This week, we began measuring ourselves as part of our identity project. It was so much fun to watch the children begin measuring themselves and really take in the way they take up space within the world.
We continued our study of the violin and cello. The children loved learning about this stringed instrument and were able to identify concepts such as high vs. low and loud vs. soft while listening to the music. We continued this study throughout the week, and were delighted to hear the children exclaim “violin” or "cello" upon hearing the instruments!
We held our first fundraiser and sold smoothies to raise money for Texas, Puerto Rico, and the Caribbean. We raised $220 from our smoothies alone!
We made lava lamps with oil, water, alka-seltzer, and food coloring. Nicholas and Parker kept talking about the bubbles rising all the way to the top!
Making apple turn overs with Diane!
Playing peek a book in the gym!
Playing Ring Around the Rosie in the gym! There's lots of gross motor coordination in this game - to play you've gotta be able to walk sideways in a circle , which may sounds kind of silly, because as adults...we've been able to do this for years. But, for a two year old it's a pretty complicated process that requires lots of patience and concentration!
This week we used our whole bodies and especially feet to explore clay. We did a lot of pounding and pulling because we wanted to lift the clay off the paper. Lots of grunting and effort were involved in the process. We were super proud of our dedicated workers.
For literacy this week we read "Whose Knees Are These?" We started off our activity by singing "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes", discussed all of the things we use our knees for: walking, hopping like a bunny, riding a bike, and dancing! We then did a read aloud of "Whose Knees Are These?" and then put on our "scientist hats" and drew what we thought our knees looked liked. Drawing is a great tool in developing pre-literacy writing skills.
Our personalities and identities are flourishing this week, now that most of us are settled and comfortable at school. A word that has been popping up much more is "Mine." This is, perhaps, the first way we express ownership, desire, need and want. It's a way to communicate with our peers that something should not be taken away from us. Children recognize that certain toys, food, and objects are within their control and they feel free to use "MINE" to retain those things.
This has given us an opportunity to start exploring the concept of sharing and using our ability to make our friends happy. We are encouraging children to openly decide to give to others, or to use their words to let their friends know that they can have a turn soon. On a whole, we are doing SO well with these concepts, but it takes a while to settle into the routine. Especially when we finally get a chance with a special toy. We'll continue to work on sharing and caring throughout the school year so we can work as a cohesive and happy community of learners.
This week we have also talked a great deal about our emotions and how things make us feel. When we fall down, we can feel very scared or sad. When our Mommies and Daddies leave, it makes us feel sad and sometimes angry. When we go to the gym, we get excited and happy! How we feel and how we express it is such a big part of being human and of being social; it's a huge facet of identity and expression! Next week one of our goals is to create a feelings chart so we can further uncover ways to talk about our emotions.
We made a new self-portrait in our special books this week and the change in ability from the first week to now has blown me away! We are talking so much about ourselves, our bodies, and our features.
Our handprints were so much fun to play with- Jackson and Parker were especially curious about matching their hands against all of the prints to try to discover which one was their own. Some were too big, some were too small, and of course one was just right!
Another physical component of who we are is our height. Everyone was able to lay down on our chart to get measured! It was so much fun that many friends took four or five turns laying down on the paper. We've also started using unit blocks to measure our bodies and see how tall we are in another way. We love embedding mathematics into our play! Come in and check out our height chart!
One last identity component for the week: we have been doing such an amazing job learning everyone's name! Great job, 2A!
Thank you so much for helping us raise $220 toward the fundraiser for hurricane victims- we so appreciate your contributions! If you would still like to give, we are collecting but not making more smoothies. Thank you thank you!
Making Cucumber & Mango roll ups with Mitzi today
Gym play
Painting our numbers for a project
Making new connections
We got invited to a pre-k and 3B bake/lemonade sale!
Great news everyone- we will be sending photos via the blog each Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and will still focus on more detailed blogs each Thursday and Friday. This should help for those who wanted to save the photos and were having issues with Flickr.
Reminders: Invitations are going out for Charlotte's birthday party- please check backpacks and/or lunchboxes. Also, a permission slip for the apple picking field trip is going out today and tomorrow.
Here's a copy of the permission slip if you need it. (CLICK HERE)
We mixed oil, water, food coloring & alka seltzer tabs to make bubbles like a lava lamp!
Diane brought more apples from the farmer's market and we made little hand pies!
Painting with Qtips
Wow- there has been incredible growth and maturity in the 2A class in just a week and a half. Everyone is settling into the routine, are becoming more comfortable with teachers, peers, and activities, and are familiarizing themselves with the flow of the day. Our days are becoming very fruitful and productive already! Again, thank you so much for all of your support and help to transition everyone to school.
This week we continued to look at what identity means to each child. We want to start approaching this topic from a more physical view point. One activity we used to support this effort was making handprints. Each hand is a different size. Each child chose a different color for their print. Now we are hoping they will engage with these painted hands and compare and contrast their hands with the prints. We'll be recording conversation, questions, and discoveries next week as they see these handprints up on the wall for the first time.
We have also been noticing preferences that the children have, which is very much tied into their personality and identity. Some of the preferences are minor- keeping on shoes or taking them off, for example. Other times it's very distinctive- "NO, this one." We encourage children to make choices and voice opinions, and we are glad they are already comfortable enough to do this.
In addition to our project work on the self, we have also been up to very many sensory based activities. A sampling of which include: painting on sandpaper, making & engaging with oobleck (a mixture of cornstarch and water which creates a non-Newtonian substance balanced between solid and liquid), water play, sand play, using our motor and muscular skills to peel tape . . .and so much more.
"Up high! Up high!" - Parker, excited about the oobleck dribbling off of Rachel's hands, which he promptly caught and giggled about.
