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3, 2, 1...BLAST OFF!

After a few weeks of shorter newsletters, we will have some more substantial reading coming your way next week, so stay tuned. 

Classroom Happenings
Infant I: Our younger infants have been rolling and scooting all over the room. They are doing more and more reaching, and now reaching specifically for toys and using them as greater motivation to get moving. The older infants are showing more interest in talking and trying to use words as opposed to using sounds, grunts and cries. Mimicking words has become a huge part of our day. Other points of interest have been pull toys, stacking blocks and carrying baskets. The older children have been more cautious about moving around the younger infants and being aware of their bodies. We also enjoyed some brightly colored balls that appeared in the room. The level of excitement that went along with these colors was great to see.

Infant II: This week we spent a lot of time talking about and practicing respectful behavior. Our specific focus has been keeping hands and feet to ourselves. Additionally, we are trying to integrate more of the word "please" into our vocabulary when interacting with adults and peers. We have been really into some new books we received thanks to a donation from the Greene family. Thank you! The children have been talking about the content in the new stories, and have enjoyed feeling the new textures in the "touch" books. Building has been another area for exploration, stacking blocks and other hard surfaces became a very engaging activity. The older children created both horizontal and vertical structures and tried integrating as many different objects as possible.

Toddler I: We have been reading some longer book selections this week. The shorter board books seem to keep the children's interest when they read independently, but as a group, we've been into Caps for Sale, Who Sunk the Boat, and Hello Hello. The classroom has been a busy place! We dyed two types of pasta and have been exploring all of it's capabilities in the sensory table. We've been pulling apart the stuck together pieces and using the noodles as tunnels, putting the little pieces through the big and so forth. A classmate brought in some play dough and play dough toys to share, which were a lot of fun. Our Lego boards were another high interest activity and we observed more instances of sharing with this activity as opposed to trains. Our conversations focused on the changing weather we noticed, days of the week, and social skills such as using inside voices and walking feet. Parents: Please contribute to our group snacks by signing up on the cork board in our room, we still have multiple slots available. Thanks!

Toddler II: This week we made ice cream in housekeeping. The flavors included blueberry muffin, chocolate custard, and dandelion. We sorted buttons by color using training chopsticks. We also spent time balancing large loads of "materials" on the back of trucks and created a road that went under the table and across the room. We discovered our parking garage was a little wobbly so we got out a screwdriver and fixed it; the children worked really hard with the screwdriver, figuring out the right direction to turn it. Another form of hard work took shape as the children patiently waited and took turns in using the screwdriver. 
We are going to continue with more screwdriver work next week. The interest in letters and spelling names (both their own and others) has really taken off. They have become more aware of letters in different words rather than just in their own names.
We have also been watching the Cedar Waxwings out the window; these acrobats are enjoying the berries from the front yard tree. 

Pre- K: During sharing time this week, we heard about a Dad who made a rocket ship.
This got us incredibly interested in the idea, and so we decided to make it happen. We talked a lot about the different ways to make a rocket ship and what rockets do exactly. The children started integrating the whole rocket idea into their play. For instance, logs at campfire forest quickly became rockets. There has been a lot of counting down from 10 for...blast off! What else?!? We also read the book Mooncake where a bear and bird build their own rocket ship. On Thursday we did a balloon and rocket experiment in our classroom and next week we will have another experiment with vinegar and baking soda (muahahaha, science!). Paper towel tubes and crayons turned into rockets, and we learned a little poem about zooming around in rockets. 


Phew! When not lost in space, we headed to the library for letter "Z." We'll have a few weeks off, then there will be some new programming we will be checking out. We also seem to be victims of some rough colds, so wash those hands! 

Also Seen at MVS



Thanks for Reading!
-Sam


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