January 11, 2019

Songs we Sang:

Mr. Muffin Man
Bubble Gum
ABC
5 Speckled Frogs
5 Little Monkeys
Baby Shark
If You’re Happy and You Know it, Clapp your Hands
7 days in a Week
What’s the Weather?
Buenos Dias
Calabaza
Un Pequeno Dedo
Open, Shut Them…..
The Wheels on the Bus….
Mr. Sun
You are My Sunshine
Itsy Bitsy Spider

Books we read:

My Colors Mis Colores
Is Your Mama a Llama?
A Big Guy Took My Ball!
Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay up Late!
For Just One Day
Stick and Stone
Hug Machine
Don’t Push the Button
Brown Bear
From Head to Toe
Maisy Goes to Preschool
The Thank you Book
A Pocket for Corduroy
Mi Primer Libro de los Colores
Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?
Mi Primer Libro de los Numeros

Highlights of the Week:

We celebrated Oliver’s birthday together with his mother, Natalie and his grandmother.

Infant B and 1A joined classroom 1B, to meet our special visitor, Dr. Jackson, a Pediatric Dentist. She kindly came to talk about our teeth and how to brush them. She brought in a dinosaur, and all the children had an opportunity to brush his teeth with a big toothbrush. She also read, The Tooth Book by Dr. Seuss!

Art:

We are learning and exploring the color purple!

Painting with Q-tips on Construction Paper!

The children appeared to enjoy the sound the bubble wrap paper made, as they maneuvered the painting tools in a different direction. They slightly pressed the paper and gradually increased its speed as they heard a popping sound. They seemed curious, and we noticed how the children used their hands and fingers to press and POP bubbles.

Rubber Band Snap Art Painting

They used construction paper, rubber bands and a toothbrush to create a beautiful work of art.

We promote socialization by encouraging children to play with one another, and we create activities that enable children to work collaboratively. Socialization is an integral part of early childhood. How children behave during play and how they respond to that behavior is essential to their social development. They develop independent behavior through the process of socialization.

Children have been painting their color of choice on a square canvas. Why did they choose that specific color? Can color enhance learning and influence the child's mood in the classroom? Exploring and enjoying the process of paint, enable children to create an art piece that makes them happy by using the colors that are inviting to them. Those colors have some significance as they investigate while painting.

Using a colander and pipe cleaners is a way for children to work on their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Rohan is focused as he gently tries to stick the pipe cleaners through the holes.

A sense of curiosity and interest stimulates young toddlers to engage with different materials. Hands-on interaction is the primary element of investigating and discovering how the world works. Toddlers are learning about the properties of glue and examining what happens when something sticks to their hands, or it is left out to dry provides vital information that enables them to understand.

Leo Shaftel: “It’s dripping!”

Teacher: “What’s dripping!”

Leo: “The glue”

Leo: “Glue sticks!. That’s a design, a woman sleeping on a paper!”

Manipulative:

As he/she grasp and manipulate the object with purpose, they gain experience that cutting with scissors requires them to use the thumb, index, and middle fingers separately from the pinkie, and ring fingers. Opening and closing the scissors in a coordinating manner is a challenge for these young developing hands. Exploring with scissors promotes eye-hand coordination, a skill that is adapted when exploring with scissors. Providing young children with practice and opportunities will help to master the skill of using scissors and strengthen the small muscles.

Sensory:

The children were making Play Dough with Ms. Janet. We also had a special guest, Leo’s grandmother. She engaged with the children during play dough.

They used all the usual ingredients, flour, water, and oil. However, they did not add color to the play dough. Our goal was to observe the children as they interacted with the play dough and how color can make a difference.

During the week, we made play dough twice with the children. The difference between both is one is with color and the other colorless. We are experimenting on how color makes a difference in our interactions with materials.

We made play dough again but added color this time.

Clay is an excellent sensory material for children to investigate. This hands-on activity also provides tactile and visual experiences as they engage. Each child has a different way to explore with clay. They manipulate the clay in a way that distinguishes them from one another. Some touched, tapped, squeezed, poked, and flattened it with the roller while others shredded their clay with their small fingers.