…you get fun pictures of Miss Val’s disasterous craft! At least they didn’t catch the Modge Podged Pants!
And tomorrow we’ll see how they turned out. If they’re any good, I’ll share!
Tag-Archive for » after care «
March 20th, 2010 | Author: Valerie
Some of you may remember that back at the beginning of the year, I set out to teach a few of my older kiddos how to embroider. Embroidering has really been a hit with the kids. Three of the kids decided that they wanted to do embroidery projects to sell at the silent auction at our school’s big event this week–the International Festival and Silent Auction. I was so very proud of them!
My third and fourth grade girls embroidered tea cups on tea towels. My seventh grade boy (remember “The Cell”?) and I designed a “Science is Fun!” wall hanging. None of these projects went off without a hitch, and we were definitely scrambling at the last minute to get them done (Miss Val may have only gotten two and a half hours of sleep the night before the auction!), but they turned out amazing. And they were definitely hits at the auction. So, without further ado, here are the final products:
Tea towels from my third-grade girl:
Tea towels from my fourth-grade girl:
And last, but not least, “Science is Fun!”
Category: Embroidery
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December 12th, 2009 | Author: Valerie
Ever have one of those moments where you look at what you’re doing and say, “This is why I do what I do!”? Thursday was that day for me.
As you know, this week was Gingerbread Week in after care. I tortured the whole school for two days as I baked a gingerbread town for the kids to decorate in after care on Thursday, which is our cooking day. I came into work ridiculously early on Thursday to make sure all of the pieces were baked, the frosting was made, and the candy was ready. At 3:15 the kids were dismissed to after care. Only, they weren’t dismissed to our usual space–they were dismissed directly to the teacher’s lounge/kitchen. As each child walked in, their eyes grew wide when they found the table…
We had a house, a post office (complete with post office drop box), a church, a school, and two trains. The kids could not wait to get started, but I needed to set the limits. So I sat them down away from the table and waited for quiet. I didn’t have to wait long; they were anxious to get started, but they knew that pushing my buttons wouldn’t get them there any faster.
They sat around the coffee table in the teacher’s lounge as I showed them the different pieces. I counted the kids–we had 13. That meant that they would mostly work in pairs, except there would be one group of three. Instead of having trouble finding that group of three, three kids volunteered right a way. Then, the rest of them split into pairs–the older kids generously offering to go with the younger kids, without me even having to ask. It was incredible to watch.
As they moved over to the table, I expected there to be bickering over who would do what, but there wasn’t. Instead, each group picked a project and sat down. Once everyone was seated and had some frosting, they got to work. I had expected at least some insanity as they fought over frosting colors and candies. Instead, I saw team-work and patience with each other. And they didn’t rush with their projects. They took their time. They wanted these done right.
And did it right, they did. About 20 minutes into the activity, I had tears in my eyes–tears of pure delight. I sent Little Miss Val to get our headmaster and lower school coordinator. I wanted them to see this moment. You teachers out there know, this is a difficult time of the year to engage the kids. We’re slightly over a week away from Christmas break. And, on Thursday, I had a couple of kiddos who are particularly hard to engage–and one of those had also had a very bad day. So, to look out at 13 kids working together to create the most awesome creation ever–supporting each other, being patient with each other, sharing, encouraging each other, and just being generally amazing kids? It was an amazing moment. Tears well in my eyes still now, just thinking about it.
For two hours they worked to decorate those buildings and then to set up the town. I don’t remember the last time we spent two full hours doing one activity. Granted, it was a many-stepped process, but it was still full of many fulfilling moments.
When the buildings and trains were completely decorated (and we were almost out of candy!), we stepped away from the table so I could clear it, and we could build GingerTown. At that point, I was again unsure how things would go. The table was kind of a mess. I prayed that the buildings would stay together as we moved them around. I would have hated for the kids to have put in that much work to have something fall apart.
I grabbed the trays, cleared the table, wiped it down, and laid out wax paper. Then the kids came back around the table to tell me how to set up the town. We set it up as a town square, with the school being the center focus. After the buildings were in place, the kids laid the “train tracks” (chocolate licorice), and I placed the trains down. Then they arranged the trees, people, snowmen, and a car. When everything was in place, it was time for the snow. I grabbed four bags of mini-marshmallows and the kids went to work to make it snow in GingerTown. At the end of after care, GingerTown was ready for its debut!
Welcome to GingerTown!
