Anastasia

Meet Anastasia!  She's our very sneaky and much loved Elf on the Shelf.  We adopted her last year and my girls could not wait for her to come back!  Most elves come on December 1st, but Anastasia likes to come to our house on Thanksgiving!  We really don't know why, our family tradition for the holiday is to go out to eat, so there are no leftovers or yummy sweets here...maybe she just misses hanging out with us and can't wait to come back!
This year she made her much anticipated return by repelling down the air vent into the tree!  My Clever Owl had spent the night with her friend next door and I laughed because she came home at 8 am to see in Anastasia had returned!  We look forward to seeing what crazy antics she will pull while she visits with us!!

Even elves need a sugar high

Peek a boo

Catching up...

It's been a while since I posted anything, it's been a little crazy around the Owl's Nest!

I finally got my rainbow...that means I am an official Army Family Child Care provider!  After a week of classes, rearranging my "dining room" so it can function as a FCC room, three days of inspections, and a mountain of paperwork I was finally able to open my doors to new owlets and get deep into what I love doing...working with kiddos!  I've only been open a week and a half and I'm already full and still fielding calls wanting a spot!  Pretty cool!!

In October we did the following themes: Owls, Scarecrows/Corn, Spiders, and of course Halloween!  The owlets had fun doing all kinds of art and other learning activities.   This month we have done Food, Thanksgiving/Turkeys, and Wild West/Rodeo.

School is going well, passed Algebra 1 and 2...hoping to pass Philosophy!  I'll be super super happy when I get more into the psychology classes!  I have totally slacked off my workouts and really miss doing Insanity!  I'm trying to do better at scheduling my time so I can fit in a workout too, I know I need it not just for my physical health but my mental health too!!

I'll be posting more since things are calming down a bit!  

Cloud Dough

The Owlets and I made cloud dough today.  I have seen it in several different places and thought it looked like something the kids would enjoy!  It was super easy...8 cups of flour and 1 cup of baby oil, mix it together, and tada a super sensory activity!  It feels soft and like flour in your hands but you can mold it!  Along with the cloud dough I provided scoops, cookie cutters, spoons, and cups.  You can also keep it in a sealed container and use it again and again! 

Fire Prevention Week Kick-off

It's Fire Prevention Week...we have had a couple of rocky days around here with all the Owlets being sick with a nasty fever virus...finally, today we were able to start our routine again!
 In group time we did a little fill in the blank story about firefighters.  I used it last year, so I wrote the poem out on poster board, had it laminated, I also colored and laminated the cards to use with it.  I laid the cards out on the floor and read the sentence then asked the Owlets to find the picture they thought should go in the blank.  They did a really good job of picking out the correct pictures!  The smallest Owlet really liked the picture of the dalmatian, so she kept picking it up and trying to put it on the poster! 
I added flame cutouts to the block area and a toy fire engine, the Owlets built houses and added the flames and then sent the fire truck to the fire!  I cut out flames, wrote /F/ on them, and added them to the water table.  The Owlets were encouraged to squirt the flames with water bottles to put the flames out!

Our Firefighter poem chart...I found this at www.themailbox.com.

Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf

We read Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert.  I love to share this book with my kids each fall.  In it, it discusses putting out treats for birds when the snow comes.  I used this page of the book as an intro into our special activity for today, making bird feeders!  We used bagels, peanut butter, and bird seed.  One of my little Owlets enjoyed eating the bird seed, an activity that I did not encourage!  Once they were put together we tied a piece of string through them and hung them on a tree!  We noticed a little later that only the flys seem to enjoy the treats, so we moved them to a tree with thicker branches, so hopefully now the birds and squirrels will feast on them! 

A Delcious Fall Treat

Yesterday was cooking activity day at The Owl's Nest!  We were going to make tree treats, but I found this totally adorable acorn treat on www.pinterest.com, so we had a change in cooking plans!  They could not be easier to make too and that is always a plus! 

