Weekly Recap: 01.10.2020

Language & Literacy

Interest in writing is picking up and the children are becoming writing machines! On Monday Liv drew pictures of her friends and family and wrote their names. On Tuesday everyone worked on writing the word “recipe” (for our cooking activity) in their new writing books. The children have been making a lot of progress writing their names as well.

We also worked on letter recognition and letter-sound recognition using magnetic letters and pictures. The children had to put the letters in order and then sound out the name in pictures to match them to their letter.

Math & Spanish & Soccer

This week we made numbers using magna-tiles. The children counted out the number of each shape they needed, and had to practice spatial skills to copy/match the number on the paper.

We also played the prediction game this week. Instead of counting in English, we counted in Spanish. Next week we will add addition/subtraction to the prediction game!. I’ll also be introducing the children to the number line.

Since were on a Spanish roll, we continued practicing during soccer with our new coach, Coach Pyjamas! We learned that soccer in Spanish is fútbol.

In Spanish, we met our new teacher, Raquel. The children had a great time dancing to a new song and really enjoyed the way Raquel interacted with them.

Music with Andrew

We have a new music teacher and we are already having a great time with him!

Paddington Gets in a Jam

On Friday we went to see Paddington and we loved it!

Weekly Recap: 12.20.19

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Cheers!

Highlight of the Week: Holiday Party

After all the prep was done, it was finally Holiday Party day on Wednesday!

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Santa & Mrs. Claus at BMS!

Holiday Party Prep

We began the week with preparations for our holiday party on Wednesday. The children were presented with a tree made out of hollow blocks. This inspired them to decorate it with loose parts, a hanukiah made out of clay and candles, and drawings.

The children also made a card for Santa and Mrs. Claus that said “Merry Christmas and Happy Christmas.”

Pajama Day

Everyone came to school in the pajamas on Thursday. We opened up our presents from Santa, made pancakes, watched The Snowman, and drank chocolate milk.

Social Emotional

We revisited our project from last year about kindness. This week we focused on what it means to be kind. Revisiting this word and project reminded the children about the meaning of kindness. The week was full of kind words, kind gestures, and gentle bodies; showing me that they had the word kind in the back of their mind.

Happy Birthday Noam!

We celebrated Noam’s 4th birthday! Her parents came in and read some Elephant & Piggie books (which the children LOVE). After the story, Nora presented Noam with her birthday portrait made from loose parts. Then it was time for birthday high fives, lunch, and a PJ Masks birthday cake!

Art

This week we painted with frozen paint. It was a cold but fun experience! We also worked with clay and cookie cutters, and created winter inspired art using paint, glue, and salt.

Happy Holidays!

Weekly Recap: 12.13.19

Winter Wonderland

The children came to school on Monday to a winter wonderland. There was insta-snow in the sensory table, snow themed tinker trays, peppermint scented play-dough with letters, “ice” in the block area (butcher paper taped down to the floor), and “snow” (shredded paper) in the gym.

The winter themed backdrop some of the children painted last week was used for a photo session this week.

Art

This week we began working on a special gift (top secret work), self-portraits, Noam’s birthday portrait using loose parts, and a gift for Marisa.

Blocks & Manipulatives

The winter wonderland set up and the holidays have been a big influence on what the children build in the block area this week. Nora and Liv built an ice castle in the block area and pretended to be Elsa. Aidan recruited some friends to help him build a Christmas tree building. A group of friends built a boat to take them to the North Pole.

Liv and Noam built a hexagon shaped structure using the magna-tiles. This was the first time they have done this and they were very proud of their work!

Language & Literacy

Since the pre-K class is made up of a group of alphabet experts, we are working with the 2’s/3’s to help them learn their letters. This week we made the letter A using aluminum foil and helped our younger friends think of words that begin with the letter A.

Helping our younger friends is a great way to build self-esteem.

Books we read this week: Harold at the North Pole, The Gingerbread Boy, Daddy Christmas and Hanukkah Mama, and There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow!

Science

This week we conducted an ice block, salt, and liquid watercolor paint experiment. Before sprinkling salt onto their blocks, the children predicted what would happen. All the children thought their ice would turn the color of their tray. When Nora picked up her ice block, and noticed that it had not changed color, everyone began to change their predictions. Nora thought her ice block would melt because the salt is warm/hot. George noticed his salt starting to get hard and thought that it got hard because the ice was cold.

