September 4th-14th Happenings!

Dramatic Play

Welcome to City Sprouts Supermarket! We have been shopping at our new grocery store and buying different foods to eat or bring to our picnics. Oftentimes, we have brought our babies to the store and pushed them on the shopping carts with us. We have been practicing waiting in line to pay for our food as well as taking turns being the cashier and bagger at the checkout. Of course, the best part about our store is that we pay our customers to come!

Nature Area

We have been very interested in the seashells, especially the ocean sounds that they make and their different shapes, texture, and sizes. The globe has also been a great source of excitement for us as we discuss and learn where San Francisco and other places like Canada, Hawaii, and Italy are located in the world.

Quiet Area

In this area, we have had lots of fun looking at our “All About Me” pages and sharing about the pictures and our families. It’s also been a source of comfort for us whenever we miss our families. We’ve also enjoyed listening to books being read by our teachers and reading books by ourselves or to a friend.

Art & Literacy

We had our first art class at Manos! We had so much fun painting in different colors and on the wall. We even got some paint on our faces too! We practiced counting from one to ten in Spanish and learned the names of the colors, as well as how to say “hello,” “bye,” and “thank you.” At school, we have spent a lot of time using the dinosaur stamps to create a collage and the markers to doodle. We were also placing stones and twigs on the lines that are drawn on the tree bark as best we can!

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Gross Motor

 We had our very first yoga class and it was very exciting! Yoga has been calming for our bodies and we’ve learned different yoga poses like “Down Dog.” We also really liked the foot lotion and foot massage that we get towards the end of our class. In addition to yoga, we have been climbing up the ladder structure, sliding down the slide and ultimately jumping like monkeys on the mattress.

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Cognitive Area

We love building with the bristle blocks and creating airplanes, rocket ships, cars, and even houses! It is really fun to fly or drive them around the classroom and see what other friends are building. We have also explored the different sized construction trucks and what all they can carry. We like loading them up with blocks and even puzzle pieces. When we want something calm to play, we take out the abacus and count with our friends.

Music

We have been playing different instruments in the classroom and singing “Jingle Bells” and other songs with our friends. We marched around in a parade together and danced along with the scarves. We’ve also had tons of fun in music class, where we sang songs together and did different movements together, such as pounding our hands and feet on the floor, pretending to stir, and using wooden sticks to bang against each other in correspondence to the rhythm of the song. Sometimes, we even got some of the songs stuck in our heads and ended up chanting some of the words all day long!

Outside

This week we went on our very first adventure of the year! We have been very interested in bugs and insects, so we took a nature walk to Golden Gate Park. Here we looked at all the different types of trees and their leaves that had fallen. We even picked some up to add to our nature area. We continued exploring around the pond and saw ducks and a family of raccoons in the trees!

At school, we have been finding new ways to play with the blocks and pipes. We pretend the blocks are phones and this is how we call home to check in on our mommies and daddies. The pipes are megaphones so we can make announcements to our friends. We love being creative with the hula hoops and using them to build an airplane on the play structure. We always love playing on the slides, swing, and in the sand pit. However, our most recent all time favorite game is “Monster.“ We love when we can get parents to chase us, but it is also really great when our friends want to be the Monster too. After all of the running, we like to rest at the table and have a water break while we talk and decide what we want to play next.

August 21st-31st Happenings!

It has been an exciting start of the school year! We have been making lots of new friends, learning the new schedule and routines, and having so much fun!

Dramatic Play

To start the year, we are exploring role playing in a familiar environment: a restaurant! We have enjoyed dressing up as chefs with our aprons and hats and cooking lots of delicious meals for our teachers and friends. We passed out menus and practiced taking orders on our clipboards, and worked hard to get the orders right. Sometimes we wanted to make different items than what the customer wanted- it was always a surprise! We worked hard to set the table for lots of friends, matching up the different colored plates and cups and even sometimes the food too! We enjoyed making coffee or juices for everyone and loved using all the different condiments.

Block Area

In this area we have been working hard making lots of different roads and structures for the cars. We turned the blocks into lots of different things, including fire stations, train tracks, freeways, and towers. We also have enjoyed playing in the doll house, and filling it with lots of furniture and people, sometimes even trucks and dinosaurs! The dinosaurs have been a big focus of our play and we love roaring and acting out different scenarios with them. The big and little construction trucks are fun too, and we have been using them to pick up and dump different objects from all over the classroom.

Nature Area

We have been very interested in bugs and animals and the shells remind us of snails. We pretend the shells have snails or crabs inside and we also use them to listen to the ocean. The view finders have also been very exciting, both to look at the different pictures inside, but especially to pretend we are taking pictures with a camera! We love walking around and telling our friends to “say cheese!”

