Thursday, July 31

Community: practiced counting and identifying numbers 1-20, sang "Five Green and Speckled Frogs" to practice basic subtraction/addition, reviewed nursery rhymes, talked about Matt's bucket of sea shells, opened up our new giant treasure chest of dress up clothes and thought about what we could pretend to be with each item!

Outside: cooked in the pretend kitchen, pretended to pull water out of a well on the deck of our playscape with jump ropes, chase, built a campfire, wagon rides

Fine Motor: shredding carrots and zucchini, puzzles, writing on the wipe off boards, peg board, puzzles, snap blocks

Music: enjoyed a CD by Ruthie Foster that Jaden and Jordan brought to share!

Pretend: lots and lots of dress up play. Our friends voted to have more dress up time in our new costumes, and have splash day tomorrow!

Jordan (Buzz Lightyear) comforting our friend Matt, a boy lion who was pretending he was dead.

Katie the wizard girl conducted a lesson with our friend Jaden.

Cooking: made vegetable pizzas, counted out place settings, served friends

Breakfast: whole grain waffles, maple syrup, peaches, sausage links, milk

Lunch: vegetable pizzas, nectarines, milk

Snack: Chex Mix, peanuts, water

Peter Pan at The Scottish Rite Theatre

The Scottish Rite Theatre is a true treasure for families in the Austin area. Leslie's family has been fortunate to go to three different productions at the theater. Here's why this is a great find for families:

1. The productions are about an hour long, and the children get to wiggle and make noise at the actors' request from time to time.
2. If you arrive early, the children can sit on the floor in front of the stage. Our kids liked sitting in the balcony.
3. There isn't a bad seat in the house.
4. It's fun to see real people instead of something on a screen once in a while!
5. The actors sign autographs after the show.
6. All in all, it's an affordable family event. Tickets for adults are $10, children 1-12 years are $7, and infants are $3.
7. Parking is free in the lot or on the street.
8. For those of us living outside of Austin, it's a good reason to spend the day downtown!

Purchase tickets online at www.srct.org.

Upcoming shows:

now until 8/24 Peter Pan
8/12-8/14 Sleeping Beauty

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Community: talked about mixing primary colors, reviewed the colors of the rainbow in English and Spanish, organized bottles of paint in the order of the rainbow, read: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?, Matt's Goodnight Moon, Olivia Owl's Opposites, Potty, and Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter.

Music: We enjoyed dancing and listening to our friend Matt's favorite CD from Russia.

Outside: pretending that we were horses or horse owners, herding ponies, cooking at the outdoor kitchen, giving friends wagon rides, building a campfire with sticks, trying to make a fire by rubbing sticks together, playing in the teepee

Cooking: setting the table, breaking spaghetti in half, serving friends

Fine Motor: painting/mixing colors, breaking spaghetti, building steps or towers with blocks, using clips to build a large tent

Pretend: taking care of babies, doll house, sorting animals into a green box to symbolize land animals and a blue box to symbolize water animals

Breakfast: whole wheat toast, peaches and yogurt, milk

Lunch: spaghetti with meat sauce, cinnamon applesauce, milk

Snack: all natural granola bars with cranberries and apples, water

Monday, July 28, 2008

Community: sang our alphabet and "Morning Has Come", worked on recognizing letters of the alphabet on the dry erase board, circling the first letter of our name, read: Time for Bed, The Selfish Crocodile, and Caps for Sale. We tried to walk with caps on our heads, using bean bags instead of caps!
Outside: herding ponies, cooking at the outdoor kitchen, dumptrucks and the wagon, tag
Cooking: friends helped make black bean burritos, set the table, and serve friends
Fine Motor: practiced pouring water from small decanters into various sizes of cups and containers, peg boards, drawing with beeswax crayons, new math puzzles (addition and number recognition)
Pretend: cooking dry black beans in the pretend kitchen, caring for friends who pretended to be horses, taking care of baby dolls, building a village/house with our new toys

Breakfast: peanut butter and banana smoothie (made with milk), blueberry yogurt granola bars
Lunch: black bean and cheese burritos, corn, peaches, milk
Snack: peanuts and raisins, water

Friday, July 25, 2008

It's Friday. Beckett and his family are very excited to welcome his dad home from Korea after 8 weeks abroad. Welcome home, Frank! We hope that everyone has a safe and relaxing weekend.

