Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday!

Wow, three birthday celebrations in one week! We were so lucky to have celebrated our friends' birthdays at school on Monday and Tuesday.

Monday, 12/4 Happy Birthday, Kai!

Kai's mom, Katrina, joined us for morning center time and circle time. Katrina and Kai read Kai's all-time favorite book, Good Day and Good night, Goodnight Little One. At snack time, Kai shared some of his favorite snacks with his friends, graham bunny crackers and later, we had delicious cupcakes. We incorporated some of Kai's 'favorites' into our day's activites and routine. For art, the children decorated star wands with paint and sequins inspired by Kai's favorite song, Twinkle, twinkle little star. They looked just like shooting stars- we decided to keep them at school and hang them in the sensory room's dark room. For sensory play, I made play dough with tiny sequin stars and turquoise rhinstones; we also played with turquoise water at the sensory table (Kai's favorite color). Additionally, bear counters and blocks were set up on the tables for building with Kai's favorite animal-bears!

We wrapped up our day with a music and movement session by dancing to different versions of Twinkle, twinkle, little star and the Happy Birthday song.

Tuesday, 12/5 Happy Birthday, Noah & Gabriel!

Noah and Gabriel's mom, Saadia, and grandmother stopped by for another celebration. Saadia read a story that Gabriel chose that was new to our book shelf, Clifford's Family. We sang 'Happy Birthday' with two small cakes, a chocolate cake for Noah and vanilla cake with sprinkles for Gabriel. After blowing out their four candles, we each chose which cake we wanted a slice of and shared the rest with the 2's class. We incorporated some of Noah and Gabriel's 'favorite' activities into our day: blue and yellow (favorite colors) model magic with loose parts, superhero and ninja turtle coloring pages with color pencils, crayons and dot-dot markers and a creative movement story.

The children helped tell a story inspired by one of the birthday boys' favorite toys- ninja turtles! The friends pretended they were turtles and hid inside their shell when they got to one destination and then came out of their shell to dance their way to another area in the room. The story led to the "turtles" going on a treasure hunt in search for a puppy and then other animals. At the end of our story, the birthday boys, Noah and Gabriel requested we listen to the 'ninja turtle song' and then they each emerged from their shells one last time to 'blow out the lights'. We have been using this technique to help calm the children back down after a high-energy activity or movement exercise. A teacher locates herself near a light switch in the room and encourages the children to help blow out the lights; all together they blow out each light until the room is dim and they are ready to quietly transition to lunchtime.

Spanish with Michelle

We played a dress-up game using a picture of a child and articles of clothing. The children took turns attaching each item onto the child's body using Velcro strips. Michelle taught them the words in Spanish. Later, they played a matching game with the different articles of clothing.

Christmas Ornaments

We started working on making ornaments using clear plastic ball, glue, glitter and sequins. The children were so impressed by how the ornaments evolved. They were eager to show Grandpa Barys! We plan on getting a pine tree tomorrow and will hang these ornaments on it.