These aussies know how to party.
The beginning. One stripped his off his flannel monsters onsie immediately and said, I do this at all the parties.’
Electric blue ant piñata gets taken out.
The aftermath. All the players were in bed by 7:30.
The morning after.
Heaps of fun in freemantle – charge up the side of a hill, prison break, artist’s market, outdoor cafe, tea breaks, favorite fairy store, picking up some sort of accent that sounds more Asian/Czech than Australian.
each of us has experienced, at one time or another, a certain level of impatience while waiting to break in, or fall in, to our chosen life’s work. some are better at expressing this than others, and my niece, finn, is one of them.
another walk down the hall with my kindergarten class.
another answer to a question much bigger than i ever imagined.
‘hey z, what does that key around your neck open?’
‘it opens everything in the world,’ says z.
perfect for the discerning tastes of our 3-5 year olds?
Good Day All,
Just a reminder that tomorrow will be our “Chef 2 School” program and we will be featuring “World of Cheeses”. Once again we will set up in the back hallway behind the small dining room and I will be coming around to release the tables to visit our “World of Cheeses”.
We are also excited to say that this time we plan on including the Early Childhood Center with a cart that will go from table to table with samples of different cheeses.
Sincerely,
HJ
Director of Dining Services
this is more like it!
this game was in the silent auction at school and i was not surprised at all that no one bid on it. as it was a leftover, it was very generously offered it to me on behalf of my kindergarten classroom. i happily accepted and looked forward to sharing it with the kinders.
then i put my glasses on.
one in-focus look at this box and i was immediately horrified. between the grinning ‘dentist’ holding the gigantic tooth in massive pliers, all of the other monster-sized tools laying in wait, and the ‘patient/victim’ with missing teeth and a horrified look on his face, i was beside myself. aside from my own dental fear, i imagined that most children seeing the cover would develop a phobia even if they did not have one before.
my free-spirited friend offered to take it home to try on her children, (as well as one of her unsuspecting neighbor kids), to gauge their reaction. this experiment was to serve as an ad hoc litmus test to see how young children might react to it.
upon laying eyes on the game, ‘pearly whites,’ the 3 children in our focus group – sophie, clare, and natalie, instantly loved it and had absolutely no fear of it whatsoever. as a matter of fact, they giggled with delight as they roved around the gaping mouth, moved ahead to the canines, climbed up the bridge of dental floss, slid down mouthwash falls, and moved back 2 spaces as ‘punishment’ for having a cavity. their collective review was, “it was really fun and we want to play again!”
what? perhaps it is just me?
————————————
some tortures are physical
and some are mental
but the one that is both
is dental.
-ogden nash
while looking for holiday lesson ideas to share with my kinder class, i stumbled upon this one from a home-schooling page online. i must say i found it terrifying.
‘jesus in the tomb – cooking lesson’
‘jesus said he would rise from the dead in 3 days. he rose in 3 days.’
supplies needed: crescent rolls, marshmallows, cinnamon, margarine
directions: take one marshmallow and dip it in margarine. roll it in cinnamon. have the children place it inside of the center of the triangle of dough. have them fold the dough around the marshmallow so that the marshmallow is ‘buried’ in its tomb. bake according to the crescent roll package directions. have the children take the role of the guards at jesus’ tomb. have them stand guard at the oven. take the rolls out of the tomb (oven) and let the cool. the marshmallows will be gone, just like jesus’ body was gone!
other suggested lessons:
creative writing – have the children pretend to be reporters interviewing pontius pilate. ask him things like: why did you make your decision? were you pressured into it? have the children use their imagination to answer the questions.
art/literacy lesson – have them lay on large paper, trace them, and write across their chest – ‘jesus lives in me.’
food lesson – make easter sandwiches, crust symbolizes god, white is jesus, fillings are holy spirit. choose your fillings, can use red fillings to symbolize blood, share them, give thanks and enjoy!
after reviewing all of this, i opted to color eggs, hide them, show scary easter bunny pics, and eat a lot of chocolate.
took a few of the babies to have breakfast with the easter bunny. all was good, no one cried, they smiled and high-fived him, and much to my surprise, when we sat down on the bench next to him and huddled close for a picture, he pulled me closer and whoops – a side boob feel. awkward and score one for the giant fuzzy nerd. even worse, i had to go back and give him one more hug to get a stuffed lamb for the baby who was at home sleeping. this easter season is off to a tremendous start!
__________________________
Many years ago, we had a company-wide vote for our company-wide mascot, and the choices came down to the Boston tree fern, beef tape worm and a llama. And somehow the llama won the vote.
(Will Wright)
‘god can run faster than a dolphin.’
(helped clear up an unanswered question i had about the universe)
it was a moment i will forever remember. while playing with my 2 year old grandbaby, i watched her face, as she suddenly pointed to herself, and turned to me with a shocked and joyful face, full of pride and unbridled amazement, only to announce, “i is me!, i is me!, i is me!” some adults never attain this level of self-awareness and so funny to watch a baby have an epiphany.
I didn't have my glasses on.... 