November 29, 2019

Teagan's father, John, came to visit the classroom. She appeared happy to show him the different centers and activities. John sat on the rug and read a story to Teagan and her peers.

PAINTING

We always try to be creative with painting and drawing tools. It provides children with a different texture, grip, and a fun way to explore. Annabelle seemed to enjoy painting with a pipe cleaner as the handle and the attach pom pom as the brush.

She creates lines, dots and circles!

Collaborative Painting: Learning to play cooperatively together is part of their social and emotional development. Working together in a group builds communication skills and encourage taking turns, as they all use the same materials. The children painted on a square shape canvas. They selected two colors of their choice, demonstrated their different techniques when maneuvering the Q-tip, shared, and respected their space.

Some of the benefits of children working in pairs are:

-Give young learners more speaking time

-Allow children to incorporate their ideas and techniques as they paint (or glue) and use their words

-Gives them a sense of achievement when reaching a team goal

-It allows us as teachers to monitor, move around the class, and listen to the language they are producing and observe as they work together

Painting with their hands is one of the many ways toddlers enjoy exploring paint.  As they move their arms and hands back and forth, they are working their fine and gross motor skills.  They are also exercising their small muscles in their fingers, creating distinctive marks.

The children explored tempera paint, Glue, and Sand!

The children looked curious and intrigued as they painted, glued, and sprinkled some sand on their art piece. They are discovering different ways to use glue and different textures, as they paint and mix different items.

Our counting activities were approached differently this week. Instead of selecting a number, it was Alexandra’s turn to throw the number block. The block revealed the number two. Therefore, we counted two green blocks. Through this activity, several domains are integrated — for example, cognitive, social, and emotional development. Children are learning number recognition, counting, understanding the concept that two means two items, color recognition, and taking turns.

What color are you wearing today? 

The children are having fun learning about colors in this manner.  They point to all the colors they are wearing; however, the objective is to choose one color. Part of their learning process is to understand that colors come in different shades; for example, blue.   

Ericksen articulated, "Blue!" but pointed to a different color.  Annabelle helped him by pointing to the color blue. Ericksen appeared pleased that a friend helped him.   Helping each other, and waiting for their turn, are all related to Social and Emotional Development.

BLOCKS

Teagan has been demonstrating stage 1 and stage 2 of Block Playing. Her structure is a "House," and she also articulates people live in the house as she places the people props inside each block opening. As she continues exploring, her teachers will acquire more information to discover further what the people are doing in the house.

Stage1- Carrying: The children will discover and explore how heavy and light they are by carrying them. They will explore how they feel and what shape they are. They also experience hearing the sound they make as they drop them.

Stage 2- Building Begins: Children will create towers and rows, either horizontally (on the floor) or vertically (stacked). During this stage, many repetitions in their building occur, which is basic functional play with blocks.

SPECIALIST

SPANISH

As the specialist sang Mr. Sun in Spanish, the children focused as they listened to her singing. Children learn through repetition, and many of the learning songs we implement in the classroom have repetitive lyrics that help young toddlers to memorize things. Singing is a way for children to learn letters and words in a fun and interactive way.

The Spanish specialist read one of the recent books I bought in Spanish. The theme of the book is cookies; therefore, she created cookies out of play dough. Adding props to any storybook makes it a fun and interactive read-aloud session.

As the Thanksgiving Holiday approaches, the Spanish specialist created a Thanksgiving meal out of paper, play dough, and cotton.  Each item was articulated in English and then in Spanish.  She also created a chef's hat, which Annabelle volunteered to wear it. 

Turkey- El pavo

Mash Potatoes- Papa majada or pure de papas

Cranberry Sauce- Salsa de Arandanos

Peas- Arveja

Carrots- Zanahoria

Diane articulated and demonstrated to the children that she has brought in some pre-cooked cranberry sauce in a bowl. She added a slice of pear and pineapple to give it an extra taste. The children helped smash and mix the fruits.

The activity promotes:

- Fine motor skills, as they smash and mix

- Social and emotional development- taking turns

- Language- using words to express what they see and taste

Spanish Books (English and Spanish interpretation)

I bought a few Spanish books to share with the class. The children engage by listening, enunciating numbers, colors, and singing songs as they learn Spanish. Children are naturally curious, and learning another language in a fun and interactive way enables them to grasp the language.

We are starting a Home Fun Activity for the parents to take home on Fridays.  I will probably arrange this every other week.  Our first Home Fun Activity will be on Friday, December 6, 2019.  It will entail in selecting one of the Spanish books displayed on the cubbies and reading it with your child over the weekend.  I will add the question:  Did you and your child liked the book?  Why or why not?   The book selected will be placed inside a Ziploc Bag with the question to take home.