Taking On Tuesday!

January 8, 2014

 The transition back to school has been  seamless! The growth and maturity is clearly observed as we have experienced these first few days back after a long winter break.  The children are interacting with each other in more collaborative ways and we have noticed that they are playing in small clusters throughout the day.  We began our morning with a few new Choice time activities and our children were totally thrilled at the choices today! An invitation to explore water was created at one of our Choice tables and the children loved mixing, pouring , filling jars and experimenting with the water in individual tubs. We put soap and small plastic animals in the tubs to further extend this exploration. 

Math Games

Donny's Dad, Don had a few extra minutes this morning and was able to spend a  little time in our classroom with us.  Donny was so happy to share his school life and friends with his dad and the children loved getting to know Don better. The children have been more interested in board games lately and we decided that this would be a perfect opportunity to play a game .  We have been talking at length about shapes over the past several weeks, as our study of building has developed. Playing Shape and Color matching game is a wonderful way to support this area of our curriculum.  Some of the skills that the children were able to practice through playing this game were shape recognition, color recognition and visual discrimination.  Playing board games  involves taking turns and cooperative social skills which were clearly observed during this time.  We played this game in the Math Center and after the game, a few children were interested in working with the magnetic number puzzle board. 

Art Class With Sam

When we walked into Sam's studio this morning, we found that the Cardinal class had not forgotten our Art Class routine over break. Everyone put on a smock at the door and found a seat already set up for us along the art room tables. The first thing we noticed were the water colors set up between our papers and since water colors is something all of our Cardinals love to do, we got started right away. As we created works of art with our watery paint brushes, Sam revealed that today's project had another part to it! She began putting in front of us all sorts of different objects along with trays of paint in the three primary colors we have been learning about this year. She told us we would then be able to do some printing over our water color pieces! Everyone jumped right into this printing project and the beautiful works of art that came out are sure to amaze.

 Trash Can Sculpture

Interest in working on this larger than life sculpture has been enthusiastic! Please stop by and enjoy the art with us!  We have beads and pipe cleaners near the sculpture for you and your child to enjoy together!

The Cardinals are back in business...

Today the children were excited to return to school and they were eager and ready to dive into the classroom to talk, bond and play with their peers. Immediately, a group of Cardinals visited the library rug and started to look at a collection of books that had been displayed on the rug.  They chose their favorite books and snuggled up on the big comfy chair to read together! The joy and delight in seeing each other this morning was a reflection of the friendships and bonds that have evolved   throughout our classroom. What a fantastic way to re-enter the 2nd half of the school year!

Our building study took off just where we had left it as a few of us began to bring in our creations from the sticks and wooden shapes that were sent home. We invited the children to bring in their creations all this week to share with the class and help us begin to expand our discussion around buildings and see what other questions might arise. The spirit of building spread to different centers as well as children were seen cooperating in the Magna Tile center and working with goggles, hammers, nails, glue and wood in the studio area to create wood  structures. We also used skinny tubes and small connectors to create objects and representations.  For example, the children connected the long straws together to make numbers, structures, and carousels.  

 The group gathered together for a short Morning Meeting. We shared some experiences from Winter Break and some of our wooden sculptures. We  talked about the name of the new month and year and Paula showed us what the date looked like in print with letters and numbers!  The children are beginning to recognize sight words and they became very excited to accurately 'read' words from our chart paper!  The children take pride in their own growth and development and we feel so fortunate to be able to experience this joy with them in our classroom.  The children especially loved when we kept saying, " Did we walk into the wrong classroom ? Is this really the kindergarten class?"

Also at Morning Meeting, a new cooperative art project was introduced with colorful wastebaskets, beads and pipe cleaners. The children worked side by side as they experimented with the layout of each piece and discovered ways to connect each of the baskets  using pipe cleaners as an attaching tool. Once they had a sturdy structure with multiple levels, the children showed impressive fine motor coordination as they began adding details to each pipe cleaner with beads. This interest was seen at the table and on the rug as groups of children traveled back and forth, cooperating and showing patience with their careful placement of each new piece.

After enjoying our Choice Time and spending some time exploring outside in the welcoming sunny weather, we closed our morning together with journal writing. We sat down to talk about special experiences, visits, and happenings over Winter Break. Then, we sat down at the table and began drawing pictures of our winter break experiences. After our drawings were complete, we dictated our stories to the teachers. We had a wonderful morning together reconnecting with each other and continuing to express ourselves through conversations, interactions and play. Welcome back in the New Year 2013!