December 4th - 19th Happenings

Dramatic Play

The dramatic play area turned into a construction site! We had a lot of fun fixing and building with our construction tools. We loved packing our tool box with everything we might need and dressing up with hard hats and tool belts. We especially loved finding lots of things to hammer and using the saws to cut open all the boxes. After we worked together to get them open, we enjoyed playing peek-a-boo and hide-and-go-seek in them! Sometimes things in the classroom became broken and needed construction workers to fix them. We used the cones to block off areas to keep them clear, but also as jumping obstacles! We really enjoyed using the measuring tape to measure tables, shelves, and especially our friends’ feet- we found everyone has REALLY big feet! 

Art & Literacy

We really enjoyed using the jumbo dinosaur stamps for creating a piece of our classroom art! There were stegosauruses, tyrannosauruses, and more! It was fun looking for the different types of dinosaurs and guessing their names. Some of them had really long names, but they were fun to say. The construction site sensory bin was lots of fun and we loved playing in the beans. The little vehicles were very busy scooping and dumping "rocks" and making roads. We also really liked playing in the snow bin! There were many hidden snow animals living in it and we practiced our fine motor skills with the pinchers trying to find and pick them up. We had a lot of fun looking and sorting them into a bowl. We also liked pretending the snowballs were blueberries; we made super delicious pies with them! We also loved making our snowflakes and then seeing the surprise of them turning into ornamnets with our pictures on them!

Cognitive Area

We continue to enjoy using the magnatiles to create buildings with unique designs and stories. Our friends really enjoyed working together to create really tall buildings; it was most fun when we were able to crash the building down together. We also really enjoyed figuring out the how to open the different types of locks on the latch board and finding letters in the alphabet puzzle. We love pointing out the letters in our name and are starting to recognize other friends letters too.

Nature Area

It was fun looking at the different animals through the view finders. We enjoyed searching for the stuffed animal that matched the ones we saw through the lenses. Sometimes, we would help our friends’ find one that matched the one they saw. We are still exploring the magnifying glasses and love putting them up to our (or a friend's!) eyes and talking about what we see.

 

Block Area

We really enjoyed loading the dump trucks with different items and bringing it to an unloading site. We line up cones around the dumpsite so that our friends would know as well. We also really liked parking the dump trucks into their own lots- the rock sign-in table became a great parking spot! At times there weren’t enough room, so we built more with blocks. The elevator, crane, and conveyor belt have been very useful to load and unload blocks and people. The ramps still get lots of use and we love making long tracks with tunnels and seeing how far we can get the balls to roll.

Quiet Area

We continued to read books throughout the day. With the gloomy weather, we really enjoyed grabbing a holiday themed book and snuggling on the beanbag. We enjoyed learning and talking about all the different holidays that happen in Winter. We really enjoyed pointing out the items in the different stories that reminded us of the way we may celebrate for the holidays. the babies have been getting lots of love too, and we often read them stories and rock them to sleep- making sure all their "needs" are met.

Music Area

We have been playing lots of music for our friends to dance to and especially love having dance parties together with the scarves. Our favorites have been the Nutcracker and any of Laurie Berkner's songs (but especially the goldfish one!) 

Gross Motor Area

We had a lot of fun jumping on the mattress with our friends. Sometimes, we liked holding our friends’ hands while jumping; it makes us go really high together! The horse still takes us on lots of rides and becomes a lot of different vehicles depending on our play.

Outside

We really enjoyed playing “doctor’s office” during outside time. We did lots of checkups and took care of all our patients. There were also nurses that helped. After the checkup we were sure to give out medicine too! We also loved pretending to have restaurants and served lots of foods like pizzas and pastas. We love playing in the sand pit and were pretending to be turtles crawling around and buried each other in the sand too! We love going on the swing, especially all together and spin round and round until we are dizzy! We picked lots of carrots in our garden, and loved watching them pull up from under the dirt. We tried the kale too- it was very exciting when we used it in soup the next day! the climbing structure is still a big staple in a lot of our play, becoming a mountain, delivery truck, school bus or restaurant. We have been working really hard trying to climb up the rope ladder-the hardest part- but also have just as much fun or more playing while hanging on it!  

November 13th- December 1st Happenings!

Dramatic Play

Eee Ooo, Eee Ooo! The dramatic play area turned into a fire station! We really enjoyed dressing up as firefighters with our uniforms, boots, and helmets. Whenever there was an emergency, we rushed to the destination as a team. Some of our friends even brought a back-up hydrant on the fire truck in case we ran out of water. It was a huge responsibility packing the fire truck with adequate equipment before heading off to emergencies. We made sure the truck had water hoses, extinguishers, megaphones and enough seats for all our friends. We loved putting the fires out in the house and many other places too! Sometimes our friends would need to be saved from the burning house or sometimes it was just a fun place to sit and play!

IMG_2810.JPG

Art & Literacy

We really enjoyed sculpting baked goods with the kinetic sand. It was fun forming different shapes with the cups. It was exciting to see the sand change shape and "ooze" after making something. We also really enjoyed creating art with the sea animal stickers. We drew big houses and oceans for them to live in and talking a lot about the different animals. We love using the tracing boards and stones to make different shapes too and it's been a great way to work on our patterning and fine motor skills!  

