M&M's : MOPS & Munchkins 2007-08 (#1)

On Tuesday, May 13th, we had our last day of MOPS at Immanuel for the 2007-08 year. Our group was a little smaller than the norm (usually have 7-8 kiddos), but it was still an enjoyable "last day" with my 4 & 5 yr. olds. Since some of you MOPS moms check out myblog from time to time, I thought I'd give you a little peek at some things that happen in our class while you're off having fun with your Mom-groupies. And, a big 'thank you' for allowing Grandma Viv and I the chance to both teach and enjoy some time with your children.... we count it a privilege. The first 1/2 hour is 'playtime'. There is always a designated clock-watcher who keeps an eye on the Big Hand of the clock to tell Miss Sarah when it is between the 9 and the 10: when it reaches that point, then everybody helps put the toys away. Kelly Sams had all kinds of new additions to the toy selection this year and the kids loved playing with their cool toys. Grandma Viv is great at getting the kids in on imaginary play, and so she held a tea party just about every Tuesday that we met, and even the boys got in on the pretending. Above is Adam Veihl, who is making tea for myself and a couple of other kids sitting at the table. There was always crayons and coloring books or construction paper sitting out for the kids to create their own pictures or to color one from a book. Some of the kids are definitely artistically inclined and it was fun to see what their brains came up with when they decided to create their own pictures.
SNACK TIME!!!! The kids loved the finger Jell-O this day. Between slapping it on the table, looking through it so that everything turned orange, crushing it between the palms of their hands, and actually deciding to eat it..... I'd say it was a raving success.
While sharing is not always the choice thing to do, I loved to see the kids decide to scoot over and invite a friend to sit on "their" carpet square. The kids had a stack of carpet squares, in various colors, to choose from when we all sat down for song and story time. Above are Fletcher and Elizabeth. I believe that this photo was taken just after Fletcher peeled the Bandaid off of his knee to show Elizabeth his war wound, and then follow that up with an action-packed story of how it all occurred. As you can probably tell, she's more than impressed...
Magnet magic!! Just a few of the creations that your kids put together during Play time. I was pretty proud of these guys; they wanted to build a bridge that they saw pictured in a brochure, and by George... they did it! Pretty neat.
We Three Kings: Story time usually involved some sort of way for the kids to get up and be part of the story, or to act it out. They also loved placing the felt pictures on the board. During craft time that day, the kids decorated their own crowns; the basis for that craft was founded upon the life of King David and his kindness towards Jonathan's son, Mephibosheth. I had the kids repeat the name "Mephibosheth" after me, and they had fun trying to sound it all out. I thought it was neat how a little 'kindness' was displayed between Fletcher and Elizabeth....very sweet.

Christmas 2007

We missed you on our last day , Grandma Viv!!! Thanks for being a great helper (and thanks to Jill Peck for being a wonderful sub that day).