Friday, January 4

Wow, January already! It seems like just last week was the very first day of school. Laura and I would just like to welcome all of you back and of course welcome our new parents as well. We hope you all enjoyed your holidays with your loved ones.

This week our friends did an awesome job transitioning back to our regular schedule and routines. There was so much love in 1A Wednesday, children kept asking for one another and gave lots of hugs and kisses! Our main focus for this short week was cars since of course children have shown a tremendous interest in this topic. We continued to drive our recycling bins and crib as cars/trains.

This week children were given a material to pop the bubble wrap, with this children observed that we can pop the bubbles with not only our fingers/hand and feet but also with cars! Children also observed whether there was a difference when moving the car slow and fast. It was evident that they preferred to move the car fast since so many bubbles popped!

We also connected the train tracks (this time on the table, from one end to another.) The shape of the train tracks really caught their attention, we also incorporated LEGO bridges (Which our friend Stand was fascinated by)

On Thursday our friends drove their cars on a letter road. The letter A and B were written/drawn as train tracks on a piece of paper. Children were then encouraged to drive their car on the letter road while doing this we explained what letter their road was and how many lines/Circles it had. This activity is great not only for letter recognition but also for numeracy and shapes.

We painted with cars to observe the different prints they left behind (again). The first time we did this activity we displayed the paper on the floor, Laura and I realized that this set up could of confused the children. This time our set up was different, two poster boards and only four cars were set up. Children then picked a color/paint and were encouraged to drive their cars! We observed so many different prints for example the small trains left thin line prints behind while the big train left thick prints behind.

Finally on Friday we explored shaving cream and cars in our sensory bin, some of our friends weren’t interested in this activity since it was really messy! Although others really enjoyed driving the cars and getting messy!

We also went to park to enjoy the sunny day, while at the park we played catch! We first mentioned a child’s name e.g “Antoine, we are going to catch you, Antoine better run, We are going to catch you here we come” After this sentence Antoine would run while his other friends ran after him!

Reminders/Upcoming:

• Winter curriculum brunch (February 22)

Feel better Una and Laura!

Thursday, December 20

Our friends Millie, Antoine and Una mixing the ingredients together.

Song’s we sang this week:

• The wheels on the bus

• Twinkle Twinkle little star

• Days of the week

• Today is..

• Good morning

• Hello how are you

• Jump in the water

• Rudolf the Rednosed reindeer

• Jingle Bells

• cascabel

  Among many others.

This week:

This week our friends worked very hard on their Christmas cards! Some friends decided to use a brush while others decided to make lines with their fingers. Children were also given the option whether to add glitter, they then picked the glitter of their choice and sprinkled it onto their paper! Not to mention during this activity children actively worked on their fine motor skills, color mixing was evident along with verbal communication.

We also worked on a very special project, during this project children mixed blue and silver paint! We observed the difference it makes when we mix glitter onto the paint rather then sprinkling it on to the canvas. Most children preferred to sprinkle the glitter!

Making Brownies:

During our cooking experience children learn, develop and enjoy themselves so much. There are many reasons and benefits of cooking such as:

Mathematics skills: Counting, addition, multiplication, ratios, fractions, measurements, timing etc are a fundamental part of cooking.

Science in action: Cooking really is a science! What happens when you heat up butter? What happens when you add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients? Cooking allows children to explore many fascinating interactions between different substances.

Following instructions: Following a recipe is an excellent way for children to practice following instructions. 

Language and vocabulary: Cooking is a great way to introduce new words, phrases and concepts to children

Friday, December 14

The Holiday Party was a blast! The 1A children as well as the teachers are so grateful for all the generosity that the families have shown! We have enjoyed decorating the cookies and of course the baking! We had a special time with Santa and Mrs. Claus. Laura and I are feeling especially fortunate to have met all of the 1A families this year. We thank you once again for your support and trust! We will continue to make more and more fun memories with them!!

Friday, December 7

-Our friends inside the “car”

Songs we sang this week:

• Hello, How Are You?

