Snack Menu

Monday morning

Sweet 100’s, Nan with hummus, apple juice

Monday afternoon

Bananas, Oats and Honey bars, blueberry yogurt, cran-grape juice

Tuesday Morning

Carrots, Whole Wheat Sandwich Thins and cream cheese, grape juice.

Tuesday Afternoon

Nectarines, jack cheese cubes, Terra Chips, apple juice

Wednesday Morning

Peaches, cheddar cheese sandwiches, orange  juice

Wednesday Afternoon

Oranges, Vanilla yogurt with honey, Mulitgrain Cheerios, apple juice

Thursday Morning

Blueberries, bean and cheese burritos,  grape juice

Thursday Afternoon

Granny Smith apples, Whole Wheat Crackers, Cheddar Cheese, Apple Juice

Friday Morning

Breakfast Buffet for new and returning families who begin in September

The children are also making ice cream using a plastic bag, a new technique Ty found.

Monday morning

Cantaloupe, Sweet 100’s, whole wheat pita with hummus, apple juice

Monday afternoon

Bananas, Oats and Honey bars, grape juice

Tuesday Morning

Grapes, Wheat Thins and cream cheese, grape juice.

Tuesday Afternoon

Apricots, string cheese, Multigrain Cheerios, orange juice

Wednesday Morning

Carrots, cheddar cheese sandwiches, Apple juice

Wednesday Afternoon

Nectarines, wheat thins, string cheese, apple juice

Thursday Morning

Peaches, bean and cheese burritos,  grape juice

Thursday Afternoon

Melon, Whole Wheat Crackers, Cheddar Cheese, Apple Juice

Friday Morning

Fruit salad combo, yogurt, Orange Juice

Friday Afternoon

Bananas, Cheerios and Milk, string cheese

Monday morning

Granny smith apples, cheddar cheese sandwiches on whole wheat sandwich rolls, apple juice

Monday afternoon

Grapes, crackers and 3 kinds of hummus, orange juice popsicles

Tuesday Morning

Sweet 100 tomatoes, Wheat Thins and cream cheese, grape juice.

Tuesday Afternoon

Strawberries, string cheese, Multigrain Cheerios, orange juice

Wednesday Morning

Nectarines, bean burritos with melted cheese, Orange Juice

Wednesday Afternoon

Bananas, oats and honey bars, string cheese, apple juice

Thursday Morning

Peaches, Multigrain Cheerios, Yogurt,  Milk

Thursday Afternoon

Melon, Whole Wheat Crackers, Cheddar Cheese, Apple Juice

Friday Morning

Fruit salad combo, Cottage Cheese with honey, Wheat Thins, Orange Juice

Friday Afternoon

Grapes,  Ricotta on whole wheat bread with honey, Apple Juice

Life in the Construction Zone

Life in “construction  zone”  of our preschool is an ever changing place.   There are  a wonderful array of  building materials andtools to choose, Sawhorse and big  2’ 6” by 3’ 6”, sheets of translucent plastic are fabulous for the creation of a house or a small city.  Add towels and food and a whole village comes alive.

Moving boxes were perfect for the “burning” buildings the kids created after the fireman came to visit us.

The smaller ones morphed into  a long train that “traveled” from  one grandparent’s house to another.  Everyone took a job, conductor, ticket taker, passenger. We add the train song , “A train is a comin’, Oh yeah” as it chugged along. Many days were spent hopping in their own train car and going on another trip.

Trains haven’t been the only use for boxes. We looked over one day and noticed that  two empty boxes were wiggling  and some eyes were peeking out. The two box children ended up playing for a long time, sometimes tilting back their housing for some direct  conversation.

A few months ago we added a set of grid builders that interconnect to make different shapes . They have mirrors, holes for shapes to fit through, windows, and holes to crawl through.   At first, they were used as paths and streets for the big vehicles but lately they have seen more use as  home builders.  Their advantage is that you can create connections between building.

Our construction area has a full work table, filled with hammers, pliers, and screwdrivers and hard hats, yellow vests, and tool belts. The children enjoy putting together and taking apart not only the pretend buildings but also many things in the yard. Construction zone is one of the many areas of the preschool yard that provides children many opportunities to create and play out their great ideas.