We have a school, a church, a post office, trains to get us around, and a house to go home to…
After all the kiddos went home, my bosses and I decided that “GingerTown” needed a more prominent home–so everyone could enjoy the creation. So, “GingerTown” has been moved to it’s temporary home–the display cabinet in the entry way of the school. “GingerTown” will be available for viewing there for the next week, and then it will go home with its new owner. See, we decided to do a silent auction for a permanent home for “GingerTown.” Someone needs to forever enjoy this wonderful artistic expression from my kiddos. I have never been more proud of them!
Category: Activities, Cooking
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December 09th, 2009 | Author: Valerie
If how much fun you have is measured by the mess you make, we had a LOT of fun in after care today. As you know, it’s Gingerbread Week. Yesterday was game day, so we played our regular games plus a couple of gingerbread man-related games I found online:
Today was imagination day. I started by telling the kiddos not to get too comfortable in our usual space. See, today we had many things to do! I had been busy all afternoon beginning to prep for Thursday’s cooking day. You can’t have Gingerbread Week without a Gingerbread Town from scratch! So, we were going to do double duty during after care today–partly so Miss Val could keep working on pieces for our gingerbread town, but also partly so we had a quieter day, since the kiddos had their big Christmas play tonight.
Off to the teachers lounge we went. I gathered the kids around for our Imagination Day activity. We began by talking about the original Gingerbread Man folktale. All of the kids knew it, so we didn’t read the whole thing. But, I did read another version of the story, set in New York City–The Gingerbread Boy by Richard Egielski. Before reading it, though, I told the kids to think about it while I was reading it because we were going to write our own version of The Gingerbread Man after we finished the book. And, of course, I had gingerbread man cookies to snack on while we worked. The activity was a hit! I may share the story in the next few days, after I take another look it and polish it a bit.
After we were done with our activity, I set up the television for the kids to watch Wall-E while I continued to make gingerbread town parts. As I figured, the kids were much more interested in helping me than watching the movie, which was just fine with me. I love having helpers! So, we worked and we worked, and we made the building smell fabulous.
We mixed…
And we rolled…
And we patted. We made a HUGE mess, and it was fabulous! Tomorrow we decorate. Come back to see our finished town!
Category: Activities, Cooking
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December 07th, 2009 | Author: Valerie
This week we’re focusing on gingerbread men and houses. Today we did two crafts. One was set up as an Imagination Table activity. I put out gingerbread man and gingerbread house cutouts along with stickers, rickrack, and glitter glue pens. As is often the case, I had an idea of what the kids would do, and they did even more amazing things. I’ve learned that with these types of activities it’s better to not make a sample–just put the materials out, and see what they do with them. This activity was no exception. The kids amazed me, as you can see in the collage above. A couple of the kids even made a second picture so we could hang a few on the wall.
Also, they love this kind of stuff. They can take it so seriously…
My little artists!
Our second craft was Amy Karol’s Holiday Garland, as pictured in the top left-hand corner of the collage. I spent a good portion of my day cutting out the gingerbread men and sand dollars, then one of my kindergarteners punched the holes in them. While they had open gym time, I threaded the gingerbread men and sand dollars on red ribbon and hung it over the stockings we made last Friday (one for each of the students in the school. They look so cool covering the wall!). It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
I hope the rest of the week is as fun as today was. Stay tuned for more gingerbread updates. There may be a gingerbread town in our future… I can hardly wait!
Category: Activities, Crafts
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November 10th, 2009 | Author: Valerie
Yesterday we finger painted frames. They’re not done because they were not dry enough to finish with the permanent markers. Eventually, the finger prints will become little bugs. I will post pictures when they are finished. The kids were so excited to finger paint, though. The preschoolers do a lot of painting and finger painting, but apparently the older kiddos don’t. Little Miss Val was so excited when she found out we were finger painting. She said, “Miss Val, I haven’t gotten to finger paint at all this year!” I told her that was just wrong. She agreed.
Category: Activities, Crafts
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November 03rd, 2009 | Author: Valerie
Thursday was National Caramel Apple day, so of course we made ginormous caramel apples!
They were messy, gooey, and fabulous! They were also almost as big as a few of the kiddos’ heads! YUM!
Category: Activities
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November 03rd, 2009 | Author: Valerie
Last Wednesday was National Chocolate Day. Even though it didn’t fall on cooking day, I really felt that National Chocolate Day needed to be celebrated in after care. Wednesday is Imagination Day, so I thought and thought about how we could do an imaginative activity with chocolate. I decided we should create something using only chocolate products, and finally decided that we should have a contest to see who create the best chocolate volcano.
