YAY FOR OVERCOMING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES! Here's our pics from today!

            We had one teacher (me, Arielle) and four pre-tots  (Clara, Asher, Wynn, and Olive.) Since it was just me and the four of them I wasn’t able to spend as much time documenting (especially in the afternoon) and taking pictures as I would if I had a second teacher, so I apologize about today’s report being somewhat shorter than usual. However, we still had a great day!

            During snack this morning Toni and Ann, a parent who was checking out green sprout and interested in enrolling her pre-tot, hung out with us. We had flowers and plants on the table and definitely more pre-tot faces sitting around it than earlier this week. We did circle time after snack (I’m getting the routine down!) The first time I said, “circle time,” Olive instantly ran to the carpet and sat down and Asher followed her. It’s great to have Asher back in the classroom, as he was previously in the pre-tot room during the summer and knows the routine very well. He set an excellent example for his younger and newer classmates today. Thanks, Asher!

            During circle time we discussed the calendar and sang the Hello song, as usual. Then we moved on to singing Wheels on the Bus, which Olive, Wynn, and Clara enjoyed, but Asher seemed rather tired and laid down during the song. I decided we should join the toddlers on the playground instead of going to the deck today so that our sleepy friends could enjoy a more stimulating, action-filled time with the community before lunch. I was very proud of my little friends for making their way down the ramp to the playground. Olive actually walked all the way down by herself, without holding the railing! Yay!

            When we got outside the toddlers were wrapped in streamers! Their teachers, Dom and Jackie, held up a mirror for them to look at themselves covered in the purple and red paper. The pre-tots were of course interested in what was going on and enjoyed feeling the streamers, which turned out to be a great sensory experience for them. Olive’s interest was held the longest in the exciting activity. Clara moved onto exploring the big playscape and proudly made her way all the way up and down it. Wynn played with (and tasted) some chalk, and Asher walked around, viewing the scene that was taking place. He got lots of love from Dom and was the one who decided when it was time to go eat lunch. We all followed him inside and he showed us how to take off our shoes and wash hands before sitting down at the table.

            During lunch my friends did an excellent job of feeding themselves while I set up the room for nap. Usually Cherokee and I will split the jobs of eating with the tots and organizing nap mats, but the kids were very self-sufficient and allowed me to multitask easily. I was very pleased with Clara’s ability to eat all of her lunch by herself and remain somewhat clean. Wynn had a big party with his food J and by the time he was done he was already falling asleep. A few times he tried to grab for Asher’s food, but Asher did a great job of telling him “mine” and using his words to communicate to Wynn. Olive and Asher didn’t seem incredibly hungry so I planned to reintroduce their lunch to them during snack/Spanish class. A lack in hunger is possibly an affect of the full moon, as I have noticed that during these times both adults and children seem to be a little thrown off. I’m not sure if that’s the case, but it’s what I’ve gathered from my years teaching experience.

            Getting everybody down for nap was very easy. Possibly this is another affect of the full moon, as even I have weirder dreams around this time.) Everybody was very tired after eating so they fell asleep fast.

            Leona came after nap today for another fabulous Spanish lesson. The children love singing so much, which makes Leona’s song-based teaching very effective and fun for all. She brings great visuals, too (large poster boards with the song lyrics and pictures for the tots to view and teachers to use when singing along.) At the three other schools I’ve worked at I’ve never seen a Spanish teacher teach in this manner, but this is by far the best way to introduce the language to such young children, in my opinion.

            We also explored chalk today, and worked on not putting it in our mouths. They used it on construction paper, the chalkboard wall in the classroom, and on the playground. I offered both large and small-sized sticks of chalk.

            Tomorrow I will not be here, so Cate will be subbing. She has subbed here for much longer than some teachers have been around and is great with the kids. I’ll be leaving her some notes on how to run this wonderful classroom of such amazing children. I’m sure it’ll be a fantastic Friday. Yay for community music circle tomorrow!

See you on Tuesday! (Monday is a holiday so we will be closed.) It’s been such an awesome week with the pre-tots! I’ve really enjoyed getting to know them and their wonderful families, too! You guys rock!