Children observing the world around them, asking questions, creating hypotheses, and learning more is science in action in our preschool. Conversations about science are a daily occurrence. The garden is a regular source. But of course there are many other opportunities, both created by us and by nature and events, to learn about biology, physics, chemistry, and the physical world.

The children began the year with an interest in bugs. First the scream, BUG, then some run away, but all return. Out come the magnifying glasses or the cups to hold the subjects, briefly. The dead ones get put in petri dishes and are saved for viewing under the big magnifying glass.

Rocks have been another fascination. We have developed a good collection of rocks, crystals, and “gems” to look at, sort, and look up in our books. Using resources to learn more is a natural part of our investigations, be it the local nursery, a book, or a visiting expert ( see  article on crystals).

Our spring was filled with butterflies and silkworms ( see earlier articles). Here we are launching the last of the cabbage white butterflies, that came from the caterpillars we found on our cabbage plants. Very big eaters, those cabbage whites.

This summer we have been talking about the children’s trips to the beach. Ty created a pretend beach, complete with towels, sun glasses, stuffed marine life, hats, sandals, and shells. The shells were so beautiful to look at and everyone tried to hear the ocean in them. The science table offered a chance to explore a little further and match them to the ones in the book.

Water has been another summer science investigation. Turkey basters pushing the water through tubes to learn about force or tubes held up high to learn how gravity works are very popular right now. Color experiments, tornadoes and fountains in a bottle, oceans in a bottle, and bubble blowing  give children lots of ways to consider the physics of water.

Cooking  is another wonderful way we explore how the state of something can be changed, be it juicing lemons and making lemonade or creating popsicles from our juice.

In a experiential school, children learn by exploring and  doing, asking questions, and learning more from the resources available. As teachers, it is a most exciting way to be with children, supporting and facilitating them as science discoveries become a  natural part of daily life.

Monday Morning

Cherry tomatoes, wheat thins, cheddar cheese, grape juice

Monday afternoon

Watermelon, Ricotta cheese and  wheat flatbread, orange juice popsicles

Tuesday Morning

Nectarines, String cheese, Multigrain Cheerios, grape juice.

Tuesday Afternoon

Watermelon, hummus, wheat thins, apple juice

Wednesday Morning

Peaches, bean burritos with melted cheese, Mango Juice

Wednesday Afternoon

Bananas, oats and honey bars, string cheese, apple Juice

Thursday Morning

Blueberries, Yogurt,  Cheerios, Apricot Juice

Thursday Afternoon

Apples , Whole Wheat Crackers, Ricotta cheese , Guava Juice

Friday morning

Fruit salad, cream cheese sandwiches, apple juice

Friday afternoon

Strawberries, granola bars, peach juice

How we take children’s interests and build our curriculum around them.

The warm weather has come and water play is in full swing. From the hose in the 8 tons of sand sandbox to the colored bottles on the science table, water is providing our children with hours of  great fun and many valuable lessons. Our preschool curriculum often develops around what is relevant and interesting to children; two things that are especially interesting right now are water and rainbows and their  colors.

Below, you can get a glimpse of how we follow through with children’s ideas ; hopefully it will offer  you some insight into how we integrate children’s interests into our curriculum over the areas of:

• science,
• art,
• literacy,
• fine motor activities,
• sensory activities.

Rainbow interest began, in part,  when we read Hawaii is a Rainbow by Stephanie Feeney, a beautiful book about Hawaii and its fabulous colors. Here are some of  the exciting things that happened after that.

The children  made bottles of water to have all of the colors of the rainbow. We put them in the window with pictures of real rainbows.

• We got out  the eyedroppers ( good small motor activity) to create rainbows and color designs on paper towels.
• That led to experimenting with the eyedroppers on different paper, including waxed paper, to see what happened.
• We layered tissue paper to create colors and see how colors changed.
• Out came the computer so we could  look at many different pictures of rainbows and talked about how they are made. We looked for the their pattern of color with a question in mind, “Do they always go red, orange, yellow, green, blue violet.” Yes! I showed the children the picture I took last Thanksgiving of a double rainbow that had a double thickness of the colors. Amazing!
• We read a  poem about rainbows.