We had eight chocolate projects that could be used–a brownie base, chocolate whipped cream, chocolate frosting, chocolate pudding, chocolate sauce, chocolate jimmies, crushed Oreo cookies, and mini-chocolate chips. Each kiddo got a chocolate base, then could choose five other toppings to complete their volcano. I had four to five kiddos working on their projects at a time.
During the course of their creative process, I had one kiddo hug me and tell me this was the best day of his life. Another kiddo told me that he was going to tell his mom that he had to be in after care on October 28th next year. Another kiddo drew me this picture:
Yet another kiddo asked if we could celebrate Chocolate day every week! I think they loved it.
We separated the kiddos into two groups–preschool through kindergarten and then the older kiddos. The older kiddos got to vote on the younger kiddos’ projects, and the younger kids got to vote on the older kids. We also had two guest judges–our headmaster and the upper school science teacher. The kids took the voting very seriously, and we had two great winners. It was tough to choose, and I was glad I wasn’t voting!
After the voting was complete, the kids ate their creations. Fortunately, everyone was smart enough to stop before they got sick. Overall, this one goes in the major win pile. I mean, really, what could be better than 8 different types of chocolate used to create something inherently messy? Then getting to eat it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Category: Activities
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November 03rd, 2009 | Author: Valerie
If you give a kid a glue gun, he or she just might surprise you.
Created by a third-grade boy:
Created by a fifth-grade girl:
We’re really loving making the space our own!
Category: Activities, Crafts
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October 27th, 2009 | Author: Valerie
Yesterday morning was the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new construction. Our four displaced classes got to meet in their classrooms for the first time this year! It was so very exciting. This also meant that after care got to move out of the preschool room and back into our usual space–the stage and gym. Truth be told, I’ve been dreading this day.
I had a little more faith, though, when Little Miss Val brought me this at the beginning of after care (she sure knows how to make a teacher’s day!):
The kids love having the gym to run around in, but I lose a little control when we have that. It’s easier for them to get a little crazy and push my buttons. This is partly because there aren’t as many activity options, so they start making them up. This is good for their imaginations, but bad for rules and safety. For example, one of my third-graders, Rob, (who likes to pronounce that he’s bored, loudly and frequently) found a piece of PVC pipe yesterday after he was dropped off by his teacher. I told him he could have it and use it to create a piece of abstract art. His teacher responded to me, “I don’t know, that looks an awful lot like something that could be used as a weapon.”
I looked at him and said, “But he knows better than that, right Rob?”
“Yes, Miss Val. It won’t be a weapon.”
So, at about 4:30 p.m., I look out into the gym, and what do I see? My first-grade boy, Jack, has found a stick, and they’re playing swords. I told Rob to put the piece of pipe in his bag immediately, or I would confiscate it forever. This led to about 10 minutes of, “But it wasn’t my fault! I was just defending myself!” I explained that he’s the older and wiser of the two boys, and he should have called me immediately, and I just kept getting the irrational, “But it wasn’t my fault! I was just defending myself!” I finally went to grab the pipe, and he put it away.
Then I got to listen to 20 minutes of “I’m bored. There’s nothing to do. I hate after care.” I gave him about 15 different activities he could be doing, but those were all “stupid.”
Other than that little encounter, the afternoon went fairly well. The preschoolers have so much fun riding the tricycles around the gym. The older kids threw a Frisbee for a while too, and no heads were hit (including mine), so we’ll put that in the win pile.
Fortunately, I can close off the gym. There is a curtain between the stage and the gym, and I think that I will continue the strategy I enforced yesterday–the gym is not open until after the day’s activity is completed.
Yesterday was Monday–Craft Day. I decided that we needed to do some decorating of the walls, since they are white and bare. In every free second yesterday, I cut out giant leaves for the kids to decorate. I then cut up squares of construction paper and put out markers and crayons. I told them to decorate the leaves however they liked, then go stick them onto the wall to make a great big pile of leaves. At the end of the day, there was no longer a blank white wall. Instead it had been transformed into a colorful art wall…
So, all in all, my fears are dissipating, and I’ll work hard over the next couple of weeks to really make the space ours. I’ve got great activities planned this week (check back for an Imagination Day you won’t want to miss!), which will help. It is good to be back in our space. Mostly, though, I’m thrilled that all of the other teachers have their spaces. It’s been such a challenge on everyone’s patience–including the kids. Hopefully this is the beginnings of a great rest of the year!
Category: Activities, Crafts
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