The most pre-tots all week!

            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!