Hammer time!
This week we finally got a chance to use a real hammer! Everyone was excited and eager to practice using the hammer, but many children found that it was much more difficult to connect the hammer and nail than they had thought it would be. Giving children manageable challenges allows them to problem solve, confront their feelings about being challenged and having to try harder, build confidence, learn from peers, and creates resilience. Our job is not to frustrate the child, but to provide tasks that might be a little above reach so that they can grow and rise to the challenge!
What else did we learn? A Menorah has 9 candles- there are eight nights of Hanukkah and one Shamash to light the candles each night.
Pre-Writing Practice
Each child was given the opportunity to try and trace the first letter of their name this week. This is a work in progress, and something that we will continue to work on for the remainder of the year! Some children will be ready and others not, and all are shades of normal!
Science: Watch the colors dance
Using a tray filled with milk, food coloring dribbled in, and a toothpick with dish soap on the tip, we made the colors spread and dance across the milk. Science experiments are exciting because they are often out of our realm of prediction- what we know to be true of other substances doesn’t always hold true and that’s where the learning happens!
Sensory Play
This week we experienced:
Playdough
Clay
Slime
A big block of ice
Insta-snow
Salt dough
Puffy shaving cream paint
& more!
Specialists
Ernestina continued to teach us how to get dressed for Winter- in Spanish!
Diane had us make a snowy day trail mix with cheerios, raisins and shredded coconut
Coach C had us chase him around the gym and try to pull little shirts out of his pocket - we are getting so good at moving our bodies in many different ways!
Mr. Andrew had us work on some movement songs and sang us the book The Gruffalo