The Learning Bin

Moving right along, we made our G Globes last week. I thought it was adorable that most of the kiddos observed our real globe and added the stand to their collage page.

Our fondly referred to "Nemos" were a big success. Each child really customized their fish with different stripes, water, and seaweed all around. As the weeks go by, I'm very pleased with our collages. I'm noticing much better fine motor control and the kiddos are so happy to choose the alphabet center.

This weekend's marketing made me think of seeds! Pumpkins and melons are in season here, and we discovered white fleshed passion fruits. Since I think just about every early childhood program I've ever worked with has had a seed study, I thought I'd post my fruit and veg prep pictures. As a side note I roasted my pumpkin seeds with garlic powder, mustard powder, a bit of cayenne pepper, and salt. They turned out wonderfully!

Our E Elephants were not as big of a hit as the other letters so far. The kiddos didn't find it interesting. I think perhaps it might be the color choice? Ideas for future use: read Elmer stories and do a patchwork E Elephant instead. This way I can use the same templates and have the kids to torn or cut paper squares into the elephant.

In my adult life I have probably used several million paper muffin cups. When I taught in Detroit I would bring healthy muffins once or twice a week for the kiddos. At that point I had big numbers of kids who either didn't or couldn't bring snacks with them to school. When I taught in Macau I was part of the social committee and we had a Wednesday treat routine as a fund raiser. You get the picture, muffin liners bought in bulk for many years. Then a simple shift happened. I bought silicone muffin liners and never looked back. So much less wasteful! And I deeply dislike waste. I'll take this opportunity to post a recipe that I use weekly for the hubs and I to have healthy easy to grab snacks: Protein Muffins 3/4 cup flour 1/4 cup oats 60 grams of protein powder (we use chocolate but any would work) 2 whole eggs 100 grams Greek yogurt 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2-1 cup veg (amount depend on how liquidity it is. I've used zucchini, roast pumpkin, squash, be...

This year PK is VERY girl heavy. But lucky for me, a tomboy at heart, there are so many different interests in the group that I barely notice the skewed numbers. In an effort to get the Frozen songs out of my head, this week's letter collage is all about dinosaurs! Now that we're 4 letters in, the actual collage books are looking adorable. Each kid's personality and style are shining through.

Overwhelmed by shelves gone wild? Have you ever reached a point when your home or classroom shelves begin to explode? I really never thought I would, but here I am with this: My kiddos have basically stopped using this area because the shelves have become too overwhelming. Now don't get me wrong, I love having so many beautiful resources, but too much is too much! So I turned my shelf to utilize the space better and simplified. Two days later the literacy area is one of the go to spots in the class. I think this is an easy fix, simplify and they will come. As my very smart dad is fond of saying "keep it simple stupid!" A reminder that has served my kiddos well this week.