Two jobs that go together as nicely as whipped cream goes with my chai tea. There is more overlap in my jobs than I ever realized and as I sit here, I can't decide if being a kindergarten teacher for so many years has made me a better mother or if being a mother has made me a better kindergarten teacher. Hmmm...thoughts to ponder.
When I'm at school, despite the time I actually spend teaching, I'm also putting bandaids on scraped knees, settling disputes, fixing barrettes in little girls' hair, finding spoons for pudding, soothing hurt feelings, finding dry socks to replace the ones that 'accidentally on purpose' found their way through the muddy water, hugging, cheering for, tying shoelaces, etc. I am a teacher, but I am also a surrogate 'mom' to all my little students for 2 hours and 50 minutes of their day.
So it would make sense then, that when I'm home being a mom, I'm also being a teacher. I'm using fancy language, I'm modeling appropriate behavior, I'm teaching sight words, I'm reinforcing letters and sounds, I'm counting, writing, drawing, crafting and painting.
Yep I'm a teacher-mom and I'm lovin' me some spring break.
I am trying to keep my wee ones busy by allowing them the great pleasure of a craft a day. (We may substitute brownie making for a craft one of these days. But so far, we're 2 for 2. And man are we good painters!
Day 1: We took a little trip to Michael's and bought some 18x24 canvases. We also got wood letters with each child's initial letter.
Aaaannnndd, we painted. I did my very best to stay the heck out of their creations and not 'suggest' places for them to fill with more paint. (It's hard, but in the end, I'm of course glad I didn't intervene because their work is their work. And I love that their paintings are as different as the hands that made them. )
They painted their canvases, I painted their letters black. When they were dry, I hot glued the letters onto the canvases. Their little voices the next day? Priceless. "Yook Mommy! Dere's our painteens on da wall!"
Day 2: Thank you very much Pinterest for the simple butterfly craft.
Seriously, gave them a paper plate to plaint, then I did the rest -cut out a body and head, made some antennae, and then let them choose their eyeballs and draw their mouths. (My favorite part, by the way.). Once again, the presentation won them over. I hung three butterflies in the kitchen and absolutely melt every time one of them says, "I made that!" Yes, you did little ones!
All done! Love how different their mouths are!
Hunter's
Ethan's
Colton's
So proud! (Minus Colton, who would not pose with his butterfly.)
And on to our hanging spots in the kitchen...
All done! Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!
And what else are we doing over Spring Break?
Playing the heck out of our new 'clubhouse' that my mom and Al have been building for my babes. From scratch, mind you. They're pretty awesome. There's some love in that clubhouse, I tell you!
It's not done yet, but it's gettin' closer!
It's got a big kid swing...
A steering wheel,,,
A baby cousin sized swing...
A rope and pulley bucket for sending toys up and down...
And plenty of space to sprawl out and pose.
My sweet niece.
More pics to come as it nears completion... :)
2 comments:
so cute! i MIGHT have to try one or both of those :)
Hunter's face is just too much with her butterfly! And where did this model come from with the poses : )
That clubhouse is sure to be a place where lots of memories are made!
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