Quiet Area

We love reading! We have spent lots of time with our friends reading books, both with our teachers and by ourselves. There are a lot of books that we are familiar with from home and the library, but many we haven’t read before too! We love the stuffed animals and puppets too, and often snuggle with them while reading, or bring them with us around the classroom.

Art/Literacy

We’ve enjoyed all of the different art activities and supplies, especially the sensory table full of beans and trucks, and the play doh. We have spent a lot of time making different shapes with the cookie cutters, trying to roll balls and snakes with our hands and using the scissors to cut different shapes out. We celebrated Wilder’s birthday by making a beautiful canvas painting that is now hanging up, and we also made our families and friends many drawings and creations with the markers and paper.

Gross Motor

We have lots of energy and love getting it out on the jumping mattress! We also love climbing up the ladder frame and sliding down onto the mattress. Sometimes we pretend to knock over our friends by sliding into their legs and it is quite funny for everyone! We have played a lot of “5 Little Monkey’s” and pretending to fall and hit our heads.

Cognitive Area

We have been really interested in the different puzzles, but not to put them together, we have more fun taking the pieces out and using them in different play! We always sort them back to the right spots though afterwards. The stackers have also been interesting and we like mixing the different shapes and colors and seeing how many we can fit onto one side. The bristle blocks have been fun too, with our new friends just discovering them while the rest of us continue to build lots of different vehicles. 

Music Area

The pianos have been a lot of fun and we have been experimenting with sound a lot: playing hard or soft, with our hands or different objects, alone or together! Whenever we dance we get out the ribbons and scarves and lover twirling around with them. The rhythm sticks have also gotten a lot of use, but not always for music- sometimes they are wands or just pointers!

Outside

We have had so much fun outside together! With the few warmer days, we have loved playing with water in the mud kitchen, and watering all of our plants in the garden. We are very careful to make sure everything got some water and work together to help our plants grow! The sand pit is a lot of fun too and we have been trying to make sand castles as well as big holes. We love climbing on and under the structure, and pretend it is a lot of different things. The new stage has held lots of performances and turned into a pirate ship too! We love swinging together and drawing on the chalkboard too. 

May 7th-18th Happenings!

Dramatic Play

Whooosh! With a lot of pretend-play about traveling on airplanes, the dramatic play area turned into an airport! There were friends who helped passengers retrieve their tickets and assisted them through the security area. We made lots of phone calls and made sure everyone paid for tickets. Passengers scanned their luggage, as well as themselves through security. There were also flight attendants that showed passengers their assigned seats; they even brought blankets, food, and drinks for extra comfort through the flight. The pilot and co-pilots were very friendly; they greeted passengers and safely brought them to their desired destinations on the map. Friends traveled all around the world, including: Australia, Japan, Mexico, and more! What great adventures!

Block Area

We were really into building castles, farms, and towers lately in the block area. Some friends built the farm they imagined our chickens would move to when they grow up. Friends think they will have a lot of food and they will meet friendly cows that will give them milk. 

Nature Area

Our chickens have grown so much and they got a new house! It’s been so exciting, as we get to see the chicks grow and go through different stages. Friends pointed out the different characteristics they notice on the chickens. Some of the chickens were different colors, some are bigger, and one even has a bald spot! It was so fun getting to see them flap their wings—it almost looked like they were flying away. 

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Quiet Area

We really enjoyed grabbing a book and gathering our friends together to read throughout the day. Some of our favorite books recently include, “A Day At the Airport,” by Richard Scarry and “Today I Will Fly!,” by Mo Willems. We pointed out the resemblance between the pictures in the book to the airport in our classroom. We loved laughing along with Piggy’s experience, as she tried to fly. It gave us the idea to use our arms as wings to fly all around the classroom. 

Art/Literacy

We were really into drawing different types of animals these past two weeks. Some of our favorites were dinosaurs, chickens, and bunnies. We also noticed our drawings didn’t have faces on them, so we added them on! We enjoyed using the watercolor droplets to create art pieces. It was exciting, as we watched the colors spread around the paper; it was especially interesting when we saw colors mixing and changing when we added more. 

Gross Motor

We had a lot of fun with the boat in the gross motor area. We really liked filling up the boat with friends and rocking to the rhythm of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.” We especially loved going fast and seeing how high we could rock it up. It was hard work trying to stay in sync with our friends so we could keep it moving!

Cognitive Area

We continued to use the bristle blocks to create unique pieces. Some friends built baseball stadiums, and some even made a “master” playground. Sometimes friends would collaborate and built together. It was interesting seeing how our friends’ ideas could add to our own creations. 