As everyone began working, we began to notice changes to the ice: change is ice block size, water on the trays, and lines in their ice. Now it was time to introduce the liquid watercolor. As the children began painting their ice, they saw the colors running down the side or creating a pool of paint inside.

Aidan loved this experiment so much that he said he wants to do it every day!

Since it snowed on Wednesday, it was only natural to conduct a snow experiment! We created a snowstorm in a jar.

Math

Using dominoes, we worked on various math skills: subitizing, adding, number recognition, and counting.

Social Emotional

Marisa’s last day of school was Thursday, and we made something to make sure she would never forget us. Please come back and visit the next time you’re in New York!

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We’ll miss you Marisa!

Weekly Recap: 11.27.19

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Stone Soup

A team building cooperative game

After reading Stone Soup, we played the game! Stone Soup, created by Peaceable Kingdom, is a wonderful cooperative game where everyone wins! Children work on memory skills, social development, and helping others. It is a great way to play in a non-stressful situation, the children share ideas as they discuss using the magic stone, and have FUN with each other.

As we played, friends cheered each other on, hoping they would find the matching card. When someone made a match, everyone screamed out in excitement!

Curriculum Morning

Thank you all for making it out to Curriculum Morning! I hope you were able to get in touch with your inner child and see the possibilities that loose parts have to offer. You and your children made some amazing structures: Empire State Buildings, Jeddah Tower, rocket-ships, and Rapunzel’s Tower.

We used the leftover fruit and yogurt from Curriculum Morning to make some delicious smoothies!

Sensory Bottles

I’m working on making some sensory bottles for the children to use when they need some time alone or just a tool to use when they need a little reset. The first one I’ve made has been loved by all! Aidan wanted some alone time and decided to explore the bottle. He observed as the glitter moved up, down, sideways, and all around. After a few minutes, he was calm, cool, and collected and was ready to play with his friends.

This bottle was filled with water, baby oil, and blue glitter.

If anyone has any Voss water bottles around, please bring them in for us. I find that these bottles work the best! Thanks in advance!

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Weekly Recap: 11.22.19

Language & Literacy

This week we played an alphabet game where the children had to circle the letter that was written on a board. There was also the ABSeas game and a letter matching game.

I’d like to start book making with the children soon, but first, I had to find out what they know about books.

The magna-tile area was so popular this week that we had to create a sign-up sheet for the children to all get at turn to work in the area.

Creativity

The children’s magna-tile structures are changing. Some children are starting to build taller structures, some are creating wider structures, and others are creating more detailed work in regards to the pieces they are using. I’m seeing less squares being used and more triangles making their way into the different structures.

George was proud of his last tower because he was able to make it taller than his first one.

Noam used to only use squares as a base for her structures. Now she always begins with the small triangles. Changing her foundation has changed the way she builds.

Leo and Nora were creating an office in the block area. They decided that for an office, you needed computers. We decided to go over the art area to create computers. Using a real computer as a model, they proceeded to create their work computers, paying attention to the fact that the computers had buttons all over the keyboard.

Liv made a cast for her hand using paper and tape.

Marisa made lots of paper cut outs at the writing center.

Math

This week we mixed subitizing (seeing numbers quickly), with a ten-frame, and patterns. It was Aidan’s idea to create a pattern. Good thinking Aidan!

Movement

Coach Hector was able to start soccer earlier on Thursday so that we would have enough time to go to the park!

Sticker Game

The children LOVE playing the sticker game. Everyone is getting better and better at giving clues.

Home Fun!

In preparation for our Curriculum Morning, over the next few days, please collect any loose parts you may have at home. 

Loose parts can be anything: recyclable materials, buttons, yarn, old jewelry, fabric scraps, old trays, old utensils, etc.  Anything you can think of can be a loose part.   I can’t wait to see what you find!

Weekly Recap: 11.08.19

We started the week off with some fresh air at Horatio Park.

What’s Missing?

I collected items from around the classroom and laid them out for the children to study. The items were then covered with a blanket, and one item, or more, was taken away. Using their memory, the children then told me what item(s) was missing. At the end of the game, to make it trickier, all the items were taken away. Working together, they were able to recall all the missing items!

