Caught in the Rain
Please don't tell your children this. Pinky promise? Okay. I am no fan of the rain. While I appreciate it for all the goodness it brings, I have never particularly enjoyed being out in the midst of the rain. I don't like soggy shoes, I don't like sweating in a rain coat. I don't like it when the rain interferes with all my (super important grown up) outdoor projects. Give me 20 below, give me wind, a sandstorm? Sure. Now, with that said, my "poker face" regarding the rain is quite good. I never bat an eye, nor do I complain that I'm just plain uncomfortable and want the sun to please, oh please come back. We play outside in any weather, and we make the best of it.
On Thursday, as we headed out for our afternoon play, the weather called for a mere 20% chance of rain. Pah! We needn't bring Tuffos! We shall bask in sunshine! And then, from the west, came dark clouds, a single clap of thunder and the deluge followed. We were caught off guard. And in what seemed like seconds, we were soaked to the bone. My inner "rain Scrooge" didn't even have a moment to grumble, no, there were forts to be built, and songs to be sung, water to be collected, puddles to run through/stomp in/lay in. Yesterday, I didn't put up with the rain, I was joyful in the rain, and I have your children to thank. The changing weather is a gift, and the children see it so clearly. They are so often MY teachers and guides. There's so much to be learned by following their lead.
The rain was short-lived, and the clouds lightened. The sun eventually made a return visit. But I'll tell you what, those soggy, sandy, stormy 15 minutes were by far the best part of our day.
Infant I: We have some new walkers, rollers and sitters. These babies are working very hard at all types of movement. As they traveled around the classroom this week, they have been very taken with cause and effect toys. They love to rattle a toy and hear the sounds that result. The homemade rattles have been especially popular, the children experiment and listen by shaking them fast, then slow. The jingle bells also have a similar quality that they seem to enjoy. Balls have been a high point of the week and are being played with both individually and with peers. There are several types that keep us exploring: textured balls, wiffle balls with holes, balls that bounce, and heavy balls that simply roll.
Infant II: This week we welcomed another new teacher, Tiernan. Please be sure to introduce yourself. Outdoors we've been really intrigued by insects, slugs and fungus. The children have been looking all over the playground for these including under buckets and planters, in the grass or on the trees. This has made us really focus on being gentle and really using our eyes to look at things around us. We have been doing a lot of jumping, and the trampolines have helped us become better jumpers. Many of us now bend our knees to make ourselves bounce. This a challenge, and also helps us with our balance. We have been working on taking turns and waiting for classmates to be done with a toy instead of taking it or becoming upset. This is an area where we are really supporting the children's language development. A note for morning drop off: Parents, we'd love your help to unpack the children's lunches into the fridge, it allows teachers to be down with the children on the floor and help them through this transition time. Thanks in advance!
Toddler Room: An area of focus this week was painting. We worked with cotton swabs, primary colors, and brightly colored paper. Using the swabs to manipulate the paint was a fine motor challenge. Some of us dove right into this project while others were more observant. We also made a clay like substance to play with this week, We worked hard to measure, combine and mix wet and dry ingredients, we then explored this "clay dough" with our hands. Work on self help skills carries on in the form of putting on and taking off our own shoes. Note to parents: Please have a look at the curriculum board to see our daily activities, additionally, you will find specific notes regarding your child's day on the other white board near the cubbies.
Preschool I: We have some new washable markers which we have been experimenting with this week. We use the markers, then add small drops of water to the color and watch it expand and spread. This elicited lots of "ooohs and ahhs" as we tried to figure out why this was actually happening. We have been focusing a lot this week on feelings. We've been choosing books regarding the theme of emotional fluency: how to identify and think about what you or others are feeling and why. We looked at a variety of facial expressions in books and tried to conclude what that person might be feeling. We drew faces to represent different emotions, and looked in the mirrors to imitate the faces we observed. To this end, we are also working hard to use kind voices and take deep breaths when we become frustrated.
Preschool II: We continued our exploration from last week on rhyming and figuring out what makes for a good rhyme. This week's best rhyme from "Down by the Bay" was, have you ever seen a dog, lost in the fog. The lost dog's name was Max by the way. We still are doing a lot of counting and number identification, but have recently started to identify a variety of shapes as well. Right now, we're doing this by locating the shapes around us: the grapes are circular, the cheese is cut into rectangles, the water bottle is a cylinder. We've also been thinking about the size and length of items we see and outdoors and tried using rakes to measure the length of items on the playground. We are still interested in using scissors and hole punches in our morning free play.
Pre-K: Happy Birthday SD!
Here are some notes the Pre-K children wanted to pass along to you from their week:
"I drew birds this week." -MM
"I rode a bike while I was sleeping. It was flying. It had a basket in the front for my little dogs." -JDC
"We had fun in the rain." FP
"I went to the snack shack!" -TM (Sam: But wasn't that after school?) "You asked what happened this week!!" (Sam: She's right, I did!)
"We played with the babies. I was the Mommy, he was the Daddy." -SM
Also Seen at MVS
Please don't tell your children this. Pinky promise? Okay. I am no fan of the rain. While I appreciate it for all the goodness it brings, I have never particularly enjoyed being out in the midst of the rain. I don't like soggy shoes, I don't like sweating in a rain coat. I don't like it when the rain interferes with all my (super important grown up) outdoor projects. Give me 20 below, give me wind, a sandstorm? Sure. Now, with that said, my "poker face" regarding the rain is quite good. I never bat an eye, nor do I complain that I'm just plain uncomfortable and want the sun to please, oh please come back. We play outside in any weather, and we make the best of it.