What you need:

Doughnut Holes
Chocolate Sprinkles or toffee chips
Chocolate Chips
Mini Pretzel Sticks

What to do:

Melt the chocolate chips in a bowl, dip the end of the doughnut hole in the chocolate, roll it in the sprinkles or toffee chips, and stick a mini pretzel stick in it, then enjoy your fall treat! 

My Owlets pretended they were squirrels while they ate their acorns! 

Intriguing Leaves and Dramatic Play

Dramatic Play

Intriguing Leaves

My dramatic play area was giving me a time this week...what could I do for fall?  I thought about adding fake leaves and plastic rakes and having the kids rake the leaves...maybe adding plastic fall vegetables and having the kids make a fall meal...then it hit me...Farmer's Market!  So last night after giving my little Owlets a bath I made pumpkins out of paper bags, newspaper, and orange paint.  I moved the bench to my dining room table to the dramatic play area to serve as the table, added the pumpkins, the apple cider jugs and apples from our apple theme, and some pretend fruits and veggies.  The Owlets had a great time serving up apple cider and selling fruit and vegetables to each other! 
Our art activity for the day was pretty simple, but created a unique masterpiece.  I cut out leaf shapes from magazines and my hubby drew a simple tree shape on paper.  The kids glued the leaf shapes onto the tree! 
In group time we played a color matching game, I drew a tree (a very pathetic looking tree) onto poster board labeled it with yellow, brown, red, and orange dots, and had it laminated.  I took it to Office Depot because my little laminating machine that I love and am so glad I have will not handle poster board..the nice lady there laughed at my sad little tree!  Anyway, I cut leaves out of red, yellow, brown, and orange construction paper, laminated them, and cut them out.  The Owlets picked a leaf and taped it to the coordinating dot.  When all the leaves were on it, it was beautiful and not as sad looking! 
I added colored pencils and paper to the writing area along with some cards with fall words and matching pictures on them. I encouraged the Owlets to try and copy the letters off the cards or to draw a picture of what was on the card. 

There are more fall adventures awaiting us tomorrow...hopefully a nature walk to look for leaves, acorns, and pine cones for our discovery trays if the rain goes away!  :)

Field Trip!

Stretching the dough

Spreading the sauce

Her cheese pizza before baking

Eating her yummy pepperoni pizza

The FCC took a field trip to my absolute favorite pizza place...ever!  Yes, we went to Mellow Mushroom!  The kids got to make their own pizza, take a tour of the kitchen, and then eat their finished product.  All the kids had a great time and what a perfect excuse to get covered in flour and tomato sauce! 

Fall is in the Air

The Tree I put in Dramatic Play

  Fall...I love fall...all things fall!  The colors, the smells, football (Roll Tide), the flavors, the crispness in the air, sweaters, and big, tall boots!  Fall and leaves are one of my favorite themes to do in school.  This weekend I have been busy creating fall in my classroom!  My hubby and I put together a tree and spent yesterday afternoon cutting out leaves an adding them to the bare branches.  I think it turned out pretty cute!
I have been coloring leaves, cutting out leaves, and laminating like crazy!   I had a lot of this stuff from before, but most of it got lost in the last three moves, so I started over!
 One of the activities we will be doing is a leaf memory game.  This activity was a favorite of the kids in my classroom when I taught before, so I went back to it!  I found it in The Mailbox Magazine from October/November 2003...wow!  My hubby drew the tree for me, but I photocopied the leaf cards and colored them myself...red, yellow, green, brown, and orange.  This is a great memory game!
I think one of the activities I am looking most forward to is the lovely leaf match!  I made twenty leaves from scrapbook paper, laminated them, and cut them out. The kids will match them based on pattern.
I have many more activities planned for our centers, group times, and special activities.  Pictures and details to come!  It's going to be a fabulous fall week! :)

My hubby drew this awesome tree for me so we can play a leaf memory game!