• Good morning

• Five little Monkeys

• The Wheels On the Bus

• If You’re Happy and You Know it

• Where is “Child’s name”

• Baby Shark

• Open Shut Them

• Mr. Sun

• Days Of The week

• Row, Row, Row Your boat

• This Old man

• Buenos Dias

This Week:

We have noticed that there has been a tremendous interest on the recycling bins. It began months ago when our friend Dillon began using the bin as a car making sounds such as “Beep, Beep” or “Choo-choo.” He then invited friends to join in by saying their name followed by “come”. All of our friends have now grown a tremendous interest. At the beginning they first pushed the recycling bins empty, after several days they gradually began adding objects such as, animals, babies and puppets as their passengers. This week our friends decided to incorporate their own bodies inside the bins! This was extremely fun for them, within a few minutes they created their own game! Their game consisted of hiding inside the bin when asked “Where is Child’s name” they popped out of the bin.

Our friends were really curious Wednesday morning when they realized the balls were no longer in the ball pit! Friends decided to integrate the animals and food in the morning. Later on the day this box turned into a car and train! While friends sat inside the box a lot of dialogue took place,

Teacher: “What are we in?”

Friends responded: “beep, beep”

Teacher: “Oh, a car goes beep beep, are we inside a car?”

Friends: “Yea”

Teacher: “Oh okay, where should we go”

Dillon: “Train”

Alejandra then pushed the box to our destination, when we got there the children were told,

Teacher: “okay friends, we are at the train, where should we go now?”

Cleo: “Super”

Una: “Park!”

Teacher: “Okay, are we going to buy food?

should we buy food before we go to the park”

Cleo: “Yea”

Una: “Yea”

After several minutes all of our friends gradually joined in and rode inside the car and/or train with us!

Making Play-Dough: Our friends also made play-dough! We first mixed flour with cream of tartar, then added salt. Our friends helped pour the ingredients inside the bowl and then mix! We then voted on a color for the play-dough, purple won. Our friends surely enjoyed this sensory exploration.

Socioemotional Skills through play-dough: Play-dough provides a lot of open-ended opportunities for children to experience independent and cooperative play. In both styles of play, children are exploring abilities, life experiences, and emotions. During play with others (either an adult or child) children are learning about cooperation, collaboration, self-control, and friendships. 

Sensorimotor: play dough is a stress reliever. 

Elephant Toothpaste: For this experiment we used:

Yeast, food coloring, water, dish soap and hydrogen peroxide.

Our friends helped us mix the yeast and water, food coloring and squeeze dish soap inside the tube. We then all observed the chemical reaction! All these ingredients created a foamy substance.

Reminders:

• 12/11: Giving Tree presents are due

• 12/13: 3:30: What to expect: This is a great opportunity to introduce yourselves and get to know more of our BMS educators!

•  12/13: Our holiday party will be at 4pm, Santa will be visiting each classroom!

• BMS is closed from Dec 21-Jan 1 for Winter break

• Also, Laura and I are doing our best to go outside everyday. We go to the park during the morning every Monday. We do try to take a walk every day.

  We are kindly asking you to bring a sweater, jacket, gloves, hat, and scarf for your child, these items can be left in your child’s cubby. Thank you!
  
  
  
  

Friday, November 30

-Our friend Millie exploring tempera paint.

Songs we sang this week:

• Hello How Are You

• The wheels on the bus

• Twinkle Twinkle little star

• ABC’s

• Good Morning

• Five Little Monkeys

• Open shut them

• Old McDonald had a Farm

• If You’re Happy..

• Head Shoulders Knees and Toes

• Bumble Bee

• Days Of the Week

Highlights:

This week children explored paint in a different setting, we observed their different reactions painting in a room with dimmed lights while also listening to slow/ relaxed music. We first encouraged children to explore finger paint, we noticed that being in this setting helped children feel relaxed and take their time with their art work! Four different colors were displayed on plastic plates, red, blue, yellow and white. Some friends painted using their fingertips only. While others enjoyed scooping the finger paint, squeezing it and observing it in between their fingers. Finger paint is different from tempera paint since it has a different texture, it is gooey and heavier! When we were all done we had so many different colors on the plates such as orange, grey, olive green, and a hint of purple!

