We took the kids to Kelsey Creek Park.  Read about it here!

We did our time around firefighting in preparation for our field trip next week and R's love of firefighters.

We started with cirlce time and a Bible story on God leading the Israelites out of Eygpt by a cloud of smoke and fire - and how that is not one fire we want to put out!

 After the Bible story, Linda read from a few books about firefighters and community helpers.

After circle time we went to work in the kitchen to start our pretzel dough! We made whole wheat soft pretzels . Yum-O!

Leigh talked on 'then & now' of how fires used to be put out; how buckets were used and were filled up by a well/stream/lake and people would work together to get the water from point A to B. The kids had fun with that one - the 'fire' didn't really get put out but I think that helped illustrate the point the hoses work so much better!

firefighter in training

Back inside for stories and lunch!

Playing a game with Grandma Katie that teaches about community helpers...

Play time at the park...

What a fun day!

Larena and I met today for Tuesday Time. I am not sure what to call it - what do you think?

We started with circle time and sang the hello song since the children didn't really know each other's names. We sang, "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" and we talked about how God made us all different and we were made in His image. We also looked at pictures in my Children's World Cookbook at differents foods throughout the world.

We then made some pizza dough.

While the dough was rising we talked about what the top largest countries were and located them on the world map. We also discussed the continents and populations.

Populations:

World:

6,679,493,900

United States:

303,824,650

Washington:

6,468,424

Our city:

4,621

Top 10 largest countries:

Russia, Canada, United States, China, Brazil, Australia, India, Argentina, Kazakhstan, and Sudan.

The children played and had lunch. It was so relaxing and enjoyable!

The cheese pizza!

Yummy!

Linda

June 17th and 24th we will be 'traveling' to different countries.

July 1st and 8th we will be learning about Fire Saftey and visiting the Snoqualmie Fire Department!

We learned all things frogs! We had four stations set up which worked really well for this topic. We had a lifecycles station, camo station, book station and a tadpole viewing station. The kids all had a 'passport' that they had to get a stamp on when completing a station.

Circle time

Frog lifecycle station

Reading station

Learning about 'camo' and work on crosswords and dot to dots

Ending our time with a fun game of leapfrog

(Leigh writes):  Linda and Kim  hosted this session.  In circle time, she began with a reading from Ecclesiastes 3.  Here is a 'time to plant and a time to uproot'...

'A time for peace'...

Lesson on the calendar....

(I love these next two pictures...)

Learning the months of the year...


Our two 'A's'-of the same name!


Kim had the kids pull clothing out of a bag and say which season they thought would be best for wearing these items.

Todays theme 'Exercise' was really entertaning! It was so fun to watch the kids discover the sound of their heart on the stethascope and to watch them do the obsticle coarse.

A few funny moments. All the kids were up and running around after snack and 'T' was sitting plesantly at the table dipping her snack in her water before she ate it unaware of the world around her. Adorable!

After class we went on an dinosaur hunt and hid in the trees from Stegasauous and then we went hunting for his tracks. 'Z' came running up to me and said that he found Stegasurouses underwear as the pointed to a white plastic bag in the bushes. It was so hilarous and cought me off guard.

I was also proud of little C3 she was such a trooper trudging out in the wild with us without hesitation and you could tell she loved every second of it. These kids are so rewarding to be around!

A few pictures:

Cirlce time:

A shot from the youngers room

Crab walking

Leigh was the teacher for co-op today. She did the theme of Dr. Seuss.

We started with circle time then got into three groups and rotated between three different rooms. It was really nice having it in three rooms!

Circle time - musical hats

Thing 1 & 2 even joined circle time!

Station one had the book The Cat in the Hat. We were to read the book, then discuss family rules that we have in our house, rainy day activities, and naming various hats and where you would find them/see them.

relaxing

Kim balancing a book, an eraser and cup on her head!

Station two had the book Green Eggs and Ham. We were to read the book and then discuss green foods, what animals besides chickens lay eggs and do a dot to dot page.

Station three had the book Dr. Seuss' ABC's. We read the book and then worked on our ABC's.

Thing 1 & 2 were hungry for snack!

TEAMWORK!

Thank you Leigh for such a fun day!

Surprise, surprise, we woke up to snow AGAIN, in April!!

Miss Kathy hosted today and the theme was "snow".

Circle Time.  We sang a couple of songs, then passed around the microscopic pictures of ice crystals...

Our newest member, baby T!


