Dear Families,
Thank you all for such a wonderful year. What a busy year we had! Here are some photos showcasing some highlights from the second half of the year. We hope you have a great summer!
At the end of last week, we decided to vote on what item we would bring outside with us the next day. There were three options suggested: bubbles, chalk, parachute. Each child had an opportunity to vote for the choice they wanted and afterwards we counted up how many votes each item received. The clear winner was bubbles! On Friday, the children were very excited to play with bubbles outside. Earlier this week, we planned to go outside again but the children could not agree on what we should take out. We found our old voting chart and folded it to just reveal chalk and a parachute. Each child had a chance to cast their vote between the two. For the children who had previously selected chalk or parachute, they were asked if they wanted to keep their votes the same or change to something else. When all of the votes were added up, chalk won by one vote. The children were happy to have chalk with them outside, drawing pictures and letters by themselves and with each other. After taking a neighborhood walk on Thursday, we had a chance to bring out the parachute on Friday. We value the voices of the children and enjoy finding ways to make sure their thoughts and ideas are heard within our classroom.
THIS WEEK IN ART:
Beginning at the end of last week and continuing this week, we played a few different games to work with the children on different skills. The first game we played a few times is a game called “What’s missing?” For this game, we had 3-5 little plastic people or bears of different colors who went on adventures. Once the creatures were ‘tired’ they went to sleep under a blanket, but they would disappear at night. When lifting the blanket to reveal the animals, we would hold back a few of them and the children would have to figure out what (who) was missing. This game required the children to work on their recall skills, remembering the colors that were present at the start, and which colors were taken away based on what was left. The children were very excited by this game and focused attentively. The children worked hard to figure out the missing colors and were successful fairly quickly.
Another game that was played this week was introduced by Debbie. The game was “who took the bone?” A child would sit on a chair, pretending to be a dog, and have a bone (a block). The child would then close their eyes, and another friend would take the bone and hide it behind their backs. The puppy child would then wake up and try and guess who took their bone. This game helped the children work on their patience. However, the game proved to be a tricky one. Nearly every time the puppy would open his or her eyes, either the child who took the bone or another child in the circle would reveal themselves right away. We gave it a few tries, but ultimately determined this game might have to be played in another year.
The last game we played together with Debbie was hot potato. The children had to use their coordination to quickly pass a block around the circle. When Debbie called “Stop” the child still holding the potato would be “out.” With this game, Debbie would reassure each child that it’s okay to be out of the game, that everyone would soon join them, and they could sit on the side and sing along and cheer for their friends. The children who got out, graciously stepped aside and let the game continue and the friends remained excited to watch the game go on.
Throughout the year, we’ve played different kinds of games, including the cube roll game, to help the students work on developing different skills. As the children have gotten older, they have been able to better understand the rules of the games and have shown that they are capable of playing more complicated games. We look forward to continuing to introduce new and fun games into the classroom throughout the rest of the year.
This week in 2B, we faced a challenge, that while not new, had reached a breaking point. Every day, we enjoy playing with the wide assortment of toys in the classroom. The children learn so much through play: negotiation, turn taking, imagination, collaboration, and more. However, this week, the toys seemed to present more of a problem. The children were fighting quite a bit, throwing, and otherwise not taking care of our toys. At clean up time, most friends opted not to participate in cleaning, either leaving the mess for one or two friends cleaning, or for the teachers to clean. After a particularly difficult Thursday, we decided to remove all of the toys from the classroom.
In the morning, we set up painting on the floor, salt art, and crayons/paper. As the children entered the classroom, they quickly selected one of those activities and got right to work. It was not until 9:15am, when someone finally realized the toys were missing, asked where they were, and then just shrugged his shoulders and found something else to do. During our morning meeting, we had a discussion about what happened to the toys. When asked why the toys were taken away, the students immediately said that they had not been cleaning them up or treating them nicely. When we asked if they wanted to talk about a plan about bringing the toys back, the children said no and asked that we continue with our morning meeting.
The rest of the day was relatively calm and fun. We continued with our floor painting and added moon dust as a choice. The children worked together at each activity and stayed engaged for a while. Once they tired of those activities, we all came together on the rug to play a game (What’s missing?) During lunch we made a plan to return the toys on Monday if they promised to clean them up and play nicely with them.
