The first two days back have been full of opportunities to rekindle friendships and explore new aspects of the classroom in Room 4. We also have a few new children, so it has been great to see how the children are now expanding their relationships with one another to include the new children. Sometimes children switch days, too, and new friendships are formed. Our song at the beginning of the day, “Who Took the Cookie from the Cookie Jar?,” has been helping children learn and remember names. Our book at the end of the day has been reinforcing friendship skills, too. It’s called The Duckling Gets a Cookie by Mo Willems.
We have been doing a lot of observing of the classroom and how the children use the materials. A new area called the “game station” has been a big hit! It is full of different kinds of game pieces and games. The children have been exploring the spinners, sand timers, and dice. These are great tools for playing games, but they also involve mathematics skills.
The children have still been interested in creating structures in the classroom. There are two posts on Facebook that contain photos of some of the things they have been doing in the block area. We hope that you enjoy these photos (no Facebook account is needed to view them):
Photo set 1: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.647328051993675.1073741918.213823248677493&type=1
Photo set 2: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.647805455279268.1073741920.213823248677493&type=1
The children have also been engaged in other things like visual and performing arts. There is a newly configured art studio space outdoors and the children have been using it quite a bit (and the one indoors!). The piano was also a big hit today. Here are some photos for you:
Photo set 3: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.647805121945968.1073741919.213823248677493&type=1
It has been a great first two days! The children and teachers are getting into the new small group routine, which has been fun! The pencil group has been drawing what they did during their winter breaks and sharing with their classmates what they did while at home while the teacher takes dictation of what they say. The crayon group has been working on self-portraits. The paintbrush group has been exploring paint in the art studio.
We hope you enjoy hearing about these first two days. We can’t wait to see where the rest of the semester takes us.