Math

Number Line

We played a number recognition game where the children had to find post-it notes scattered around the classroom. Working together, we put the numbers in order from 1 - 21.

Puzzles

This week was all about puzzles. The children are mastering our table top jigsaw puzzles that it was time to bring out the floor puzzles that have more pieces to put together.

Literacy

Letter Identification

Each Pre-K friend was partnered up with a friend from the 2’s/3’s class to play Alphabet Bingo. Having the older children paired up with the younger children helps to build their confidence because they are teaching the younger friends something new.

Social-Emotional

Social Stories

I’ve noticed a lot of different feelings/emotions being felt by the children recently. To help better understand how they are feeling, and to think of better ways to react to situations, we read a variety of social stories this week about frustration, asking for help, playing with toys, taking turns, and being gentle.

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Plane Play

“Today’s movie will be Super Wings.” - Captain George

“This is Delta plane ready for takeoff.” - Captain Aidan

Loose Parts Project

The children were introduced to a new loose part this week. They used it in a variety of ways: bridge, propellers, giant spoons, shooters (fire, potions), and oars.

Art

Clay Work

This week we used clay with wire and beads. George and Aidan made airplanes, Leo and Noam made a rocketship, Liv and Nora made a jungle, and Marisa pushed beads into her clay on both sides.

Building with Blocks & Magna-tiles

Weekly Recap: 11.01.19

We started our week off with a visit from the tooth fairy (Dr. Lisa) at Soul Dental. We helped brush the dinosaurs’ teeth, read Bear’s Loose Tooth, talked about healthy foods and sugar bugs, and learned a song to help us remember how to brush our teeth.

Movement

We went on a walk through the neighborhood in search of Halloween decorations. We found lots of great decor! The skeletons were everyone’s favorite decorations!

Loose Parts

With Halloween complete we are focusing more on our loose parts project. Using loose parts allows the children to open up their minds and to use their imagination. Leo made a dragster, Nora made an engine for her raft, Marisa built a tall structure then began to create music using the pieces, and Noam and Liv made a structure full of magic to make it the biggest structure in the world.

Building

Aidan was proud of the the small, medium, and large structures he made using the magna-tiles.

Noam and Aidan worked together to create an airplane and airport. Leo and Liv later joined to help add to their work.

Halloween

We are so happy the weather cleared up enough for us to get out to parade and trick-or-treat! Thank you all for coming out and celebrating with us!

Revisiting Halloween

On Friday we drew pictures of our favorite part of Halloween. Leo enjoyed playing with his friend Leo. Noam enjoyed going on to the playground. Nora liked seeing the zombies. Marisa drew a picture of her family. Liv enjoyed trick-or-treating. George liked seeing spider webs.

New Month

We began working on our November calendar.

Weekly Recap: 10.24.19

Project Work: Height

The children’s interest in comparing height and measuring has really taken off with speed this week. They have been comparing water bottle heights, body part lengths, and how tall each other are. A lot of block building has also occurred thanks to Aidan’s interest in the Freedom Tower and Jeddah Tower.

Images of various buildings from around the world were placed in the block area for inspiration. At one point or another, each child created a structure in the block area this week.

So far this school year, the children have only created structures with blocks, magna-tiles, and loose parts during a table activity. To keep their minds open to different materials, this week we tried building with marshmallows. Next week we’ll try to create structures with clay and toothpicks.

Art

Halloween costume designing has begun! Our Creepy Carrots and Creepy Underwear are almost complete for Thursday’s parade.

We also painted with puffy paint (shaving cream, glue, and paint), explored glitter-filled play-dough, and explored clay with natural materials.

Other art activities included painting with liquid watercolor to reveal letters of the alphabet, drawing using dry erase marker on the whiteboard, and George completed his October self-portrait.

Specialists

Emily introduced us to Barry the Bear who loved to be silly. Our job was to teach him what to do when he felt silly and to teach him that there are times to be silly and times to be serious.

Beysi taught us the Spanish words for Autumn (otoño), and pumpkin (calabaza). We also reviewed emotions, and how to say “My name is…”

We worked on using the insides of our feet to dribble the ball this week with Coach Hector.

After a very busy week, Stelios helped us get back to being grounded and relaxed.

