Happy Friday everyone!  We have had a great week in the tulip class this week!  We had some new friends join us permanently and also some friends come in for some playdates.  We are almost a complete little family now!  This week's theme was reptiles and amphibians!  We did a lot of activities related to turtles and frogs.

On Monday we read some of our new books and talked about lots of different types of reptiles.  We went outside and painted turtle shells so that we could wear them at a later time.  They really enjoy spending time painting.  It was such a lovely day and they were so focused on their task at hand.  We couldn't wait to put them on!

On Tuesday we played in the house outside pretending to cook and clean the house.  We had a playdate with Juliette and everyone welcomed her with kindness and curiosity!  Our friends were showing her books and bringing her toys; it was very sweet.  We also had Mr. Nick joining us for a playdate as well.  We were able to show him our circle time routine and teach him our newest songs.  After circle time we all sat on the rug in the lunch area and waited our turns to hop from spot to spot like a frog.  Everyone really enjoyed this and wanted to go two or even three times in a row!  In the afternoon we had yoga with Miss Amelia and practiced our foot rubbing skills.  

On Wednesday we read about different colored frogs during circle time.  For our activity we took out some play-dough and used our hands to roll it into snakes.  We helped each child practice flattening their hands and rolling them back and forth over the play-dough.  We also made hissing sounds and wiggled our snakes around. We also enjoyed some great free play where the kids worked together to figure out how to use the keyboard.

On Thursday we had a pretty routine day.  We spent the morning outside as usual and practiced kicking the ball to each other and pushed wheel barrels full of mulch back and forth across the playground.  We also climbed up and down the playscape and made it down the slide a few times.  We had circle time and sang our alligator song where we chomp on some swinging monkeys in trees.  For our activity today, we used our painted turtle shells from Monday.  Miss Cherokee cut some holes in our shells and put string through them so that we could wear them on our backs and act like little turtles.  We showed off our newest fashions outdoors on the playground so that the whole school could be jealous of us.  

On Friday we had a very exciting morning with everyone.  We did dance party of course, and Miles stood right up in front of the boom box dancing his heart away.  We also peeled corn husks and prepared them for snack.  Everyone enjoyed standing around the table with all of their friends peeling away the husk and tossing it in the air.  Some of our friends got upset because we couldn't eat the corn right away... it was saved for snack of course.  After they peeled the corn they were able to wash it in a bucket and place it in a different bucket for snack preparation.  We also blew up a bunch of balloons and they waved them in the air as they danced to some Halloween inspired music!  

Hi Families!

I hope you all are enjoying this gorgeous weather!! We had a great week talking about our furry (and not so furry) friends. On Tuesday we took the kids on a field trip to the Green Sprout welcome center. We made a train and as they walked through the school they said "choo choo." We learned all about our school pets; what they are, their names, and how to take care of them. Dom also brought her dog, Soy, in for us to meet. Everyone practiced gentle touches with Soy.  They also liked looking at our fish tank. 

On Wednesday we made fluffy poodles by gluing cotton balls to poodle coloring pages. The children enjoyed saying "pat, pat, pat" as they patted the cottonballs onto the glue. We practiced saying "arf" and we talked about petting our soft and fuzzy animal friends. On Thursday we spent lots of time outside because it was such a nice morning. Our newest friend, Avey, had a play date and everyone had a great time singing songs and building sandcastles. Avey will be joining our class full time starting on Monday. We are excited to get to know him and his family!

Friday was super fun, as always! We started the day with a dance party outside. Luke brought his dog to school with him and he let his friends pet it. Many thanks to Luke and his mom for letting us meet and play with their sweet dog! After snack we brought out a huge piece of paper and the whole school worked together to draw dirt, bugs and worms on it. We plan to add pumpkin seeds and later on we will add pumpkins...we are excited to see our 'pumpkin patch' grow! In the afternoon we had a cooking project. We made quinoa salad using quinoa, tomatoes, cucumber, and lemons. The kids liked mixing all the ingredients and eating the lemons. Yum!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend! See you Monday.

