Weekly Recap

Which object is heavier: an empty water bottle or a small rock?

A few weeks ago, we found a seesaw in the gym. The 3A children immediately knew what to do and took turns going on the seesaw. As we were having so much fun bouncing up and down, a question popped in our heads. What makes us go up and down on a seesaw? This investigation helped the 3A educators come up with a topic for the Buckle My Shoe Science Fair. Weight!  After speaking with our science fair mentor, Deborah, (Alexandra's mom in our class) we realized weight = mass x gravity. Since gravity is constant on Earth, we were able to find the mass of objects (how heavy things are)!

First we came up with our own hypothesis: Bigger objects are always heavier than smaller objects. In order to test our hypothesis, Clare brought two items: an empty water bottle and a small rock. After she showed the two objects, she asked: Which object do you think is heavier? Most of our friends replied, "the water bottle" because " it is bigger than the rock".

So we placed those two objects on a balance scale and found that our hypothesis was wrong because the small rock was heavier than the empty water bottle! The children were so amazed to see different results than they expected.

We hope to dive deeper into the topic by exploring more with balance scales as well as spring scales!


The children are exploring balancing scales by placing different objects on the scale and seeing which side is heavier.

Weekly recap

Who we are (Self Portrait)

“A Self-Portrait is an intimate, bold declaration of identity. In her self-portrait, a child offers herself as both subject and artist. When we look at her self-portrait, we see a child as she sees herself. The story of self-portrait work is a tender story to tell.”       – Jeanne Zuech


The 3A friends created their self portraits in a different way this time. We made them with cardboard cutouts and other natural and recyclable loose parts! Before the activity, we looked at ourselves in the mirror to observe our eye colors, hair colors, hair lengths, etc. These self portraits that reflect who we are will be displayed on the hallway wall (right outside of our 3A classroom)!

Gross Motor Activities

Two of our favorite gross motor activities are playground and soccer! The children walk, run, climb, slide, and pull all they want on the playground as they learn to regulate their bodies in a safe way. Their time at the playground is a great opportunity for our children to develop their social and language development as well. It opens the way for the children to welcome other friends to join in their play and create their own rules and boundaries by conversing with one another. Soccer helps our children to develop more specific gross motor skills such as hopping with two feet, using feet to control the soccer ball, being able to maneuver their bodies to kick the soccer ball into a net, and more. The children enjoy the soccer time with Coach C so much!

paddiNgton gets in a jam (field trip)

 It was our first subway ride together as a class! The 3A children went over some field trip safety rules throughout the week and got excited for the field trip to the theater! It was a very cold day; however, our children were so brave and determined to get to the theater. When we arrived, we got our tickets to the show and sat down in our own seats. Paddington the bear tried to help Mr. Curry with the chores around his house, but everytime he tried to help he would get in a jam! Our 3A children did an awesome job staying safe while traveling back and forth and seeing the show! Thank you chaperones for helping us today!

Weekly Recap

Mathematics

We read a book titled, "I Want To Be An Astronaut" by Byron Barton.  Then we asked the children a question: Do you want to be an astronaut? After thinking about the question, we decided to take a vote. When the voting was done, the children started to count the names that voted yes or no. They counted and found that 5 friends wanted to be astronauts, while the other 4 friends did not. This was a great way to practice using the children's one to one correspondence skill to count objects and for them to figure out which option had more votes by recognizing the numbers/amount.

Science

As we started to learn more about outer space, the 3A educators found out that the children were interested how spaceships could fly out to space. We decided to demonstrate it through a science experiment. We first made sure that all of the materials were present.  The materials were a balloon(spaceship drawn), a long string, a straw, and tape. First we put the string through the straw, so that the straw could move freely along the string. Second, we taped one end of the string to a wall and held it from the other end.  Third, Clare blew the balloon up and held it tight without tying it up. Then she taped the balloon/spaceship to the straw. Finally, we counted down; 5-4-3-2-1! Blast off! And we let the ballon go! We saw the spaceship blasting off from one end of the string to the other! Through this activity, the children learned to follow steps to complete an experiment! 

