Dramatic Play
Fall is in the air! We had so much fun at Clancy’s Pumpkin Patch, that we decided to make our very own here at school. We first pick our baskets and then see what goodies we can fill it up with. There are so many different pumpkins and apples to choose from. We love the apple picking area, where we can match the different colored apples to each other. When we have finally picked our favorites we head to the register to checkout. However, this is a special pumpkin patch where we pay you to shop! We love giving out money to our friends. When it is closing time we like to rake up the leaves and stack the pumpkins, so it’s all ready for a new day.
Block Area
We love playing with the trains and train tracks. It is one of our favorite things to do. It is exciting to see how the tracks’ pattern varies from day to day. Some days we like to make loops, both big and small. Other days we want to see how long we can make it. There has been a few times where we even make it all the way to the tables! We use signs and stations to control the traffic because, boy, does it get busy, especially over the Golden Gate Bridge. We love working together to create many different tracks.
Quiet Area
When our bodies are not feeling quite as rambunctious, we find ourselves with a book in quiet area. Lately we have been feeling like finding a cozy spot on the couch by ourselves and reading on our own. We flip through the pages and find our favorite characters and pretend to be them. Sometimes we like reading with friends and talking about what is happening in the pictures. We even have a picnic sometimes to reenact story time at forest school. Some of our favorites have been: “Pete the Cat”, “Ten Apples up on Top”, and “The Little Engine that Could”.
Music Area
Our love for dancing to Charity’s music continues to grow. On days we miss Charity we have a dance party of our own and try to remember what we have learned in music class. When Charity does come we are so excited to show her we remember the words. With Thanksgiving around the corner, we have been talking a lot about what it means to be thankful. We went around the circle and all said one thing we were grateful for. Many friends said their mommies and daddies, and others said their toys, friends, and/or school. Right now our favorite songs to sing are: “The Grateful Song”, “PB&J” and “The Green Tree”.
Art Area
At Mano’s, we have been exploring painting with different mediums. Although painting with our hands is our all-time favorite, we had a lot of fun using foam rollers. We loved mixing the colors and seeing what different patterns we could make. We practiced sharing and team work as there were many of us painting on one large paper. Together we made quite the work of art! We now have them hanging in our school where we can enjoy them every day. We have also been practicing with stencils. It is hard sometimes, but we love seeing the end result.
Gross Motor Area
When our bodies have the wiggles we love to go to the mattress where we can jump and play with our friends. Its fun to see who can jump the furthest. We also love to do yoga poses to help with our balance and gross motor skills. We love the songs Teacher Jessie does because it helps us remember the poses better. We have been practicing “Swan”, “Airplane”, and “Bridge”. With the smoke keeping us inside, we were able to bring out a new toy. A huge tunnel! It was so much fun being able to crawl through and try to maneuver around friends.
Cognitive Area
The magna tiles continue to be a huge hit amongst our friends. We love working together to build towers that are taller than us, as well as different trains to move around the classroom, such as the N Judah and L Taraval. We also create laptops and pretend we’re working like our mommies and daddies. When we are not playing with the magna tiles, we enjoy using the magnetic sticks to move the ball through the maze board.
Outside
We officially have NEW GRASS! Though we loved playing with the tanbark, we have had so much fun running and rolling around in the grass and basking in the sun! We also love getting our hands dirty as we play in the mud kitchen now that we have real mud and not just bark! We love to cook up delicious food to serve to our customers. Some of the popular items in our kitchen are ice cream, cookies, cakes, and pumpkin soup. We were also really excited to take the pulp out of our school pumpkin and to show friends our Halloween costumes.
Although Halloween has just passed, we’ve been extremely excited about Christmas. We like taking the hula hoops and attaching them to various parts of the climbing structure, pretending as if we are decorating a Christmas tree or house with ornaments and lights. After having used the foam rollers at Mano’s, we’ve taken the rollers outside and pretended to paint our “house,” hoping to attract Santa Claus and his reindeers. Sometimes, we pretend to be Santa Claus and hand out presents to our friends. Other times, we engage in pretend play in which some friends are sick and visiting the doctor’s office. With our continued interest in trains, we work together with our friends to build trains, railroads, and tunnels. It’s always exciting to collaborate with our peers and work toward the same goal!