Spring was just a fling...

We had a good Easter/Spring party, despite the fact that we could play no outdoor games! We managed just fine and played inside instead. Guess we will just have to be patient to learn "Red light, green light." I completely forgot to take an pictures of the kids (too busy playing, sorry!), so I took a picture of the "example" cupcake. In case you were wondering, it was a basket with eggs. It had green grass (coconut), eggs (jelly beans), and a handle (licorice). Not all the kids used all the elements-which is always fine with me. Most were coaxed into at least tasting the coconut and it was not a big hit-which it normal (and what I was expecting, but you have to at least offer, right?). We had a fun day and I hope you all have a nice little break.

Love is in the air

We had such a fun Valentine's party. We were able to decorate the boxes on Wednesday and they looked really great. We traded Valentine cards first and then decorated cupcakes. We also had time to play some games like "Do you love your neighbor?" and musical chairs. Lots of fun! Spread the love! Hope you had a nice long weekend and we will see you Wednesday!

I want CANDY!

We went to the candy factory today. We had two tours-one for morning and one for afternoon. We met up, watched a short video, got our "head gear" on, and headed into the factory. They are working on Easter candy, but also have St Patrick's (green apple leprechauns-seriously!) and Valentine candy available to buy. We then saw the warehouse, literally tons of sugar (150,000 pounds a week they use!), the taffy kitchen and even chocolate "en-robing." Smells as good as it sounds. Lots of fun and the kids were great. We enjoyed plenty of samples! (Fresh off the line-the best!)

We missed a few of you that couldn't make it! They do free tours going on all the time so you can still catch it sometime.

Special Visitor

Hopefully your student reported back to you on our special day on Wednesday. If not, let me fill you in. We have been talking about Pets this week (what kind of animals make pets, what you have to do to care for them) and so I thought we would bring in an unusual pet for them to see. My brother Benjamin was nice enough to come in and bring his pet hedgehog! His name is Eric and he is very sweet, but yes, prickly! I talked all the kids into at least touching him with one finger. Some were definitely more eager than others. We caught a few pictures for you to see:

Happy Holidays!

We celebrated the holidays on our last day of school for two weeks with a little fun. We did cookies and played a little present exchange game. We had fun! Hope everyone has wonderful holidays that are safe and happy. We will see you back on the 4th of January 2010!

This cookie has layers of frosting and decorations! Awesome-hope he could fit it in his mouth!

Had to prove he decorated some since he had none to take home:

This must be serious business they are discussing:

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have a a really lot of discussions the last two weeks about all the things that Thanksgiving is about. First, it's about gratitude, so we did a class gratitude tree and individual ones as well. It's also about the historical aspect, so we discussed Pilgrims and Indians and did some projects with those as well. That included our "indian vest." (Pictured below) It's also about the feast and the TURKEY! So we made some turkeys with the "tail feathers" as their handprints. I think those turned out really cute. And finally on Wednesday we had our "feast." Thanks to all those who fulfilled their assignment-couldn't have done it with out the food! The kids had a good time just having a relaxed talk and eat time. It went really well. Here are some pictures:

Using your imagination!

We have been talking about imagination this week and different ways to be creative and play pretend. Just thought I would share a few pictures of some of the ways we "practiced" using our imagination. We played with "straws and connectors." These are always a big hit, but I hold them out until we do this theme to introduce them. The kids can build a lot of things-and if they work together they can really make something big.

We also played with playdoh and I was asking what they were making and encouraged them to be creative.