The Life of Astronauts

 The children are still interested in experiencing the life of astronauts! We learned that in space, everything floats around - even the astronauts - because there is no gravity. So when the astronauts go to sleep, they have to go inside of their sleeping bags, zip up, and buckle in their belts to make sure they do not float around the spaceship while they are sleeping. The children got to experience what that felt like. When the educators asked how the children felt inside their sleeping bags with a belt buckled up, they said, "Good"!

Weekly recap

Self-Portraits

Self-portraits are drawn once a month.  We sit one-on-one with a mirror, paper, and a Sharpie marker.  The mirror allows the children to look, explore, identify, and analyze their image.  The self-portraits do not always just represent the children at that moment; there are times when they relive a moment in their drawing, such as playing at the park.

In addition to gaining self-awareness, as the year goes on, children display a progression in self-identification and fine motor skills.  Features that may not have been depicted in the beginning of the year show up later on as they grow and develop.

Sensory Play

The 3A children’s love of sensory play continued in the month of December too. So far we have explored rainbow rice and beans, cloud dough and glitter, water beads, soapy water, and others. This time we made snow together by adding water to snow powder! Sensory play not only enhances the children’s senses and their body responses through those senses, but it also pushes our children to experiment on their own, or with one another, to understand cause and effect!

BMS Holiday Party

The Holiday Party was wonderful! Although the snow squall scared us all a little bit, it did not stop us from having so much fun with our friends and families! The 3A children, as well as the teachers, are so grateful for all the generosity that the families have shown! We enjoyed so much delicious food, drinks, desserts, and of course special time with Santa and Mrs. Claus. Erika and I feel especially fortunate to have met all of the 3A children and their families this year. We thank you once again for your support and trust! We will continue to make more and more fun memories with the children!! 

We wish you a very merry and happy holidays!

Hanukkah Celebration

3A also had a Hanukkah celebration with Leo and Alexandra’s families! Leo’s g-ma(grandma) and Leo’s mommy read us a story about Hanukkah and why there are 8 white candles and 1 blue candle on the Menorah! We also learned how to play with a dreidel! Then we ate latkes with applesauce; which is a special food that is eaten during Hanukkah!

Weekly recap

Weekend News


Every Monday (or the day we come back from a long weekend) our 3A friends share what they did over the weekend. Barak got a haircut as he was sitting in a yellow car, Luca went to see a show (The Nutcracker) but he was upset he couldn’t dance with the performers on stage, while Francesca had visitors at her house. The children share the weekend news in their own words with their own perspectives.

Sign-In

The 3A friends began to sign in their names every morning as one of their routines. The children not only started to recognize all the letters in their first name, but they also started to recognize the same letters that other friends had in their names too. This activity will enhance their ability to recognize and write all the letters in their first name.

3A Holiday Tree

As many of our favorite holidays are approaching, the 3A friends decided to create a holiday tree together. First we voted on the shape and color of the tree. Then we taped boxes together to make a tree shape. Next we painted it with red paint as it was the color 3A chose for our holiday tree! Last, we put lots of decorations on by putting beads on pipe cleaners. Our friends helped each other out on making our tree the one and only tree!

Specialists

This week we had Spanish with Ernestina on Tuesday and learned the names of winter clothing! Chaqueta is jacket, Bufanda is a scarf, Gorro is a hat, and Botas are boots! On Wednesday, we had Cooking with Diane. The 3A children mixed Cheerios, coconut powder, and raisins together by taking turns and waiting patiently. When we tasted the mix, it was our favorite snack! For Soccer with Coach C, children learned to dribble, kick, and shoot a soccer ball! On Friday, we had Music with Mr. Andrew. Mr. Andrew sang a song of the book called Gruffalo and everyone listened to the story song and followed along!

Weekly Recap

Fine Motor & Cognitive Skills

We created different structures by using little marshmallows and toothpicks. The children maneuvered their finger muscles to make shapes and structures.

Spanish Class

We read our favorite story called "Three Billy Goats Gruff" in Spanish! We learned that a goat in Spanish is “cabra”! The 3A friends took turns and acted out the characters in the story. "Trip Trap Trip Trap, who's that tripping over my bridge!"

