Fall's color explosion has made a big impression on the children as they take in the changes around them during their days at school. The height of the foliage season seems to be upon us!
Classroom Happenings
Infant I: We're a very vocal bunch! We are noticing and using our own voices more and understanding how to modulate them. We have been working hard to understand how loud noises impact our peers in the classroom. We are also becoming more attune to issues of spatial awareness. We are practicing moving around objects and weaving in/around/through obstacles...although some spaces just aren't big enough for us as we grow! A big step for many of us is that we are now feeding ourselves at the high chairs with a variety of finger foods.
Infant II: It was a good week with a few challenging, yet developmentally appropriate moments for our growing, learning, evolving young toddlers. This week Clifford the Big Red Dog was a popular and frequently requested book. Our love of literature certainly seems to grow; a few new books were also introduced to engage our budding readers. The weather made for a really beautiful time to get outdoors with the children. Even the rain was a renewed opportunity to splash in the puddles and it was just really enjoyable.
Toddler I: We had a great week adjusting to having a new teaching team of Hannah, Megan and Sam. We have been focusing on polite mealtime conversations. We are practicing these skills by asking good questions like: "What do you have?" Does it taste...salty? Sweet? Is it chewy? Crunchy? This has helped bring more focus to mealtimes and reminds us of our purpose for being at the table, while engaging everyone socially. We are also trying to use more specific words to express ourselves. For instance, instead of saying, "I don't like that," we are encouraging the children to use more words to say what they feel: "I don't like it when the loud truck goes by. It scares me." This week we also painted pumpkins, learned a new song (with motions!), continued along with our multi-step fall art project, investigated a new dirt pile on the playground, built a dramatic number of towers, and of course, walked all over town.
Toddler II: Lots of leaves! We have been working hard on leaf identification. We are primarily focusing on Maple and Oak. We have a couple of cookie cutters that help in this process so we can see the shapes and make them ourselves when we work with play dough. We are noticing the changing colors of these leaves when we are out and about as well. We are also practicing acorn identification. Indoors we are thinking a lot about mealtime etiquette. For us this means eating our food politely, keeping our plates in front of us and on our place mats, and engaging in polite conversation. We are also trying to be very careful when it comes to waste. We don't want any of our food to be wasted, so this means cuing in to how much we take. If we haven't tried something before, we start with a little to see if we like it. The children have become very good at serving themselves snacks: using tongs and passing food along. Along with this independence we are working on awareness of how much we can eat and how much we should be taking. And Thursday's walk took us up the big, big hill in town...we all made it!
Pre-K: This week we spent time with the letter "E" during library time. On our walks we have been collecting seeds for some upcoming collage construction. And another journey led us to explore the spot where last year's beaver dam used to sit. Some mowing has been done recently and we almost were able to get close enough to check things out. Better luck next time! Snack time has become more and more interesting and engaging. We enjoyed some fruit cars and also had some air popped popcorn- a real event! During sharing, we are asking questions after a classmate shares. This has prompted questions about questions. Just why and when do we ask them? What's the difference between a question and an observation/comment? These are big kindergarten readiness skills indeed!
As Seen at MVS
Thanks for Reading!
-Sam
Classroom Happenings
Infant I: We're a very vocal bunch! We are noticing and using our own voices more and understanding how to modulate them. We have been working hard to understand how loud noises impact our peers in the classroom. We are also becoming more attune to issues of spatial awareness. We are practicing moving around objects and weaving in/around/through obstacles...although some spaces just aren't big enough for us as we grow! A big step for many of us is that we are now feeding ourselves at the high chairs with a variety of finger foods.
Infant II: It was a good week with a few challenging, yet developmentally appropriate moments for our growing, learning, evolving young toddlers. This week Clifford the Big Red Dog was a popular and frequently requested book. Our love of literature certainly seems to grow; a few new books were also introduced to engage our budding readers. The weather made for a really beautiful time to get outdoors with the children. Even the rain was a renewed opportunity to splash in the puddles and it was just really enjoyable.
Toddler I: We had a great week adjusting to having a new teaching team of Hannah, Megan and Sam. We have been focusing on polite mealtime conversations. We are practicing these skills by asking good questions like: "What do you have?" Does it taste...salty? Sweet? Is it chewy? Crunchy? This has helped bring more focus to mealtimes and reminds us of our purpose for being at the table, while engaging everyone socially. We are also trying to use more specific words to express ourselves. For instance, instead of saying, "I don't like that," we are encouraging the children to use more words to say what they feel: "I don't like it when the loud truck goes by. It scares me." This week we also painted pumpkins, learned a new song (with motions!), continued along with our multi-step fall art project, investigated a new dirt pile on the playground, built a dramatic number of towers, and of course, walked all over town.
Toddler II: Lots of leaves! We have been working hard on leaf identification. We are primarily focusing on Maple and Oak. We have a couple of cookie cutters that help in this process so we can see the shapes and make them ourselves when we work with play dough. We are noticing the changing colors of these leaves when we are out and about as well. We are also practicing acorn identification. Indoors we are thinking a lot about mealtime etiquette. For us this means eating our food politely, keeping our plates in front of us and on our place mats, and engaging in polite conversation. We are also trying to be very careful when it comes to waste. We don't want any of our food to be wasted, so this means cuing in to how much we take. If we haven't tried something before, we start with a little to see if we like it. The children have become very good at serving themselves snacks: using tongs and passing food along. Along with this independence we are working on awareness of how much we can eat and how much we should be taking. And Thursday's walk took us up the big, big hill in town...we all made it!
Pre-K: This week we spent time with the letter "E" during library time. On our walks we have been collecting seeds for some upcoming collage construction. And another journey led us to explore the spot where last year's beaver dam used to sit. Some mowing has been done recently and we almost were able to get close enough to check things out. Better luck next time! Snack time has become more and more interesting and engaging. We enjoyed some fruit cars and also had some air popped popcorn- a real event! During sharing, we are asking questions after a classmate shares. This has prompted questions about questions. Just why and when do we ask them? What's the difference between a question and an observation/comment? These are big kindergarten readiness skills indeed!
As Seen at MVS
Thanks for Reading!
-Sam
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