We all had a really nice visit at the Kenney Home today. Several of our regular visitors came along with some new ones today, so we went around and did introductions. As we learned the resident's names, they each shared which their favorite color is. The kids loved hearing who liked which color and shared how they liked the color too or if they knew someone else who had the same favorite color. It was a really nice warm up activity and showed how even though there are so many years between their ages, they can still have a lot of fun things in common. Take a look at how a simple question like, "what's your favorite color?" can melt the years away. | |||
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What's Your Favorite Color?
Our Windy Walk to The Park
The Centipedes have been asked to share ideas of some fun things they would like to do at school. We are opening up our schedule and routine to allow for some student directed ideas on how our days this week will go. There is a list of ideas they have come up with and we are voting on which ones to do and planning out how when and how we will be implementing their ideas. One idea was going to the Library so we planned that for Wednesday. A fancy tea party and baking are some others that they have shared. Today, going for a long walk and playing at the park was one of the big popular items so that is exactly what we did.
They had a great time running free in the field and playing tag and spiraling into the rainbow center for this picture before heading back to school. We braved the windy streets back to school to enjoy our lunch of warm chicken noodle soup.
Puzzles!
Today for class time the Beetles worked on puzzles. This helps them work on their hand-eye coordination and motor skills. We also talked about the shapes that they were working with and their color. Chloe points to the red trapezoid and Wiley takes a hold of it. Together we figure out how it should fit in our puzzle.
Zoe liked lifting up the shapes and putting them right back where they belong.
Katy works on the Animal Farm puzzle. She names all the sounds that each animal makes. The cow says 'Mooo'.
Solving Our Own Problems
Austin, Chase, and Finn spent most of class-time building a block "fortress castle ship" together this morning. While they were busy building the towers and the walls around their ship, I (Jena) came over to take a photo of their creation.
Just as I was taking the picture, Lena accidentally knocked part of Chase's wall down with her foot as she was walking by to get the the art table. Instead of intervening too much, I simply asked Lena to please talk to Chase about what just happened.
I was delighted to see them work out their problem with ease and understanding. Their conversation went something like this:
Chase- Lena, why did you knock down my tower?
Lena- My foot just did it because I was walking there. I can help you build it again if you want me to.
Chase- Oh okay. It's okay. We can make it again.
Back to playing, no big deal.....
Learning, Singing, and Talking Together
Beetles love to sing along during circle time. One of the their favorites is the Alphabet song. Zoe claps her hands after we are done singing.
Wiley tries to sing along and waves his hands in the air when the song is over.
Katy listens attentively as we sing our ABC's. When we are done singing together she begins to sing them by herself and her Beetle friends listen.
During circle time we also often look at a picture book that we made of all our school friends. Zoe was able to name almost everyone, she was most excited when we got to "Austin!". When we flipped the book to Zoe's picture, Katy began to smile and immediately said "Zoe". Wiley took a hold of the book for a closer look when he realized that it was his own picture.
Creative Minds Are Full of Ideas
The Centipedes have been asked to share some of their ideas of what they think would be fun to do at school. They have suggested going to the park, library, stores, but today they definitely liked the idea of getting to be creative and work with their friends. Check out below what choices they made.
Anna Lee's first choice was to head straight for the chalkboard where she created her own picture and used as many colors as we had.
Ava chose painting and wanted to work with just red and white for her masterpiece.
Austin was excited about using the four different colors we had available but seemed to prefer not to mix them.
Kaya appeared very focused on her painting and purposeful in her brush strokes.
Saige and Aliza first chose to work on a puzzle together. They helped figure out which piece went where and helped each other orientate the pictures so they fit just right.
They were so happy to complete their puzzle together and see all the princesses smiling at them.
Austin, Kaya, and Ava were excited to see the mystery image of the next puzzle as they worked together to figure out how all the pieces went together to make another picture.
Anna Lee, Lena, and Saige each took a turn with the paints next to make their masterpieces. Anna Lee chose to focus on just two colors this time and made yellow dobbs on her paper with a white brush to finish things off before she said, "All done!" Saige choose to use primarily blue and red. She shared how she found that she could make purple on her paper if she mixed them together. Lena used every color and watched how they mixed together on her paper. We had a great morning of sharing with each other and getting to express our creative ideas. We put our heads together to figure out how little pieces can come together to make a beautiful picture. Their paintings are drying now but soon will be up on display.
Beetles: Growing Up
As they get older the are developing new socials skills that will help them become great communicators and work together with their peers and adults. Part of learning about social skills is showing interest in others. As Katy plays with the baby dolls, Chloe walks up to her and sits next to her. Katy hands her a doll and they sit together putting their babies to sleep. Although there is no verbal communication between them, Katy knows that Chloe wants to play with the baby dolls and she welcomes her into her space.
As the day progresses the Beetles show more interest in playing together. Grant takes out the train with building blocks and Wiley walks over to join in his play. Katy and Zoe saw how much fun they were having together that they also chose to help build the train.
They all help carry their pillows out of the closet for circle time and wait patiently for Victoria to begin. They look forward to this part of their morning when they can share ideas, words, songs, and special time with their teachers.
New Year... New Creative Ideas
A new year, new ideas of what to do.... sharing and creating together.
Bodhi made shoes but he told us that first it was a road then he cut it and now it is shoes. His creative mind did not stop there, the shoes soon turned into rocks then dinosaurs. He made a smiley, scary "podasouraus" and a man. The man was Bodhi and he showed us how he jumps on the the dinosaur head. The dinosaur fell to pieces and he then put the pieces in a jail.
Lena was not as talkative as Bodhi she just kept smiling as she worked her play dough and then sprang up and said "It's a cookie" with a big smile on her face.
Austin told us he was making a "Torturloni" he explained that it is a really fast Cheetah but he was still making its face. As they worked they talked and shared play dough with their friends.
Chase made "food that you eat and cake" he used the popsicle sticks as his candles and was open to trading and sharing his play dough with his friends.
Anna Lee was busy making cookies and placing little toppings on them. She said she was going to share her cookies with us! Yum.
Kaya made a big ring to wear and was happy to share her play dough with her friends. She shared so many little pieces she ended up giving all her play dough away. Fortunately, her friends we very appreciative of her generosity and they they all gave her some of the play dough back.
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