grandma c's awesome preschool!!

Once we were under contract on our Nephi home, things were starting to get serious that we were actually going to move to Provo. I knew that I wanted to put Max into a "real" preschool since the co-op with a few other moms that I tried just wasn't quite what Max needed. 

Not knowing where to start, I posed the question on Facebook, asking for recommendations for great preschools in Provo. I got so many responses & started looking into each of them. Two of my friends mentioned the same lady, Cindy Madsen, so I got in touch with her & after speaking with her, I knew that I needed to get Max in her preschool. She miraculously had one opening left & the next week she was holding an open house to come and meet her, check out the preschool, and see if it was the right fit.

To make a long story short, it was the PERFECT fit. I knew the second I walked into her home. Cindy is one of the nicest ladies I have ever met & she genuinely cares about every single person that walks into her home. She teaches the preschool class at the Museum of Art once a week so her preschool is very art/play-based which is exactly what Max needed. She runs her preschool out of her basement (which is adorable!!) and it honestly is one of the best things that has ever happened to Max. Have I mentioned how awesome she is?!

For the first few weeks, we were making the drive from Nephi to Provo, which wasn't too crazy because our lives were already insane!! But once we moved to Provo, the commute was so much better! These pictures are from Max's very first day of preschool & he had a blast!!

Facebook can be a source for good & in this case, it was an answer to some very sincere prayers.

We LOVE Grandma C's Awesome Preschool!!

preschool grad!

Max graduated from preschool! I'm so proud of him. We all had kind of a rough year (Max missed a good chunk of his classes due to a number of things...) but he finished strong and even participated in the end of year program! I'm having issues with uploading video, but until I get that figured out, here are a few pictures from the night. 

We had a really low-key program with all of the families of the graduates & they sang a few songs and got their diplomas. It has been so much fun for me to get to know these kids & I'm so grateful for their moms and the good examples that they are to me!!

Max, Michael, Spencer, Emma, Trace, Trevor, Isaac, Keely

preschool // round two

I'm not going to lie, when I realized my turn to host preschool was quickly approaching, my house + my attitude looked a lot like this: 

I thought of all of the "good" excuses why I couldn't possibly teach (I'm huge + pregnant! I've got no energy! I feel like I've got a constant cold! Etc...) but I tried my hardest to change my attitude (I only have to teach 8 times total during the entire school year...that's not very many!) and it ended up being a really good experience. We even got to host on Valentines Day! So we were able to have a fun party, complete with pink sprinkled donuts.

Our first day we did "V is for Vegetables" (gotta sneak in some healthy eating somehow ;) and surprisingly (or not) they gobbled these right up for snack time:

// V was also for "Volcano!" They were really excited about this science experiment. //

On Valentines day we played Bingo, decorated Valentine bags, and learned a darling Valentine song which they later performed for all of their moms during our little party (wish I would have caught it on video!) The night before, Max worked so incredibly hard on these Valentines for each of his friends. They say, "I wheelie like you! Happy Valentines Day!" Max wrote each of their names, as well as his own, and colored a personalized border around each one. 

// This was the first day, in a reallllllly long time, that our entire preschool class was all together! We were so happy to have Isaac join us again (after a really, really rough go with pneumonia!) //

And our last week, we jumped back a letter, and focused on the letter "U" We talked all about the United States, Utah, Umbrellas, and Unicorns :) A little disconnected, but it works, right?!

As much as it may or may not stress me out, I'm so glad that I am able to teach my kids as well as so many other incredible kids. 

I am one lucky mama.

p.s. Previous preschool posts found here.

preschool pals: week two

week two started out a little rocky (avery was sicker than a dog on sunday so we postponed preschool until wednesday/friday) but we managed to pull it off and learn all about the letter "D"!

wednesday's topic was dinosaurs!! i found this simple worksheet to practice writing the letter "d" which is what they did when they first arrived:

for a "hands-on" activity (which is clearly, what i'm all about! i just love messes ;) we made our very own fossils. again, this was really cool in theory. there are a few things i would have done differently (like have them make/roll out their fossils on a piece of parchment paper...) but they had a lot of fun with this. we also practiced saying "paleontologist" and talked a little about what they do. (krista, i kept wishing finn was there to help me out! he would have been the perfect helper!) they weren't done baking before they went home, but we sent them home on friday.

for snacks we had dinosaur pb&j's:

and on friday, our last day of preschool (until february...hallelujah! ;) we talked all about dogs. highlights included: making paper bag dog puppets (some of the kids spent so much time coloring those cute little things!), having spencer bring the sound box and read two stories to the class, and seeing cute keely feed her paper dog the dinosaur fossils she made earlier in the week.

though i was incredibly burnt-out and so, so tired (pregnancy & nine kids will do that to ya!)...we really did have a wonderful time! i know there is no way i could teach preschool full-time, but for two weeks? it's just about perfect.

preschool pals: week one

i've never participated in a co-op preschool before, but after talking to the other moms, spending way too much time online, making a trip to the provo library, and going through my mom's files, i felt ready to take on my first rotation!

our focus for the week was the letter "C" and the first day we talked about all things clouds!!

we started out by making small fry's cloud guide and talking about a few different types of clouds. i think it mostly went over their heads, but they loved gluing those cotton balls onto the paper!

// the set-up before the kids arrived! our fireplace finally came in handy :) //

after "circle time" (we recite the pledge, ABC's, sing the "Days of the Week" song, talk about their names, the weather, calendar, etc...) we went outside to play with cloud dough! thankfully, it was a beautiful day (it would have been disastrous indoors with that many kids!) and the kids went to town! they loved it. 

after free play, story time, a snack of goldfish crackers, and cleaning up, we finished off the day by making our very own clouds in a cup. i didn't try this beforehand, and i think i put a little too much shaving cream in each cup (the food coloring dried out before "raining" in the water...) but we improvised and i think that pleased everyone. it was another slightly messy activity (especially for the kids who wanted to play in the shaving cream...) but that's what makes learning fun, right?!?

i'd say it was a successful first day! (minus the part that it's incredibly hard to share your own toys when there are seven other kids at your house...both max and avery had their moments!)

day two we talked all about colors. when the kids first arrived they could play with the colorful marble track (that i borrowed from my mom!)

and we also put together a folder game all about colors (it was incredibly cute. found here!) some of the kids are more experienced at cutting than others...let's just say that all of the paper dolls max has cut out has paid off!! ;)

since max's birthday was the following day, we had a little celebration for snack time! dino cupcakes and capri suns:

and lastly, we ended with an activity that ended up being somewhat of a flop (next time i'll try out all of the activities beforehand...) i wanted to emphasize colors, and how cool it is to mix them and found this cute printable about brown bear, brown bear. the stamps i borrowed didn't quite work out though (it looked more like a blob than a letter...) but oh well!

whew!! and that was the end of our first week. 

(ps. i was exhausted!!!!)

preschool pals: the beginning

max started preschool at the beginning of september and though he was a little apprehensive at first, he loves it now! (ave and i enjoy a little girl time too!) there are eight kids in his group and we each take a two-week rotation (teaching twice each week). i think it's perfect. it's also great on the wallet, which is a huge bonus. max is the youngest (he's the only one that won't go to kindergarten next year) but i think it's been very beneficial for him. we are excited for all that is in store!!

one of the first weeks, we all took a field trip up the canyon to check out the changing leaves and have a picnic with all of the moms & siblings. it was beautiful!! we even got to walk through the "100 acre woods" complete with pooh bear & a real live tigger!