A bowl of warm water was set out, as well as a bowl of ice.  The kids had to place their hands in each and narrate to us what they thought of when they put their hand in the bowl.

Cold
Snow
Brrrrr
Igloo
Freezer

Hot
Beach/Ocean
Hot tub
Bath tub
Maui
Sunshine

'A' wanted to see how long he could hold a piece of ice...not long.

The kids colored pictures with snow themes.

Snack Time...

Linda hosted our group today.  The theme was 'Friendship'.

We began with a song, "Ring Around the Rosie".

The kids took turns saying what they liked about each other.  We wrote what they said on paper that has each child's name on it.

The kids made friendship cards to give to each other, and made a "square" for a "friendship quilt...

The Friendship Quilt!

They also worked together to build with blocks...

We had three birthdays to celebrate, so cupcakes and ice cream all around!

Sundy hosted today's group. We had a small group today. But it was still a lot of fun. We celebrated Sundy's son's "T's" birthday he turned 5.

We started with cirlce time and then Sundy put on a puppet show and gave some rules for the day and did some trivia on "T's" birth.

The kids watching the puppet show. The kids also dressed up for the party.

Sundy had the kids dance. Here is "T" busting a move!

Making their own puppets.

Puzzle time

And yes cupcakes!

 It was a great day!

Wow, with the rain today, I feel doubly blessed by the decent weather we had for our hike yesterday!  Our group went to the John Wayne Trail by Rattlesnake Lake.  It is a good trail for the little ones because it is flat and wide.

Here are (most) of the kids taking a much deserved snack break...

Here are (most) of the kids taking a much deserved snack break!

Good times with good buddies!

Super sibling shot!

A hike highlight.  Throwing rocks in the lake.

Who's watching who?

The children loved climbing on the roots of this HUGE tree stump!

More rock throwing...

Hi all!

I have been monitoring the weather for next week and it looks like we are going to have a nice Tuesday!  Let's get out and go for a hike!  I am thinking the trailhead that begins at Rattlesnake Lake.  There are a few trails up there, so I want to make sure we are all on the same page.  I don't know the name of the trail, but it is attached to a parking lot on the left before you go up to the Watershed Education Center.  There is a restroom at the lot.  I like this trail for the younger ones because it is wide and flat, and planty of safe areas to explore.

If you are not sure where this is, you can meet me at my place at 9:10am.

If you know the name of the trail, or have a better description, go ahead and post here.

I will be bringing a snack for everyone, but plan on packing a family lunch for a picnic at the lake after.  You all are welcome to join us.

Kathy hosted this week.  The them was "Healthy Bodies".  Kathy lives at the foot of Mt. Si and still had a little bit of snow.  The boys took advantage of a little "sledding" before going inside.

Circle Time.  We sange some songs and learned a little sign language.

Kathy read a Dr. Seuss book about healthy habits.

Kathy made a healthy habit pyramid  and the kids had to place activities, food, and habits on either the healthy pyramid or the not-so-healthy square.

The kids played a fun math game, where math stories were told and the kids had to work out the answer with plastic apples.

Two little cuties!

(From Leigh) Our Tuesday School visited the local Children's Museum.  Here are some highlights..(sorry for the red eye)

 The Museum opens at 10 am.

Admission is $7 for ages 1-100

Today they are having Artists in Action from 10-12

Artists in Action

The Artists in Action program at KidsQuest Children's Museum is designed to engage and enlighten visitors to the wonderful world of ART! Through this program, you will be given the opportunity to make that inner artist come alive. Wendy Sloneker will be KidsQuest's Artist in Action in January and February. Wendy has been skipping down the path of the creative process since she was able to reach her mom's fabric scrap basket. Wendy will share her medium of mixed media art pieces. Activities are free with Museum admission and registration is not required.

Do you want to meet at the church and carpool down? Or we can just meet at the museum at opening time.

Kathy hosted our group today.  The theme was "plants".  We read a book called "Oh, Say can you Seed?" which talked all about the different parts of a seed and plant.

Kathy, Baby N, and Megan

Leigh hosted today's school.  The theme was "The Body."  We opened with circle time and sang "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes", and "Five Senses".  We also played a couple of short games where I (leigh) had a child do an action and the kids had to guess what was being done with which body parts (ex. taking a bow at the waist, wiggling ears, turning neck, flapping hands at the wrist).

There were three stations:

Station One- The kids donned a body puzzle and learned about the functions of certain organs and where they are located.  They then had a drawing of their torso and had to draw the organs on it.
C3 and the body puzzle...

Megan and I (Linda) taught school this week.

