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Friday, January 17th

From Concept to Creation

This week we sat down to take a peek inside a woodworking book to decide what we’d like to create next. There were a lot of exciting ideas, including a clock, a tool caddy, and a tic tac toe game board. It was really hard to decide what we should make next, but the game board won by a narrow margin!

The first step in game creation was to use a real drill to make holes! This was exciting - we all sat around a small table and watched as Rachel used the drill. Some of us thought that the drill was going to be super loud, but were surprised when it didn’t make too much noise! We counted as the drill created all 9 holes that we need for our game.

Once the holes were in place, we were able to paint and add some finishing touches. Next up- the game pieces! (They should be delivered next week).

Constructibles

To continue building our experience with tools and getting different pieces to connect with each other, we started using constructibles. The different sized and shaped pieces are put together with wooden screws and nuts. What a great way to start learning how to use our fingers to twist and turn!

Engineering with Marshmallows

Each child was able to use one marshmallow and one popsicle stick to contribute to a class construction! The sticks were hard to get to stand up, but we had an amazing time trying!

Applied Mathematics

Just like we did for our home fun, each child was able to roll a di three times and see what number landed on top. We worked on counting, and then we graphed our results. Two was the most rolled number, and one and six were the least.

Other 2A Happenings:

  • Constructing a barn and making farm animals to practice in both English and Spanish

  • Learning about color mixing and using primary colors

  • Light and Shadow play with our light projector

  • Oats and farm animals in our sensory bin

  • Working on drawing shapes and letters in various different ways

Specialists

  • During Spanish we reviewed our colors with dancing scarves, revisited our winter animals, and talked about the weather.

  • Diane helped us make a salad dressing with oil, vinegar, and Italian herbs. We then drizzled it over a cabbage and carrot salad.

  • Coach C had us work on our big and little kicks


Reminders

  • We are closed on Monday, January 20th for MLK Jr Day

  • Friday, Jan 24th we will be celebrating Chinese New Year (and it’s Eudenis’ birthday!!)

  • The week of Jan 27th is Kindness week, and we will be working on a lot of empathy and kindness activities!

  • Our annual Science fair is Saturday, Feb. 8th - We can’t wait to show you our amazing project!!

  • Monday, Feb. 10th is school picture day

  • Feb 17 & 18 we are closed for Presidents Day

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Friday, January 10th

Ramps & Tubes

This week we began experimenting with various tubes and ramps in the classroom. Tinkering with the tubes has helped us begin to understand some elements of gravity and the nature of inclines. We also discovered what objects could fit down the tube, and which were too wide.

This is our first step toward our science fair project, which will be about the concept of Wind - much more on this coming soon as we create some exciting hypotheses!

Light & Shadow

The light projector entered our classroom this week and allowed us to begin an exploration of light and shadow. We had cellophane sheets and translucent gems to guide us as we started to see what the projector could do, but the most exciting part was our own shadows!

Light is magical. It changes and transforms every moment and leaves us surprised and excited at every turn. We were delighted to find out different toys in the classroom could have shadows, too. I wonder where this interest will lead us next!

Sensory Work

As always, we have done a lot of sensory based projects this week (and last):

  • Melting baking soda/water ice with vinegar

  • Making playdough

  • Painting with primary colors

  • Creating a texture collage using only white (and a bit of silver!) materials

  • Exploring moss and pinecones

  • Clay and seashells

  • Color mixing with blue and yellow

  • Soft modeling clay

  • Glue & Sequins

Specialists

  • During Spanish we talked about the weather and winter animals.

  • For cooking with Diane, we voted between red, green and purple grapes and squeezed our own lemon juice to go on top.

  • Soccer time had us focus on little kicks and balancing this week.

  • Mr. Andrew had us form a subway train and choo choo all around the classroom and we also sang the book “From Head to Toe.” Of course we also did our favorite- Five Little Monkeys!

Reminders

  • We are closed on Monday, January 20th for MLK Jr day

  • Eudenis’ birthday is Jan 24th

  • We will have a Chinese New Year celebration on Friday, Jan 24th, details coming next week

  • The last week in January is our Kindness week, and we will be working on activities based on kindness & empathy.

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Friday, December 20th

What a fantastic first few months of the school year! Eudenis and I are blown away by all of the amazing ideas and play adventures that we have gone on with your children so far. And we know even better things are to come!

