On Wednesday, Joshua's preschool had an 'in-house field trip' and parents were invited to come to be with their kiddos. I was SO excited to see the Bean in action at preschool. Nonie agreed to stay with Caleb at our house in the morning and then take the boys that afternoon to her house while I went to school.
When we first got there, Joshua immediately started playing with the other children in the bean table. I thought this was a clever idea until I saw the mess that some of the kiddos made with it! They scooped beans into cups and dumped and poured and had a blast. The beans were all different shapes, colors and sizes. This was the 'sensory' table of the week. I told the teachers how neat I thought it was and they commented that it was great...until one child decided to stick a bunch of beans in his ears. Aaaaah!!! The teacher said she put a band-aid over his ears and told his mom when he got picked up. I laughed and laughed at the thought (then prayed that God would help my kids keep from ever sticking things where they shouldn't be).
Next after all the children were there, it was time for the 'field trip.' I was genuinely shocked that only one other mom stayed for the field trip. Some moms have other kids they're running to school or watching at home and sometimes it's grandparents that bring or pick-up the kiddos, but I couldn't believe that parents would miss the opportunity to be with their kids for any reason. I'm wondering if some parents don't bother to read the newsletter that's sent home. Anyway, here are the kids in their coats (which two kids were missing and had to go get one from the lost-n-found area since it was an extremely chilly morning with the wind). The preschool has all sorts of lines taped down on the floor, which the teacher said is extremely helpful in getting the children to line up and stay in order. They go straight to the red line then to the blue or green line to get outside.
One little boy cried and cried that we were leaving the room...he cries at everything and seems really nervous - poor guy! Another child cried when we got outside and her hair was blowing in her face. I was so amused by all the little ones! Mrs. Ford asked each child to grab another child's hand and assigned buddies for the day. Joshua was asked to hold Liam's hand, and they both did a great job of holding on to each other. Then when Joshua wanted to hold my hand, somehow I ended up with Liam's, too. I also had two other kids try to hold my hands throughout the day. It was cute.
Our first stop was to see the police car. Officer Johns put the lights and sirens on and told them that if they were ever lost, try to find someone in her uniform and they would help find mommy & daddy. The kids were bored after two seconds (and so was the teacher, who confessed to me that she has extreme ADD), so we moved on.
Joshua's teacher Mrs. Ford is in green in the above picture, and here is a group shot of his class along with another class outside watching the brief demonstration.
Next we went to see the ambulance. This guy didn't really have anything to say except that he helps people who are sick. One little girl tried to climb up on the bed and the teacher said it was time to go in.
We had passed the playground on the way outside, and even though it was a little wet from the rain that had happened in the morning, the teacher said the children could play for a little while. They all loved it!
It was finally time to head back inside. The other mom that had come along had to leave to take a birthday treat to her kindergarden son's class. I asked the teacher whether she would prefer I stay or go, telling her either one was fine with me and she offered to let me stay and enjoy the morning. The first thing Joshua did was sit down at a table, and looking at leaves in the middle, try to draw one with his crayon. This was the finished product:
A little girl Brooke had been asking to paint ever since she got to preschool. Eventually, Mrs. Ford got out the construction paper and paint and put an old adult male shirt on two children so they could paint back-to-back at the easel. Poor Brooke missed the first round as two other children jumped at the chance. Joshua also was sad he didn't get to go first, but he went the next round. He LOVED the paintbrush and the opportunity to paint this way.
I loved his little face...so excited!
and so cute!
The teacher's aide took over at the painting station while Mrs. Ford got out another craft at a different table. They are definitely good at keeping things moving. The painting lasted for all of ten seconds. The kids enjoyed their time there, but they wanted to keep moving quickly. I think that's where I fall short at home. When I get out a craft, I want him to take more than a moment to enjoy all the work I've put into it. But, realistically with his attention span, that's not going to be the case.
