Preschool Week 5 (November 2-6)

 This week our theme was “Food”

• We began a new character trait for this month, Gratitude.  We really enjoyed the CD from www.BriteMusic.com on this topic (just as much as we enjoyed the Obedience CD in October).  Travis and Heather really seemed to catch on to this idea and talked about it when we were visiting family and at church.  And better still, they began practicing saying “thank you” more often. :-)
• We talked about Contentment : Being happy and satisfied with what God has given me.
• We learned Phillipians 4:11b “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”
• We read lots of books about food and contentment.

Our book list this week included:

• Bread, Bread, Bread, by Ann Morris – Shows pictures of different types of bread all around the world.
• Bread and Jam for Frances, by Russell Hoban --  A story about both food and contentment and being willing to try new things.  Frances the badger won’t eat anything but bread and jam, because she knows what to expect with that and she is afraid to try anything new.  So, Mother decides to give her what she wants : bread and jam for breakfast, bread and jam for lunch, bread and jam for after school snack, bread and jam for supper.  Finally, Frances breaks down in tears and wants to try something new.
• Stone Soup, by Marcia Brown – Three soldiers on a long journey home haven’t eaten in several days and are longing for a good meal and a real bed to sleep in.  They come to a village, hoping the peasants living there will share a little something with them.  But the peasants are afraid of strangers and they hide all their food and claim they have nothing to give; they are all starving too, they say.  So, the ingenious soldiers decide to make stone soup – they put three large stones in a pot of boiling water.  Then, they casually mention that it would taste even better if they had a carrot or two.  Somebody runs and gets an armload of carrots.  And so it goes, until they have a hearty soup cooking which they then share with all the villagers.  The villagers are amazed at what delicious food can be made from stones!  I love the underlying message in this book as the greedy villagers are subtly (but kindly) tricked into feeding the hungry travelers.  The kids enjoyed the book, but I’m sure they will not grasp the full meaning until they are older.  This is definitely a keeper!!
• Marge’s Diner, by Gail Gibbons – Another book by one of our favorite authors.  This one describes a day in the life of a small town diner.  I think this was the inspiration for Travis and Heather playing kitchen (see pictures below).
• Pancakes, Pancakes, by Eric Carle – A boy wakes up one morning and asks his mother for a big pancake for breakfast.  But first he has to reap the wheat, take it to the miller, thresh it, mill it into flour, get the hen to lay an egg, milk the cow, etc. etc. until he finally has all the ingredients to make a pancake.
• Eating the Alphabet,:Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z, by Lois Ehlert --  Pictures of fruits and vegetables whose names start with all the letters of the alphabet.  This one was fun.  Most of them we knew, some of them were new.
• Walter the Baker, by Eric Carle – Walter is a famous baker until one day the cat spills the milk and he has to make sweet rolls for the Duke with water instead of milk.  The duke is enraged and threatens to banish Walter from the kingdom unless he can invent a roll made from one piece of dough and through which the morning sun can shine three times.  After working fruitlessly all day and night, he quite accidentally comes up with a pretzel which everyone loves.
• I Like to Be Little, by Charlotte Zolotow – A mother asks her little girl what she wants to be when she grows up.  But the girl likes to be little for now and explains why – listing all the things she can do and enjoy because she is little, things that grownups can’t do.  An excellent book about being content.  We omitted the page about dressing up for Halloween and going trick-or-treating.
• Angus Lost, by Marjorie Flack – A Scottish terrier is tired of all the same things he is used to (house, yard, cat) and decides to go exploring.  But then he finds himself lost in a snowstorm in the dark.  The next day he follows the milk-man delivering door-to-door until he finds his way back home.  Now he is quite content to stay at home with all the same things he knows all about.  Another great book about contentment.
• Green Eggs and Ham, by Dr. Seuss – We introduced the piece of classic literature and it was a big hit.  I know I read it at least 3 times to Travis on the first day. And it was requested at just about every story time for the next 2 weeks.  I think this story, more than any of the others, inspired Travis to try some new foods and food combinations this week.  After all, how do you know you don’t like it unless you try it, Sam-I-Am?

Activities this week:

We cooked together several times, making pretzels (see pictures below), pancakes (our usual Friday night supper), and pumpkin bread.  Travis and Heather were actually very useful to me in the kitchen on Friday night when I was trying to make pancakes and pumpkin bread at the same time.  Travis stirred up everything for the pancakes, and Heather stirred up the pumpkin bread.  Then they both helped set the table.  I couldn’t have done it without them!

Making pretzels…stirring …

Kneading…

 

Shaping…

The finished product…

 

On Friday morning, while Jeffrey and I were finishing our breakfast, Travis and Heather began to play “kitchen”.  This was serious work for them!  They were planning a big menu, moving the toy kitchen from the play room to the living room, and setting up the card table complete with a tablecloth.

We also experimented with different food combinations, such as pickles and milk, strawberries in chili, and beet juice jello.  No, these were not strange food cravings from a pregnant mother; they were all actually Travis’ ideas.  He seemed to like them all except for the beet jello.  He even put into practice trying new foods when eating at Grandma Russell’s house on Saturday.

Uncle Mark is so good with the kids.  I think Travis and Heather pretty much monopolized his time while we were there on Saturday.

Heather and Travis made themselves right at home.  They took their shoes off as soon as we got there and dived into the toy basket. 

Ronnie and Jeffrey got some bread samples while watching Grandma cook supper.

A long day with no naps .. and two very tuckered out children.  They fell asleep in the van on the way home (victims of “vanesthesia” yet again).  But this time they didn’t even wake up when Ronnie took them out of their seats and deposited them on the couch.