Leaf lacing cards

Leaf Match 

Priscilla Pig

Priscilla Pig Before her muddy makeover

Oh lovely mud

Priscilla Pig after a day in the mud 

 

 

 

Well, I couldn't let the box I had picked out for my barn to go to waste, so I enlisted my hubby's help to cut out this pig.  Why do I enlist the hubs on big projects...because I can not cut a straight line with a ruler, much less make a pig out of a cardboard box!  Anyway, I saw this idea on www.pinteret.com (again, love love love pinning and I always find the cutest stuff on there!)  So the Owlets and Papa Owl helped me paint her pink then I added her snout and features.  The Owlets loved her and were so excited about her, we had to name her...so we named her Priscilla, cause that's an awesome pig name! We took her outside and painted her with brown paint "mud" hand prints!  The Owlets had a great time making Priscilla all dirty.  This was a pretty cool way to tell them that pigs like mud because it helps keep them cool, keeps bugs away from them, and keeps them from getting sunburned.  I discovered that there is enough stuff out there on pigs to do a whole unit on them! Maybe next year I'll do pigs one week and the farm the next! 

Our Little Farm

So here it is...our little Owls Nest farm!  I love the barn, it's just so cute!   I added a weather vane to the top and then some scenery.  I made the grass with green construction paper and the hay bales with empty boxes that I wrapped in yellow construction paper.  I made a mental note to use bulletin board paper next time, it will be so much easier!  The other props I added include straw hats, flannel shirts, overalls, stick horses, stuffed farm animals, and a couple of tractors!  The Owlets are having so much fun in the Dramatic Play area this week!  I love being able to change up the look of the room to fit our theme!

Getting Ready to go to the Farm

I spent most of the weekend getting ready for our farm theme!  My vision for my barn was way different then what I ended up with, but sometimes you just have to roll with it! I had a grand vision of a large cardboard box cut and painted to look like a barn, standing in a corner surrounded by animals.  My hubby went out searching for a big box, but couldn't find one and the one I dug out of the garage was too small.  So, instead of my grand vision I got a red piece of poster board that my awesome hubby cut into a barn shape and that I painted doors, windows, and trim on.  Even though it isn't exactly what I had in mind, I think it turned out pretty cute!  I'm excited to put it up and get our farm ready for the week! 

More Apple Antics

Making Apple Prints

Apple Patterns

Sorting Big A and Little A

Science Experiments

Clever Owl holding the Diaper Dust she made

Glow in the Dark Slime

Clever Owl was in scientist mode when she came home from school today.  She has a ton of science experiment kits and when she pulled this kit off the shelf and asked for help doing a couple of experiments, how could I say no!  So we made Diaper Dust which was just powder and she added water to it, mixed it together until it made a squishy slime!  Then we made glow in the dark slime.  It was pretty cool..she couldn't wait to show her friends!  I think it is so awesome that she loves science!  Papa Owl and I want to do everything we can to nurture that love, even if it means buying her every science kit on the market...because she will ask for all of them!

Apples Aplenty!

Our apple tree and apple orchard sign (dramatic play)

Apples and basket match (math)

Picking apples off the apple tree with tweezers (fine motor)