We want to thank you for being a truly amazing set of families and for always supporting us along this journey with your children. We look forward to continued communication and growth in the new year.

Click here for your holiday home fun!



Celebrating

It’s hard not to stop and talk about all of the upcoming holidays. There has been magic and excitement in the air all week! We have honored Christmas and Hanukkah by:

  • Learning about Cleo and Jasmin’s tradition of lighting Bayberry candles on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve - thank you for sharing!

  • Practicing our Dreidel spinning

  • Reading numerous books about both holidays

  • Creating a Polar Express train out of cardboard boxes and taking a ride up to the North Pole to “see” Santa!

  • Working on various projects with the colors of the season - red, green and silver/gold as well as blues and gold

  • Creating a very well decorated Gingerbread House

Additionally, we spoke a lot about kindness and giving. We have been much more kind with each other and are growing socially!

Specialists

  • Ernestina shared some of our favorite holiday songs in Spanish - don’t forget to check out the spotify channel so you can listen at home.

  • Diane helped us create a veggie Menorah. A big cucumber was our base, and we added yellow pepper sticks as the candles. Diane topped the Shamash with a halved tomato to represent the flame. We also made a lemon basil dressing to pour over our veggie menorah salad.

  • Coach C had us create a cozy campfire by practicing little kicks, learning how to run in all directions without bumping into others, and remembering to only use our feet.

  • Mr Andrew had us imagine creative materials we could use to make a dreidel, sang us the story “From Head to Toe,” and had us all bopping around to the “five little monkeys.”

Classroom Activities this week

  • Making slime and using creative thinking to storytell as we play (following a recipe, working as a group to accomplish a goal, fine motor workout)

  • Creating a snowman out of baking soda and dish soap and using vinegar to watch him bubble up and melt (science experiment, trial and error, voicing a conclusion/summation, reflection, chemical reaction)

  • Using glue and salt to discover how salt absorbs liquids (in this case, liquid watercolor)

  • Building very tall structures with sensory stackers (counting, concepts of height and weight, balance, gravity, color recognition)

  • Kinetic sand (fine motor, creative thinking)

  • Measuring and comparing with loose parts - ribbon, pom poms & pieces of masking tape (using tools to measure, using big, bigger, biggest, and small, smaller, smallest language)

  • Cloud dough (scooping, pouring, measuring, noticing how a solid changes when a liquid is added, forming and reforming dough, fine motor, using sense of smell)

Again, have an amazing holiday, and we will see everyone in 2020!!

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Friday, December 13th

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





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Friday, December 6th

A Bounce House With A Stegosaurus Inside!

As we continue to toy with different ideas about what to build next, a recurrent theme continues to form: a house, or something inside of a house. This week we have mostly been talking about creating a bouncy house (with a stegosaurus inside!). Next week we will work together to create a cardboard model of this bouncy house and then hopefully by the new year, we will be ready to create with wood.

  • Creative thinking is the foundation for much of what we do in life; being able to think outside of the box is essential!

  • Planning allows us time to think before we act. If we dive into building without taking our time to plan it, we might not be too happy with the results.

  • When we honor children’s ideas, we show them that we value their voice and opinions and that we respect what they are interested in. This builds confidence, self-esteem, and trust.

Sensory Play

Activating our senses makes our brains happy, and allows us to retain information more easily. This week we used our sense of smell for cooking with rosemary, our fingers to work with insta-snow, our ears and bodies to dance and release energy, and used our eyes for hand-eye coordination puzzles, matching and sorting. All of these areas work to increase our cognitive ability!

Specialists

  • Ernestina taught us the different forms of weather, and what to wear outside when it’s cold for Spanish this week.

  • Diane had us mix together apricot, pears, peaches, bananas and cinnamon. We are expanding our knowledge of what are classified as fruits, exploring the smell and taste of spices, and expanding our vocabulary by mixing, pouring, measuring and sharing.

  • During soccer, we used cones as an obstacle course and carefully used little kicks to make it around the cones without tipping them over.

  • Music with Mr Andrew also expands our vocabulary, gets our bodies moving, and allows us time to understand rhythm, word patterns, and tempo.

Reminders

  • Winter Wishes are due Monday, Dec 9th

  • Our class holiday party is on Wednesday, Dec 18th from 4:30-5:30

  • BMS is closed from Dec 23-Jan 1st

  • School resumes Thursday, January 2nd

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Wednesday, November 27th

We had a quiet week here in the 2A classroom, and enjoyed a lot of engaging project work.

