Hopping into Spring - It's an Alarming Thing!

This week I have decided to take part in The Other Mama's Friday Favorites blog posts. My Friday Favorite is my new spring bulletin board. It is very cute! Mom, Becky, and Grandma helped me put it together.

We have been out to the school where I work on previous weekends to put up and take down seasonal decorations, but I knew that today would not be like those before. Right before Spring Break we had a new alarm system installed. Although I was shown how to work the alarm, I intuitively knew that with my luck the alarm would probably go off. Yep, and guess what? It did! My intuition did not let me down. Of course, in my mind I see police cars coming up, and me having to show my badge to the officers. Luckily that didn't happen, but it was still VERY LOUD. After going across the street to the retired principal's house I figured out how to get the alarm to stop. Phew!

Once I let go of how nerve-racked I was we put up the bulletin board. The children were quite involved in the production of this bulletin board. I feel like it is more meaningful when the children participate in the bulletin boards. After all, it is our classroom - not just mine.

The rabbits' bodies are the children's shoe prints. Each child traced his/her shoe, then I laminated them and cut them out. They couldn't believe it when I told them to take off their shoe and put it on the table! My friend Lacey drew the ears and laminated them, then I cut them out. The whiskers are pieces of laminated black construction paper cut into strips. Each child got to choose which color of ears, nose, and cotton tail he/she wanted. (The noses and tails are just pom poms that can be found at any craft store.)

To make the rainbow, the children traced their hands onto colored paper, I laminated them, and then cut them out. The hand shapes are not perfect, I didn't try to change them, they are cut out exactly the way that the children drew them.

My sister, Becky, made the daffodils. It is a pattern that she learned from another preschool teacher at the Montessori school where she teaches.

I love this bulletin board because the star of the show is the children's work. I can't wait for the kiddos to see the finished product. It certainly wasn't a boring experience putting it up!

Play at the Park

This afternoon we (Becky and I) took Nathaniel and Megan to the park. This week is our spring break, so I had Megan with me all day today. It doesn't seem like it's been a year since we took them to the duck park (as Nathaniel calls it) - time flys by so fast. I know that is a cliche saying, but it is oh, so true. Just last year when we went to the duck park Megan wasn't even walking yet. We pushed her around the park in her stroller. This year she was running and going down the slides like a big girl. It seems that they grow up when we blink.

Each time I see Megan it seems like she is doing or saying something new. I am almost sad when I think that someday (not too long from now) she will be the age that Nathaniel is now. And, someday soon Nathaniel will be a preteen, and won't be excited about, or even willing to, spend an afternoon at the park with Momma Becky and Auntie Monster.