February 8, 2019

We read a variety of books and sang different songs as well.

Highlights of the Week:

We celebrated Nathaniel’s Birthday together with his mom, Melissa, and dad, Amit.  We sang Happy birthday, ate a special snack, and Melissa and Amit each read story to the children.  

The class patiently wait their turn on picture day, as they sit on the bench singing and listening to stories.

Fine Motor Activity for toddler with Tape

Leo touched and smelled the ice. He picked up the ice and repeatedly, said “Cold, cold!”                                 

A hands-on activity in early childhood is an avenue that links new concepts to ideas that children already understand. Piaget and Vygotsky are two educational pioneers, their theories, learning occurs as children acquire new concepts; from their interaction with people and experiences, and all the information is stored in their mind until they can make sense of it. Experiencing new ideas with paint enhances imagination and creativity. Painting is a hands-on activity that allows children to explore their senses, color, explore process and outcomes.

Painting on ice incorporates science, texture, and color recognition while observing the ice go from solid to a liquid state. As the children engaged in this activity, they explored the ice by touching, smelling and painting. The children brushed the watercolors on top of the ice block. They noticed what happens with the watercolors as the ice started melting. The textures began to change, as well as the colors. Sensory experience is the fundamental element of learning and understanding how everything works in our environment.

Nicole, painted the ice over and over until she noticed that the paint was not sticking but slipping from the ice.

During clean up, the children were helping clean the table before sitting for circle time.  Independence is part of growing and learning to share responsibility in the classroom.  Simple tasks, for example, placing their sippy cup in the brown basket or cleaning the table together allows them to feel proud of their accomplishments.  They all did a fantastic job!!

Neighborhood Stroll: Today we went on a neighborhood stroll and walked to Washington Market Park. As we observed our environment, Leela was singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and Leo B., The Muffin Man. As we walked through the park, we notice a few squirrels and one up on a tree.

Celebrating Chinese New Year together with Nicole and Justin, Nicole’s father. They shared with the classroom a special snack and Justin also read a book about the Chinese New Year.

Art:

Valentine Wreath’s

The children are finishing their Model Magic Sculptures.  Many of them are up to step three, painting!  These sculptures will be displayed in the classroom very soon. 

Cardboard Tube Printing: Sometimes the best artwork comes from using recycling materials. Recycling material promotes many craft ideas that will transpire into a work of art. Natural materials are accessible and reusable, and influence children’s creativity, and imagination. In this activity, we used paper rolls and cut them into small pieces. The activity is excellent for young children, due to the easy-grip the cardboard tubes promote. The activity encourages sensory and fine motor development and eye-hand coordination.

All children have learned to identify and recognize facial features through different activities.  The children are now helping the teacher complete a portrait as they articulate the different features.  Today the teacher drew Oliver!  Sandra is not the best artists, but tries!  After each portrait, we write the first letter of the child's name.

Manipulative

The journey to being able to hold a writing tool correctly should start long before your child even knows how to form letters or shapes? It begins with the strengthening of fine motor skills. 

Matching Puzzles Pieces:  Matching games improve concentration, increase attention to detail, improve the ability to find similarities and differences in objects. 

Blocks:

The children are not only connecting, building structures but counting how many blocks they are using.  As they count each block with the teacher, they are learning one to one correspondence.

Nate: “I make a train!”

Teacher: “Who's on the train?”

Nate: “Mami and people!”

Oliver: I am making the The Wheels on the Bus.”

Specialists:

Cooking with Diane

In celebration of Chinese New Year, Diane selected different colorful fruits for the children to eat: apples, oranges, grapefruits, grapes, and raspberry.

Karate

Rohan was very active in the Karate session.  He was involved and focused on each activity, and Rohan also managed to break the board.   The board is given to the child has a souvenir.