Drawing Thursday

Hello, Acorn friends! I hope you're all having a great week! We miss you a lot and really hope we get to see you soon. Today I got to draw while listening to music! I listened to two different songs and drew what those songs made me feel. Pick out a couple songs and do the same! Please post pictures on our Acorn Google Photos so we can see :)

Water Wednesday

Happy Wednesday, Acorns! I sure missed seeing you at our meeting yesterday. Ms. DeeDee and I had to go to school and get the Acorn Room all cleaned up. We are missing you all so much! I hope you are still having a good time baking, planting, exploring creeks, and making art. Now that the weather has been cooperating a bit more, I also hope that you've been able to get some more water play in. :) We know the Acorns love our classroom language of water! I can remember not so long ago, watching as their eyes would light up as they worked so carefully to figure out new ways to use the tools move the water.
One of the activities we used to do in the classroom involved freezing things in big blocks of ice and letting the Acorns discover how to melt them. They loved exploring the ice, so one of the plans for today is a frozen animal rescue! I tried it out myself with my little "guys." Trying to melt block of ice with a spray bottle takes awhile! (As you will see... 😅) Please feel free to share if you decide to experiment with freezing items at home! There is also a special hello from Gma Debbie at the bottom of the page, so stay tuned. :) Hope you all are doing well. Can't wait to resume our group zoom next week! Talk to you soon!

Ms. Debbie has been spending time making furniture! Wow! Check back for updates from her. :)

Terrific Tuesday

Good Morning!  I just checked the weather, and you better get out early!! Strong storms are moving in during the afternoon with a chance of hail?! Eek!  Do all the acorns remember where to go to be safe during a storm?  That is right! Your basement!! Stay away from windows, and if it gets really stormy under the basement stairs is the safest place. Remember to protect your head!!!! Get on the floor and put your hands on you head. It has been awhile since we have had a severe weather drill.  Stay safe!

Whole Class ZOOM meeting is Cancelled for TODAY!!

We are so sad to cancel our whole class meeting..... we have to go to the AFC and break down our rooms for summer cleaning. We will resume our whole class zoom next week May 5th!!

Severe Weather Practice-

Now, time for a story...

"I am the acorn that becomes the oak."-John Winger

Monday Fun!

Happy Monday, Acorns! Hope you all had a great weekend and got to enjoy a little bit of the beautiful weather! I potted some more plants this weekend-- I have loved seeing all of the planting you have been doing, too! Did you see DeeDee’s tomatoes and Ms. Julia's garden on Friday?
Speaking of Ms. Julia... Ms. DeeDee and I realize that we weren't the only people you got to everyday, and we're sure there are other people you are probably missing-- so here is a special "hello" from Ms. Sandy, too!

And here is a story! Have a wonderful day!

Fun FriYAY!!

We survived another week of Social Distancing and Distance Learning! Carrie sang to us, Mr. Kevin said hello, and Lacey helped us with yoga and today we will go to Rolling Ridge, pick up plants and check out my garden! There will be a special appearance at the end.... so be sure to scroll all the way down!

 Before Spring Break, we were getting into our groove,  learning the letters of our names, recognising numbers and doing one to one ratio. We started figuring out all our shapes, and developing some really fabulous friendships!

Now, I am alone in my yard, pulling weeds and watering my house plants.  We will make it back to school.... and be united with all our friends and teachers.... until then, enjoy this video of me stumbling around my yard, picking up plants from Rolling Ridge, trying to get my mom to say hi to you on video, and planting.

and now a surprise....

And now a story... with the help of Buddy....

Have a great weekend and keep those photos coming! We love seeing what you are doing!!!

"I am the little acorn that becomes the oak."-John Winger

Yoga Thursday

Good morning, Acorn friends! I hope you all got to enjoy the sunshine and beautiful weather yesterday :) Today, we are going to be doing some Cosmic Kids Yoga! Now, I'm only going to be doing a few minutes of the yoga with you, and then let you finish the rest with your family!
This is a great way to get your bodies moving, your spirits lifted, and to have some fun. Please post videos and pictures of yourselves on our Google Photos doing this yoga practice. We miss you all so much and hope to see you soon!

