Friday night vindicated.

Back in the fall I spent one Friday night (yea friday... sad to admit) making this Color Game for one of my girls who doesn't know her colors yet. It's basically a simplified version of Candyland. A manilla folder opens up (thank you Abundant Life for teaching me everything I know) to reveal a colorful "road" made of squares of construction paper.

Children choose a painted penny for their playing piece then reach into a magical bag (aka brown lunch bag) and pull out a colored dot. They then name the color if they can and move their penny to the nearest place.

Well... after hours cutting, gluing, laminating, regretting, gluing some more... I had high hopes for this game. It's sat on the table for the past 3 months untouched until this past Thursday. My girls were picking out cups in housekeeping and naming the colors, so I jumped on the chance to reintroduce the color game, and they LOVED it!!

The two of them-- J & S-- spent about 20 minutes taking turns and playing. S is the girl who has a hard time with colors and she was making good progress when all of a sudden she pulled out a red dot and was stumped. J waited a minute then said, "It's red!" S grinned, stuck out her hand to shake J's hand and exclaimed, "Thank you so much for helping me!"

made.my.day. (and made that Friday night worth it)

The other precious thing is that S knows most of the colors now, but she consistently names yellow amarillo... correct in Spanish, who knows why. Thats for your Claire.

old shoes

Kam: Miss Shannon?
Me: Yea, honey?
Kam: Why are you wearing old shoes?

... i look down at my every-day-very-beat-up-shoes...

Me: Well honey, because I"m a teacher.

adult things...

Today I had the surprise pleasure of babysitting two of my favorite kids, Newt (4 years old) and Katie 2 years old). I had Newt in my very first Sunday School class three years ago... the fun part of about staying with that class is I now have Katie this year!

So at one point this afternoon Newt was dancing around me saying, "After I be 4 I'll be 5. After I be 5 I'll be 6. After I be 6 I'll be 7......" and so on and so on.

Me: Newt, when do you think you will be a grown-up?
Newt: What's a grown-up?
Me: You know, an adult, like Mommy.
Newt: Oh... (long pause)... when I'm really really old.
Me: When's that?
Newt: Oh, like 29 probly.

:) Sorry Lane.


Later we were back downstairs and the kids were playing with lincoln logs (one of my favorite toys) and I had sat down in the armchair to watch their progress for a bit....

Newt: Miss Shannon, want to build me a house?
Me: Nah I already helped you, I'm sleepy (grinning and closing my eyes)
Newt: You can't go to sleep here!
Me: Why not?
... he thinks about it...
Newt: Ok, if you go to sleep here it would be a sleepover.
Me: That's right!
Newt: When adults come to your house and if they eat supper with you and go to bed with you, that's called a sleepover.

haha, close Newt, close.

man after my own heart

Today we had a "special lunch" with a few of the Jumpstart kids... the teachers pick children who have been well behaved that day as a reward to come eat lunch with me, Lanita, and Natalie out in the common area. It's really fun and always quite the conversation...

Today Ricardo was scarfing down his lettuce and I praised him for eating his salad so he'll be big and strong. I mentioned how I had a great dinner last night including peas and mushrooms...

This launched us into a conversation about vegetables. We asked the kids if they like peas (pretty unanimous no)...
Miss Lanita: How about lima beans? (yes and no)
Me: I like all vegetables, I'm really an equal opportunity veggie eater.
Miss Natalie: I like kidney beans.

Edmund (enthusiastically waiving his hand): I like jelly beans!

Thats what I'm talking about Edito :)

shaving cream...where?

Today we sat the children down and let them play with shaving cream all over the tables... REALLY fun especially with kids who have never played with it before! We were talking about Winter so we let them pretend it was like snow...

The teacher was introducing the activity and explaining that the children may have seen their daddy's put shaving cream on their faces and shave off the hair on their faces.
One little girl raised her hand and reported that her mom uses shaving cream on her legs to make them smooth.

Then a boy raises his hand and contributes, "My mommy uses it on her legs and on her body and on her bottom."

Awesome :) TMI.

"Save your drama for your mama."
-- aniyah

Baa baa black sheep have you any wool?
yes sir yes sir, three bags full
one for my master, one for the Dane
and one for the little boy who lives down the drain...
-- my 4 year olds :)

Miss Shannon, your car is SO small! I think it shrunk in the rain!
-- Mary Austin Slate

learning numbers

We are teaching our kids how to write numbers using fun rhymes each morning...

Half a heart will never do
slide to the right to make a two!

Down to the right
Wait! There's more,
Add a stick man to make a four!

And today's number was 5...
Make his hat,
Make his back,
Make his belly round and fat.

... to which Mary commented loudly, "That looks like my dad!"
:)


Also, today in art we got to use pastels (I really really love art class and have to hold myself back from being absorbed in playing with the materials... whoops). The kids really enjoyed the texture of the pastels and when we asked Ani what they felt like she replied, "Soft and lovely."

back to school...

So I went back to work yesterday at Jumpstart in a local elementary school and I took the 32 4 year olds to music class (joy). The music teacher (not joy) proceeded to talk to the kids about New Years Resolutions and how they are promises you make to yourself. As an example, she shared that she had made a resolution to lose weight.

So today, Tuesday, we walk into music again and Mary-- one of the smartest children in my class and also the least socially tactful-- raises her hand and says, "Ms. T... have you lost any weight yet?"

HAH! I guarantee Mary will ask the same question for the next 6 months.


Another priceless quote during snack time:
Mary: Awwww Ms. Shannon, Ani said bra! Thats a bad word.
Me: Ani, what did you say ?
Ani: I just said, when little mermaids get their tails they also get bras!

Thank you Disney.