On Thursday, as we headed out for our afternoon play, the weather called for a mere 20% chance of rain. Pah! We needn't bring Tuffos! We shall bask in sunshine! And then, from the west, came dark clouds, a single clap of thunder and the deluge followed. We were caught off guard. And in what seemed like seconds, we were soaked to the bone. My inner "rain Scrooge" didn't even have a moment to grumble, no, there were forts to be built, and songs to be sung, water to be collected, puddles to run through/stomp in/lay in. Yesterday, I didn't put up with the rain, I was joyful in the rain, and I have your children to thank. The changing weather is a gift, and the children see it so clearly. They are so often MY teachers and guides. There's so much to be learned by following their lead.
The rain was short-lived, and the clouds lightened. The sun eventually made a return visit. But I'll tell you what, those soggy, sandy, stormy 15 minutes were by far the best part of our day.
Notes from Thursday's Parent Potluck
Thanks to all of you who were able to attend. If you missed it, here are the notes in brief:
- Tracy Farr, our Early Head Sstart coordinator joined us to explain our partnership with this organization. If you have a child under the age of 3 and are interested in finding out more information or if you qualify, please feel free to email Tracy directly: tfarr@capstonevt.org You will be seeing a lot more of Tracy in the upcoming months in our three infant/toddler classrooms.
- Renovation updates: Our new classroom is up and running, next stop kitchen work to be completed over the next month. The goal is to open the kitchen in September/October. MVS will be providing all meals and snacks. We are working on making sure that all the food we serve is organic and vegetarian.
- We also discussed creating a Parent-Teacher Organization, "PTO." If you would like to be a part of this please email Sarah and she will send you more information about the first meeting.
Infant I: We have some new walkers, rollers and sitters. These babies are working very hard at all types of movement. As they traveled around the classroom this week, they have been very taken with cause and effect toys. They love to rattle a toy and hear the sounds that result. The homemade rattles have been especially popular, the children experiment and listen by shaking them fast, then slow. The jingle bells also have a similar quality that they seem to enjoy. Balls have been a high point of the week and are being played with both individually and with peers. There are several types that keep us exploring: textured balls, wiffle balls with holes, balls that bounce, and heavy balls that simply roll.
Infant II: This week we welcomed another new teacher, Tiernan. Please be sure to introduce yourself. Outdoors we've been really intrigued by insects, slugs and fungus. The children have been looking all over the playground for these including under buckets and planters, in the grass or on the trees. This has made us really focus on being gentle and really using our eyes to look at things around us. We have been doing a lot of jumping, and the trampolines have helped us become better jumpers. Many of us now bend our knees to make ourselves bounce. This a challenge, and also helps us with our balance. We have been working on taking turns and waiting for classmates to be done with a toy instead of taking it or becoming upset. This is an area where we are really supporting the children's language development. A note for morning drop off: Parents, we'd love your help to unpack the children's lunches into the fridge, it allows teachers to be down with the children on the floor and help them through this transition time. Thanks in advance!
Toddler Room: An area of focus this week was painting. We worked with cotton swabs, primary colors, and brightly colored paper. Using the swabs to manipulate the paint was a fine motor challenge. Some of us dove right into this project while others were more observant. We also made a clay like substance to play with this week, We worked hard to measure, combine and mix wet and dry ingredients, we then explored this "clay dough" with our hands. Work on self help skills carries on in the form of putting on and taking off our own shoes. Note to parents: Please have a look at the curriculum board to see our daily activities, additionally, you will find specific notes regarding your child's day on the other white board near the cubbies.
Preschool I: We have some new washable markers which we have been experimenting with this week. We use the markers, then add small drops of water to the color and watch it expand and spread. This elicited lots of "ooohs and ahhs" as we tried to figure out why this was actually happening. We have been focusing a lot this week on feelings. We've been choosing books regarding the theme of emotional fluency: how to identify and think about what you or others are feeling and why. We looked at a variety of facial expressions in books and tried to conclude what that person might be feeling. We drew faces to represent different emotions, and looked in the mirrors to imitate the faces we observed. To this end, we are also working hard to use kind voices and take deep breaths when we become frustrated.
Preschool II: We continued our exploration from last week on rhyming and figuring out what makes for a good rhyme. This week's best rhyme from "Down by the Bay" was, have you ever seen a dog, lost in the fog. The lost dog's name was Max by the way. We still are doing a lot of counting and number identification, but have recently started to identify a variety of shapes as well. Right now, we're doing this by locating the shapes around us: the grapes are circular, the cheese is cut into rectangles, the water bottle is a cylinder. We've also been thinking about the size and length of items we see and outdoors and tried using rakes to measure the length of items on the playground. We are still interested in using scissors and hole punches in our morning free play.
Pre-K: Happy Birthday SD!
Here are some notes the Pre-K children wanted to pass along to you from their week:
"I drew birds this week." -MM
"I rode a bike while I was sleeping. It was flying. It had a basket in the front for my little dogs." -JDC
"We had fun in the rain." FP
"I went to the snack shack!" -TM (Sam: But wasn't that after school?) "You asked what happened this week!!" (Sam: She's right, I did!)
"We played with the babies. I was the Mommy, he was the Daddy." -SM
Also Seen at MVS
Thanks for Reading
-Sam
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