Measuring
This past week, we have continued to use different objects and tools to measure our bodies and various items around the classroom. It is wonderful to see the initial idea translated in so many different ways by the children. Nina, Charlotte and Parker have been particularly interested in using the tape measure tool this week. Nina even held the tool up to the pumpkins and looked at the numbers. Charlotte was really excited by the way the measuring tape would slip out and retract on its own. Mia thought that part of the tool was a button and kept trying to press it (it really moves up and down to lock or unlock the measuring tape). Parker has triumphantly carried the tape measure around the classroom and has gotten so good at announcing "MY tape measure!" as he walks around. As this fascination with numbers and measuring continues, we will be adding more tools (rulers, meter sticks, tape measuring tools that aren't encased, and more!). If you can think of any fun measuring tools, please share with us!
Portraits
Since October has rolled around, we worked on our third self portraits! Even more expressive language is occurring as we sit to work on these lovely self representations.
“One, two nose. Eyes. More eyes.”
“Mouth!”
“That’s Parker! Toes! Feets!”
“Nose! Wow! (And then he bent down and gave his portrait a big wet kiss!)”
“Head.”
“All done!”
There is already a big shift toward making round shapes for our portraits. Peering into the mirror is helping us translate our facial features into 2 dimensional shapes. We are seeing some amazing fine motor grip control as well. I can't wait to see the changes between now and November!
Interpersonal Relations
As we become even more familiar and comfortable with each other, there has been more movement from parallel play (next to one another), to direct interaction with one another. Of course some of this involves grabbing and taking from each other- but that's a very big part of being two! We encourage the children to use their words: "It's my turn." "I'm using it." "I'm not finished yet." "Give it back." On the flip side, we talk to the impatient children with language such as, "Your friend is still using that toy, and I know it can be frustrating to wait, but you can have a turn when he/she is finished," or "Can you ask for a turn?" Sometimes we suggest other things to do while we wait, as well. It's a process, but it will happen for everyone!
The children are starting to form connections and use physical gestures with each other. We have seen friends trying to pat or touch other children's hair, giving hugs, high fives, looking closely at one another and laughing -- which has also led to some imitation play. One friend will do something like pick up a toy and laugh, and then the other child will copy this behavior.
As we get to know ourselves, we also get to know each other.
Parents, it has been such an amazing pleasure getting to know you and your children the past couple of weeks. I have learned so much about their personalities, likes, and dislikes. They have already given me so much love and affection. I am going to miss each and every one of them while I'm away for the next few months- but I will definitely be following along on their journey. I will still be assisting with lesson planning and curriculum development during my absence. Although I won't have as much free time, I will still be checking emails and am available to answer any questions that you might have, at any time. I can't wait to see how big your kids become by January!! (I might come stop by for the annual Christmas party, I can't stay away!).
All my best, Rachel
Highlights of our day:
- Soccer for the first time!
- Painting with our feet (and whole bodies) while grooving to Samba music!
- Playing with oats in the sensory table
- Painting on canvas in ziplock bags (mess free paint fun!)
Our favorite word today was: SLIPPERY! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0hAJtybqVk&feature=em-upload_owner
So much slippery goodness! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmlN9B1LgGg&feature=em-upload_owner
Wearing "soccer hats!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk_59qe-YEA&feature=em-upload_owner
Our first soccer class! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3myLkB6OjKg&feature=em-upload_owner
Some highlights of our day:
-We had our very first Spanish class with our new professora, Michelle. It was great!
-We taste tested more apples today with Diane. We used fresh squeezed lemon and lime juice to get a sour flavor on our apples, and balanced it out with a bit of honey. I think everyone enjoyed honey the most!
-We did science with Rachel- dancing colors on milk! We used milk, food coloring, and dawn dish soap on qtips to make the colors dance and swirl together. It was a lot of fun to watch the colors move around.
Spanish Class: https://youtu.be/ThpaPARxc3A
Spanish 2: https://youtu.be/k6n638FbvCU
Nina painting with 2 hands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjdKlp_eeSU&feature=em-upload_owner
Dancing colors science project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcAgYbfPxV4&feature=em-upload_owner
We went out to get some pumpkins for our classroom today! It was a fun and exciting trip! We are so excited for October, pumpkins, apples, and Halloween! Please start bringing in the shirts/hoodies for Halloween this week. Thank you!!!
Other highlights of the day: Listening to more Cello music, October self-portraits, Using a circle punch to make paper circles for gluing
Game creation- playing a version of peek-a-boo through the lego bases. Emilio and Mia had each other laughing hysterically as they played this game. Parker joined in a little bit later, but his lego base was not see through, so his view was a bit different!
Our personalities and identities are flourishing this week, now that most of us are settled and comfortable at school. A word that has been popping up much more is "Mine." This is, perhaps, the first way we express ownership, desire, need and want. It's a way to communicate with our peers that something should not be taken away from us. Children recognize that certain toys, food, and objects are within their control and they feel free to use "MINE" to retain those things.