*Thanks for your patience while I experienced my technical difficulties this week involving uploading the photos to the blog! I’m getting this routine down now! Woo hoo!

        Today we had one teacher (me, Arielle) and two pre-tots in our class (Olive and Wynn.) However, we spent an hour with Hunter, who was here from 8:30-9:30 for a play date! We all had tons of fun together and Hunter showed us how she could walk on her knees, something I’ve never seen a child do! She actually took her first step last night! She’ll be starting in the class in September. Her brother, Tristan, is in the primary class. Olive greeted her very sweetly (“hi!”)

            After snack we spent some time exploring seashells, our sensory objects of the day (I’ve been trying out objects found in nature with them so see what they really like.) Olive enjoyed holding them and walking around with them. A few times they were dropped and broke, but that wasn’t a big deal. She picked up the pieces and handed them to be. Wynn was interested for a very short period of time and more interested in other objects around the room.

            We did some free play afterwards. Having only two pre-tots allowed me to apply contact paper to Wynn’s family portrait and lower it to their height. He loved seeing pictures of himself and had a big smile on his face whenever I would point him out. I also lowered Clara’s, which he was very interested in. I explained to him that he was looking at pictures of Clara and her brother, Faustin. I ran out of contact paper and have made a note to myself (I’ve made the fridge door my new “note to self” area, as I am a big time note-taker) to get more contact paper so I can apply it to Olive’s family poster and lower it on the wall.

            We had a quick dance party and then, while relaxing music played in the background, we did circle time. We went over the calendar, sang, and talked about the newly lowered family photos. Then the two engaged in more free play. They were really enjoying spending that time in the classroom (playing with practically every set of toys) so I did not rush them immediately onto the deck today.

            Once we did make it onto the deck, we enjoyed the windy and cool weather (I’m guessing it’s coming from hurricane Issac.) I brought the seashells out there and Olive and I played a game of counting them as we dropped them into a bucket. Then she shook them around in there and got a kick out of the sound it made. Afterwards she proudly sat on the fire truck bike (backwards) and used her feet to rock it back and forth (probably in an attempt to make it go forwards.) Afterwards she had fun finding as many spinning gadgets of the bikes as she could, spun each as Wynn watched.

Wynn attempted to pull himself on top of the playscape but shortly afterwards he returned to Olive’s side. He’s been very interested in her hair today and I’ve been working with him on giving her gentle touches, which she doesn’t seem to mind. He spent lots of time exploring every inch of the deck today and was fascinated by objects that blew around in the wind. I’ll keep this in mind when planning an activity in which we can use a box fan to create our own wind.

They did a good job at staying on their nap mats after waking up from nap today! We’ve been working on staying down until nap is over. Since both children only nap for about an hour to an hour-and-a-half each day, we had plenty of time for practicing this patient behavior.

After nap we had a little over an hour until Leona, our wonderful Spanish teacher, arrived so we engaged in some free play. Sandy, a teacher who used to teach her and recently returned to teach in the baby room, hung out with the tots while I went on break. Leona arrived in and I returned to the classroom at 3:00 for some very fun Spanish songs and snack. Afterwards, we engaged in an art activity using some pastels on construction paper. It’s been another great day!

*I apologize for the lack of pictures on the blog recently. Cherokee was uploading and posting them on her computer, which she took with her on vacation. I’ve talked to Toni and we are working on figuring out how to get the pictures back up on the blog without Cherokee’s help. Today I was having some difficulty using the classroom camera  in the morning so we have fewer photos today.

*Volunteer opportunity: We have quite a bit of empty space on our walls, which could be filled with different pictures I’ve collected from magazines brochures, etc. If anyone is willing to cut out these photos and post them on the wall (and floor) securely with contact paper (providing the ultra sticky contact paper would be fabulous), I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks!

*I will not be here on Friday (8-31-12,) but we will have a sub or combine with the toddler class. There should only be three or fewer pre-tots that day.

            Today we had only pre-tots in the class (Olive, Wynn, and Clara.) Today was my (Arielle’s) first full day to spend with Wynn and Clara. We all arrived outside on the playground and then went in for snack. Clara greeted everybody several times (“hi!”) Olive was in a great mood, probably because she felt more comfortable hanging out with her pre-tot friends instead of her older toddler friends.