Cognitive Area

We had a lot of fun playing with the different puzzles, especially the bear that needed help to dress up. It was difficult helping the bear zip up his zipper, button his buttons, and tie his shoelaces. We practiced a lot and when we were able to do it, we were really happy! We love talking about letters and still are very focused on the letter puzzle and abacus and well as the light table letters and numbers. The magnatiles continue to be exciting and we love seeing what we can create with them. We have been making lots of 2-D and 3-D things.

Nature Area

We really enjoyed looking for different animals through the view finders. It was fun sharing the views with our friends. There were times we spotted gigantic tigers and wolves! Whenever this happens, we pretended to be hunting for the wolves. It was fun chasing after the wolves and running away with our friends to hide in the teepee. The rocks and shells also have been added to lots of different play, especially with the blocks and the shells often are passed out at treats and ice cream.

IMG_5130.jpg

Block Area

It was fun creating different types of buildings and towers with the blocks. Some friends built large castles for the fire trucks to live in. It was especially fun when we got to crash the building down together afterward. We really enjoyed rebuilding the structures and then knocking them down again. We often think of new ways to make the new building bigger and stronger than the previous one. The crane and elevator have been useful tools to help us build and we have been enjoying using them to move blocks, cars, and even people around.

Quiet Area

With the gloomy weather rolling in, we really enjoyed snuggling up on the beanbag with a blanket and a good book. Some of our favorite books include, “Flashing Fire Engines,” by Tony Mitton & Ant Parket and “Firefighters A to Z,” by Chris L. Demarest. We really liked pointing out and comparing the fire equipment the books used to the ones we had in our classroom. We also really liked reading about the different components that make up a fire truck. We still read a lot by ourselves or just with friends, but we love being read to, and often all gather when someone starts reading!

Music

It was really fun creating different types of music with our friends! We really liked playing piano notes together and singing along. Our friends also really liked joining in by grabbing an instrument and adding to the music. We have been pretending to recreate different songs we know and have heard and have started even including the lyrics along with our sounds. 

Gross Motor

We really enjoyed playing “Monkeys Jumping on the Bed,” together on the mattress. After jumping until we’re tired, we liked to gather blankets and stuffed animals for a slumber party to rest up! It was fun helping our friends get tucked in. If you were lucky, friends would also deliver ice creams to the slumber party once in a while. A few vets also attended the slumber party to keep all the stuffed animals safe. We also use the horse as an ice cream truck, and a delivery truck to take different things and people around.

Outside

It has been a little gloomy outside, but we had a lot of fun playing in the rain! We especially liked building sand castles and making huge cakes in the sand pit. We talked about how it is easier to build with wet sand because it stays together. We also liked jumping into puddles around the yard. We also pretended to go down a water slide since there were rain droplets. We really enjoyed experimenting with the chalk while it was wet too. It was really fun looking at the different type of texture chalk created when we tried drawing on the wet chalkboard. We also used the log as a boat and went onto a sea adventure! We made sure to hold onto our friends’ hands so no one would get left behind. Many of our friends found a special pet rock and took care of them during outside time. There was a doctor office and grocery store for friends to get materials they needed to make their pet rocks happy. Sometimes pet owners became busy, so babysitters helped watch over the pet rocks. We also had a lot of fun running races around the climbing structure with our friends. Some of our friends were also cheering for the runners by giving out high-fives! We always took water breaks to keep our bodies hydrated. We still love the swing and always find new ways to use it and ride together. Its often a spaceship or a bus, and we like to spin fast!

October 30th- November 9th Happenings!

Dramatic Play

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream! The dramatic play area turned into an ice scream store! We really enjoyed serving our friends their favorite ice cream flavors! There were many to choose from, including: Chocolate, Vanilla, Banana, Mint, Strawberry, Spicy, and more! We loved pretending to be servers or customers, dressing up and taking orders. We used the cash registers to take (or give) money and handed out lots of flavors on cones and in cups with lots of different toppings! Afterward, friends could pack a pint to go, so they would be able to enjoy more ice cream later!  Sometimes you get lucky and your server would serve extra chocolate fudge and extra sprinkles! Delicious! 

Cognitive Area

We really enjoyed putting together the alphabet puzzle! It was fun pointing out which animal each letter represented. We especially enjoy looking for the first letter in our own names! At times, we also liked pointing out which letter our friends’ names started with. We still really enjoyed using the magnatiles to build structures including: rockets, houses, and fire trucks. 

Music Area

We really enjoyed having duet sessions with our friends with the different instruments. It was especially fun when we had audiences during the show, who showed love and support. It was fun singing along to the music we were creating together. We often danced to our friends music and talked about how fast and slow we played and therefore danced.

Gross Motor

It was fun using the wooden horse as an ice cream truck for delivering all the orders from the ice cream shop! The mattress was extra space for customers to enjoy their ice cream and relax. We also really enjoy jumping together on the mattress after eating a lot of ice cream! We liked rolling on the mattress until we got dizzy! We still often play 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed and wrestle too!

 

Quiet Area

No matter what time of the day it was, we really liked grabbing a good Halloween book and reading it with our friends! We could read them over and over. One of our favorite books was  “Big Pumpkin,” by Erica Silverman. It was really fun watching the witch, ghost, mummy, vampire, and bat work together in order for them to have some delicious pumpkin pie. Another one of our favorite books was “Ghost and Pete,” by Dayle Ann Dodds. We loved reading about Ghost and Pete’s trick-or-treating experience. It always made us want to go trick-or-treating ourselves. We also loved cuddling up with the stuffed animals and playing with them.