Hi everyone! I hope that you all have had an amazing week!  We have been very busy this week talking about wild animals.  On Monday we talked about animals that live at the zoo and in the jungle.  Cherokee and Magdalen showed them pictures of a few wild animals and then they painted pictures using painter's tape to make stripes like a zebra!  When their paintings were dry we were able to pull the tape off and look at the cool designs they made.

On Tuesday we read the book, "Wild Animals Touch and Feel"!  The students really like this book because it allows them to use their sense of touch to explore the book in a different way.  Lately, they have been really excited about these types of books.  We talked about the different types of food that the animals like to eat and practiced peeling our bananas like a monkey.  We also practiced our monkey sounds and actions.  Finn and Naomi have been having some playdates in our class this week and should be starting full time any day now!  We are so excited for them to be a part of our group!

On Wednesday we sang about a trip to the zoo.  We talked about all of the different animals we would see at the zoo.  In addition, we made masks using feathers.  It was nice because we got to sit outside and enjoy the lovely weather while we worked on our project.  The students liked working with glue and also playing with the feathers.  It was also really fun because this was part 1 of a 2 day project.  We got to incorporate this into our Thursday activity.  

Thursday we had such beautiful weather in the morning that we stayed outside just a little bit longer than usual.  During circle time we read a few of our animal books and practiced our animal sounds and poses.  We talked about birds and how they fly in the sky.  They got to try on their masks and make silly faces at their friends.  We tried our best to poke eye holes for them to peek through, but we're not sure how well they could see out of them haha.  They still had a good laugh about it anyway.  We also sang a new song that Cherokee taught us!  Our friend Naomi has been practicing some playdates in our class this week also, and I wanted to highlight her putting her circle time mat away! Way to go Nomes! 

Happy Friday!  Today we did our regular Friday gig dance party!  We almost had a full group today! How exciting!  It's nice to have more friends for us to play with; fall has been all about meeting new friends and welcoming them to our room!  

This week we also started working with our Montessori materials.  This is very exciting for us and for the students.  This is such a valuable time in their life to learn and grow and it's so nice that we can be there to aid in that process.  The Montessori works are simple structures which focus on different areas of brain development.  Each morning we will be introducing a new work and allowing the students to try and master it.  We began this week by allowing one student at a time to come to the table and practice a work of their interest.  Everyone has shown so much intelligence!  It's amazing to see what they can do!  

Next week our theme is focusing on pets!  Please bring in a photo of a pet that you have at home or maybe even a neighbor has that your child may be familiar with!  We will be checking out a few pets that we have at school, and maybe even meeting some pets of the teachers.  

Reminder: Green Sprout will be closed on Monday, but there will be a Parent's Day hosted by Lizzie and myself.  If you would like to sign up please text me.

Have a great 3 day weekend!

xoxo
Sandy

Hello, Families!

I hope that everyone is having a great weekend so far! We quite a fun week learning about farm animals! Our friends have been working on saying the names of different farm animals and on making the corresponding animal sounds. On Monday we did a great art project where we mixed up some mud in a sensory tub and the children got to dip their hands in and paint with the mud on a big piece of white paper. They all enjoyed feeling the mud and smearing it all around. Miles in particular loved getting his hands dirty!  

On Tuesday the children used their hands to feel the different textures on a touch-and-feel puzzle of farm animals. They practiced making the animal noises and the used their imaginations and their whole bodies to move and act like the animals.

On Wednesday I brought in recordings of different farm animal sounds. We listened to the sounds and then we worked on making them ourselves. Everyone’s favorite seemed to be mooing like a cow. Ronav and Julia really enjoyed both mooing like cows and “bocking” like chickens.

On Thursday we talked about gentle touches. To aid in this lesson Sandy brought out the school’s hermit crab to play on the deck with the children. Sandy and Cherokee painted the children’s faces and they got even more practice making animal sounds.

As usual, we had a great big dance party on Friday. Ronav, Miles and Luke really got into it! Luke enjoyed clapping and bouncing up and down. Because the whole school was outside, the tulips got to play with the older children as well. Livio had a great time in the playhouse with Paisley who is one of our primary friends. Naomi and Finn have also been spending some time with us as they get ready to transition from the infant room into our class. After our dance party we had a special presentation from a dentist. We learned about brushing our teeth and flossing.

Have a great weekend! We look forward to learning about wild animals next week.

Best,

Magdalen