Introducing Ms. Kellyann

Today, the house reopened after a stomach bug hit, and we were so excited not only to see our friends again, but because we now have a wonderful teacher who joined our little community! Her name is Ms. Kellyann. She is a recent graduate of Western Kentucky University and has experience with children ranging from being a Nanny, to working as a Youth Leader for the YMCA. Ms. Kellyann is originally from Wisconsin and recently moved to our area. She's married and lives here in Cedar Park. Once I move offsite, she would like to join us full time, and I could not be happier. I was so pleased to see her jump right in. The children all took to her right away.





Today was low key, since it was pretty chilly in the morning and we were inside for a good chunk of time. We worked on getting everybody back into the routine and showed Ms. Kellyann around. We taught her how to sing our "Hello Song" and she helped us assemble our new Horizon Puzzle. Isn't it beautiful?

We have some new additions to our playthings which arrived last week. And, we have something super exciting on its way!
It's a bit bigger, so shipping must take longer. =)

We read Five Little Monkeys Jumping on a Bed, My Many Colored Days and We're Going on a Bear Hunt. Mia, Sophia, and Lulu watercolored while the Damon and Corbin played with the wood trains and cars. Once it got sunny enough, the children bundled up and went outside to burn off some energy.

We also read Grandfather Twilight before the children went down for nap, and they were excited about sleeping in their own forest (Sophia's Papa had brought in our tall ficus trees from the patio so it was very much like the book).

Materials for next week
We'll begin our Clay exploration next week, and the focus for next week will be on Shadows. If you have any small flashlights, please send them to the house. We will return them the following week. If I can find all the supplies in time, the children will also have the option to roll their own beeswax candles. We will also practice doing a fire drill and discuss how to safely exit the house in case of a fire. Last, we're also going to be doing a yummy culinary activity (hint: think crepes). The house will provide all ingredients for this activity.

Watercolors, Mirrors, and a Birthday!

Phew! What a busy week. Since I was unable to post daily, I'm going to post a weekly synopsis. As you all know, my logo is complete, and the website is now live.

If you haven't seen it, here it is!


Damon's dad is the creator of this awesome logo.

And the here's the website, created by Kiwe of Visual Moxie.
I'm so stinkin' excited about it!

I've been flooded with emails and several phone calls from people inquiring about the future of Terra Luz. I came to the realization that no longer do I WANT an assistant, I NEED one. Alas, I cannot do it all alone anymore. This is a huge step for me since I've been flying solo this entire time, but I am thrilled to have found a good match! For those of you who have children currently at Casa T. you will be meeting her next week. =)

Snippets from last week:

It was Mia's birthday! She is THREE years old now! We lit the birthday candle and sang her Happy Birthday! Just so you all know, I was VERY careful with placing the candle on the floor. It was such a cohesive way for the children to sit around the birthday girl and the candle and sing to her. They LOVED it!! It was so quiet and serene, I almost seemed as if they were meditating! ;)





This birthday-card watercolor-art was a collaborate effort on behalf of the M, W children for Mia.



Art
Our focus this week was liquid watercolors. We carried over the gelatin exploration from last week.



In the past, I've simply given the children a few colors, a brush, water, and paper, and they would begin to watercolor, not noticing that they were mixing up the original colors in the tray. This week, I tried to show them how we can also keep the original colors intact in the trays, while moving the color to the paper, and blending the colors on the paper instead. the concept was a bit hard. So, we'll continue to offer the watercolors freely and when they're ready to

1). dip brush in the color 2). paint on the paper 3).dip brush in water to rinse off color 4).dip brush in new color

then we'll try that again.

Next week, our focus will be on a 3 dimensional media.
CLAY!!

I pulled out some mirrors so the children can build on top of them. They used the Legos this week and also thought it was fun to look at their reflections and make silly faces.





The pink tower was popular this week. Some enjoy ordering it from biggest to smallest, some enjoy their own version.

Che's tower.

Gardening
Currently, the only thing left that is harvesting is broccoli, so the children took turns watering.





Che opted for some water play soon after, and since the weather was so nice and warm, he was able to fully enjoy himself.



The children, especially the boys, really dig this small jet-ski trailor Mike has by the garden and I often find them pretending they're navigating, or just exploring. And they also did some facepainting on Thursday, explaining some painted faces.

We did many other things this week, but just not enought time to post. That's what happens when I get backlogged and don't blog for a week.

Gratitude

Grandfather Twilight was donated to the Casa T., err, I mean Terra Luz library by Mama Melissa. Thank you!

*P.S. Now that I have the business name registered and an official business account, please make tuition checks payable to Terra Luz Progressive Preschool.

Thank you!

Notes from the Sub

Since I had training (again) with the State, this time for childcare licensing for centers, Mama Melissa came in and subbed in the morning. *BTW, I have 3 backup mama substitutes for the house who are all CPR and First Aid certified. ;)


--
Everything went great! We spent some time outside swinging, chasing balls, and investigating the broccoli, but not too long as it was pretty cold. Lots and lots of singing, playing drums, and dancing with the playsilks. We also read a lot of books - no surprise there! A particular favorite was Barnyard Dance - we read it a few times and acted everything out.

