Painting the deck with water, having backyard picnics, drawing with chalk, and watching more birds in the trees have been some of the activities filling our days lately. We have enjoyed spending most of our time outside...eating and even sleeping for some of us. Today Asher and Collin fell asleep in the hammock with Audrey....a very blissful sight.
Please send in any recent photos you may have of your children with you in the picture, as we are working on our photo books about families.

LOVE

LOVE.

One of our themes this month along with the color red, bears, and family.

We are painting/coloring/creating with red, making red play-dough, eating red things, searching for red toys and objects around the house and in the yard.

We are learning each others' names, working on an Apple Blossom photo album, and making pictures with various shapes on the flannel board.

Amanda, with Stories-To-Go, shared books, songs, and activities about frogs.

Karen Day from Educare came today and brought us a bag of transportation themed toys and activities. This inspired enthusiastic play with boxes that became trains, cars, and boats for the children to climb in, push, and pull.

The books we are reading:

Guess How Much I Love You?
Hug
Mama Do You Love Me?
Ask Mr. Bear
Counting Kisses
Honey Baby Sugar Child
I Love You All Day Long
I Love You As Much
I Love You Like Crazy Cakes
Kiss Kiss
Papa Do You Love Me?

We are singing:
Skinna Marinky
I Have a Little Heart

Winter Tea-Time:
Wash the dishes
Wipe the dishes
Ring the Bell for Tea
Three good wishes
Three good kisses
Thank you for my tea!

Polly put the kettle on
Sleep, you little willow

Having fun as always!!

Winter Days

Welcome to Finn who has recently joined our growing group. He is a lovely and sweet baby that has caught the hearts of us all.
He will be here on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays and has enjoyed swinging in the hammock, listening to our live guitar music, and watching the other children play.
Hannah who has traveled from New York and is 4 years old will also be here for a few hours twice a week with her nanny. She is staying in Branson with her mother, Debra Granik, during the winter.
We have had busy and fun days together reading many new books, learning new signs, singing and moving to our winter themed circle times, cooking and inventing, and creating beautiful works of art. We are exploring the subjects of winter, snow, fairies, knitting, bears, owls and other animals and nature concepts relevant to the season.
Books we have read this week include:
Knitty Kitty by David Elliot
Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson
Annie and the Wild Animals by Jan Brett
Animal Signs, First Signs, and Signs for Pets and Animals
Snow by Uri Shuilevitz
The Big Snow by Berta and Elmer Hader
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Secret World by Cicely Mary Barker
The Book of Fairy Poetry by Michael Hague
Where Fairies Dance by Michael Hague
The Secret Life of Fairies by Penelope Larkspur

These last few titles have inspired an interest in building our own fairy houses among the stumps and branches outside.

We have had visits with Karen Day from Educare and Amanda from Stories to Go.
Karen brought us a family themed bag full of new baby dolls, houses and play dishes.
Amanda spent time reading stories about snowmen with the children outside followed by the putting together of our own snowmen.

Thursday soup days have been a success with the children expressing more of an interest in helping to prepare our lunch. If you are able to bring in a favorite vegetable on Thursdays, we will joyfully add this to our soup. This helps the children feel a sense of contributing something from their own home for their friends.

As always, it is a joy having the children in our life and we wish everyone health, peace, and adventure with your little ones.

WINTER STARS

I stood beside a hill
Smooth with new laid snow
A single star looked out
From the cold evening glow
There was no other creature
That saw what I could see
I stood and watched the evening star
As long as it watched me

Sara Teasdale

Wishing you warmth and peaceful holiday celebrations...

A GRAIN A DAY

Here's a copy of our new weekly menu which may include some or all of the items listed for each day:

Monday
grain: rice
color: purple
rice cakes, almond butter, grapes
steamed rice with beans or tamari
rice cereal with maple syrup

Tuesday
grain: oats
color: red
oatbars, apples
oatmeal with strawberries
oat bread or muffins
red bell peppers, tomatoes
chips and salsa

Wednesday
grain: millet
color: yellow
millet squares, bananas
fresh baked bread, butter, raisins
Dr. Sears fruit smoothie

Thursday
grain: barley
color: orange
stone soup day with vegetables and barley
cantaloupe, oranges, carrots with hummus

Friday
grain: rye
color: green
rye crackers and cheese
pears, kiwis, grapes
celery, broccoli, green beans with veggie dip or peanut butter

We give our children a special gift by introducing them to whole grains, especially in a simple cooked form.
Beginning in January we will be reading the story of Stone Soup. Thursdays will be soup day and each child needs to bring in a container of their favorite vegetables to add to the soup. We will all be making the soup together before lunch.

NEW DATE FOR LANTERN WALK

NOVEMBER 21 IS THE NEW DATE FOR OUR LANTERN WALK.
FRIDAY EVENING BEGINNING AT 6:30 WE WILL HAVE SNACKS, FOLLOWED BY SINGING AND A WALK WITH OUR LANTERNS.
I HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL THEN, HOWEVER, IF YOUR SCHEDULES ARE CONFLICTING, PLEASE KNOW THAT THERE WILL BE AT LEAST ONE GET TOGETHER LIKE THIS EVERY SEASON.

MONDAY MUSIC

Mondays are music day and the children enjoyed a variety of musical instruments including drums, tamborines, shakers, mallets with clacking blocks, maracas, and more.
We also set up an arrangement of blocks angled in different ways to explore the many notes and sound possibilities that happened when we hit them.

What we listened to today:
Putumayo Presents Latin Playground
Lullabies of Latin America

Books we read:
I'll Always Love You by Paeony Lewis
Brian Wildsmith's ABC
Daddy's Lullaby by Tony Bradman
Baa Baa Black Sheep by Iza Trapani
One Grain of Sand a Lullaby by Pete Seeger

We worked with the soft shape sorters and talked about circles, triangles, and squares.
Hiding small stuffed animals around the living room, we played hide and seek asking "Where is the puppy?" and then it would come out and "say" its sound.
We rolled ping pong balls through paper towel tubes, arranged felt shapes onto a flannel board, crawled through "tunnels" made from big cardboard boxes, stacked paper cups on top of each other, and watched the effects of different colors in buckets of warm bubbly water with a variety of sponge shapes.

Do you have an idea for a special activity or seasonal celebration?
Your suggestions are always welcome here.
Lantern songs were practiced and new fall circle songs were introduced as well.

With warmth....