Outside

The outside area had a lot of bus drivers recently. The buses (hula hoops) were all different colors and each color resembled the destination it was headed toward.  Some buses brought passengers to the cake shop, while some went to the Academy of Science. Sometimes the buses would be very full, but there was always another bus to pick up more passengers shortly. Friends also really enjoyed creating giant buildings outside. These projects took teamwork and time. The more friends that joined in, the bigger the building became. We have been playing a lot of soccer together too and making different cakes and pies in the sand pit. We love the slides and swing and have been enjoying pushing each other down the slides and then having a friend catch us at the end!

April 23rd- May 4th Happenings!

Dramatic Play 

We have been playing with the stuffed animals a lot and talking a lot about pets so, the dramatic play area turned into a pet shop! There were many types of animals, including: dogs, cats, birds, and rabbits. Some friends even pretended to be animals and lived in the cages with the other puppies and kitties! Owning a pet could be a lot of work. We had to make sure we feed the animals enough food and also bring them on walks. We loved attaching the leashes to the different animals and buying all of the different supplies we needed. 

Nature Area

We were all really excited about the chicks finally hatching! It was fun watching them walk around the incubator while getting dried out completely. Seeing the chicks move to their new home made us happy since they had more room to explore and we were able to see them more clearly. It was even more exciting when we had the chance to hold the chicks and pet them! Friends thought the chicks were cute, fuzzy, soft, and small. We have been trying to come up with names- and have some very interesting and silly ideas!

Art & Literacy

We had so much fun going on an adventure to Lou's mom's studio to learn all about art, Spanish, and paint the wall! We loved getting to use our hands and get messy and even learned some new Spanish words! With all the excitement in school about the chicks, friends really enjoyed drawing chicks and eggs on both paper and the magnetic drawing pads. Some drew round eggs, while some created “spicy” eggs. There were also rainbow eggs! 

Cognitive Area

We continue to use the bristle blocks to create masterpieces. We love building big trucks, planes, and cars. We also found ways to create enclosed pieces, so we’d be able to put things inside. At times, friends would create very unique projects and many friends would admire those creations. The friends who created the unique pieces would show and demonstrate how they made their creations and help direct others to make something similar. We love to latch board and letter puzzle too and continue to explore the abacus'.

Block Area

We have loved playing with the little cars and make lots of roads and structures for them. We used the ramps too to make hills for them to race down. We also have been making lots of towers out of blocks. We love seeing how tall we can go before it crashes. We even built a big aquarium together for all of the sea animals. We made sure they could all fit and each animal had food and a bed. We continue to love the doll house and people and love decorating it with all the furniture.

Gross Motor

We still love the triangle climber and slide! We have gotten very confident and fearless in the ways we use it. We really enjoyed pretending the climber was a big ladder and using it to run away from the dinosaurs. After, sliding down and falling into the bed to safety with all of our friends was the best part! We also love hiding underneath- so many ways to play!

Outside Time

We really enjoyed using the rocks as eggs and hiding them in the sand pit area. Dinosaurs would come into the sand pit to look for the eggs, but friends would protect them to make sure they still hatch safely. Friends built lots of wooden incubators out of the blocks and bark pieces to keep the eggs warm, while others used the sand as “heaters.” It was really fun using the big logs as an airplane too. Friends had assigned seats on the plane and the pilot would remind passengers to get on the plane before a certain time. We loved giving out tickets and role playing all the different jobs. The new magnet wall has been really exciting. We are still figuring out how it works but it's been fun to explore the physics behind how to make the balls fall onto the next piece or into a cup.

Wer also went on a few adventures to the newly finished Children's Playground! We rode the train and had so much fun just getting there. Once at the park we loved climbing around and playing in the sand, and especially loved the big cement slides! We loved racing down and then climbing all the stairs back up to do it again. We tried out some cardboard too- to see if we would go faster- but most of us liked going by ourselves better because it was hard to stay on the cardboard down the whole slide.

April 9th- 20th Happenings!

Dramatic Play

Whoosh! We have been really interested in space, planets, the moon, and rockets lately- so this area turned into outer space complete with our own rocket ship! We loved getting to dress up in astronaut suits and even put on our helmets, backpacks and oxygen tanks! Playing in the rocket ship was the most fun and we loved driving and pushing all the buttons to do different tasks. We shot down lots of meteors and aliens! The rocket brought us to many different planets; some of our favorites include: saturn, venus, and mars. We used the computers to write down all that we saw and even brought some of the first animals into space with us!

Block Area

We really enjoyed flying the wooden rockets out into space. We liked filling our rockets with people, animals, food, and phones. We also brought back special rocks and sand from different planets to earth. It was fun looking at the different items with a magnifying glasses to be able to see the details of the rocks more clearly. Our friends used ramps to build all types of tunnels and slopes to test out the different ball speeds that results from the way the ramps were positioned. 