Block Area

Chugga, Chugga, Choo-Choo! We had a lot of fun building train tracks and driving long trains on them. It was especially fun when we connected our train tracks with our friends. That way, our trains were able to go further and we had a lot of fun together! Some of our trains brought passengers to different destinations, while others carried goods that needed to be delivered to stores. Some of the goods our trains carried included: cakes, cutting boards, surfboards, toys and more! At times there were traffic, but some friends helped cleared the path. With the smooth flow, we were able to bring both passengers and goods to their destinations in a timely manner! The new golden gate bridge was a big hit as well as the tunnel/garage.

Art & Literacy

The play-doh table was filled with special creations, ranging from rockets to humungous trains. We really enjoyed sculpting different pieces for our friends, especially food! There were pizzas, noodles, cookies, cakes, and more! There were also many animals, including dinosaurs, lions, and giraffes. We also really liked building the animals a home to live in, where they had food to eat and trains to play with. We spent a lot of time coloring with markers and crayons too. We have been getting very creative with our ideas and skills!

Nature

It was very interesting watching all the butterflies come out of their cocoons! We always got excited whenever we saw them fly around their home really fast. It was fun when we counted how many butterflies we had in the classroom. We also really enjoyed looking at the fish. It was really fun following the catfish and observing what he was doing. Sometimes they looked small, so we used our magnifying glasses to take a closer look at the aquarium and talk about how it changed what we saw. The view finders have continued to be exciting to look through and share with friends. 

Outside

We had a lot of fun going on a costume parade during Halloween! It was very exciting walking around the neighborhood with our costumes on. We even received some cool treats, as we walked passed Aria's house, grocery stores, hair salons, and more! 

Since all of our butterflies came out of their cocoons, we let them all go free at our backyard! It was really fun watching them fly to their new homes. Some of the butterflies wanted to stay with us a little longer, so we were able to have a closer look at them. Since releasing then, we have seen an few come back to our garden! We really enjoyed playing in the sandpit and building large houses and castles; the best part was when we got to crash it down after building it. We really liked rebuilding the structure again afterwards into an even bigger version than before! There were also a lot of restaurants outside, which served foods such as: pizza, soups, and cakes. We made a huge pot of soup, where all of our friends contributed into making. We added many ingredients including: celery, tomatoes, potatoes, grapes, apples, ice cream, and more! We all had different roles when we made the soup. Some friends were mixers, while others added ingredients. At the end, we all had a belly full of soup and we played “dump truck” with all the ingredients left over in the pot. While walking around, there were also a lot of friends handing out treats! As long as you say the magic words (trick-or-treat), you will receive a lifetime supply of treats! We also have been having lots of fun on the slides and climbing wall. We love going up and down together. We have been drawing lots of pictures on the chalkboard wall and some have even been trying to write their names or letters.

 

 

 

October 16th-27th Happenings!

Dramatic Play

Since Halloween is just around the corner, the dramatic play area turned into a pumpkin patch and corn maze! We really enjoyed crawling through the maze and looking for monsters inside. We also really like going through the maze with a friend and then playing peek-a-boo with them over the corn fields. We loved filling up baskets with pumpkins! We picked out our favorites and often carried them around the classroom with us. We used the pumpkins to cook different types of treats, such as pumpkin pie and pumpkin cookies! Our friends really enjoyed eating them and sometimes we sneaked some “spicy sauce” into the baked goods—our friends’ surprised reactions were our favorite part! Since it is fall time, there were still lots of maple leafs all around. We really liked taking up the leafs to piles and jumping into them.

Cognitive

We still really enjoy building with the magnatiles. There were a lot of different types of houses— some had multiple rooms and some had fifty floors! We also built lots of spaceships and rocket ships that went out to space, while bringing animals there. It was fun when friends helped make our creations even bigger— the best part is when we get to crash it down together! Sometimes we crashed down creations on accident, but the loud sound of the crash is almost as fun as building it! We worked a lot on our communication skills, talking about how our friends can help and what we want to build. We also have been very focused on figuring out structures and how to build things that are strong enough to hold all the levels and animals we add.

Music

We really enjoyed playing on the piano and drums. One of our favorite songs to sing along to while playing instruments is “Wheels on the Bus.” It was especially fun when friends sang along and grabbed an egg shaker to add to the beat! We have been using the egg shakers a lot throughout the day and especially love listening to music an playing along with them. We have been experimenting with sound and tempo, shaking fast then slow, loud then soft and talking about what is different. We also are working on our coordination skills with the drums, trying to time our hands to the beat on the same drum and two different drums!

Gross Motor

It was so fun jumping into the ball pit area with our friends! Sometimes we would hide underneath all the balls and our friends would need to search for us. We really enjoyed burying one another into the ball pit. We also really liked to use the mattress as a diving board and then jump into the ball pit pool. We used the wooden horse as a ice cream truck! We would make ice cream daily and serve different flavors each day! The horse also became a dump truck, fire truck and hay ride for all our friends to go on. We still love jumping on the mattress- especially all together!

Quiet Area

We enjoyed reading books with our friends throughout the day. One of our favorite books right now is, “Goodnight Gorilla.” We think the book is very funny and we liked watching the animals escape from the zoo and going home with the zookeeper! We also really like reading all the different Halloween books. It was fun pointing out different objects that reminded us of the holiday, such as pumpkins, trick-or-treating and ghosts, and talking about how we are going to celebrate. We have been "reading" to each other often too- looking at books together pointing out and talking about what we see in the story.

