C is for Cat, Cloud, Circles and Candy Corn

This week I had the pleasure of teaching five bright minds about the letter C. Monday we learned about Cat, Clouds, and Circles. It was a challenge to teach the kids that C has two sounds, hard and soft. The concept was not clicking so we just stuck with the hard sound. Preschool starts off with circle time. We sang "look who came to school today," talked about the weather, days of the week, the months, and learned the Pledge of Allegiance. I read two books to transition into our letter activity. Monday we read "The Little Cloud" and "Splat the Cat" then today we read "Splat the Cat" and "Curious George Goes to a Costume Party." The kids LOVED "Splat the Cat!"

Monday we pretended to be clouds, changing shapes like a bunny, cat, helicopter, frog, etc. I used a sponge and cold water to demonstrate how clouds fill with cold water until the water falls out of the clouds as rain. Each child got to squeeze cold water out of the sponge. Then we laid on our tummies and pounded our fists and feet to sound like rain. We made a cloud man out of paper and cotton balls. The kids also made a cat craft out of a paper plate, paint, googly eyes, pom-poms, and pipe cleaners. Lily was sooooo excited when treat time came! Amelia and I made kitty cupcakes before preschool for snack. The best was serving milk in bowls so the kids chould drink like a cat. It was a super great hit.

Today we focused on candy corn. I had the kids try to cut out their own shapes during the craft time. Phew, that was hard trying to help five kids cut at the same time and corral Phillip at the same time. Phillip decided not to take a later morning nap today. Lily wanted to make a pirate candy corn man. That kid cracks me up. After paper crafts I let the kids practice making the letter "C" shape in pudding. This is a great activity for little kids, it helps them deal with responsibility, free form shapes, and muscle control. Plus, it is tasty! All the kids brought big shirts for smocks this time. Phillip thought the pudding activity was amazing. He earned the messiest reward. Zane made perfect "C" shapes when prompted. We had candy corn shaped cheese (mozzarella, cheddar, and colby jack cut into triangles) on crackers and course, some candy corn. I am glad the candy corn is now out of my home. It was a huge temptation.

In other news, we purchased a hi/lo camp chef double burner. After realizing that canning at home with our pressure cooker was not possible we made an investment, during an amazing sale! We got the burners on sale for 60% off. Yesterday I canned 4 quarts of spaghetti sauce. The stove set up outside worked like a charm. We are enjoying the warm temperatures this week. I hope the weather will last long enough to get enough tomatoes to make a couple quarts of salsa. Justin came home on Monday with a beautiful bouquet of flowers, just for the heck of it! I LOVED the flowers and especially the effort! Justin finally got a rifle he's eyed for a long while. Saturday he went out to play with his new toy for a couple hours. Sunday in the middle of church Phillip threw up all over himself. We went home early since he smelled so bad. He ran a fever Sunday through Tuesday, it could be related to his immunization shots 2 weeks ago or teething. Poor kid is not sleeping well.