Social Emotional & Gross Motor

We played a new game in gym this week: Friendship Dance & Rings. The game starts off with a ring on the floor for each child. When the music starts everyone starts to dance. While they are dancing, a teacher takes one ring away. When the music stops, he children have to find a ring to stand in, but one child will not have one. It is up to the other children to ask that friend to come and join them in their ring. Repeat these steps until you are down to one ring: everyone will have to share the ring!

Weekly Recap: 10.11.19

Math

This week we played the prediction game. We had 8 items in the jar. As we continue to play the game, the children will get better at estimating.

We used block mats to work on some spatial exercises with patterns, 2-D structures, and 3-D structures.

Specialists

We had our first music session with Emily! We met her cow named Moo Moo, did some freeze dancing, and requested some songs.

Science & Discovery

What a treat we had in our sensory table this week: Pink Himalayan Salt. The children instantly gravitated - they rubbed their hands along the surface, they scooped, poured, and measured.

Halloween Costumes

The children began sketching their costume ideas. An email will be sent out with t-shirt colors the children want for their costumes.

Social-Emotional

A 4-year-old’s emotions can run wild: up one minute, down the next. Seeing this happening in the classroom, we began to read How Full is Your Bucket? for kids. We talked about different things that can either empty or fill our bucket. We’ll continue to read and talk about our buckets (and some buckets might actually appear in the classroom sometime next week!)

Grandpa Barys came to visit us today! We we all so happy to see him again. We have him a card to thank him for all his help and to tell him how much we missed him. He said he will come back again to visit.

Language & Literacy / Math

We finally got around to finishing our October calendar! While we made it, we talked about mistakes because I accidentally started the week with Monday instead of Sunday…oops!

Weekly Recap: 10.04.19

Language & Literacy

During our morning meeting discussion on Thursday, we voted on what our Halloween costumes should be: creepy carrots or captains. Everyone immediately said creepy carrots. Of course, knowing about Aaron Reynold’s other book, Creepy Pair of Underwear!, the children decided that they should be creepy carrots and/or creepy underwear!

Aidan: Creepy Underwear

George: Creepy Carrot

Leo: 1/2 Creepy Carrot, 1/2 Creepy Underwear

Liv: 1/2 Creepy Carrot, 1/2 Creepy Underwear

Marisa: 1/2 Creepy Carrot, 1/2 Creepy Underwear

Noam: 1/2 Creepy Carrot, 1/2 Creepy Underwear

Nora: Creepy Carrot

Melissa: 1/2 Creepy Carrot, 1/2 Creepy Underwear (children’s decision)

Math, Literacy, & Social Studies

We started making our October calendar so that we can keep track of all our school events, shared snack days, days off, and everything in between.

Specialists

On Wednesday we had Spanish with Beysi. On Thursday we had soccer with Coach Hector. On Friday we had yoga with Stelios. It was so fun starting the week with our specialists and we can’t wait to continue seeing them every week!

Art

What can you make with paper?

Liv: Ugly pool - a pool that is yucky

Noam: Drew a house and sun, and added paper that represented grass, and a giraffe

Aidan: Cut his paper into “crazy cars”

Nora: Drew her portrait and wrote her name, then cut them out and glued them to another paper

Marisa: Bracelet

Leo: Cut paper into pieces, picked pieces to represent a car and a fire truck

Let’s Make Faces

Weekly Recap: 09/27/19

Movement

The weather was gorgeous on Monday so we spent the morning at the park! The children dug, climbed, and slid everywhere.

Language & Literacy

This week we came up with words beginning with the letter A. Our list of A items grew as the week went on. Each day we also practiced writing the letter A on our A board.

Liv made a sign for their boat that said “No Monsters.”

Math

The children were introduced to ten frame. This is a great tool to help children learn about number sense.

Dramatic Play

There has been a lot of captain/boat/ treasure play. On Thursday, there was a captain boat (a boat with only captains on it) headed to the “captain place,” also known as New York City. Beds were prepared and chocolate milk was served out of big red cups. Aidan passed on the chocolate milk because he had a bottle of water in his pocket. Nora decided that she wasn’t going to go to New York City…she was off to Paris. Noam and Liv decided to join her in Paris. It was a very short trip because they were back on the boat within a few seconds, ready for another captain adventure to collect treasure (books from the reading area). George then created the sun using some manipuatives to help the captains know when it was day time and night time.