Dylan sat down and found these adult sneakers to try out. Part of our identity is our curiosity and our preferences.
This has given us an opportunity to start exploring the concept of sharing and using our ability to make our friends happy. We are encouraging children to openly decide to give to others, or to use their words to let their friends know that they can have a turn soon. On a whole, we are doing SO well with these concepts, but it takes a while to settle into the routine. Especially when we finally get a chance with a special toy. We'll continue to work on sharing and caring throughout the school year so we can work as a cohesive and happy community of learners.
Morgan and Jackson make sounds to each other through the tube. We can use toys together!!
This week we have also talked a great deal about our emotions and how things make us feel. When we fall down, we can feel very scared or sad. When our Mommies and Daddies leave, it makes us feel sad and sometimes angry. When we go to the gym, we get excited and happy! How we feel and how we express it is such a big part of being human and of being social; it's a huge facet of identity and expression! Next week one of our goals is to create a feelings chart so we can further uncover ways to talk about our emotions.
Where's Charlotte? There she is, in the tunnel! Enjoying making new friends and helping them find joy and comfort through the day.
“One, two. Two eyes.”
We made a new self-portrait in our special books this week and the change in ability from the first week to now has blown me away! We are talking so much about ourselves, our bodies, and our features.
“Hair on top. Leg. Toes. Toes. Feet. More feet. ”
Nina working on her self portrait.
Our handprints were so much fun to play with- Jackson and Parker were especially curious about matching their hands against all of the prints to try to discover which one was their own. Some were too big, some were too small, and of course one was just right!
Which hand is my hand?
Another physical component of who we are is our height. Everyone was able to lay down on our chart to get measured! It was so much fun that many friends took four or five turns laying down on the paper. We've also started using unit blocks to measure our bodies and see how tall we are in another way. We love embedding mathematics into our play! Come in and check out our height chart!
“I measure again, Rachel!”
“That’s Katerina!”
One last identity component for the week: we have been doing such an amazing job learning everyone's name! Great job, 2A!
Hooray! Have a great weekend!
Thank you so much for helping us raise $220 toward the fundraiser for hurricane victims- we so appreciate your contributions! If you would still like to give, we are collecting but not making more smoothies. Thank you thank you!
Making Cucumber & Mango roll ups with Mitzi today
Gym play
https://youtu.be/dZQFSv8n2Qs tunnel play!
https://youtu.be/bgyeMwEftXs Hooray!!
https://youtu.be/5cjVgWX5kCc ring around the rosie
https://youtu.be/frmy12BZ5FQ ring around the rosie 2
Painting our numbers for a project
Making new connections
https://youtu.be/kRHLTJaUEec Katerina and Morgan chatting
We got invited to a pre-k and 3B bake/lemonade sale!
Great news everyone- we will be sending photos via the blog each Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and will still focus on more detailed blogs each Thursday and Friday. This should help for those who wanted to save the photos and were having issues with Flickr.
Reminders: Invitations are going out for Charlotte's birthday party- please check backpacks and/or lunchboxes. Also, a permission slip for the apple picking field trip is going out today and tomorrow.
Here's a copy of the permission slip if you need it. (CLICK HERE)
We mixed oil, water, food coloring & alka seltzer tabs to make bubbles like a lava lamp!
Adding water, oil, food coloring, and alka seltzer tabs. On youtube: https://youtu.be/T1FvLfUesEk
Diane brought more apples from the farmer's market and we made little hand pies!
Painting with Qtips
Wow- there has been incredible growth and maturity in the 2A class in just a week and a half. Everyone is settling into the routine, are becoming more comfortable with teachers, peers, and activities, and are familiarizing themselves with the flow of the day. Our days are becoming very fruitful and productive already! Again, thank you so much for all of your support and help to transition everyone to school.
Making connections with new friends.
This week we continued to look at what identity means to each child. We want to start approaching this topic from a more physical view point. One activity we used to support this effort was making handprints. Each hand is a different size. Each child chose a different color for their print. Now we are hoping they will engage with these painted hands and compare and contrast their hands with the prints. We'll be recording conversation, questions, and discoveries next week as they see these handprints up on the wall for the first time.
Even friends who had not gotten "messy" before were willing to let Rachel paint their fingers.
Still missing a couple of hands, but this is waiting for the children on Monday!
We have also been noticing preferences that the children have, which is very much tied into their personality and identity. Some of the preferences are minor- keeping on shoes or taking them off, for example. Other times it's very distinctive- "NO, this one." We encourage children to make choices and voice opinions, and we are glad they are already comfortable enough to do this.
Charlotte prefers to take care of this baby (and to feed her cupcakes!).
In addition to our project work on the self, we have also been up to very many sensory based activities. A sampling of which include: painting on sandpaper, making & engaging with oobleck (a mixture of cornstarch and water which creates a non-Newtonian substance balanced between solid and liquid), water play, sand play, using our motor and muscular skills to peel tape . . .and so much more.
"Up high! Up high!" - Parker, excited about the oobleck dribbling off of Rachel's hands, which he promptly caught and giggled about.