We were not quite sure how the students would react to having no toys in the classroom. We were very pleasantly surprised to find out that the children were not bothered at all. By removing the toys, the children were very engaged in the limited activities that we had out. With all of the toys, there are many distractions and it is easy for them to jump around from activity to activity without spending a significant amount of time engaging with materials. While we will bring back most of the toys on Monday, we plan to find days to have another go at a toy free day.
This week we continued to observe nature in our classroom. At the end of last week, we had the opportunity to do planting in the classroom both to take home and keep at school. Early on in the week, we used the leftover soil from planting to explore on the floor. The children were excited to play in the dirt, using shovels and other plastic tools to engage with the material. Also early on the children had the chance to explore actual nature, when we took a walk outside all together.
We also took this week to continue to observe our caterpillars in their metamorphosis process. The friends were eager to see that early this week that the caterpillars had gone into their chrysalides. The children made predictions that they were sleeping to become butterflies. Today, the children were happy to discover that the grass that they planted on Friday had finally started to sprout! We look forward to seeing the progress in nature upon our return from spring break.
This week in 2B was the Week of the Young Child as determined by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). For each day of the week, they designated a theme for all activities to fall under. Although we flipped a couple of the days, we managed to follow along with the themes.
Tasty Monday: On Monday, we began our week by making yogurt parfaits. Each child had the opportunity to scoop their own yogurt, then add in blueberries and crushed cookies to their liking. Once they added everything together, the children mixed it up by themselves and enjoyed this special snack created for the day.
Music Tuesday: For Tuesday, we used the time in between activities as a way to explore music and movement. We started our morning by listening to piano music as a calm way to start the day. We also observed as this time that the caterpillars moved around a lot more when the music was playing. Later in the day, we had an opportunity to dance with scarves. Together, we sang some familiar and some new dance songs while we danced around waving scarves. We then pulled out our parachute and put an egg shaker in the middle. As we shook the parachute, the egg shaker made noise at different speeds.
Work Together Wednesday: In the middle of the week, the children were excited to work together on a few different block structures. The students took down all of the hollow blocks from the shelf and worked together to build large buildings, castles, and ramps. As they worked, they offered each other different blocks or ideas for what they should add or do with their structures.
Messy Art Thursday: For messy art Thursday, we were excited to explore paint in a new way: with our feet! We put out poster board all over the floor and poured paint in different areas. The children were very excited to dance, walk, and jump around in the paint. They noted that it was slippery and pretended to ice skate and not fall (which they were not always successful at!). We typically use different brushes or tools to explore paint, and occasionally our hands. Very rarely do we get a chance to paint using other body parts!
Family Friday: For family Friday, we celebrated Special Person Day with the rest of Buckle My Shoe. Together with our special people, we worked to plant: Cilantro, Carrots, and Basil. The children used the pots they decorated earlier in the week. Each child had the opportunity to scoop some dirt into the pots and drop in seeds of their choosing. We look forward to hearing reports on how the plants grow!
This week, we welcomed the spring season into our classroom. The biggest spring addition to our class is a cup of caterpillars. The children have been excited to check in every day to see what the caterpillars are up to. They noticed at the beginning that the caterpillars were very small and did not move much. However, throughout the week the caterpillars have grown and started to be much more active. The students have asked very thoughtful questions about what is happening, wondering if they can take the lid off to touch them, and what might happen in the future. Every day as we’ve looked closely at the caterpillars, we have provided paper and crayons or colored pencils so that the children can be inspired to document what they are noticing. Hanging on the wall is the documentation the children created on the first day. Throughout the different stages of the caterpillar life cycle, we will work carefully on documentation to display on the wall.
Also, this week, the children were eager to complete bumblebee paintings. JJ printed out and laminated two different photos of bumblebees and provided gold and red paint and black paper. The children were excited to see the pictures of the bees and to work on their own paintings referencing the photos. Additionally, as they worked, we played the Laurie Berkner song the Bumblebee. We look forward to continuing to find different ways to explore the spring season.