Art & Literacy

We had a lot of fun playing with the play-doh, as we created different types of baked goods. We made dessert pizzas that were chocolate flavored and covered with cheese! We also made pizzas that had sausage, olives and pepperoni. Sometimes our friends would order birthday cakes and we made sure to put a candle in and sing to them! We also really enjoyed using the wooden boards and creating different patterns on them. We worked really hard following the line, and most of the time were particular about what material we used. We were really focused on following a pattern of only sticks or only green gems. We celebrated Elijah's birthday and made another birthday canvas. We loved painting together and seeing what other friends would add. We talked all about Elijah and his special day!

Block Area

We really enjoyedstill love building big train tracks and driving our trains all around them! It was especially fun when we combined our tracks with other friends. It made the whole train station even bigger, which allowed our trains to travel even further! We also really enjoyed placing arrows to show other friends which direction the trains were traveling in. That way, it would prevent traffic and crashes! We love using the signs for the other cars and people and making a town with the houses around the tracks too. The airplanes have also been lots of fun and we love loading them up with passengers and animals and flying them around. We've been using the ramps too, for the balls and cars. We love seeing how long of a track we can make and testing it to see if it works. We worked on problem solving a lot to figure out how to make the ball get to the end.

Nature

Our new caterpillar friends have now turned into beautiful painted lady butterflies! It was exciting to see the butterflies fly around their new home. It was also interesting to see the cocoons empty. We checked on the often to try and see one emerge, but they come out quick! We enjoyed watching them learn how to fly, once their wings are dried off, and of curse, eat the delicious nectar! We also really enjoyed using the magnifying glasses to observe different objects around the room. It was fun putting it close to our faces and seeing how our sight changed. We used them often to look at the butterflies and also the fish.

Outside

With the beautiful weather, we went on many different adventures! We first explored the zoo, where we saw so many animals! Some of our favorite animals were: lions, gorillas, tigers and kangaroos! It was fun watching the animals interact with each other. We loved talking about what they were doing and why. It was very fun getting on the train and exploring the different parts of the zoo! We loved going through the tunnel and listening to our echoes and of course the bubbles! After visiting many different parts of the zoo, we ate PB&J sandwiches in front of the grizzly bears and gorillas! We thought they wanted to have some of our food too, but they were actually eating alongside us too!

The pumpkin patch was filled with pumpkins and all sorts of halloween decorations! We really enjoyed visiting the hay maze and finding animals throughout the area. The tube maze was also exciting, when we saw each other from the opposite sides. We loved going on the hay ride and pointing out the decorations around the pumpkin patch. We were really excited to pick our own little pumpkin! There were big ones and small ones. With so many choices, it was hard to make a decision! Luckily, we all spotted one that was special. We also had a lot of fun decorating them afterwards! We talked about what faces we were painting on our pumpkins and loved getting to use lots of different colors.

In the backyard we spent a lot of time on the climbing structure, pretending it was lots of different things and places. We love acting out different scenarios with out friends! We went on the swing and pretended it was a rocket taking up to outer space. The climbing wall is also lots of fun and we often "chase" each other up and down the slides. We have been rolling different objects down the slides too and then going to catch them. We also love building with the pipes- making long poles and we also love pretending they are hoses to put out "fires."

 

 

 

 

October 2nd-13th Happenings!

Dramatic Play

With the Fall season rolling in quickly, the dramatic play area grew some tall apple trees! There were also fall leaves everywhere! We really enjoyed picking the apples off the trees and filling up our baskets. We loved talking about and collecting the different colors and deciding which were our favorite. Sometimes we offered a few big juicy apples to our friends. Other times, we would use the apples to make special treats, including apple pies and apple sauce. We loved raking  the leaves into a big pile and them jumping into them! 

Block Area

It was really fun building train stations with our friends. We loved creating long train tracks and putting up all the different street signs. We also really enjoyed flying the airplane and helicopters all around the world. We loved filling them up with passengers and of course the pilot as well as animals, trees, trains and more! The new magnet people have been exciting to create with, making people that look like us and our friends.

Nature Area

We really enjoyed meeting our new caterpillar friends! They have been eating and growing day by day, just like the caterpillar from “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.” We love learning about the different stages caterpillars go through, including: eggs, babies, adults, chrysalis, and butterfly. We love watching them crawl around their homes and are excited for them to turn into butterflies! We've been wondering what colors their wings will be and all have different ideas! We also still love the viewfinders and searching for all the different animals and creatures.

Art & Literacy

We really enjoyed creating our own art pieces and decorating them with stickers! We liked drawing homes for the different types of bug and frog stickers. It was fun showing our ideas through art and we loved showing our work to our loved ones at the end of the day! Play Doh is still one of our favorite activities and we request it often. We love creating different shapes and making cakes and cookies to share with friends. 

Gross Motor

It was really fun riding on the wooden horse and pretending the mattress was the wagon. We really enjoyed bringing friends to their destinations. We also really liked jumping on the mattress together, often playing "no more monkeys jumping on the bed," and love running back and forth to the teepee. 

Music

The music area was filled with original music and special collaborations. We really enjoyed discovering the different sounds piano make and playing them together. One of our favorite songs to play was "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." We rediscovered the egg shakers and used them in a lot of musical ways especially loving dancing with them as they shake to other music.. 

Quiet Area

We continue to read books throughout the day. We also really like reading books to our stuffed animals and dolls. We love comparing items in books to the ones we have in our classroom. It was also nice when we read alongside with our friends. The Richard Scarry books have been a favorite to read together as there are lots of exciting and funny things to find on each page.

