Where we live

Home  is a good place to be no matter what style or place it is in, it is how you make it on the inside that makes it home.

     We have started our next theme where we live. 

 It is amazing how houses can look so different even if they are right next to each other.

 I looked up houses on the Internet and so many popped up. Big, small, wide ,narrow and so much more. It was a really good discussion topic on the differences of the houses.

The topic card for this week is a picture of different colors and shapes and sizes and it started the whole idea of different living styles.

Funshine express has objectives for each section. For example, we did a match  the homes game provided in the Funshine express buttercups kit. The objectives were memory, exploration and emergent math. 

In the curriculum guide there is a section called learning goals and objectives. 

It is very simple to follow. I just match what is with the activity and the category that is under. 

This  helps me to focus on he children and observe and if I need to focus on something, I do extra activities to make sure they are matching the objective. 

Ok, enough with that info, it's just info I think you should know if you are thinking about this curriculum. 

This was a match the homes. I set them out on the table and just observed to see what the children would do. Most of them matched them, but others just looked. I plan on doing this everyday and see how different they play day by day.

For a cognitive activity, we are making  "my house". The first part was to color the square and then add a rectangle circle for the door.

Day 2 will be completing it.

We have been busy building houses with blocks and going in and out of he dollhouse.

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If you are new to my blog, welcome and hope you enjoy learning about Funshine express. 

I am also on Instagram @coleykidscreations 

Happy Birthday!

Happy Friday! 

We finished our Special me theme and will move on to where we live.

Happy birthday was a favorite song to sing the past couple days. One of the topics was birthdays. 

A topic card that comes in Funshine express curriculum is a really great conversation starter.

I have this hanging up on the wall and I love when the kids point to it and say "happy birthday cake"  I even heard one of them say "baby messy" 

In the kitchen area we pretended to bake a cake and a birthday party for stuffed dog.

With Funshine express buttercup curriculum a list of books are listed that go with the theme. 

This book was so cute that we read it multiple times and then did a worksheet that is extra on Funshineexpress. 

Grandparents day is Sunday sept 13th and we made a gift for the grandparents, but because I know some of them read this blog, you will have you wait for the post next week. I do not want to spoil it.

😉

Special me part 2.

Well how was everybody's long weekend? It is always to harder to get going on Tuedsay after a holiday than it is on a Monday. In my opinion. 

  The kiddos came back ready to dive into some Buttercup learning. This is our 2nd week for the special me theme. I love observing children after we have done activities at circle time, or read a book. They tend to act it out or pick up on it more. 

For example, last week I got a mirror out and we looked at our faces and pointed to our nose and eyes and mouth, and during free play I saw the kids looking in the mirror pointing to their face. How cool is that.

Funshine express had provided some cute easy activities for the toddlers to do.

Yesterday we talked about Birthdays and what birthdays mean. We sang the happy birthday song a lot of times.

The Cognitive Developement activity was to make a Birthday Windsock. 

I put a happy birthday song in and we used our wind socks to dance.

I am not sure about all kids, but I do  know the ones I have love to dress up. 

Funshine express provides games in he kit every month and the activity for this week was Dress up Game.

I cut the strips out on the dotted line and I like to magnets on back of games so that I can use a cookie sheet to keep it together. 

It's easier when the kids know that it stays right in the tray.

I took a video of us doing this at circle time . So hopefully you can get a little bit of how  game works .

http://youtu.be/Yz6KL1090yI

Buttercups

This year has been off to a great start so far. I am excited to be part of Funshine express and blog about all the fun things we are doing with the curriculum.

 This year I will be doing Buttercups. The ages are 0-36 months. I have mostly toddlers this year. So I needed a younger curriculum. 

 Buttercups is based on the learning curve of the ages. A calendar with numbers is not being used, but a attendance chart and a weather chart and shape chart are the resources. 

*disclaimer: I will have a better display wall, I just have to figure out what.

We will still do crafts and simple games,but there are 4 themes instead of 2 because we spend shorter time on each one. Creative art is not every day,where last year with fireflies it wasn't

The first theme is Special me.

The kids are loving looking in mirrors and seeing theirselves. I decided to have some fun and make silly faces in the mirror and the kids started doing the same thing, which is what I going for. 

While the kids looked in the mirror, we sang this song which was in the curriculm guide.

             To the tune of " Are you sleeping?"