Blocks & Manipulatives

This week Noam and Nora worked in the block area, using unit blocks, to create a lodge (Nora), and a house (Noam).

Liv built with the magna-tiles. When she was finished creating her structure, she drew a picture of her work.

Aidan created the Freedom Tower using small blocks. He also drew a picture of his structure when he was finished.

Science

As we sat around the table for shared snack we noticed our food was colorful like the rainbow. We began to talk about how the color of our food helps our bodies in different ways.

Social-Emotional

We used our emotions cards to help us get more in touch with our feelings. We used the cards to act out the emotion and to recall a time we felt that emotion. The children love these cards, especially when they hear a new word to add to their vocabulary.

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How am I Feeling?

Conversation Cards

Purchase Here

Art

We painted with tempera cakes, tempera paint, and shaving cream.

Weekly Recap: 09.20.19

Art

Last week Leo came up with an idea for everyone to draw their self-portrait on a board. We began working on it this week, but also added one more component: adding a character trait about each child based on the opinions of their classmates. It should be complete and up by the middle of next week!

There was also easel painting, and creating sculptures with cups.

Language & Literacy

We read a couple Dr. Seuss books to learn more about rhyming. At the end of one of the books, we gave it a try and came up with a list of two words that rhyme.

Blocks

The children came in to class on Tuesday and saw a “shelter” set up in the block area. They took turns sitting inside, but wanted to be able to have everyone sit together. Working together, they figured out a way to get everyone inside.

Later on in the day they wanted to make the “house” again (since it needed to be cleaned up after falling down). Nora, Noam, and Aidan worked together to rebuild the structure, and it looked exactly like the first one!

The Freedom Tower has also been a popular structure to build this week. Each day it becomes more elaborate.

There have also been some detailed unit block buildings created this week. Leo made the Statue of Liberty, and Noam made a house.

Movement

We spent the last day of the week at Bleeker St. park!

Science/Discovery

This week was all about sensory play. One day we explored shaving cream as a sticking agent for building cubes. We counted how tall we could make out towers before they fell down. Another day we made slime from scratch using glue, lotion, liquid watercolor paint, and liquid starch. The end result for both activities was a room filled with laughing children covered with shaving cream and slime. Everyone enjoyed the “slippy” shaving cream and the “glorious” slime!

Social/Emotional

We celebrated Aidan’s 4th birthday this week! Noam and Nora created a portrait of Aidan using loose parts. On Tuesday, Aidan’s parents came in and read some of his favorite Pete the Cat books. Noam and Nora then presented Aidan with his birthday portrait, followed by Aidan’s dad singing Happy Birthday. Everyone enjoyed a mini cupcake to end his sweet celebration. Happy Birthday Aidan!

First Week of School

The first week of school has come and gone and it has been a great one! The children got reacquainted with each other and fell into their regular groove rather quickly.

Art

This week we painted with tempera cakes, created with loose parts, drew self-portraits, created secondary colors using primary colors, and explored clay.

Language & Literacy

The children were very interested in the new writing center. They immediately got to work making lists and creating signs for their block structures. We also came up with our classrooms rules, practiced signing in, and helped complete the letters for our morning message.

Math

This week we played the prediction game (a game where I place a few items in a jar and the children guess how many items are inside). The children then drew a bar graph to represent their guesses. We also used a ten-frame to figure out the total to the equation 5+5.

Measuring was a hot topic this week as well. It began during morning meeting. Everyone was sitting around and Aidan began comparing the size of his foot with a classmate. Soon, everyone had their shoes off and began comparing feet. Leo then started measuring his foot with unit blocks, discovering that his foot is 1.5 unit blocks long. Then they found the rulers in the writing center and began measuring arms, legs, and heads.

Blocks

The children have been enjoying the block area. They spent the whole week creating boats out of hollow blocks, and towers out of unit blocks.

Movement

We have a gym space and the children are loving it! This week we’ve done obstacle courses, bean bag toss, and a variety of movement activities based on songs.

We also went out for a walk for the first time as a school. The Pre-K kids were very happy to show the younger ones how to hold the rope and walk outside.