As we continued learning about the solar system this week, we worked on learning the names of the planets and discovering interesting facts about them. Mercury is closest to the sun. Venus is the second planet from the sun. We live on planet Earth. Mars is the red planet. Jupiter is the biggest planet and has a big red spot on it. Saturn has rings around it. Uranus and Neptune are blue and made mostly of ice.
We also enjoyed talking about astronauts, moons, the sun, stars, comets and asteroids. We learned that we live in a Solar System, in a Galaxy called the Milky Way! For art we painted a shooting star that glows in the dark. We also colored on the easel.
We have been working on recognizing the first letter in our name and the sound it makes in addition to working on shapes, colors and numbers. The Robins have come so far!
This Saturday is our Garden Party! The party will take place on the playground from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Pack a picnic and bring a blanket. We will have baked goods for sale to eat for dessert (or to save for later).
The focus will be on celebrating Grace Garden families with an end of year event, but we will also have a "giving tree" fundraiser. If you would like to contribute, bring cash or your checkbook to purchase leaves from the tree for $5, $10, or $20. All proceeds will go towards purchasing new rugs and other necessary updates for the classrooms.
We hope to see you there!
Next week we will talk about summer. Wednesday we will have a Sensory Play Day. We will take a "field trip" across the street in order to enjoy sensory tables filled with different and fun things such as bubbles and shaving cream. Please look for the permission slip Tuesday. It will be taped to our door. Thanks!
Take care,
Ms. Sasha and Ms. Susana
Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ~Elizabeth Stone
This week we continued learning about the ocean. There are so many animals that live in the sea, and we had fun talking about many of them. The biggest animals in the ocean are whales. The kiddos enjoyed listening to whale songs, and watching whales splash around the ocean. Thank you, Youtube! We then practiced singing like whales. We talked about dolphins, octopi, schools of fish, sea stars, coral and more. We enjoyed looking at colorful pictures of some of these creatures.
We also talked about Mother's Day. Your children had so much fun picking the colored felt for your rings and pins. They were very thoughtful in their choices, and were excited to see the end results and give your gifts to you. We hope you enjoyed Muffins with Moms. Judging by your children's smiling faces, and the easy transition when it was time to clean up and head outside, we think it was a huge hit.
Have fun with the wave bottles! And keep an eye on them. While we did hot glue the caps on the bottles, we make no promises that they will stay glued. Each child picked a fish to go in their bottle. They then scooped three spoonfuls of beads and shells, and added them to the water. The beads are meant to represent rocks. They then added one scoop of glitter to represent the reflection of sun/moonlight.
Next week we will start our unit on the Solar System.
Have a great weekend, and wonderful Mother's Day.
Ms. Sasha and Ms. Susana
Sponges grow in the ocean. That just kills me. I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be if that didn't happen.
--Steven Wright
On land or in the water? This week, while we studied the Ocean, we played “on land or in the water?” We would ask: “Where does a chicken live? On land or in the water? Where does an octopus live? On land or in the water?” This fun game helped the Robins sort through different sea life. We talked about how big the oceans are, and how we must keep them clean for our fish friends. We also talked about all the different creatures that live in the ocean: whales, dolphins, sharks, octopi, coral, starfish and fish. We learned that a group of fish is called a school of fish. We enjoyed pretending to be different sea creatures too.
For our art process we started an ocean collage. We colored fish and shells and cut them out, gluing them onto blue paper. Next week we will add seaweed. The Robins have really improved their fine motor skills!
We read so many books about the ocean! Baby Beluga, by Raffi, is a sweetly illustrated book that follows the lyrics of the baby beluga song, also by Raffi. Seashore Babies, by Kathy Darling, was also well received. This book has adorable photographs and descriptions of young animals found at the seashore including sea lions, turtles and pelicans.
Your kiddos were cracking us up with their imaginative play! They took the play phones, held them sideways, said "say cheese!", and took pictures of their friends. So great.
We continue to study the alphabet, the numbers 1-20, and our shapes and colors.
