Starting in October we will begin our Specialists schedules:

Tuesday’s, Spanish- 9:40-10:00

Wednesday’s, Cooking with Diane- 11:20-11:40

Thursday’s, Soccer- 11:20-11:40

Friday’s, Music- 9:40-10:00

Every day we sing songs and read different books. Toddlers love to dance and move to the music. The key to toddler music is the repetition of songs which encourages the use of words and memorization. We use musical instruments, puppets, or clap our hands as we sing. Physical, cognitive, social/emotional, and communication are all correlated into music. Below are some of the songs we sing:

  • Mr. Sun

  • There are seven days in a week…

  • What’s the weather?

  • Five Little Monkeys

  • Five Little Ducks

  • Five Little Speckled Frogs

  • Old McDonald

  • Listened to classical, instrumental, and Spanish music

  • Jump in the Water

  • Baa Baa Black Sheep

  • Where is Thumbkin? (Favorite)

  • Hello, how are you?

  • ABC

  • Watermelon

  • Johnny works with one hammer

  • Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

  • The Wheels on the Bus

  • Row Row Row Your Boat

  • If You’re Happy and You No It

  • Down by the Bay

Highlights of the Week:

Ophelia turned two years old this week. Happy Birthday, Ophelia!!! Ophelia’s mother, Liselott and father, Ken brought a special treat.

Painting with Popsicle Sticks:

The children have experienced manipulating and maneuvering different drawing tools. Children are born with marvelous imaginations and a keen desire to explore the world. Exploring color and various tools to create a beautiful art piece, encourages them to discover the beauty and wonder of everything around them. The children generated distinctive lines and dots on different areas of their paper with Popsicle Sticks.

Cloud Dough:
The teacher put cloud dough in the sensory table for the students to explore this sensory stimuli material. Some investigated and experienced touching the mixture of flour and baby oil. The little hands and fingers delved into the soft and warm powdery substance. The consistency of the dough appeared to be intriguing to feel and hold, as they explored. They filled and emptied small cups of flour. Alexandra lightly touched, whereas, Ophelia, squeezed and pressed the mixture. Flour mixed with a liquid makes an exciting sensory experience that provides children with endless fun.

Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionn- The children listened to a beautiful story about friendship and colors. A story about two friends, little blue and little yellow, and their new color represents a merging of their two original colors, green. Little Blue and Little Yellow are friends, but one day they can’t find each other. When they do, they hug and hug until they turn green. Although they do not stay green, they were still friends. This unique storybook is useful both as an introduction to color blending and as a story of friendship and acceptance.

We provided one paper plate in which the children squeezed yellow and blue paint. The children combined the colors until the new hue turned green

Ziploc Painting:

Ziploc painting is a color, sensory, and fine motor skill, all in one fun activity. Giving children opportunities to engage with different types of textures and objects helps them to build new ways of talking about the world, colors, and developing language.

They used their hands and fingers to spread the paint. As they interacted with the material, they articulated the different colors they saw. They seemed curious about how they were able to explore the paint in the bag without getting some paint on their hands. They are designing their paper as they explore mixing the colors they selected independently.

Creating a jigsaw puzzle using their photo is a fun and interactive way to learn more about their and peers facial features. When children flip and move pieces of the puzzle, they are learning the connection between their hands and their eyes (Hand-eye coordination). The eyes see the puzzle, and the brain then envisions how the puzzle needs to look or what piece needs to be found and placed. Learning to recognize and sort shapes is an essential part of their development. Puzzles can help little ones with this since the pieces need to be identified and sorted before they can be assembled. Simple jigsaws and other types of puzzles may help enhance a child’s memory. For example, a child will need to recall the size, color, picture, and shape of various pieces as he or she works through the puzzle. There are four pieces, and these pieces will gradually increase into six parts.

Paint

Mirrors are more than just fun for toddlers; mirrors are an essential learning tool. Looking in the mirror helps toddlers to learn to focus, track images, and explore the wonderful things a face can do. As they see their reflection, they also observed the different strokes they have painted. It seems that some of the children were interested in the soothing process of painting, as they spread the paint over the mirror using their hand.

Sensory

We do a lot of sensory activities in the classroom- sensory play is any activity that stimulates the sense. Sensory play encourages scientific processes because problems are solved using the five senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. By stimulating the child's senses we are helping their brain develop because when a sense is engaged neural pathways are being created to assist with further learning in later years.

We used a ball and inserted different color sensory scarfs. Each child took the color of their choice. Then we sang songs using the scarfs. They also passed the ball to each other for them to explore the shape and colors. This activity promotes sharing and taking turns.

Neighborhood Stroll

The children enjoy exploring our environment and observing all the beautiful things our neighborhood has. We noticed letters on a building, and as we pointed to the first letter of their names, Teagan shouted, "O for Ophelia!"

Enjoying the outdoors!