Nature Area

We were happy to welcome the fish back into our classroom. We loved playing peek-a-boo with them, as they hid behind the corals. We also liked reading the Fish book and looking for some that may look like the ones we have in our tank. Friends went on many adventures, as they traveled through the view finders. We visited deserts, mountains, and sand dunes. Most of all, we were really excited to have the seven chicken eggs join our classroom! All of our friends looked at the eggs patiently waiting for them to hatch. Some of our friends think a few of the chicks might be green since their eggs are green colored; we'll just have to wait to find out! We loved "candling" them to see whats inside and got to see them move, their blood vessels and the black eye in the middle!

Quiet Area

With lots of excitement over the chicken eggs, we really enjoyed gathering our friends to read and learn more about the process! Some of our favorites include, "Chickens Aren't the Only Ones," and "What's inside the egg?" It was interesting to see the many different animals that also laid eggs and that they could be all sorts of colors and sizes! 

Art & Literacy

It was fun gathering our friends to check out what was inside of the sensory bin. We realized that uncooked rice did not look very different, but does feel different. We used the rice as food and ice creams and loved pouring it into containers and felling it in our hands. It was also fun drawing out some of our daily ideas onto paper. We've been drawing a lot of animals recently. 

 

Gross Motor

It was exciting watching how fast our friends can go down the slides now. Friends also found out new ways to go down; some go down backwards and upside down, while some go down sideways! It was fun waiting for a friend to come down the slide on the mattress and crashing into the bed together. We loved having our friends knock us over onto the mattress!

Cognitive Area

We continued to used the bristle blocks to build extravagant types of buildings and sculptures. Some of our favorite things to build include: airplanes, helicopters, people, and popsicles. Our building techniques are starting to become more complex; the planes went from having two simple wings to having windows, double decks, and seats, and we have been adding more pieces together to make bigger things.

Music Area

We had a lot of fun gathering our friends and instruments to perform for the class. Friends used different instruments and played different songs. Some friends danced with ribbons and scarves, while others did somersaults and other moves. We love turning on the music to dance and have gotten very good at creating and performing specific routines for them!

Outside

We had a lot of fun gathering our friends and building hot dog shops, ice cream shops, and taco trucks. There were also areas to sit while friends waited for their orders to get completed. There were also different types of drinks provided to keep us hydrated under the nice sun. 

Since many friends were excited about the baby chick eggs, we looked for different types of objects that reminded us of eggs outside. Many friends agreed the rocks looked like eggs and some started taking care of the eggs in hope for them to hatch. Friends carried the eggs in their pockets for insulation and looked for food for them. It was fun looking at the small cracks on the rocks; it really looked like something was going to hatch out!

We continue to build lots of different structures with the blocks and pipes, and especially love using the wood and bark pieces. We have made many different creations on the chalkboard wall and still love building and digging in the sand pit. We are constantly using the slides and tricycles as well as the hoops and dump trucks.

 

 

March 12th- 29th Happenings!

Dramatic Play

With lots of interest and talk about the ocean and sea animals, the dramatic play area became an underwater coral reef complete with a submarine! We had so much fun putting on our scuba diving gear, including: wetsuits, snorkels, and oxygen tanks, and going diving in the ocean! We had computer keyboards to record our research but we also loved sending messages to family and friends! When we were under water, we were able to look at all the different creatures. There were humongous turtles, whales, and even sharks! Friends really enjoyed catching the sharks and bringing them into the submarine. They were hard to take care of because they eat a lot of food; there were a few times they even ate our computers! 

Block Area

We spent a lot of time building tracks and roads with the ramps and exploring the tubes and tunnels both for cars and the balls! We loved playing with all the sea creatures too and matching them to what was in the dramatic play area. We were interested in learning all of the different names especially the different sharks and whales! We also enjoyed the Lincoln Logs- but not as much for building, just for props, food, sticks etc!

Nature Area

We used the viewfinders as cameras to take photos of all the different types of animals in the submarine. We also used the seashells as food for the animals. There were different flavors and shells and friends enjoyed feeding the animals with spicy ones best- that's definitely our favorite flavor, or at least the theory of it! 

Quiet Area

With the gloomy weather lately, it has been nice gathering our friends in the quiet area to read a nice, comforting book. Some of our favorites these past weeks include, “Baby Beluga,” by Raffi and “You Can’t Win Them All, Rainbow Fish,” by Marcus Pfister. We really enjoyed singing Baby Beluga and looking at all the pictures in the book. We enjoyed pointing out the different types of water animals in the books and finding it in our classroom too. The babies continue to get lots of love and attention- and are especially well fed! 