Healthy Snack, continued!

Happy Wednesday, Acorns!
Thanks again for taking the time to meet with us via Zoom yesterday.. I love how you can see everyone's personalities shining through more and more each week. Though our meetings are brief, it truly makes my heart happy to see little snippets of the Acorns when we can't physically be together. :) I hope everyone is still doing well and making it through these new and strange times-- as always, we are here if you need support. ❤️
Making fruit salad is on the agenda for today! I thought that would be a fresh, fun snack to enjoy now that we have had a couple days of sunshine, so feel free to follow along as I put some fruits together. :)

We also have someone special who would like to say hello to you! Some friends have been wondering about Mr. Kevin, so he was kind enough to send us a video to say hello to his Ambrose friends! I know he misses his Acorn friends so much. We miss you, Mr. Kevin!
Have a great day, everyone.

Healthy Snack from Last Week!

Happy Tuesday Acorns!
I finally figured out a healthy snack to share with you! It isn't yogurt and fruit, but that's ok. You have to work with what you have....then we will check on the bird feeder (we filled on Friday)  and do the mindfulness section on the lesson plan for today!

Now here is a story.... Have a great day!

"I am the acorn that becomes the oak."-John Winger

Sing Out Loud!

Happy Monday, Acorn friends! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. It has been great getting to connect with you all through both the group and individual zoom meetings. We love getting to see everyone and hear about your daily activities. As always, don't hesitate to reach out if you have a question, comment about a lesson, or just something on your mind. We also have a zoom office hour available each day from 10AM-11AM if you'd like to meet "face-to-face." For tomorrow's group zoom meeting, we plan to go on a Color Hunt! (No preparation is necessary. :) We hope to see you all there at 10AM!
As always, I'm loving the shared photo album-- I have seen videos of some friends singing songs, and  it is wonderful! I sure miss getting to sing our morning song together everyday. One of today's activities is to "Sing Out Loud"! Crank up your favorite tunes and dance and sing your heart out. ("We Will Rock You," anyone? :)
I am happy because I found one of my gardening books, and perfect for Musical Monday, it is a song! Have a great day, Acorns!

Fun Friday!!

Happy Friday!  The weather forecast does not look good until Saturday.  Next week looks amazing and hopefully we will all get to play in our backyards while practicing social distancing. I realize it is hard to continue our exploration of water indoors. Even if you are adventurous enough to try it in the bathtub....So, keep those activities available for when the weather is cooperating with us!!  Keep posting those pictures!! We LOVE seeing the children and miss them so much!!


Today, I am going to my backyard to fill the bird feeder.

Here is the video of the birds eating at the birdfeeder, it is good to revisit experiences. This time when you are watching the birds eat at the bird feeder and drawing what you see, I want you to use more detail.  What shapes do you see? Is the bird feeder a circle? Does it have circles on it? What shape is the bird? What color is the bird?

Now, here is one of my favorite stories....

Have a wonderful safe weekend. Keep posting pictures on the shared album, we love seeing the Acorns in action!

"I am the little acorn that becomes the oak."-John Winger

Artsy Thursday

Happy Thursday, Acorns! I hope you're all doing great! This week is Week of the Young Child, and today is Artsy Thursday! So for today, I'm going to be painting with things found in nature. It was a lot of fun gathering items from my yard and turning them into paint brushes! After watching this, hopefully you can get some things from nature and create a beautiful picture. If you do, please share the pictures on our Google Photos so we can see! Also, I just noticed that there is paint in my hair, I guess I was a little too zealous in pouring out my paint :) Have a great rest of your day!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Happy Wednesday, Acorns! I loved talking to you again yesterday. It is so good to see you all and hear about what you've been up to! Thanks for showing me all of your cool stuff at Show and Tell-- it was so much fun to see what you picked out to share with your friends. I will look forward to our group meetings every week. :)

As I look through all of your photos in the Google album, I've seen several friends continue to plant things, find nature,  and help in the garden! One of today's activities on the weekly plan involved planting seeds, an Acorn favorite, so today I planted some seeds in a pot. But first, here's a Mo Willems story! Hope your week is going great. 