Thank you for signing up for our Parent/Teacher Conferences. We will send a reminder email this weekend with your scheduled time for Monday, May 6th. Remember to arrive a few minutes early, especially if you are checking your child in to the provided nursery care.
And don't forget our early Mothers Day celebration! Please join us for Muffins with Moms this Wednesday morning.
Muffins with Mom
When: Wednesday, May 8 from 9:00 AM to 9:30 AM
Where: In your child's classroom
Next week we will continue talking about the ocean and Mother's Day.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Ms. Sasha and Ms. Susana
Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet, and the winds long to play with your hair.
--Kahlil Gibran
The three Rs used to be: Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic. This week we talked about the Earth, Earth Day and the new three Rs: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. When we reduce, we use less of something. When we reuse, we use something over again instead of throwing it away and filling up landfills. When we recycle, we take something we have used and make it into something new. One area of the classroom we put some of these ideas into practice was the hand washing area. We were very mindful of how much water we used, while also taking just one paper towel to dry our hands. Our hands are little. We were happy to discover that we don't need three or four paper towels to dry our hands! One will do the job.
We talked about how important it is to keep our world clean. We don't just throw litter on the ground, we put it in a trash can. By keeping the earth clean we help keep it healthy. When the earth is healthy, we are healthier. So give a hoot! Don't pollute!
We finished the snowmen we started last week. The kiddos enjoyed picking out googly eyes and placing them on their snowmen. Some chose two different colored eyes. They also added a "carrot" nose and a top hat.
To celebrate earth day, we took coffee filters and covered them with green and blue markers. We talked about the green representing the land and the blue representing the water. We sprayed the filters with water and watched the colors flow together. Our finished "I love the earth" project also includes a heart, colored by your kids, and hand prints. Additionally, we made greenhouses. We decorated green paper that had been cut into the shape of a house with stickers. We then put 3 bean seeds in a plastic bag with a wet paper towel. They are hanging on our window. Fingers crossed they sprout!
Dramatic/collaborative play moment of the week: We went to the zoo, on a train! The children lined the chairs up in order to make a train. They decided they were going to the zoo. We then talked about all the different animals we would see including penguins, zebras and lions, and enjoyed making the different animal sounds.
Next week we will talk about the ocean.
Please remember parent/teacher conferences are Monday, May 6th. Child care will be provided in the nursery during our visit if needed. We can't wait to let you know how wonderfully your children are doing and how much they've learned. They keep us laughing daily and are joys to be around.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Ms. Sasha and Ms. Susana
Don't knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn't start a conversation if it didn't change once in a while.
--Kin Hubbard
Have you ever heard or said, "Don't like the weather in Texas? Wait a minute. It'll change."? That phrase personified this week's weather, and what a perfect week for the Robins class to focus on weather as our unit of play. This week we experienced 3 of the four seasons... Tuesday was hot and muggy, summerlike; Wednesday was cooler with a nice breeze blowing, almost springlike; with the rain and chill in the air Thursday, we enjoyed a last minute bit of fall. We talked about the different kinds of weather: rainy, sunny, windy, still, hot, warm, cold and humid to name a few.
We also talked about the water cycle. Water falls as rain. It then flows into oceans, lakes and streams. It rises back into the sky forming clouds before falling again as rain. This concept was reinforced by a science experiment of sorts. We started with a clear mason jar half- filled with water. We added a dab of shaving cream on top. We then took turns using eye droppers full of red and blue water. It took a minute, but soon our cloud was full and we could see the rain falling into the jar. Plus, this reminded us that red and blue make purple!
How much fun cotton balls and an imagination can be! We used both to paint clouds! One Robin Friend called the cotton balls "snowballs". That works, too. Some children stuck the "clouds" to the paper with the paint. Some painted with them, and one enjoyed rolling the cotton ball on the paper with his hand. We also made snowmen by gluing fake snow onto blue paper. Next week we will add googly eyes and a top hat to make them look more official.