Collaborative Building

During circle time, the 3A friends talked about two different type of bridges: suspension bridges and arch bridges. Then we collaborated to build a bridge using cardboard boxes. The children thought about the bridge in their heads and placed their boxes where they wanted. At the end, the children were so happy to see the result!

Cutting Practice

Cutting practice is so beneficial to our children's fine motor (finger) muscles. It not only helps the children enhance their individual muscles on each finger, but it also improves their hand-eye coordination.

The Brooklyn Bridge & Curriculum Celebration

The 3A children went on a walking field trip to the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday. Before we went, we discussed what we thought we would see at the bridge. Some children made an educated guess that the “bridge is going to move” while other children thought they would see “pink and green” colors as well as “triangular and circular” shapes. The children were very excited to see the Brooklyn bridge, although many had seen the bridge at other times. The idea of a ‘field trip’ maximized their anticipation.

When we arrived, their joy and excitement were greater than before! We found some seating areas and sketched things that we saw. The children began to draw cars, people, “opened bridge”, and a flag. It was fascinating to see how and what they saw and drew. The educators were curious if they still thought the bridge was moving. James and Leo said, “No, it is not moving.” There were many cars, bicycles, and people crossing the bridge, so if the bridge was moving, they said, “people will fall out”. But Barak took an opposite stance and said, “At night time, it was moving!” It was an interesting debate to listen to, and we hope to continue our investigation. On the way back to school, the children asked if they could actually go on the bridge. We think going on the bridge next time might answer some of their questions!

We would like to thank all of our families who came in to celebrate our children's learning experience here at Buckle My Shoe. Our 3A children and teachers had so much fun! We hope you did too!

Welcome Henry & Marshmallow Bridges

This week our friend Henry came back to Buckle My Shoe! Many friends and teachers were so glad to see Henry and his family. We welcomed him by singing his favorite greeting song, "Jump in the Water" during circle time! We can't wait to spend a great year with Henry and the rest of our 3A friends!

As the children’s interests shift to the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff, many of them re-enacted the story in their own way. Some children read the story over and over again and were able to recite lines such as “trip trap trip trap” “Who’s that tripping over my bridge?” While others would either build bridges with blocks and put animals on top pretending that they were the Billy Goats and the Troll. during their dramatic play time.

Because the children liked building bridges with blocks, the 3A educators found the opportunity to talk about the nearby Brooklyn Bridge and presented a couple of pictures to the children. The next day, we decided to build a bridge of our own by using marshmallows and pipe cleaners! Our 3A friends explored the malleability of pipe cleaners and marshmallows and created unique bridges! Each friend named their own bridges and they will soon be displayed on one of our classroom walls!

HALLOWEEN Celebration!

A Buckle My Shoe tradition each year for Halloween is to have the children come up with ideas of what they want to dress up as, and then create their own costumes. As Halloween approached, the children’s excitement rose with each passing day. The educators listened very carefully to what they wanted to dress up as. After a group discussion and vote, we all agreed that we would be the Three Billy Goats Gruff and Trolls! Once we got our t-shirts, we began the collaborative process of creating and decorating our costumes.

First, we used tie-dye to decorate our shirts. The children used the colors that represented their chosen characters. Many friends wanted to be trolls and they tie-dyed their shirts in green and purple. Friends who chose to be the smallest billy goat tie-dyed their shirts in yellow. Friends who chose to be the biggest billy goat tie-dyed their shirts in brown. James was the only friend that chose to be a middle billy goat and tie-dyed his shirt with dark blue. The children were super excited to be billy goats and trolls! The day before Halloween, we had a fashion show / dress rehearsal. Then we were all ready for the parade!

On Halloween day, all the children paraded around the neighborhood with their family. The rain in the morning did not stop us from having fun! We got so much candy from our local businesses! When we came back from the parade, all of the 3A friends enjoyed yummy snacks that were provided by our families.

Guess What's Inside!