Community: read Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?, Spotted Yellow Frogs, Dogs Don't Wear Sneakers, No, David!, circle songs, counted from one to twenty, colors in Spanish
Outside: herding "horses", cooking in the outdoor kitchen, tag, climbing and sliding down the slide, sorting plastic colored balls
Fine Motor: floor puzzles, scooping beans
Indoor/Pretend: played with interlocking pieces to build a fort and castle, princesses in a castle [wooden doll house and furniture], cooked at the indoor play kitchen, built a racetrack
Afternoon: picture bingo, self correcting math activity

Breakfast: strawberry yogurt with granola, raisins, milk
Lunch: oven toasted turkey and cheese sandwiches, pineapple and mandarin oranges, tomoato and cucumber salad, milk
Snack: cookies, milk

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Rain, rain! The children have enjoyed the afternoon rain showers and the occassional "clouds bumping into each other", i.e. thunder. It's a welcome change in the weather! Due to the rain, we did not have splash day today.

Community: read Ten In The Bed, I Lost My Button, nursery rhymes, counting from one to twenty, identifying written numbers
Outside: rabbit observations [third day in a row!], tag, hauling snowman bones [plastic balls] in the wagon, rounding up "horses" in the yard, running around in a cool rain shower [the children were so excited to see and feel the rain]
Cooking: Olivia helped prepare the yellow squash casserole, Jaden, Asa, Miles, Jordan and Iris assisted with preparing the pigs in a blanket, Beckett, Asa and Olivia helped use the rotating apple peeler to peel and slice apples for lunch, Catherine set the table for breakfast

Gross Motor: dancing to music and stretching our muscles
Fine Motor: floor puzzles, unifix cubes, scooping beans, abacus

Indoor/Pretend: played with donated castle/fort set from Nina's family [interlocking pieces], built a train track, princesses in a castle [wooden doll house and furniture]

Art: stamping on paper, created pom pom babies using colored pom poms and glueing on googley eyes and attaching to popsicle sticks
Afternoon: picture bingo, self correcting math activity

Breakfast: whole wheat mini bagels, cream cheese, fresh fruit salad, milk
Lunch: yellow squash casserole, pigs in a blanket, apple slices, milk
Snack: pretzels, raisins, water

Zucchini Casserole

We made this yummy casserole for lunch today. It's adapted from the Gooseberry Patch For Bees & Me cookbook.

10 3/4 oz. can cream of chicken soup
4 cups stuffing mix [save half for topping]
2/3 cup butter, melted
3 cups zucchini or yellow squash, grated
1 cup carrot, grated
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup onion, grated
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste


Mix together zucchini or squash, carrots, onion, soup, mayonnaise, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Fold together stuffing and melted butter, add to zucchini mixture. Place in a greased casserole, top with remaining stuffing mixture. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 - 35 minutes. Serves 10.

Substitutions/Variations:
*You may substitue the mayonnaise with plain yogurt or sour cream.
*We used soley yellow squash and white squash out of our garden in place of the zucchini. *You could use half zucchini and half spinach. *For a one dish dinner, you could add roasted or grilled chicken.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Community: read My Apron, Does Kangaroo Have A Mother, Too?, nursery rhymes, recognizing our names spelled aloud
Outside: spent time watching the rabbit hop around the backyard, cooked at the outdoor kitchen, dressed up in hard hats and fireman hats and rode tricycles around yard, wagon rides [the kids LOVE pulling and riding], rounding up "horses" in the yard

Cooking: Olivia and Iris assisted with the hash brown casserole, Jordan, Beckett, Katie, Colton and Olivia helped cut the fruit for the fruit salad, set the table for breakfast and lunch, served friends

Gross Motor: Mymo's Adventures [kid's workout], ABC Yoga

Fine Motor: floor puzzles, unifix cubes, scooping beans, abacus

Indoor/Pretend: played with donated castle/fort set from Nina's family [interlocking pieces], taking care of the baby dolls, "restaurant" with the play kitchen, working at the workbench with tools, barnyard and animals

Breakfast: bacon, buttered wheat toast, applesauce with cinnamon, milk

Lunch: hash brown casserole, milk, fruit salad [green grapes, strawberries, cantaloupe], saltine crackers

Snack: graham crackers, apple juice

Hash Brown Quiche

We prepared this for lunch today and the children loved it! Served alongside fresh fruit salad, saltine crackers and milk, this is a filling lunch for even the hungriest of eaters.