And now, planting flower seeds!

Healthy Snack!

Hi Acorns, We are going to continue to celebrate the week of the young child! So, I looked on the lesson plan and noticed that in the self care/mindfulness, we are supposed to make a healthy snack of fruit and yogurt. So, here we go.... well, I waited all day for my instacart to come and the items I needed to make our healthy snack, did not come.... I guess that is how a pandemic goes.  So, instead of videoing a healthy snack, I did an activity, on how to practice writing your name.

Gma Debbie!!

I know you all thought I would forget about one of my favorite books,  but guess what? I found it online!!! Mess Monsters!!!

We can't wait to see you at 10:00 on zoom!  Get your show and tell ready!

"I am the little acorn that becomes the oak."-John Winger

Monday Bread Day!

Happy Monday, Acorn Friends! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I miss you! I am looking forward to seeing and talking to you all again tomorrow at 10AM for our next class zoom meeting. We plan to do a Show and Tell this week, so if your child has something they would like to show everyone or tell us about, be sure to have it ready! :) Can't wait.
I am still loving everyone's pictures of your day to day activities. I have seen so many friends being great helpers in the kitchen! Cookies, cupcakes, breads, and all kinds of goodies-- I am impressed! I am sloooowly becoming a baker, and I have been wanting to tackle bread baking but it is a daunting task! My mother-in-law recently passed on an old bread machine to me, and it has gotten lots of use during this stay-at-home period. Hopefully someday I can perform all the steps myself manually, but for now, feel free to watch as I measure and pour! Once again, please ignore the amateur camera skills and my dog drinking water at an incredible volume in the background (seriously, she might be the loudest drinker on earth... what is up with that?) and feel free to share any of your best bread-baking tips. ;) Have a great day!

In honor of Celebratng the Week of the Yound Child, Ms, Katie is going to play a song for us! 

Happy Friday!!

We have made it through another week of social distancing. It seems like forever since we have seen your children! I know, the zoom meeting is seeing them, it's just that you can't tell how tall they have grown. It was interesting watching them on screen, it took awhile for their personalities to come through. As I am sure, like all of you, we just want our regular routine to resume, being at school, seeing and playing with one another. 

We will have our weekly whole group Zoom Meetings every Tuesday at 10:00, unless conflict arises from you, the families.  There are a few new requirements to enter our meetings on Zoom, so that they are secure safe places for all of us. The new guidelines are listed below. We will be following these guidelines. If I already sent you an invitation, I will need to send new ones with the new settings on our account. Sorry for the inconvenience. 

1. Please use your child's name followed by Acorn so that we are able to identify you and allow you to join the meeting. Example: Olive Acorn

2. Do Not admit anyone who has not used your naming schematic and whose name you do not recognise.

Doing 1 and 2 should virtually eliminate unwanted participants. It is for the safety of the children that the families follow these guidelines.

We can not wait to start the individual Zoom meeting and actually hear your children speak to us!!

Spring has Sprung! 

So here is an Acorn Favorite!

After lunch, we started watching The Carrot Seed video, while washing hands and doing potties, I am not allowed to put the link to that video on the blog, but if you are interested in viewing it, the children love it!! 

 The Carrot Seed 6:40 seconds when you search. We usually fast forward it to the beginning of the book which is at the 53 second mark. 

Thank YOU for posting photos to the shared album we love seeing your children! It is just another way to connect to one another. 

Have a wonderful Holiday Weekend. 

Next week's lesson plan we will be celebrating the week of the young child! We have noticed through the shared album, everyone baking, so Carrie will be baking on Mondays blog. The recipe will be on the lesson plan for Monday if you would like to bake along. 

"I am the little acorn that becomes the oak.-John Winger

Pigs Make Me Sneeze!