Cognitive Area

We had a lot of fun with the magna tiles! We made ice cream stands, rockets, zoos, houses, and more— the possibilities were endless! It was especially fun when friends contributed their ideas to our own. With teamwork involved, we created many masterpieces! We especially loved making things with doors to put our animals and cars into and loved finding them again when it crashed. We really enjoyed using the alphabet letters and pointing out which letter our names started with. The puzzles were also very fun to figure out how to put together and we often used the pieces as tickets and cookies for friends.

Outside

It was really fun going on different adventures with all of our friends! We loved going on the big boat and tall slides at the boat park. We imagined ourselves as captains and sailed all over the world; we made sure to send our friends back home afterward. The swings were also really fun, especially when our friends helped pushed! During our walks on field trips, we really liked looking at the different plants and houses around us. It was exciting whenever a muni train passed by. We also saw a lot of helicopters and planes in the sky; we really enjoyed talking about where the planes were going to. Since we removed our tomato plants in our backyard, we've planted new vegetables- snap peas and carrots! We really enjoyed watching them grow slowly and can't wait until we can eat them! We liked going on the swing and pretending we're on a spaceship, traveling into space. We visited many different planets, including venus, saturn, and jupiter! We always made sure all of our passengers are on board before taking off. Sometimes the spaceship would land on top of the climbing structure; we really liked offering a hand to passengers who needed help climbing to the top. We pretend that the lower log is a bus, and love getting on it together. We have been enjoying the climbing wall and slide going up and down together in lots of different ways. We also have been making lots of different creations on the chalkboard and in the sand pit.

September 19th-29th Happenings!

Drama Play

We have been role playing doctor a lot recently, which inspired us to turn the dramatic play area into a doctor’s office! We really liked giving our friends check-ups. We really enjoyed listening to our friends’ heartbeats and breathing with the stethoscopes. We also measured each other’s blood pressure to made sure it was normal. Occasionally, our friends would come into the office with injuries that required an x-ray scan. When this happens, we try to help them feel better by applying a bandage, and offering medicine. We loved dressing up in the white coats and glasses! We cared for many patients, including the babies and animals! If there was an emergency, we used a walkie-talkie, cell phone, or pager to get a doctor! We also loved using them to talk to our friends and family.

Block Area

We loved building high towers and spaceships in the block area! We also built different types of trucks, including a steamroller, dump truck, and backhoe. We really liked building a long road for these trucks to travel all around the world; these trucks visited many places, including London! It’s always fun when we sing the dump truck song, as we drive down the road; our favorite part is dumping everything out together! There were also times we turned blocks into telephones to give each other a call at the doctor’s office! We enjoyed playing in the doll house and filling it with people and furniture. We came up with lots of interesting stories about the people and their families.

Quiet Area

We continue to read a lot of books throughout the day! Some of our favorites include, “What Do People Do All Day,” and “There are Dinosaurs in my School” We loved learning about the different jobs people do and it always reminded us that our moms and dads are also hard at work while we’re at school! We really enjoy finding the hidden objects in books that you would only see if you studied closely. 

IMG_5053.JPG

Nature Area

We really enjoy looking at the different types of shells! We like comparing the shapes, sizes and textures each shell has. We also listened to the different sounds each shell produces, as we kept it close to our ears. We also love looking into the fish tank and wondering what the fish do throughout the day! We often look at the different animals in the view finders and like showing them to all of our friends. We have been talking about the different slides as we flip through and how they work. 

 

Art & Literacy

In the art area, we used stickers and markers to create lots of different creations. We made barns, houses, and spaceships. There were days we used stampers as well as paint too. We also really love the play dough and all the different tools. We made lots of different shapes- especially loving the heart, circle and animals. We shared lots of cakes and pizzas with our friends and helped each other "cook" our creations.

Gross Motor

Playing and singing monkeys jumping on the bed is one of our favorite things to do! We always invite friends to jump together, so there are more monkeys! There were times we jumped really fast, so we held onto each other’s hands. We have been pretending there are lots of monsters and big bad wolves in the classroom and we love running together from them. We happily run from one end of the room to the other over and over. We also take turns riding the rocking horse and try to get it going as fast as we can! 

Music Area

In the music area, we love playing the pianos! We experimented with many different objects seeing what sounded different. We often played the egg shakers alongside the pianos to add a different beat. We have been using the scarves a lot for many different things. We dance with them, but also have made them into capes, dresses, blankets, and ghost covers!  

 

 

Cognitive Area

We really enjoyed figuring out how to put the puzzles together. There were times the puzzles got really hard, but we did not give up! We would think and keep working hard. We sometimes would ask our friends to help us and would work together to get it finished. We also loved the abacus'- spinning the pieces, counting them, and finding the different letters from our names, as well as what object it represents.

Outside

With the nice sunny weather, we really liked going on adventures to the park! We climbed rope towers, rode on swings, and went on tall slides! We loved walking together on the rope and looking at all the different houses and plants. We watched the waves down at the ocean and looked for street cleaners going by. We also really liked going in the backyard and playing “catch.” We would catch our friends and tickle them! We always made sure to get a water break after the game. We also cooked many different types of soups outside, including: tomato, corn, banana, and celery soup! After cooking, we made sure to tell our friends to blow before eating because it was hot! We also baked cakes and mac’n’cheese in the sand area, and made lots of castles. We really liked watching helicopters and airplanes fly by our school while we played and often climbed to the top of the structure to get a better view. Our favorite part is when they leave a trail behind! This inspired us to play airport on our structure! We had pilots and passengers! We also had mailmen that would deliver surprise packages to friends. We built many block structures, especially garages for our dump trucks. The swing and slides continue to get plenty of use, and we love practicing riding the tricycles.

