Centipedes: Party Crowns, Roberta's Birthday and Carrie's Last Day

Today, the Centipedes have had a really busy day! Unfortunately, today is Carrie's last day, and we'll all miss her a lot. To the left is a great picture of her with all of the Centipedes. We wish her the best of luck on her new adventures, and we love you!

During class room time, the Centipedes hung out with Jenna and made surprise birthday crowns for a little party we were going to have after lunch to celebrate Roberta's birthday!

Jenna took Luka, Layla and Myla to the store to pick up some cupcakes that we were going to eat, after everyone ate a sufficient amount of peas at lunch time! ;)

  Cupcake party!

Name that Tune with Bonnie

Bonnie brings a wealth of musical experiences and exposure to share with us during the hour we have with her. From musical instruments, songs and stories from around the world, to some of the classics new and old, and then beyond with her rich love of sharing how music creates feelings and memories for us all. Today was some of our graduates last Bonnie day and she did a review of some favorites from John Williams. Do you recognize his music, can you name where it's from and enter the magical world that he creates.... watch as the children do.

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Play Dough: Cupcake Making for Eleanor

Our class time choice today at one table was experimenting with play dough using popsicle sticks, rollers and letter stamps. The other choice for class time was a table decorated with flowers

Beetles: The Alphabet and Our Names

Today during circle time, the Beetles focused on the alphabet and the ways in which our names are spelled.  Above is a video, of Roberta and the Beetles singing the song.  Using the alphabet toy we have, in which there is a little figurine for every letter of the alphabet, the Beetles talked about the first letters of their names.

Eggplant for Eva!  Star for Sammy!  Kite for Kaya!  Zebra for Zoe!

Roberta: This is a kite.  It is spelled K-I-T-E.  Does anyone's name begin with the letter "K"?
Kaya: Me?
Roberta: Kaya, you're right.  Your name does begin with a "K"!

Here is our new friend Sam!  He's Eli's younger brother, and he recently started.  Here is a photograph of him looking down at his star!  He helped Roberta put the figurines back in the alphabet toy and really enjoyed singing the songs.

The Waddler Stage- One Year Olds

Grant is figuring out how to move, climb, push, pull, and manipulate his body and his environment. Babies of his age are developing a real personality and will reward us with smiles, laughter, funny faces, and affectionate snuggles.They have opinions about things and try to communicate with sounds, gestures, and eye-contact.

Wiley delighted in playing peek-a-boo through the tunnel. He's not walking quite yet, but first steps and first words are exciting events that will occur during this next year. A greater sense of independence begins to develop as children crawl, walk, run and climb with greater skill.

You may notice that waddlers, like Zoe, at this age, love to imitate everything - pretending to talk on the phone, make a birthday cake, or feed a baby doll. Growth during this time is rapid. Their brains are like sponges, billions of brain cells, called neurons, are connecting to help children build a useful brain. The network of brain connections influences language, memory, problem solving, and  intellectual capacity. Most of these connections are made in early childhood with the first year being so busy!

Stamps and Markers

Today the Beetle's had a great time going crazy with the markers and stamps during class time. We taped a large piece of construction paper out on table and set out markers and stamps for the Beetle's to choose from.

Zoe loved opening the markers then snapping the cap back on.

Kaya drew a different design with a new color on every empty spot! :)

Katy loved the bird and cloud stamps. She had fun drawing over them with the yellow marker.

Zoe was so excited to see a bird appear after she stamped it down!

Beads, Tissue Paper and Glue!

During class time today, the Centipedes had the option of beading or collaging. At the collage station, they worked with glue, cotton balls, tissue paper and stickers. All which ranged in size and texture for them to choose from and work with to manipulate and design their collage. This is a great activity because it leaves so many creative choices up to the child to make. It's fun to watch the kids develop different ideas using the same materials to create their own unique piece.

Beading is a great way for the kids to create and recognize patterns. By using the different shapes and colors of the beads, they can make any type of pattern they would like.

Layla chose to create a bracelet using pink, purple, blue and yellow. She carefully decided which color went first and how many of each she wanted.

John wanted an all blue necklace, including the string!

Lena chose to make an collage using mostly the pink white and red tissue paper. She had a ton of fun squirting out the glue too!

Eleanor and Saige compared ideas about their collage by telling eachother what color stickers they were using and where they were placing them on their paper. They built off eachothers ideas and made great collages. :)

Practicing Our Writing and Creating Books

Toddlers Free Play- Each of them in thier own little worlds

Self-Help Skills- Growing Up and Becoming Independant

Busy Bodies, Busy Brains

This is Sam, but anyone who knows his big brother, Eli, can already tell. :) Today during class time the Beetles explored play dough and puzzles.

Some of the younger Beetles are still newly exploring this medium and enjoy poking into it with sticks and making holes.

Some of the older Beetles have started to manipulate the play dough. They pull it into pieces and label it, creating objects like Eva's "rocks".

Anna Lee's play dough was a birthday cake with two candles. Her birthday is coming up in early September. She enjoyed pretending to blow out her candles and sang "Happy Birthday!"

Kaya wanted to cut the play dough with her knife and asked for help rolling it into a long "snake" so she could ten chop it into little pieces. She practiced rolling too but it's not easy to figure out how much pressure to use, she's learning quickly though.

Sam was more interested in stacking his animal puzzles pieces into a tower, the putting them back into the puzzle. His using his own internal drive and desire to explore the materials how he chooses.

Zoe is building her fine motor skills and problem solving skills. First, she has to figure out where the piece goes, then she needs to use her fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination to turn and place the piece into the hole.

Eva worked on a challenging puzzle. All of the pieces in her puzzle are the same size and shape. Because all of the pieces fit in all of the same holes, Eva used critical thinking skills to determine which shape created the belly of which animal.

Anna Lee took the animals out and put them back in many times. Repetition for toddlers builds pathways in their brains. Anna Lee made each of the animal sounds as she played.

Seattle Public Library Summer Reading Program- Part Two

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Seattle Public Library Summer Reading Program

The Tiny Tribe kids are heading back to the public library tomorrow to return our books and hand in our summer reading certificates. "Reading" books independently and being read to are always a huge part of each child's daily experience at school.

This week we are focusing on books and reading even more than usual. Both the Beetle class and the Centipede class spent a good portion of their circle time's today reading together.

Books open up a whole new world of imagination for kids. Being read to from an early age can jump-starts a child's vocabulary. The preschoolers are very excited to turn in their certificates tomorrow and receive a free book!