Rainy weather today.

Only good weather for ducks.

Five Little Ducks.

yellow felt, black sharpe, yellow feathers

Today I went to see the people who saved my friend's life. I know I'm more of a felt story person. But, I had a lot of scraps from my felts and decided to make something small. This something small turned to almost-non-existent because I got carried away with my craft materials.

  Thank you savior for saving my best friend.

It's completely pouring in Vancouver. I'm reminiscing about the good times in the summer. My friends and I expressed our artistic talents in July 2011. Bottom left is mine.

GC, WH, TL <3

I was taking some time off of my tandem felt story making. I decided to use some of my scraps to form some lovely cards for two special people I've been meaning to see. The first one is dedicated to WH. She just had a graduation that I sadly had to miss on Thursday. 

The second card I made was for my friend TL. Her birthday was on Thursday too, but she had to work. It was quite the celebration. My friend GC and I went to celebrate with these girls at ThomasHaas. Which, I must admit, if you have never been there before, you have to go there!

ThomasHaas=)

BINGO! So simple yet catchy.

I designed it to keep it fun and interactive.

Simple song for circle time: Buzz Buzz Bumble Bee, Can you say your name for me?
Or "Hicklety, Picklety Bumble Bee, Can you say your name for me? ___, ___, that's a wonderful name"

I just finished a big meal after a busy day at work today. I normally try not to stuff myself at work, but at the end of the day, I really needed to reward myself. I ended up having Indian food. The spices were so good that I lost track of how much basmati rice I consumed. I can't help it. It was so delicious. I find myself sitting here on the couch tired with an aching back. I hope I'm not coming down with anything. I just feel so exhausted. Here is a little song to go with how I feel: "There was an Old Lady".

I made this felt story a couple of years ago when I was working with the toddlers. It didn't really matter what animals you made for this story, but whatever it is, the lady was going to eat it and the children supported her diet. Instead of making her "die" like all the other lyrics, I liked to change it to "CRY" otherwise I wouldn't sleep at night.

 Despite the countless versions of "The Little Old Lady", Pam Adam's version was my most favorite (The book on the right). I really like the colors and illustrations on die-cut pages that show what she swallows. As you can see, I somewhat followed the image of the old lady in my felt story.

(*Note: image on the right) There is one felt story out there that scares me the most. I had a co-worker of mine share it one time and one toddler completely freaked out. At first, I really liked the clarity and realistic image of the old lady; however, when I found out you can place things in her mouth, that was when my imagination fell loose. This felt story is very interactive and has quality. If I had this at my center, I would use it. I would try and get over the fact that this lady is just "pretend". I hope to eventually stop shivering from looking at this felt story. Thank you RR for introducing the story. I miss you!

Valentine's

Art in picture is done by me. Lena. Others are blurred.

Valentine's Day is coming near! I am very excited indeed! We finished making all the Valentine's Day pouches within two days! Very happy. Two hearts stapled together and then fold the front. The rounder the better because it really gives the heart some attitude=) With love and heart shapes in the air, I decided to re-use scrap paper to make heart shapes for these Valentine pouches. I thought about minimizing the store bought stuff and really try to use stuff we had. Pretty cute!

Today, I was making "ROSES ARE RED, VIOLETS ARE BLUE" Poems with the children. The most popular one was, "Roses are red, Violets are blue, my feet stink, so do yours too!" Quite the hilarious afternoon.

Does anybody know any good shark songs?
The only shark song I know is the "Baby Shark Song". I edited the song a little bit just to keep it preschool friendly. So it goes from "Baby shark, Mommy shark, Daddy shark, Grandma Shark, Grandpa Shark, Going Swimming, See a Shark, Swimming fast!" And that's all I do. It's a real simple song sung by children at camp and it really gets the children moving.

I made this puppet not too long ago, it's a finger puppet with a customized opened mouth. It all started one day when I was singing Five Little Monkeys swinging on the tree. One boy told me that it'd be cool if there were five alligators and a snappy shark who came to snap up the alligators. So... The next day, that's what I did. What can you really do with a shark? Except for that well-known Slippery Fish song.

I decided to read a story, called "Smiley Shark" By Ruth Galloway. It was a bit similar to that one story, "Big Al" By Andrew Clements Yoshi. Both stories are awesome by the way. It is about a heroic fish who ends up saving the day and makes friends.

Since Valentine's Day is coming up, our week is filled with the theme of feelings! So far today we talked about what makes us happy and sad. We will save one entire day all devoted to angry. There are so much books about anger, which really entices and relates children to that feeling. One good book I have to mention is "Cool Down and Work Through Anger". My friend HW read this with the children and I thought she did an awesome job. Be sure to act out the actions and let them try out the "cool downs". It really works! Well, at least I think I do=) Right now, I'm sitting at home watching the food network while I'm making these "Feelings Book". I should have stuck with the main three- happy, sad and angry, but instead of keeping it simple, I wanted to share it all since all the pictures are too cute! I'm thinking about having the children talk about what makes them feel happy, sad, excited, proud, etc. I'll be there to jot their words down. Thank you to RA for the resource!

Frogs

The Wide-Mouthed Frog has always been a favorite of mine. It's a hard cover copy. There is one word to describe it: Quality. The animals in the story really pop-up in 3D mode. And don't forget to use your silly voices for these delightful creatures. The children really get into it. Especially at the ending=)

And why not add the "Five Green and Speckled Frogs" song to go with it? I made these little guys a while back. Took me a while to get their fingers right. I would say it's more of the back-side view of the frogs. I added some glittered spots on it's back and there it is, some speckled-ness.

Jump frogs, Jump!

It was my last day of visit at the preschool. I made my beloved-it teachers some personalized Thank you cards. This was the first time I've ever made Thank you cards and I wanted to make them special. Each card has a cartoon felt cut-out of the teacher along with a memorable object I remember sharing with them. I learned a lot from these wonderful teachers. I am glad that I had this opportunity to learn and refreshen my roots. It's not often that you get to visit a center and leave with a heap-load of ideas.

Thank you wonderful teachers! I know I will be seeing you soon during the annual Inservice.