We had a wonderful morning together. The girls enjoyed free time in centers as well as meeting Mr. George and his guitar, from the Tobin Arts Center. Outdoor Shenanigans! Several of the girls enjoyed the challenge of climbing up the slide today. As long as everyone is safe it is an awesome way to work those gross motor skills. Back inside we read a story called, Beep, Beep, Robot by Scholastic Books. It explained that most robots have gears inside which work together to make the robot go. Then we each received a paintbrush with a gear attached to make a painting of our own. They turned out beautifully! Some of the girls even chose to make several paintings. Next, we headed upstairs to meet our visitor from the Tobin Arts Center. Mr. George is a guitarist and he asked the girls to sit up nice and close so that they could see his fingers at work. He told us that he plays the guitar every day and showed us had calloused fingertips. We listened to several short songs and even got to sing along to Twinkle Twinkle and Jingle Bells, two of our favorites. Finally the time had come to meet Robot Kitty! Everyone had been asking about it all morning. I think the girls were quite amused to watch Robot Kitty do some tricks, purr, dance, and even bark like a dog!!! Next week we will only meet on Wednesday due to conferences on Friday, so we will enjoy Robots one more day. We still need to meet the Hex Bugs and build mazes for them to crawl through. Ozobot and Robot Kitty will be back for a visit too. I hope you all enjoy your weekend! See you next week.
A robot theme seems more geared to boys but this class of little girls loved all of our robot activities. We played with Alphabots (alphabet letters that transform into robots), nuts and bolts, gears, and even a real robot! It was another beautiful morning to get some fresh air! Back inside, Tootsie brought us a bag full of robot treats! We danced to a Robot Rock CD, listened to the cutest robot book, If You're A Robot and You Know It. It is a pop up book that really kept everyones attention. Then Tootsie introduced us to Ozobot, a real mini robot! We learned that Ozobot has 4 favorite colors, red, black, green, and blue. Ozobot can read these colors and follow along on a map. It is a very simple and basic coding robot. Certain combinations of the colors are commands for the robot to go right, left, spin around, speed up or slow down. It also has a little lightbulb inside that changes color according to the line it is following. The girls were in awe! We watched a demo then each had a turn to make Ozobot follow a map. Finally, we took out some markers and made our own maps for him to follow. It was an exercise in patience as well because we all needed to wait our turn with the robot. For art we made the most wonderful Robot Collages. I presented the girls with a wide array of materials to choose from and let them each design their own special robot. The final products are absolutely precious! The girls are excited about Friday! I let them know that Tootsie would be bringing Robot Kitty in for a visit. Wait until you see this amazing robot! It purrs and everything! We will also have a visit from the Tobin Arts Center. So much to look forward to!
There was a lot going on this morning. We enjoyed playing together in dramatic play, working on puzzles, playing with the fairy garden and so much more. We were delighted to see the garbage truck arrive just as we headed out to the playground. It is always a thrill to catch that big truck in action. We watched as the truck's arms lifted the trash bin up in the air to empty it. As the truck pulled away the driver was sure to give us a honk on the horn. Then we were able to go about our play. On Monday's when the Owl class does not meet, I teach the Life Skills Class at school with Ms. Lindy. We spend time in the kitchen cooking up special snacks or working on exciting science experiments. So if your daughter is going to come 3 days a week next year, we will still be able to work together on Mondays. Today we took a little "field trip" over to the Life Skills Kitchen to make some Hot Cocoa to enjoy. Everyone loved it! Back in the classroom we enjoyed some fine motor work with chocolate flavored play dough. Unfortunately, some of our play time was interrupted by a fire drill but the girls handled it with grace. No tears and we all followed directions and made it safely out of the building. Next week will be Robot Week. It is probably one of my favorite weeks all year. We will learn a fun robot dance and I will be bringing in a few real robots to work with. These budding young scientists will love it! Hope you all enjoy your weekend. See you next Wednesday.
We had a wonderful morning welcoming our newest Owl to the nest. Our room was full of excitement as the girls found a hot cooca stand in the dramatic play area and a fairy play set on the back table. We also enjoyed exploring the many hot cocoa themed activities that were available during our center time. Temperatures were perfect to play outside without the bulky coats we are used to in January. The girls are getting more comfortable with the new climbing structures and beginning to challenge themselves with some of the more difficult climbing and balance work. Back inside we sat down to the big table together to try and draw our self portraits. We discussed that we all have two eyes, one nose, a mouth, two ears and hair. I distributed mirrors and pencils and everyone got to work. Some of the girls really enjoyed making faces at themselves. Such works of art! We also tried out hand a painting some cocoa in a mug and topping it with some stamped marshmallows. We had a little more time in centers before lunch. I am looking forward to Friday where we will be able to sample some hot cocoa. We will also graph which way we prefer our cocoa, with or without marshmallows. Our newest little Owl had a wonderful first day and the girls really helped make her feel welcomed.
