music, rainbows, and leprechauns

This has been a busy and stressful week as California State Licensing Agency came for a vist and approved my Family Day Care license. This licence does't change much other than I am now official and they are "watching" me.
The children have been on a musical kick lately. You may have been lucky enough to see our dance performances at pick up time. We have been learning about solos. Each child gets a turn to dance on their own while their friends watch from the side, not only is this great entertainment for me but it helps them with confidence and large motor control. Everyone is is a costume too!
In the car we have been listening silently to Ella Jenkins. She is the BEST at teaching the properties of music to young children. They have been engaged in call and response, rhythm, time, and tone- and they LOVE IT! Every time we get into the car they yell- Ella Jenkins! I hear them singing the songs all around the house and singing back and forth with each other. I will make a copy for each family.
We got some new pattern boards that Amelia and Addison have been into- they are so good at spacial relationships-puzzles.
Madi has been taking such good care of her babies that she brings and always reminds us that we have to be quiet cuz her baby is sleeping. She is also a good friend and the first one to share and take turns. It's rare and I give her so much praise for this special quality.
Kali has been reading many stories out loud in the afternoons as well as trying to teach the children letters on the chalk board. She has been helping set the table for lunch and making beautiful creative art work.
Ryan loves to learn about dinosaurs. He loves to sit with the viewers and ask me questions about each dinosaur he sees. We bring our plastic dinos to the park and he plays in the "jungle" with them. He also likes to chase all of his friends around while roaring as loud as he can. Sometimes he is so realistic that he scares them!
This week we talked about Leprechaun folklore. We learned that stories of leprechauns come from a place called Ireland in Europe. We talked a little about how Ireland is very green because it rains a lot. The children learned that it is said leprechauns keep their gold at the end of a rainbow and that they are very tricky little men. We made our own leprechaun crafts and told a little story about our leprechauns. This activity taught geography, culture, language, creativity, listening, and following directions.
We have been talking about the colors of the rainbow and that a rainbow is made from sun and rain. We made torn paper collages. We learned a little about science in this activity as well as being creative and using our fine motor skills to rip paper.
We didn't get to our seeds so we will save them for next week.