As we prepare for an awesome Halloween festival, the 3A friends decided to buy a class pumpkin at Morgan’s Market. However, when we saw the ledge where the pumpkins were usually displayed, there were no large sized pumpkins left, only small ones! We even went inside the store to ask if they were planning on getting more pumpkins in the future, but we had no luck. It was pretty disappointing for all of us. When we shared the news with a few of our families, James’s mommy, Adriann, gladly donated a pumpkin of their own to our class.

The next day, we wanted to check out what was inside the pumpkin. So we knocked on it a few times and shook it with the teacher’s help. Then our 3A friends tried to guess what was inside the pumpkin. Luca thought there would be bees and books. Sloane thought there was a building inside, while Leo and James were sure that there were a lot of seeds inside. We decided to cut it open and see what was inside. When we cut the top open, we found a bunch of SEEDS!

Pumpkin Picking Trip

We had a blast at the pumpkin picking trip! It was so great to see all of our 3A friends as well as their family members; from mommies to daddies to grandmas to nannies to sisters!

For most of our friends, it was their first experience taking the yellow school bus to go on a field trip. Some of our friends were so excited to be on the bus, while others anxiously waited to arrive at the farm. When we arrived at the farm, the children were so amazed at all the animals they got to see and pet! We saw goats, llamas, bulls, ponies, camels, giraffes, birds, cows and more! The children were so brave to feed these animals themselves.

After a wonderful time with all the animals, we went on a hay ride to the pumpkin patch! It was an extra fun and bumpy ride on the hay wagon! The children picked their favorite pumpkins and were ready to have some yummy lunch!

Weekend News

Our morning meetings are so special to our 3A friends. This is the time to talk and share what we would like to learn/know more about. This week, we launched “Monday Weekend News.” This is when the children get to share what they did over the weekend by showing photographs or items related to their weekend activities. This activity also helps the children bravely present their stories and to listen to each other.

Alex shared, "Over the weekend, I threw bread in the water and birds ate them."

Sloane shared, "Over the weekend, I went to the museum and sat at the front desk (president's desk)."

Elle shared, "Over the weekend, I went to see pumpkins." She also saw "Jack-o-lanterns".

James shared, "Over the weekend, I rode my scooter with Vivi."

Francesca shared, "Over the weekend, I got my haircut."

Leo shared, "Over the weekend, I went to the swimming pool and swam with my coach!"

Manu shared her picture of her playing with friends.

Based on our children's interests, the 3A educators became curious and asked a question to the children during circle time. "What do you see/hear when you walk around the neighborhood?"

Barak said, "constructions". Elle said, "playground".

Alex said, "Park". James said, "birdies".

Francesca said, "people". Sloane said, "cars".

We decided to take a walk around our neighborhood and find a topic our children were curious about. When they found something that they either liked or were interested in, the educators helped our children to take a picture of it. The children took huge pride in having control of taking pictures of their choices! Next week, we hope to share our children's inspirations.


Welcome Barak!

We started our short week by welcoming Barak to our classroom. It was so good to see Barak! His old friends from 2A welcomed him, and Barak got to meet with his new friends and teachers in 3A! We can't wait to spend a great year with him and the rest of our 3A friends!

This week was especially great because all of our fun specialists started their classes. On Wednesday, Diane, our cooking teacher, brought three different types of apples and honey. We tasted each of them and chose our favorites! We also learned that there are seeds (or pits) inside the core of apples.

On Thursday, we had soccer class with Coach C. We dribbled squish soccer balls to flat cones. It helped us to have control over the soccer ball!

On Friday, Mr. Andrew, our music teacher, sang songs while the 3A friends hopped like frogs, waddled like penguins, and slithered like snakes. He also sang a story called An Octopus Followed Me Home!

This year we are going to be following a big project unique to each classroom. The 3A class is still exploring many things from paint, science experiments, washing animals, cutting with scissors, to building blocks and so many more. As the educators continue to speculate, they seem to be super curious to see the outcome of their actions. The children think or say "what if?" or "what happens if?" as they mix different colors of paint. Sometimes they get so excited to see the outcome that they finish the action before asking themselves the question! As we launch into the project, we welcome any ideas for the project or anything that is being noticed at home that is project-related.

"The Third Teacher"

According to the Reggio Emilia Approach, we know the environment to be "the third teacher" of our children's education. As educators, we try to provide flexible learning spaces within our classroom, but also provide opportunities to learn from the environments we live in. On Tuesday, we went to the grassy areas at Washington Market Park to explore nature. Our children noticed lots of leaves that were yellow, brown, green, red, or greenish red on the grass. We decided to collect the leaves together in order to take a closer look at them. Then we wondered why the leaves were changing colors!

We also continued to observe what our children are gravitating towards. One area that the children are really enjoying is the dramatic play area. The 3A children are always dressing up as moms, dads, doctors, babies, etc. They also cook at the stove, set up the dinner table, work on the keyboard, or talk on the phone with their mommies and daddies. It truly is a joyful scene to see the children begin to imitate their grown-ups, whether they are at home, work, or stores.

Inspired by our children's imaginary play in the kitchen area, we decided to find out where we got our food from. The 3A children walked to a nearby store called the Morgan's Market. When we went inside, we saw fresh fruit displayed nicely by colors. Then we went to an aisle that had lots of cereals and granolas. As James was pointing to the top shelf, he said "There is a Lion King Cereal!" "That's my favorite!" When we went to the next aisle, Francesca shouted as she was pointing, "Ketchup!" When we got to the detergents aisle, Clare explained how we use detergents to wash our clothes. Then Alexandra said, "I have that (detergent) at home!" As we walked back to Buckle My Shoe, we wondered why flowers that were displayed outside of the market were covered by boxes. We are excited for our next learning adventure!

Our Senses

The second week of school went flying by! The children were busy exploring all the things around the classroom that they did not have the chance to in the first week. They played with the water beads at the sensory table, built houses in the block center, and painted collaboratively on an easel.

One thing our 3A children noticed as they were playing was a mysterious sound that could be heard underneath our classroom! Once they heard it, they asked "What is that sound?" As educators and grown-ups, we have the tendency to give away the answers quickly. However, if we leave things open-ended or challenge the children find out those answers themselves, we believe that the learning can be more meaningful.

We wanted to take the children's inquiry further, so we decided to take a walk around our school and find out if there were other sounds. The children first thought about what things we would hear outside. They shared that they thought they would hear 'scary monster' 'flowers' 'eagles' 'cars' etc. When we walked around outside, what we actually heard were 'digger' 'dump truck' 'baby crying' 'car horns' 'people talking' and 'train' sounds. The children were listening in to all the sounds around us!

Afterwards, we wanted to explore another one of our senses: smell. We smelled two mysterious jars (one had vinegar soaked tissues, and the other had soap water soaked tissues) and asked the children what they smelled. This took us into a whole another imaginary world where the children began to smell 'elephant' 'horse' 'giraffe' etc. It was truly fascinating to get to know what and how the children thought and processed their senses.

Our last exploration in Senses was taste! We observed two similar but different fruit; a lemon and a lime. The children noticed that they were yellow and green, then wondered how they would taste! We first tasted the lemon. The facial expressions of our children were priceless! Then we tasted the lime and thought about which fruit tasted better. Three friends chose lemon, and the other three chose lime!

As we continue our explorations of senses, we want to welcome any ideas, questions, and theories from our children to deepen our understanding of the world together!

3A First Week of School!

The first week of school for our 3A children was fantastic! The children have transitioned to our new classroom so seamlessly. Erika and Clare were so glad to see our friends enjoying every part of the classroom. Some friends dived into painting activities right away, while others were more into dress up clothes and shoes. Most of our friends were busy cooking at our dramatic play kitchen, and we were so happy to see new friendship bonding moments as we spent time in the gym.

As a wrap up to the first week, our friends have shared how they felt about their first week of school. Leo, Sloan, Elle, and Manu said that they were happy because they like school. Francesca and James felt excited to be in school. Luca felt sad because he didn't want to go to school, which is perfectly normal to feel in the first week :)

In the month of September, we will continue to work on familiarizing the daily routines of the day, which will help our friends' separation and encourage independence. Erika and Clare will continue to observe and find out what our 3A friends are interested in learning about!