All three of them were really into the gelatin. They all started out pretty much the same and picked up on the concept of squirting the colored water in right away. But as they worked, they all went in different directions with it. Sophia methodically demolished hers, breaking it almost completely apart. Che broke some pieces out and experimented with how they changed colors as he put them into the different colors of water. Gwen pretty much stuck to squirting the water in from all different angles and seeing how it squirted out from the different holes she'd made in it.

We also played with the puzzles a bit - all three kids had a botanical puzzle to themselves. Every time Che got stuck, he said, "I need some help with myself."

At 11:50, Gwen declared that it was naptime, and Sophia heartily concurred. Che had no idea what was going on, but when he saw that the girls were determined to lie down, he wanted to join the fun. Of course Gwen the instigator hopped up and ate her afternoon snack while Sophia rested on her (or at least a) napmat, curled up with Puppy, and Che lay down and chattered about the fish. But hey, they were all happy, so I wasn't going to argue! Then not long after Che went home, Sophia wanted to go upstairs and go to bed. So Mike came home to her in her crib with no britches on and Gwen hiding her face in my shoulder.

Hope the training went well and wasn't too exhausting - just exhausting enough. We had a great time - can't wait to see you again next week!

Love ya,
M

Djembes

Yes, we now have a full djembe set for all the kiddies to use!



A BIG thank you to Mama Tanya for donating them to the Casa. What a generous gift!!

Love,
Andrea (and the children!)

Mantras, Table Pose, and Dr. Seuss

Che discovered some broccoli today.
He informed me that he "loooooves broccoli!"



Yoga
Ms. Krista taught us some new poses today. I tried recording part of the yoga session today, but my battery went dead (it had been on the charger all morning??). I'm super video camera impaired. I need someone to come in and start filming snippets from our day for us.

Check out that table pose!




Ms. Krista finished off with reading this book (ack! I forgot the title...I had to take a wee one for a potty break in the middle of it).



We also read from Head to Toe by Eric Carle and Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.

Art
Here's a sample of work your children did with the black and white color exploration. I will be adding more soon.





This week, we're beginning a watercolor exploration.




We've been listening to Mantras for Children a lot lately. I first heard this CD when Ms. Krista played it while we made dreamboards during a workshop I attended. I love everything about these mantras. And they're perfect when we are working on our art explorations. You can hear a clip HERE

A snippet from Monday. Playsilks seemed to be the choice of the morning for play, along with dancing along to some flamenco music by Ottmar Liebert.


And some fun napkin art found in Damon's lunch box this week.



I found a great way to manage my documentation and anectodal notes, so in the next few weeks, I'll be sharing with you part of your child's portfolio!

The Search Continues...

Ok, Friends, I need help with some searching.

After much soul searching on my end, we realized that the commercial property on 620 is not going to work. It’s price prohibitive based on my school’s philosophy because I would need to go from my small group of children to 40 children at once to be profitable. That is a HUGE jump with all the factors involved, and it would be hard and incredibly stressful. If I could start with 12-18 enrollment and hire a couple teachers, then slowly expand each year, that would be ideal, however, it's not an option at that location with the monthly rent requirement. I've just come to the realization that my program would be best run out of a converted home, so we can continue to garden and do culinary activities. Today, we decided to pursue the house we previously looked at, and come to find out, it’s been sold. After being on the market for 100+ days, we wait 2 weeks after viewing it, and it’s sold.

*Le sigh*

The area this house was in was the Shenandoah neighborhood next to my subdivision. It's an older neighborhood with homes on large pieces of land and with no HOA. I suppose we can get a realtor involved, but if you guys happen to see anything while driving around or online, please let me know.

My *Why*

King Winter, Broccoli, Facepaint, and a new addition!

We have a new friend who joined the Casa T. family this week.
Meet Che!



Che did a beautiful job of transitioning to the Casa this week. The children love their new friend!


Yoga this week
Listening to the chime and preparing...


Check out Lulu's bridge pose. She has it mastered.


Che was very excited about Yoga!


Art
We concluded our extensive Black and White Art Exploration this week. I will have the awesome art and journaling displayed shortly!



More observations on shadow while in the sandbox this week.


Singing our Hello Song

Photo courtesy of Jay. That's my leg on the left side. Odd to actually see me (or part of) in a photo!

Che and Corbin have a tea party.


Fine Motor/Sensory
Mastering a Botany Puzzle


Garden
We harvested broccoli.
AND, after we washed it, the children ALL ate some! They were SO excited. Seriously.




Spanish
We've been doing a lot of singing and practicing with simple speech our numeros (numbers) and colores (colors) in Spanish!

Facepainting
We did some impromptu face painting on Thursday. After the children had their hearts and suns painted on them by me, Sophia drew a crowd to paint hands.


Here, Corbin is trying to "negotiate" with Sophia.
The conversation went like this:

Sophia: Paint cheek.
Corbin: Don't paint on my cheek...I have a sun.
Sophia: It's Ok. Paint cheek.
Corbin: [Succumbs and allows Sophia to add to his facepainting]






Lady Autumn has stepped down from the Nature Table to make room for King Winter. Isn't he lovely?
If you find any "winter" items from nature, please bring them to add to the table.


All homeschool journals have been sent home this week, please respond and return them next week. I will continue to take in glass jars of various sizes. We will probably be collecting these for a couple months. We are still working hard on the business plan for the offsite program and hopefully, we'll know something in the next few weeks.