          In the mirror, in the mirror,

            Look and see! Look and see!

            Who is in the mirror? Who is in the        mirror?

            Look! It's me! Look! It's me!

One of the great things I Love about Funshine is the kit always comes with books. The buttercups, have age appropriate hard books and a manipulative to go along with the themes. 

(The mirror was on the material list) which is also included. All the work is done for you, how great is that for the busy life we all have .

 One of the cognitive development activities was making a me puppet.

The activity is planned out with materials in the curriculm guide.

How cute are these? The kids loved looking in the circle mirror.

I am a huge fan of using trays. It gives the children ownership of their work and it keeps all the materials close to them and in a spot, rather than crayons and glue sticks rolling off the table.

I am looking forward to sharing all the activities Funshine Express has planned.

Check back later for more.

*if you are a new follower, welcome and hope you enjoy. Remember to follow me on Instagram for more daily happenings.

    @coleykidscreations 

Eggs

Well... Let's just say that we have had an attack of the throwing up monster. I am hoping it's over, but there are still 3 members of the family left.

  That is why is why you have not found a new post in a few days. 

Ok. Back to preschool!

We are still enjoying the baby animal theme. This is our last full week of school so we are going To try get as much done with all grown up theme as possible.

We have learned that most things start inside an egg and than hatch out.

We played a baby animal shadow matching game and a get the baby animal to their mommy.

Today we learned about the letter z. The last letter of the year! 

Kaelis was working hard tracing her Z . These practice pages came from funshine express practice page bundle in the curriculum.

We made a 3D puppy . We stuffed newspaper into a bag and added features for a puppy. 

I look forward to swim what themes for next year are for the funshine curriculm.

Catch us later for he remaining days of school and the finishing activities to end the year week!

baby animals

Every year a Robin makes a next under our deck in the same spot. It is so neat to see the transformation of the hatching of the eggs, the mommy sitting on them to keep them warm, the feeding process and watching them grow and then leave. This could not have come at a better time because are new theme with the Funshine curriculum  is Baby Animals.
Every animal has a mommy that takes care of them and a certain place that they live in while they grow. We learned that birds and snakes live in nests. Wolves, bears,fox and lions live in dens. Cattle and horses live in stables. Rabbits and moles live in burrows.
  I asked the girls what home would they want to live in and they both said nests because you can snuggle in it.

 We have also learned that baby animals have different names.
                              * Kangaroo\ Joey  *seal/pup the kids did not know why because pups are dogs.
                               *owl/owlet            *turtle/hatching
                              *goat/kid                 * goose/gosling

For a complete list of baby animals name go to zooborns. I had no idea about some of  them!

To go along with kangaroos, we made a kangaroo pouch and hopped around like a kangaroo does.

The Shape of the Month is a square and the color is purple. We look and count how many square items and the color purple outside and in out classroom.
Today we laced a square and colored it purple.

I am so proud of my Kaelis. She had no idea how to write any letter, let alone her name and she is getting so good at her name. This worksheet was one of the practice pages provided in Funshine express kit.

It is neat to see where the kids are now with lacing then where they were in the fall.


As we are in our last month of school and then will be on summer break, I look back on the ways Funshine  has made it so much easier to plan activities and how much the girls have learned since the fall and all the things that funshine  provides to make it fun! Since my big kids will be in prek in the fall, I will use buttercups with my younger friends and I look forward to seeing them grow as well.

3,2,1 finished

Today we finished up our up and away. We learned so much about things that fly in the sky and creatures that fly . 

We made the cutest hot air balloons and of course I forgot to take a picture . 

We talked about birdies and that by using their wings they stay on the sky, if they stop flapping gravity will make them fall. 

We finished up our up and away theme by making these cute cloud buddies.

Funshine curriculum said to use cotton balls, but I had shaving cream on hand and I thought it would be a good sensory activity to do, especially since I have toddlers as well.

Next week we will dive into baby animals.

As the year is coming to a end, I have to say that funshine express made it so much easier for the children to learn and all the activities that funshine provides. It also gave me a chance to interact more because everything is all planned out and I can get everything ready the night before and it gives me time to focus on the kids more. 

If you are looking for a great curriculum , I would highly recommend funshine. 

They also just added jitterbugs which is a summer curriculum for ages 6-10. Perfect for keeping their brains working during the summer. Might have to get it for my 2.

Have a super weekend !