Family Pictures

Three and four year olds love to brag on their own families, and they were happy to draw them. Some included every relative they ever had or heard of. Some included Batman. Some went the Abstract Expressionist route.



At least one of the Dads looks like Cthulu.

Storytime Review #3

The Rainbow-Colored Horse by Pura Belpre.




This is a Puerto Rican folktale that reminds me of Cinderella and The Magic Pony and the countless other tales of the youngest son who gets it right. I read it to both the K3 and K4 classes. The K4 seemed to understand it a little better, but the K3s had a blast decorating their own rainbow horses with bingo dabbers.

Gotta Hand it to Em

Sometimes, the K3s won't do something unless I do it first.



Not that I mind.

Y for Yarn Yaks. Yes.

Letter Y. Y Yes. The Ys have it.

We could've yodeled. We could've yawned. Instead we made paper plate yaks and gave them yarn hair.



Adorable! And then there's these two...



And maybe it's just me, but don't they look a lot like these two?

Sometimes the Library Gods smile.

We had been doing a garden unit for two weeks and had read every garden book I could find, so I figured I’d grab something that looked fun for the last Friday and give the little guys some eye candy. They love anything with monsters in it, so I snagged Frog Belly Rat Bone by Timothy Basil Ering




It’s about a boy who lives in a dreary concrete world and wishes to find a treasure more than anything.



When he finds a treasure, he had to create a monster to protect it and names it Frog Belly Rat Bone.








I won’t ruin the ending, but it turns out that this was a gardening book after all. Just an especially cool one. They kids loved it so much I let them make some monsters of their own. I let them use the scrap box and glue sticks. They had to tear the shapes without scissors, so no fuss, no muss, and no whining that it was too hard. I think they came out pretty well. (also note the paper plate fish...)

Definitely to Bee.

Because not to bee is no longer an option.



I've thought of like 15 bee puns since I started typing this and I've decided to spare you. Just look how cute all the little stripey bees are and try not to laugh at the thought of how terrified these poor little arctic children would be if they ever were to see a real one.



We made bees, butterflies, and paper plate fish last week. Because it's spring. Sort of.

An Actual Conversation

I was arrested by masked vigilantes yesterday. I didn't remember until I checked the camera.



See?

I was just standing there, minding my own business, when my arms were grabbed and pulled behind my back.

Them: You're under arrest!

Me: Hey! You got nothing on me!

Them: You're going to jail!

Me: What'd I do?

Them: You beat a nun!

Me: I... whuh?

Them: And now you'll go to jail forever!

Me: Wait... a nun? What nun? Where...?

Them: *maniacal laughter*

Me: I'm not making masks for you guys anymore.

Them: Ok, you can go.

How four year olds got it in their heads to apprehend nun-assailants I do not know. All I know is it was hilarious. Nice to see they have their priorities in line too.

Argh.

Augh. The woe of the plague-ridden. I had been doing so well not getting a cold, but this one was crafty and waited until I was asleep. You know how they say you eat spiders in your sleep? I must’ve gotten one that was a plague bug in disguise. It wasn’t there at midnight, but was in full swing by 8 am. Urgh. There are things happening in my sinuses that I have never known before.

I’ve blown the outside of my poor nose too raw to hold tissue to before, but this time, the inside of my nose just hurts all the way to my eyeballs every time I so much as sniffle. Is not good! But I only have two more conferences before I can go home. Too bad they’re an hour apart. Nnnngh.

All right, enough weird noises out of me. Here, fresh from the lurid imaginations of sweet children, creatures of their own design. I made the clay a little too wet, but they did all right with it.





Sea and circus life forms abound, and a few snowmen too, to be painted as soon as they dry.

No, Neigh, Never

I have a horse named after me.

It's a weird, long-necked, three-legged horse drawn in orange crayon, but it is named after me.

This week we did letter Hh, and our animal was the horse. About three years ago, I made a horse poster with pictures of horses and ponies from the library's old Ranger Rick magazines and the kids always argue over which one was 'theirs' and wanted to know their names. So I had to make names up. (That one's Roscoe, that one's Dixie, that one's Charlemagne. They call him Charlie Horse for short.)

For an activity, I had them try to draw a horse and think of a name for it. One of them was named after me.



Get a load of the little Sleipner there. His name is Goonie.

The Beast What Stares

Formed from an unholy combination of orange and purple play-dough, this creature was given shape during a crumb pick-up from under the tables. Too contaminated to ever be allowed back in the bucket with the clean play-dough, but still malleable, it was granted eyes from the bead box. I'll let it dry and if anyone asks, I'll say it's a tailypo.

We had a huuuuge (by preschool standards) debate over what a tailypo looked like after I told them that story. Some thought it was a dinosaur, some thought it was a fox, some thought it was more like a tiger. The fact that we stayed on subject long enough for that is incredible for three and four year olds.

Can't spell sympathetic without pathetic.

A box of wood scraps and a hot glue gun can keep 18 four year olds busy for 20 minutes and 13 three year olds busy for a full half an hour. The four year olds built little structures and I hot-glued them together. Only burned myself twice.



With the three year olds, i had to get them started, but pretty soon, they got into it. "Glue this here!" and "It needs a door here." Good thing I enjoy hot-gluing or I would've felt bossed around.



Cute though, right? Like little pixie houses. Only one kid got burned and I'm declaring it a learning experience. When I say "Don't touch that bubble of glue. It's reallllly hot." and the kid immediately jabs a finger into it, yelps, sticks it into her mouth, burns her lip, yelps again, then looks at me like its my fault? I'm not as sympathetic as I might be. Cuz it's pathetic enough without me.

Next week, we paint them.

Because Hand Turkeys Have Been Done

We made foot turkeys!



How cute is that?



And eye placement means everything. Eyes placed in the toe part of the footprint give it a more startled, 'Dear Turkey-God NOOOO' kind of expression, while ones in the heel look more uncomprehending than horrified, and the when the eyes are placed right in the arch, i makes them look like Igor turkeys which adds a whole level of its own to the festivities. Imagine a turkey pieced together from leftovers and re-animated to stalk the remaining shopping days until Christmas. A Frankenturkey!

caught on film

On second thought, I should've made them vampires instead of ghosts... sucker suckers as it were. But spook pops are fine.

Take one of those big gum-centered suckers, drape a tissue over them and fasten with a rubber band, little bit of marker work and Boo! A spook pop.



For the K4 Halloween party tomorrow.

both definitions of batty...

The K4s made Rorschach bats the other day. Some looked more bat-like than others, but both definitions of batty were on display.

Keeping Away From Sharp Objects

Halloween fast approaches, but not fast enough when you're three and four. To pass the time, we're making tear critters. Last week, we made the spiders. Today it's ghosts. No scissors required, just paper to tear and a glue stick. No fuss, muss, or bloodshed.