12 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon season salt
1/4 cup butter
3 cups hashbrowns, partially thawed
1/4 red onion, minced
1/2 cup red bell pepper, minced
1 teaspoon garlic powder
black pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Mix eggs, milk, salt and black pepper in a bowl. Saute onion and red pepper in butter until softened. Add hashbrowns and mix. Saute for approximately 7 minutes until hasbrowns are softened and lightly browned. Cool potato mixture slightly. Add to egg mixture and stir. Place in a greased casserole dish. Top with cheese and place in preheated 350 degree oven. Bake for 25 minutes or until egg is firm and the cheese is a medium golden brown on top.

Cool for 5 minutes and cut into squares.

Variations:

• chopped green chiles
• chopped chipotle peppers
• sauteed mushrooms
• artichokes
• chopped asparagus
• sun dried tomatoes
• broccoli
• chives
• breakfast sausage
• Canadian bacon
• sour cream instead of milk

This makes a great dinner entree with a side salad, too. It's easy and can be assembled with items that you have in your fridge or pantry.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Welcome to Landon and his family! Landon was a special visitor today and the children enjoyed spending time with Landon and getting to know him.


Community: read Wheels On The Bus, I Love You Mama, Any Time of Year, Hurry Up, Franklin, Mattvey's book How Do Apples Grow?, recognizing our names spelled aloud, Landon shared his airplane with the group, beeswax modeling
Outside: "train rides" on the wagon, cooking at the outdoor play kitchen, observed the rabbit that visits the backyard on occasion
Fine Motor: floor puzzles [new Thomas the Tank Engine puzzle], unifix cubes, learned how to use a protractor, introduced to an abacus, tracing shapes using beeswax crayons
Art: drawing with beeswax crayons
Indoor/Pretend: taking care of the baby dolls, "restaurant" with the play kitchen, drawing with pencils, markers and crayons, built a race track, working at the workbench with tools

Breakfast: Cheerios, peanut butter toast, milk, raisins
Lunch: roasted chicken, broccoli, rice, peaches, milk
Snack: organic broccoli, celery and baby carrots with ranch, pretzels, water

Monday, July 21, 2008

We enjoyed having Kaden [Beckett's brother] visit us today! The children had great fun sharing their day with Kaden.

Community: Bones, Bones, Dinosaur Bones, Uno, Dos, Tres, One, Two, Three, My Pony, Ten In The Bed, circle songs, Kaden shared with us some of his martial arts moves that he has learned and also counted to ten in Korean for us, days of the week, counted one to ten in Spanish and English

Outside: "train rides" on the wagon, cooking at the outdoor play kitchen, observed the rabbit that visits the backyard on occassion

Fine Motor: scooping beans using a variety of utensils and containers, floor puzzles [new Thomas the Tank Engine puzzle], unifix cubes, learned how to use a protractor, introduced to an abacus

Art: painted using water colors

Indoor/Pretend: taking care of the baby dolls, "restaurant" with the play kitchen, drawing with pencils, markers and crayons, built a race track

Cooking: the children helped mix up a homemade snack mix of raisins, roasted peanuts and pretzels

Breakfast: oatmeal with cinnamon, milk, mandarin oranges

Lunch: taco salad with rice, tomatoes, lettuce and shredded cheese, crackers, milk

Snack: homemade snack mix with pretzels, raisins and roasted peanuts

New School Note: We would like to introduce you to Lucy, the school's new pot belly pig. Lucy is a micro mini pot belly pig and is 3 years old. Lucy is being donated to us by friends of Mattvey. Many thanks to Mattvey's mom, Tanya who arranged our adoption of Lucy. We are so fortunate to have them make such a lovely donation to the school. Lucy will be joining us when we transition to the new location. Lucy is currently living with a foster family until we transition to the new location. We know that the children will enjoy observing and interacting with Lucy on a daily basis! Welcome to The Good Earth Day School, Lucy!

Friday, July 18, 2008

We still have several kiddos that aren't feeling well as the stomach virus continues to circulate through the group. As a special treat, the children watched a movie and enjoyed popcorn during community time.