            After snack Olive and I looked at books while Wynn and Clara finished eating. She loved the book with the mirrors in it and signed “more” each time we finished reading it. Eventually Clara finished her snack and joined us while Wynn kept eating. Clara took a turn sitting in my lap while we read.

            As usual we gathered on the deck afterwards and I brought some large crystals and a few books. Wynn and Clara were very interested in holding the crystals, and Wynn often tried to taste them. Eventually Clara decided that she was more interested in my pen and notebook that I use for documenting and loved feeling the paper. She also tried using the pen to scribble on the notebook. The pen was probably the thing she was most interested in on the deck. Wynn was most interested in exploring the class’ water bottles in search of his own.

            Lizzie and I were very proud of Olive for successfully climbing up onto the playscape on her own. She slid down the slide and hopped on a bike, then waved hello to everybody. Wynn pulled a bike past her, and Clara walked up to push and pull Olive on her bike. After that she rubbed her hands in the water table and started picking up every tiny object she could find. Olive often found a comfy chair to sit and relax in. We later sang songs and after each one she signed “more.”

            After nap Lizzie went into the toddler room to help out in there and the pre-tots and I did some free play, then circle time (I forgot to do it in the morning – I’m still getting into the daily groove!) We sang lots of songs and took care of the calendar duties. Then they painted orange and purple paint on construction paper with sponges. That activity did not last long, which is okay for their age group. Afterwards, Olive caught up on the crystal observations that took place this morning (she really liked the malachite that is now sitting on the diaper shelf in the classroom.) We set the table for snack with some flowers (esperanza, a.k.a. yellow bells I picked on my lunch break) and listened to a fun mix of kid songs on the stereo. Olive was super excited for a few of the songs and danced at the table while she ate. Once the songs were over I lit some incense and read them some books while still seated at the table. All three listened intently. Wynn and Clara both clapped when the books were finished, Wynn jumped around in his seat, and Olive signed “more.” Eventually the table chatter turned into Clara and Olive saying “hi, hi, hi, hi!” What a fun day!

*If the picture are not working correctly, I apologize. I am still learning how to use this blog. Hopefully tomorrow's will be super successful!

           

Monday, 8-27-12

Hello! Happy Monday! This week Arielle and Lizzie will be working with the pre-tots, as Cherokee is on vacation (instead of going to Miami she went to Las Vegas to avoid the hurricane!) We are excited about this fun new week but do miss Cherokee quite a bit.

This week I (Arielle) have decided to try out a few different things around the classroom. I’ll be reducing the amount of toys in the room to a few that will rotate in and out of the classroom daily, weekly, and monthly. This way we can focus on what the sprouts are most interested in and help them learn how to clean up. I’ll be keeping you updated with any changes in toys. Today I’ve provided them puzzles, books, stacking toys, blocks, legos, trucks, stuffed animals, and baby dolls.

            As mentioned last Friday I noticed they took an interest in a particular crystal ball that we introduced to them during afternoon snack. After today’s morning snack we (Olive, and visiting toddlers Joey, Paislie, and Teo) went onto the deck and I brought out a bag of rocks that I collected in Alaska, as well as the crystal ball from Friday. I actually grabbed the wrong bag and meant to bring out some crystals, but decided to go with the flow and introduce the crystals tomorrow.

            The kiddos enjoyed looking at and feeling the rocks. We identified the rocks’ colors and lightly tapped the rocks on different objects to see how they sound. Joey liked one particular rock that was long and flat, and pretended it was a knife. He went around the deck saying, “cut, cut, cut” and rubbed it on the ground and on toys, pretending to cut them. The children also had fun feeling and spinning the crystal ball (I held it on a string for them.) They were interested in the tiny rainbows it made when it was in the sunlight. When each kid was finished looking at a rock, they would drop it back in the bag and say “adios” (a technique Leona, the Spanish teacher uses.)

