Joyful Spirits is back!

After a long hiatus (debating putting our house on the market, getting the boys into speech therapy and a special needs preschool, etc.), I am happy to say I'm looking forward to getting Joyful Spirits up and running once again!

In order to make the transition easy on both my family and my sanity :), I've decided to change things around a bit, and start with just offering art classes for the time being.  Hopefully I will soon be able to add music to that schedule as well, and then eventually get the full preschool schedule in action. 

I'm really excited about Crafty Tots, the arts and crafts program that I am now offering.  It is just one day a week, so nothing overwhelming for the age group, but a great way for little kids to start socializing in a "class-like setting" without Mommy or Daddy around. 

I love this age group, and I love doing crafts, so I'm more than thrilled to get started.  Click on the link at the top of my page to see details.  I've made a flier that I'd love to upload, but at the moment, it isn't cooperating.  :( 

Hurray for Crafty Tots!  Hope to see some of my readers joining us each week!

School Week Feb. 20th

A short week, since my family was again sick.  Here are the highlights!

Monthly Theme: LOVE (final week)
Bible Verse: "Noah Obeyed God"

ACADEMICS
Letter:  O (cont'd.)  We named the pictures that begin with the "O" (ah) sound
             "O" Song:  (Farmer in the Dell)
              O says "ah", O says ah, Octopus live in the sea, O says ah
Color: Blue (review)
Science: We dissolved casules in warm water to discover hidden sponge animals inside. It was fun to guess each of the animal shapes!

Dissolving capsules (guess who forgot to put the aprons on the kids today... they were soaked but excited when we were through!)



Art: We reviewed the colors blue and yellow, and created unique paintings with edible materials! After creating the pictures, some of the children enjoyed a colorful snack!

Margo is showing off the artwork, while Joel is enjoying a tasty treat!

SOCIAL SKILLS
Storytime:  Noah and the Ark
Special Song: O-B-E-Y  (Feel free to ask me to sing the tune for you... or maybe the kids can sing it themselves!)
"O-B-E-Y, Obey your mom and dad; O-B-E-Y, it makes them very glad;
 Listen to the words they say, obey your parents everyday,
O-B-E-Y, Obey your mom and dad!"

Grace getting ready for music

Activity:
After learning the story of Noah building the ark for all the animals, we went on a hunt to find matching pairs of animals (hidden around the room) to bring onto Noah's Ark (in this case, our blue table.)  Once all the animal pairs had been made, we climbed into the ark and hid from the rain!

This was a great activity.  Use this at home to practice matching shapes and colors as well.  Just have a pair of items and hide one of each (keep it somewhat exposed; these large animal shapes were stuck onto the walls and sides of furniture, and still posed a good hunt for the kids.)  Put the items in a bag, pull out one at a time, and let them hunt for the matching item.  If they find something that isn't a match they should leave it until you get to that specific item.  This will reinforce the idea of finding two of a kind.

Full of joy!

Lessons From February: Week 2

With a couple of kids on vacation, it was a small class this week!  Nevertheless, we had lots of fun on our lessons.  Here is what we worked on:

MONTHLY THEME:  LOVE
Bible Verse:  God Loves Me!
ACADEMICS
Colors:  Yellow (cont'd) and Red
        Matching:  We played a matching game using yellow and red playing cards (actually, they are paint chips from the hardware store.  It's a great way to practice colors, and doesn't cost anything!) 
        Snacks:  We painted bread using red and yellow "paints" (softened cream cheese and food coloring)
                     We used cookie cutters to make red Jello Jigglers
Letter:  L (continued)
       Our letter song (to the tune of Farmer in the Dell): 
       L say "ll", L says "ll, Daniel in the Lion's Den, L says "ll" 
       Poster:  Pictures that start with L- lettuce, lemon, lion, lamb, ladybug, lips, light
       Snacks:  We made a salad using Lettuce
Art:  We made lamb Valentine cards.  They turned out really cute!
SOCIAL SKILLS 
Storytime: This week we read "Five Little Ducks"; "The Shepherd and His Lost Lamb" (Parable)
Music:  We sang "Itsy Bitsy Spider", "Mr. Sun", and "Five Little Ducks" as well as our opening/closing song "I've Got the Joy (Down in My Heart)"
Self-Care: Washing hands, Pouring liquids (pitcher into a bowl), drying hands, folding

The kids also had lots of fun pretending to be lions in a den, practicing walking across a balance beam, and taking care of the turtles.  It was a very busy week!  I would love to put up pictures, but unfortunately my battery died just as I went to use it.  Hopefully I will get it fully charged and ready for next week's classes! 


 
 



 
      

First Day of School!

