Wild West

This week's theme: the Wild West!  With the fair just leaving town and the Calgary Stampede up and running we are in to the cowboy/cowpoke/western theme.  Today we became sheriffs (no deputies, we all took on a leading role).  With our badges, we mean business!!  Rootin' tootin' sheriffs were keeping things under control at Susan's today.

Reading

Routines are a big part of Susan Cares 4 Kids.  One of our favourite activities is reading books, something we do on a daily basis (and sometimes more than once a day).  After lunch, we always get to spend time reading books and sharing stories before Susan reads aloud.  It's great to hear the wonderful stories that are being read / "told" and to see early reading behaviours in these young pre-school / toddler children.

Caterpillar Craze

It's Caterpillar Week at Susan's and the children are learning about these little critters.  Did you know that some caterpillars can turn into a butterfly?  Or that the furry ones feel funny on your arm?  Also, caterpillars will have different patterns on their bodies.  Pretty cool stuff!  As we explore nature and insects, the children get to discover wonderful things about the world around them.  They love to observe the little critters, like caterpillars, in our natural world and make observations based on their senses.  Our crafts this week are caterpillar themed.  So far we've made caterpillars that can move (or wiggle around) and cool caterpillar caps.

Nursery Rhyme Week

Last week was nursery rhyme week.  The children love these rhymes / songs and even the adults find the tunes catchy (as they are often still sung well into the evening, though not always on purpose).  Check out the various nursery rhymes and traditional songs that the children delved into this week.


5 Green and Speckled Frogs
One of  the greatest things about these traditional songs and rhymes is their repetition.  Repetition is linked with the concept of patterning which aids in literacy and math skills.  With the song "5 Green and Speckled Frogs" students enjoy a ear catching tune while learning about one less/counting back.

6 Little Ducks
Do you remember the 6 little ducks? Fast ones, short ones and of course the infamous "feather on his back" one?  We do!  Check out our little ducks we made as popsicle puppets that were easy to maneuver while acting out the song.

Here is the song sung by Raffi (classic!!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-GDn2xvFQQ

Where is Thumbkin?
Finger puppets were the perfect craft for this song.  The children quickly learn about the various names for their fingers (ring, pointer, pinkie, etc.) while learning and practising their dexterity in being able to hold up each finger individually.

Lyrics:
Where is Thumbkin?
Where is Thumbkin?
Here I am!
Here I am!

How are you today, sir?
Very well, I thank you.
Run and hide.
Run and hide.

(Repeat with Pointer, Middleman, Ringman, Pinky and everyone).






Old Macdonald Had A Farm
With this cute craft, children sang the song and by turning a board behind the barn, would pop open the barn doors to display the next animal Old Macdonald had on the farm.

Eensy Weensy Spider
Well, although many people are afraid of these eight legged creatures the children here love them!  Actually, they love and are taught to respect all creatures but it just happened that we had a rhyme related to our arachnid friends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiXmqoESD9I

Summer Fun!

Summertime means sunshine, shorts, t-shirts, outdoor play, and ....... WATERMELON!!  It's one of our all-time favourite summer snacks at Susan's and boy, does it ever go fast (down into our tummies and from the bowl).  Friday we dined outdoors at our Mike-made, perfect size for us picnic tables.

Afterwards some of us felt the need to "chillax" a little! It's funny who will emulate who!! ;)

Swinging Fun

On Friday, we had such beautiful weather for an excursion so that's what we did and we ventured over to the "Wooden Park" (the kids have names for the various parks in town; everything from "Freaky Park" to "Train Park" to "D&J Park").  At the wooden park there are a bunch of tire swings.  Well.....these were a hot commodity as you don't often find them at many parks in the city.  So we just had to enjoy them, and that we sure did!!!

Garbage Day

Today was garbage day at Susan's (every Wednesday) and everyone on the street has their own garbage bin.  Well, it's amazing what kids find interesting.  Anything involving a big "truck" and a loud engine is sure to do it.  Therefore, we decided to see what this garbage pick-up all entails.  So we all wandered out into the yard and watched how the garbage man disposes of our trash.  The children thoroughly enjoyed watching the arm grab the bin and dump it out into a chute on the top of the truck.  We even got a wave and a honk from the driver!  Maybe we'll get to explore more jobs that big trucks do in our community.

Picnic in the Park

The weather has been absolutely beautiful the last couple of days so we decided to enjoy our lunch al fresco and picnic in the park.   It was a little gusty so we had to hold on to our milk glasses!

Planet Week

This week we've been studying the planets in our solar system here at Susan's.  This has sparked some debate amongst the adults as we still don't agree on Pluto being downgraded in planet status. Sigh.  How things change.  Needless to say we've still had fun creating various projects that involve our planet.  It's fun to see the children's perspective on what is a planet and whether Earth is one or not. ;)

Boat Week

Last week was boat week.  Boats are a fascinating mode of transportation and the children were quite inquisitive as to how they stay on top of the water.  Throughout the week we did many boat related crafts AND even created and floated our very own boats.