            After checking out rocks Olive tried out several different bikes, smiling as she sat down on each. Just like on Friday she ended up happily rocking on the eggplant rocker.  She later found a piece of a rolling toy that had been popped off of its hinges and tried to repair it. She later decided to lay down and rest with her lovey before exploring a box full of containers.

            Teo rode bikes too, demonstrating how to use his feet to ride around the deck. He eventually found a rolling toy with a bunch of buttons on it. He sat down and pushed each button, observing what would happen.

            Paislie rode several bikes too. At one point Joey offered to push her on the bike and asked “you need help?” She said no, as she was determined to drive herself around the deck. Eventually she returned to me very interested in the hanging crystal. She took turns spinning it with Teo.

            Joey explored everything the deck had to offer, from bikes, to the boppy, to the rocks, to the hose, to his friends, and then spent some time playing with an empty five-gallon water jug. He rolled it around on the ground and looked inside of it. He lifted it up and placed it back down. Then he joined Teo, and Paislie on the playhouse, where they were climbing and jumping. Olive eventually joined them for a short while.

            Nap went smoothly and we lit some incense to make the room smell nice for their second fresh start to their day at school. They did some free play for a while before snack. Olive looked at books, Teo played with and hugged the big stuffed dog, Joey worked on puzzles, and Paislie absolutely adored the big baby doll. A dance party erupted shortly afterwards. After each song Olive signed “more.”

            During afternoon snack Joey talked about swimming in the ocean with his mommy and daddy. He led a long conversation about that topic. After snack the children did some more free play while I set up an art center. Once it was ready to go they all came over and did some art on their choice of colored construction paper, using crayons and markers. They did lots of exploration with the materials. Paislie really liked using the red marker as lipstick, Olive tried opening and closing the markers, Teo would do some coloring and then stop to pick up materials that fell, and Joey used a variety of colors in his artwork.

            When they finished their masterpieces Olive and I looked at books and Joey, Teo, Paislie and Lizzie worked on puzzles. Paislie was invited into the toddler classroom to sit on the potty and quickly wanted to return to the pre-tot room to play with a “monkey” and do a little bit more art. We all had an excellent day!

*Please make sure you are labeling all of the eating utensils that are sent in lunches. This makes it far less confusing for us when cleaning up lunches as several children are provided the identical types of utensils. Thanks!

*Would anybody be opposed to the idea of me putting contact paper over your family picture collages and lowering them to the children’s height? The contact paper should help protect the photos from getting ripped off or damaged.

*My camera ran out of batteries and I will replace them tomorrow.

Today I, Arielle, returned to Green Sprout from my Alaskan cruise vacation. I returned from Seattle yesterday and read the blog entries from the last two weeks to catch up on what has been happening in the classroom. Before I left for my trip I was hand-writing each child’s daily notes in individual journals and am very excited about switching to the blog to share information and communicate with the community. I found it a very effective way to keep up with the class and look forward to posting blog entries, as I love to write and personally feel that the best way I communicate with families about their sprout is through writing. Please feel free to provide feedback on the blog entries as I am willing to compose them however you would like (diary method, bullets about each child, etc.) Also, my cell phone number is (512) 496-7807. Please send me a text so I can save your number in my phone and save mine so you can text me in the future as needed. Also, my email address is arieatx@gmail.com J

Throughout my trip I was excited about meeting the new class and this morning I was very happy to return to work. We only had two pre-tots (Ancel and Olive) come to school today so Wrenn, Alanna, and Joey from the toddler class joined us. It was great to have three special visitors join our class!

                We started our day out on the playground. It was great to spend time with the entire Sprout community, including Liz and Cass (the previous primary teachers,) who visited us today and worked with the primary class. Olive helped water the garden and enjoyed the company of Cherokee and me (she got to bond with me for the first time!) She spent a lot of time being held and talked to by both of us.

                We came inside for hand-washing and snack. It was fun to have the company of the three toddlers!  They were excellent role models for their younger peers. After snack we played in the classroom for a while. Olive loved making towers with the legos, Ancel and Alanna played with pretend food items, Joey stacked toys, and Wrenn enjoyed some light reading in the book center.

