old glue (glue so old it had separated) + all the odds and ends we could gather = massive glue sculpture

and after 4 days of drying, it seemed dry enough to lean up against the wall.  after an hour or so, there was a pool of glue under it…oops.  so we decided to let it dry and peel it off.  we’ll see if that really works.

we’ve been graced with gourds in our classroom.  thank you, families.

they’ve been bought and sold and cooked and carted around and hidden and found…

we even humanized them and took care of gourd babies.

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crayon coloring on a gourd line paper is perfect for a wash of liquid watercolor.

it was discovered that cutting out damp paper is a lot harder than dry paper.  i think that was the first time some children made that realization…not something i’d thought of.

g-g-g-g-gourd!

we were invited to participate in bethel college’s “love wall” by giving drawings/messages of what love means to us.

with complete respect for the wisdom that young children can offer, i simply invited them to give ideas of what love is, what they love, what message about god they want people to know.

…main street • hot chocolate and french fries • god doesn’t want anyone to hate anyone else • my family • rainbows • the forest • everyone will get to go the heaven with the angels • twinkle stars • beds • eating • music…

really, these messages of love are stronger than any message of hate.  i have to believe that. i chose not to discuss any theological differences in regards to heaven and god’s love. my job at preschool is to create a space of safety and when children’s words increase the peace, i’m okay with it.

it is no small thing to notice what provides comfort for children.  especially during the transition from home to the classroom.  some children crave the rowdy jokes from teachers, some hover by their cubby for a while taking notice, some are taken from one set of arms to another.  there is a group of girls who heads to our project corner first thing every time.  every time.

mr matt can be found there often too.  cutting circles or hearts.  visiting and adding comfort to the routine.

these girls are part of our afternoon class.  these photos are taken around noon…just after they’ve had lunch…when everyone seems glad to ease into things.  ahhhhhhhhhhh.

it is fun to talk about seemingly forbidden things:  poop, pee, guts, poop, dirt, blood, poop, dog breath…you get the idea. rats in the dirt table was a little gross…but not as gross as one of our big tables:

oh, it was GROSS!  this was actually a collection of stuff that i took to my son’s 4th grade class on halloween.  the preschoolers had fun with it the days afterwards.

eyes = cocktail onions
brain = steamed cabbage head
fat= tofu
heart = blanched and peeled tomato
scabs = beef jerky
fingers = dill pickles and pistachio shells
tongue = banana peel
ears = dried apricots
teeth = corn nuts
warts = raisins
veins = cooked pasta

when all the gross items were too gross to stay in the classroom anymore, we made a list of what we remembered.  i think those gross things made quite an impression…the preschoolers remembered each one!

we added to our “GROSS” list all week.  the question was simply, “what could someone think is gross?”  there was a lot of “eeeeeeewwwwwww!!!!!” after each idea.  and a little debate after some ideas (kissing and worms bringing the greatest debate…gross or not gross?). i still need a photo of the finished product.

(we hung it up in our bathroom…gross!!!!!)

from our facebook page:

families: questions i didn’t answer and/or topics of conversation that i encouraged preschoolers to continue at home:

god: is god a person? does god crawl? is god as magic as santa? is god jesus? is god a ghost?

santa: is santa real? can he fit through a key hole? does he need a chimney?

bottoms: {having established that no one should ask you to lick their bottom…because that was a suggestion for our “GROSS LIST”} why not? what does private mean? is it funny or bad? why don’t people just say, ‘butt?’

bad words: who decides what is really a bad word? what if i think it’s bad but someone keeps saying it because s/he doesn’t think it’s bad?

unicorns: are they really just horses with a horn? can they all fly? has anyone in the world seen a real one?

homelessness: how can someone make sure not to be homeless? why can’t we let homeless people just stay with us? can we smile at them {i answered that one: YES}?

the incredible hulk: was the actor really, really strong? how did he get green? did he really smash houses? when did this happen?

yeah, all of this brought on by some simple lesson plans involving houses, hair and horses.

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this is one of the reasons i love my job.

oh, boy, good thing we had some firefighters (and a detachable shop vac hose) because everything that was red or orange or yellow was considered fire!

we also played a “big body” game that involved the class of firefighters “sleeping” until i called the fire station (after i hid a cluster of red/orange/yellow crepe paper.  then they ran around the room until they found it, then called for each other to come and spray it out!

and seriously, if the fire in hanging from the ceiling, what are you supposed to do other than climb on the table?!?!?

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we had fun using red, orange and yellow tape to make fire layers.

and all the while, listening to this song was a real hit.