We have such a creative group this year. This class loves music. So much so, our favorite collaborative play moment was when one kiddo started singing "fire truck" over and over while strumming a block guitar. Four other kiddos joined in. Five kids, sitting in chairs they put side by side along the wall, singing with heart and soul at the top of their lungs "fire truck, fire truck." Sweet. We have also enjoyed puppet shows. What a clever bunch!
We turned over our last letter, "Z"! And we continue to count to 20 and learn our shapes and colors.
Next week we will discuss Earth Day and the 3 R's.
Have a festive weekend,
Ms. Sasha and Ms. Susana
"You know, somebody actually complimented me on my driving today. They left a
little note on the windscreen, it said 'Parking Fine'." --Tommy Cooper "In the air, on the land, or in the water?", was one question we pondered this week. We practiced naming different modes of transportation and deciding where they would go. Planes and helicopters fly in the sky. Trains and buses go on land, and boats and submarines go in water. We had a lot of fun with this game and really stretched our imaginations, getting specific with our examples. For instance, buses became yellow school buses. Your kiddos are great at this game! Thank you for bringing a riding toy to help us enjoy and explore things with wheels. The kids had so much fun parking their "cars" in the garage and trying out new riding toys. Wheel day also includes play time with train tracks, a car track table and a reading area with books about... Transportation! Our art projects this week included making a hot air balloon and a boat from different colored shapes. The kiddos also really enjoy taking turns on the easel. We turned over the letter Y! One more letter to turn over! I wonder what it will be... We continue to count from 1 - 20, and practice naming our shapes and colors. Ms. Susana and I continually marvel at how much this class enjoys pretend play. It is fun to sit back and watch the kids use their imaginations. Sometimes they play house, deciding who plays the mommy, daddy and baby. Other times they grab box tops or frying pans and rock out playing their "guitars". This is an important part of growing and learning. We hope you enjoy the following article (it is short and sweet) about the importance of pretend play. Next week we will talk about weather. Have a wonderful weekend! Ms. Sasha and Ms. Susana It may not seem like a milestone, but if your toddler snaps your photo with a wooden block (it’s a camera, silly!) or bundles her bear into a blanket, she’s made an important development leap. Engaging in pretend play (also called symbolic play, imaginative play, dramatic play, or good old make-believe) means your toddler understands that she can choose one object (the block) to represent another (a camera just like Mommy’s). That’s a big concept, and a valuable one. Just think: Numbers and letters work the same way, with unique squiggles and shapes standing in for concepts of number and language. What Pretend Play Teaches: Empathy: In pretend play, your toddler (sometimes literally) puts herself in someone else’s shoes, whether it’s a parent, a teacher, a farmer, or a princess. (This is quite a self-esteem booster, too: She can be anything she wants to be!) Language skills: As she chatters to her dolls and stuffed animals about her playtime plans, your toddler is strengthening her vocabulary and practicing her speech. When she gets a little older and begins to play more cooperatively with other kids, she’ll learn powerful lessons about the power of language (“Now you put your baby to bed there, and I’ll put mine here…”). Problem solving: That little brain is constantly thinking as she spins scenes in her head. What can she use to take a picture? What does she need to do to get Teddy ready for bed? Again, when other kids enter the scene (in a year or so), there’ll be a whole new layer of complexity. Who plays what role? What if Hannah doesn’t want to be the daddy, or even play house at all? Then it’s time to start learning the art of negotiation! Courage: Toddlerhood can be a fearful time, and pretend play is a safe way for little kids to work out their feelings in a safe environment. (That’s why a toy doctor’s kit is a must-have for toddlers afraid of the family doc!) Best Pretend-Play Props : Stock your shelves with goodies like these, then sit back and enjoy the show. (If your child wants you to join in her make-believe games, that’s great! Just stick to supporting role and let her be the star.) 1. Containers and boxes of various shapes and sizes 2. Dress-up clothes, shoes, hats, bags, and aprons 3. Kitchen and household items, both toy and real (think measuring cups, wooden spoons, and more) 4. Specialty items such as a doctor kit or a toy workbench and tools 5. Puppets, stuffed animals, baby dolls, and caregiving items such as bottles, blankets, and diapers Source: http://www.whattoexpect.com/toddler-development/toddler-pretend-play.aspx
Our treasure lies in the beehive of our knowledge. We are perpetually on the way thither, being by nature winged insects and honey gatherers of the mind.
