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!

"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!

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.

Let's Make Rainbows

We began Morning Meeting singing Come and Sing With Me shaking the dried up gourds and following the movements of the teachers by humming, stretching, and clapping along. Brandon noticed that Scarlett's picture was upside down on the Who's At Buckle My Shoe Today Chart. The other children thought this was so funny that they moved too placed their pictures upside down and sideways. Then we read Silly Sally.

Scarlett and Lili requested that we go on a dragon hunt. We put on our dragon hunting boots, and our dragon hunting caps, made sure we had our flashlights and were off on our adventure. When we returned from our hunt, the children worked with clay. They pounded, rolled, cut, and added pipe cleaners and recycled materials as they manipulated the clay.

After French with Deborah, the children requested to make squeeze paint in glue bottles to make "rainbows". Then we guessed the letters of our friends names as we transitioned to lunch.

"If All Of the Snowflakes Were Chocolate Bars and Milk Shakes"

The children arrived at school this morning excited by the snow. "It's snowing outside!" they exclaimed as they entered the classroom all bundled. Last week the children noticed that the gourds dried up and make a sound when they shake them. We began Morning Meeting stretching out bodies as we reached up to the sky and woke up our bodies as we sang  Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes. Then we passed the gourds and took turns shaking them. Scarlett  noticed that one gourd did not dry up and did not make a sound. "Hey, this is one quiet!" Then we shook our gourds together as we listened to Polly Wolly Doodle. Then we read Silly Sally.

During Free Play, the children played in the sand box, with the red flubber in the sensory table. Hudson and Scarlett worked with clay. Then we played in the school bus. Before lunch, we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar and sang The Beehive Song, Sambalae, and If All Of the Raindrops Were Lemon Drops and Gum Drops. Next, we took turns guessing who's name starts with which letter.

Look Up At The Rainbow!

Jacob brought the book Freight Train by David Crews to share with the class and we read it during snack. "I have that book at home," Harry said. We began Morning Meeting playing instruments as we listened to Subway Train by The Imagination Workshop. Then we looked at some pictures of the rainbow we see in the classroom. Next, Jenny showed the children how she painted wooden beads with red watercolor. Then the children watched and counted as she strung eight beads on one at a time. The children chose what color they wanted to paint their beads. Lili and Scarlett chose orange, Harry: yellow, Jamie: silvery white, and Brandon: blue.

The children painted wooden beads with watercolor they chose at Morning Meeting. Brandon figured out quickly that if he submerged his bead in the watercolor, he could cover the bead quickly, and paint more than one rather than use a brush to paint one at a time. The children soon discovered this technique as well. The next step was to sting the beads onto a pipe cleaner.

The children had so much fun with Lakshmi as they stretched and hopped. They sang Down, Down Baby and swam like duckies in the pond.

During Free Play, the children played in the sandbox and with play dough. Harry painted at the easel. Brandon, Lili, and Jamie collaged with glue, paint, and reycebles. We read Skyfire by Frank Asch during story. The children giggled when the bear in the story dumped a bucket of water on the rainbow.