Specialists: 

Evan, a talented and versatile musician, fills the room with his wonderful voice, cheerful and friendly disposition.  He invites children to sing-a-long his lively music as he plays his guitar.  They dance, clap, listen and sing!   Evan sometimes bring interesting and fascinating musical instruments from different countries.   Today, he brought to the classroom a drum from Guatemala.   Each child had the opportunity to play the drum.  Some of the children appeared interested; whereas,  others observed.   Evan will come every other Thursday.

We also had Spanish!   The children enjoyed listening as the specialist sang in Spanish and English.  Spanish will be every other Tuesday.

We used bean bags during a brief circle time at the block center.  The bean bags promote color recognition, geometrical shape (square) , and sensory exploration, as they touched and squeezed the bean bags.  We also used them to touch our different facial features. 

Today the children continued painting bookmarks, and they also painted a box that will be used to put all the donation money. 

Songs: In addition to singing songs, they listened to classical and movement music

  • Good Morning Song
  • ABC
  • Oh, Mr. Sun
  • Do you know the Muffin man?
  • Head and Shoulders, knees and toes
  • Five Little Ducks
  • Five Little Speckled Frogs
  • The Wheels on the Bus goes Round and Round
  • Row, Row, Row Your Boat
  • Twinkle, Twinkle
  • Old McDonald
  • Open, Shut Them
  • Two Little Black Birds

These are the different activities we did today and the highlights of the week!

Special Reader: This week Marco's mom, Shana, came into our classroom and read a story to the children.  Marco appeared excited to have his mother engage with his peers.  Thank you, Shana!

Spanish: Classroom 1A will join us for music and Spanish

 

Art:

  • Exploring finger painting on different surfaces
  • Finger painting on canvas
  • The children continued painting bookmarks

Sensory:

  • The children engaged in a group activity making "Cloud Dough."  They each took turns pouring the ingredients.  They explored and experienced touching the flour, and baby oil, before and after they were mixed. 
  • Clay

 

We enjoyed a neighborhood walk and visited a store where they sell pumpkins.  The children touched and observed the small pumpkins!  We will soon my our class pumpkin!

Harry's grandmother came to visit!  

Circle time:

Some of the children did their self-portraits!  We sit one-on-one with a mirror, paper, and a sharpie marker.  The mirrors encourage children to look closely at the shapes of their facial features.  They observe and explore their image.  As they looked in the mirror, the teacher asked, where are your eyes, hair, and ears.  They pointed at their feature, or squeezed their ears, like Edith did.   As they look at their features: eyes, nose, mouth, and hair, they notice that each location and shape is different.   For example, the direction of their nose is different from their ears.  They learn to recognize themselves!  As they maneuver their writing tool, they form lines, circles and draw on specific areas on their paper.  Their continuous movement helps and builds fine motor skills and bilateral coordination skills as well.  The tool promotes the use of the pincer grasp and naturally strengthens the small hand muscles.    Providing opportunities, practice, stimulation, and encouragement to refine their fine muscles, will help them when they begin to learn to write.   Children are learning about self-awareness, and self-identification and also have fun, as they progress in their self-portraits.