Free play upstairs.  Boys town with tomboy, C3!

Sundy opened the group with 'Ring a Round the Rosie'

Megan bought a bag of groceries to donate to the food bank and went over the ASL signs for the items in the bag. she then went over the alphabet.

The kids had a great time.

We also had a storytime.

Kathy reading to some of the kids.

And Sundy...

I had the kids make gingerbread ornaments.

The girls liked the dough! They played with it like play-doh!

Cutting out the ornaments

Here is the recipe I used to make the dough.

Gingerbread Ornament Dough

Gingerbread dough for craft projects that makes ornaments to hang or put in baskets that look and smell like real cookies and are made with normal ingredients but bake up rock hard and keep for years and smell great for years. Use gingerbread dough and your favorite cookie cutters to make gingerbread man garlands, gingerbread ornaments and houses.

• 3 tbsp. shortening
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 cup water
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon of cloves, ginger and cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat shortening and sugar together until light and fluffy, stir in molasses. Sift the dry ingredients together. Stir them into shortening mixture in 3 parts alternating with a 1/4 cup of water each time. Dough will be stiff. Refrigerate overnight.

Cut dough into 3 pieces. Knead to warm dough slightly, then roll each piece out about 1/4 inch thick. Cut cookie out with a gingerbread pattern of your choice.

Use a drinking straw to punch hole in center if ornament will be hanging. Place cookies on cookie sheet and bake 20 minutes, turn oven off and let cool in oven.

Remove from cookie sheet and place on rack to dry for about 3 days to totally harden. These cookies are purely for decorative purposes and not to be eaten. If you wish you can seal cookies with 3 coats of clear acrylic and decorate with colorful acrylic pains when dry.

We met at Sundy's house today for a very musical day! The kids all had a great time. It was fun to see the smiles on their faces when they heard a song they knew and even bigger smiles when they were learning a new one! Sundy did a great job of mixing it up and keeping them all entertained!

Here are some pictures from our day.

Ring-around-the-Rosie

Instrument fun

Parachute fun

Octopus (slippery fish)

Cuddle time to Twinkle, Twinkle

The little girls

Leigh hosted Monday School.  The theme was 'Thanksgiving'.

We opened with circle time.  We talked about the Pilgrims leaving England, sailing to Plymouth, MA, and the Indians (Native Americans) helped them with food the first year.  We honor this with 'Thanksgiving.'

We sang two songs (one with fingerplay) about Thanksgiving.

We divided the kids into four groups.  They rotated through four activity zones, each fifteen minutes.

Zone 1: Story time.  We read books about Thanksgiving

Zone 2: We made the 'Harvest Blessing Mix'.

Zone 3: We made bookmarks! (Thanks Kathy!)

Zone 4: We traced the kids hands and wrote what they are thankful for, and placed the hands on a tree.

We also danced the"Turkey Pokey" 

A good time was had by all!  Perfect rainy day fun!

Here is the tentative schedule for November:

November 5th: Sundy/Liz

November 12th: Leigh

November 19th: Liz/Sundy

November 26th: Megan/Linda

I just discovered the Pacific Science Center is closed Monday's! The only other day I have next week is Friday. Do we want to think of somewhere else to go?

The zoo is open everday from 9:30 to 4:30, we discussed going there as a possiblity as well. They have a class that we can maybe sign up for. Let me know what you think.

Linda

We had our co-op today at Liz's house.

Liz read a Bible story about the creation of the earth, day and night - at least that is what I think I heard, the children weren't being very quiet at that moment!

The children played with orange or white playdoh while she read and they were making suns or clouds.

We separated the groups into the boys and the girls.

Liz talked to the boys about the water cycle.

Here they are having their clouds (cotton balls) rain.

They learned about evaportation - she had some water boiling on the stove.

While all this was going on the girls were gluing cotton balls onto a 'C' on their paper.

They got to make some clouds rain as well.

And sing

There was also some art projects! Wow we did a lot!

Enjoying a 'red light' snack afterwards!

Thank you, Liz for hosting and teaching!

  The children learned about foods that are good for your body and you should eat for the majority of your diet  (green light)  and foods you should have in moderation (red light). I talked to the children about different foods and then we played red light, green light.

The children then circled foods in the ad with a red or green crayon depending on if it was a red or green light food.

 I guess coffee is a 'green light' food - that is good news for Pacific Northwesterners!

A very 'green light' snack was served.

Leigh read to some of the children while some were doing their circling...

The kids had a great time.