Our first day of school was a success.  Although we were off to a slow start (which is to be expected with a group of two-year-olds!), the kids quickly settled in and got to work.  After decorating our shoe baskets, we gathered around for circle time.  We sang songs and did our energizing exercises, then headed to our art and storytime.  We learned about Daniel in the Lion's Den, and painted lion masks.  After art, we cleaned the table and prepared snacks.  Each child was able to choose from Goldfish crackers, Cheerios, and animal crackers, and (with guidance) scooped and poured the snacks into their own bowls.  After snacktime and cleanup, we headed to the playroom feed the turtles, Saucy and Danny, and then the children had individual exploration.  Everyone was able to clean up spilled beans using the Shop-Vac.  Exciting!  The day quickly came to a close and we barely finished cleaning before Mommies arrived. 

I can't wait for our next class.  We will be focusing on "L" words, eating yellow foods, and playing lots of silly music together!

I'm having some layout issues at the moment, but here are some pictures of the first day!

Luke enjoyed playing with a shaker as the girls played the piano

Lovely music being made by lovely girls!(Don't worry, Joel is wearing pullups in the background. I didn't have a chance to grab a third pair of pants after the first two ended up wet.  After class, Sophie turned to her mom and said, "Mommy, that boy isn't wearing any pants!"  From now on, I'll have to make sure he has leg warmers under his pants, just in case.)Joel busy at his artwork.

FEBRUARY THEMES:

Fruit of the Spirit:  LOVE

Social/Personal Skills:  Washing hands; setting the table; cleaning up; respecting each other's space

Academics:  Letter Sounds L-O-V-E; Colors Yellow, Red, Blue

Bible Verses:  God wants me to show love; God keeps me safe because He loves me

A Glance At Our Day

Here is a basic outline of the schedule that I have set up for the two-year-olds at Joyful Spirits.  Keep in mind that two-year-olds seldom stay on schedule, so my plans may end up very different than what we actually complete in our 2 1/2 day!  At least this will give a sense of what I am trying to accomplish, though:

9:30am  Drop Off- Bye Mom!  See you in a few hours!
Social Skills- Circle Time:  Opening Song, Energizing Exercises, Introduction and Review of the day's lessons
Sensory Skills- Arts and Crafts (Mondays);  Music (Wednesdays); Story of the Day will fit into these themes
Practical Life- Cleanup, Hygiene (hand-washing), Snacktime (Children are involved in preparing their own snacks.)  Cleanup and potty breaks after snacks. 
Discovery Time- The children have a variety of activities to build their own abilities at their own pace.  Once they have chosen an activity to work on, I show them how to complete the task, then they are able to attempt to master it themselves.
Academics- Traditional learning sources are used to reinforce the skills/themes of the day/week/month.
Social Skills- Circle Time: Closing Song and Relaxing Exercises to finish the day.
12:00pm- Welcome back, Mommy!

Note that I don't have times listed; this is intentional, as I never want to rush a child out of an activity that he/she may be engrossed in simply to stick to a schedule.  At this age, everything we do is an opportunity for learning and discovery!

Welcome!

Welcome to Joyful Spirits Preschool! Here is where you can find pictures, lesson ideas, and the latest news and events from our little classroom. I hope that you can take some of these themes, projects, and ideas and use them at home to foster the growth and development of your little JoyBug.

Joyful Spirits has been a dream of mine for a very long time; if I really think about it, it's been an idea deep within since the beginning of my college days.  To finally be able to bring that dream alive is something I can't even begin to adequately express.  The story is long, but in short, the name Joyful Spirits came to me in an instant, and it holds a couple different meanings.  One is more obvious aspect:  what is more joyful than watching children at play, and who has a more pure and sincere spirit than a child?  The less obvious reason for the name goes back to my strong faith in God, and the Fruits of the Spirit as listed in the Bible (which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, and self-control.)  I learned these when I was in second grade and they have been a strong part of my life ever since; in fact, at my wedding reception, we gave the tables names (each table was a different Fruit) instead of numbers.  It seems more than appropriate to continue the importance of this name to my preschool!

My teaching method is a derivative of intuition, training, and various readings.  I believe that I was blessed by God to have a natural gift at working with and teaching children.  He's given us different talents, and mine is to be comfortable around children (often moreso than adults!)  In addition, I am a certified teacher with multiple years of experience teaching students with disabilities.  This has helped me learn to quickly adapt to varied levels of childrens' needs.  Finally, while I am not trained in the practice, I am a strong supporter of Montessori education, and through extensive reading and research, I try to use the theories, practices, and tools one would find in a Montessori classroom.  Montessori teachers go through extensive training, and resources are very specific, so I can in no way promote myself as a Montessori teacher, but feel it is important to share a very simplified and basic descriptor of my classroom learning/teaching style.