This week, as a follow up to literacy week, we continued to read and enjoy many books in the classroom. While last week we focused on Mo Willems books, this week we delved into some by other authors. Many of the books we read this week were donated by parents last week in honor of literacy week. Others that we read were books we had in the classroom that closely related to the interests or behavior of the children.
One book that we read aloud this week (and once last week) was called Pete’s a Pizza. In this book, when the character Pete gets upset about something that’s out of his control, his parents help him calm down by turning him into a pizza. This idea is a helpful tool for our classroom. Oftentimes we get upset or overwhelmed about things out of our control and by asking a friend or a teacher to make them into a pizza can help them feel calm.
Another book we read this week relating to our feelings is called Why Are You Grumpy? In the book, there is a long list of reasons why you could be grumpy, with the last page asking if someone made you laugh so you forgot why you were grumpy. This book is one that many of the students could relate to. There have been many times that the children have felt grumpy for any number of reasons. However, there are also times when they start laughing and forget why they were feeling grumpy. We expanded on this theme by playing a game where the children tried to make a friend laugh without touching them. The children thought up interesting and funny ways to get someone to laugh, including saying silly words, making faces, and making noises.
We also introduced a few books about spring into the classroom. Later in April, we look forward to planting a number of different things together. The books that we are reading now, are helping the children plan and think about planting as a concept that they will enjoy. We look forward to reading new and exciting books for the rest of the year.
This week at Buckle My Shoe was literacy week! Based on the interest of the students, we decided to focus primarily on Mo Willems books. Early on in the week, we began with a Mo Willems memory/matching game, where the students were excited to find matching pairs of familiar characters. After reading Should I Share My Ice Cream a few times, the children were eager to make their own ice cream store in the gym, which prompted a few related activities. We first took a poll of favorite ice cream flavors. Although the race was close, chocolate eventually won out! We then printed out paper cones and paper scoops of ice cream so that the children could sell ice cream to one another with different flavor options. Lastly, on Wednesday, we made ice cream as our science project, adding all of the ingredients to a ice cream making ball, which friends shook around.
Another Mo Willems book we focused on was We Are In A Book. We began by posing for pictures in front of a cutout to look like the book, so that we could pretend to be in a book. We then decided we wanted to write our own 2B book, which the children titled: The Classroom Name. After coming up with the words, the children illustrated the pages. This book will be compiled and out for the children to look at next week! We also read a number of the pigeon books. Today, we decided to read them and vote on whether or not we would allow the pigeon to do what he wanted. We drew upon our own interests in staying up late or not wanting to take a bath!
A very special thank you to the family members who read this week: Carolyn, Marta, Colleen, Kathryn, Cindy, and Brandon! Your children and grandchildren were so excited to have you join us to read stories. Also, a big thank you to the families who sent us books. We have read a few already, and are excited to read the rest soon.
This week, we continued our open-ended exploration in the classroom. As the children played with various toys in the classroom, we were able to observe different trends and themes in their play as well as what they were not engaging with. Since last Friday, we have slowly removed the: ducks, pyramid blocks, plastic people, pegs, 2 puzzles, the bears, and bags/baskets. Recently for the most part, the children had not been playing with these toys, but would instead just dump them on the floor and walk away, creating a big mess on the floor. Since taking away these toys, the children have been utilizing every toy that they take out to use. Additionally, the children have not asked for any of the missing toys, which they seemingly have not noticed are gone. This week, the students have engaged in much more productive and collaborative play. Because there are fewer toys available, and the ones that are out are ones that the children are all eager to use, they have had to work on their sharing and negotiation skills. They are learning how to play together in harmony, and how to move a play scheme forward.
The two biggest imaginative play schemes that have come up in the classroom are food play and baby care. The children have been eager to make pretend meals for each other and for the teachers. In an effort to extend the play a little further, today we made menus by gluing pictures of the food in our classroom onto pieces of paper. The children were proud of their menus and excited to use them immediately in play, taking orders and preparing food for their friends and teachers. Over the next few weeks, we look forward to providing relevant provocations designed to extend and support the children in play.
