Day Number One

• A rousing rendition of  “Heads, shoulders, knees and toes” to kick off the morning.
• Gathering paper and crayons and other supplies.
• Counting and colors: Can you find ONE blue crayon?  Now can you find 4 red crayons?  Hold up one finger, now 3 fingers.  Let’s count our toes.
• Time to go to the counter and talk about numbers with shiny, gold stickers.  Three whole worksheets and learning how to trace letters carefully.  Stars all around!
• Let’s get on Storyline and have some one read us a book.  Now let’s do a second book.  Now let’s read the first one again.  Then again, again?  Noooooo, Nonna puts the kibosh on a third read-through.

• Nonna has BIG shoes.  Amelie has SMALL shoes.  We look for things big and small around the house.  The reward for being such a good student is a gumball, of course.  And she got PINK!  What a miracle, she thinks!
• Time to do a craft about the best book of the day, A Bad Case of Stripes.
• Thank-you for the pancakes, Poppa.  A snack for strength is always a good idea.
• “Put on some music, Nonna.”  We choose an old vinyl, one of Nonna’s records from way back: The Edwin Hawkins Singers*, “Come and Go with Me to My Father’s House!”  And we twirl and dance and spin and laugh at ourselves.
• Time to paint pretty pictures and make more stripes.
• Then an educational game or two on Sprout for Kids.  And mommy is already here?  Where did the time go???

I am the luckiest woman alive.  When Stephanie asked me to be Gavin’s pre-school teacher, so many years ago now, I wasn’t sure if I was fit for the task, but goodness sakes alive – how I LOVED it, the time with him and the adventures in learning.  I have been blessed to get to do it with each one, now: Gavin, then Hunter, then Guini, then Gemma, Averi and now Amelie.  We just started today, Amelie and I.

It’s actually a bit early for Amelie Belle.  She is only 3 and won’t go to Kindergarten until the fall of 2015, but we start just having fun and hanging out together, anyway.  We get excited over colors of things and we paint and paste and cut and create and talk and laugh and snack and dance and garden when it’s warm and mostly just have fun.  Come fall, I’ll begin to structure things a bit more and take her through a good pre-k curriculum, but for now, lucky-lucky me!  I’ll get Amelie-time every week for some special moments  to love on her and build some memories. **Really big smile!**
*Come and Go with Me to My Father’s House