So, Joshua headed over to be with his friend Ethan, who's pictured below. This child is WILD! He was so aggressive and full of energy and not really listening to the teacher that I thought to myself "why, Joshua, do you want to be with him and follow every single move that he does?" You can tell the Bean really looks up to him (literally, since this boy is the tallest in the class). But, I did notice that the teacher calls on him a lot, and Ethan is super sharp and vocal. He willingly volunteers answers in class. Whereas Joshua knows the answers, he isn't as eager to volunteer. So, I think that between him being big, being rowdy and being smart, Joshua clung to him like super glue.
The craft that they were working on was about creation...God creating the plants and the trees. First, they colored the paper with green crayons (where Ethan started banging the crayon and Joshua followed suit...and both crayons broke. I scolded Joshua and the teacher told Ethan she was not at all happy with his behavior this day...so maybe he's not normally that wound up???). Next, they stuck little brown rectangles to the paper with a glue stick. The only instruction was that they shouldn't cover up the words of the Bible verse. Finally, they stuck little red squares to the paper. These were supposed to be apple trees...they learned after everything was already stuck. They didn't care.
I confessed to the teacher that we've never used glue at our house, and she said glue sticks are key or using Elmer's in a bottle cap with a q-tip. Joshua had to be shown how to even use the glue to get the papers to stick. Here was his finished product:
After the crafts, while the other children finished up theirs since they took turns two-at-a-time at the painting station and three-to-four-at-a-time at the apple tree station, Joshua and some of the other boys played at the train station. When Ethan would loudly say "choo choo!", Joshua would follow suit. The other little guy in the picture is named Isaiah. This kid said a lot of "not nice things" according to Joshua's teachers, and I noticed he was constantly pushing, pulling, etc. on other children. The teacher would say "hands on your head" or "hands on your belly" which the kids thought was funny but that kept them from putting their hands on other children.
Soon it was time to clean up all the toys. Every train and every track went away. I helped Mrs. Hilton clean up the entire mess of Beans and the kids put every toy away that was out. Then they all got onto the circle mat.
Mrs. Ford started by adding a day to her calendar on the wall. Then they counted the days up to seven. Next, she went over the numbers 1,2,3 and shapes. I was surprised that they were just learning these things since Joshua's known them for awhile. But then she read a couple books, and he was thrilled. She asked questions throughout them, and I was surprised that Joshua didn't volunteer more. If someone else said the answer, he would stay quiet. There were a few times, though, that he did volunteer a correct answer when no one else did. Mrs. Ford said it's normal at this age to be more shy in a group setting. That's why preschool is good to get them used to the atmosphere.
After the stories, it was snack time. One little girl pulled her pants down in the middle of the room and the teachers had to remind her to go potty so she pulled them back up. We marched all the kids into the big bathroom down the hall to wash their hands, and I helped them climb onto the stools and get soap, etc. Then we came back to the classroom and sang a prayer and the kiddos ate goldfish and drank out of juic boxes that kept overflowing. Joshua did amazingly well with his, though, and thankfully it wasn't a gusher.
After the kids finished their heaping mound of goldfish, it was time to go outside again to talk about Creation. Only the teachers got busy and ran out of time. So, the kids enjoyed playing. Mrs. Ford said chaos works in her life, so this age is great for her. Mrs. Hilton is more like me - organized, structured and clean. So they are a good balance. Mrs. Ford reminded me that preschool is great for getting Joshua dirty and playing with things he wouldn't be allowed to at home. Yes, it's true. Then she commented on how nicely he's always dressed...haaa!!!! Yes, I like him to look good, and I notice that he's often dirty when he comes home. We laughed. It was good to get to know her better because I think she's disorganized, but that may be a good thing for this environment. The kids love her. In fact, one little girl went up to her during story time and said "Mrs. Ford, I love you." It was cute.
In the picture above, Joshua is playing in a pile of dirt and stones. Eeek! And he's loving every minute of it. She explained that stones are way better than sand for outdoor fun.
It was soon time to go inside and leave for the day. So, Mrs. Ford asked everyone to go to the wall and line up so they could count heads. Here's Joshua's little friend again as the Bean is patiently waiting by the wall.