All week we have been watching an absorbent frog grow. Before we placed it into the water, we talked about what might happen- will the frog get smaller or bigger? We’ve been trying to predict just how large it is going to get! Periodically throughout each morning we have been peeking in on the frog and been in awe of its change in size.

We continue to use as many materials as possible to build with. The cardboard boxes leftover from our curriculum event have been great for building and also for trying out all of our tools. Millie was so excited to find out that she could make holes in the box with the screwdriver. We’ve been using hammers, saws and screw drivers on our boxes.

There are some new castle blocks in the classroom now, and we’ve been creating some really wonderful structures with them!

We continue to enjoy painting and drawing and have been so much more descriptive about what we are creating!

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Have a fantastic Thanksgiving holiday - we look forward to hearing all about your adventures next Monday.

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Friday, November 22nd

Building, Constructing & Imagination based play

Building has continued to be our main area of focus in the classroom this week (and last). We are doing some very creative and inventive things with the materials we have in the classroom which is very exciting for Eudenis and I to see.

We received some really beautiful pieces of wood that are rectangular in shape and have been inspiring us to build instruments! First a piano was created, and then a drum, and eventually a microphone. These pieces have also transformed into houses, castles, bridges, and airplanes! As mentioned at our curriculum breakfast, loose parts are the perfect “tool” for creating without a preconceived notion of what the pieces are supposed to be. The wood can easily become a piece of sand castle, a mama or daddy, an ice cream or a microphone. There are infinite possibilities and no predetermined set of rules (like a piece of play bread in the kitchen is typically just used as bread).

In the block center, we have been using our hollow blocks and unit blocks to create some amazing structures! Our first large cooperative building was a very tall tower, and our second was a long bridge over the river. What’s amazing about blocks is that they help us learn diverse and important skills such as:

  • Balance

  • Gravity

  • Spatial awareness

  • Comparisons (big/small)

  • Shapes

  • Understanding 3-D shapes

  • Cooperative play

  • Language building

  • Planning

  • Trial and error

  • Ability to shift ideas and adapt to adverse conditions

  • Ability to use one object in many different ways

Finally, we have also started to explore our workbench and how to use all of our tools. Soon we will be creating opportunities for the children to try out some real tools, like a drill and hammer (we got some wonderful tips from Ada and her woodworking husband, Janusz!).

Fine Motor/Hand-Eye Coordination Thru Beading

This week we were able to try beading for the first time. It was a big success! Everyone was able to place the beads onto pipe cleaners and fill up the entire thing. Now that we’ve mastered the jumbo beads, we will work our way down to some smaller sizes. What a great skill to have!

We also practiced using scissors with playdough, with mixed results. This is an area we will need to continue working on - and it’s such a challenging one! It’s hard to coordinate your hand to pull the blades open and shut while also connecting with the object that needs cutting.

Dramatic Play in the Gym: Selling pizza and ice cream

Lately, we have been very interested in opening up pizza and ice cream stores in the gym and selling our food for “five monies” (according to Una). We set up shop and ask our friends what flavor or kind they want before handing over the yummy treat. This might be something that will translate into our classroom, so we will get our kitchen ready for this type of play!

Home Fun #1- Let’s Learn About Colors in Spanish!

Click HERE if you need to see what our first home fun is all about.

Specialists

  • During Spanish with Ernestina, we are learning how to introduce ourselves “Me llamo Rachel.” We also did counting and colors.

  • Diane had us taste some more veggies this week: tomatoes, celery and carrots. There were not many fans of celery!!

  • Coach C has us all kick a big goal and do a special move at the end of soccer this week!

  • Music with Andrew was fun as always! He sang us one of Rachel’s favorite books- Jamberry.

Recipe: Make Oatmeal-Raspberry Bars at home

(The original recipe suggests chocolate chips, but they were fantastic with raspberries instead!!)

Find the recipe here!

Reminders

  • The Giving tree is set up for everyone to take from. You choose one or two envelopes and buy presents for underprivileged children in the Bronx. Gifts must be wrapped and brought back to school by Dec. 9th.

  • School is closed on Thursday and Friday, Nov 28 & 29 for Thanksgiving

  • Our Holiday party will be on Wednesday, Dec. 18th from 4-5:30

  • School is closed from Dec 23-Jan 1. School reopens on Jan 2nd.

