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Snack: Rice Cakes, Cheese & Strawberries
And then we ended our morning with one last swim together!
![]() Book: Hey, Al Snack: Rice Cakes, Cheese & Strawberries We started the day painting with water in the outdoor classroom... ...and harvesting radishes and lettuce. We will do some tastings next week. Anyone have a good recipe for radishes you would like to share?
And then we ended our morning with one last swim together!
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The children began their morning inside and were able to choose to play in the blue and orange rooms. As soon as the rain stopped, the children had an opportunity to play outside. The mud kitchen was full of water from the rain!! The Orange and Blue Room children visited the CHS Art Studio over the past few weeks to collaborate with the high school student for the cap project... Today, children brought their work with caps to our classroom studio...
![]() Snack: Raspberries and Popcorn Book: The Puddle Pail Today the children explored new materials, returned to previous play, and finished some projects in the studio. The Sensory Table Jack: Look! These puppies are so cute. Pretend these babies are hatching. I'll cover them with grass. Look baby puppies are being borned! Let's put them in their homes. We need people and a people house, because people take care of dogs. Morgan: Hey let's pretend it's wake up time. The Dramatic Play Area Harlow: So, let's play hotel. There is a baby room and Mia is the baby. I am the Sis. Over there (pointing to the computer table) that's the Chicago office. Our hotel puppy Hattie is a doggie that works there and protects our hotel. We can wash our dishes, for real, in our Chicago pizza parlor too! The Studio Harlow: I'm going to paint pictures from the book we read today, at the easel. See I've made a puzzle, a flower, and snowflakes. Mia: This is a pinata. I made it before today and today I added beans. Then I hung it in the house with Kath. We hung it high inside. The Message Center Zoey: Look how many dots and stickers I have. I have 1,2,3,4...39! I made a picture for my mom. It's a Mother's Day present. She has a star face! Isn't that silly? The Manipulative/Block Building Table Izzy: I'm building a cat home. It's needs a water bowl. We will have to get that from somewhere else. I'll need to borrow materials. Brady: I am building something with GIANT legs! The Block Area Birk: This is the Super Mega Boat. It's so powerful you can't destroy it. It has a pet crocodile that chomps the bad people. It also has a horse pet that eats hay. He makes everyone feel fuzzy. That means he makes people feel good. Music with Tara Tara has requested that the children make a list of their favorite songs, for next week's gathering. We would love for you to discuss this with your children and help us start a list, by using the comments section on this blog. Thank you.
We asked the children, "What makes your mom special?" Lucy: We snuggle together. Mia: That we get to have her hugs. Harry: She got me a cookie from her trip. Lauren: I like it when I go out with mom and grandma. I like when we do things together. Lily: I love her hugs! Suzette: She's nice. She let's me watch TV after school everyday. Harlow: She's nice to me. Theertha: My mom likes reading books. She likes watching TV. Eloise: She cooks for me. I love her mac and cheese. Izzy: I like her because she lets me get pinatas. I lover her hugs and her snuggles. Sigrid: She gives me kisses. Sometimes after school we go out to Bread Co. and eat lunch together. Birk: I love her because she sometimes lets me snuggle in her bed. Brady: I like her because she likes to play with me in the pool. She always gets on the raft and she let me sit on her lap on the raft. Eliie: She snuggles with me. I like when we go to the American Girl store together. Hattie: I like when I go to the library with my mom. We watch movies and have dance parties with my baby brother. Morgan: She is so beautiful! Carly: I love giving her the best kissies. Jack: She gives the best hugs and kisses. Have a wonderful mother's day!
Snack: Chips, Salsa, and Guacamole Book: Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes ![]() Katie: I'm going to come around and ask you where you would like to start your play, after snack. Zoey: Wait a minute, when's morning meeting today? Julie: Teachers decided that today we weren't going to have it, because everyone was already so involved in their work. Sigrid: So, we're never going to have one? Julie: What would you prefer? Sigrid: I would not like to have one, well maybe sometimes. Lucy: I don't want them ever again. Julie: Why? Sigrid: Because I'm so excited to already start our small group time. Lucy: They are too noisy. Mia: I like small meetings. Harlow: I just don't like the big meetings. I like going to my area. Izzy: I like to go to dramatic play, because I have plans in my head already. Today I need the babies to stay, but Jack really wants to be doctor. Today we tried something new. Instead of going to a full group morning meeting, after snack, we went to our first choice small group area (i.e. dramatic play, message center, studio, blocks, and outside). In those areas, we had some time to talk about what might happen. We often call this time a "planning meeting". We start by asking why they chose to come to the area and if they have any ideas they want to share. They talk, with each other, about what they might need and sometimes what we should put away. They might discuss a pretend role, a book idea, the type of structure they want to build, the materials they might need, or if the arrangement of the room and furniture should be changed. Then they played! At the end of the day, we gathered in a full group and shared some of our creations and experiences.