Art/Literacy

In the art area, we started to get into drawing shapes! Many friends enjoyed drawing circles. We then added different things to the pictures that turned the circles into something else! Some friends drew balloons that flew with birds and some friends turned their circles into turtles; the possibilities were endless! We also made class art with water animal themed stamps! It was fun looking at all the different types of animals appearing in color on paper and practicing pressing hard onto the stamp to get the ink and then onto the paper to transfer it! 

Gross Motor

We really enjoyed using different types of items and sliding them down the climbing structure’s slide. We noticed some items went faster than others and some items slid off to the side more often. We also really enjoyed using the climbing structure as a “hiding house.” We would gather our friends and bring our computers to think of ways to run away from the monsters. 

Cognitive Area

Whoosh, Zoom, Crash! There were lots of different types of vehicles built from the bristle blocks in the cognitive area. Some friends created airplanes, helicopters, rockets, monster trucks, and more! It was fun sculpting the vehicles and noticing how different they would look when we added more blocks. Friends also enjoyed showing how they built their own structures so other friends could recreate them in their own unique ways.  We loved using the abacus' too and had fun using the music sticks to spin the pieces. The letter puzzle continues to be a big hit.

Music Area

We have loved the pianos and exploring different patterns as well as playing them with other objects than our fingers! We also love the tambourines and hitting them with the rhythm sticks- Some friends even fit them around their heads!

Outside

We went on adventures to the aquarium! We loved being able to ride the train together and one day it was raining which added even more excitement! We got to see tons of fish and sea creatures, and loved being able to watch and talk to the scuba divers! Other highlights were Claude the albino alligator (who actually was swimming around!), the penguins (who were equally as intrigued by us as we were with them!) and the color changing jellyfish. We also got to touch starfish, sea urchins and even shark eggs in the touch tank and loved exploring the cold water and different textures. We had so much fun!

With the wet weather lately, we’ve been getting lots of time playing in the rain. It was fun trying to catch the rain with our hands and tongues! We also put out a container to see how much water we could catch in the rain. We used the rainwater for our soups. Since the water was cold, friends built fire stations to help heat up food for everyone. We also used the climbing structure as a tree house to keep ourselves warm and protected from the rain. We build lots of structures with the blocks and pipes and made lots of yummy food in the mud kitchen that often was filled with water too! We were also very helpful everyday with cleaning off the slide with towels so our friends could slide down without getting wet and scooping up the bark that falls down the stairs.

February 20th- March 9th Happenings!

Dramatic Play

Splishy, Splashy! Let’s go swimming! With lots of pretend-play about boats, the dramatic play area turned into a lake! We used fishing poles to catch all sorts of fish, including: sharks, puffer fish, clown fish, whales, and more! Sometimes we brought them home and took them in as pets. Other times, we would catch a lot of fish and cook dinner for all of our friends. We also used our binoculars to look for monsters and sharks while we were traveling on the boat; it was interesting to see how binocular lenses made objects look bigger than usual. We also brought phones with us when we traveled to make sure we could reach our friends any time of the day. We loved jumping into and out of the boat and loved trying to get all of our friends into it to go on an adventure!

Cognitive Area

 

The gears were really interesting, as we attempted to build structures with different methods. We really enjoy creating different types of planes, including helicopters, vacation planes, and seaplanes. We also really liked building gigantic factories and figuring out how to get the different pieces to move in opposite directions. We still love to make boxes and buildings with them too.

Music Area

It was fun gathering our friends and collaborating in different musical pieces. There were musical performances throughout the day and tickets could be purchased at the ticket booth. Snacks and presents were provided to the audiences to enjoy the show. There were many different types of instruments, including musical sticks, egg shakers, drums, guitar, and more! Friends also sang along to the rhythms and everyone celebrated at the end of the performance. 

Block Area

Beep, Beep, Beep! We really enjoyed filling up our cars and trains with different types of items to deliver around the classroom. Some trains offered rides to the sea animals at the dramatic play area and brought them to other parts of the classroom to explore. There were dinosaurs waiting at different train stations to bring them to the zoo; some ended up getting rides from cars because the trains were late. We explored making different ramps and roads for the cars and people with the ramps and tried making lots of different structures with the slide builders. We especially likes using them as telescopes though!

Gross Motor

Balancing isn’t easy, however we really enjoyed practicing on the balance structure. Friends often offered a hand to help us get from one side to the other. Other times, we would use the wall to support ourselves to get across, as we practiced trying to balance. It was also fun figuring out how to get from one side of the climbing structure to the other; the best part was when we got to slide down really fast! When we dropped items down the slide, they also went really fast; we noticed if we placed items in the middle of the slide, they would stay on longer. Playing under the climbing triangle was almost as fun as being on it! We loved pretending it was our house or car and seeing how many friends could fit.

