The School Year Begins!
This month we kicked off our school year, welcoming new friends and sadly saying goodbye to others. August was busy and fun! We had a blast revamping our classroom and play yard, and introducing new materials and interest areas! For curriculum, both classes explored different modes of transportation, discussing different types of vehicles people use for travel, sending freight, etc. No matter how many times we talk about cars, buses, trucks, trains, helicopters, etc…it never gets old!
Toddler Group (Ms. Lam’s group)
During our group activities, the toddlers identified different modes of transportation and various vehicles used for each mode. For example, during circle time Ms. Lam would ask one of the
children “do cars drive on the grass, in the air, or on the road”? They would then place the car onto the picture where they thought the car belonged. The “Car Washing Station” was one of their favorite activities where the children activated their sensory skills, using soapy water to clean our outdoor vehicles/”cars”. Activities like these, teach children to share use of material and space. They also encourage whole body movement skills such as balancing, bending, reaching and stretching. Another one of the toddler’s favorite activities was the Monster truck painting. In this activity, they would roll the monster truck down the slide, creating a masterpiece! This involved fine motor, hand eye coordination, and color recognition skills.
children “do cars drive on the grass, in the air, or on the road”? They would then place the car onto the picture where they thought the car belonged. The “Car Washing Station” was one of their favorite activities where the children activated their sensory skills, using soapy water to clean our outdoor vehicles/”cars”. Activities like these, teach children to share use of material and space. They also encourage whole body movement skills such as balancing, bending, reaching and stretching. Another one of the toddler’s favorite activities was the Monster truck painting. In this activity, they would roll the monster truck down the slide, creating a masterpiece! This involved fine motor, hand eye coordination, and color recognition skills.Here are some of the songs, books, and rhymes the children enjoyed:
- Nursery Rhyme – “5 Little Cars Jumping on the Road”
- “Sheep in the Jeep” by Nancy E. Shaw Illustrate: Margot Apple
- “Little Blue Truck” By Alice Achertle, Illustrate: Jill McElmurry
Preschool Group (Ms. Angelina’s group)
This month Ms. Angelina’s group also learned about transportation. The group talked about tires being an important part of
allowing vehicles to move. Each child shared the type of transportation they use to get to school, e.g. some friends take the train, many friends use a car. The children shared that they sit in a special chair in their parent’s car, so we discussed the importance of a car seat and their safety.
allowing vehicles to move. Each child shared the type of transportation they use to get to school, e.g. some friends take the train, many friends use a car. The children shared that they sit in a special chair in their parent’s car, so we discussed the importance of a car seat and their safety.Here are some of the songs, books, and rhymes the children enjoyed:
Next Up!
In September the preschool group is also exploring the “All About Me” topic, continuing work on name recognition, exploring unique traits about each classmate that makes them special. We like to begin each school year with this topic, to focus on self-appreciation and promote deeper bonding among classmates.
our winter break. Once we settled in, things in our classroom took off!
becoming a chrysalis! The little ones even took turns guessing when they would see the chrysalis. What a fun way to introduce life sciences to our toddlers .
their own sensory bin, using the cups to scoop and transfer the lentils over to the other cup. This activity helps develop hand-eye coordination, and gives exposure to different textures and sounds as they poured the lentils from one cup to another.
Spiders, Ladybugs, and Butterflies. Ms. Lam will be reading “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” for circle time and will try to set up an actual lifecycle of butterflies for the children to observe.
together.
a chance to husk corn! Once they were done husking the corn (putting fine motor skills to work), they helped Ms. Lam put it in the Instant Pot to steam it and enjoy a yummy treat. The friends also had an opportunity to learn about the lifecycle of seeds. They got to see what a seed looks like, by exploring an apple that was cut up. They engaged their sensory skills as they removed the seeds from the apple, touching them to see how they feel. Because the children were so into the farmer and farm animals, we will continue to learn about the farmers in December.
excited to learn about some of the animals that live on a farm, as well as some of the foods that we get from the farm like corn, apples, and pumpkins. To expand on the topic of foods grown on a farm, we shucked, cooked, and ate corn-on-the-cob. The children also tasted different color apples, and made a no-bake pumpkin pie treat that they loved! These cooking activities are a great way for children develop cognitive and mathematic skills, by measuring and mixing ingredients and following the steps needed to complete the recipe. Regarding woodland animals, we learned that raccoons, squirrels, rabbits, owls and bears all live in the woods. We will continue to learn more about these animals in the coming months. Friends read the “The Farmer and the Dell” book and enjoyed singing the accompanying song, followed by conversations about things that happen on the farm.
classroom for the occasion. Naturally the children were excited to share about their costumes for trick-or-treating, and enjoyed the yummy treats from the festivities. Our first annual Fall Fest was certainly a success! We had so many of our past, present, and future families show up to enjoy the day. That was followed by our Halloween Parade in the office space. Thank you to all of the families who were able to participate, we had a BLAST!
explored the topic of spiders, learning they have eight legs, are hairy, and are not usually harmful to humans. We also learned about bats. We discussed how they are nocturnal (active at night), use sonar (sound) waves when hunting prey, and sleep upside down. While the focus was on Halloween, the circle time lessons were about taking the “scary” out of these subjects, while learning more facts about the subjects. We also addressed monsters, what they are and do we really need to be afraid of them? We also talked about the difference between a pumpkin and a jack-o-lantern. The children enjoyed finger painting, gluing, and using our imagination to turn everyday objects into beautiful works of seasonal art.
Friends explored many new topics and discovered new abilities along with it. In the classroom – Ms. Angelina introduced our new “Writing Center” that features dedicated space for friends to practice recognizing and writing letters and numbers, how fun!! Even our smallest friends enjoyed practicing to use writing utensils, working on their fine motor, pincer grasping skills.