September 5th- 15th Happenings!

Dramatic Play

We have been talking a lot about trains and the roles of a conductor, which inspired us to turn this area into a train station! We loved riding on the big train and had a lot of fun dressing up as the conductor. There were times the train broke down, so we always had our tools. We fixed the smoke stack, wheels, and seats; it was hard work, but we wanted to make sure our passengers had a smooth ride! We used the walkie talkies to talk to the other conductors, as well as lots of members of our families! We gave reminders to friends to obtain a ticket before getting on the train because it will get checked and stamped during the ride and to make sure they don’t miss their trains! We loved packing our luggage and taking it with us wherever we went. The train rides brought us all over the world, including Spain, New York, and London— what a ride! Chugga-Chugga Choo-Choo!

Block Area

We really enjoyed building large towers, crashing them, and rebuilding new towers! We also liked sharing ideas on how to prevent our buildings from falling down. We spent lots of time creating large and long ramps for our trucks to ride through; testing how fast the balls rolled on the ramps was also very interesting! We loved the dinosaurs and incorporated them into lots of play. The doll house got lots of use too, becoming a home for the people, vehicles and dinosaurs!

We also really enjoyed building highways and putting up different types of street signs for  the cars. There were many types of signs! Some of the ones we used often includes the STOP, pedestrian awareness, and street light ahead signs.

Quiet Area

Having so much fun with the train station, we really enjoyed reading stories about different types of trains and engines! We loved looking at the different types of colors trains could be and compared them to our own. We read lots of books together and by ourselves. We also love the family wall and often find our pictures to hold and find all of our friends' to talk about who is in their family.

Nature Area

We really enjoyed using the view finders to look for different types of animals! Our favorites include the lion, humming bird, and clown fish! We loved sharing what we saw with our our friends. We also really enjoyed listening to the sounds of seashells; if you listen closely, you could hear the ocean waves! It was also very fun when we used the magnifying glass to look closely at the different patterns of the shells.  

Art & Literacy

We really enjoyed creating our own craft pieces with all the different types of stickers, such as dinosaurs and farm animals! We made a barn for the animals and we also created a forest for the dinosaurs to live in. We also really enjoyed using the different colored tapes to create masterpieces! Sometimes we used the tape to create a picture and sometimes we used them to make popsicles and other 3-D creations. The sensory table was filled with Oatmeal, bugs, containers, and scoopers and we loved catching and sorting them! We also celebrated 2 birthdays (Wilder and Ryan) by collaborating on beautiful paintings with colors picked by the special child.

Gross Motor

We had a lot of fun playing 5 little monkeys on the mattress. Our favorite part is when we turn the game into a tickling party. We love it when our friends giggle and laugh uncontrollable from the tickle monster. We also like riding on the rocking horse throughout the day and going really fast! We often run up and down the classroom "chasing" each other too!

IMG_6763.JPG

Music Area

We really enjoyed having piano duet sessions with our friends! It was very fun when friends joined in with the drums and egg shakers too! At times we played music to celebrate birthdays. We explored the different sounds when using different things to play the keys from fingers to drumsticks and cars. We sure make a good band!  

IMG_2948.JPG

Cognitive Area

We really enjoyed figuring out how to put together the different puzzles! Our favorites are the dinosaur and farm animal puzzles. We also really enjoyed opening an ice cream shop with the rings. The flavor possibilities were endless, and we made lots of different combinations! The pieces also became food for the baby dolls and stuffed animals as well as money for lots of different items.

 

Outside

With the hot weather, we really enjoyed going outside and playing with water; it sure helped us cool down! We had a lot of fun playing in the water tubs with our friends. We worked together to wash the chalkboard with sponges and towels so it would be clean for new drawings. We also loved helping teacher Becca water the plants! The best part was getting to taste the ripe tomatoes we grew together! We learned that green tomatoes aren’t ready yet, and they taste best when they’re bright orange. We loved pretending in the mud kitchen! We used dump trucks, pans, and buckets to make different types of “food,” including soups, juices, and cakes! It was fun sharing the different dishes with our friends. The tubes were used to build all sorts of gadgets, including a water shooter, a bubble machine, and a dryer! We really enjoyed getting our friends wet with the water shooter, but we always made sure to dry them off with a dryer too! We spent a lot of time on the climbing wall going up and down the slides together as well as underneath it to stay cool. We found a spider friend in the sand pit and helped Teacher Becca catch it so we could all get a good look. We continue to love filling dump trucks and buckets in the sand too. We discovered lots of ways to get up and down on the climbing structure, and even discovered we can jump off the different level stump steps and pretend to fly!

August 22nd- September 1st Happenings: First 2 Weeks of School!

Dramatic Play

To start off the school year, this area became a restaurant that included a kitchen, cooking appliances, a variety of foods, and menus! We enjoyed taking on roles such as: cashiers, chefs, customers, and servers; we even had uniforms to dress up as chefs! We loved ordering different types of foods on the menu throughout the day. The restaurant served breakfast, lunch, dinner, beverages and desserts. However, friends serve “special” items when customers are lucky— there was even chicken milk once! We definitely made the impossible, possible! 