We also explored tempera paint in this same setting, we turned off all the lights and only left the rope lights on. Children were given the colors; Green, purple, white and orange . We then encouraged children to paint while also naming the colors and its texture, i.e: How does the paint feel? does it feel wet? I see that your painting has long blue lines. Sometimes we wait to see if the child has a responds or reaction since interrupting may interfere with the painting process.

Our friends began our class college, we first displayed glue for children to explore and of course a paintbrush (just in case we had friends that didn’t like the texture.) While their glue exploration we sang the song “If You’re Happy and You Know it Clap Your hands” Some children seemed very shocked when they felt their hands stick together while other children enjoyed clapping their hands and the feeling. Other friends also tapped the paper, when they observed the paper sticking to their hand they responded “Oh No” while others said “Uh-Oh.” We then gave children paper to glue onto a poster board. We will re-visit our collage since we noticed that some children confused it with paint and used the paint brush to paint onto the poster board, next time we will try cups!

Thank you all so much for joining us for our curriculum breakfast and for those yummy treats. We enjoyed your company and sharing our curriculum with you, we hope you enjoyed it as well! Next week we will begin using paint to express our feelings and emotions. Also, if you can all please email us pictures from thanksgiving that will be great! We would like to make a book to include in our library for children to have available at all times. Diane, our cooking teacher is also asking each child to bring one orange for our special cooking activity, Next week we will have cooking on Monday. Have a great weekend!

Friday, November 21

“Beep, Beep”

— Our friends Una, Dillon and Millie

Our friends continue to expand their imagination by using our chairs as cars and/or trains. At first it was our friend Dillon and Una whom enjoyed this game, but more friends are gradually joining in as Una and Dillon invite them to play.

Songs we’ve sang through out this week:

• Bumble Bee

• The wheels on the bus

• Old McDonald’s Farm

• Itsy Bitsy Spider

• Days of the week

• Today is..

• Hello How Are You

• Good morning

• Baby Shark

• Head Shoulders Knees and Toes

• Open shut them

• ABC’s

• Five Little Monkeys

• skidamarink

Highlights:

On Monday we took a trip to the park, while at the park we noticed that some of our friends were really interested in the pigeons! Our friends chased the pigeons while also attempting to pet it, of course, some of our friends also ran away from the pigeons in attempt to get away from them! Other friends also showed an interest towards the tree’s and their rough texture some children patted the tree while also rubbing their hands on it.

On Tuesday we also took a trip to the park, this time we practiced our sharing skills. We practiced sharing by taking turns with the ball along with throwing/kicking the ball to another peer, activities like this help children practice the art of sharing. While at the park our friend Millie tripped over the ball and fell! Our friends immediately ran over to Millie while also saying “Oh no!” They comforted her by giving gentle touches and lots of kisses! Our friend Dillon was so exhausted from all the running that he threw himself on the ground! Una immediately ran over to him and gave him lots of gentle touches!

We also read the book “Una The Unicorn who Loves to dance” our friend Una was very excited when she heard her name! She showed this by giving us a smile while pointing to the book, her peers giggled while saying “Una” and pointing over to Una.

On Wednesday we had a very busy day! After our morning snack we took a walk to whole foods, where we bought apples, crescent rolls and cinnamon! We then went back to school where we got to work and made/baked our apple pie bites. We first displayed the sliced apples on plates along with the crescent rolls. We then encouraged children to place apples on the crescent rolls and sprinkle cinnamon onto them. After placing these two ingredients we then rolled the crescent rolls, our friends sure enjoyed this step! We then placed our apple pies in the oven. While they were in the oven our friends had lunch, when they were all done with lunch they enjoyed their apple pie bites ! Yum! After sitting down and enjoying our dessert as a family we then walked around the school and shared our apple pie bites with other teachers.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and a great four day weekend!! We would also like to remind you that we will have a curriculum breakfast next Friday.

Thank you all so much for being awesome parents!

Friday, November 16

-Una and Dillon sharing the gym mat

Throughout the course of this week we have worked on sharing by asking for items we may want to use by saying please and thank you. We have also practiced using our gentle hands on each other, communicating our feelings and the different ways we can express them while also keeping ourselves and friends safe.