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Friday, November 8th

Woodworking Project:

This week we spent as much time as we could outside. The fresh air really made our bodies feel great, and it was the perfect way to speak some more about buildings and what they need to function. As we walked, we observed that some buildings have trees on the roof, and some don’t. Some have water towers. There are ladders on the front of some buildings that are used as a fire escape- and we spoke a little bit about what they are used for. We took the time to look at different windows and doors, at what’s around a building too (like sidewalks, trees, and street light poles). We tried to look at the differences between a storefront and an apartment building. There were small details too, like a building that had stars on it, and some of the different places we looked had numbers on them. We noticed pipes and vents and steps. Some buildings are flat on top, and others have points at the top. There are so many varied details! It was such a productive way to really start to understand what we might want to work on when we build in the classroom. Weather permitting, we will continue to explore the neighborhood for architecture and building styles.

Thank you SO much for all of your donations- they are pouring in and we are very excited to plan some next steps for our project. We have lots of tools and wood now, and are eager to get to work.

Autumn Observations:

We were also able to take a good look at what Autumn is all about- the leaves on the trees are dwindling and the ones that are left have such beautiful vibrant colors right now. We collected acorns, watched pigeons move around the playground, and soaked up the brilliant sunlight!

Sensory Play:

In the classroom, we did some really exciting sensory projects this week. We worked with puffy shaving cream paint and saw how paint can be used in a three dimensional capacity. We also did a foot painting, which became a full body painting experience. The paint was so slippery! Una and Ericksen really enjoyed the sensation of sloshing and sliding through the paint, whereas Millie and Cleo were a little more cautious about their footing. Paint doesn’t always have to be done with a brush!

Why is Sensory play so important? For one, our senses are involved in everything that we do. Having them actively learning and moving gives our brain the proper information to really absorb and understand what is happening in the world around us. Everything that we can touch and use our whole bodies for becomes a lasting memory. It allows us to understand how we feel about different things as well; it’s important to know that you enjoy painting with your fingers, but not with your toes. It’s important to know that materials don’t only vary in color, they can vary in texture, consistency and weight. Sensory play also gives our fine and gross motor muscles a workout. The more that we can do with our fingers, the better prepared we will be when it’s time to start writing letters and words. We need our fingers to have muscle memory, endurance, and strength to hold up a pencil to write a whole paragraph. Each project that we work on in the classroom is getting your child prepared for big important tasks in the future!

Specialists:

  • Ernestina brought in puppets and masks for us to explore with this week as we learned about different farm animals and the unique sounds they make that differ from our American interpretation

  • Diane had us mix together cinnamon, corn chex, and raisins to make a trail mix this week. We are focusing on the difference between crunchy, soft, sweet, sour, and salty

  • Coach C played such a fun “splash” game with us during soccer! We were all laughing so much. The goal was to practice running and pulling the pinnies from Coach’s pocket to splash him with.

  • Mr Andrew sang us a new story this week! We heard Tiptoe Joe by Ginger Foglesong Gibson

Reminders:

  • We are closed on Monday, Nov. 11th for Veterans Day

  • We are closed on Friday, Nov. 15th for Parent Teacher Conferences (please let me know if you need to change your time)

  • Our first curriculum breakfast is on Friday, Nov. 22nd from 9:00-9:40 / Sign up sheet coming to you very soon

  • We are closed on Thurs & Fri Nov 28 & 29 for Thanksgiving











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Friday, November 1

Building and Constructing

There are so many different tools in our classroom that aid in our ongoing building research. This week there was a big desire to create with the Duplo Legos. We had such a wide range of outcomes with the legos- some friends used them to create ducks, while others focused on houses and towers. What’s amazing is all of the conversation and enthusiasm that we overhear. The children are so incredibly proud of their creations. They take a lot of pride in their work and are more than happy to tell you the whole story behind it. We are noticing a big surge in storytelling and conversation. There are big leaps in our vocabulary! Plus, every time we work with manipulatives like the Legos, our fine motor muscles are getting a work out, our eyes and hands are learning how to work in harmony, and we have to use a great deal of problem solving and trial and error to put everything together successfully.

We also love to build with: Magna-tiles, Bristle blocks, Plus plus, sticky blocks (a mild adhesive on all sides of the shapes), and our unit blocks.

