FFF: Apples, Apples Everywhere!

Hello Parents,

There are so many fun fall postings around the web lately, and well, even though we don’t enjoy fall weather in South Florida we still want to enjoy some delicious fall eats. Here are two fabulous apple snack and lunch ideas you can make for your kids, straight from the Babble Family Kitchen (can you tell we’ve been loving that blog lately?).

First up: Homemade Apple Chip Snacks

What you’ll need:
2 large apples (Gala or Idared work well)
2 Tbsp. sugar (or to taste)
1 tsp. cinnamon

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 200˚F.

Thinly slice apples crosswise about 1/8-inch thick with a mandoline or sharp knife. Arrange apple slices in a single layer on two parchment-lined rimmed baking sheets.

In small bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon. Put mixture into a sieve and sprinkle evenly over apple slices.

Bake in the top and bottom third of the oven until apples are dry and crisp, about 2 hours. Remove from oven and let ‘chips’ cool completely before transferring to a sealed container for up to 3 days.

Makes about 2 cups apple chips.

Next up: Peanut Butter Apple Sandwiches

What you’ll need: {1 apple makes 2-3 sandwiches depending on how thick you slice your apples}
apple – sliced & cores removed
approximately 1 tablespoon per sandwich peanut butter
approximately 1 teaspoon per sandwich chocolate chips – optional

Instructions:
1. Spread peanut butter onto apple circle. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Place another apple circle on top. Press gently to seal.

2. Continue until you have desired amount of sandwiches.

Be sure to leave us comments and let us know if you have any favorite go-to recipes that your kids love.

Fun Learning!
CBLC Midtown

WW: Money Talk

Hello Parents,

Today’s Weekend Wednesday post comes to us from The Kid’s Learning Station. Wouldn’t it be nice if our kids knew the value of money? Here is a great activity you can do with the kids to start teaching them about coins, and early math activities, we have a few free printable worksheets found here that you can download and start playing, you can also click on the link below that will take you to our Google Drive for access to these and other free printables.

Free Money Counting Printables from The Kid’s Learning Station

Be sure to let them keep the coins after you’re done playing so they can start their own savings account!

What you’ll need:
Break open that piggy bank, and sort out small stacks of coins in each value denomination.
Print our the free worksheets

      

At this rate the kids will be buying the parents dinner by next week!

Fun Learning!
CBLC Midtown

Birthday Fun: David Turns 1!

Hello Parents,

Seems it’s birthday month at Cherry Blossom and we are lucky to celebrate with some great kids and their families. We are so proud of all the kids growing up with us! Last Thursday, September 13, it was David’s birthday in our infant classroom; we couldn’t let the week go by without sharing photos with you and wishing him a great year as an official toddler! Happy Birthday David!!!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

More photos will be coming your way from Snapfish soon!

Fun Learning!
CBLC Midtown

Birthday Fun: Stellan Turns 2!

Hello Parents,

We wanted to take a quick moment of your day to share photos from Stellan’s birthday on Friday, September 14. Stellan is in our Toddler I class and just turned two! We hope every day is happy and full of love for him. Happy Birthday Stellan!!!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Stay tuned to another post in a little while with photos from David’s birthday in the infant classroom. Our kids are growing up so fast!

Fun Learning!
CBLC Midtown

Fun Photos: Toddler II and Pre-K 3

Hello Parents,

Here are some fun photos from the Toddler II and Pre-K 3 classes to get your week started off with a smile. Remember there are more photos on the Snapfish albums, so be sure to check them out. Leave us a comment if you need access to the private albums.

Toddler II working on numbers & Pre-K 3 Learning French

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Fun Learning!
CBLC Midtown

WW and FFF: =) Activities and Food all in one post

Hello Parents,

Our apologies for not posting the Weekend Wednesday activity on Wednesday, but today we’ll give you a fun activity for the kids, and a great snack to keep them happy and well fed this weekend.

The kids love story time at school, and we are sure they love it at home, so here are some fun bookmarks you can download and have them color [download bookmarks set 1 and set 2]. They’ll love seeing you mark the page with their art! Bookmarks provided by Squidoo, you can get more printable bookmarks here.