                During circle time we sang the Hello song, a very exciting experience. Then we talked about the calendar and today’s date, and I read aloud a book I bought a few days ago at the Pike Place public market in Seattle (Good Morning World, by Paul Windsor). It has beautiful pacific northwest Native American style illustrations and wishes a good morning to a variety of different pacific northwest animals (bears, badgers, ravens, salmon, butterflies, eagles, marine life, etc.)

                After circle time we went outside on the deck for some free play until the toddler class joined us for the community music circle, a very fun Friday experience. Jackie (a co-teacher from the toddler class) brought out her guitar and once she started playing and singing the children immediately started hopping, wiggling, and dancing with huge smiles on their faces. Ancel, Joey, and Wrenn were the first to get in on the action. Eventually Wrenn decided to sit down in a chair next to Jackie to listen to her sing and play. When her song was over she handed him the guitar and he proudly held it as Joey strummed it.

                Throughout the community music circle time, Ancel, Alanna, and Wrenn enjoyed climbing on the playhouse, which included going through the windows and over the sides of it, then sliding down the slide or exiting through the door.  Joey rode around the deck on a bike and Alanna eventually joined him, then they stopped to play for a while at the water table. Ancel eventually moved on to exploring a folding chair. He knocked it over and then tried his best to move it around and reposition it back to its original position. Olive spent most of her time sitting in my lap and getting to know me, as well as observing the community music circle activity and excitement.  She eventually decided to ride a bike and took some time choosing which one she wanted to use. The rocking eggplant turned out to be the winner. She happily and proudly rocked it back and forth. J

                Nap went smoothly with a comfortable transition to snack. While the sprouts were eating cheerios Cherokee showed them the hanging yellow crystal ball that I brought from my house. The kiddos loved looking at the lovely rainbows it made when held in the window. Olive was very interested in holding and touching it. This kind of experience is the type that I like to reflect upon when planning upcoming interest-based activities. Perhaps I’ll bring some crystals next week to share with the children.

I lit some incense during snack to add some nice smells to the room. Once they were done eating they began an art project in which they were provided pictures of landscapes and animals, glue, markers, and construction paper. Olive and Ancel were very interested in using the markers, and Joey and Alanna decided to do lots of gluing of pictures first, then some coloring. It’s cool to see how the pre-tots differ from the toddlers in their artistic and creative development. Afterwards we did some free play in the classroom. Ancel and Joey rolled cars all over the place, Olive stacked toys, and Alanna looked at books. We ended our day by going outside and playing on the playground.

Next week I will be working with Lizzie, as Cherokee will be on vacation. I’m excited about continuing to get to know the awesome pre-tots and begin our year of Reggio Emilia and Montessori-style learning and discovering! Have a great weekend!

*Side note: I’ve noticed lots of runny noses today! Is it already allergy season?

*Also, if you are reading this and do not see the pictures from today, that’s because Cherokee is going to upload them when she gets home tonight so please check again later. Thanks!

We had such an awesome start to our day, outside morning drop-offs went super smooth and all of our kiddos were super happy! They were doing so great outside in the backyard that we decided to stay outside for a few more minutes.

Clara is going down the slide like a pro! It seems as if she’s been doing it for years now.  She was climbing those stairs so quick that for a second I thought she was one of the toddlers!

Wynn loves to explore every inch of our playground! One minute he is by the slide picking up mulch and the next he is over by the fence looking through the cracks! He’s going to be the next Houdini if you ask me!

Olive has adapted so well to the school, her peers, and all her teachers that it seems as if she’s been here for years! She loves to taste and smell the mint and basil leaves in our garden; I think she’ll make a great chef someday.

Ancel s always super outgoing, and he is never afraid to get involved in whatever he sees his friends doing. His older toddler friends were watching a grasshopper jump around in the grass and Ancel was right there with them.

After we went inside for snack and diaper checks we investigated the texture of a fig leaf. We got to rub and crumble them in our hands to feel the veins and the roughness of the leaves that are falling off the tree. 

Since we have had so much fun with the toddler class this week, we decided to go on the deck to play and sing songs with them today before lunch.  Lunchtime we brought new chairs in the classroom so all of our friends can practice sitting safely at the table.  Everyone had a great nap and woke up to get ready for Spanish class with Leona!  All the kiddos love to watch and listen very carefully to all the songs being sung in Spanish.

