Toddler's First Day!

WELCOME TODDLER FAMILIES! to our VERY FIRST BLOG!

Greetings Toddler families, I am proud to bring you our first of many daily class blog! The goal for these blogs is to give you all an insight to your Sprouts day! and for parents to be able to share these memories and experience with others.

This weekend we had quite a job ahead of us! We set out to do a total make-over of each room. There was a point in the middle organizing when it felt like it might be impossible (or maybe just I felt it might be impossible!), but with all our ideas and all of our elbow grease, Monday's teacher work-day wrapped up around 10 at night, with smiling faces, indeed.

Our Day started with Morning Drop-Off, outside our Sprouts found fun in Tennis Balls, and Aluminum Cans, stacking them up HIGHHHH, then throwing balls or knocking them down with their hands! They also came across a PVC pipe and a half pipe on the ramp, which they enjoyed throwing balls in and down!

On our way inside for morning snack, we came across a big, beautiful, black and white grasshopper! Everyone was so interested in his legs, antennas, and color of his body! We discussed gentle touches with our friends, and also with any bugs or insects we come across.

After snack, we had our first Morning circle time which turned into explore potty time, and thus, our day in our new and improved room began. Wren, Alanna, Theo, Paislie, and Ivy began the tour by "pooping" in the potties (in their pants!).

Soon, the pack migrated toward our atelier area. Pasta, string, magnets, and all sorts of contained materials were of interest. Theo found some of the magnets and magnetic balls, and plopped himself down on the carpet, working hard with the magnets. He tested each magnet, to see which ones attract and which ones repel. His curiosity stirred up Ivy and Teo, who then joined him and began to explore with the balls and magnets. Trying to see how many balls you could pick up with one magnet. Some stayed in that area...but the tour continued. We went to the dramatic play area where Joey and Alanna  found small fur balls to drop and sweep up. We practiced putting our cleaning tools back where we found them :)  

Meanwhile, Wren, Joey, Koichi began exploring the building area, complete with blocks, tracks, trucks rocks, and other natural objects. There was a low hum of traffic that our little follie artists were creating as they drove their trucks through the large pieces of carpet!

Our kiddos also explored the art area, where materials are organized by color and medium. Also, Jasper found a very cozy spot in the book nook (or the book cave, as we've started calling it). He was rolling in the pillows! Koichi and Alanna also had fun in the book nook. Koichi decided to sit and read a book for a few minutes, lounging in a chair, while Alanna made a game of re-arranging the pillows and stuffing them under the shelf in the book nook.

Paislie and Alanna busied themselves up cuddling and patting babies. Teo got to pat babies, too. He really has a firm pat!

It was about this time when we were able to begin our outside sensory/art activity of peeling off papers from crayons and organizing them by color, we added them to cookie trays and left them in the sun to make our own chunky colors! Koichi Joey and Ivy were particularly interested in this. Jasper, Ivy, Theo, and Wyatt started working as a team to figure out how to "get the ball rolling" lol. the found an object to use as a ramp, and took turns holding one end. Wren and paislie found a tube to use as a telephone, or also, a place to store dirt. Koichi left the activity area with a couple of crayons. He decided it was time to give our playscape some touch ups. Jasper spent most of his time conducting a jumping challenge in the sand box. He, Alanna, Ivy, and Joey had fun counting to 3, then "blasting off."

Wow, today was fun. (And that was just the morning)

After nap, Jasper and Koichi found themselves in the comfy book nook, with a lamp on reading. During that time, our newest potty goers, woke up and immediately wanted to sit on the potty! Ivy, Alanna, Paislie, and Theo sat and when “all done”, were very happy with the results! yay for going potty! They were so happy when we flushed it down the toilet, and repeatedly said, “ivy went potty”, “paislie went potty”, “theo went potty”, feeling extra accomplished! As the rest of the kiddos began to wake, we all sat on the carpet, and looked at pictures from Jackie and Dom’s phone, of their day in their new classroom! Alanna loved looking at herself in pictures, and said, “see more Alanna please” :)

Once everyone was awake, and after we had our PM snack, we made our way to the atelier, and began to work on some lessons. Jasper and Joey immediately took hold of the playdough tray and began working hard, using scissors to cut, then rolling and patting the playdough and using cookie cutters to make shapes! Teo was insistent on checking everyone’s cubby, making sure they were sturdy and had all their belongings :) Thanks Teo! Ivy and Wren worked on the magnets at the table, but wanted something different, they found different colored bears, in different colored buckets. they began to sort and match each color bear to the corresponding colored bucket, and not to long after Joey and Jasper wanted to join in! They had such a blast sorting, recognizing, and vocalizing the colors of the bears that when it came time to clean up, some of our friends had trouble saying goodbye to the bears! Once we cleaned up our stations, we ended our fabulous first day in the Toddler room with a fun, yoga-inspired dance party! We layed out body pillows and tumble/yoga mats, and put on some dancey music and encouraged your Sprout to show off their dance moves! We incorporated touching our toes, waving our arms, and jumping up and down to the dance party, and they loved it! What a fantastic way to close out our first day of the new school year. 


Jackie and Dom

“The child is both a hope and a promise for mankind.”
-Maria Montessori