FCC Classes

Last week was completely crazy!  I started the orientation for opening an FCC (Family Childcare) on post.  I went in on Monday thinking it was just going to be a one day thing, but nope, it was all day all week!  I have watched videos from the early 80's on the purpose of FCC and on child abuse, had a lot of information thrown at me about curriculum, planning, environment, growth and development.  Taken a class on medication which involved taking a ton of notes because the handouts were forgotten, happily I managed to pass all three tests that came with that class!  Friday was CPR and First Aid.  When I taught preschool I had to take those classes every year, but haven't had it since before my oldest owlet was born!  A lot has changed!  I am happy to report that I am now certified in both!  I really dislike the whole CPR thing, I don't like having to practice on a dummy in front of a bunch of other people...but this class was different, we all did it together and she graded us on our skills, so it wasn't as bad!  The day we spent on planning was kind of a review to me, I have used the curriculum the Army uses for its FCC's before and I kind of felt like the teacher's pet because I have taught preschool and all of that stuff is old hat to me, the teacher kept talking to me about NAEYC accreditation's (I've been through that before!) and other preschool related stuff!  All the stuff that was thrown at us in a day was stuff you would spend three or four months on if you were taking Child Development in college!  We had three ladies in our class and one dropped out after that day, I assume it was because the whole day was pretty overwhelming! 
I have also had the pleasure of observing two operating FCC homes.  I went to one home on Wednesday and one on Thursday.  I had to write up observation forms on both!  I had to laugh at the first home, leopard print everywhere!  Now, that's not my taste, but to each her own I guess!  It was a little chaotic too, but the craziest thing was the Faberge eggs that were on tall metal racks in the living room.  I wouldn't do that because I have three owlets that run around all over the place and they would get broken...but I certainly wouldn't have them if I had six little owlets running around!  Not only would I be afraid they'd get broken (think of the cuts) but then I think they could be used as weapons!  The house I went to Thursday was managed so well...you could tell the lady really enjoyed what she did and that she loved the children in her care! 
My last FCC class is tomorrow, we will cover all the business practices.  I can't wait to get my FCC up and running!  I know it will be a little crazy in the beginning, but I really miss working with kids!  I've made a couple of new friends throughout this process too, so that's a bonus!  My little owlets have been so happy in the FCC they have been going to, they love the provider!  I think it speaks very highly of her that they want to go everyday and cry when I pick them up because they want to stay and play!  I only hope that I can run my FCC that well!

Kellipalooza 2012

Today is my birthday..I have called this special day Kellipalooza since high school...why?  I really don't know why...I guess it makes me feel like my birthday is a big deal (even though it isn't!)  Basically, it's another day, yep I'm a year older.  Do I feel it? Nope, not at all!  Am I sad or depressed about gaining another year? Not one bit.  Why?  Age is just a number and I am happy, very satisfied, with the place where I am in this stage of my life!
Today has been, a normal day...except I didn't clean my house!  I made breakfast for my family, because I love them and want to nourish their bodies and send them off with full tummies so they have the best day possible.  The breakfast was a little more special than normal, I made cake batter pancakes and they were fabulous! I registered my babies for CYS, now they can go to hourly care or participate in CYS activities!  Then we went to the post library for story and craft time.  The librarian read stories about turtles and then the girls cute turtle magnets.  My little Owlets love story and craft time, they love being read to, they sit so still and listen so intently even when other kids are jumping up and down, screaming, and playing!  The Military Family Life Consultant complimented them for being so well behaved!  We came home and had lunch, then playtime, and then it was time to go get Clever Owl from school. 

Kosmic Karma Pizza!  Best pizza ever!

Cause I love owls and lime green is my favorite color!

Favorite place to get a pie!

When Papa Owl came home we went to my most favorite pizza place, Mellow Mushroom for the best pizza ever created, the Kosmic Karma!  After we finished dinner, my hubby surprised me with a cake!  My little owl family sang "Happy Birthday" to me, then we dove into the cake!  I got very sweet cards from each member of my little owl family!  It has been a great day!  I love my family so much and I am one blessed Mama Owl! :)

Nursery Rhymes

Kittens and Mittens Math Activity

    

Pocket chart with Morning Message at the top and Jack and Jill literacy at the bottom.

Mother Goose on the Loose!

Our theme for this week is Nursery Rhymes!  The Owlets enjoy nursery rhymes, so I thought this would be a wonderful unit.  There are so many fantastic rhymes, but we are only focusing on four (we took Monday off), Humpty Dumpty, Sing a Song of Sixpence, Little Miss Muffet, and Jack and Jill. 
Yesterday we focused on Little Miss Muffet.  After reading the rhyme, I read the morning message to the Owlets, "Why was Little Miss Muffet frightened?"  After explaining what frightened was, the Owlets said with conviction that "She was scared because their was a spider that sat by her and wanted her food."  Then it was center time.  Here are what the centers have to offer this week:

Language/Literacy: I wrote the nursery rhyme Jack and Jill on sentence strips twice.  I placed one set in the pocket chart, skipping a line between the strips.  I cut the other strips and placed them next to the pocket chart.  The object is for the Owlets to place the cut out words in the empty spaces underneath the matching words.