Songs we sang during morning meeting:

• The wheels on the bus

• Head Shoulders knees and toes

• Hello How Are You?

  Good morning

• If You’re Happy and You Know It

• Open Shut Them

• Where is Thumb man?

• Five Little Ducks

• Row Row Your Boat

• The Itsy Bitsy SPider

Highlights:

Our friends enjoyed making foam dough! We mixed three cups of shaving cream and one cup of cornstarch. Children helped us dump these materials into the bowl and then explored freely.

We also took a trip to whole foods, we all voted on what treats to buy. Of course our friends voted on banana’s and cheerios!

Thank you all so much for taking your time to come and meet with us. We really appreciate the time you took off to meet with Laura and I. We really appreciated talking to all of you and sharing all the great things your child has been doing and their growth! Please email us if you have any other questions or concern

Friday, November 9

“Our friends Antoine and Dillon resting their bodies in the cozy cove”

Social-Emotional:

There have been a lot of important conversations in our classroom. On a daily basis we provide children with daily routines, reasonable limits and exploration in order to help children with their social-emotional growth. We have also talked about emotions and what we should do whenever something happens in the classroom such as “____ seems to be sad, can we give __ a gentle touch to help her/him feel better” (while also showing them what a gentle touch is) or “___ seems to be upset, I think he/she would like to be alone. You can go in the cozy cove and read a book or hold on to a puppet.” As educators we label the emotions for children and show them that it is okay to feel angry, upset, frustrated, or silly as long as we express it in a safe way. We demonstrate children the different ways we can express and regulate our emotions.

“Our friends Dillon and Una giving each other a gentle hug”

During the course of this week we have also worked on patience! We have implemented projects that rely on patience such as waiting for our turn. We all know how difficult it can be to wait, therefore the wait isn’t long. We typically sing a song while we wait and explain to each child that when the song is over it will be his/her turn. After this we praise children for waiting so patiently, i.e., “wow ___ I love the way you’ve been waiting; I’m so proud of you, high five!”

“Our friends playing guitars while they patiently wait to wash their hands”

We have also been working on sharing, and saying please and thank you rather than just saying more or snatching things from a friend. For example, “____ if you want to have a turn you have to ask for it using your words, can you say ___ can I please play with it.” Children usually just say “please” and reach their hand out. The child then gives him/her the toy and we ask the other child to say thank you and of course we praise both children for using their words and sharing! If the other child decides not to share we usually say “__ he/she is still playing with it, so we have to wait. Should we play with something else while we wait?” We also give the other child a reminder that he/she has a certain amount of minutes to play with it, since the rest of our friends also want a turn.

“Our friends practiced sharing the ball this week, wow!”

These are some strategies that we have implemented in the classroom, please feel free to try them at home or sharing some strategies you do and would like us to incorporate in our classroom

Reminders:

• BMS will be closed Monday, November 12 (veterans day)

• Parent teacher conference will take place Friday, November 16

  Enjoy your weekend!
  
  
  
  

November 1, 2018

Highlights:

We started our week going to Washington Market Park, during our visit we saw many interesting and creative pumpkins! We saw a stroller with a baby pumpkin inside, some pokey hair pumpkins along with Tin man! Our friend Antoine made sure to weave hi and bye.

Making our Jack-O-Lantern:

We also carved our pumpkin this week! Our friends were really excited to look inside the pumpkin some children scooped the guts and seeds out with spoons while others used their hands. While doing this we observed the pumpkins seeds and their guts very carefully. The children enjoyed the feeling of the guts so much that we decided to incorporated the seeds into our light table. Our friends helped put the seeds inside a ziploc bag and tape the bags! This activity was great for sensory exploration and to help strengthen our fine motor skills.

Children also explored black and white paint! We displayed a poster board with back and white paint on it only, we didn’t display any paint brushes or other materials. Children were then encouraged to explore the poster board. Our friends were very interested and engaged making different prints on the poster board by tapping it, rubbing the paint, and making different lines with their fingers.

Halloween:

Wednesday was such a fun day, once again thank you all so much for joining us during our parade and party!

Our friends also decided to name our pumpkin! The children came up with the name “baba” and sang to baba during our morning meeting!

