after a shaving cream/food coloring/water demonstration of clouds, we made our own.

we used paper cups, flattened them, slathered them with white glue, pressed them on cotton balls, did the other side, and look at that:  a little cloud.  i hot glued a piece of yarn between the flattened cup ahead of time.

i’m always heart warmed by children who turn inanimate objects into playmates.  this friend is taking care of her little cloud baby:

“you want to go oooooover the wall?  it’s okay, i’ll save you!”

then there were a whole bunch of little cloud babies. : )

so, after coming in from a long outdoor time, the preschoolers were hot. during indoor circle time one little friend took off his shirt. no one noticed at first, it wasn’t silly, etc so we teachers ignored it as well. a little while later when i noticed some gigging about it, i tried to normalize things without calling the shirtless boy out. so i said things like when you’re a preschooler you might take your shirt off if you’re hot, if you see someone at preschool with their shirt off that’s what’s going on, when you’re at kindergarten you can’t take off your shirt, but preschool some things are different, etc.

the children started chiming in about their dads taking shirts off when mowing grass, sleeping with shirts off, etc and it seemed that the shirtless boy was feeling comfortable. then about 6 others started feeling comfortable.

we had over half a dozen preschoolers-boys and girls-topless. i tried to act normal and continue our conversation about vocanoes.

but visions of a visitor coming in, fears that some of you are hoping to instill a sense of modesty greater than that, and generally feeling like i came to close to a line we shouldn’t cross, i paused circle time to “concentrate on cooling off” so we could get dressed and be ready to go back outside.

sure enough, when i opened my eyes from “cool off” time, all shirts/dresses were going back on.

so. if your preschooler was at school thursday afternoon, they’ll know about this. if your preschooler comes on other days, they might hear second-hand about this “shirts coming off at preschool” stuff.

and that was the day.

let me know if you have questions.

thanks,

humbly and gratefully yours,

kristin

this feels like a moment as a mom when you forget to record a first word, step, or a cute phrase.  when all those sweet things happen and aren’t recorded.  i’m finding photo after photo of fun stuff from days gone by.  enjoy the trip back down memory lane…

like the time we made green eggs and ham.

we sat in the kitchen, cracked the eggs, turned them green, cooked up the ham, and then mr matt and i tag teamed the cooking/handwashing/table setting dance…and we had green eggs and ham!

happy birthday, dr. suess!

:: :: :: ::

updated:  these kids loved the eggs…our secret ingredients along with the salt and pepper were a dash of dill and onion powder.  mmmmmmmm!

it seems fitting to honor all our st patrick’s day fun on the day, a week and a half later, when i swept up more glitter from that sneaky leprechaun!  i tell you, he was something else!  we dressed in green all week to encourage a sighting!

(and when i saw this picture of myself, i realize even more how silly i looked…especially when i ran into the grocery store)

:: :: :: ::

by the way, since it was u week we also made the u->st patrick’s day connection again:

the leprechaun wants the pot of gold, the pot of gold is at the end of the rainbow, the rainbow comes after it rains, if it is rainy you might want an umbrella.

:: :: :: ::

we tried our best to catch him by working on one big trap.  we used an old tree house toy and added a lot of green, gold and rainbows to try to lure him in.

:: :: :: ::

wouldn’t you know it?  he snuck in everyday when we were outside!  we knew he had been there by the little piles of gold glitter (that he must of dropped from his bag).  he also pooped in our room.  but fear not:  leprechaun poop is small, round, sweet and you can eat it!  (green m&ms…though this nicely sorted pile was eaten by my dog before i could take them to school!)

:: :: :: ::

he left us notes and tricky clues to find a little fake leprechaun hidden around the room.

he got braver and braver and by thursday i accidentally sat on him (though when i shook out the rainbow cloth he must have been hiding under, all that fell out was gold glitter and a note). 

:: :: :: ::

we made leprechaun lures early in the week to encourage him to come out at preschool and then at home.

these were simple and fun.

there were a few friends who were SURE they saw him on the playground.  i totally believed them.

:: :: :: ::

another thing the leprechaun does to us is pee in the water…it turns it green but doesn’t change the flavor at all.

(and lest you fear that someone will think it is safe or appropriate to drink pee, offer pee, be asked to drink pee, etc, we break out of the make believe long enough to have a serious talk about the topic…which inevitably leads to other conversations about safe touch, bathroom parts, etc.  there are so many learning moments!)

:: :: :: ::

finally, on the final days before st patrick’s day, we made individual traps.  it didn’t seem like we would catch him at school, so we thought it would be best to try on our own.

i put mine up high on a window sill during story time at the end of the day and all of a sudden we heard a funny little laugh.  following the sound, we realized it must be in the trap!!!!  but again, when i grabbed the trap, all that fell out was glitter!  and his laugh stopped.  he must have snuck out of the window.

(i downloaded a sound effect laugh on itunes and started playing it during clean up time.  we’re so loud then that no one heard it until we quieted down for story time.  oh the rush.  it was fantastic.)

:: :: :: ::

so, with trails of glitter, sweet treats, enough green to see it for a long time, and singing our song many, many times, we celebrated for a week!

bring it on in 2013, leprechaun!

 

spring break = a birthday, lots of family time, broken phone service, an adventure in hatching our own eggs, sleeping in, staying up late, watching movies, catching up with reading, day trips, calf feeding, naps…and now we return to the regular rhythm of life!  i’m gearing up for some spring preschool goodness:  finding out what preschoolers think they can do VERY well, planting wheat grass, more snack picnics, planning preschool graduation, family picture night, x week’s treasure hunt (aaargh!), yarn cutting…all covered with the steady work of being intentionally kind and helpful to one another.

let’s do this.