This week we continued to experience the violin and talked about the concepts of piano, forte, and crescendo. We listened to The Flight of the Bumblebee and made some very quick movements with crayons as we listened to the music.
For cooking, we all worked together to make Challah bread dough! You can find the recipe HERE (click). We learned a new song to encourage sharing and help us understand when our turn is finished- "We mix and we mix and we mix and we mix, we mix and then we stop!" It was wonderful to watch everyone pass the bowl to their neighbor as the song finished! We hope you're able to bake your bread and enjoy a sweet taste for the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashana. We read a story about Rosh Hashana and learned how to say Shana Tova, which means "Happy New Year" in Hebrew. This week we also had Diane come in and share apples, pears, and honey with us - apples and honey are also connected to Rosh Hashana and the hopes for a sweet new year.
Plus, we got outside and experienced the wind and what it does to our hair! We are working on concepts of weather and these photos help us relate to the language we use.
Have an amazing weekend, we will see everyone next week!
Wow! What a wonderful first week back at Buckle My Shoe. The 2A teachers have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know each and every little learner in our classroom and cannot wait to see what the 2017-2018 school year will bring!
Below you will find a few of this week's highlights and notes on why we are implementing our curriculum! We will be focusing on themes such as these throughout the course of this year.
Reuniting with old friends!
Finding wonder and joy within each other and our environment!
Our friends working alongside one another at the easel! Easel activities promote language development as the children are standing side by side one another. They can work togehter, comment on each other's work as their language progresses, and it builds on fine and gross motor skills.
Nicholas is never afraid to get messy!
Sharing some love in the 2A class - we've truly enjoyed watching our little learners take on such a loving role with one another
This week explored the water table as a means to a sensory exercise in addition to measuring, comparing, and contrasting. Sensory activities facilitate exploration and naturally encourage children to use scientific processes while they play, create, investigate and explore. The sensory activities allow children to refine their thresholds for different sensory information helping their brain to create stronger connections to process and respond to sensory information.
Self portraits encourage the study of one's identity - even at two we can start promoting individualism in our students.
(Also, side note - check out Mia's pincer grasp!)
The 2A class working together to make smoothies with peaches, banana, spinach, and almond milk! We had so much fun making these yummy concoctions! The skills learned from working together and team building are vital learning tools in human development. Within activities that build on team work, children are allowed the opportunity to share, listen, communicate, and work towards a common goal together. Through practice being a team member children develop confidence in their own abilities!
Max exploring the light table with his mom!
Charlotte was having a hard time separating from her mommy - and took great comfort in the 2A baby dolls. Whenever Charlotte was without her dolls and would become sad again, Emilio was sure to bring her the dolls to comfort her! We are so thrilled by Emilio's display of empathy and compassion for his classmate!
One of our literacy activities for this week was reading "Then the Rain Came Down" - we accompanied the read aloud by making rain sounds with our instruments prompting the children with questions regarding the story. By reading aloud and prompting children with questions, we are encouraging their receptive and expressive language skills.
As a follow up activity we painted a rain cloud, so that the children could further make meaning of the story and the world around them. Painting is also a wonderful pre-literacy tool in gaining fine and gross motor control while using a paint brush. It's also just really, really fun and messy!
Exploring clay for the first time with our students! The children enjoyed poking, prodding, squishing, and rolling their cars and trucks through the clay. Clay is a really great tool in strengthening fine motor skills, and is another wonderful way in furthering pre-literacy skills. In exploring materials such as these, we are encouraging children to eventually be able to hold a pen or pencil with control.
Parents, welcome to our 2A blog for the school year. Each Thursday the blog will be used to connect with you about our ongoing curriculum projects. The overarching "theme" for the year is Identity and Self. Our first focus is on the individual child and the traits that they exhibit and use to communicate with us. We want to figure out who the children are and how they are able to relate to others. We will work with similarities and differences, physical traits (hair and eye color, height), emotions and facial cues, and language.
Even though it's our first week, we have still been able to see so much from each and every child. We have quieter personalities that seek out the uninhabited spaces in the classroom, and we have the very excited and outgoing personalities bouncing around looking for other children to interact with. We have empathetic children who pat backs and give pacifiers to those who are feeling sad. It has been a joy seeing high fives and hugs being given spontaneously this week!
Some questions that we will explore as educators are: How does the development of language influence our ability to relate to others? How do we relate to others when we lack a broad vocabulary to communicate? How do others impact our emotions and thoughts? (We have seen a lot of this- we will feel fine but see or hear someone else crying and it triggers memories of why we are sad, too). Our questions will evolve, grow, and multiply and we will share them with you each week.
Do you have any questions that you wonder about how we form self identity as young children? Please feel free to comment on the blog or email me directly so we can continue to work on this research together!
Some ways we have been working on discovering our friends and their identities: Circle time songs that include each child's name. A name is a huge facet of identity. Children, especially, take a special love and pride in their name. It's usually the first way they explore literacy and understanding the alphabet- their letter is so special to them (first initial). We have been talking about preferences and things we like. We have also been looking at our family photos and talking a little bit about what makes a family and how our families are different.
This week we started our monthly self portraits, too. Self portraits are a really special time. Each child sits down with one teacher and they talk about what they see in the mirror. Today Charlotte decided that she has purple hair. Nicholas was so excited to talk about his two eyes. Nina eagerly made a round shape for her face after observing herself in the mirror. Everyone approaches it differently, but equally as thoughtful.
Our two playdates went amazingly well! We were able to get a glimpse into how the children are going to use their new space, and how we can best support them in it. The three of us had such an exciting time seeing the new little personalities that are going to form our class. While some children were timid, others were so outgoing and vocal! We cannot wait to get into the regular flow of the classroom day and start some fun and engaging learning moments with your children.