This week we continued to experience the violin and talked about the concepts of piano, forte, and crescendo. We listened to The Flight of the Bumblebee and made some very quick movements with crayons as we listened to the music.
For cooking, we all worked together to make Challah bread dough! You can find the recipe HERE (click). We learned a new song to encourage sharing and help us understand when our turn is finished- "We mix and we mix and we mix and we mix, we mix and then we stop!" It was wonderful to watch everyone pass the bowl to their neighbor as the song finished! We hope you're able to bake your bread and enjoy a sweet taste for the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashana. We read a story about Rosh Hashana and learned how to say Shana Tova, which means "Happy New Year" in Hebrew. This week we also had Diane come in and share apples, pears, and honey with us - apples and honey are also connected to Rosh Hashana and the hopes for a sweet new year.
Plus, we got outside and experienced the wind and what it does to our hair! We are working on concepts of weather and these photos help us relate to the language we use.
Have an amazing weekend, we will see everyone next week!
Wow! What a wonderful first week back at Buckle My Shoe. The 2A teachers have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know each and every little learner in our classroom and cannot wait to see what the 2017-2018 school year will bring!
Below you will find a few of this week's highlights and notes on why we are implementing our curriculum! We will be focusing on themes such as these throughout the course of this year.
Parents, welcome to our 2A blog for the school year. Each Thursday the blog will be used to connect with you about our ongoing curriculum projects. The overarching "theme" for the year is Identity and Self. Our first focus is on the individual child and the traits that they exhibit and use to communicate with us. We want to figure out who the children are and how they are able to relate to others. We will work with similarities and differences, physical traits (hair and eye color, height), emotions and facial cues, and language.
Morgan enjoys laughing and finding ways to be silly.
Even though it's our first week, we have still been able to see so much from each and every child. We have quieter personalities that seek out the uninhabited spaces in the classroom, and we have the very excited and outgoing personalities bouncing around looking for other children to interact with. We have empathetic children who pat backs and give pacifiers to those who are feeling sad. It has been a joy seeing high fives and hugs being given spontaneously this week!
Dylan is an explorer- he is constantly on the go and ready for new discoveries!
Some questions that we will explore as educators are: How does the development of language influence our ability to relate to others? How do we relate to others when we lack a broad vocabulary to communicate? How do others impact our emotions and thoughts? (We have seen a lot of this- we will feel fine but see or hear someone else crying and it triggers memories of why we are sad, too). Our questions will evolve, grow, and multiply and we will share them with you each week.
Mia enjoys relating to others and seeks out friends to interact with.
Do you have any questions that you wonder about how we form self identity as young children? Please feel free to comment on the blog or email me directly so we can continue to work on this research together!
Nicholas is always trying to find a new way to use things. This morning he turned a container into an instrument; he is inventive and thoughtful.
Some ways we have been working on discovering our friends and their identities: Circle time songs that include each child's name. A name is a huge facet of identity. Children, especially, take a special love and pride in their name. It's usually the first way they explore literacy and understanding the alphabet- their letter is so special to them (first initial). We have been talking about preferences and things we like. We have also been looking at our family photos and talking a little bit about what makes a family and how our families are different.
Charlotte likes to be the Mommy and finds lots of babies to take care of and nurture.
This week we started our monthly self portraits, too. Self portraits are a really special time. Each child sits down with one teacher and they talk about what they see in the mirror. Today Charlotte decided that she has purple hair. Nicholas was so excited to talk about his two eyes. Nina eagerly made a round shape for her face after observing herself in the mirror. Everyone approaches it differently, but equally as thoughtful.
Emilio is always stacking and building. He likes to line up all of the cars or trains. He likes to build tall things. He also loves to be near his friends and to comfort them with their pacifiers if they need it!
Nina likes to seek out quiet corners to work and explore. She loves to hide under pillows and be cozy.
Parker is a big fan of transportation vehicles, and continuously sings "Wheels on the Bus" around the classroom. He finds joy in making others laugh.
Katerina has been exploring colors this week. She loves to hold up the different translucent pieces and see the world in a bright new way.
Max is still a bit shy, but we have seen him work with a lot of light table toys. He likes to build and see how things move.
Jackson loves to talk and communicate verbally. He likes to identify all the objects around him.
Our two playdates went amazingly well! We were able to get a glimpse into how the children are going to use their new space, and how we can best support them in it. The three of us had such an exciting time seeing the new little personalities that are going to form our class. While some children were timid, others were so outgoing and vocal! We cannot wait to get into the regular flow of the classroom day and start some fun and engaging learning moments with your children.
During our Thursday playdate, we already had moments of interest in what one another was up to. As we get deeper into the school year, we will see a lot more interest in playing with one another versus the parallel play (next to one another but not direct interaction).
On Friday, we had a lot of dramatic play happening complete with dress up! We had fire fighters, friends working on the computer, phone conversations, and plenty of hats.
Morgan working with the sand table- Sept 8 2017