Science: What’s inside that pumpkin?!

This week we finally got to cut open our pumpkin and create our Jack-o-Lantern! Before cutting into the pumpkin, we asked the children to think about what might be inside. Often, when we ask questions as a large group, the answer becomes contagious- as was the case this time- but it’s still a great exercise in learning how to create a hypothesis.

Chase: Orange

Louisa: Orange

Addie: Orange

Aris: Orange

Una: Orange- no, it’s pink!

Ericksen: Ants

Cleo: Orange

Antoine: Oranges

Of course, we found seeds and stringy pumpkin “guts” inside and a few of us were brave enough to use our hands to scoop out the contents, while others used a spoon to remove the seeds. We’ll be cooking them up next week for a delicious snack (and thanks to Millie for sharing some of her roasted pumpkin seeds with us, too!).

We also cut open our little pumpkins and used tweezers to remove the seeds. Another wonderful way to get up close and personal with pumpkins and learn how to squeeze the two sides of the tweezers together.

We also voted on which shapes to use to create our Jack-o-Lantern!

Creating our November backdrop

We worked collaboratively to paint a new backdrop for our November photos. Each child approaches painting in a different way- some make large sweeping strokes with the paintbrush while others focus on covering a very small area at a time. There are children who work in a circular motion and others that always make lines. Either way, it’s a fabulous method to develop a sense of creativity, community, and color.


Self Portraits

This month there was a more focused approach to self portraits. Before starting, each child was encouraged to talk about all of their facial features that they wanted to include in the portrait. We heard a lot of “Nose” “Eyes” and “Mouth/Lips” but also some less common features such as “Eyebrows” “Forehead” and “Cheeks.” There has also been another leap in fine motor coordination- some of the portraits are really starting to resemble a face!

Specialists:

More spooky Spanish fun with Ernestina, veggie taste testing with Diane, and singing along with Mr. Andrew!

Happy Halloween!

Thank you for a fantastic parade and party. It was SO much fun thanks to all of your participation.

Reminders:

  • BMS is closed on Monday, Nov 11th for Veteran’s Day

  • Parent teacher Conferences are on Friday, Nov 15th - no children in school this day

  • BMS is having a Math Fair on Saturday, Nov 16th from 10am-12pm (I’ll be there!!)

  • Our first Curriculum breakfast is on Friday, Nov 22nd - details to come

  • BMS is closed on Thurs & Fri Nov 28 & 29 for Thanksgiving

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Friday, October 25th

Autumnal Fun

What a beautiful week to get outside and explore! Even as we ran around and burned off extra energy, each child found time to stop and admire leaves, twigs and acorns they found in the grassy field at Washington Market park. We were able to open up further dialogue about the colors we are observing on the trees and on the ground- and everyone was so excited every time they found a vibrant and bright red leaf! We have continued to use these materials in the classroom in many different ways. We’ve been making glue collages, creating bowls/nests with acorns and leaves inside, and creating leaf rubbings at the light table.



Worldwide penpals

This week we started to receive postcards from all across the world! Our first postcard came from Southern California, and the second was from Belgium. It has been fascinating to learn different facts from schools all over the place. We are eagerly awaiting 8 more pieces of mail, and will start sending ours out next week. Maybe we can even make a trip to the post office to send our mail off!







Quack Quack Adventures

We love reading our Quack Quack book. Antoine and Ericksen have had some really fun adventures and have shared with us so nicely. We can’t wait to see what Quack Quack gets up to next! Thanks so much for signing up to bring him home, and for taking such good care of him!

Woodworking

Last week we built a house for Quack Quack and everyone was so proud after using the screw driver. It was amazing to see how adept and capable everyone is! We had some moments of laughter, too, as the screw would fall out of the hole, or we had trouble lining up the screw driver with the screw head. And we had a chance to try on our safety glasses/goggles for the first time!

If anyone has any ideas for what else we can build, we would love to hear it!

After the house was put together, we have been taking turns painting the different parts of the house. It’s almost complete, and we will find a perfect spot in the classroom to hang it for when Quack Quack is at school.

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Ducks, Nests, Eggs

Our interest in ducks is slowly becoming more of an interest in eggs and what hatches out of an egg. We read the book Whose Egg? and it really sparked some fascination. Now we know that more than just birds can hatch out of eggs- it might be a snake, alligator or turtle as well! Even a caterpillar can hatch from an egg.