After we got home, we took Nonie out to lunch at Friendly's. She took the boys back to Reading with her and it was time for me to go to class already! I'm so glad that I teach college kids rather than 3-year-olds. As much fun as I had watching the little ones, I wouldn't want to be there every day. But, it was great to be with Joshua at preschool one day and see what he experiences. His preschool officially has a case of H1N1, so we're praying for his health and safety this school year. Please join us in praying for him, too!
When we first got there, Joshua immediately started playing with the other children in the bean table. I thought this was a clever idea until I saw the mess that some of the kiddos made with it! They scooped beans into cups and dumped and poured and had a blast. The beans were all different shapes, colors and sizes. This was the 'sensory' table of the week. I told the teachers how neat I thought it was and they commented that it was great...until one child decided to stick a bunch of beans in his ears. Aaaaah!!! The teacher said she put a band-aid over his ears and told his mom when he got picked up. I laughed and laughed at the thought (then prayed that God would help my kids keep from ever sticking things where they shouldn't be).
Next after all the children were there, it was time for the 'field trip.' I was genuinely shocked that only one other mom stayed for the field trip. Some moms have other kids they're running to school or watching at home and sometimes it's grandparents that bring or pick-up the kiddos, but I couldn't believe that parents would miss the opportunity to be with their kids for any reason. I'm wondering if some parents don't bother to read the newsletter that's sent home. Anyway, here are the kids in their coats (which two kids were missing and had to go get one from the lost-n-found area since it was an extremely chilly morning with the wind). The preschool has all sorts of lines taped down on the floor, which the teacher said is extremely helpful in getting the children to line up and stay in order. They go straight to the red line then to the blue or green line to get outside.
One little boy cried and cried that we were leaving the room...he cries at everything and seems really nervous - poor guy! Another child cried when we got outside and her hair was blowing in her face. I was so amused by all the little ones! Mrs. Ford asked each child to grab another child's hand and assigned buddies for the day. Joshua was asked to hold Liam's hand, and they both did a great job of holding on to each other. Then when Joshua wanted to hold my hand, somehow I ended up with Liam's, too. I also had two other kids try to hold my hands throughout the day. It was cute.
Joshua's teacher Mrs. Ford is in green in the above picture, and here is a group shot of his class along with another class outside watching the brief demonstration.
Next we went to see the ambulance. This guy didn't really have anything to say except that he helps people who are sick. One little girl tried to climb up on the bed and the teacher said it was time to go in.
Then we saw a baby calf...
Followed by a baby Caleb... my poor little guy would have LOVED to have gotten down to run around and explore, but we kept him in the stroller for two reasons. One, he loves to touch everything and everything was dirty and not edible; and two (most importantly) the place was a zoo. There were sooo many people and it was bumper-to-bumper (or shoulder-to-shoulder) and Caleb likes to wander. So, rather than risk him getting stepped on or running off, we figured the stroller was a safer option.
Next Joshua got to pet the baby bunnies and see some chicks that had just hatched. He LOVED this area and said that the bunnies felt "NICE!"
But, as much as Joshua was having fun, Caleb was tired. And tired of sitting. I think he would have really liked it if he was given freedom to roam, but it wasn't really the time or place with how crowded it was.
Since it was their bedtime, we headed out. On the way to our car, we saw the decorated pumpkins (one of my personal favorite parts of this show), and the gigantic pumpkins, etc which was really impressive to Joshua. He couldn't get over how BIG the pumpkin was!
So, we enjoyed some unhealthy fair food and walking around as a fam before calling it a night since the Bean had preschool in the morning.
Here was Joshua's Blue Artwork...this was positively wet with glue when we were handed this treasure. So, Caleb and I wore some glue on the way home from preschool. This one was created on blue day, of course. 
I think the theme for the above artwork was clouds since the following preschool day was another blue day and Joshua used scissors for the first time to cut the clouds in the picture below this one. He also learned that God created the heavens and the earth, so the clouds represent heaven and the upcoming artwork represents the earth.
I loved the following piece, which has two sides and we can hang. Here are the heavens and the earth...
Next it was red day. Here is his paint job for that day.
And yesterday Joshua was asked to color a picture of a leaf with the leaves in the middle of the table for them to look at and then draw on their paper with crayon. Here was his finished product:
