November 3, 2017

November Self Portraits: Excellent job, guys!

The children are very excited when they see their portrait books and crayons. 

Their beautiful lines, loops, and squiggles are the beginning steps of learning how to write :)

Water Play and Leaves: The weather is getting colder and the leaves are changing colors.


Our inquisitive infant-b students explored the fall leaves on the illuminated light table and in the water sensory bin-discovering the different shapes, sizes and colors.
The children grasped the leaves from the sensory bin and squeezed them tightly in their hands,  crushing the crisp leaves between their little fingers- enjoying the sound and texture of the wet, crunchy leaves.

 

Connected to the curriculum theme of the year: Self and Identity-Focusing on the Child

How exciting! Today as Leo was reading the ABC's book, he repeated the word "apple"! Shortly later he said the word "up"! 

Wonderful job, Leo! We are so proud!

You and your friends are beginning to use more and more vocabulary! 

 

Have a lovely weekend, infant-b families!

November 2, 2017

Happy Halloween, Buckle My Shoe families!

Every year Buckle My Shoes has it's famous Halloween parade and each classroom chooses a costume theme. This year the infant-b class got its inspiration from their favorite book, "Dear Zoo". The students were dressed as a monkey, puppy, lion, snake, elephant, giraffe and Camel.   

Exploring Tissue Paper:

The students absolutely love investigating paper! swimming in the ocean of long sheets of tissue paper, the students worked on their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination- tearing the paper with their fingers and waving the delicate material from side to side. 

wonderful job, students!

Painting with Textured Balls:

The students have always shown an interest in balls of any kind. A delighted grin spreads upon their faces each time they manipulate the round, bouncy, slightly unpredictable wonder. 

This activity proved to be an irresistible provocation that supplied us with endless sensory play and engaged our gross and fine motor muscles in a fun and special way.

When the box was placed in the middle of the classroom floor, it was interesting to see the students automatically go for the paint, as if the balls were not there. The explorers grasped at the bright paint colors, using their pointers to poke at the wet puddles. They are clearly paint experts now and know just what to do!

After a short while, our little sensory experts started taking notice to the round, bumpy balls and began trying to pick them up with their wet, colorful hands.

As the textured balls slipped from hand to hand, the balls bounced and rolled onto the white paper.

With each drop and roll, the round bumpy balls left behind beautiful imprints and trails on the paper!

 

See you all tomorrow, infant-b families. 

November 1, 2017

October 31, 2017: BMS Halloween Day Parade!

The infant-B student's costumes were inspired by their favorite book, "Dear Zoo". 

Happy Halloween!

October 30, 2017

October 26, 2017

In connection with the curriculum theme of the year: "Self and Identity-Focusing on the Child"

This week there were a lot of busy feet in the infant-B class!

The students were practicing and proudly showing off their walking skills all week- cruising through the classroom with the help of their teacher or the classroom walker.

Each day the students are becoming more and more comfortable using their bodies.

We will continue to motivate the children to keep practicing their walking skills and encourage them to take independent steps. Practice makes perfect!

 

Happy First Birthday, Grace!

Grace's mommy and daddy came in to celebrate Grace's big day- bringing in apple cider and apple cider donuts for all her friends. 

Yummy!

We sang Grace's favorite songs and 'Happy Birthday"!  

Grace's friends surprised her with a bunny for her birthday! Grace loved it!

Gym Time:

Now that the infant-B students are adjusted to their new gym, they are excited to visit and exercise their bodies. The students do "yoga", climb up and down the gym mats, roll and toss the balls and crawl through tunnels.

As you know, the students love mirrors and admiring their reflections. It was beautiful observing the students noticing their reflections in the gym mirror- briefly stopping and admiring their faces and also using the mirror as a tool to oversee the entire gym space. 

Walking Foot Prints: 

Learning to walk is one of the most important achievements in a child’s life, as it's a big step towards independence!

We thought it would be interesting if the students “saw” what their feet could do. With a little black paint, each child was guided up and down a long piece of white paper.

With each of the children’s feet painted black, each student walked along white butcher paper, leaving behind beautiful, unique foot prints.

Keep up the excellent work, students!

You will all be walking in no time!

 

Thank you.

We will see you all tomorrow, infant-b families!

October 25, 2017

October 24, 2017

October 23, 2017

October 20, 2017

A Beautiful Day for a Walk!

The students enjoy having circle time in the park! We sang their favorite morning songs, including "Hello, how are you", "Open, Shut Them", "Where Going to Kentucky" and more.

 

In connection with our curriculum, "Self and Identity-Focusing on the Child" 

Mirror Painting!

After choosing their paint colors, the students used their fingers to smear the paint across their reflections- watching their hand movements and facial expressions in the magical mirror!

Have a beautiful weekend, infant-b families!

October 19, 2017

The infant-B students were excited to start their week off with Painting their pumpkins!

Painting Pumpkins: 

Before painting their white pumpkins, the students explored them- gently rubbing their hands across the pumpkin's smooth, rippled skin.

The children showed interest by mouthing the hard pumpkins and rolling them across their work stations.

As soon as the students were offered the orange paint and silver glitter, they seemed less enthusiastic about their pumpkins and more interested in the bright, shiny, wet materials!

Understandable! Paint and glitter is fascinating and eye-catching!

The infants used their hands and fingers to experience the chilly, wet, shiny textures on their slick pumpkin skin. It made the pumpkins SO slippery and hard to grasp onto!

Excellent painting, infant-b students!

 

In connection with our curriculum, "Self and Identity-Focusing on the Child"

The children have been showing great interest in exploring their beautiful faces in the mirrors and pointing to their friend's portraits in their classroom.

We thought it would interesting if we took 3D photos of each friend and placed them on the light table. 

The students wore big smiles, as they took notice to the familiar faces glowing in the light. 

The 3D photos will be used as a stimulating provocation to promote awarness of self- "Where is your friends nose? Eyes? Mouth?"

Apple Tasting: 

Our friends in the 1A room were kind enough to think of the infant-b room, and share a few delicious apples-red and green.

The infant-b students were very excited to taste the round, sweet fruit. Yummy!

 

Busy Feet!

The infant-b students were so proud to show off their walking skills, in front of their mommies and teachers, this morning.

Very impressive! We are so proud!

Sloane, you have beautiful balance! Bravo!

Leo, you are walking so good! It was an amazing and exciting surprise to see how well you use the walker!

We will continue to encourage the students to practice their walking skills with songs, stimulating provocations and walking materials. 

We will see you tomrrow, infant-b families 

October 18, 2017

October 17, 2017

October 16, 2017

October 13, 2017

Exploring leaves and clay for the first time!

Exploring Leaves:

The children were very focused as they closely examined this mesmerizing piece of nature- gently maneuvering the colorful, delicate leaves in their hands. Bravo!

Exploring Clay: Clay is a wonderful way to promote the awareness of "cause and effect", with young learners.

When the students were presented with a chunk of brown clay, it instinctively motivated them to explore- the soft and responsive sensory qualities of the unfamiliar material was inviting!

The student pulled, poked and squeezed the clay- each time, the clay, responding to their actions.  

When children begin to notice a change in the clay, they are learning that their actions have consequences.  This is empowerment. It encourages more experimentation. The child’s brain is taking shape along with the clay!

 

In connection with our Curriculum: "Self and Identity-Focusing on the Child"

Independence: Leo has been practicing with his spoon during lunch time and is so proud as he feeds himself. Leo showed his big beautiful smile, each time he dipped his spoon in his food and back into his mouth. 

Excellent job, Leo!

Have a wonderful weekend, Infant-B families!

October 12, 2017

The students started out the week by exploring apples and glue!

 

Apples:

Last week the students went apple picking and brought one red, yellow and green apple. The students explored the apples on the light table- rolling them like balls, across the illuminated light.

After investigating the apples, we will be making applesauce on Thursday! Yummy!

Which favor apple will the students like the most? Red? Yellow? or Green?

Exploring Glue:

The students enjoyed exploring the sticky, gooey texture of the glue on their hands- especially experiencing how slippery the material was, as they tried grasping their teachers fingers. 

The students will be using this material in the future with up coming art activities. We were excited to see how much the children enjoyed the texture.

Continuing our exploration of apples, the infant students explored slices of dried apples and oranges, over the soft glow of the light
table.


The students maneuvered the sweetly scented fruit in their hands- experiencing its rough, flexible texture. The children bent the apples with their fingers and mouthed the familiar material.

Pumpkin Picking:

The students picked the best pumpkins for their classroom- orange and white pumpkins! 

After the children are done exploring their pumpkins, we will paint them :)  

See you all tomorrow!

October 11, 2017

October 10, 2017

October 6, 2017

Today the infant-b class invited their friends from the infant-a room to go apple picking!

The students picked their red, green and yellow apples and with Holloween approaching, the children had the opportunity to explore pumpkins- gently rubbing their hands across the pumpkin's smooth, rippled skin.

Guys, after exploring our apples on the light table, should we make applesauce? Yummy!

Today we also celebrated Leo Shaftel's first birthday!

Leo's mommy and daddy brought in delicious strawberries and blueberries to share with Leo's friends. As they enjoyed their treat, we sang "If Your Happy and You Know It", "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Happy Birthday"

Happy Birthday, Leo!

Have beautiful long weekend, guys!

See you on Tuesday!

October 5, 2017

The infant-B students started out their beautiful October week with baby washing! Water play is calming, soothing, and an important sensory exploration. Giving children the opportunity to replicate real life scenarios allows them to test out their theories about how things work, and let them figure out what doesn't work in a safe and non-judgemental space. 

In connection with our school-wide intent “Self and Identity: Focusing on the Child”, we thought it would be a rich sensory activity if the children washed the babies! What new discoveries would be made? Would the children still be focused on the facial features of the babies, or would their attentions be on something else?

The students splashed their hands in the warm water while also exploring the doll's face with their wet fingers. They were especially excited as warm water came splashing down from above as the teacher poured, and eagerly tried to catch it in their hands! 

As Leo explored the animals in a quiet corner, he became very curious about the lion's mouth :)"Where is Leo's mouth?" "What's different about the lions mouth?"

As Leo explored the animals in a quiet corner, he became very curious about the lion's mouth :)

"Where is Leo's mouth?" "What's different about the lions mouth?"

Story Time:

Lately, the students have really enjoyed reading the book "Dear Zoo". During story time, Rohan and his friend Leo became really excited about two of the animals.

Rohan had a huge smile, as he uncovered the snake. Leo was excited to see the lion. Leo even tried to roar, after hearing his teacher make the sound.

Beautiful job guys! Thank you for showing us where your interests are, and helping us plan what we should focus on. 

Good morning, Grace! Grace loves to see her friends in the morning :)

Exploring Tissue Paper:

With big smiles and an impressive amount of concentration, the students pulled and ripped the captivating new material.  

Tearing paper into small pieces was very stimulating for our young learners. However, this activity was also a successful attempt to encourage important finger and co-ordination skills.