Art & Literacy

It was interesting to watch the water beads expand and grow throughout the day. As the beads started filling our tub, we really enjoyed feeling the texture of them; they were super squishy! We used them to make different types of desserts, including: ice creams, cakes, cookies, and sprinkles. We also tried picking out certain colors out and noticed the beads changed color depending on whether they were inside our outside of the tub and when in different color containers. We celebrated several more birthdays and continue to love using the shape slices and loose part materials as well as all the other art supplies. 

Quiet Area

We enjoy choosing books with our friends and reading to each other. We like retelling the stories through our memory and using pictures to guide us. Some of our favorite books include, “Ten Splishy, Splashy Fish,” by Little Tiger Press and “Curious George Goes Fishing,” by H.A. Rey, Margret Rey. These fish stories reminded us of the items we had in our classroom, which made us want to go fishing as well. We also compared the different types of fish we had in our classroom to the ones in the book. We had lots of snuggle parties on the beanbag with our friends and stuffed animals. We also love playing with and taking care of the baby dolls, giving them bottles and wrapping them in blankets.

Nature Area

We turned the sea shells and pine cones in to a dessert shop! There different ice cream flavors and they came in many sizes. We made pies and cakes with pine cones; they smelled delicious! We enjoyed feeding them to our friends and blowing out birthday candles together. We also explored the different shapes of the shells, matching the similar ones and categorizing them into groups. We learned how they fit together to become clam or scallop shells that open and shut. 

Outside

With the rainfall coming in, we really enjoyed looking at our backyard in a different point of view—wet! One of our favorite things about the rain was the puddles! We also liked pretending the slide as a water slide that made us go a lot faster than usual. We were also really interested in the way rocks get darker when they’re wet. With the water, we were also able to build sand castles for our friends to live in and we loved that it was easier to create when it was wet!

It was exciting when we built really big block structures together. Some of the structures we made include, rockets, airplanes, and towers. We also used different materials to decorate the structures, such as: rocks, plants, and sticks. Our favorite part was getting to crash it down together and opening construction sites to fix the structure. We love using the bark to make piles and spread around the yard. W also pretend it is food and pass out meals to everyone. We love going on the swing together and pretending we are on a rocket ship or airplane. We also have been drawing lots of pictures on the chalkboard and it's fun to come back the next day and see what got washed away from the rain!

February 5th-16th Happenings

Dramatic Play

Since friends were enjoying pretend cooking, especially making pizzas, the dramatic play area turned into a pizza parlor! It was fun customizing the perfect pizza combos. we loved dressing up as chefs and working with the cash registers, and cooking and delivering the pizzas. We had order forms, to go boxes, and menus too and there were many types of toppings, including: mushrooms, peppers, pepperonis, onions, and more! After creating the pizza, we popped them in the oven to cook. We made sure to remind our friends to be careful since it’ll probably be really hot! We loved playing with the table toppings too- especially the super spicy peppers! We had fun making spicy pizzas and watching our friends reactions! We always made sure to help with a cold drink afterwards. 

Art & Literacy

We really enjoyed creating Love Day cards for our friends and family; we used lots of stamps and stickers to express our love! We spent a lot of time creating our best work to give. We were also interested in creating different types of pictures with the marbles on the wooden plates. We enjoyed sorting the colors and sizes and talking about the different shapes we could make.

Block Area

We continued to build large train tracks to travel around the world. Some friends were visiting Spain, Germany, and Hawaii on the trains. Other friends carried different types of products on the train to deliver to zoos, post offices, and more! It was even more exciting when friends help to build the track longer; our favorite is when we create a large loop around the classroom! We've been using the ramps a lot too- often as tracks for cars and people!

Quiet Area

It was fun reading stories to our friends. Friends enjoyed reading books to each other by describing pictures or telling the story through memory. We can recall most of the words in our favorite stories! Some of our favorites right now include, “Pete’s a Pizza,” by William Steig and “Pizza at Sally’s,” by Monica Wellington. We really enjoyed laughing along to Pete’s experience of being a pizza! We also liked pointing out the similar toppings Sally uses in her pizzeria to ours. 

Gross Motor

We enjoyed climbing to the top of the climbing structure and sliding down really fast; some friends liked going backwards. It was also fun using the balancing structure. Some friends lend a hand to help us get from one side to the other. 

Cognitive Area

We enjoyed gathering our friends to create and play with the gears. One of the shapes we liked building most are cubes-it was interesting how they fit together, but then couldn't move. They remind us of blocks and we liked putting them together to build tall towers. It was also fun figuring out the different puzzles together. We loved finding the different letters and counting the animals under all the doors.

