I've been saving formula cans, for awhile now, so I had more than enough for each kid to get their own can. We started off by painting the cans, that way they'd have time to dry before we planted the flowers. I think all the kids liked painting. I know mine always do.
Next I had all the kids get out their scissors. Impromptu, I decided to throw in a small lesson on scissor safety. I still remember learning scissor safety at Bev's preschool. :) So we talked about the sharp side of the scissors, and how to hold the sharp side in your fist when you're walking, so that you don't accidentally poke yourself or your neighbor with them. Then I had the kids get up and walk very slowly and carefully around the living room with their scissors, to practice. I have no idea how that went over.
Then, back at the table, I gave each kid a page with the parts of a flower on it, their job was to cut out each individual part. I had to help Ivan, but he's getting really good and listening and opening his scissors when I say open, and closing them when I say closed. Lincoln is getting to be a great cutter, he did his all by himself, and the only thing he cut in half was the stem. I love when I see improvement!
Sometimes one of the kids in the group will finish what we're doing ahead of all the other kids, and then they get bored ans restless. I've been reading in my book Raising Your Spirited Child (more about that later), and one of the things they suggest in there, especially for young, energetic boys, is to give them a job that allows them to move around a little, instead of patronizing them to sit down and be quiet and hold still. So I had an opportunity to try it today, one of the kids finished cutting before all the others, and so I asked him if he could be my special helper. I told him I had a job I needed him to do, and then I let him pass out the glue to all the other kids while they finished cutting. I feel like this was positive. He felt like he was important and being a helper, which he was, and no one had to try to get him to hold still, be quiet, or stay out of things. Everyone wins in a situation like that. The kid feels good about himself, the teachers/parents don't get frustrated, and a job that needs doing gets done. I can't wait to try it out more often.
After our flower pieces were cut out, we talked briefly about what each part of the flower did for the whole plant. The roots get food and water from the soil for the rest of the plant. The stem is like a highway for the food/water to travel on. The leaves catch the sunlight, which the plant needs to allow the food and water from the roots to be turned into something it can use. And the flower attracts the bees which pollinate it, and allow it to make seeds that will eventually turn into new flowers.
Then the kids glued the pieces of the flower together onto another piece of paper. On the other paper, was a blank space for them to glue their flower on, and on the other half, the words flower, leaves, stem, and roots directly across from their corresponding part of the flower. The kids were to trace the letters and then try writing their own in the blank space after the letters. Then draw a line from the word to the part of the flower it described. Lincoln did an awesome job, he traced all the words without any help, and then wrote the words after with only a little help from me (he occasionally had to ask me what letter came next in the word he was trying to write, but I never touched his marker, he did it all by himself). Ivan did about as well as a two year old possibly could. He scribbled on top of the words. Even though he didn't actually trace them, I thought it was good that he could distinguish which ones he was supposed to be writing on.
Last, we went outside to our garden box, and everyone got to fill their formula container with dirt and their choice of a yellow or orange marigold. I know, marigolds are like the worst flower there is, but they were cheap :) and they supposedly keep bugs away from the garden. So that's what we did.
After everyone had gone home, and lunch and naps had been had at our house, Lincoln and I went outside. I wanted to see if he remembered anything about the parts of a flower, so I had him draw them for me on the sidewalk with chalk. He did awesome. He got all the parts right, and remembered what the job of the roots was. He even drew some water for the roots to have, and a big bright sun for the flower.
We had more fun with the chalk too. I had Lincoln lay down and I traced an outline of him. He thought it was funny because he was wearing a hat, and holding his sword made of Trios. Then we had him stand up straight and I drew his shadow. We compared how they were different. I think some day, when he's a little older, it would be fun to go out every hour or so and have him stand in the same spot, and redraw his shadow, so he could see the movement of the sun.
Adelia woke up and we brought her outside with us. We put her in her new sun hat. She didn't love it as much as I do. But she still looked cute. Ivan woke up too and came out to play. Next door, were some neighbor boys riding their bikes. I told Linc to go make friends with them. He marched right over and said, "My name is Lincoln Aaron Swan." Then he came running back over to me, "Mom, Mom! I have a new Nathan!" Nathan is Lincoln's good friend who lives in our apartment complex back in Provo, and the kid's name next door is also Nathan. So, in Linocln's mind I'm sure it was something like, well we have a new house and we have a new Nathan. So funny. Anyways, Lincoln and Ivan rode bikes with the two boys back and forth between our drive way and theirs. I think it was good for the kids to finally feel like they have some friends around here.
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