Our friends tried out t a new kind of paint, sand-paint! The children were really excited and involved through this process, we first asked children to squeeze paint into a container after this children had the opportunity to pour sand. We then mixed these two materials with either a spoon and/or hands and children were then encouraged to explore! When dry, the sand paint leaves an interesting texture behind.

Once again thank you all so much for joining us during our parade and your participation in our party!

Have a great weekend!

October 26, 2018

“Apples”

— Antoine

As the school year progresses we have observed children express their interests and disinterests. Children have also been very verbal in expressing the songs they like, whether they like an activity or not and of course, whether they want “more”,

Songs we sang during circle time:

• Hello how are you.

  This song is one of the children’s favorite! At the beginning of our morning meeting children are asked what song they would like to sing, some of our friends respond “ Heo how you.” Some of our friends even sing along!

• Good morning

  This is another class favorite since each child gets to shake hands with the teachers and sometimes classmates!

• Twinkle Twinkle little star

• Mr. Sun

• What’s the weather?

• Days of the week

• Today is..

• If you’re happy and you know it..

• The wheels on the bus

• Five little ducks

• Head and shoulders knees and Toes

• ABC’s

Morning meeting:

---

Highlights:
Footprints

Children explored and investigated using their feet! Through this activity we explored cause and effect, when they saw that their feet were making prints on the paper, our friends manipulated the paint and their feet in order to make different prints. They also explored tactile and sensory skills from touching the paint and feeling how paint feels on their skin and in between their toes. As we encountered this activity our friends stomped, walked and grasped the paint with their toes! Color mixing was also evident during this activity.

Finger painting

At the beginning of the week some of our friends explored finger paint. Finger paint has a different consistency from tempera paint it is gooey and heavier. This exploration is great for sensory Integration, fine motor development which strengthens fingers, hand muscles and hand eye coordination. A piece of paper was displayed with finger paint on it, as the children came in they gradually began interacting with it. Our friend Una wasn’t fascinated by its consistency, as soon as she touched the paint she went over to the fridge and grabbed a spoon. She then came back and used the spoon to paint! On the other hand Antoine loved the way it felt he grabbed the paint and squished it with both hands enjoying the feeling!

Making oobleck

Making oobleck incorporates turn taking, science, sensory and exploration! Oobleck is a substance that is neither a solid or liquid but rapidly transitions between the two when you introduce body heat. Our 1A friends gathered around the sensory table, as we began pouring the cornstarch they immediately began exploring it by making different lines with their fingers and feeling its texture by rubbing it in between their fingers or just placing their hands inside the sensory bin. We then began to add water gradually and observed how the cornstarch changed, this observation was filled with many “woow” and “more” Once we reached the texture we desired our friends explored!

Our visit to the farmers Market:

The children loved their trip to the farmers market! We first observed the pumpkins that were displayed at the very front, we observed the different shades of orange and the different sizes of the stems. During this observation we discovered that pumpkins have stems in different sizes and different shades of green! Our friend Antoine discovered that there were also apples! He pointed over to the apples and said “apples.” After observing the four different apples we decided to taste them! The children enjoyed tasting all the different apples, when we were leaving the market we decided to ask each child what apple they would like whether it was green, yellow or red, each child then responded with a different color!

Hand prints:

Our friends also made hand prints! It was so fun watching them observe the cause and effect, once we added paint onto their hand with a paint brush they placed their hands onto a clean white paper. They observed the print they left onto the paper and were amazed!

Reminders:

• Our annual Halloween parade will take place Oct 31st at 9:30 AM - please let us know if someone will not be able to attend with your child.

Friday, October 19

“Bubbles”

— Dillon

“More”

— Antoine

During the course of this week, we’ve continued to work on many projects. One of them being the chemical reaction between Baking soda and vinegar. The children first explored the baking soda and its consistency. Children first enjoyed making lines with their fingers and then incorporated materials such as a roller that left different marks behind. After the children’s exploration, they were given squeeze bottles that contained food coloring and vinegar inside. Children then manipulated these bottles in order to get the liquid out, they surely worked very hard on their fine motor skills! Children then enjoyed watching the chemical reaction of these two substances.

