Tray Play

This week's play trays.

Money Bank

 The first is a coffee can covered with paper.

A slit is cut in the lid.

 Metal juice can lids are the coins.

I wrote numbers on one side of each lid

and the corresponding amount of dots on the other.

Some of the families played a game by asking for a certain number

to drop in the can.

 After filling the 'bank' they can take the lid off to empty.

 Then fill it again.

 The second tray consisted of this interesting wire piece.

By the end of the week the consensus was that it is an old curtain tie back.

But it worked well for a weaving frame.

 Good for eye-hand coordination

and fine motor development.

The third tray didn't hold much interest for the children.

 They could spoon the glitter sequins from one container 

to the other.

 This last tray was the most popular.

There's something about pony beads that attracts the children.

 Six colours of beads and six pipe cleaners of the same colours.

 They could match and stack the beads

on to the pipe cleaners.

Closer to the end of the week I found these coloured sticks

at a dollar store.

They must be a little warped because the beads would go on the top

but not slide all the way to the bottom.

We Set a Trap

It was a very busy day at StrongStart this moring.
Many families joined us for St. Paddy's day fun.

The art table was busy with children painting pots for gold.

Beautiful pots for gold

 waiting at the end of our rainbow.

At story time we read "Twas the Night Before St. Patrick's Day".
A story about Tim and Maureen's (gotta love the name)
adventure one St. Patrick's day.
Rumours were spreading that a Leprechaun might sneak into our school today.

So we set a trap that we borrowed from one of our big buddies

We set the trap with pieces of gold

before leaving the room to go to gym 

But when we returned, the trap was sprung.

We found a tiny little note and a tiny little hat

 full of gold dust.

After reading the note I surprised the children 

by sprinkling them with the gold dust.

The rest of the morning I overheard conversations

about Leprechauns.

"I think he took my frog."

"The dinosaurs scared the Leprechaun away."
"Do you think he'll come back?"

As the children headed home they picked up their pots 

and were surprised to see gold in them.

Corn pops for gold.

May you always have walls for the winds,
a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire,
laughter to cheer you, those you love near you,
and all your heart might desire.

Enjoy all the magic that St. Patrick's Day may bring.

When Irish Eyes Are Smiling

Oh were my eyes smiling this morning.

And so were many more.

 

 

 They twinkled more when we did the Shamrock Pokey.

 

 You put your shamrock in, you put your shamrock out, 

you put your shamrock in and you shake it all about.

 You do the Shamrock Pokey and turn yourself around.

 And that's what it's all about.

Today was all about smiling and having a magical time.

Follow a Rainbow

Today our buddies surprised us with a puzzle.

"Follow the rainbow string to ??"

So we followed it.

The rainbow string went through the office,

up the stairs,

through the library,

and the computer lab.

We had to stop once to untangle ourselves.

The end of the rainbow was at our big buddies classroom.

The grade 3s showed us their Leprechaun traps that they built.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 After they explained how their traps worked we enjoyed a story together.

 This is a new book to me.

Too Many Leprechauns or How that Pot o'Gold  Got to the End of the Rainbow.

It's a story of how Finn tricked the Leprechauns to leave his village 

because they made too much noise with their tap-tap-tapping

making fairy shoes.

Of course at the end of the story was all the gold at the end of the rainbow.

So I provided a bit of gold to share.

We've borrowed one of our buddies traps 

just in case a Leprechaun tries to make mischief 

in our room tomorrow.