We really enjoyed using the cash registers as a train ticket dispenser, where it collected money and distributed tickets. Friends purchased a ticket and used the bed as the train station. Sometimes the train went slow when there was a traffic sign ahead and sometimes it went really fast!

Block Area

In the block area, we really enjoyed building very tall towers (and then crashing them!) We also created spaceships and rockets and construction trucks. Decorating the different rooms in the doll house was also very fun! There was a really long line in the doll house’s potty room once, but we lined up all the people and made sure they waited for their turn patiently. We loved the vehicles and street signs, as well as the dinosaurs. They were incorporated into many play scenarios. We used the balls and ramps for the vehicles as well as the blocks and loved trying to make long tracks.

Quiet Area

There were lots of books to choose from! Some of our favorites included, “Pete the Cat” and “Go Dog, Go!” We loved singing along with Pete throughout the story, as he rocked his school shoes. Any of the dinosaur books were also a big hit. We enjoyed playing with all the stuffed animals both in the tee pee and on the big bean bag. We liked going behind the bean bag and hiding and then using teamwork to help each other get out.

Art/Literacy

We really enjoyed creating art work for our parents! We drew castles, rockets, and animals! We loved playing with the play-doh, as we baked cookies, cakes, and sandwiches. We also built large mountains and had dump trucks go over them.; we built roads for the smaller cars to go through! Making bead necklaces was also really fun, especially when we used them to decorate our fingers! We loved the construction trucks and rocks and beans in the sensory table! We scooped and filled dump trucks, and drove them around making lots of roads.

Music Area ♫

The music area was filled with fun beats, as we drummed away. We really enjoyed collaborating with each other and looking for different sounds the drums made when hit at different locations. We also loved the frog guiros, and enjoyed figuring out how they worked. The scarves often became covers for our faces so we could become ghosts! But, we also enjoyed dancing to music with them.

Cognitive Area

There were lots of puzzles to choose from, however we especially enjoyed the dinosaur puzzle! There were different types of dinosaurs, including Stegosaurus, T-Rex, and Tyrannosaurus! We learned that some dinosaurs are herbivores and some are carnivores! we really enjoyed learning about the different types of dinosaurs and studying their colors. We loved counting the different types of fruits on the fruit chart! We also learned some of the different types of foods in Spanish from Lou, including: fresas (strawberries), bananas (banana), and manzanas (apples)! 

Nature Area

We loved studying the plant blocks in the Nature Area! Some of the leafs included, maple leaf and chrysanthemum. We were also trying to figure out how the plants got inside the blocks. We really enjoyed using these blocks as a telephone to reach and communicate with our friends throughout the room. The magnifying glasses were used to explore many different things,even the fish tank! We loved looking through the viewfinders at all the different animals!

Gross Motor

We love jumping on the mattress together and have used it in lots of our play, pretending it is many different things. We love singing "no more monkeys jumping on the bed" while we act it out. The rocking horse is also a favorite. We often are taking turns riding it, and even giving different stuffed animals and babies rides.

Outside

We went on our first field trip (or adventure!) into Golden Gate Park! We searched for horses, tigers, and lions. Even though we didn't catch any of them this time, we saw many other cool animals such as ducks, squirrels, and blue birds- we even saw a raccoon family! We loved exploring around the lake and found many acorns and lots of different leaves and bark.

We spent a lot of time out in the backyard too! With the new climbing structure up and ready, we really enjoyed figuring our different ways to climb to the top! Once we got there, the possibilities were endless. Sometimes, it was a castle, house, doctor’s office, vet’s office, and a train station! We really enjoyed using the bigger logs on the play structure as trains that brought us all around the world, including outer space! In the sand pit, we really enjoyed digging for different types of "fossils." There were fish, starfishes, and turtles! We also loved using our dump trucks to load and unload cakes from one destination to another. We baked lots of birthday cakes for all of our friends! We had bark candles to blow and sang Happy Birthday. We loved playing and cooking in the mud kitchen too- especially on the hot days when it was filled with water! We also brought the sensory table outside for more water play and we washed rocks, filled containers and splashed around. The climbing wall and slides were lots of fun to do together an we often held hands down the slide and wanted to catch each other at the bottom.

IMG_4704.JPG

May 8th- 19th Happenings!

Dramatic Play

Many of us have trips coming up this summer, or parents that have gone on trips which prompted lots of discussions about airplanes and airports. So, this area became an airport complete with a security/baggage check, check in desk and airplane! We loved going through security with our luggage and finding lots of other things that fit through. We enjoyed dressing up as pilots and flying the plane. We all chose different destinations, including San Francisco, Paris, London, and New Jersey. We are some well traveled kids! We spoke like flight attendants to our passengers, and even acted out turbulence. We loved pretending to check ourselves and others in on the keyboard and make calls on the phone. We handed out lots of tickets and mimicked a lot of the things we have seen people do on planes. It was lots of fun!

Block Area

We loved having the wooden airplanes and helicopters back and extended a lot of our airport play with them. We used the wooden blocks to build lots of towers and build homes for the planes and people too. We continue to use the little vehicles on the rug and all over the room. The community worker figures have been fun to incorporate into our play and pretend that they are going on trips too.

Quiet Area

We continue to read books all the time throughout the day. We love looking through them together and pointing out the different things we see. We have discovered the Richard Scarry books and love looking at all the different funny animals and pictures and finding the different hidden things on each page.