Harry: I made a book about this and you need to follow the lines. Carly: I want to share my book, Pony. Lucy: I played eagles. Sigrid: I made a book. It's about fruits. So, this is a grape under the tree and the sun is shining very bright and you leave it there for a long time and it turns into a raisin. Eloise: Lily and I played fast eagles. Theertha: Umm, I didn't play. I only make books. I made a book about me and Lily having fun and play at the park. Brady: I was playing superheroes today. Jack: I played squish the babies in the hammock. Hattie: Zoe and I played Chicago office and pizza Harlow: I played driving to Chicago hotels and pizza. ![]() Book: Snappsy The Alligator Snack: goldfish & strawberries The last group of children went to the CHS art room to work on our collaborative "cap" project this morning. These are some images of our children working with the high school students. We saw pieces that were already dry. Some of the pieces our classmates made and some were made by the high school students. The art teacher, Mrs. Sher, asked us to look at them and tell her what we saw. We saw, flowers, an egg, a tree, and lots of designs. We look forward to seeing the final installation and will have the opportunity to bring some caps back to our studio.
Book: Hooray, A Pinata! Snack: Pirate Booty & strawberries Many of the children noticed the changes right away.... The teachers took some time to re-arrange some of our spaces yesterday afternoon. The children had been making connections between our Dramatic Play area and our house in the outdoor classroom. We decided to bring these spaces closer together by moving Dramatic Play into the Orange Room near the windows. The Message Center then moved onto the carpet area in the Blue Room. At the beginning of morning meeting we took a walking tour through the rooms so everyone had a chance to see the changes. When we returned to meeting, we asked children what the noticed; Mia: Dramatic Play is over there and it used to be in the Blue Room. Brady: Message Center is in the Blue Room. Lily: The studio is in a different place. The tables are moved. Harlow: The Mr. Potato Head table is moved. It used to be over there. Suzette: The water colors table is moved. Birk: The books moved to the Blue Room. Hattie: Housekeeping moved. Morgan: The dinosaur books moved. Eloise: The snack tables moved. Jack: We changed Dramatic Play. Ellie: Dramatic Play has moved and we have more space. Izzy: There's a sewing table and the Message Center moved. We plan to open the Orange Room door tomorrow to see how the children make connections between the inside and outside Dramatic Play spaces.
![]() Book: Quackers Snack: Popcorn, Graham Crackers, and Smoothies In the mud kitchen, children used a piece of plastic in the dogwood tree to represent a pinata. They asked teachers if they could make"real" pinatas. They first used newspaper, flour, and water to make paper mache. A balloon was used as the mold for the paper mache. Today, Sigrid, Harlow, Izzy, and Mia came back to the studio to continue work on their pinatas. First, they cut a hole in the balloon, so it could deflate. Harlow, Izzy, and Mia decided to paint their pinatas first. Sigrid added packing peanuts to the inside of her pinata. Then, she taped the holes, so the packing peanuts would not fall out. Brady and Eloise worked with recycle materials and loose parts to create different animals.
![]() Book: Give That Back, Jack! Snack: Nilla Wafers & carrots What a great day for a walk! We walked (all uphill) to the Family Center on Gay Avenue. A Clayton police officer helped us cross the street. We played on the playground, had a picnic lunch and walked the Nature Trail. Thank you to the adults who walked along with us!! ![]() Book: Pete The Cat and His Magic Sunglasses Snack: Rainbow Goldfish and Cucumbers We started our morning with a walk to Tree Top Playground! When we returned from the park, we opened the doors to the outside classroom as a choice for small group time. A group of children became interested in making "cookies" and their plans inspired new ideas and materials for their outdoor play.
Zoe: We're making cookies, but we don't have an oven like inside. Ellie: We could maybe ask to bring the oven outside. Could we Katie? Sometimes when we need something we can just ask to go get it. Katie: That would be okay with me. I wonder if you might need anything else? It sounds like you might be coming up with a plan for play. Brady: We could really use a table and chairs. Let's go look. Katie will you help us move the really big things we need? Katie: I can do that and thank you for asking. Ellie: So what we have is a plan. It's a plan to bring some dramatic play outside. But, could we put it by the sandbox and the tunnel? Brady: Why? Is it because that's a messy place? Hattie: So is the mud kitchen. The mud is gross and we don't want it on toys from inside! Katie: I wonder if your plans have changed? Ellie: Well, we could use the real house like a house and then the dramatic play items wouldn't be near the messy sand and mud. Brady: It's like our shoes. When we go inside, we don't want to bring the messy mud into our classroom. So, maybe the toys are the same thing. Lucy: Do we really get to go inside and bring some things outside? Ellie: Yes, we made an agreement and have a plan. Lucy: Okay! Sigrid: We need more food. Izzy: Wow, I like to do this and how about a phone? Sigrid: We need a pool in our backyard! It will need a diving board too. But be careful so you don't break your legs! Harlow: I can help. |
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This blog is created by Julie Abeles, Susan Goldwasser, Katie Graham and Kath Poppe, teaching team for the Family Center @ CHS. Archives
April 2016
Teacher Professional Development
You may know that the early release Fridays are designed for teacher professional development. This is a book the Early Childhood team of teachers have been studying this semester. Other professional development topics this fall have included; literacy & read alouds, health, wellness & mindfulness, the language of clay and becoming a reflective teacher.
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