- Friedrich Nietzsche
Which came first:the chicken or the egg? Our class is divided on this issue, but we had fun talking about it! Easter week was lively and entertaining.We enjoyed talking about the Easter bunny and could hardly wait for his visit.The promise of treats and candy was so exciting. The kiddos giggled as we painted their feet in order to make footprint bunnies. “That tickles” was an echoed sentiment throughout the art project. We then decorated our Easter bags with handprint chicks. So cute! Our sensory table was filled with festive plastic eggs of different sizes and colors. Some eggs were big while others were small. Some eggs were bright, others pastel. We used the eggs to hone our visual discrimination skills. Visual discrimination is simply the ability to recognize and identify visual shapes, forms, and patterns, and is a precursor for reading. The kiddos sorted the eggs by size or color or, by pastel or bright colors. The week ended with an Easter egg hunt that lasted about a minute and a half! We think that’s a new record for our shortest egg hunt ever. This week we talked about bugs and insects. We named as many creepy crawly flying things as we could. We made different bug sounds and walked, crawled and flew like some of the bugs/insects we talked about. Our fingerprint bugs were so fun to make. We started at the table, sharing the stamp pads, using our fingers and hands to fill up a piece of paper with prints. Ms. Susana then brilliantly turned those fingerprints into caterpillars, ladybugs and spiders to name a few. The kids enjoyed using the stamp pads so much we decided to continue the activity and moved all the stamp pads to the easel. We also created spider webs by rolling marble through white paint on black paper. We then made spiders from pom poms and google eyes and glued them onto their web homes. We added a blue diamond shape to our wall.We compared the blue of the diamond to the blue of the triangle – yes, visual discrimination.The blue diamond is a darker blue. Both are blue, one is lighter and one is darker. We also turned over the letter “X”and added the number “20”. Next week we will focus on Transportation. April 11th is Wheel Day! Please bring a wheeled toy your child enjoys riding. We will take the toy to our “garage” aka the Fellowship Hall. The classes will visit the garage (at different times) in order to try out different vehicles with wheels. If you don’t have a wheeled toy, don’t worry! We will have a few from our playground on stand-by. This day ties in with a St. Jude Children’s Hospital fundraiser. Please refer to the flyer that you received yesterday. Thanks for sharing your children with us. Have a wonderful weekend, Ms. Sasha and Ms. Susana
The robin flew from his swinging spray of ivy on to the top of the wall and he
opened his beak and sang a loud, lovely trill, merely to show off. Nothing in
the world is quite as adorably lovely as a robin when he shows off - and they
are nearly always doing it.
- Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden
The Robins were rockin' the bird unit this week! We had so much fun making different bird sounds, tweeting and chirping and saying "whooo". We learned that birds fly and walk. Some even swim or float. We flapped our arms and tried to fly but could not get off the ground. Birds make nests out of found things on the ground like twigs, leaves, hay, grass, and string. Birds have feathers and beaks, and baby birds hatch from eggs. We enjoyed looking out the window and seeing birds fly by. We watched them walk along the ground in search of food and nesting materials.
For art we finished making our spring flowers. They are beautiful and hanging in the hall. We also started our robin puppets, using small paper plates for the robin face, and handprint birds nest. For our nests, we went outside and tried to find things birds
would use to make their nests. We picked up sticks and leaves and dried grass, then glued these found items on our paper.
Our favorite memory of the week happened Thursday just before lunch. All the kiddos were playing in groups when suddenly they all began barking like puppies and walking around the room in a line on all fours! Puppy parade! Then they worked together to build a huge block tower! And finally, they all played ring around the roses together! It was really amazing to watch this class come together and spontaneously play as a group. They were laughing, cooperating with each other, and having a blast.