On Tuesday we explored and manipulated both shaving cream and paint. To begin, we first displayed the shaving cream. Our friends enjoyed the sound the shaving cream made when it was released from its bottle our friend Millie even giggled! The children explored the shaving cream freely, some friends touched it and explored it with their bodies while other friends sat down to observe it. Afterwards we squeezed paint with the help of our friends and explored!!

On Wednesday we decided to take a trip to the market in search for apples! While on the way to the market we encountered many dogs, although grezzly was our favorite! While in the market we observed and talked about the different apples there were and their different colors. We also practiced saying “excuse me” to the other costumers in the market, our friends did such a great job!

“Excuse me”

— 1A

Thursday was a busy day, we started our day with paint! Our friends had a mission to create our beloved friend and neighbor Teagan also very known as Tt a birthday card! Our friends independently selected the paint of their choice and squeezed the bottle on to their paper. They were given the option to use paint brushes although some friends decided to explore with their fingers. In the afternoon we made apple prints with the apples we bought the day before! This activity also encouraged a variety of learning.  There was the sensory experience with the apples — seeing, touching, and smelling the apples while painting.  Letting the children use unconventional art materials encouraged them to “think outside the box”.  They were also able to explore colors, color-mixing, shapes, and textures. We also tasted the four different apples!

Friday we finished our friend, Teagan’s birthday gift. Our friends worked very hard they mixed two colors, blue and purple. They also added extra details by using a fork. Our friends observed very carefully at the different lines the forks made.

Specialists:

Cooking:

For cooking class we definitely worked on our fine, gross motor, observation, science concepts along with language, math and literacy. This week for cooking we made a delicious grape salad! We began our cooking class by talking about where grapes come from. We then identified the two different color grapes we had, red and green. After this we proceeded by tasting these two grapes and comparing them, coming into a conclusion that green grapes are sour! Our friends helped us mix the grapes and then squeeze the lime juice by taking turns!

Spanish:

During Spanish class we sang songs such as “Buenos dias como estas, Como esta el clima. Puedes hacer una cara feliz” and of course 1A’s favorite “Hasta mañana”

Class 1A will love any donations of leaves, pine cones, and acorns, boxes and or any recycled materials if you happen to come across any this weekend.

Reminders:

• Our annual Halloween parade will take place Oct 31st at 9:30 AM - please let us know if someone will not be able to attend with your child

Friday, October 12

On Tuesday we began our week very busy but fun, we started our day with Spanish, this time the children enjoyed listening to the Spanish songs and dancing as well! Some songs we danced to during our Spanish class were:

• Buenos Dias

• Como Esta El Clima

• Hola Que Tal?

• “Puedes hacer una cara feliz?

• Hasta mañana

  We then enjoyed our cooking class with Diane! We made a apple

After our cooking class we all gathered as a class and made our first fall sensory bag, before doing this we explored the different leaves and their different colors. Afterwards we all worked on our fine motor strength by squeezing gel into a ziploc bag and then of course putting the leaves of our choice inside the bag. We all then took turns mixing the clear gel with the orange watercolor!

On Wednesday we went out on a trip to the market! We all picked our individual pumpkins and then our classroom pumpkin!! Children enjoyed the task that was given to them, they all enjoyed digging inside the box in order to find their special pumpkins. While doing this children worked hard on their hand eye coordination along with gross and fine motor skills

Thursday was a fun day filled with art! We decided to paint and decorate our individual pumpkins by using two colors, orange and black! We gave the children spoons to observe how they would experiment these two objects. Children first used the spoon to pour paint on their pumpkins and then gradually began using their hands!

On Friday we worked on our self-portraits for this month! In the morning children painted on mirrors while also looking at their reflection, other friends decided to explore their bodies along with the bodies of the babies with paint. In the afternoon children sat down having a mirror along with a sharpie and blank paper in front of them. We encourage the children to look at their reflection while they work on their self-portrait.

Have a great weekend!

Friday, October 5

This past week was full of play and observations. On Monday, we started off the week by collecting leaves with our infant b friends. We all gathered together and went to Washington market park, at the park the children began their leaf hunt! The children seemed to like how the leaves felt on their hands and were amazed by the colors. We also had the opportunity to see the leaves falling from the trees!