As we used the clay to make bowls and added acorns inside, a lot of conversation turned toward nests and eggs as well. I wonder where this line of thinking will carry us . . .

Developmental Skills

This week we also worked on some important developmental skills in the classroom, including (but certainly not limited to- it’s hard to write about all of them at once!):

  • One to one correspondence (realizing that one object is just one, and two is two, etc.)

  • Object permanence - knowing that an object is still there even if it’s in, say, a tunnel and we can’t see it anymore.

  • Fine motor - we did a lot of work with squeezing this week, which strengthens all of the muscles in our hands

  • Socializing and ability to answer questions - we decided what our favorite colors are, brainstormed what we wanted to tell to other children that attend different schools around the globe, asked our own questions about what might hatch out of an egg . . .

  • Math concepts - we worked on creating a basic pattern (i.e. yellow, green, yellow, green and so on), sorting colors, counting how many we have of different objects, and various sorting projects.

Specialists

  • We had a “Spooky” Spanish time with Ernestina this week, and everyone was able to try on the Bruja (witch) hat. We also cackled like a witch!

  • Diane had us compare apple, pear and raspberry. Then we tried them again after squeezing lemon juice on top. We concluded that the lemon was way too sour!

  • Coach C had us kick a ball through a little cone obstacle course this week

  • Mr Andrew got us moving and dancing to some great classic songs that he always puts a little twist on- we love it!

Reminders

  • Thursday, October 31st is our annual Halloween parade at 9:30, followed by our class Harvest festival party (pot luck lunch). Festivities conclude at 12:00.

  • Monday, November 11th BMS is closed for Veterans Day

  • Friday, November 15th BMS is closed for students for Parent Teacher Conferences

  • Thurs & Fri Nov 28-29 BMS is closed for Thanksgiving

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Friday, October 11th

We had such a busy week! We’ve started working on our Halloween costumes, experienced quite a few Autumn inspired projects, and have been working on fostering a community of kindness in our room.

Using pumpkins to help us express our feelings. Each child was able to select which shapes they wanted and which emotion they wanted to convey. Then we used them during our Calabasas song.

Spacial Awareness & Kindness

Now that everyone is settled and comfortable in the classroom, we have been talking more about how we can give each other plenty of space. Sometimes we forget that there is someone next to us, or we just don’t want to share what we are doing. So we have been talking through these scenarios and explaining how important it is to be respectful to each and every friend in the classroom. In moments of tension, it’s hard for two year olds to remember to use their words - their primal and instinctual brain activates first and the calm, reasoning mind isn’t quick enough to intercept the action. Eudenis and I just continually remind each child that we can say, “I need space!” “No thank you,” and “I was here first.”

We have also been working diligently on offering our friends toys to play with. For example, if we are using legos, or tiles, or anything else, we are learning that it’s OK to let another child use them too. That doesn’t mean we have to give up all of the pieces, but that we need to let the ones we don’t need be used by someone else. It’s not easy! And it will take time and reminders. But we are confident that it won’t take long before these concepts are embedded into our way of life in the classroom.

Next week we will be introducing a Kindness jar in the classroom and friends who make really amazing choices with their friends will be able to add a piece to the jar. Once our jar is full, we will have a special party in the class to celebrate all of our kind actions.

Autumn

We have been loving all of the natural materials that have been given to the classroom. We have utilized them with clay, been working on gluing them into people still, and just enjoying touching and observing all of the different textures. We have been noticing that some of the leaves are really crunchy and easy to break while others are still “juicy” and not easy to rip apart. It’s also been fascinating to see that when flowers, like our sunflowers, start to dry all of the petals fall out. But our favorite fall materials has definitely been acorns! They are so much fun to roll around. I think we’ll be making some instruments out of acorns next week - so if you could collect some more for us, that would be amazing!

Specialists

  • Diane came to cook with us on Monday. We were treated to some really tasty apple butter!

  • On Tuesday we had our first official Spanish class (we do Spanish daily with Eudenis). Our favorite song was “Five Little Ducks” or Cinco Patitos.

  • Our second soccer class with Coach C was great- everyone was active and continued to practice using our feet only with the soccer ball.

