Friday, January 31, 2014

We Have A Lot to Celebrate!

Our morning was filled lots with celebration: celebrating your children's work with our portfolio share, celebrating Dashiell as we welcome her into the Sweet Peas Class, and celebrating Nico's 3rd birthday together.

After our Portfolio Sharing Breakfast, we had Yoga with Lakshmi. The children stretched and followed her different movements as we sang. Then we did all of Nico's favorite activities. We had a dance party to The Goldfish Song and We Are the Dinosaurs by the Larie Berkner Band and jumped around to We Found Love. Then we painted with pink and purple watercolor, played with play dough, went on a dragon hunt, dug in the sandbox, and read Going On A Bear Hunt

Before lunch, we gave Nico her card and present (a button collage entitled "Nico's Necklace"). The we ate lunch, sang Happy Birthday, and ate delicious cupcakes!













Thursday, January 30, 2014

BMS ROCKS!

We began our morning dancing with Elizabeth. Scarlett painted a crown for Nico using a mixture of blue watercolor, tempera paint, and sparkles.Then we collaged with different shapes, colored paper, and paint. Max, Hudson, and Brandon added buttons to Nico's birthday present.

We had our very first band practice with the Daisies and the Sunflowers classes.  Featuring Max Berger on the shakers! Sam Marks our the triangles! Scarlett Driver on the maracas! Brandon Su and Eli Kaplan an on the cymbals! Jake Matsusaka on guitar! And Hudson Lewis on drums! We took turns playing solos and then rocked out to I Can't Get No Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones and Help by The Beatles. Our first band practice went great and we are looking forward to "jammin'" again soon. 

It was nice to play with play dough together with the other classes. Then we had a quiet reflective meeting and sang Aikendrum. Today rocked!






Jake is showing Hudson his guitar!





Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Happy Day!

Jacob and Harry began their morning working with the gears with Jenny. During snack, we talked about how Nico is turning three years and we are celebrating her birthday on Friday! We had a discussion about what activities Nico likes to do in school with her friends. 

"I want to dance to The Goldfish Song" said Nico. "I want dance to the dinosaurs", Scarlett told her. "Well, how about we dance to The Goldfish and then the dinosaurs," Nico suggested. 

So on Friday, we are having a dance party, working on a pink and purple watercolor painting, playing with play dough, Going on a Dragon Hunt, and reading Nico's favorite book Going On a Bear Hunt. It will be so much fun!

For Project Work, we worked on our Popsicle stick, glue, and paint collage. While Lili, Nico, and Scarlett,were working, we noticed that they were covering their hands with paint. So at a different  table we put out white paper and provided them with the opportunity to finger paint. First, they made hand prints which then transformed to them using their finger tips to make marks!

During Free Play, the children dug in the sandbox, built with blocks, and played with red play dough. Harry, Scarlett, Jacob, and Lili worked on a portrait to give to Nico for her birthday using buttons which they titled "Nico's Necklace."

We had French with Deborah. Before lunch, we counted and matched numbers singing Seven Little Ducks. What a happy day!

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Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Building: Friendships and Structures

Max and Jenny began the day playing with trucks and trains. When Hudson arrived, he made a drum set using the pots and cups in the kitchen and began to play .When Scarlett arrived she said "Jenny, Hudson is playing too loud." "Okay, Scarlett. Let's ask Hudson if he can play softly." Scarlett walked over to Hudson and said, " You are playing too loud. Can you play quietly?" And so Hudson being such a wonderful and kind friend listened to her words and tapped softly. "Thank you, Hudson" said Scarlett.

After snack, Max walked over to the blocks and said, "Max is going to build a tunnel." Max worked very hard and built a tunnel. When Hudson finished his snack, he walked over. "I want to help Max." They added blocks to the tunnel. Max then pretended the elephant was going through the tunnel. Hudson did the same with the gorilla. 

Scarlett came over and said, “I am going to build New York all by myself.” She built her structure using pillars, cylinders, triangles, and square blocks. Then she placed blue material from the basket on top. “Nobody touch my work. This blue says don’t touch my work. I live in New York. These are buildings and it's light.”

At Morning Meeting we played "the bells" (cymbals) to Come On and Sing With Me. The children had so much fun following the teachers directions as they sang along and moved their bodies. Then we sang London Bridge. Scarlett was in charge of the "Who's At Buckle My Shoe Chart." She held the chart while her friends moved their pictures and pointed to the "Days of the Week" as we sang. 

The children collaged with glue, Popsicle sticks, and paint. Then we dug in the sandbox, made play dough, and pretended to make birthday cakes with it . What a very busy  and amazing morning!













Monday, January 27, 2014

"Evan, It's So Great To See You!"

The children eased into their morning eating snack while the teachers read Nothing Stick Likes A Shadow by Ann Lampert. Then we sat down for Morning Meeting. Lili took Bear Shadow by Frank Asch off the bookshelf. She pretended to be the teacher and "read" to her friends while they sat and listened. Then we sang, shook our instruments, moved our bodies, and hummed our hums to Come On and Sing With Me. Next, we greeted our friends by shaking each other's hands and saying "Good Morning." 

When Evan entered the classroom for Music, Harry greeted him by saying "Evan, it's so great to see you! We haven't seen you in such a long time. Can we sing Wake Up very quietly?" And so we did. Then we sang The Wheels On the Bus and Evan showed us his "magic wish spinner." We sang Happy Birthday to Evan. It's his birthday on Thursday!

Then we drew together with markers and played in the sandbox. Today we had Yoga with Lakshmi. Because of parent teacher conferences on Friday we have Yoga twice this week!









Thursday, January 23, 2014

Hooray For Thursday

We began our morning singing, humming, stretching, clapping our hands, and moving our bodies as Jenny sang Come and Sing With Me. We also sang Days of the Week and Hooray For Thursday. Next, the teachers had a surprise material for the children to investigate: BUBBLE WRAP! We touched the material with our hands by rubbing red, orange, green, blue, and purple paint on. Hudson said, "It feels  nice."  We hung our work in the classroom and made a rainbow! Then of course then we danced and jumped on the bubble wrap giggling each time we heard a loud "POP"!

We had dance with Elizabeth. Then we dug in the sandbox together. Scarlett and Brandon built with blocks. Before lunch, we played a counting and matching game with numbers and rubber ducks. Upon request we read Bear's Shadow and Skyfire by Frank Asch.