Outside: school clean up day--washed inside toys outside and air dryed, cooked at the outdoor kitchen, wagon rides, helped clean up the porch and arrange the toy shelf
Fine Motor: scooping beans and transferring to other containers using a variety of utensils, drawing with markers, writing on dry erase boards
Indoor play/pretend: train set, building a farm with barn and animals, worked with tools at the workbench

Breakfast: scrambled egg breakfast sandwich on bagels, mandarin oranges, milk
Lunch: tomato soup, peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat, watermelon, milk
Snack: organic apple and oatmeal bar

We hope that everyone has a great weekend!

Hamburguesas: Random Thoughts and Recommendations

Leslie's husband Jesse is from southern California. He had a lot more freedom to roam around in his youth than Leslie and Janie did, and rumor has it he could always be found near a hamburger joint with a Pepsi. Similarly, Janie's husband Todd was a freelancing bottle rocket commando in the burbs of Nashville, sun up to sun down. Janie and Leslie weren't allowed to ride a half mile down their rural country road unless they had a camp whistle to blow if someone tried to grab them. (They resent Jesse and Todd greatly for this.)

Nothing makes Jesse happier than a good burger, so he fancies himself an afficianado. Leslie thinks he can't know what he's talking about because of a huge road block--he doesn't like mayonnaise!

When Leslie met Jesse in Austin, it wasn't long before he was pining for an In-N-Out Burger (http://www.in-n-out.com/). Leslie, not a big burger fan, couldn't imagine what all the fuss was about. At least not until she experienced the fresh, no freezer, no heat lamp, made-to-order joy of In-N-Out Burgers one Thanksgiving in L.A. Still family owned, the empire is expanding, and according to Katie's dad, maybe we'll have one someday, too. Oh, and if you make it to an In-N-Out, don't expect to have anything but a burger, or fries, or a shake. There are no veggie burgers or chicken sandwiches, and you won't care anyway. If you want to sound cool, try and order like this: http://www.tiburon-belvedere.com/cgi/home.cgi?c=In_N_Out Jesse likes the standard "Double Double", and Leslie likes the "Protein Style" if it's the start of a new eating plan on a Monday, and the "Double Double" if not. (HA!)

The best, and only, burger in Leslie and Janie's small town was the DQ Burger at Dairy Queen. That was also the best place to get, umm, fast food thanks to the forward thinking and always trendy Royce family. Imagine when we moved to TX and learned how cool we'd always been to have had a DQ, as there's one in every small town here. YEE HAW we had our finger on the pulse of America. Dairy Queen has great burger names (BeltBuster, FlameThrower), but who knows about the burgers. A real live "Gus Burger".

Ever heard of a one-eyed hamburger? Every region has it's take on things, and in Charlottesville, Virginia, a cheeseburger with a fried egg on top was consider a delicacy called the Gus Burger. Jesse just never could get it, and even Leslie's dad pronounced it a failure one visit. http://www.foodhistory.com/foodnotes/road/va/ch/wh/01/

What the heck are water burgers? When Leslie moved to Texas, co-workers and acquaintances could often be overheard speaking in cryptic whispers about "waterburger", and she just couldn't figure out what they were talking about. Turns out it was Whataburger. It's OK late at night, but we'll explore some local family owned operations instead.

Oh, and ever since Leslie read Fast Food Nation, she always thinks of machines scraping bovine carcasses to get every last speck of nervouse tissue and meat to feed our country's burger addiction. When she can compartmentalize that thought, she and Janie feel confident recommending:

Top Notch (as recommeded by Katie's mom) http://austin.about.com/cs/restaurants/gr/topnotch.htm

Moonie's Burger House in CP
http://www.yelp.com/biz/moonies-burger-house-cedar-park

Fran's Hamburgers--only the Congress location!
http://austin.about.com/cs/restaurants/a/frans.htm
Might we recommend the bacon cheeseburger with jalapenos?

Hut's
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~russell/students/spr06/huts2/aboutus.html
too crowded most of the time . . .

Phil's (owned by Amy's Ice Cream)
http://www.philsicehouse.com/
great, busy, outdoor eating and a playscape for the kids . . .with Amy's next door for dessert. Janie recommends the 78704 or the Violet Crown.

Jesse also recommends: Texas Star Kitchen in Lakeway
1602 RR 620 S 402-2222
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid:218391


Enjoy!

Recycling Glass (and More) in Cedar Park

Effective 1/1/08, and in conjunction with a new garbage service provider, we were unable to recycle glass in Cedar Park. In its place, we are able to recycle cardboard. A parent at our school kindly shared that glass can be recycled at an Ecology Action site on 1431/Whitestone Blvd.