  • Mr Andrew has been really engaging for music and we really loved listening to “The Itsy Bitsy Spider/Lion/Tomato”

Reminders

  • We are closed Monday, Oct 14th for Columbus day

  • Our pumpkin picking field trip is Wednesday, Oct. 16th

  • The annual Halloween parade is Thursday, Oct. 31st and our Harvest party is immediately following the parade. A sign up list was created on the Nurish app- but I will email it next week for anyone who would like to sign up. Please let us know ASAP if you do not have someone to attend the parade with your child









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Friday, October 4th

Our specialists started this week!

Wednesday: Diane is back this year for more cooking. We started off with a simple taste test of apples and honey. Everyone was able to try a green, yellow, and red slice of apple. We were also introduced to the apple corer, and though we didn’t get a chance to use it just yet, we were amazed to see the apple transform from whole into slices.

Thursday: Each Thursday we will be having Super Soccer classes during our gym time. This week we met Coach C and he lead us through a few activities that helped us remember that we only use our feet and not our hands to play soccer.

Friday: We met Mr. Andrew, who is our new music teacher. He sang a few of our favorite songs, and also sang two great books: Baby Bear, Baby Bear and From Head to Toe. Many videos on Instagram!!!

We’re going to be DUCKS!

Our Halloween costumes have been decided: ducks it is! Please bring in a long sleeved white shirt for your child (a few sizes big so that it can fit over a bulky coat - it’s usually pretty chilly for the parade) so we can start the decorating. This year the children will work on their own costume- no need for parent assistance! We can’t wait to show off our amazing costumes later this month.

Speaking of ducks- our class duck, Quack Quack, is going to be traveling home with each child. I will be sending a google doc sign up so that you can select a weekend to bring Quack Quack home. A few pictures of your adventures with Quack Quack and a few captions are all we need. Your child will get to show everyone the pages that you add to the journal. Thanks for your help, we think the kids are really going to enjoy bringing our sweet duck home. (And please note- it does really have a quacking sound - sorry in advance!).

Connecting with Nature

This week we continued to take advantage of the beautiful Autumnal changes in our neighborhood. We went to Morgan’s Market to pick out two pumpkins for the classroom, explored our local farmer’s market and bought bread and jam to enjoy in our classroom. As we ventured through the park, we even got to see the pigeons taking a bath in a puddle. We encourage the children to notice the subtle changes, like leaves on the ground, the colors changing, and the increase in windy days.

In the classroom, we have been using leaves and acorns for a lot of our work. With a little teacher help, we have been creating leaf people. Activities like this open up a dialogue about the parts of the body and facial features. Children are able to identify textures, colors, size differences, and anomalies - like little rips and tears on a leaf. We are fostering language development through our nature play.

Other activities involving nature this week:

  • Sunflower still life drawings

  • Washing our new pumpkins

  • Looking at apple seeds (and hopefully we will plant a few next week).

Books we loved this week

  • Pete The Cat’s Five Little Pumpkins

  • Night Animals

  • Dig!

  • Go Away Big Green Monster!

Self Portraits

Eudenis and I are so impressed with this month’s self portraits! They are really starting to take shape and personality.

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Friday, September 27th

We started our week with an adventure outside. It was so good to get some fresh air! Our first stop was Morgan’s Market where we found pumpkins and gourds already. Everyone was able to feel both a highly textured pumpkin and then compared it with a normal smooth pumpkin. We also noted that pumpkins aren’t only orange- we saw some white, yellow, and green pumpkins as well.

After, we headed to the park where we collected many leaves to use in the classroom. We love having natural materials to work with, so we will be heading back soon to collect some more (and if you come across any during your weekend adventures, please feel free to bring them in!).

Class Intent

This year we are trying something new: a class intent. Rather than have one focus for the entire school, we are going to be following a big project unique to each classroom. The 2A class will be studying woodworking and building for the year. We started this project a little bit last week when friends were able to help build the baby crib (which we will be repairing together next week). If you have any project ideas or want to lend a hand for a particular building experience, that would be amazing! We are hoping to be able to have some guests come in throughout the year and guide us as well- so if there are any architects or builders that you know, please let us get in contact so we can work something out!

Halloween/Ducks

The second project that has started in the classroom is an interest in ducks. It started as a desire to read the book “Five Little Ducks,” multiple times during the course of a day. To build upon this, we have started to look at some images of ducks and have drawn and made ducks with model magic and feathers. We also glued feathers to create ducks. Next week we will be presenting the children with more duck related activities to see what it is about the ducks that capture their attention.

