The Brian Waite Band- 20,000 Volts Under the Sea

http://www.brianwaite.com/
This past summer the Tiny Tribe kids went to see the Brian Waite Band perform at the Seattle Public Library. We purchased their cd, 20,000 Volts Under the Sea, and the kids love it! It is one of our most requested cds for morning dance party.

This slideshow design personalized with Smilebox

Hullabaloo!

Group games like this one are great for young preschoolers who are learning how to take turns, share space, and follow the directions of a game. This game also reinforces shapes, colors, and large motor skills.

This free photo slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Happy Valentine's Day!

The toddlers and preschoolers were excited to distribute their Valentines to all of their friend's mailboxes today. We sang a special love-themed hello song during circle time too. Our new friend and teacher, Kara, will be bringing in a special Valentine's day treat for snack later .... cookies!

Make a picture slideshow

Baking Blueberry Bread

The Centipedes were so excited to bake bread this morning. They all took turns adding ingredients to our bread mix.

Layla helped to add 4 teaspoons of vegetable oil.

Alena added 1 cup of rice milk.

Grace added a second cup of rice milk.

Ezze added a third cup of rice milk to the mix.

Luka and Eli both each helped to crack an egg.

John and Finn took turns stirring the bread batter. They will all be taking a mini loaf of blueberry bread home to share with their families. Enjoy!

Playing a Memory Game

This morning during Centipede circle time we played a really fun game of memory.

We showed the kids some toys from around the room, covered them up with a blanket, and then secretly took one item away.


Then the preschoolers tried to guess which item was missing. We started with five items but quickly moved up to twelve because the preschoolers had such excellent memories.

Talking About Our Emotions

During Beetle circle time this morning, we used our photo emotion cards to get the toddlers thinking and talking about their emotions. We asked the Beetles to try and make the same expression as the child on the card. We asked lots of questions too, like.. What makes you happy? Why do you think the child in this picture is crying? What do you think happened to this little girl? Can you think of a time when you felt sad? When do you feel angry? What do you do when you get really mad so you will feel better?

Though their language skills are still developing and they may not be able to express themselves completely yet with words, it is still important for us to introduce the concept of feelings. A large part of our positive discipline philosophy is about accepting all emotions, helping children label them, and teaching children how to manage them.


Myla makes a happy face- cheese!

Saige makes a really awesome mad face!

Austin tries to make a really silly face.

Our Super Fun Thursday!

This picture slideshow customized with Smilebox

Our new buddy, Dolomite!

This is our friend, Dolomite. He is a sweet & gentle black lab and he lives just a couple of blocks away with Torry and her family. Torry is a special friend to us and a Tiny Tribe alumni that many of you will remember. Lately, Dolomite's been feeling a little older and a little more tired than usual. We've decided to go and get him on our morning walks once or twice per week so he can enjoy some exercise, sunshine, and fresh air. The Centipede class is really excited about it!

We all took turns holding Dolomite's leash today. He stopped to smell everything a lot and wanted to pee on lots of trees which the kids thought was pretty funny. We explained how dogs can smell other dogs and they want to leave their own scent behind too. :) Dolomite had so much fun on our walk that when we turned around to head back to his house he sat down on the sidewalk and refused to budge for a minute. We promised him treats and water back at his house so he finally obliged.

We gave him some dog bone treats and gave him lots of good pets all over, which he loved, before heading home. We don't know how much he understood but we told him we'd be back to see him again next week.

If You're Happy and You Know It!

Slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Decorating Our Valentine Mailboxes

Both the Centipede and Beetle classes continued to work on their Valentine mailboxes today during classtime. The Centipedes used collage materials, sequins, foam shapes, paper hearts, and glue while the Beetles used markers, crayons, and paint dobbers.

Myla


Austin

Nolan

Silas

Eli

Marley

Kenney Home

Picture slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Love, Love, Love, Love

We read this library book during circle time called, "All The Things I Love About You" by LeUyen Pham. After reading the book together we talked about Valentines Day and some of the things we love about the people and animals in our lives. All the Centipedes were excited to get started on their Valentine mailboxes during class time.

*We need more large formula containers, oatmeal containers, or shoe boxes if anyone has these- thanks! :)


Dorothy and Jackson

Finn and Reid

Layla and Quinn

Noticing Patterns in Our World

Patterning is a basic math skill upon which many mathematical concepts are based. By using everyday items in the world around us and objects from around the classroom we introduce the children to patterning that will give them a head start in mathematical thinking later on. This month on our February calendar we are creating a repeating pattern of pink and red hearts. Today during circle time we sat in a boy, girl, boy, girl pattern. This morning on our walk we found flowers in a window box that were planted in a pattern.


Pattern Basics:
•A pattern is only a pattern if it is repeated twice.
•The easiest patterns are those involving two variables (for example, boy, girl, boy, girl or red,blue, red, blue), referred to as an AB,AB pattern. More complex patterns include ABC, ABC; AABB,AABB; AAB,AAB; ABB, ABB; and ABCD,ABCD.

Math Concepts- Charting Our Ages

Today we created a chart to graph our ages. The Centipedes each took a turn coming up to write an "x" on the dry erase board under the correct column for their age.


We had two two-year old friends, one three-year old friend, and three four-year old friends here today. Everyone was able to draw their own "x" today. Check them out- they are getting pretty good at this!

(From left to right we have Finn, Layla, Reid, Quinn, Dorothy, and Jackson:)

We used these little people to represent each of the Centipedes so we could understand our addition problem by thinking about it visually.

2 + 1 + 3= 6