“Wow'“ -Millie while looking at the leaf.

“More” -Una while putting the leaves inside our zip lock bag.

Tuesday was a very busy but fun day for the students! We all gathered with our 1B friends in the morning for Spanish. Of course, being in a new classroom with new friends and teachers was something new for our friends but they sure enjoyed listening to the Spanish songs. After Spanish we also had Cooking with Diane!! It was really exciting making our apple salad, children enjoyed squeezing the lemon along with mixing and eating the salad itself! We also took time to analyze and look at apple seeds along with the apple’s core.

Wednesday we all gathered as a class to make our experiment “fizzing colors”. We all sat down and began by smelling and touching the baking soda, children then decided on what color to add. We made three different experiments using the three different colors children decided. The children then helped pour the vinegar into the baking soda! When they observed the chemical reaction these two elements had they were all amazed and continued to add more vinegar!

“More” -Cleo, after pouring the vinegar into the baking soda

“Purple” -Dillon, after asked what color he would like

“purple” - Cleo, after asked what color she would like

“wow” Millie, while observing the chemical reaction.

“Bubbles” - Dillon, while observing the chemical reaction.

On Thursday because of our tremendous love for babies we decided to draw on them! Our friends Cleo and Millie sure enjoyed this!

“nose”- Cleo, while drawing on the babies nose

“eyes”- Cleo, while drawing on the babies eyes.

We then followed up by enjoying the beautiful weather outside, of course, we took our babies with us! We enjoyed the weather by going to the pier. Our friend Millie enjoyed the sound of nature and the breeze so much that she decided to take a nap!

On Friday we began our morning by painting with watercolors! Our friends were painting all by themselves following the three steps: 1. wet the brush 2. choose a color 3. Paint on the paper. Children used three different brushes and observed the different strokes each brush left.

After gym because of our love for cars we decided to paint with them!! Our friends enjoyed squeezing the paint out and experimenting the paint using their toes, hands and body! They really enjoyed rolling the school bus and cars over the paint and observing the marks it left behind.

Reminders:

October-08: BMS will be closed

-BMS Annual Halloween parade on Oct. 31st at 9:30 with a lunch party when we return

Have a great weekend!

Friday, September 28th

Our first full week of school!! This was really exciting since we’ve got to experience a full week with each other displaying more activities and of course, getting to know each other even more. Through out this week we worked on many activities to enhance our fine and gross motor skills. We continued our leave project by gluing the leaves we painted last week onto paper, some of our friends decided to crush the leaves and glue this on the paper, other friends decided to glue the leave itself! We also explored a big block of clay, we first displayed the clay on the table making is easy for children to poke, pinch and grasp it! This tool is great to develop their grasping skills for future writing. In the afternoon we decided to bring the big block of clay down on the floor making this accessible for children to use their body to manipulate it. Some of our friends decided to step on it in order to attempt in changing its shape.

In the course of this week we also listened and watched drums playing, after this we all made our own beets using pots, garbage cans and even our furniture! The children loved discovering and exploring the different sounds these objects made. Afterwards they also discovered that pots can be used as hats.

We also had two sensory projects! First, we explored flour using our hands and bodies, our friends definitely enjoyed and loved this exploration! The following day we made oobleck this mixture consists of cornstarch and water creating a goop that is neither solid nor liquid but rapidly transitions between the two when you introduce body heat! Finally, on Friday we had our very first cooking project. Since of course, we know there is a huge love for bananas we decided to make a banana milkshake! The children enjoyed pouring the ingredients inside our blender and of course, enjoyed the banana milkshake itself.

Next week, we will start our school wide theme which will be social emotional, to begin we will start with the question “what makes me special” we will focus on each child’s personalities, likes and dislikes also, our school wide intent will be paint!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Friday, September 21

Wow, second week of school already! There has been growth and independence in the 1A Class within these two weeks. Students are adjusting to their new schedule very well and are also becoming more comfortable with the teachers, peers and environment. Everyone is settling and has grasped the daily routines very well! Once again thank you all for the helpful tips!