I dropped off my 3 huge bins (six months) of glass today, and here's what I discovered you can recycle there:

1. paper

2. green, blue, and yellow glass

3. brown glass

4. clear glass

5. aluminum cans

6. tin cans and metal lids

7. aluminum foil

8. #2 HDPE opaque plastic bottles (i.e. orange juice or laundry detergent bottles)

9. #2 HDPE translucent plastic (i.e. milk cartons, water bottles)

10. #1 PETE plastic bottles, any color

Even more (including all plastics numbered 1-7, cell phones, ink and toner cartridges) can be recycled at the location at 9th Street and I35 in Austin! That may be worth a trip once a month or so when you are in Austin to do other things. If you'd like to set up a tour and recycle with the kids, contact John Clement at 512-322-0000 or john@ecology-action.org. Tours available for kids "1 to 100".

For more information about this organization and directions from the Cedar Park/Leander area check out:http://www.ecology-action.org/who-we-are

NOTE that this location on Whitestone Blvd is only open 8-4 Thursday through Saturday each week.

Directions:
Cedar Park (1431 Transfer Station):
2665 Whitestone Blvd, Cedar Park (NOTE: Don't look for a road sign as this is a tiny dirt road on your right as you head weston 1431. Look for the Transfer Station set back from the main road)
From 183 and 1431:Go west 2.5 miles and it will be on your right, behind some trees. If you see HUR Industrial or the Driving Range or the Cartwright Bar-B-Que restaurant, you went too far (sigh).
From Lakeline and 1431:Go west 1.1 miles and it will be on your right, behind some trees.
From Jonestown:Go 3.4 miles taking Nameless Rd. east then left on 1431. It is on your left, behind some trees. If you see a self storage business off to your right, you went too far.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Community: read Dr. Seuss's ABC, Bones, Bones, Dinosaur Bones, The Wheels On The Bus, counting to twenty, circle songs, recognizing our name spelled aloud and written on the dry erase boardFine Motor: drawing on dry erase boards, tracing shapes with crayons, matching shape dominoes
Outside: splash day, played with new outdoor food items in the play kitchen [children washed the toys yesterday], enjoyed wagon rides in our newly added Red Flyer wagon with side walls

Pretend: building a zoo using wooden blocks and animals, cooking and placing food in "to go" containers and serving friends

Cooking: Olivia assisted in making the whole wheat pancakes for breakfast, children set the table for breakfast and lunch, served friends food, Beckett and Katie helped make afternoon snack

Breakfast: whole wheat pancakes, peaches, milk, tree juice [natural maple syrup] and peanut butter as toppings
Lunch: ground turkey and black bean salad with cheddar cheese, tortillas and sour cream, cucumber sticks [from our garden], milk
Snack: vanilla pudding with bananas, graham crackers

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Community: circle games and songs, including Mr. Clown, Olivia Owl's Opposites, gross motor opposites [up/down, backwards/forwards, soft/loud]

Fine Motor: scooping beans from one container to another using a spoon, pouring water from one container to another using small pitchers, played with Katie's Kids Connect toys, drawing on dry erase boards

Outside: washed outdoor toys for the play kitchen, played fireman, wagon rides, picked 6 cucumbers from the garden

Pretend: played school using dry erase boards, easel and musical instruments, cooking in the outdoor play kitchen, built a zoo using animals, barns and stable
Cooking: Matt and Iris assisted with preparing lunch. They shredded the roasted chicken and helped mix the chicken with the chicken cream gravy and mixed vegetables. Iris set the table for lunch.

Breakfast: wheaties, milk, bananas with peanut butter

Lunch: roasted chicken, mixed vegetables, stuffing, applesauce, milk

Snack: vanilla yogurt, sugar cookie [Wednesday treat], water

Reminder: Tomorrow is splash day. Many children have not expressed interest in splashing as of late. We will ask for those that want to splash to dress and the other children will be able to play at their leisure outside during splash time.

Special Note: We have had several friends experiencing stomach and digestive problems this week. We opted not to make rich ice cream this week, instead we served probiotic rich vanilla yogurt for healthy tummies.

Scott Mentzer Pool

One of Pflugerville, TX best kept secrets is a splash pool located off of 685. It's geared towards the younger crowd [kiddos under 12] and is reasonably priced for non-Pflugerville residents. We love to go early when they open, spend a few hour and pack snacks. The pool is very clean for a public pool and there are life guards stationed at every part of the pool. They have a mini lazy river, water slides [for older kiddos] along with many other water features.

