These lessons on the body and earth were great! During the playdough session, Ches created a kind of zoo. I thought that was really creative! The others liked it so much they mimicked his creation in their own way.
We had a fun "work out" session to talk about how we can take care of our bodies. I slipped in Aaron's "Earth, Wind, and Fire" ('70's music) and we stretched, did some jumping jacks, windmills, arm circles and a lot of marching in a circle through the kitchen and living room.
Then we got to measure and weigh all the kids! Everyone was just the right size and weight for themselves, (nevermind the fact that I couldn't find my tape measure and so I just drew a line on the wall). It was still fun!
According to my scale, Mark weighed 36.6, Ethan weighed 32.4, Ches weighed 35.6, Elise weighed 29.4 and Elijah weighed 23.2. However, I'm sure your pediatrician measurements are much more accurate!
We strung cheerios to make necklaces for our craft to demonstrate some things our bodies can do as well as an example of something good that we can eat to make our bodies healthy and strong.
Ches enjoyed eating the Cheerios by the handful. I would compliment all the children on their progress, and told Ethan he was super fast.
Mark concentrated intensely and got pretty far. After I told him that he did a good job and that he was fast, Ethan piped up "I'm super fast too, see!"
My favorite time with the kids was sharing time - it was hilarious! (3 of these pictures were borrowed from the internet.) When Mark came I only saw the one car he was holding in his hand, but during his turn to share, he seriously pulled out 4 more from his pockets, "For Ethan and Ches." It was like Mary Poppins' magic bag! That was so thoughtful of him!
Ethan brought a little teddy bear (Sorry not a picture of the real one!) And said he got it because he "watched Brother Bear on my I-Pod!" That was really cute and I can't help but be amazed at all the technology our kids are accustomed to!
Ches brought Skippyjon Jones. We had to read it together - the kids loved it! Pathetically for me, Ches had to help me out with some of the pronouciations - it was funny! I stink at reading in an accent!
Elise shared a princess blanket that her Gramma Lynette sewed for her. She was all smiles, holding it close.
Mark loved to dig in and get his hands dirty!
Then Jacky showed us their new Beta fish named Nemo. Again the kids were enthralled and it was wonderful to see their little smiling faces. Thanks Jacky and Gina for sharing with us and being so patient with all the little hands so excited to touch the pets. The kids learned a lot about taking care of animals and being kind to nature. We made bird feeders out of pine cones and they were all a little grosed out by the feel of peanut butter on their hands and seeds sticking to them. 
On Tuesday we learned about taking care of the Earth. They laughed histerically as we dropped "trash" on the floor and sang a song about littering. Elise smirked at me when I had them each draw a picture of nature and then told them to glue pieces of trash onto it like someone had littered. It was fun to watch how excited they were to clean up the field we walked to. We actually needed bigger bags which really surprised me! I hope you're all seeing these lessons internalized in their lives as I am. Tuesday afternoon we were at the park and Ethan ran up to me with trash in his hand, so excited to show me that someone had littered and he was picking it up. They really are all great kids!