This week, we have allowed for a freer exploration of the classroom environment. Although every day has always included opportunities for the students to play with items of their choosing, we decided that this week, we would let the students have more time for free play. Young children learn best through play, as it allows them to learn problem solving skills, and to expand their imagination. After gym, we typically complete a group activity whether it’s art related, science, or literacy. This week, with a couple of brief exceptions, we used this time for free exploration and play in the classroom.
Not only do children learn best through play, but by allowing the children to play on their own, we are able to observe their interests and themes in play so that we can move our curriculum in a new direction. Although we allowed for free play, at times we closed off parts of the classroom, to see if that pushed or inspired their play in any direction. When just the block center and small manipulatives were available, the children worked collaboratively to build different kinds of structures. Although some children opted to build alone, most chose to work together with their friends. Other days, we closed off the block area, and encouraged the children to play with the kitchen and with the toys in the alcove. Again, the children more often than not, chose to play and work together.
Throughout this week, we observed a few different themes emerge within the classroom. Many children were very eager to cook in our kitchen and serve pretend meals to their friends and the babies or bears. Additionally, the children returned to an old classroom favorite, fire fighter play. This time, the play was more elaborate and included dialogue about going to a place to put out a fire. Lastly, we noticed that the children have become increasingly more interested in baby play. Friends will take a baby on as their own, care for them, and take them around for the day. While we’ve observed this play, we will continue to observe and document what the students are interested in over the next couple of weeks so that we can determine the next steps and direction for our curriculum.
This week in 2B, we did some work surrounding our social-emotional curriculum. We have discussed good and bad choices that we make in school, however this week, we framed the conversations and activities in a positive light. Earlier in the week we introduced a new feature into our classroom: a kindness jar! We spoke about the kind/nice/friendly things we can do for our friends. We gave some examples of kind behaviors we had seen them do that day such as open a snack for a friend or checking in on a peer when they got hurt. We then brainstormed ideas together of kind things we can do. When friends do a kind thing for one another, we put a pom-pom in the jar. When the jar is filled up with pom-poms, we will have a special (to be determined) treat. This ongoing project highlights their positive behavior and encourages them to be kind to their friends. We are currently at 7 pom-poms!
Today at our curriculum breakfast, we worked on an activity to help during moments of distress. We made calmness jars! We have found lately that most of our friends have sporadic moments of anger or frustration. When the children are frustrated, it can be hard for them to calm down, or they need suggestions for what to do when taking a break. Today we made something that will help redirect the anger and frustration. These jars are filled with: glue, water, beads, watercolor, and glitter. When they get overwhelmed or angry, they can now take some time off to the side and look at their calmness jars. The liquid and glitter will swirl around in a calming manner that they can watch. We look forward to continuing to discuss and explore new areas around the social-emotional curriculum.
Highlights of the week:
Monday: On Monday, we worked on more decorations for our Valentine’s Day Party. Before gym the children used eye droppers to carefully add liquid watercolor to coffee filters to eventually make hearts. The children were excited to slowly squeeze the droppers to pick up the purple and pink paint and release it to cover the filters. Additionally, on Monday, the children used folded toilet paper rolls to make a heart shaped stamp. They took the stamps, dipped them into pink and red paint and created little heart decorations for our party.
Tuesday: On Tuesday friends worked on a few different art projects to prepare decorations for Valentine’s Day. In the morning, the children painted over a taped heart with pink and purple paint (and glitter!). After nap, the children were excited to pull the tape off the poster and reveal the heart outline left behind. A few children also decorated construction paper hearts that we hung up on our walls.
Wednesday: On Wednesday we did an interesting Valentine’s Day science experiment with JJ. The children noticed that red and purple skittles were arranged in the shape of a heart on a tray. They watched carefully as JJ poured water over the skittles. They realized that as water was added, the colors were fading off of the skittles and that the water was turning red and purple. They then excitedly ran their hands over the skittles and saw that the color was coming off more and into their hands.
Thursday: On Thursday we celebrated Valentine’s Day with a party! Friends were eager to snack on red foods like: strawberries, grapes, apples, gummies, cupcakes, and babybel cheese.
