Letter M is for muffin

   
The kids really started to get the hang of letter M this week! I was so proud! At one point this week Ruby brought me a monkey doll and said, "Mommy, Monkey letter M?" It was an exciting moment for me both as her teacher and her mother. There is nothing like seeing the light bulb go off when a child makes a connection on something they have been learning.
     Trying to keep things fresh and sensory driven, the kids helped me make muffins. M is for Muffin was a huge hit! (Please excuse my crazy socks as you look through the pictures.) I made sure that I pre-measured some ingredients, so that the process wouldn't take too terribly long and loose the attention of my young audience.

We were making Oatmeal and Applesauce Muffins. I found the recipe on the Quaker Oats website. I exchanged the flour for wheat flour hoping to make these muffins a healthy treat. The kids helped me add the main ingredients from the bowls I had put them in.

For some of the smaller ingredients, the kids helped me count the spoon fulls as we added them into the bowl.

 

The children took tuns stirring the muffin batter. I had keep reminding them not to eat the batter because we still had to cook it. But, secretly I wanted to eat the batter too. Mmmm batter!

 

I added the batter to the muffin tin and cooked the muffins. They smelled delicious. Every few minutes, one of the kids would come in and ask me if they could eat the muffins yet. Finally, It was tasting time. I added a little bit of butter to the muffins and ...

 

I'd love to say that this face was because the muffins were so yummie, but that would be a lie. They were really, really, bland. This face was shear pride over having helped make the muffins. Which, despite the bland taste of the muffins, was totally worth it!

 

Bell's face pretty much sums up the true story of the muffins. YUCK! We needed to add cream cheese to make them edible.  The funny thing is, the kids asked for more muffins the next day. I'm pretty sure it was the cream cheese they really wanted.  That pretty much negated the health factor of the whole wheat flour. Oh Well! But they ate it and that sometimes can be a challenge, so I'll take it! 

M is for muffin...Not a success. Not a failure. Let's call it a draw!

Don't you wish you could freeze them in time? oh and tell me your fav pic!

I know that every parent finds their child amazing. I am no different. I think Ruby is the MOST wonderful child.I love talking about her. This isn't my first post highlighting my daughter. I am positive it will not be the last. I admit it. I am bragger when it comes to her. I know most people find bragging to be a negative personality trait, but when it comes to your children, I think there is, or their should be an exception to the rule. 

So, I officially release your inner bragging rights. Let it loose. Talk about how AWESOME your child is. What are they doing in their lives that you are proud of? What did they say that was so hilarious? How are they changing?  Are they an athlete? Are they an artist? Are they a comedian? Are they serious or insightful?

How have they changed you? 

Don't you just want to freeze time to keep them just as they are?

From time to time my father likes to remind me that I promised him I would never grow up. Now that I am a parent, I understand how he probably wished that my promise was possible. I think about Ruby one day being a grown woman and it seems like a million years away. And yet it seems like it was only yesterday  when she was born and we took her home thinking, "What do we do now?" And here we are looking at a walking, talking, dancing, cheering, singing, hugging, loving 2 year old. 

That grown woman is just around the corner. So, while I've got her, I'm gonna brag!

Here are some pictures I took today of Ruby. I'm thinking of using one of these photos to enter her in a beautiful baby contest. Tell me your favorite. Obviously, I posted some that are just silly because I love her expressions. So, I probably won't send those in, but they are here for your enjoyment. 

I'm always amazed at how many moods and faces Ruby can have in one day! It must be exhausting. I know I am tired at the end of the day just trying to keep up!

Don't forget to tell me all about your Kiddo! and your favorite picture!

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M is for Music!

     Before I was a stay-at-home mom/daycare provider, I was a public school elementary music teacher. Luckily, I still teach a general music class one night a week through an organization called Da Capo VA. I love it! It keeps me fresh and the kids I teach are just wonderful. They are all excited to be there and they LOVE music.

     With that being said, the letter for my kids at home this week is M. Duh huh! M is for music silly! So we have had a blast today with M. Today was M is for music day! We've danced. We have sung. We have chanted. We have played instruments. Here is some of the highlights from today.

   First, we took turns making the letter M with our bodies. The kids love trying to make their bodies into the letters. It can be challenging depending on the letter.

 Next, we acted out a song called "Monkey Around" from Music K-8 magazine. I use to get those magazines when I was teaching public school. They have some great songs for all ages. This song asked the kids to act like different animals. The chorus told them to swing their arms and "monkey around". Can you guess the animals?

Then, we took turns playing different instruments.We talked about the names of the instruments, how to hold them and what they sounded like. Ruby is noticing that the two drums have two very different sounds.

 

Finally, we finished up with some shakers and dancing. Again, I pulled from my Music K-8 songs. This song was called "Shake it up". The song talks about all sorts of instruments, but we just used the shakers. It had a nice beat to it and was the perfect ending to M is for music day!

B B B Broccoli !!!

     Last week the letter of the week was B. I mentioned in my previous post, "What's in the Bag?",  I am trying some new ideas to help the kids with their letter recognition retention. We followed up "What's in the bag?" with K and Bells each taking a bag home ( on different days) and bringing it back with some B items. The kids really seemed to enjoy getting to contribute their own items from home to our circle time.  
    I was feeling particularly adventurous one day and decided to extend on the lesson and add in some sensory stuff. What better way than Broccoli? It was perfect! I would be able to let them use almost all of their senses to experience the word broccoli and in turn help them remember the letter B.

     It started out just as I pictured the lesson going. We marched ourselves into the kitchen and sat to get ready for the lesson. The kids were so excited to be in the kitchen, because I almost never let them in there. I was excited because I was positive THIS was going to go over just as well as the pepper experiment had (see The Pepper Experiment ) and the kids would fall in love with fresh broccoli and ask for it at snacks and meals. Okay, the pepper experiment wasn't that awesome, but I can aim high right?

It was going great! We all felt the broccoli. It was bumpy(Yet another B word opportunity). It was fun taking turns feeling the different parts of the broccoli. It was green and had a leaf on it! 

We took turns smelling it. With the florets on and then...

     We cut the top off to see how it smelled. The kids were having a blast as you can see from the pictures! Next, we washed and dried the florets to get ready for the big finale. The tasting!

The kids were ready with fresh broccoli in hand. They were so excited I had to make them wait so I could take this picture.

And THEN...

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This was pretty much the response I got from all three. Bells actually spit hers on the floor. Ruby walked hers to the sink. I had to run to give K a napkin to scrape his mouth out. He has a very sensitive gag reflex and I did not want to have to clean that up too!

So, I guess the next time, maybe we'll try cooked broccoli?  Or maybe give them some Ranch dressing? Hmmm. Ohh well. I guess I can't win 'em all!