Music Area

It was fun gathering our friends to create different musical pieces. Our favorite is still the nutcracker. Friends would collect different instruments, including tambourines, piano, and egg shakers. We really enjoyed singing and dancing along to the music. We figured out that using the rhythm sticks on the tambourines is really fun and makes a different sound!

Nature Area

We continued to look for animals that reminded us of the zoo through the viewfinders. It was fun acting out the animals we saw and creating the sounds they made. Friends would gather together and look for the animals around the zoo; they like to hide in the tent a lot. We always like to bring friends along so we could run away together. It was also really fun bringing magnifying glasses along so we could get a closer look at all the different animals. We have been exploring how they change the way we see using lots of comparative language.

Outside Time

We really enjoyed creating large pots of foods during outside time. Friends would contribute by gathering different types of materials and adding to the pot. Afterwards, we enjoy dumping everything out together and jumping into the gigantic pile!

We loved using the larger tree trunks on the climbing structures as trucks, trains, and boats. Some friends were drivers, while others were passengers. Each type of transportation required tickets, which could be purchased at the ticket booth; the currency was “candy.” 

We also really liked building large towers with our friends. Some friends were adding to the height of the building, while others were decorating the sides of the tower. Although sometimes the tower crashed, construction workers were always nearby to help fix up the damages to the building. 

January 22nd- February 2nd Happenings!

Dramatic Play

The dramatic play area turned into a zoo! We have been loving stuffed animals have especially been obsessed with the "Good Night Gorilla" book! There were many different types of animals living in the cages including: lions, tigers, pandas, rhinos, and more! There were also water animals swimming in the pool. We really liked putting on our zookeeper uniforms and taking care of all the animals.  It was fun unlocking the cages to let the animals out and bringing food to them. Sometimes friends also pretended to be animals and got into the cages with the animals! We had fun acting out parts of the book and especially playing with the keys. We also loved swimming with all the water animals and getting rides from the turtle and sharks! 

Art & Literacy

With had lots of fun celebrating several birthdays and painting canvases! It was interesting to see how mixing colors could create new ones. We also used beads to create necklaces and bracelets for our friends. It was fun creating different types of patterns. Some friends used the same colors with different shapes, while others used different colors and different shapes. We also have been using the magic drawing boards a lot, enjoying making and then erasing our drawings.

Block Area

We had a lot of fun building train tracks, especially when friends help. When we worked together, we were able to build really big and long train tracks that would loop around multiple ways! The trains were able to go to so many different destinations! We have been really focused in our setup and execution of building the tracks and love trying to use all the pieces. We also really enjoyed decorating and playing with the dollhouse. We had fun playing with our friends, as we took over different roles in the house. We loved the idea of having lions, tigers, and rhinos as pets in the house; it reminded us of the zoo! 

Quiet Area

It was fun gathering our friends and reading some of our favorite books together. Some of our favorite books include, “Good Night, Gorilla,” by Peggy Rathmann and “Cars and Trucks and Things that Go,” by Richard Scarry. We really liked pointing out the different types of animals from Goodnight Gorilla and looking for the same animal that is living in our dramatic play area. We also liked matching the trains and cars we have from the block area to the ones in the book, “Cars and Trucks and Things that Go.” Several of our friends have really enjoyed "reading" to us and have memorized a lot of the words from our favorite books! We love sitting and reading them together.

Gross Motor

We had a lot of fun using the tunnel as a boat; we used it to sail around the world. We also loved chasing each other through it and hiding in it too for friends to come find us. We enjoyed using the climbing structure as a ladder that we need to climb to get away from dinosaurs that lived in the tunnel or just friends that were chasing us. We also pretended that underneath was a house or car to climb and and save us. 

Cognitive

The new gears have been a lot of fun to explore! We have loved building with them and they reminded us of machines. It was interesting seeing which pieces would make the gears spin and what made them stop spinning. We still love the puzzles and enjoyed figuring out the words that go along with the alphabet letters. We also liked thinking of letters that were in our friends’ names and finding them on the puzzle.

Outside

With the beautiful sunny weather, we went on lots of adventures! First we head into Golden Gate Park to see what we could find. We loved looking for leaves and acorns and especially watching the ducks and talking about them. We were very curious about which were boys and girls and where the babies were. It was hard to learn that we have to wait for spring! We also loved going to the playground and running around with all our friends there! We loved climbing and swinging together and looking at all the different things to see on the walk.