My heart leaps when I behold

A rainbow in the sky

William Wordsworth

• On the “pretend you are at the beach day”, one of the children discovered that if you wear sunglasses with red lenses, the color of things around you change color. Everyone had to try that out.
• So we added the new colored paddles with red, yellow, and blue color gels for exploring how the things in the classroom look and if they change color.
• Outside, we set out  watercolor, tempura paint, and spray bottles filled with water and  colored paint for art exploration.
• Colored water was set out for experimenting and mixing; could  new colors be created.
• The water table was filled with colored water, tubes, and funnels. It was great fun to watch as the color water passed through the tubes and then mixed with the other color.
• We talked about the physics of force and pressure  as the water was pushed by the turkey basters through the tubes and  funneled into bottles.

• We used big water  bottles with  special connectors to create both fountain and tornado effects. Over and over the bottles were turned upside down to see the water create the vortex or send a fountain up the tube.
• A third bottle was  made mixing mineral  oil, water, and food coloring; they gave it a good  shake  and watched the oil and water combine, then separate.
• Someone asked what it would be like to mix food coloring with sand or salt, so we tried it out  to see what happens. The colors weren’t as clear as expected; the white salt did better than the beige sand.

• Using glue bottles and paper, the children made designs and sprinkled on the new colored sand and salt.

• One day, the inside tables were filled with children making flubber in a rainbow of colors. They stretched and pulled them into different shapes.

Our water and color exploration will continue along side  other curriculum ideas. Gravity looks like the next area of interest as the children were trying out a rain gutter in the big sandbox and tilting it to see what happens. Ramps for the cars and trucks will likely be very popular. Sinking and floating are also likely to be of interest when we introduce them. We will make a chart of what sinks and what floats just the way we did when we figured about what was attracted to magnets and what wasn’t.

And so it goes in preschool as one idea leads to the next. There is always something interesting to explore and to write and read about and to create in art.

The music scene, easily accessible from the Hollywood, Los Feliz, and Silverlake areas, has much to offer children and grown-ups alike. One of our parents has a great web site to check out for things to do with kids in LA, musical and otherwise.  It is http://lakidstuff.com/. This is a thoughtful and thorough site with great ideas. Here are a few highlights to whet your appetite:

THE LA ZOO- Music in the Zoo

On Friday nights, July 23rd and Aug 6, from 6-9 pm, the zoo has a wonderful music program. You can bring a picnic and drinks. Also, it is a great time to see the animals as they are more active as the day cools. Free for members. One of our families really enojyed this late Friday.

THE GETTY CENTER- Concerts for kids and families

Saturdays and Sundays during most of August, 4-5:30 pm. Free for all.

THE ORIGINAL FARMER’S MARKET

Summer Music Series at the original Farmer’s Market at 3rd and Fairfax on the West Patio. Thursday and Fridays now through September 10th.

Happy listening!

Snack Schedule

This week we will be eating from our garden. The cucumbers are coming in and are great looking. The 8 ball squash are round and the kids find the shape funny.

We picked the last of the green beans from the biggest plants; the kids have been walking around munching them all week.

Monday morning

Apricots, cheddar cheese sandwiches on whole wheat sandwich rolls, homemade lemonade with fresh raspberries

Monday afternoon

Watermelon, Ricotta cheese wraps on wh. wheat flatbread, orange juice popsicles

Tuesday Morning

Cucumber slices( from our garden) with cream cheese, Multigrain Cheerios, grape juice.

Tuesday Afternoon

Strawberries, string cheese, wheat thins, apricot nectar

Wednesday Morning

Melon, bean burritos with melted cheese, Orange Juice

Wednesday Afternoon

Bananas, oats and honey bars, string cheese, homemade strawberry ice cream, apple Juice

Thursday Morning

Garden zucchini with ranch dressing, Yogurt,  Apple Juice

Thursday Afternoon

Peaches, Whole Wheat Crackers, Cheddar Cheese, Apple Juice

Friday Morning

Fruit salad combos, Cottage Cheese with honey, Wheat Thins, Orange Juice

Friday Afternoon

Grapes,  Ricotta on whole wheat bread with honey, Apple Juice