Mothers Day gifts Puddle Jumpers made

Alaskan Fishy Hands
The kids loved making their mommys presents. 

Puddle Jumpers is on facebook

Puddle Jumpers now has a facebook page for parents and family to view the pictures taken during the day.  In your handbook packet you will receive papers to sign.  One of these papers will be a release form to have your child’s photos put on the facebook page.  This page is secure and you will not be able to see the pictures unless you are added as a friend.  I will only add you if you are a parent/caregiver or have permission from the parents/caregivers for the children in our care.  I am very excited to give parents the treat of pictures of their child in our care.  The kids are always so proud to have their pictures taken.

Now Opening May 1st

As of May 1^st I am an approved provider!!  I will open my doors to kids on that day and I have had a couple of kids come by and check us out.  We are very excited for our home to be extended by more little feet!

The preschool kids that were in my care are not with me any longer.  As you can see I have not posted a new preschool blog for a little while.  We have been very busy with our approval and next we need to have the fire marshal here to inspect our home.  Also keeping us busy is our property outdoors.  We have no snow in our yard so we have been busy outside cutting the grass, preparing for play equipment and the kids have been exploring the great outdoors.  Spring is so fun with mud, worms, bugs, and grass and no more bundling up for the frigid cold.

What a fun summer to look forward to.

This week our focus is on Fire Safety:

How do we know when our building is on fire?

Smoke rises so we need to get down on the ground to crawl to safety.  Look for an exit and feel the door for heat, feel the doorknob. Why?

What other exits are close to us if the door is hot?

In our safety play the door will be cold and the door will be hot. 

Do we run upstairs if our building is on fire?

Do we hide from the smoke, fire or firefighters?

Do we run around crazy when we get outside the building or do we move our bodies to the meeting place quickly?

Where is the meeting place?  Our meeting place is at the mailbox here at Puddle Jumpers.  You can wave when you see firemen so they can clearly see you.  Stay at the meeting place until an adult tells you you are aloud to leave.

What are fire detectors?  Can you find any here?

Lets test it to see what it sounds like.

If your clothes catch fire, STOP, DROP, and ROLL!

We will perform this drill.

We will perform a full fire drill today and we will repeat this safety day whenever we have any new children joining us at Puddle Jumpers or/and once a month.  It is always good to repeat a fire safety day! 

We will dress as firemen, have play fires that the firemen put out, we will continue our 911 song we sing almost everyday.  Fire safety will be part of our entire week and I hope the local fire house will give Puddle Jumpers a tour .

You tube videos:

Fire Safety for Young Children - DSHS Washington

Where there is Smoke there is Fire

Be Cool About Fire Safety part 1

Danger Rangers Fire Safety PSA

We are getting closer to opening our daycare!!!

I have now taken the CPR and First aid course and my fingerprints are now done.  I am waiting for the background check to be finished.  I am not sure when that will be however I have high hopes that it will be done soon.

We are extending our spring break through this week because the children that are in my care are still out of state on vacation.  I hope your having fun girls!!  We are starting our school week again this next Monday.  We are hoping to have more children joining us here at Puddle Jumpers soon.  If you are interested in contacting me write me an Email tracybond2002@yahoo.com

Next week we start our program with the letter D and the number 4.

Spring Break :-)

Sorry this week we are taking time off for spring break just like the school district.  I have been doing home improvements, having a little R&R, and tomorrow I will be taking class all day for my CPR and First Aid course.  I can’t wait to be done with that and I should have my fingerprints taken soon.  I am happy to say that we will be putting in a fence when the ground allows us.  That will keep the kids safely in and the neighborhood dogs out.  :-)

This Weeks Lesson Plan: Safety, C, and number 3

Seatbelt Safety

Youtube videos we will be watching.

1. PSA Flintstones seatbelt safety 1980
2. Bridgestone Think before you drive

Pretend Play

1. Car Trip – We are going to set up chairs like we are in a car and we are going to take pretend car trips that are safe and unsafe.  I will have the children lead this as much as possible.
2. We are going to have creative story telling while on our car trips.
3. Out of blocks we will create roads and take our Hot Wheel cars to discover how safety is important.

Outdoors Play

We are going to be car watchers; we will discuss cars and safety.  The noises they make and how fast they are going.

Finger Play

            Ouch, Ouch, Ouch

The Letter C and the Number Three

1. Can you make the letter C with your fingers?
2. Can you make the letter C with your body or other parts of your body?
3. Work on writing C and 3
4. Color a Car and paint a #3
5. Different sounds of the letter C
6. Find 3 things that start with the letter C in our house
7. What’s missing game, pieces will be items that start with the letter C
8. Review the letters A and B, Review the numbers 1 and 2
9. What letter and number comes next?

Math

1. We are going to use counting bears and sort colors in threes
2. We will also discover adding 1+1+1=3 and 2+1=3
3. Learn how to tell time, work on Three O’ Clock

Reading

1. Little c
2. My Alphabet Lunch
3. The Airplane Alphabet
4. Tell time with Teddy

Sign Language

1. The letter C
2. Review letters A and B

Sight Word of the week

            GO

Seatbelt Safety Song – Sing to the tune of Them bones

Seatbelts connected to the frame zone

The lap strap goes across the hipbone

The shoulder strap angles over the chest bone

So here are the words of the law

Those belts, those bones, those seatbelts

For safety’s sake wear seatbelts
And mind the word of the law

           

About Me and My Program

I have taken three years worth of early childhood education courses and I am close to getting my CDA.  I think it is important that kids read and learn as much as they can in the early years. I am an experienced childcare provider, I have worked at Head Start as a teacher’s aide and I have worked at the boys and girls club (both of these jobs were not in Homer).    I have three children of my own and we are doing an in-home preschool at this time.  I feel that it is important for kids of all ages to get experience in Puzzles, Numbers, ABC's, Colors, Shapes, Songs, Exploring activities, Arts and crafts, Music, Dancing, Story time, Puppet theater, Indoor/Outdoor recreational activities, and Homework assistance.  All play and learning experiences are designed to meet the physical, social, emotional and intellectual needs of your child through creative, stimulating, and varied learning experiences. I interact with the children during their play, and include myself in most of the activities, including group games like hide-and-seek, ring around the rosy, London bridges, etc.

In our indoor playroom, we have many toys, including dress up, a kitchen and dishes/play food, dolls, trucks, toy men, an indoor slide, a bounce house, an indoor swing just to name a few. We have many books, music, educational movies, educational games, and a TON of art and craft supplies, including many holiday themed activities. We try to keep T.V. watching to a minimum.

Our outside play equipment has a good start, and we will be continuing to add to the outside play area.

We are a clean and environmentally friendly (as much as I can) home.  No one in my home smokes or drinks.  We have a cat, dog, and fish for the kids to discover.  The cat box is not in an area that the children can get to. J