fingerprints! (2)The majority of tigers live in Asia. (3) A tiger is in the cat family (4) It is one of the only cats that LIKE water!

Books we read:

(1) Make Friends, Zachery (2) Mama Tiger, Baba Tiger, (3) Little Louie the Baby Bloomer (everyone's favorite book), (4)Tigger Tales, (5) Tiger Trouble, (6) Tiger Can't Sleep, and (7)Augustus & his smile.

Reading Readiness Project - Goodbye Winter...Hello Spring!

We have been working on saying "goodbye" to winter and "hello" to spring by making our first homemade book! They all turned out so well. If you receive your child's book and there are some pages empty it is because they missed school that day. It would be wonderful for you to finish it with them and have them bring it back into school so we can all look it. They are all so proud of them! I've taken quite a few training classes in regards to helping children with reading readiness. The following are some of the things I always emphasize when reading with them and you can do it to......their new book would be a great place to start.

• Always read the title and help them count the words in the title.


• Announce the author (Jack Smith is the author and he wrote this book Jane Smith is the illustrator and she drew the pictures in the book).
  
• Help them with understanding front/back/middle of the book....keep it simple.
• Acknowledge the page numbers.
• Ask them to read to you.....encourage them to look at the picture which will help them describe what is going on in the picture. I know it takes time but it is really advantageous for them to become comfortable doing this on a regular basis. It can be the simplest book and it should be simple.......what confidence it provides them.
• Have fun and READ something everyday!

The picture of everybody sitting so good is priceless. I couldn't get the Jessica pictures to open :-( Tell all the kids that the "owl" is coming back next month! I have petsits through the 11th, so I think I will drive through on the 12th. I need to be home by the 21st, but it should be a good visit Are the spring bulbs you all planted coming up?

Claddagh

It is a traditional symbol of love, friendship and loyalty and has become poplar as a wedding ring.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We had an eventful day even with the UGLY weather!! We started out with bagels w/GREEN cream cheese and GREEN milk for breakfast! Many would not even "try" it so we had to go back to plain ole white. We pretended to be leprachauns as we worked on putting together our individual puzzles and colored a picture of a leprachaun, rainbow, and GOLD.

Brady brought in pictures of his ancestors who came from Ireland as well as a wall hanging that is a Claddagh (pronounced cladaw). It is a traditional symbol of love, friendship and loyalty. The children were very interested in this piece. Brady is 6th generation and we thought that was realllly cool. After nap we were blessed with "rainbow" cupcakes ! Plus a bag of Irish potato candy to take home (basically butter, cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, coconut flakes and cinnamon). A big THANK YOU to Brady and his mommy, Jennifer!!

Let's Go to the Dentist

Our goal is to learn about visiting the dentist's office! Our objective has been to identify people and items that help promote happy teeth. We are finishing this up tomorrow so look for it in your notebooks on Thursday.

Welcome Baby...Evan Robert Goff!

Anna and Jaylin have a new cousin! We were so happy to have Caden and Madison here at school with us while we ALL awaited his arrival. We were sooooooooo lucky to have such beautiful weather. CONGRATS......Big brother Caden and big sister Madi!!

Remembering Jessica...

Today we remembered Jessica by coloring a little angel to put in a special little book for her mommy, Julie.  Also, we talked about how important it is to wear your seatbelt!   Today would have been Jessica’s 19^th birthday and most of you know I am very close with her mother.  She has conveyed to me many times that she just hopes that people will remember Jessica.  I know it isn’t much but she will be thrilled to have this small token of remembrance from our little group! The stories I tell her of the children always make her smile and laugh…that is a blessing to her because everyday is hard.  The following is a copy of the picture and verse:

 

"See, I am sending an angel

ahead of you to guard you along the way ...”

 

 

Communication Notebooks

I promise I’ll get them back to you by tomorrow!  Sorry it’s taken me along time to transition from February to March!!!

 

2010 Winter Olympics - Ice Skating

Today we had a blast! We watched part of the ice skating competition and practiced our moves. It was so cute....each child had a 3x3 mat and had to stay on it while practicing! Also, we watched a little bobsledding! And the boys really liked the speed!!!!!!!

