Pete's Philosophy

We've been sending Pete out on adventures with families for just over a week.  He has come back with great pictures and stories to share with us.
One story demonstrated Pete's philosophy, "no matter what you step in just keep walking along singing your song".
Pete went home with a family on the weekend and I received this email from the mom...
"M told A that Pete's whiskers were bothering him, and she asked A to cut them off...So Pete the Cat is missing the whiskers on the right side of his face...It was really hard not to laugh, as M was certain she was doing him a great service by removing the bothersome whiskers...A feels terrible...

Can Pete carry on his duties as is, or should we shop for a new Pete? hehehe..he doesnt seem bothered by the change :)"

My response was "keep Pete going on his adventure - it's all good and oh did you get any pictures because it's sounds like a great story".

Making our Hands Strong

When I plan art or craft activities for the program I keep in mind the extended benefits that the activity might have.  Cutting, ripping paper, gluing, painting and more all strengthen the muscles in their hands which prepares them for gripping a pencil, for turning pages in a book and more.

Today we practiced a few of those skills.  

Squeezing glue from the bottles takes a lot of work and usually two hands.

 Spreading the glue.

Ripping paper.

Picking up and placing little pieces of popcorn or paper.

Those are just a few we practiced to make our popcorn on the cob.

Busy Pete

Pete the Cat has been very busy since school started.
He has gone on several adventures with families and came back with lots of photos and stories.
He shared both his books with us.
And now he is on the light table so the children can colour match his shoes.

Corn Cob Painting

We experimented with corn on the cob today.

We painted with them.

There was fresh corn and an empty cob of corn.

Indian corn.

And a cob that hadn't been husked yet.

 

Using the fresh corn was the preferred choice.

Sign of the week - pig

This week's sign is 'pig'.  I know of two ways to sign pig as I showed you in the video.

The following verse will allow us to use both signs.

I'm a Little Piggy 

Sung to: "I'm a little Teapot"

I'm a little piggy
Short and stout
Here are my ears
Here is my snout
When I see the
Farmer in the dell,
I oink, oink, oink
and wiggle my tail.

Mrs Wishy Washy

I introduce Joy Cowley's, Mrs Wishy Washy by being Mrs Wishy Washy while I tell the story using props.

Then I leave the props and book available for the children to retell the story.

This book comes off the shelf every year and with it we always play with mud on the art table.

The mud is chocolate pudding that was made with water instead of milk.

Along with the 'mud' there are farm animals to jump, roll and paddle through the mud.  And tractors that slip and slide and make wonderful tracks in the mud.

I leave the book out and encourage the parents to read it out loud while the children are playing.

And when the animals or tractors become too muddy they go in the tub for a wash.

"Wishy-washy, wishy-washy"

Look the math that happened.

Pay It Forward

This summer was one of the best I ever had.

My husband and I spent a month in Europe cycling and touring through Germany, Austria, Switzerland, a little of Italy then cruised to the Greek Isles.

 It was fabulous.

Plus while I was away I received messages from Donna at Irresistible Ideas for Play Based Learning that I was one of the winners in their Pay It Forward game.  Yay!  Soon after I got home from my trip I received their parcel of goodies from Melbourne.

Now it's my time to Pay It Forward.

So if you would like to play AND are willing to pay it forward from your own blog, then here is what you do.

Leave a comment on this post stating that you want to play, and I will randomly choose three players.

You can be from anywhere in the world!!

The rules are:

• To the three participants I will send a fun package representing the west coast of Canada but you must be willing to Pay it Forward to three more people.
• Comments will remain open until Sunday, September 25th.
• If you are chosen you will need to send me your postal address so I can send you a parcel from British Columbia.
• After you receive the package you will need to “Pay It Forward” in the same manner on your blog.