Then we went on a couple trips to the zoo! We got to ride on the train (N Judah) and the bus to get there and that was almost as exciting as the zoo. It was really fun getting to see the different types of animals there. Some of our favorites are the lions, giraffes, and tigers. We loved the gorillas and monkeys too. We saw the penguins and got to talk to the zoo keepers about them while they got fed. We learned about how they eat and stay warm in the cold water! One of the days we went to the petting zoo and got to meet some friendly animals there; we even got to feed and brush them! Although the highlight was probably our trips on the Little Puffer Train- We had so much fun riding- especially going through the tunnel and waving to all the people and animals we passed by! We ate lunch with animals too- the baby bears one day, and the gorillas the next- and we loved talking about what they were doing while enjoying our picnic!

Outside in our backyard we had lots of fun too. The climbing structure and slides still are exciting and used all the time. We love the swing and riding the tricycles. We even have been trying to figure out how to ride together! The kale growing has been a really tasty treat and we love to pick it ourselves and munch on pieces while playing! We've been doing a lot of digging, both in the sand pit and the bark, and have been building lots of interesting structures with the pipes and sticks.

January 2nd- 19th Happenings!

Dramatic Play

Following our love for the babies and acting out "house" roles, this area turned into a house complete with a kitchen, high chairs for the babies, and lots of cleaning supplies! We had a lot of fun dressing up like chefs or bakers and cooking up special dishes for our friends and for the babies. We talked a lot about what they like to eat and how to cook things. We loved the oven and the sink, and turned one of the cabinets into a microwave! We made a variety of foods including: soups, pizzas, cupcakes, and sandwiches. We loved using the eggs too- cracking them into dishes and also cooking them hard boiled! We loved cleaning the area too. We used the squirt bottles and sponges to scrub everything and made sure the tables were always wiped down. We also turned the squirt bottles into water guns and loved pretending to shoot each other and fires.  

Art & Literacy

We really enjoyed sculpting different forms and shapes with the cloud dough. The texture was really fun and we pretended it was from the moon. We liked stacking bowls of it together and then crashing them down. We also had lots of fun with paint. We made a big collaborative posted and talked about what happens when you mix white into colors- how it is lighter or darker depending on how much we use. We tried the same colors with pom-pom painters next- making dots and lines and practicing pinching the clothes pins to be able to pick up the pom poms. We also did a lots of beading! We worked really hard to make lots of beautiful necklaces that we enjoyed wearing around.

Cognitive Area

We really liked putting together the alphabet puzzle and looking for letters that matched our own names. It was fun helping our friends look for letters that were in their names as well. We also enjoyed putting together magnatiles to create unique buildings, and of course still love crashing them down. The light table letters have also been exciting, using them to load trucks, pretending they are "biscuits," and handing them out to all our friends.

Nature Area

It was fun looking at the different types of animals with the view finders. We liked to use them as binoculars and "search" for different types of animals around the classroom. We also enjoyed using the magnifying glass to look for small insects. It was fun seeing how big or small our eyes get when we place the magnifying glass at different distances, and seeing what our friends look like with them.

Block Area

It was really fun using the dump trucks to carry and deliver different types of goods around the classroom! We carried lots of people, animals, blocks, and other materials around. It was also fun racing with our friends and finding an area to park tor dump the trucks together. The doll house and doll people got a lot of use too. We loved filling it with furniture and acting out different stories together.

Quiet Area

We continued to read lots of different books throughout the day. We really enjoyed reading to our friends as well. We liked pointing out the pictures and guessing what was happening in the story. We have some favorites that we read all the time and now sometimes can even recite the words from memory! The babies continue to get lots of love too and we bring them around all over the classroom.

Music Area

We really liked to dance along to the nutcracker with our ribbons and scarves. It was even more fun when we used our tambourines and shakers to add to the beat. We also made sure to have seats for our audiences to watch our performances! Some friends also enjoyed creating their own music together as a group with pianos and musical sticks and other friends danced to it. 

Gross Motor

We really enjoyed playing on the new indoor climbing ladder (called a Pikler Triangle) and figuring out how to get to the other side. We turned it into a train and rode together and liked going underneath too. We also liked running through the tunnel and looking for our friends from the opposite ends. It was fun pretending the tunnel to be a “hiding” place and also rocking it back and forth together pretending it was a boat. 

Outside

With a little bit of rain outside, we really enjoyed looking at how different the materials were when they were wet. We really enjoyed building huge castles in the sand area and digging gigantic holes for our friends to get in to "swim." It was also fun making “rain water soup” with different types of things we found around the backyard, adding them to buckets and pots full of the rain water. We also really liked playing hide n’ seek with our friends outside. Our friends also liked to pretend to be monsters after they were found. We used the pipes for lots of building including telescopes to explore what may be next to our backyard. We also used them to see airplanes and sea planes in the sky. We love going on the swing and slides together and had lots of fun climbing around on the structure. On one really rainy day we decided to go on an adventure to find puddles! We found some really big ones to jump in and even followed the water "rivers" to the drain- watching it pour down. We loved the rain!