The girls had a wonderful morning playing ice cream shop and creating some mouth watering ice cream designs in art. We continued exploring the new playground. The girls have come a long way in their climbing capabilities and confidence since the beginning of the year. This new playscape offers many more opportunities to challenge themselves. They are so proud to be able to tackle some of these obstacles on their own. During art we created some sticker ice cream creations. We also mixed up some homemade puffy paint with some shaving cream, glue, and paint. The girls then used it to paint their own amazing frozen treats. In all the business of the end of the day I totally missed taking pictures of the birthday girl. We enjoyed a lovely birthday brownie and some balloons. One more to go and we will all be 3! Next week is Hot Cocoa Week. There will be a Cocoa Shop in Dramatic Play and we will be welcoming a new Owl friend. I hope everyone enjoys the long weekend. See you next Wednesday. What a fabulous morning the girls had. We enjoyed ice cream themed activities all day. The Ice Cream Shop in Dramatic Play was a huge hit! I ate more pretend ice cream today than I care to admit. And so did every person that came to our door. Our sensory table was full of water beads, cones, bowls, and ice cream scoopers. Since this is the first time we have used this sensory material we gathered around the tub and discussed some rules. Water beads are not for our mouths. We also need to do our best to keep them in the tub because if they land on the floor they get dirty and we have to throw them away. I also asked the girls to please not crush they water beads. It just gets really messy and then it is not as much fun to play with. Everyone did a great job listening to the rules and really enjoyed scooping the water beads and feeling them slip through their fingers. The new playground is now officially opened and we went out a little early to get some extra time to explore the amazing playscape. There are some challenging areas to climb and some pretty swift slides. The girls had a blast and can't wait to get out there again on Friday. So many great pictures today it was hard to decide which to post! During our story time we played a little gross motor game, Pass the Ice Cream. Each student had a paper cone and had to pass the ice cream to their partner without touching it. Lots of giggles as we played. We also did a little work on building our name, with an ice cream twist. We are beginning to focus on numbers and counting. Everyone can count to ten well but now we will work on recognizing numerals in print. Today we worked together as a group to build some number towers. We used unifix cubes to build towers based on numerals in print. For example, if we saw a 4, we would count out 4 cubes, link them together and stand the tower up. Next we would read the numeral 2, count out two cubes and stand that tower up. Now we could visually see the difference between 4 and 2. We could tell which tower had more and which had less. Counting to ten is great first step. Now we need to begin linking some meaning to those numbers through our play. We also got some exciting news today. We will have a new Owl joining the bunch next week. Yes, another girl! She is sure to fit right in and have an instant group of gal pals.
Friday, I will have a sign up sheet available for conference times. Conferences are on Friday, Feb. 3. There will be no classes that day but child care will be available during our meeting time. Let me know if you have any specific concerns prior to our meeting and I will be sure to address them. See you all Friday! There will be plenty more Ice Cream inspired adventures for everyone. We had so much fun today! The girls continued to enjoy the Smoothie Shop and centers. We also painted on ice, made insta-snow, and had an epic snowball fight! During art time, we made some unique ice paintings. Each student was given a large ice slab to paint as they saw fit with watercolors. Because this is not an art piece that can be sent home we were sure to take a picture with our creations before they melted away. Once we cleaned up it was time for our snowball fight. We divided into two teams and began lobbing snowballs in each others directions. So much fun! Even Ms. Amanda got in on the action. A video clip will be sent in the GroupMe app so you can see just how silly we all were. One of our friends brought in some insta-snow to share. So we mixed up a batch and took it outside to play with. It was fun to try and trace our letters in, make shapes, and eventually try some snow angels with our hands. Everyone loved sharing this sensory experience. It was an exciting day. Next week will be Ice Cream Week. I know the girls are going to love the ice cream shop that will be set up in Dramatic Play. The new playground should also officially be open next week and we have all been eagerly anticipating the fun we will have outside. Have a nice weekend. See you all next Wednesday!
The girls were so happy to be together today. They jumped right into our new theme, Ice Week. We had several new centers to explore as well as a Smoothie Shop set up in the dramatic play area. The Smoothie Shop was a big hit. The girls whipped up some interesting concoctions. I think their favorites were blueberry and strawberry smoothies. Overheard in the Smoothie Shop... "This is so healthy for you." "I like to mix juice, strawberries, and ice." "Can you help me make this thing (blender) work." "Smoothies for sale! Come get one." "Sometimes when I make it the ice is still chunky." "I really don't like the green ones. Pink is the best." "You have to mix it all together and then add ice." During art today we made a 2023 collage. Everyone enjoyed working with the glue and picking out special sequins to add to their 2023 sign. The girls had fun engaging in our first science experiment of the year. We were challenged with seeing who could melt their ice cube the fastest. Each student was given a tray and a large ice cube, table salt, rock salt, a cup of water, a spoon, and a pipette. It was up to them to try and figure out the best way to melt the ice. It was fun to watch them tinker away. Some put their cube in the water and added salt. Others left their cube on the tray and covered it in salt, then dripped water over the pile with their pipette. The exploration went on for over 30 minutes. We will continue the fun on Friday. The girls are excited to learn some new songs in Chapel and we will be painting on a slab on ice for art. Hopefully everyone will be healthy enough to join us. See you Friday!
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Why Blog?Here you will find little snippets of our days together. When my children were in preschool and would come home I would always ask, "So, what did you do today?". All they ever said was, "Played." That didn't tell me much. I hope this blog will be a place to share what we have done and help you ask more directed questions of your child. You will see first hand just what we do after you kiss your little one goodbye in the morning. It will also be a great place to visit and see just how much your child has grown and learned throughout the year. Archives
March 2024
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