Magic Day

I was excited to see that I got to teach this lesson this year since both the kids and I loved it last year. It was all about discovering the magic in things around us. We baked bisquits and experimented with soap and paint, but the highlight of the day was definitely the magic tricks. I did them last year and the kids seemed impressed which is actually saying a lot since I'm pretty terrible at slight of hand tricks. So this year I asked Taylor if he'd take 20 minutes to show the kids some tricks. It was so fun to watch the kids eat his tricks up and they couldn't stop laughing.

This first one is a card trick. He actually has a special deck of cards that has a little rubber band that helps elevate the chosen card.

The second one is actually a little plastic toy that has both a real ball and a look-alike ball built into it. Ethan has been walking around all week hitting his pocket and saying "shazaam" because of this one.

The third trick got the most mixed reviews. The boys absolutely loved it and couldn't stop giggling. Elise was slightly bothered. She refused to touch the pencil after this one and wouldn't let anyone come near her with the pencil the rest of the day. I did make Taylor show the kids the trick on this one especially after Tiana informed me that CJ has been doing similar magic tricks and Ches decided to put eggs in his ear as part of his own magic trick.

The last one is just the old disappearing quarter trick. Don't worry CJ, he didn't give the trick away.

What happened to January???

Sadly the month of January was kind of a loss for Joyschool. Most days there were 2 kids at most due to family trips and lots and lots of colds and flus. The first day I taught it was just Ethan and Ches (and Isaac who was very happy to be able to sit on Elise's mat while she was gone).
The second day was just Ethan and Mark. We had lots of fun activities but it was more like a playdate than school. Here's to Spring coming soon and everything warming up!

Christmas Party

Here are our Joyschool moms. The kids performing for the dads and siblings.

Just having fun! It is a party after all!

Christopher (Mark's brother) joining in the fun.

Christmas Service

Okay, I accidentally added the same picture twice, but it is just twice the memories then! Here are the kids getting ready for their nativity performance at the senior center.

Here they are singing their songs.

What a picture perfect group!

And the audience seemed happy! A service well done and appreciated.

Sharing and Service

The kids are so wonderful and naturally inclined to help each other, that sharing and service seems simple to teach. Here is an example of Ethan serving Elise. She was having a little bit of trouble with a puzzle and started to ask for my help, but Ethan ran over and said "I'll help!". As you can see, he was really focused on doing a good job. It was very sweet and fit right in with our theme. The kids all got to draw a picture for someone else. At first I thought that sounded a little silly when I first read the lesson, but the kids loved it! They really had a lot of joy giving the picture to the person they made it for and from receiving the picture from the person who made it for them. I wish I could have captured that, but this will have to suffice. They are showing the picture that was made for them. Ches was very thorough and decisive on what his picture would look like. Mark was mostly excited by the service chart and couldn't wait to get started. Elise is always a good helper, especially in making sure the boys are following the rules! We made cookies for the doorman of the apartment building and the kids were happy to give them to him, but they also asked the moment the cookies were handed over, "Can we go back and play now?" Well, we can't expect perfection, they are only 3!

We can make others happy!

This week's lessons were mostly centered on relationships and communicating. We read lots of books on sharing and caring and how our actions can make others happy or sad. It is truly amazing to see these kids growing up before my eyes. They really are internalizing these messages and are such sweet little individuals. I love "Joy"school because it really is teaching them to be joyful in their lives.
Joy boy came to visit on the first day about 10 minutes before noon. Usually by this time the kids are bouncing off the walls and need some individual book time or a little free play time. As soon as I pulled out Joy boy, they all sat up and were so excited and yet calm. They listened to what he had to say and it was amazing to see the love on their faces. They sang with him and then all insisted on hugging him before I put him away. On Tuesday they had the chance to be the puppets themselves. Ches was the only one to understand he needed to hide under the bench but they all really enjoyed it. (Isaac did too as he blocked more than half of my pictures of the group)

They really are all great kids and I'm so glad that they are wonderful friends to not only each other, but to the younger babies in each home.

Talk Talk Talk

This week, I had the chance to end a unit and start a new one. On Thursday we had lots of fun summing up the Honesty unit, including puppet shows, puppet making, and pigs in a blanket! During free play time I had the joy school cd playing and when the witch song came on Ches yelled, "It's the witch song. Elise! Run and hide!!" I think we all know about Elise's original trauma to the witch song. It cracked me up. Then of course, during "song review time" when I asked if the kids wanted to sing a halloween song, they all wanted the witch song. Then, during snack time on Tuesday, they all spontaneously broke out into the witch song. So cute.

We started our unit and talked about talking! We talked about how dogs show their feelings (barking, wagging, etc.), and how people tell their feelings ("I'm happy, I'm sad," etc.). When I asked why dogs don't TELL us how they feel, Ethan kept shouting out random answers until Mark rolled his eyes and said, "Because animals can't talk!!" It just made me laugh, because he was trying to give the other kids a chance to answer right, but in the end he just couldn't hold it in


We talked about how it is nice to have friends to talk to, and I asked them all who their friends were. It was very sweet because all of them mentioned their family. Then when I asked who their friends were besides their family, they all mentioned eachother's names. It took a little more prodding for them to remember they had even MORE friends. Then we made paper talking friends. I told them to tell me which one was them, and who was they other friend so could write their name. I thought it was very sweet that Ethan was the first to shout out that his friend was his mommy. Then he kept switching back and forth between mommy and Isaac. I don't remember who said it first, but Elise and Mark both picked eachother. They were pretty excited about that. Ches cycled through all of the JS friends but then picked Annika.

I must note, that before free play time I reminded them that we can talk to eachother a lot to work things out and be friends, just like the song "talk talk talk". This was probably the most peaceful free play time we have ever had. They were so good about talking to eachother and working things out. It was great.


Oh, and they loved playing musical spots. Definitely have to do that again.