Dear Families of Room 1:
We are so excited to begin our third week with you and your children. We have some exciting things planned for the next couple of weeks.
ENVIRONMENT: Our environment is in the process of being updated. Here are some of the things that we have added, based upon the initial observations we have made of the children during weeks 1 and 2.
Science/Discovery: We have added some color paddles so that the children can explore color and light (physical science). We have also added magnifying glasses because they are useful science tools to have in the classroom. We noticed that the children have been interested in the magnets on the teachers’ name tags. Therefore, we also added large magnet wands into the classroom.
Kitchen area: In our dramatic play kitchen area, we added large utensils since we observed the children consistently using the one we originally had available to them.
Dress up: We put out more shoes instead of hats (we kept one hat for now). We are planning to add things that they might like to put in the bags and baskets that we have available for them to carry.
Blocks/construction: We talked about introducing the children more to the unit blocks. They just started using those blocks on Friday. We also plan to add some large cars and trucks instead of the small ones.
Art: The children are exploring cause and effect and making marks. We plan to put out watercolors with big brushes at the easel. We also want to add more paper and chalk. They have been using the printmaking items, so we would like to add new items that make different kinds of prints and fingerpaint for a different texture.
Music: The children have been using everything in this area, so we want to keep it the same for consistency and repetition. Ms. Laura plans to bring in her flute to play for the children sometime soon, too.
ROOM DONATIONS: There are some things that we would love to have for our classroom. The first is something small: bubble wands of all shapes and sizes! We have found that bubbles have been a huge interest of the children and we want to build on this investigation.
We are also looking for a small fish tank and fish. We talked about pets that might be fun for the children and fish would be great! We know that sometimes families have things like fish tanks in the garage or storage area, so we wanted to check with all of you first to see if any of you had a tank you would like to donate. Please talk with Ms. Laura if you do so that we can coordinate the process of getting a tank set up for the children.
We have noticed that almost all of the children have shown an interest in birds. It’s a great thing because we have a lot of birds visit our yard. If anyone has a bird feeder to donate, we might try to hang one outdoors to encourage more birds to visit. We are also looking for children’s inexpensive binoculars that we could put in the science area so that children could look for birds and other creatures through the window when we are indoors.
GATHERING OPPORTUNITIES: The children are learning the routine in the room. We have two “gathering opportunities” in Room 1. One is a music time before snack. The other is a literacy time at the end of the day before pick up. We have been singing and dancing to “Slippery Fish” as our song for the first group and plan to continue that. Ms. Laura may also try playing “Alouette” (a French song about a bird) or some other songs on the flute at some point soon, if the children seem interested.
At the end of the day, we have been looking at the children’s journals. Each child now has a book with photos from school in it. We are working on getting better cover photos so that we can make covers for the books. The teachers will also work on adding some descriptions of the photos at some point. For now, we wanted each child to have photos of them enjoying their time at school. It has been great seeing the school photos added to the books with the family pages in them. The children often carry the books around with them and talk about their families. Now that the books contain photos of home and photos of school, they truly create a home-school connection!
We hope that you had a great long weekend. We will see you all soon! If you have questions, please ask a teacher in Room 1!
– The Teachers of Room 1: Ms. Laura, Ms. Amanda, Ms. Caroline, Ms. Chandler –