Next week we talk about Easter. Which reminds me to remind you it’s time for our Easter egg hunt! We are asking that parents provide 9 plastic eggs filled with appropriate, non-peanut treats. This way, each child should receive 9 eggs each. Some examples of treats are: stickers, band-aids, and tattoos. The eggs should be filled then taped around the sides. This way the goodies have a better chance of staying in the eggs as we don’t open the eggs at school. The eggs can be opened at home. Please drop off the filled eggs by March 27th. We will have our egg hunt around 9:20 on Thursday, March 28th.
We hope you enjoy watching your robin show off. They are learning so many things.
Have a fun weekend!
Ms. Sasha and Ms. Susana
In the spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours.
Mark Twain
Spring has sprung in the Robin room. This week we learned that Spring is one of the four seasons. It follows winter and precedes summer. It is a time of renewal. With the spring rains, flowers and plants are sure to follow. And all the animals that stayed safe and warm in their homes for the winter begin to come out and play. We talked about going on picnics and flying kites and planting gardens.
For art we finished our handprint fish in honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday. They are hanging on the wall by our door and are super cute. We created cloud paintings using paint mixed with glue. The kiddos enjoyed mixing yellow, red and blue paint. When mixed, the yellow and red made orange while the red and blue made purple! We then added clouds finishing our sky. We also started a flower art project. We took coffee filters and colored them with markers. What fun it was to watch the kids faces when we sprayed the filters with water and saw the colors mix together. The water gives the markers a beautiful watercolor effect.
We have been working really hard on fostering independence and self help skills with your kiddos...sitting on the potty is at the top of the list. Your kids are amazing and are really enjoying potty time. We like to call it "bathroom business". We keep it fun, but it is still a time to take care of business. Other things we've worked on include: cleaning up after ourselves, taking our place mats to the sink area, washing and drying our hands, pushing in our chairs when we leave the table, wiping our feet before coming inside, and using our words.
We are up to the number 17 and turned over the letter "U". Our new shape is a rectangle. The color of the month is purple.
We hope you enjoy the time off with your family and friends. When we return, our unit will be all about birds.
Have a wonderful break!
Ms. Sasha and Ms. Susana.
Howdy y'all! In honor of Texas's birthday, we talked about all things Texas. We learned that we reside in the state of Texas, while Austin is the city we live in (and the state capital). The bluebonnet is the state flower. Cowboys ride horses and work on ranches. They help care for cattle. We also celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday! We read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. We then made our own handprint red fish and blue fish. We had fun washing our hands and seeing the red and blue paint mix to make purple! We painted fingerprint bluebonnets. They are beautiful and in the "abstract" style of painting. We had fun using our fingers to paint. Our room has been rearranged, and the kids are loving the new floor plan! We have been using a timer to ensure everyone has a turn with all our new toys. The play house is a huge hit. It is helping us learn many things like: counting two friends, taking turns, patience, listening and redirection. Redirecting toddlers is an art form, and one we continually work on in our room. For example, if a child wants to go in the play house, but there are already two people inside, he must wait his turn. This can be frustrating as most toddlers want what they want when they want it. Our redirecting process involves reminding the kids that only two people can be in the house at one time. We then set the timer, making sure all the kiddos understand that when the timer goes off, the kids in the house must find something else to play with. We then help the child waiting to go into the house find something to occupy his time. This is not always met with smilies and cooperation, but the more we work at it and the more consistent we are, the better the results. By the end of the week most of the kiddos understood that they would have to wait a few minutes for their turn in the house, and they were less upset by the idea. There are many wonderful articles regarding redirection on the Internet. Here is one explaining the basic concept of redirection: http://babyparenting.about.com/od/discipline/qt/redirection.htmWe are up to the number 16, and the letter "T" was revealed this week. Our theme next week is Spring. Please have a happy and safe weekend. Ms. Sasha and Ms. Susana
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