Pants Free Dance Party

Despite our rain pants, we were still soaking wet today after playing and splashing in the rain puddles. The Beetles were excited for a pre-lunch diaper and undies dance party.

Children of all ages are naturally drawn to music. Children listening for a beat, the sounds of different instruments, tones, and lyrics are developing auditory discrimination. Music promotes creative development as children experiment with new rhythms, sounds, and movements.

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Tuesday May 26th,

All of the Beetles climb up onto the deck bench in the rain.
Grace "It's a bus."
Finn (singing) "Wheels on the bus goes round and round."
Layla "Beep, beep beep."
Finn (singing) "The Wheels on the bus goes round and round all around the town."
Reid "All aboard."
Marley "I am the bus driver."
Finn "I am the bus driver too."
Reid "You are the bus driver and you are the bus driver and you are the bus driver."
Grace "Baby on the bus- wah, wah, wah"
Layla (patting her back)- "Shhh shh shh."
Reid "We're here now... lets go. Ready, set, go."
Grace "There's a monster down there."
Marley "I see him."
Reid "Don't go down there."
Layla "Mama, mama, monster nice monster?"
Finn (still singing:) "The horn on the bus goes beep, beep, beep."
All the Beetles join in beeping.




Open-ended Art-
Young children tend to be more concerned with the process or the doing rather than they are with the end product. That's why children may draw all afternoon and yet still be unable to tell you what they drew. It is hard for us adults to look beyond the end product of an activity and see what the child is learning from the process.
The Beetles explored water colors today and experimented with how much water they should use to make the paints darker or lighter. They challenged their fine motor skills by holding the brush, rinsing it, and wiping it dry. They built their self confidence when they were finished by helping to clean up the mess they had made. And, yes, they did create beautiful watercolor art to hang on the fridge in the process. :)

Dead Bird

On our walk this morning we came across a dead bird. The Beetles were all very interested in looking at it and talking about how it died and why it is not moving anymore.

Toddler Play Time at the Kenney Home

The Beetle class enjoyed a snack outside on the benches today after visiting our elderly neighbors at the Kenney Home. Inter-generational relationships benefit both the elderly and the very young. Our Beetles are gaining more and more confidence to approach and interact with our new friends at each visit.

What makes us feel...

We showed the kids the emotion cards during story time before nap today and asked them to tell us about a time when they felt the same way that the kids on the cards seem to be feeling:
Torry – (Happy) I feel happy when I get ice cream and lollipops and when my mom says Max can come over to play.
Max- (Sad) I feel sad when I get punched in the face by Jackson but I feel better if he gives me a hug.
Quinn- (Angry) When somebody hits me I feel angry. Marley pushed me today but he asked if I needed anything to feel better. I feel better when nobody pushes me again.
Dorothy- (Silly) I feel silly when I make funny faces and when my brothers do really silly things.
Shai- (Shy) I don't ever feel shy like that picture. And that is not a boy, Max, it's a girl.
Marley- (Upset) When I get an "Ow" on my head. (He bonked his own head for a visual:)
Grace- (Happy) When my mom and dad give me kisses- I'm happy.
Kaito- (Friendly) I feel friendly if my friends play Star Wars with me and when somebody hugs me.
Jackson (Playful) Fingerpainting makes me feel playful.
Finn (Loved) I love my mom.

John and Layla were already asleep during story time.

Making Paste :)

We have used flour to make many things before... cookies, cakes, playdough and now paste. They used a visual recipe to make their own paste. They each explored the textures, shared their observations of how things felt and changed, and noted what happened when they added colors to it.

Kathy from Child Care Resources Comes to Visit

Emotion Cards-

Kathy brought us a great set of emotion cards. Carrie used them during circle time with the Beetles this morning. She asked questions about the children in the photos and the Beetles volunteered their own thoughts about how and why the children in the pictures were feeling different emotions. Oral language is very important. Talking gives children the opportunity to experiment with new words.

Playdough-

While working with the playdough this morning, Kathy explored the concept of size by asking the children to categorize their playdough balls according to their relationship to other playdough balls. She asked, "Is this one more or less?" and "Is this one big, small, or medium sized?"

Sorting-

Kathy also brought us some new sorting containers and small colored chips to sort. Marley picks up each disk and decides where to put it with other colors that are the same.


Torry takes her sorting to the next level by drawing colored circles on the edge of a piece of paper and lining up the chips in rows by color. When she is finished creating her rows she counts them together and practices writing the number of colored chips in each row.

Beetle Class Time

Thursday May 20th-
Writing:

Young children believe they are writing when they scribble and often "read" what they have just scribbled. The Beetles enjoy writing with all types of different utensils. Crayons, markers, and pencils all require a different amount of pressure on the paper and all make different types of marks.

Table Blocks:

Blocks are open-ended materials that stimulate young imaginations, provide choices for discovery and invention, and promote the development of problem-solving skills.

Water Play

Finn found Kaito's tiny skateboard in the yard and put it inside his water can.

"I put the skateboard in here." said Finn.
"I want to see it." said Reid.
"I want a turn too." said Marley.

What's Going On Out There?

Layla and Grace peak through the fence to watch Shai's dad, Nahum, and his friend, Antonio work on building our new fence.

"I see Shai's daddy." said Grace.
"Me, me" said Layla standing on her tip-toes to see out the fence hole too.

Releasing Our Class Butterflies Outside

Our learning about butterflies started three weeks ago when ten tiny caterpillars arrived in the mail in two small jars. We watched them as they ate the food in the jars and grew into big fat caterpillars. Then they built small houses around themselves called cocoons and stayed inside for about two weeks. This week we watched as they each emerged from their cocoons and spread their wings for the first time as beautiful butterflies. Today we watched as they each took flight. Even the one with a broken wing. :)

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From Seed to Sprout

The Centipede's window greenhouse sunflower seeds have sprouted roots and stems.
The kids gently unwrap their damp paper towels and plant their seedlings in soil. They could see how much the seed has grown from having just water and the sun to help it along. They saw how the stem and the roots grew out of the seed since a few still had the seed shell attached to the stem. Now their tiny plant needs more nurishment from the soil and to have earth for its roots to attach to. They carefully pressed the soil down around the roots nice and snug,and kept the stem and budding leaves in the open air.

Cutting Practice

During class time today the Centipedes had the option to work on some cutting exercises. They were enthused about cutting the straight, wavy, and zig-zaggy lines. It's challenging to turn the paper with one hand and use scissors with the other. Cutting helps them develop their fine motor coordination in thier primary hand and coordinate the use of their helping hand to manuaver the paper. The simple act of working on cutting a line engages their hand eye-coordination and their depth perception in a tactile way.

Monday - Monday

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