Dress up

It's the time of year where costumes come out and kids get ready for Halloween. Batman, Spiderman, Snow White and every other kind of Princess and super hero will swarm the neighborhoods collecting treats which, goes without saying, will keep them on a sugar high for weeks to come.

Our Preschool also partakes in the Halloween festivities. 
If you were to visit our classroom you would see spiders, pumpkins and sweet candy decorating the walls.

You would also see us dancing and singing to Halloween songs.
My all time favorite is: Witches Brew by Hap Palmer

 Besides the songs and artwork, the kids also enjoy dressing up in the costumes we have available.

You see, real girls aren't afraid to wear football uniforms and play construction worker…..provided she has her handbag, that is...

We also have another little girl who comes dressed up everyday with matching shoes no matter the outfit.

I believe her mother is creating a shoe…...monster.

Who's on first?

One of the options on the job chart is to be the 'kid counter.'  The child who chooses to count the kids stands in front of the other children, sitting in a circle, and by starting with himself he'll put his hand on his own head and count, 'One' then proceed around the circle touching each child on the head one at a time while continuing to count out loud.

Some of the children have mastered this task without the aid of a teacher but there are a few who still need assistance.

One boy in particular chose to count the kids as his job. Enthusiastically he jumped from his chair and took his position in front of the other children. The teacher conducting circle helped place his hand on his head and proceeded to count, 'One......'

Usually the child would repeat after the teacher but this little boy continued....'two' as he touched his own head.

The teacher tried again. Placing his hand on his head she began...'one' and the boy said, 'two'

She's like, 'say one' and he goes 'two' so another teacher decided to help and took his hand.

 She placed it on his head and said, 'one' then as she had him touch another child she said 'two' hoping he would catch on but he said, 'three.'

She tried again. With his hand on his head she said, 'One' he'd say, 'Two'

It was quite comical but we're trying not to laugh.

He seemed to have the number sequence down, it was the concept of applying it the counting process that had him stumped.

Finally with full assistance she placed his hand on his head, and said, 'One' then immediatley had him touch another child and said, 'Two' before he had a chance to interject. She continued assisting him with the third child.

After he got passed the third one he caught on and continued to count the rest of the class.

Hitting the wall

When we use the term 'Hitting the wall' we use it figuratively not literally, well sometimes it's literal. Like when we're walking with the preschoolers down the hall and someone gets distracted by not watching where their going, they can in fact hit a wall, or a door, or what ever is in their path. But really we say it when a youngster is just plum wore out, has nothing left to give and enters...the zone.

We have  a youngster who falls into that category. One who still requires a nap and cannot make it the two and a half hours we offer. He gets this glazed look across his face, the rim of his eyes turn red and he is just flat out done with the day.

He's our little guy who has a Cochlear implant, suffers from Cerebral Palsy and has a shunt on one side of his head. Despite his disability he's very bright and can hold his own in almost any situation........until 2 o'clock when his young three year old body decides game over, it's nap time.

The first time we experienced  our little man 'hitting the wall'  we wrote his mama a note in his journal, which is sent back and forth daily, telling her what a great day he had up until he, 'hit the wall.'

His poor mom was frantic when she read that her son had 'hit a wall' she didn't waste a single moment calling us up, "What, he hit a wall, what do you mean he hit a wall?"

 Her concern was valid as his balance is awkward and he does fall on an occasion, but after explaining to her it's just an expression used when he's done, tired, wore out and ready to go home, we all shared a pretty good laugh.