Puzzles, Folding, Napmats, and Mud Smoothies

Today was Sophia, Mia, and Lulu's first day together. Mia and Lulu took a few moments to get to know each other and then were off to play. Today was Mia's first day to stay all day, which meant naptime here! She arrived with her napmat, cover, and pillow. Before nap, as soon as I pulled out her napmat, went to grab her a blanket, and came back to find Mia already laying tummy down on her mat. Tucked her in, gave her some gentle pats on the back and she was ready for sleep. Not a whimper! I turned around to get Lulu set up, and discovered she had not only grabbed her mat, but got her self situation and covered. Sophia asked to sleep with them, so I suppose I'll be getting her a napmat as well.

HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR DAY

Sensory
Today, I introduced the Montessori Geometric Cabinet that I recently purchased. The set comes with 6 drawers, and today we worked with 3 of the trays (circles, rectangles, and triangles). What's really cool about this set, is the shapes come with removable frames, so there's even more opportunity for manipulating, sensory work, and learning of the shapes.





This was Mia's first day to use the Cylinder Knobs and she thought they were awesome.

Practical Life Skills
We worked on learning to set the table for lunch. I'm still not finished sewing the placemats, so we improvised today and used the cloth napkins (that Mama Allison helped me stitch and also donated the lovely batik fabric). The kiddies watched as I demonstrated shaking the crumbs off the napkin and folding it in half, then returning to the napkin basket (if it's still clean). Mia helped fold while Sophia and Lauren helped clear the table. Teamwork at its best. =)



Spanish
Words we discovered today:

Uvas (Grapes)
Agua (Water)
Pelota (Ball)

We sang La Araña Pequeñita (The Isty Bitsy Spider) and the girls LOVED it! We did it in English several times as well. Here are the lyrics if parents want to practice it at home too.

La araña pequeñita subió, subió, subió,
Vino la lluvia y se la llevó.
Salió el sol y todo lo secó.
Y la araña pequeñita subió, subió, subió.

Then back to the outdoors for the fun active stuff!

Lauren taught us how to make mud smoothies. She even made several 'straws'.

Phrase of the day:
After Sophia fell outside and was done crying, Mia exclaims, "Now, she feels better!"

Oh, and puppy had new company today. Meet Kitty.