Friday: On Friday we took a walk around the neighborhood for an alphabet hunt. As we walked, the children were eager to point out letters that they noticed. We saw many Ms, Ws, As, and more. The children also realized that as far as we could remember, we did not see any Zs or Qs. The children have worked hard on their letter recognition and now can find many of the letters on their own.
Throughout the year, but in particular the last few weeks, we have been thinking about good and bad choices that we make in school. Lately friends have been making a number of choices in school that make teachers and other friends sad. Today during our meeting, we had a class conversation about choices that make us happy (good choices) and choices that make us sad (bad choices). Some examples we came up of good choices that friends can make include: taking turns, cleaning up, eating lunch/snack, and listening to teachers. Some examples of bad choices that friends can make include: hitting, screaming, pushing, not listening, and grabbing. We spoke as a class about whether or not each idea they came up with was something that made them happy or sad.
This conversation also fits in with our social emotional curriculum of relationships with others. Some ideas we will be exploring as a school include: What are the different ways I can communicate? How do I develop and express empathy? What does it mean to be compassionate? The children are learning that a friendlier way to communicate with their peers and teachers is to use words rather than resorting to physical confrontations. We are also working with the children to develop empathy toward their peers and teachers. When they do something that upsets their friends, we have them check in, notice facial expressions, and ask their friends how they are feeling. When friends share that they are upset, or they don’t like something, it causes the child doing the action to stop and reflect on what they have done. We are working hard to build an empathetic classroom community, and by discussing and thinking about good choices we can make is a step in this process.
This week, we continued to explore activities connected to our various curricula: paint and the alphabet.
We have been investigating different ways to interact with paint in our classroom. One way we approached paint this week was by painting over a plastic mesh sheet. The children realized that for the paint to seep through, they would have to apply a lot of paint over the sheet. Once the project was complete, the children were able to see the little checks that appeared when they took off the sheet.
A new and innovative way we approached paint this week was through frozen watercolor paint. A few children helped fill up small cups with paint and popsicle sticks which were left overnight in the freezer. The children were each given a different color and used the stick to guide the paint all over the page. Some friends chose to roll the paint with their hands, noting the cold and smooth texture. Other students also opted to throw the ice paint onto the table to see what would happen when the paint broke off into chunks. The children were enthralled by the activity, taking turns sharing the frozen paints and working as fast as they could before the ice melted.
We also began an art project that will incorporate paint next week. This week, the students used pastel crayons to decorate a poster board. Once the poster is covered by the pastel crayons, the students will use watercolor to paint over it and make observations about what will happen.
Another topic we have been exploring in the classroom, as mentioned in previous blogs, is the alphabet. This week we introduced magnetic foam letters and boards, which the children used to make words and names that they know. The students also played an alphabet matching game where they found pairs of letters that match. We read a new ABC’s book that gave more examples of words beginning with the given letters. Next week, we will start to explore new games and puzzles that incorporate the alphabet.
As mentioned in last week’s blog, the friends in 2B have been excited to explore and learn the letters of the alphabet. This week, we continued our letter investigation. On Wednesday, we talked about our weekly letter, this week: I. Before we sat down to talk about the letter I, a friend mentioned a few of the words from the Dr. Seuss book: Dr. Seuss’s ABC’s. We then decided to consult the book as we came up with our list of words beginning with the letter I. Once each child had a chance to attempt their I, we decided to read the book as a group. For nearly every letter, the children added their own words that began with the given letters (such as their own name or the names of people in their families.)
Later in the week, we engaged in more activities to explore the alphabet. Friends were excited to see wooden tiles with the letters on them and small holders to place them on. (From old scrabble games—if you have any old copies missing tiles, feel free to recycle them with us!) They looked for the letters in their names as well as other familiar letters. We also explored alphabet magnets, placing them in a row to make words (real and made up). Finally, today we also used alphabet playdough stampers in paint to stamp the letters on paper. We look forward to continuing to think about the letters of the alphabet.