Dramatic Play: There is a lot going on in our dramatic play area this week!  The Owlets will be hanging laundry on a clothesline (made with yarn), I added doll clothes to the prop box for them to hang.  I added bowls, spoons, rolling pins, plates, and pie plates in the prop box so the Owlets can make pies.  Finally, I will be adding props so the Owlets can be doctors.  I am incorporating fine motor into this center as well by using the clothespins. 

Gross Motor:  I added a candle cut out to three different heights of wooden blocks, the Owlets jump over them.

Math: I made ten cat cutouts and ten mitten cutouts.  I numbered the mittens and the kittens 1-10.  the object is that the Owlets match the mittens to the kittens.

Blocks: The Owlets are building walls and putting plastic eggs on them.

Our letter of the week is E.  The story we are reading is an awesome classic, Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss.  We are doing some pretty cool activities related to this book and the Owlets used their hand prints to make elephants! 

So far in art the Owlets have made spiderwebs after saying Little Miss Muffet and added a plastic spider ring and today we made crowns after reading Sing a Song of Sixpence. 

The Owls Nest Returns to Earth

It's been an exciting week going through our Outer Space unit!  The Owlets have had a lot of fun and some new experiences that I hope made an impression on them.  Sadly, we have wrapped up our space theme and returned to Earth today.  The last day is space was certainly a fun one.  The Owlets painted with sponges and gray paint on a round sheet of white paper, the texture of the sponge resembles the texture of the moon.  They also did a little mining for moon rocks.  I crumpled up pieces of aluminum foil and hid them in sand.  The Owlets used tongs to move the sand around and take them out, then they explored the moon rocks with a magnifying glass.  Of course, this activity could be done with actual small stones!  I showed them how craters form and they got to take turns making craters in the sand.  It's so much fun to drop a big rock in sand and see the dents it makes!  The other centers were open as well, they have spent a lot of time at the pocket chart singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and pointing to the words with the star pointers!  We had a fabulous week! 

The Owls Nest will not be operating on Monday September 3rd, 2012.  I hope everyone enjoys their long Labor Day weekend!  Have fun and be safe!!

Out of This World Art

Yesterday we got a late start on school and ended up doing activities after Clever Owl got home for the day.  Our art activity was pretty cool, the Owlets (even Clever Owl) made a moonrock!  These are so simple but are fun to make and they look pretty awesome displayed during Outer Space week.  All you need is aluminum foil, black paint, and gold and/or sliver glitter.  The Owlets crumpled up the aluminum foil into a loose ball and painted it black then they rolled it in silver glitter.  We put them in a box and labeled it "Moonrocks".  We read Zoom, Zoom, Zoom, I'm Off to the Moon before we did this activity and then I showed them the page in the book that showed a box of moonrocks!

I revamped the control panel board that is in our Dramatic Play center for the week.  I covered a tri-fold board with aluminum foil and glued the pictures from the previous board to the new board.  The Owlets are loving being astronauts! 

How Do the Astronauts Sleep

This morning in our circle time we talked about how the astronauts sleep strapped down to boards, one on top of the board and one underneath the board.  I used a sleeping bag and wrapped the Owlets up tight, they put on sunglasses and headphones and pretended to sleep like the astronauts do!

