Gym Time Stretching

A few weeks ago I attended a workshop called Storyoga.

Vanessa has created this program that combines animal yoga postures and story books.

I love that she brings stories to life with movement.

I've been gradually including what I learned into our program.

We do 10 minutes of 'yoga' stretching at the end of our daily gym period.

At the sound of a chime the children curl up into a 'seed'.

Also called the mouse pose.

I use a rain stick for the sound

and the grown ups trickle their fingers down their child's back

as the rain falls.

When the rain sound stops we grow into a tree 

and stretch our branches out wide.

The wind may blow and our branches sway back and forth

and sometimes all the way to the ground.

Vanessa has adapted the Sun Salutation routine for children.

She calls it Namaste Mountain.

We call it I Am A Mountain.

Here is a video of one of our stretching sessions.

http://vimeo.com/36237590

Thanks Vanessa.

Now that we've been doing this for a couple of weeks,

I've started adding a pose

from this book I was given.

The Yoga Game by Kathy Beliveau

It gives a riddle on one page and the answer on the next.

 

We've been adding a riddle/pose every couple of days.

Unfortunately I'm not as flexible as the children are and on Friday as we were

doing the butterfly pose, a little girl told that she does this at ballet and my knees are suppose to touch 

the floor.

Ouch, I guess I need to do more stretching.

Mr Wiggle and Mr Waggle

I hosted our monthly Storytellers group this past week and one member shared a story that was almost identical to a story I learned in college over 30 years ago.
She called it Mr Green and Mr Brown.
Mine is called Mr Wiggle and Mr Waggle.
It's a wonderful story that could be adapted for many locations and topics.
The wonderful thing about this story is all you need are your hands.
As you watch the video you will see glimpses of the families around me
using their Mr Wiggle and Mr Waggle to help tell the story.
Click below to watch
Mr Wiggle and Mr Waggle storytelling
Have fun introducing your own Mr Wiggle and Mr Waggle to your families.

Ladybug Snack

Snack included 'build your own ladybug".

First spread cream cheese on your cracker.

Next, and most children didn't want to, add a tomato for the body.

 

See what I mean.  Tomato went on then right back off.

I wonder if it was a strawberry would have eaten it

Check the recipe to see what comes next.

A raisin head.

At the last minute I offered chow mein noodles for legs or antennae.

 

Last Day of Shadows

This was our question of the week.

Well not a question but a statement.

When each child arrives at our StrongStart centre they find their own photo.

There are probably over 200 photos on this cabinet

so it can take a while to find your picture.

But we work on scanning with our finger from left to right.

Today I encouraged families to bring in flashlights and look what I saw this little guy using his for.

Great idea!

It helped him focus on each photo.

After they find their photo they take it to the Question of the Week

but remember it was a 'statement' this week.

I encourage parents to use this opportunity to expand on vocabulary

and concepts.

At the end of the morning the children put their photo back on the cabinet

so it's ready for the next visit.

This morning we also did some sponge shadow painting at the art table.

Painting outside and around a template, 

or inside a template.

 We used a little piece of tape to hold the template in place.

 I think his painting looks like snowballs.

The groundhog must be hiding behind them.

There he is out of his hole and he doesn't see his shadow.

Yay, spring is coming

The sun is shining and he's seen his shadow,

oh no more winter is coming.

 A few children tried both methods of painting.

And added their own backgrounds.

Shadows on the Big Screen

A benefit of moving to a new room is finding new ways to present activities.

That's what happen today with the overhead projector.

This is our nature exploration area.

Above and around it is an old canopy frame.

I hung a white sheet from the frame.

Then set up the overhead projector on a riser.

You can see the shadows from both sides.

 Awesome effect!

With the overhead projector I set a basket of animals 

and this book "Who Will See Their Shadow This Year?"

A few children instantly made the connection between placing an object 

on the overhead projector and what happened on the big screen.

A few others experimented.

 Does it work if I hold the toy up here?

Then we moved our photos from the light table (see earlier post)

to the overhead projector.

They became supersized.

 I took more pictures of the children present today and quickly

copied them on to transparencies.

Storytelling time.

"Giraffe went for a walk and met..."

 And the fun of identifying the shadows.

And getting physically involved.

He's jumping to reach the owl shadow.

Can't wait to see how it changes tomorrow.

Black on White Tracks

Going along with our Shadow talk this week, I placed on the art table white paper, black paint and toy animals that were also white or white with some black on them.  (Well they started out that way.)

Let's make tracks.

Or another idea came up - why not paint the toy animals.

One of the parents commented to this little girl that when she's finished the dog would need to go to the groomer (in regards to our pet store dramatic play area).

But I quickly added a sign at our wash tub.

And that's all it took.

 For the animals to be washed

 over and over again.

It meant we had to change the water often.

 

But back to the tracks.

I showed them how to make a foot print without using your foot.

And that's all it took.

 For this child to start painting her hands.

 So now she has toy animal prints and

her own fingerprints.

It was a popular spot this morning judging by our drying rack.

This is an amazing drying rack.

Huge!

Unfortunately it is only temporarily ours.

The school will be using it again

once we move to our permanent room at the end

of this school year.

We'll be back to our little wall mounted rack.