We have started to vote on what we would like to be for Halloween. For now, the choices have been baby sharks or ducks since those two animals are the most talked about. Ducks are in the lead! We will be letting you know more soon.

Other 2A Happenings

  • We created Autumn leaves using coffee filters and watercolor paints

  • We tried using watercolor palettes for the first time

  • Using chia seeds and cornstarch we made a batch of slime

  • Our sensory table became an ocean filled with water and aquatic life

  • Our feet and hands explored a big block of clay

  • We sliced apples and dipped them in honey to honor Rosh Hashana and learned how to say “L’shana Tova,” or Happy New Year in Hebrew.

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Friday, September 20th

What a wonderful week of transitions and settling in. Everyone is more comfortable now and participating in more of the activities that we have ready in the classroom. We continued to do a lot of sensory explorations, as they help soothe us and are perfect for developing our fine and gross motor muscles that will help us learn how to write as we get older!

We worked on our very first building project! Since we have such a strong passion for babies, we decided to build a bed for them! Friends took turns using a screw driver to attach 8 screws into the baby crib. This year we have decided to have a focus on woodworking and building in our classroom, so this is the first of many building creations we will work on!

This week we were also able to incorporate a science project! We used different color water to pour together and watch as the colors changed. It’s always so magical to see colors transform before our eyes.

We explored clay with water this week. The mixture of clay and water together is called slip, and it’s basically a clay glue. It helps to stick two pieces together and will dry as a solid piece. We took out some paint brushes and applied the water directly to the large block. Some friends then explored the slick texture that it created and slipped and sloshed their fingers through the clay.

Eudenis and I also discovered just how much everyone enjoys and responds positively to circle time! We have been reading 3-4 books, singing multiple songs together, incorporating yoga or other movements, using scarves to represent animals, and concluding with 3-4 songs in Spanish. Some of our very favorite books this week include:

  • Go Away Big Green Monster

  • Five Little Ducks

  • Night Animals

  • From Head to Toe

Some of the Spanish songs we have worked with this week include (we use Super Simple songs Espanol - you can check it out on Youtube).

  • Bebe Tiburon

  • Buenos Dias

  • Hasta Manana

  • Abre Cierra

  • Como esta Clima

  • Esta Feliz

  • De esta forma?

This week we have started to talk about empathy and caring for our friends, and have also introduced our class agreements that we hope to follow every day!

Next week we intend to cover some more “All about me” concepts as we learn each others names, likes, and dislikes.

Have a great weekend!

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Friday, September 13th

We did it! Everyone has successfully made it through the first week of school. Thank you so much to each and every one of you for being patient, helpful, and willing to step in and comfort when needed. We truly appreciate your support, and feel that this week went so well! Everyone has made leaps and bounds since Monday- and though some have a slower transition than others, don’t feel discouraged! There were moments this week where everyone was content and did need their caregiver right by their side. Everyone is learning who Eudenis is and who Rachel is, and soon they will walk into the classroom and not look back. We promise!

This week we tried to introduce a lot of the sensory materials and explorations that will evolve with us throughout the school year:

  • Clay

  • Water

  • Sand

  • Paint

  • Playdough

  • Slime

  • Glue

Next week we will continue to explore, but will start easing into some more structured time during the day. We are looking forward to adding science experiments, cooking projects, and loose parts play!

Our morning meditation practice has started as well. Everyone has enjoyed listening to the singing bowl and taking turns giving it a tap or two. As everyone settles in, we will be adding games, and continue to remind everyone that taking deep breaths can help calm us when we are upset.

Some of our favorite books this week include:

  • The Pigeon Has to go to School by Mo Willems

  • Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle

  • One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root

  • Subway by Anastasia Suen

And we were also able to start working on our monthly self portraits. We are really impressed by how many friends decided to start their portrait with a circular shape- they really know what they are doing already! And everyone got the most excited to draw the hair on the tops of their heads! We are very excited to see what the portraits look like next month!

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Please let me or Eudenis know if you have any questions or concerns- we are here to help, support, and make sure that everyone is successful and happy at school (including you, the parents!).

Additionally, if you would like the grandparents to have the blog sent directly to them, please let me know their email addresses and we will have them added to the mailing list.

Have an amazing weekend! We can’t wait to see everyone on Monday.

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