All this week we have been doing art projects all to do with the different weather we have had this week.  After our lightning storms, rain clouds, sunshine, it’s time for our rainbows! The kiddos loved using watercolor to paint lines for the rainbow.

Unfortunately the batteries to our camera died right before nap and we weren’t able to take pictures of our afternoon activities L However, tomorrow we will have a brand new pack of batteries ready to go and have lots of pics for tomorrow!

Also, Arielle is returning tomorrow! I can’t wait for the kids to meet her and get to know her. We look forward to an awesome day tomorrow; I hope all of you have a wonderful night!

Cherokee & Lizzie 

Salutations everyone! It’s great to be back, as many of you know I was sick and unable to perform at my peak. Lizzie has been doing such an amazing job working with all the kiddos here in the pre-tot class especially in my absence! We are all so fortunate to have her working in our class and the kids absolutely love her!

We started our day off in the backyard exploring the different plants in our garden and observing different types of bugs. We talked about which plants we can eat and which ones are only for looking. We also let the kids try a basil leaf, it was great watching their expressions as they put them in their mouth and chewed.

Afterwards, we went inside for snack and a quick diaper change. We had a mini-dance party before heading out to the deck. Olive LOVES listening to all the songs on our toddler cd, I think her favorite is “If Your Happy and You Know It.” On the deck we made water foot prints on the deck. We let the kiddos take off their shoes and step in the small puddles on the deck and walk around. They seemed to really enjoy being barefoot and being able to stomp around in the small puddles.

Later, after waking up, we did some art where we made suns using yellow and orange paint. This was a great sensory experience for the kiddos! As you can tell they were not afraid to get right into it! Lol

We look forward to another awesome day tomorrow!

Have a great night guys!

Cherokee and Lizzie

Hey guys! What a beautiful and glorious day it is here at the Sprout! The weather is so amazing that we spent most of our morning outside on the deck, and we had snack on the deck PICNIC STYLE! The kiddos seemed to really enjoy it. While we were outside we looked at all the clouds in the sky and let our imaginations soar, pointing out different shapes and animals we saw in the clouds to continue our learning of clouds and the weather. 

This afternoon our art project we made lightning bolts! During art time we talked about the different sounds we hear during a lightning and thunderstorm.  After we finished doing art, we came to circle time not only to sing, dance, and laugh but to make the noises of a thunderstorm with our hands and feet! We stomped on the ground and clapped our hands pretending we were the sounds of lightning and thunder.

We finished our day with our older friends in the toddler class outside.  Everyone had a really great day today!

Have a great night,

Lizzie and Cherokee

Happy Friday everyone!!! What a fabulous first week we’ve had here in the pre-tot class, getting to know our new friends, classroom and teachers.

We started the morning outside, although I know I said we would have inside drop-offs this morning, however, it was such a beautiful and cool morning that I didn’t want to deprive our kiddos from experiencing it. It worked out really well and I could tell our kiddos were having a blast getting to know all of their older friends from other classes and exploring their surroundings. Olive had a great time trying to catch bubbles with her new friends!

When we came in from outside, we had our morning snack which was delicious apple slices.  Then we went out to our very shaded deck.  While outside, we practiced pushing and pulling our toys. Ancel took some time to do some yoga on our blanket!

We came in from outside to enjoy some music being played on the guitar by our friend Jackie.  We sang songs, danced and the kiddos even got to play the guitar themselves! Asher especially enjoyed strumming the guitar strings.  Everyone really adored our special music circle. 

This afternoon after our naps, we had circle time to talk about the days of the week, the weather today, and what our activity was going to be, we sang songs and danced to wake our bodies up from our very restful naps.  Wynn led our dance circle showing us all new moves!

Since this week we have learned so much about rolling different objects, our art project this afternoon consisted of rolling balls with paint on paper to show the effect of rolling balls back and forth. 

We have had so much fun this week and can’t wait for our new adventures and learning to continue next week! We hope everyone has a great weekend! See you Monday!

Cherokee and Lizzie