This week we decided to take a walk and explore the outside of our school, while doing this we also talked about the trees and how they are changing by looking at the leaves. We even had time to go to the park and play with the ball!

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On Tuesday children didn’t need a reminder to throw their paper plates in the garbage!! They independently walked over to the garbage can and attempted to open it by themselves!

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Tuesday is music and movement day, we wanted children to feel like home so we brought their “home” music to them! During our circle time we danced and listened to Bollywood Indian music, that sure made our friend Antoine smile! We also listened to Rock N’ Roll which made Cleo very confused jaja! And we played/sang Spanish songs!

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We have also been working on many sensory play based activities throughout this week such as painting with brushes, leaves and our fingers, making and engaging with banana slim, water play, using our fine motor and gross motor skills to peel off tape and so much more.

We also had time to work on our very first self-portraits today! Displaying mirrors for children and materials for them to draw what they see helps them recognize him/herself as a unique individual having his/her own characteristics.

Friday, September 14, 2018

Its been such a great first week of school! Our children have adapted well into their new environment and continue exploring the different areas encountering new materials along with trail & error and problem solving! This week was filled with fun activities along with experimenting boundaries. We would like to thank you all for the helpful tips you’ve all shared with us and for all your help overall. Laura and I have noticed a passion for babies, music, paint and books!

On Thursday we had lots of fun making our cheerio necklace while also working on our fine motor and hand eye coordination. The children definitely enjoyed eating the cheerio’s!

On Wednesday we had lots of fun exploring shaving cream and paint! We encouraged all of our friends to try this medium but some of them decided too explore the classroom instead!

On Friday we read the Book “Brown bear, Brown Bear what do you see?” during circle time, after this we came back t the table and made our very own Brown Bear Brown Bear Book!!

Class 1A

una

Millie

Antoine

Dillon

Cleo

Dillon O'Neill: March-07

Cleo Logan: May-24

Una Williams: May-31

Antoine Mehtani: July-02

Mellie Roos: July-07

Alejandra De La Rosa February-21

Laura Narain: September-20

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1A Teachers: 

Hi all!

My name is Alejandra De La Rosa, and I am currently a student at Hunter College. I am more than excited to share with you that I will be graduating this upcoming year and that I will be an aunt!! I am more than excited to welcome a new member to the family. I adore working with children and helping them grow, as I have experience tutoring young children to adolescents and working in a classroom setting. 

Hi!

My name is Laura and this is my 13th year at BMS! Every year is a new and fun learning experience and I am so excited for yet another fun filled year full of discoveries! I love spending as much time as I can with my family! I have a beautiful 7 year old daughter. We enjoy watching movies and playing teacher together. She started 3rd grade this year, still in a bit of shock! We also love taking care of our sweet and adorable dog Brooklyn together. Her favorite thing to do is spray him down with the hose and taking him for long walks around our neighborhood in Queens!

Our Daily Schedule: 

8:30-9:00: Arrival

8:30-9:15: Learning centers/free play: 

• Dramatic Center and Block Center will be open.

• Manipulative's

• Art Center: Painting, finger paint, play dough (activities will vary)

• sensory table will be open (water or sand, once again activity will vary)

• Exploring the light table

• reading books

9:15-9:30: Snack time (read aloud)

9:30-9:40: Diaper Change

9:40-9:50: Morning meeting/ Circle time (finger plays, sing songs along with movement, read books)

9:50-10:07: Free Play/Learning center

10:07-10:10: Clean up

10:10-10:30: Gym

10:30-11:30: Small group project/ Learning Center Play/ Specials

11:30-12:00: Lunch (read aloud while children eat)

12:00-12:15: Diaper Change

12:15-2:30: Nap time/ Dismissal

2:30-2:35: Hand Washing

2:35-3:00: Snack time/ Dismissal

1A Goals for the School Year: 

• Community, friendship & Empathy.

• Independence

• Problem Solving

• Self-Portraits and sense of self

• Language Bulding

• Communication and expression

• Learning cause and effect through trial and error

• Letter recognition, specifically first initials

• Participation in diverse areas of the classroom

• Using Utensils