Books for Outer Space Week

Zoom, Rocket, Zoom! by Margret Mayo
Zoom! Zoom! Zoom! I'm Off to the Moon! by Dan Yaccarino
Astronaut Handbook by Meghan McCarthy
Another Day In The Milky Way by David Milgrim
Light Up the Night by Jean Reidy
Space For Kids Who Really Love Space! by Sarah Powell

Blast Off

This week we learning about outer space!  I am a serious space enthusiast, so I love this theme!  Recently I ordered a book from Amazon www.amazon.com, it is a Mailbox book called Prop Box Play, I was especially excited to see the awesome space themed prop box that was included in this book!  I have been preparing all weekend for this unit, cutting out stars and programming them with letters and numbers, creating and collecting props, and everything else that goes along with getting a unit ready.  Papa Owl was quite confused when I asked if he had any MRE's or emergency blankets I could have for my prop box!  I made a control panel for our space shuttle by folding a piece of poster board into three equal parts.  I glued on some lids and caps, but you could also use spools. I found pictures of a speedometer, clock, view of the Earth from a shuttle, and a control panel, printed them off and glued them to my poster board.  I also drew on some windows and controls.  In my space prop box I added backpacks, flashlights, water bottles, a magnifying glass, and tongs.  I am looking for things to use as space helmets, space suits, and astronaut food! This is our Dramatic Play activity for the week!  The Owlets had fun being astronauts today, flying the space shuttle, and doing space walks!  Hopefully tomorrow they will get to find some moon rocks!
I finally got my pocket chart hung up and it is getting used all this week for a literacy activity.  I wrote the words to Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star on sentence strips and placed them in the chart.  I made glittery star wands to use as pointers and the Owlets can use the wands to point to the words while singing the song.  Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star is one of the Owlets favorite songs so you can imagine how much they enjoyed this activity.
Our letter for the week is "N".  So, we made nests our of brown lunch bags.  The Owlets glued three blue pom poms into the nest to look like little eggs.  Since we are trying to do a hand print craft for every letter, the Owlets used their thumbs to make a thumb print necklace.  
Art: I put white tempera paint into spray bottles and added water.  The Owlets sprayed the mixture onto black paper to create a solar system.  We did this activity outside because paint ends up everywhere!
Math: I cut out 20 star shapes, on 10 of them I wrote the numbers 1-10 and on the other ten I placed dots for each number.  The idea is to pick a star, count the dots, and find the matching star.  I laminated the stars for durability. 
Writing: I cut out 16 star shapes and programmed them with some of the letters we have been working on and some new letters.  The Owlets were encouraged to find the matching pairs of letters.  Again, I laminated the stars for durability!
Blocks: I found pictures of the International Space Station, the moon, and the solar system, I printed them out, laminated them, and put them in the block area with some play people.  The Owlets built space shuttles and sent their play people off to new planets, the moon, and the space station.
Fine Motor: I incorporated a Montessori activity into our fine motor center for the week.  I put out two bowls of water and some sponges.  The Owlets squeezed the water from the sponges out of one bowl of water into the other bowl.
This was a great first day of our Outer Space week! 

Dinosaur Week Roars to a Close

We finished up our exciting week about the dinosaurs yesterday!  Before we did our daily school routine we went to the post library for storytime.  The Owlets love the library and they love storytime!  The librarian read books about caterpillars and then they made a caterpillar craft out of scrapbook paper circles, pipe cleaners, wiggle eyes, and glue dots. 
We came home and the Owlets were excited to start learning and playing!  For a math activity I made ten dinosaur footprints and ten dinosaurs, I numbered the footprints and dinosaurs 1-10.  I laid the footprints out in a line and turned the dinosaurs face down.  The Owlets picked a dinosaur, said what the number was, and then laid the dinosaur on the footprint.  I was impressed with how well they did on this activity and they had a lot of fun doing it!
Our art activity was pretty cool, I gave the Owlets a plate full of uncooked pasta in different shapes, some glue, a q-tip, and a piece of black construction paper.  The idea was to make a dinosaur skeleton, but the instructions were, glue the pasta on however you want so your skeleton looks however you think it should look!  The skeletons came out very interesting!  The Owlets also made Dinosaur Handprints for our letter "H" activity.  They dipped the side of their fist into green paint and laid it on paper then they used their thumb for toes.  Some of the prints had ten toes!
The Owlets had a lot of fun this week and I am hopeful they learned a little about dinosaurs!
We have a brand new theme for next week and some pretty exciting stuff to go along with it ! 

