Sarah's Home Daycare

I am happy to announce that the conflict resolution training with the kids is working. I will admit that I honestly didn't think that at 2 these guys would take it upon themselves to resolve issues using words rather then hitting and screaming at each other. Not to say that they don't still do that from time to time, but the majority of the issues are resolved with words. They now ask each other if they can have a turn with a toy and instead of my telling them it's time to share I ask them if they would like to give there friend a turn and almost always they say yes! It seems they like to make the decision to share rather then be told they have to. Really who likes being told what to do.

We learned about fall last week and had fun finger painting fall tree's and making pine cone bird feeders. This week we are learning about thanks giving, we are reading books about being thankful and making turkey's for our family's tables this weekend.

The weather this week has been wonderful so this morning I made some homemade bubbles and we took kitchen spatulas and made our own bubble wands. Mixing one cup of Dawn dish soap and three cups of water made really thick bubbles. Some ended up bigger then the boys heads and the enjoyed watching them float up to the sky and of course smashing them!!

I love the fall and like it even more when the weather is this nice. I hope we have a few more weeks of out door play before old man winter comes!

Happy Thanksgiving

Welcome back to daycare

After a small summer break and adding a new member to our family we are back to daycare and loving it. I have been so interested in learning about the montessori approach to teaching and spent most of my summer thinking of ways that I can apply it to my program. I can't wait to see how the children react and learn from the new environment. A big change in my approach this year is also going to be conflict resolution, after taking a workshop at conestoga college I have decided that I am going to try to do away with time out for a little while an instead try to teach the kids how to resolve issues on there own by supplying them with the appropriate tools. Lets see how this goes.

In the past two months the children have blown me away! They have all grown so much and quickly went from babies to toddlers. Since we all spent most of the month of January passing around cold and flu's I decided that the month of February would be filled with fun and new adventures, starting with bringing the sensory table inside. I filled our water center with beans and the kids spent hours pretending to cook and serve each other the beans. I was worried at first that I would have beans all over my floor but clean up became part of play using the broom and chasing lost bean's around the room gave endless entertainment.

Last week we learned about snow and our sensory table was filled with cotton balls that we packed into containers, poured out and stacked. We read books about snow, brought snow inside to watch it melt and then fought over who got to drink it (no one) and of course played in the snow. We then had our first attempt at using glue on our own. Boy I was feeling brave this month, once again I was so proud of my little people no body even tried to eat the glue and everyone was very proud of themselves after gluing there cotton balls on card stock to make a wintery picture we clapped for each other as everyone displayed there art..

Another art project we worked on this month was car painting. We took our dinky cars and drove them though our paint. Most art projects keep there interest for about 10 minutes but this one they couldn't get enough of.

My biggest challenge this month has been stepping back and letting the kids learn on there own. Now that they are all more independent my role has changed and with that I get the chance to watch and learn through there eyes. It's funny how as an adult you forget how simple things actually bring the most enjoyment. I myself enjoyed playing in the bean table and driving cars though paint. Have you played today??

This month has been  blast!!!

We spent a whole week learning our farm animals and the sounds they make we have tried all new crafts including stamping and finger painting.

We are starting to learn our colours and have been working very hard on learning each others names. We are very excited for some new friends to start in the fall and sad for some of our summer friends to leave.

The children have been expanding there taste buds by trying things like quiche and cous cous, eating with spoons has become a new delight even if they end up covered in it.

Aida has been helping everyone learn how to wash there hands in the sink and to tidy up after play time. Everyone is very proud of themselves and we are proud of them.

Here are some songs that we are learning for the summer and some that we sing everyday!!! Enjoy

Welcome song

Childs name is here today

and childs name is here to day

lets all jump up and down cause childs name is here today

keep singing till you have gone through each child in attdance.

we even sing about the cat and dog the kids love it.

Come to the Circle

(Sung to the tune of take me out to the ball game)

Let's all come to the circle

Let's all come right away

We've got some sharing and learning to do

There's so much fun right here waiting for you!

Oh, we've come to daycare for learning;

Everyone gather round!

And let's come, come, come to the circle and sit right down