After story time you can give the kids a fun and healthy snack, Cucumber Snakes, and they’re so easy to make. The Cucumber Snake snack idea was posted by on Babble’s Family Kitchen, and it’s as fun to eat as it to make.  See the what you’ll need below as originally posted on Babble.

cucumber snake with carrots and ranch dressing

Cucumber “Snakes” 

What you’ll need:
1 cucumber – sliced
olives or capers – for the “eye”
roasted red bell pepper – for the “tongue”
ranch dressing – for dipping sauce

What to do:
1. Cut your cucumber slices in half. Arrange 8 pieces per “snake”. Place an olive/caper for the eye. Place slice of bell pepper for tongue. Continue until desired amount of “snakes” are made.

2. Serve with ranch dressing to dip.

Stay tuned to the blog this weekend, photos of the kids will be posted. Remember you also have access to the photo albums on Snapfish. If you have not received an invitation let us know in the comments section.

Fun Learning!
CBLC Midtown

Birthday Fun: Anabella is 4!

Hello Parents,

Last Wednesday, September 5, we celebrated Anabela’s birthday in the VPK classroom; shame on us for not posting sooner, but we couldn’t let another day pass without wishing her a fantastic year ahead! Remember to head on over to the Snapfish album to see more photos from the celebration!

Fun Learning!
CBLC Midtown

MM: Cherry Blossom on WordPress and Happy Birthday Francesca!

Hello Parents,

We have lots of great things to share with you in this week’s Marvelous Monday post.

First of all we want to wish Francesca a very happy birthday! She turned four on Sunday, September 2, and we celebrated in her VPK classroom last week.

Happy 4th Birthday Francesca!

Photos! We know how much you all love our photo postings, and we have great news for you, all the 2012-13 school year photos are available on Snapfish. From now on the photos will be organized by year, month, classroom, birthdays, and special activities. So there will be fewer albums to search through, and you can find the one you want either alphabetically or chronologically.

Every parent should have received an invitation to view the Snapfish albums. If you did not receive one, please leave us a comment or email us.

Lastly, our blog is moving! You will be able to find all the postings for the 2012-13 school year dating back to August 20, 2012 on our new WordPress blog, Cherry Blossom Midtown. Although Blogger worked well while we all got used to the blogosphere, we feel WP allows us to better organize and categorize the postings for your ease of reading. Blogs are categorized by the following topics: General (housekeeping), Photos (by classroom), Marvelous Mondays, Weekend Wednesday, and Fun Food Friday.

New WordPress Blog: Cherry Blossom Midtown
New Photo Hosting: Snapfish

*Note: All the postings and photos for summer 2012 will continue to be available through the Google apps: Blogger & Picasa.

Fun Learning!
CBLC Midtown

FFF: Peanut Butter and Honey Lego Sandwiches

Hello Parents,

Today’s Fun Food Friday is an interestingly different take on your regular PB&J (peanut butter & jelly) sandwich. Searching the fabulous blog posts we receive, we came across a fun new sandwich: Peanut Butter & Honey Lego Lunch Sandwich, on Bable’s The Family Kitchen. Lots of fun to make and eat, but be warned, we can’t guarantee your kid won’t want to play with the food before eating it!

What you’ll need:

5 slices soft whole wheat bread (or desired sandwich bread of choice)
peanut butter
honey

How to make them:

1. Make two peanut butter and honey sandwiches with 4 of the bread slices. Cut off the crusts and cut the sandwiches into 2 x 3-inch rectangles.

2. With the remaining piece of bread cut out small circles to serve as the top of the lego. I used an apple corer, it makes perfect circles! Swipe the bottom of each circle with a little bit of peanut butter and press them gently on top of the bread. Serve!

Fun Learning!
CBLC Midtown

WWW: Glue Tracing

Hello Parents,

Today’s weekend craft comes from No Time For Flashcards. To continue working with letters and strengthen the tracing skills, this weekend we’ll get the kids tracing with glue. Most of you should already have the tools at home.

The Glue Tracing activity below has the kids working on their alphabet, but this works just the same with shapes and numbers, so get creative and start tracing! See materials and instructions below as originally posted here.

Gather your materials. You will need some paper ( heavy is better so the glue won’t seep through if they use a little too much), a marker and glue.

Start by writing letters , making shapes , numbers or even just designs.

Hand them the glue and have them trace.

If it’s too tricky grab some new paper and make the letters larger.
Let dry and trace and feel them with your fingers!

Fun Learning!

CBLC Midtown