George Washington Obsession

I took all three Owlets to the post library yesterday, we returned some of our dinosaur books and looked for books to use for next week.  Clever Owl has a strange obsession with the first president of our country, Mr. George Washington.  I do not understand it, but she thinks he is the greatest!  We drove from Alaska to Alabama and stopped in South Dakota to visit Mount Rushmore, it was her favorite part of the whole forty day trip!  Anyway, at the library, she went on a search for books about the great American.  She wasn't having much luck, even though we used the computer to look some up, but all we could find were biographies written for adults.  The Librarian came in and Clever Owl asked her if she knew where any books about him were, the Librarian was more than happy to help her find the books she was looking for.  Finally, she found two, a very lengthy biography and a smaller, more concise biography.  She decided to go with the smaller book, she started reading it while I was still looking for books, all the way home, and when we got home.  I think she has almost finished it!  I may not understand her obsession, but I don't dare criticize it.  My Clever Owl loves to learn and that makes for one happy Mama and Papa Owl!

A Dino Good Enough to Eat!

As our dinosaur unit comes to a close we made added a cooking project to our list of activities.  The Owlets made dinosaurs that were good enough to eat!  We started with bananas and the owlets stuck Chex cereal into it so it looked like spikes, then they put a chocolate chip on it for the eye.  The Owlets enjoyed making this special dino treat, but the best part was getting to eat it up!
 The Owlets worked in the centers that have been set up throughout the week, but of course we did a new art activity and a new letter "H" project.  For art the owlets made dinosaur footprints using their hands and the Owlets made hula skirts out of paper bags, yarn, glitter, crayons, and stickers!
Gross motor activities are important to all child development programs and this week we have moved like dinosaurs and today we listened to one of the Owlets favorite singers, Laurie Berkner, and her song We Are the Dinosaurs.  The Owlets had fun stomping and dancing!  It was a good day for learning and we have more fun in store for tomorrow!

Dots, Paleontology, and More!

We are continuing our Dinosaur theme.  Yesterday we got out of the house and went to the Fort Rucker PWOC Kick-Off!  The little owlets had fun playing with boys and girls their own age and Mama Owl had a lovely time praising my Savior, listening to the information about the classes offered this semester, and getting to have some grown up conversation with other mamas!
 After we got home and ate lunch we did a short circle time, we are counting our days in school and I wanted to make sure we at least got our stick in the bucket so we can get to 100 days!  I cut out several shapes and let the Owlets glue them to paper making a dinosaur, they turned out to be very abstract dinos!
Today in circle time we sang a song and went a dino hunt.  The activity taught the owlets about positional words, above, in, under, beside, behind, ect.  They had fun looking for and finding the dinosaurs and using new words!  We used big plastic dinosaurs and brown paint to make dino footprints on white paper.  Another way to do the dino footprints would be to add soil to brown paint and encourage the children to paint paper with the mixture then walk a dinosaur through it.
Our literacy activity today was dot markers on a letter H and we read A House for Hermit Crab, then decorated a hermit crab shell cutout.  We tried a science activity, I found a picture of a dinosaur skeleton and printed it out.  I was a little small so I cut it out and enlarged it on my printer.  The owlets put glue on the skeleton (with some help) and then dumped sand all over it.  They shook the excess sand off the paper, but all over themselves, the chairs, anything in their path, which is the main reason we did sand outside!  When it was done it looked like they had just dug up these dinosaur bones!  They were so excited about it and had so much fun with this activity.  I love watching them explore, learn, and have fun!  It is such a joy to be their Mama Owl...I am truly blessed!!  

Dinosuar Week

Sassy Owl, Monkey Owl, and I had a great time searching the library for books about dinosaurs.  Here are the selections we are using this week for our theme:

Dinosaur Dinosaur by Kevin Lewis

Brontorina by James Howe

Stomp, Dinosaur, Stomp by Margaret Mayo

How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You? by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague

Too Many Dinosaurs by Mercer Mayer

Here Come The Dinosaurs!