We have also noticed lately that friends have been very excited by music and singing, whether by themselves or in a group. We have given the children times where they have been able to get up and sing a song by themselves (typically before they wash their hands). However, usually when this happens, it is only for a small group of students and they direct their singing toward a teacher. This week, we decided to turn our platform into a stage to perform on. Each child got up on the stage and sang a song of their choosing for their peers. After each song, the audience clapped, and another child took over the spotlight. While not every child sang loudly, every student got onto the stage and had a moment to do as they wished. We look forward to more opportunities to continue to support and encourage their love of music!
For the past few weeks, we have been working with the class on the letters of the alphabet. Each week, we focus on a different letter, and come up with a list of words and names that begin with that letter. After we compose the list, the children each get a chance to practice writing that letter on our poster. The friends eagerly await the day we talk about the alphabet, and the think about which letter comes next. This week, we talked about the letter H, which was an exciting letter for us to talk about, as we have two friends whose names begin with the letter H. After coming up with a list of words beginning with H (including Henry, Harlow, and Horse) each student very carefully took their turn to write the letter.
Earlier this week, the children worked to put together the alphabet train puzzle. As they worked, they sang the alphabet and thought about which letter came next. When a friend got stuck, the others were there to help them along, and place the correct piece. This puzzle was nearly a whole class effort to complete.
Additionally, this week we also had a chance for each student to practice tracing the first letter of their name with dot paint. In a small group, each child shared the first letter of their name, which was then written on a piece of paper. Once a translucent tracing paper was taped on top, each student then got to select a dot paint and go over the letter. The children were very excited to complete the activity, also sharing the other letters in their name.
We began the process of introducing the alphabet as the students showed a strong interest in the letters, and frequently shared statements like E for Ellis or A for Ava. Once the children expressed the interest, we were able to expand on it by providing activities connected to the alphabet. In our classroom, we strive to not always have formal and explicit instruction with our students, but instead provide opportunities for the students to have exposure to material in meaningful and authentic ways. We look forward to continuing to find new and informal ways to learn and discover the alphabet together as a class.
This week, we were excited to welcome many of the children back to school after winter break. As we move into the second half of the year, we are excited to continue working on new curricular endeavors. We will continue with the three different kinds of curriculum: class interest, paint, and social emotional learning. The first few months of school we focused on introductory aspects of these subjects while we transitioned into school and became comfortable together in class. Now that we are partway through the year, we will be able to delve further into these topics.
From September to December, we focused social emotionally on self-expression and self-management skills. We worked with the students on expressing their thoughts, emotions, and feelings through words and facial expressions. The students also spent quite a bit of time on doing tasks independently such as bathroom skills (rolling up sleeves, pulling up and down clothing, washing hands, etc.) and snack skills (putting away placemat, snack, bottles.
Looking ahead to January through March, we will move toward relationships. Though we have started this already, we will continue to think about ways to: communicate with our peers, develop and express empathy, show gratitude and forgiveness, and more. We’ve discussed quite a bit about taking our friends’ feelings into account with our actions and words. The children have had many conversations about getting consent from others before touching them (hug, high five, tap, etc.) The children have learned that sometimes their friends do not want to be touched, so it is best to ask before doing so, and that they should accept the answer and respond accordingly. An example of a conversation with actions that we have been modeling for the students is as follows:
Emily: JJ, can I give you a hug?
JJ: No thank you.
Emily: Okay. (Walks away)
Or
Emily: JJ, can I give you a hug?
JJ: Yes
Emily: Okay! (Gives gentle hug)
The students have been responding well to this dialogue, though we are working with the students on timing (asking before touching, not touching then asking.) We have reminded them that it’s okay if their friend does not want to be touched at that moment, they can either ask a different friend or wait until a later time. This conversation and others like it, we will continue to have throughout the coming months.
In terms of our classroom curriculum, we are interested in seeing where our students will take us in the upcoming weeks. Earlier in the year, we noticed an increasing interest in fire related activities. The students would often dress in fire fighter hats or costumes, read related books, and painted a box red as a firetruck. Over the next few weeks, we will closely examine and reflect on the interests of the students and find ways to expand their play into a curriculum. With paint, we will continue to explore and investigate paint in interesting ways, and thin about the different ways the students engage with paint and materials.
Highlights from this week:
· Painting the January background
· Drawing Self Portraits
· Car painting
· Walk
