Wow!  What a Thursday!  The big excitement of the day was Ms. Kim and her Natural Wonders class!  We walked outside to the courtyard to find several "stations" set up with all kinds of neat things to explore. There were shiny gems, sea shells of all sizes, a large tub of oatmeal, rocks, Indian corn, pumpkins, mirrors, blocks, and play dough.  It was all neat and organized with calm music playing in the background.  How perfect!  I thought that there would be some sort of "talking walk-through" each station, but Ms. Kim said to just let them go and explore!  I'll admit that I was a little skeptical of how it was going to turn out.....but it was fabulous!  So many sensory experiences.....so many language activities embedded.....so much pretend play.....so many chances to practice turn taking!  The kids loved it!  It was very self-directed with no expectations!  We took lots of pictures!  I promise to post a slide show later today!  The courtyard makes such a beautiful back drop to whatever we do!

Our story today was Barnyard Beat by Lindsay Craig.  The story is about the animals of the farm making noises and keeping Farmer Sue awake.  When she comes outside to find out what all the noise is, the animals hide for awhile. But, they can't keep quiet for long.  Everyone starts dancing to the barnyard beat of all the animal noises.  As soon as they all fall asleep, the rooster crows and wakes them all up again!

I'm sure that by now, you've all seen the precious roosters that we made during Art.  We had to do something with those extra gloves from yesterday....I told you how hard it was to blow them up!  We weren't sure how the mixture of glue and feathers would turn out, but the finished product was so cute!  The kids really enjoyed "cock-a doodle do"-ing all around the room!

In our center time, we contrasted big and little animals.  We talked about the concepts using visuals and hand motions and tried to use the adjective in a complete sentence.  I think that they all understood.  Between identifying EVERY object in the room "big" and/or "little" and all the "cock-a doodle do" noises.....you wouldn't have guessed that it was a preschool classroom for children with communication difficulties! 

And that.....after all.....is our goal!!  Happy Weekend!