Ms. Amy's Blog @Child Central Station

We took a field trip to Oswald's Bear Ranch in Newberry.  The children had a GREAT time! We met up with T&M Daycare for our adventure. It was fun to spend the day with another group of children and travel together.  Our first stretch break was in Munising at the Munising Falls. The children all had "bears on the brain!" We saw a small cave at the falls and made our best bear impersonations! The rangers at the falls found a partial deer skeleton and they placed it on a log in the stream/river for all to see. We had a fun time trying to guess where it came from and needed help from the ranger to identify it! We were all quite excited when we finally arrived at the Bear Ranch! You can learn more about Oswald's Bear Ranch by visiting their website. The ranch is located near Newberry and houses rescue bears. As a guest of the ranch, you can walk the sandy trails around the bear enclosures and feed them apples by throwing pieces through the fences. The children th...

If you haven't noticed, I've been on a hiatus from my regular Wednesday postings. I've been contemplating whether or not to keep the series going. Time is a major issue in doing so, but I LOVE to upcycle, repurpose, and reuse items in creative ways. So, rather than get rid of my Wednesday linky party completely, I am going to ask you all for some help. Do you have a great idea that uses recyclables or "trash"?  I would love to have you share your ideas on my blog! Here is how it will work. If you are interested, you need to email me with the following information: 1) Your name 2) Your blog/website address (if you have one. You do not need to have a blog to participate) 3) The item you plan to repurpose. (Your project can use more than one item, but pick one to highlight for other folks to be able to link up their ideas to.) Then, I will contact you with a publication date (a Wednesday) . Your post must be received at least one week prior to your publicatio...

I'm having a blast traveling around the Upper Peninsula of Michigan as a trainer for the Great Start Regional Resource Center 4C of the U.P.   It continues to be a wonderful way to network with other folks in the field of early childhood education and to share a lot of ideas.  One of the more popular trainings this summer has been "It's Not Rocket Science, But Sometimes It Feels Like It!" During this training, we really have an opportunity to have a lot of fun with science, after we try to figure out what makes science so scary for some of us in the first place.  The bottom line of it all, tends to lead us straight back to our own experiences with teachers and the subject matter. Most of which all points to the relationship (or lack there of) that we had with our teachers. If you had a teacher who did not encourage you or did not have the means to make the subject matter fun and understandable for you, chances are you were discouraged, and subsequently do not have...

 (Forward facing book shelf made with a scrap of trim attached to the back of an existing book shelf.) Over the past week and a half or so, I have been rearranging and updating our indoor space. We run a year round program, so I don't have the option to spend a week "before" school starts getting our classroom together. So, every so often..... I tackle making major changes to our space. I wouldn't recommend doing this too often, as children need consistency, but changing things up once and awhile is fun and exciting for the children. Sometimes they "forget" about certain things until you move them to a new place. It helps them add more variety to their play, and when you do add new elements it helps you to stay organized!  (Magnetic "Magic Walls" added to the side of the bookshelf) Lately, I have been working to utilize our shelving units to their maximum potential. If you remember, awhile back, I made a flannel story board on one of our large ...

This past weekend, we went on a very quick tent camping outing to a local state park. Dane is preparing to go to cub scout camp, and we wanted to get a night of practice in before we are off to camp. One of the things I remember from when I was younger and camping was making sand candles. I thought it would be fun to share this experience with Dane, and now all of you. When you are preparing your sand mold on the beach, you need to dig a hole. Anyone who has worked with sand knows that keeping the shape of dry sand is very difficult. It is best if you wet it down. If you happen to forget a bucket or cup..... You could always just fill your shoes with water. They do work quite well to transport the water from the waters edge to the area you have chosen to make your candles. (Note, your candles will sit over night, so be careful in your placement on the beach. We chose an area that was near the edge of the beach and some trees where there was not a lot of foot traffic.) Once you have...

So, life has been a little crazy. I have not been very diligent with my blog postings, but know that I'm still here. I've been on the road with training sessions, I've been doing a complete overhaul of our learning space. (Cleaning, reorganizing, etc...), and We went camping!  Here are a few pics to enjoy: Remember the great vertical gear board we saw in Cleveland? Well, here is our version I made last week! I keep forgetting to unpack the camera from my training materials, so I don't have as many photos as normal. I will however have a tutorial post coming for you very soon! The children LOVE this board. The gears are fun, but using it as a HUGE vertical geo-board has been their favorite thing to do so far. We have been spending a lot of time out in the summer sun, and finding great places for shade too! There is nothing like a swing on your belly, everyone needs to be a flying super hero once and awhile! Dane is gearing up for Boy Scout Camp. We went camping as a...

When the weather is hot and humid, nothing cools you down like some nice cold mud! The real stuff, made with real dark soil, not the kind made with sand that dries up in a jiffy... but nice ooey, gooey, sticky, wet, sloppy, mud! You know what I'm talking about.... the cold oozing kind that squishes between your toes! The kind of mud you just can't wait to tell your friends about.... so that they can come and join in on the fun! When the patch is just right, you sink a little as you play....  Standing in the muddy mess is fun, but you know that you just can't resist jumping! Because jumping and splashing in the puddles is just way too much fun! Especially when the mud splatters EVERYWHERE! Have you been playing in the mud lately?