We kicked off Dinosaur Week today!  The owlets are super excited about this week so that makes it even better! In preparation for this week the owlets and I spent a morning at the library looking for books on the subject of dinosaurs, buying plastic dinos at the store, and picking up sand!  Sadly, we don't have many books at home on the subject and we didn't have any plastic dinosaurs. Yesterday after church we ran to Lowe's to get some sand.  50 pounds of sand is not a light a load to carry, but Clever Owl and I made it happen, next time though I will send Papa Owl in for it!  I spent last night cutting out dinosaurs, I was glad that Papa Owl helped or I would've been up all night!
During our "circle time", we talked about what we knew about dinosaurs, I think my favorite answer came from Sassy Owl: "Dinosaurs live with Little Einsteins."  Then we discussed what we wanted to learn about the prehistoric creatures. 
This morning I added colorful dinosaurs to two dish pans and filled them with sand.  I gave the owlets paintbrushes and shovels so they could be paleontologists and dig for the dinos.  They got so excited when they found one!  This is also a good dramatic play activity!  For art, I added food coloring to spray bottles and cut out an egg shape, the owlets sprayed the egg shape and when they are dry we will cut them with a zig zag pattern and glue a baby dino coming out of the egg.  The owlets enjoyed doing these activities outside.  I copied a pattern of three types of dinosaurs onto construction paper, numbered them 1-10, laminated them, and finally cut them all out!  This is our math activity for the week and the owlets are going to sort the dinosaurs by type and then put them into sets.  Today they just sorted them by long tails, horns, and spikes! I'm sure our letter for the week should be D, but it's not, we are learning about the letter H.  For our literacy activity the owlets made hippos with their hand prints.  I love the idea of using hand prints to make something for each letter of the alphabet!
We have many more exciting plans for the week and I can't wait to share them with Sassy Owl and Monkey Owl and of course with all of you!  Have a fabulous Monday!!

About This Blog

Welcome to The Owls Nest!  I am a stay at home mom to three little girls ages 7, 3, and 2!  You can imagine that they keep me hopping!  They are super sweet, funny, creative, energetic, and so much more!  I am married to the most amazing man in the world!  He is the love of my life, my soul mate, and my best friend!  We are a military family and have made it through several deployments and moves that separated us from family and the family that the Army gave us!  I feel very blessed to be able to stay at home with my girls right now!
I have always known that my calling was to work with children in some capacity.  I received my Child Development Associate and taught preschool until the Army moved us to El Paso.  While my husband was deployed, I realized how much I missed teaching...so when my neighbors got jobs at a local diner I was thrilled when they asked me to keep their kids!  I saw this as an awesome opportunity to teach!  So every day my daughter and my neighbors kids would do fun and educational activities!  I loved it, the kids were learning and having fun, and their parents were thrilled!  When the Army decided that we needed to experience Alaska I started toying with the idea of starting an FCC (Family Childcare), but with a 4 year old, a newborn, and a deployed husband (again) I decided against it.  My daughter loves to learn, so I continued to do activities with her.  When my middle daughter was old enough I started doing age appropriate activities with her.  13 months after my middle daughter was born, we had our third, and last little owlet!  Now, we are settled in a new location for a little while and I am in teacher mode again!  The office/dining room of our beautiful post house is a classroom and my little girls look forward to going to their "school" everyday while their sister is at her school! I am also in school, getting a degree in Psychology, specializing in Child Psychology and then hopefully get my Masters in Art Therapy.  I've also started the process of finally staring a FCC at this duty station and I can't wait to get that up and running!  I like to swim, read, listen to music, hike, scrapbook, bake, cook, and work out!
This is not my first time around the blogging block, I start them, make a few entries, and then abandon them...I am going to make a point this time to do better!  I want to chronicle the learning activities I do with my kids (and hopefully soon the kids I get through the FCC) in our own little school!