If you do not know all the children at school today........love love vanilla yogurt. They will be coloring a picture of "Quatchi" the second mascot from the Olympics.....he is very large and loves hockey!!!

MIGA 2010 Olympic Mascot / Hockey (Tuesday 2/23)

We discovered that there are 3 mascots for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Today we learned about MIGA! She is part killer whale and bear.....very cool! The children colored a picture of Miga with Felicity after nap.

During class time we watched part of a hockey game! Hockey players are very tough and have lots of padding on thier uniforms. They skate across a large ice rink and the try to score a goal! The goal is to hit a puck with a long stick past the other team into the goal.

Love you to pieces - Valentine's Artwork

 

The kids had a blast with this little project! They practiced thier cutting skills and we used recycled paper scraps from Anna's Valentine Cards she made for her classmates!

Some bunny loves you....

Well.......our bunnies look like little mice! You never know until you try :-)....they are still cute and I know you will love them.

Visit from BRIGHT FROM THE START (State)

We had a surprise visit from the state this morning!! Nothing like starting my day off with them :-). The children were awesome and she was very impressed with them and the classroom! She was here only to observe "nutrition" and to look over my records, etc... But she did say that I was doing a wonderful job with teaching them and that the classroom looked great! GO TEAM!!

Climbing the Ladder of Child Dev. (Birth to 5)

Just completed a training class on this subject!

First Weekly Reader "Make our own book"

We finished up the segment on "some animals live underground" by making a book! They had so much fun so please make sure you take the time to read it with them. Encourage them to read it "to you". They will feel so proud. Also, today we found out some interesting facts about George Washington.....he loved animals and one time during the war the enemies dog came into his camp and he called a cease fire to have the dog returned to General Howe. He was hailed a hero by all parties!! And we found out the Abe Lincoln always wore a tall black hat and he kept important papers and notes inside it! Because he was very forgetful and they didn't have blackberries back then :-)

What does a groundhog know...

Just finished taking down the "snow" lights......I'm getting ready for spring! I've rearranged a few things around the classroom this weekend. Make sure to take a look at our new bulletin board focusing on our Weekly Readers! And don't look at the empty space beside the TV.......I have plans for it.....just ran out of time! Looking forward to a fun week. We will be talking about George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and of course Valentine's....don't forget to send in a showbox by this Wednesday. We will be exchanging Valentine's on Friday. Please try to keep the "exchanges" to small envelopes so they can fit in the slot on top of thier "shoe boxes".

CPR / First Aid

Felicity and I just completed our CPR / First Aid training.  We are good for another year J!!

Who are you?

As I am looking over this site I realized that Karen (Luke's mom) shows as Luke's mom and I thought that would be cool for all the parents to be recognized this way. I tried to do it myself but couldnt' figure out "why" Karen showed up as Luke's mom. So folks see what you can do on your end. It would be cool so everyone can see who you are connected with, etc....

Felicity

It is things like this that I want you to know...

Felicity has just completed her first week with us. I can honestly see a light. As most of you know I've been struggling with Anna and her school work. It is amazing what a couple of hours in the afternoon gives to a "working" mom! It is hard to let go of my responsibilities with the little ones but Felicity shows the strength and heart to carry on in my absence!!! I am very impressed with her and the children seem to really look forward to "Fifi" coming after nap! Hooray....GO TEAM!!!

Ha.......

It's going to be slow but each step will bring us closer! I intend to start posting pretty much everything here but will start with just some general info.....first of all I want to make sure everyone in our group joins!

First One......here we go......

Chris Paire suggested I start one of these and I have thought about it (recently) after seeing the movie Julie and Julia! I have tried to do weekly newsletters, memo's, monthly newsletters, memo's, created the share site through Shutterfly but nothing ever STICKS. It is so hard to keep it all maintained. I love the idea for this because I feel like I can just write what is in my head and I do not have format anything, etc... AND I love it because you guys can get it when it is convenient for you AND hopefully you will share your thoughts. I am trying to create a village for all of our little people! I love my business.....it has been a blessing for me. I feel I grow and continue to grow more and more with each passing day. I have so many things that I do with/for the children and I want to tell you all about it. But after getting it all organized, etc... I've forced to move onto something/someone else needing me so......let's hope this is as easy as it appears and FUN for all of us.....a