On Friday we had our curriculum event! Thank you all for attending. I can not wait until we get to see the final result on your hand prints. These will be displayed on the walls for the children to look at.
Lately the children have been much more unified and looking at one another to play with. They are also beginning to "copy" one another. If one child gets up, a different child will get up as well. We love it! This is what is expected for them to do at this stage.
I want to thank the parents that took time out to help us with our yellow bus costume! I loved how we all came together to be part of this fun-filled day. Here are pictures of the children painting our "yellow bus" box. They really enjoyed painting our bus. They kept coming over and over to keep adding yellow paint.
Today was such a fun busy day!! We did a quick Diwali celebration with Laura lighting a diya and playing with the sari. We had a fall sensory table set up with our jack-o lantern, mini pine cones, leaves, pumpkins and gourds. After a quick snack we decided to take advantage of this gorgeous day and head outside. We took a trip to Morgan's Market, picked up some mini white pumpkins for a Halloween activity. As we headed to Washington Market Park, we bumped into the 3A class where Barak got to see his big brother Dylan!
Yesterday we went to the market to get a few pumpkins. A big one, a small one, and a white (also small) one. Today, Laura helped us carve out the big pumpkin. She cut out the eyes, the nose and the mouth. She also showed what the pumpkin looked like on the inside. The children were really intrigued. They touched the seeds, tried to put the small pumpkin inside of it, and each had a turn holding the stem. Some were courageous and tasted the inside of the pumpkin too!
Also we had music with Evan today. He showed us what a Marimba looks like. I even heard little voices singing along to his songs while Evan played his guitar. When it was time to dance, John went right ahead and showed some of his moves. When Isabelle saw John dancing, she went on to shake her shoulders and little belly. The other children were more comfortable just watching (for now...).
We experimented with glue and it went very well! We gave them wooden pieces to see if they could put them together. They did. The wooden pieces also come with small colored wooden squares that are great for them to use and create a pincer grasp with their fingers. We also worked on finger-painting mirrors. They also had the option to use paintbrushes, which most children ended up using as to not feel the paint with their fingers. We are beginning to notice that although they may not want to get messy, they definitely love coloring with paint.
On Tuesday we drew our self-portraits. We loved seeing their faces when they looked in the mirror and tried to draw themselves. They really made sure to look at their eyes and their nose. We saw them glance up at the mirror and draw on the paper. It was truly amazing!
The children have been enjoying their classroom routines and learning new experiences. Last week we played with clay. We let them use their hands or utensils that help create shapes. They used their fingers by poking, scratching, throwing, tasting (realized it doesn't taste good), and pinching.
This week we also decided to explore with fingerpaint. Not all of them were enthusiastic about using their hands or fingers, so we helped by adding a spoon. This allowed them to mix the colors without needing to worry about touching the paint.