Check out the pool information below.
http://tx-pflugerville2.civicplus.com/index.asp?nid=942

El Milagro Tortilla Chips

Warm these in a 200 degree oven and serve with your favorite dips and salsas. They are super thin, and just like the best restaurant chips. Note that they are unsalted, so once they are warmed (and glistening with a little oil), salt them lightly if you choose! These are about $2.99 at HEB, and are made in East Austin.

Shrimp Skewers with Green Sauce and Grilled Shrimp Appetizers

Shrimp Skewers

1 lb shrimp, shelled and deveined (to make things fast ask the seafood shop for "easy peels", which have already been deveined) 25-30 count shrimp/lb

1 tsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced fine

dash pepper and salt

1/2 tsp cumin

1 poblano pepper, seeded and sliced into one inch pieces

1 large red onion, sliced into one inch pieces

6-8 bamboo skewers, soaked in water for 20-30 minutes

butter leaf lettuce or Romaine leaves (this will be your cup for the contents of the skewers)

1/2 lime or lemon

1 pat butter

Peel shrimp, rinse, and place in large bowl. With hands, toss the shrimp, olive oil, garlic, pepper, salt, and cumin. Thread shrimp, poblano, and red onion onto the skewers. Place on a platter. Grill over a medium flame so that the shrimp cook a little slower and so that the vegetables have time to get tender. Remove skewers from the grill when the shrimp turn pinkish orange, and place on a serving platter. Squeeze the lime or lemon over the shrimp and glaze over each skewer with the pat of butter.

To serve: Hold lettuce cup in your hand and pull the skewer through it to remove the contents of the skewer. Top with green sauce and a little cilantro, roll up like a burrito, and enjoy!

Green Sauce

(courtesy Ninfa's by way of "The Homesick Texan" blog with Leslie's small modifications)

http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/2007/01/salsa-salvation-ninfas-green-sauce.html

3 medium-sized green tomatoes, coarsely chopped (you can substitute yellow if you can’t find green ones, but never use red)

4 tomatillos, cleaned and chopped

1 to 2 jalapenos, stemmed and coarsely chopped

3 small garlic cloves

1/2 cup water

3 medium-sized ripe avocados, peeled, pitted and sliced

a big handful of cilantro

1 tsp. of salt (more to taste)

juice of 1 lemon

1 1/2 cups of sour cream

Method:Combine chopped tomatoes, tomatillos, jalapenos, garlic, and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 to 15 minutes, covered. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Place tomato mixture with the avocados, cilantro and salt, and lemon juice in food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a bowl and stir in sour cream.

Makes 4 to 5 cups.

Ideas: Instead of lettuce cups, you may serve the shrimp and veggies in a warm flour or corn tortilla. The green sauce would be wonderful over chicken or mushroom enchiladas. The sauce is a great dip with chips or veggies.

Grilled Shrimp Appetizer

Place one grilled shrimp on an El Milagro (or other favorite) tortilla chip. Top with green sauce and a sprig of cilantro.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Community: Goodnight Moon , The Gingerbread Man, circle songs, reviewed shapes and counted their sides, molded beeswax creations, read a note from our friend Miles who is on vacation, responded to Miles' note

We say a rhyme, then hold our beeswax tight in our hand like a sleeping baby to soften it while we listen to a story. After the story, we shape our beeswax into something special.

Fine Motor: beeswax modeling, tracing shapes with beeswax crayons and stapling to make books, lacing cards, shape dominoes/matching domino pictures

Outside: sandbox, scooters and tricycles, dump trucks, wagon rides, outside morning snack

Cooking: Jordan helped prepare the scrambled eggs with bacon, children set the table for breakfast and lunch, served friends food. Catherine made afternoon snack.

Pretend: firemen and construction workers outside, taking care of babies [dressing, feeding, stroller rides], barnyard animals, musical instruments/pretending to be a teacher leading music time

Breakfast: scrambled eggs with bacon, red grapes, whole wheat english muffins, milk

Lunch: homemade pasta salad (pasta, ham, cuumbers from our garden, carrots and cheddar cheese) applesauce, milk

Snack: "ants on a cracker"--crackers with peanut butter and raisins, water