Good morning, Acorns! I hope you're all having a wonderful Thursday.
Today I will be reading "Pigs Make Me Sneeze!" by Mo Willems. This is one of my favorite books and I hope you like it too!
We miss you all so much and had such a great time in our Zoom meeting with you on Tuesday. We can't wait to see all your smiling faces again!
Stay safe and keep healthy, friends!

Sidewalk Sunshine

Happy Wednesday, Acorns! It was so good to be able to see you and talk to you yesterday! Truly the highlight of my week. If you have signed up for an individual zoom session, we are looking forward to chatting more with you next week! Also, thank you for continuing to add to the shared photo album. I love seeing the fun things you've been doing.
I've noticed lots of friends making beautiful artwork at home, and doing such a great job practicing letters, colors, and numbers! Today I busted out the sidewalk chalk myself and made some letters and shapes. :) Have a great day-- can't wait to talk to you soon!

Chickens!!

Happy Tuesday Acorns.
I hope you are all remembering our class agreements even while you're at home. Ms. Katie, neighbor, shared a few pictures of her chickens with me and a video of them having a snack!

Are the chickens looking at the cat? Or is the cat looking at the chickens?

Look! View of my garage from Katies yard!

Jack's Garden

My bird feeder in my backyard. If you have a chance to grab a piece of paper and some crayons, then invite your child to draw the birds on the bird feeder.

To extend the activity, ask the children what color do you see?  How can you draw the bird feeder? What shape is it? How can you make the bird?

We can not wait to see you Today at 10:00 on ZOOM!!

"I am the little acorn that becomes the oak."-John Winger

Animal Action

Hi, Acorns! I hope everyone had an awesome weekend. I am still missing you like crazy!

I am having so much fun being able to interact with you all through the shared photo album. Please continue sharing your daily adventures with us! We love having this small connection and we really look forward to seeing your faces.

Since you have already met DeeDee and Lacey's pets, today I thought I would introduce you to mine! (Well, one, anyway.. my cat will have to make an appearance another day. Her name is Zuul, if that tells you anything about her personality...)

I read one of my silly animal books and then you get to meet Gypsy, my dog!
Stay tuned also for a sort of unsuccesful view of the bird who has built a nest on my porch. :)

Talk to you soon!

Composting and Tour of my garden

Hello Acorn Families!

We miss you so much. Today, I am going  to start off with the story Little Pea. 

Little Pea

Compost

Tour of Vegetable Garden 

Have a great day! We love you and miss you!!

Parents, don't forget to post pictures on the shared album!!!!

"I am the little acorn that becomes the oak."-John Winger

There Is a Bird on Your Head!

Happy Thursday, friends! We miss you all so much and hope that you are doing well. With all of our time at home right now, I have been able to look at some of my daughter's books with her, and I found one of my favorites! You all know and love Piggy and Gerald, so today I will be reading "There Is a Bird on Your Head!"
What kind of birds do you see outside? After listening to this book, go look out the window and see if you can spot any birds or even a bird nest!
Have a great day, Acorns!

"I am the acorn that becomes the oak."-John Winger

Signs of Spring

Hello, Acorns! Happy Wednesday. Hope everyone is well today.
We hope everyone has had a chance to check out the weekly GOLD plan and try out a few of the activities. Let us know how it's going! We have loved being able to see everyone's photos in the shared folder, and reading your comments about what you've been up to. :)
 I really enjoyed seeing everyone's signs of spring! I noticed a few friends had found some lovely, cheerful yellow daffodils. I know these Acorns are gardeners at heart-- they love spending time in the garden at Ambrose, planting, weeding, and watering. You have no idea how much we wish we could be there now, working with our little friends on these beautiful sunny days!
I've been noticing lots of signs of spring in my own backyard and doing some potting. Feel free to watch as I re-pot an aloe vera baby! Please forgive the glare-- I'm still learning to be my own cameraman. ;) Have a wonderful day! Miss you all! Talk to you soon!