This morning we played with our sensory table filled with dry beans. We haven't had this out for a couple of months so it was a great morning activity that kept everyone occupied for a long time.
For group time we read the story "Special Delivery" about bears that make special valentine hearts for each of their friends and they deliver them one at a time to let each friend the reasons that they are so loved. After our story I passed out red pieces of paper to the older children, folded in 1/2 with 1/2 of a heart shape drawn on the paper. Each person took their paper and got out their own rug in their own little space of the classroom. The older children worked on cutting out their hearts. They love that when you cut the 1/2 heart on the folded piece of paper and then open it up it becomes a whole heart. It's like a special surprise every time!
The younger children got hearts that were already cut out and sat on their own rug.
Then we went around the group and drew names out of a basket. This was the person they were supposed to make their heart for. They were pretty secretive about the person that they drew, they didn't want to ruin the surprise!
Everyone colored their hearts and then when they were finished coloring brought them to me to write on. When everyone was finished coloring and writing we joined again in a circle and shared our special hearts. It was so much fun. The children really love these activities. They love to be singled out to share the art they have worked on, and they love to be singled out to show how much other students in the class appreciate and love them.
After our art activity we had some free play time. The children mostly played with the kitchen toys. Kennedy and Milan played with the barn and animals. AJ and Elia spent some time upstairs Ryan helping him clean and make lunch.
After free play we all worked on cleaning up and then sat down again for a short group activity before lunch. We are working on the sounds the letters make. I have letter puzzle pieces and I put them all in a basket and the children were to take two letters each out of the basket. Then we went around the circle each putting one puzzle piece in the correct space in the puzzle and when it was in we sang "The B says BUH the B says B, every letter makes a sound the B says BUH." with each letter that was chosen. I was really surprised that even Kennedy knew all of her letter sounds. Jackie, Milan and Ronan weren't quite sure but the rest of the kids knew every letter. I think we'll start splitting them up a bit so that the older almost kindergartners can do some more advanced learning activities without stressing out the younger kids. I don't want them to be bored here, and I want them to be prepared for kindergarten but I also don't want to pressure the younger kids and force them to learn things they just aren't ready to learn- that doesn't help anybody!
When it was time to go upstairs for lunch I decided to make letter sounds and if the children heard the sound that their name started with they were to go get in line. This was a little tough for some of them but we'll practice this some more and they'll get the hang of it in no time.
For lunch we had chili, crackers, banana and milk.
After lunch we played outside for about an hour before coming in and starting our nap time routine. We lit our candles and sang our story time song and then started a new Junie B Jones book. The children had a few chapter books to choose from and they voted on this one. We will be reading Charlotte's Web and The Tale of Despereaux eventually.
After nap the children had cinnamon toast with milk for snack and then played outside a little more. They went on a walk with Ryan (Elia was sleeping so I stayed inside with AJ and Elia.) They also played red light green light. Something they haven't played for a few months so they had a really great time!

P.S One Year ago today we began the first flight of many on our way to Vietnam!
Hence the music change..you'll hear more about our 1 year anniversary on Feb.12th. On that day 1 year ago we became a family forever!