Nature Area

Our chicks hatched!! Our 5 fertilized eggs resulted in 3 healthy live chicks. We loved getting to watch them and once they were dry we loved holding them! We learned all about the hatching process and how to take care of them after. We have watched them eat and grow so quickly! We often check in on them throughout the day and ask to hold and pet them all the time.

Art/Literacy

We celebrated 3 birthdays! The child we are celebrating gets to choose the colors for the birthday canvas painting and then we all collaborate on it together. We also played with slime in the big sensory bin! We loved getting to feel it between our fingers and watch it stretch and ooze. We asked lots of questions about how it is made and how it works. We have been pretending to write on lots of our projects and especially love using the magic writing boards to write and erase. 

Gross Motor

The ball pit is back and it is still so much fun! We love jumping into it together and pretending we are swimming. We have been practicing jumping with 2 feet off the ground to get into it and using the mattress to get even higher. We still often play 5 little monkeys on the bed too. We have been wrestling a lot and love rolling around on the ground together!

Cognitive Area

We have still been enjoying the peg builders and are finding lots of ways to use them. We have been stacking them and filling up the boards and Finn and Aria even pretended to make cakes by filling them up and sliding them into the "oven." Bo discovered that if you blew into one end they made a noise and sounded like a flute!

Outside

We continue to find lots of ways to use the pipes especially in the sand pit. They have become diggers and tools, and we enjoy filling them up with the sand. Reza pretended to use them as a lawn mower and Alex and Joe used them as spyglasses. We have been searching for lots of bugs in the backyard, and love watching spiders crawl around. We have also found a few rollie pollies and even some ladybugs! One stayed and crawled on everyone for a long time before we put it back in the flowers. With the heat wave, we have been very hot in the yard so we turned on the sprinkler to run through! It was so much fun and we all got soaked. It was a great way to cool off and we ask to do it all the time now!

April 24th- May 5th Happenings

Dramatic Play

We have been talking a lot about going on Bear hunts and adventures which inspired this area to become a camp site! We had so much fun playing in the tent, getting in sleeping bags, exploring with flashlights and using the camp fire. We pretended to sleep and wake up and used the flashlights to make shadows! We loves opening and closing the tent and playing hide and seek. We roasted things on sticks over the fire and used the sticks are drumsticks on the stump seats. 

Block Area

The dump truck and arch blocks have been getting lots of use. Finn discovered the arches can be stacked to make a tower and fit inside the truck. Bo found that that fit around his belly! Everyone enjoys filling the truck with different items like the scarves and cars and people, them dumping them out.  We have been using the cars on the rug driving around town and really enjoy running around the sensory table with each other racing our cars.

Quiet Area

We love being read to, and request lots of books everyday, but lately we have been wanting to read to each other! We love sitting together and pretending to read while showing the pages. A lot of this comes from mimicking our parents at home and Teacher Becca at circle time! We also have been loving the stuffed animals. Often carrying them around with us and pretending they are our pets or friends. The tee-pee has become a fun place to sit quietly by ourselves to read to the animals as well as a hiding spot from all the action.

Nature Area

Our chicks are growing in their eggs and we have been exploring the chicken life cycle figures alongside learning all about them. It is fun to talk about the different stages and see what our eggs look like inside. We even got to look in the real eggs and see the Embryo moving at 7 days! We still love exploring the different animals in the view finders too, and using the magnifying glasses on the different nature materials. The new world globe has been exciting to check out and look where different things live and where we are!

The black dot in the middle is the embryo!

Art/ Literacy

We got to play with Kinetic Sand in the sensory table and it was so much fun! We molded it and watched in "move" We made lots of cakes and food as well as tried to make towers before they fell apart. We cut out lots of shapes with the cookie cutters and added some cars to drive around. We also did some drip art with eye droppers and liquid water colors onto coffee filters. It was really interesting to watch the colors grow and combine as the filters absorbed them. We practiced our fine motor skills tying to lace beads onto string, and made lots of necklaces.

Gross Motor

We have been playing lots of chase games and versions of hide and seek. Bo and Reza started holding hands and running, and then everyone joined in and made a big chain! We love jumping together on the mattress and pretending it is lots of different things. The rocking horse has been lots of fun to ride both on our own and asking friends to help!

Music Area

We are still dancing a lot! Whenever we request music, we go grab the scarves to dance with and have a dance party. We love waving them around and watching them float, but we also use them to cover our faces and become ghosts. Bo even pretended they were blankets and spread them out to lay on. The pianos have been lots of fun too, and we have been playing them together with the other instruments calling ourselves a band.

Cognitive Area

We have been enjoying the new blocks on the light table, practicing color sorting, stacking and shape recognition. We are still having fun with the latches board and puzzles, naming all the different animals and creatures using them throughout our play. The now peg boards have been exciting too. We love talking about the different colors and trying to stack them up really high.

Outside

With the heat wave, we decided to head to the beach! We were so excited to go play in the sand and water and watch the waves. We rode the train which is always fun and had a great time. We made lots of castles and dug a big hole- that Bo thought should be a chair! We played in the water, running from the cold waves after they touched our feet. Alex tripped and fell into the water while trying to run away, but loved it! Thankfully it was warm enough to dry off quickly.

In the backyard, we have been playing a lot in the mud kitchen. With the hot weather we have been filling it for water play and we love making things, splashing, and washing the blocks and trucks. We even used the cups and buckets to help water the plants. We have been playing on the climbing wall together and sliding over and over and drawing lots of pictures on the climbing wall. We are building with the blocks and have been digging in the dirt as well as the sand pit. We love the swing and now only want to go on together, sitting and standing!