April 2012 Archives

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Week 1

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Week 4

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Week 5

Week 1

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Week 2

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Week 3

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Week 4

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Week 5

Week 1

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Week 2

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Week 3

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Week 4

Overview:
Last week the children many opportunities to celebrate themselves and the Week of the Young Child by creating unique art activities and exercising their bodies at Bierman Field! They began taking a closer look at parts of the body that are on the inside by examining models and diagrams. We will continue to learn about the body by looking at x-rays and listening to hearts and lungs with real stethoscopes. The children were thrilled to see how quickly their sunflower seeds began to grow and this week will begin recording the changes in their plants by drawing and measuring them. Springtime growth and life will be evident in the science center not only with the plants but also with the addition of mealworms and ladybugs for observation. One of the biggest changes in the classroom will come mid-week when we introduce chick eggs. All of these additions will provide hands-on experiences and opportunities to discuss life-cycles.

Art:
-Materials: Buttons, fake flowers, leaves, popsicle sticks, glue, paper plates, and paper will all be used to create collages. Green markers, green pastels, green colored pencils, green crayons, green paper, scissors, and leaf inspirations will continue to be available in the loft.
-Rationale: We have enjoyed making leaves and collages over the last week. This week we will encourage the children to try using collage to represent flowers, objects that they have become very familiar with by drawing them.
-Skills: Creative expression, symbolic representation, observation, fine motor coordination

Sensory:
-Materials: Sensory table with sand, plants, wood, toy insects, cups, toy lizards, shovels
-Rationale: The children have really enjoyed using the sand table over the last week for dramatic play as well as for digging, scooping and pouring. We will add more animals and will also provide more tools for them to use as they continue to gain knowledge of the physical properties of sand.
-Skills: Sensory input, knowledge of physical properties, fine motor skills, small group interactions, creative expression

Math:
-Materials: Legos, puzzles, rulers, sequences for plant growth
-Rationale: The rulers in the science area will provide children with an opportunity to measure plants. We will track the growth of their plants in their books. The sequencing cards will continue to stay by the plants to help the children track their plant's growth. The Legos encourage creative expression and also provide an opportunity to practice small motor skills.
-Skills: Observation, sequencing, constructing, measurement, creative expression, matching.

Science:
-Materials: Plants, grass, rulers, seeds, plant sequencing cards, plant growth time lapse video, skeleton, body poster, organ puzzle, x-rays, stethoscopes, mealworms, ladybugs, chick eggs, and an incubator
-Rationale: The children will continue to care for, observe, and measure their plants. They will also draw their plants as a form of recording growth and change. We will continue learning about and discussing the inside of the body as we examine the models provided. Live insects will be available for observation and chick eggs will be introduced with a calendar to count down the days until they hatch.
-Skills: Experimentation, comparing, hypothesizing, observation, self-awareness, time concepts, measurement, and conceptual knowledge.

Language and Literacy:
-Materials: Classroom dictionary, markers, paper, new books about healthy living and springtime/plants, and books including rhyming.
-Rationale: The children are continuing to enjoy adding words to our dictionary. We have noticed that they are particularly interested in rhyming words so we will encourage adding rhyming words to the dictionary. We will bring in new books about the body and springtime that will encourage new vocabulary. Rhyming books will also help develop each child's phonological awareness
-Skills: Letter recognition, descriptive writing, alphabetic principle, listening skills, book structure, experience with informative and narrative texts, and phonological awareness.

Blocks:
-Materials: Hollow blocks, unit blocks, step-by-step process pictures, fabric, musical instruments with labels and musical notation.
-Rationale: The children have started to build a stage with the hollow blocks. There have been many musical shows and plays over the last week. These shows provide an opportunity for the children to increase social skills and are a great way for the children to express themselves.
-Skills: Creative expression, creative dramatics, musical expression, temporal awareness, social skills, planning, spatial skills, large motor strength, representational building.

Dramatic Play:
-Materials: Doctor's office with exam room, reception desk, doctor kits, checklists depicting body parts, light table with x-ray pictures, and baby dolls. The symbolic cave has a pet shop including cats, dogs, fish and bunnies.
-Rationale: The children have continued to take on the roles of patient and doctor in the doctor's office. As we continue to learn more about the human body, the children will be able to use this information in their play.
-Skills: Role-play, symbolic play, peer interactions, social skills, problem solving, sharing, planning, sequencing, extending play, and carrying over knowledge from other areas of learning

Large Motor:
-Materials: Playground-bikes, shovels, bricks, kites, soccer balls, t-ball gear, basketball hoop, basketballs. Gym- stepping pyramid, climb and jump, balance beam, monkey bars, slide, rope climb up the bumpy ramp, wall ladder, scooters
-Rationale: The children have been enjoying playing sports on the playground. This provides an opportunity to practice peer negotiation and social skills. The gym will support and develop upper body strength and core muscles while providing challenging activities that foster their muscular and cardiovascular endurance.
-Skills: Upper body strength, motor coordination, hand eye coordination, propulsion skills, balance, depth perception, visual perception, lower body strength, turn taking, dynamic balance

Snack
Monday - Apples & graham crackers
Tuesday - Yogurt & granola
Wednesday - Pretzels & Carrots with ranch dip
Thursday - Oatmeal crackers & cucumber
Friday- Cheerios & milk

Kelsey Cassidy
Overview:
This week the children will be continuing to develop their understanding of the bird, color, and plant curriculum areas. We will begin to focus on the inquiry level of learning to help support independent thinking and investigation. We will encourage the children to make connection between what they are learning in the classroom and the real world. The children's recent interest in baking will be supported with new materials and literacy in the kitchen and play dough area of the classroom. We will be continuing to help support the children's transition to the multiage classroom next year. In addition to sitting in a circle during large group, some of the children will start making visits to the multiage classroom this week. This will help familiarize the children with the environment of the other classrooms.

Expressive Arts:
Materials: Large branch, play dough, tempera paint, paintbrushes
Rationale: To explore representational art as well as shading and color matching with the paint. The children will explore using these materials to represent the trees with flowers that we saw on our nature walk. They will mix and shade tempera paint to represent colors of the flowers they saw.
Skills: collaboration, cooperation, symbolic representation, cause and effect, creativity, and fine motor skills

Materials: Art easel, tempera paint, paintbrushes
Rationale: To allow the children to explore the cause and effect of shading. They will have the opportunity to add white to primary and secondary colors and compare the different shades they are able to create.
Skills: cause and effect, creativity, fine motor skills, investigation

Sensory:
Materials: water table, two large water table inserts, measuring cups, small funnels, strainers, basters, and two large blocks of colored ice
Rationale: To continue to develop the children's exploration of color by observing the color from the ice blocks slowly melt into the water surrounding the ice blocks.
Skills: sensory exploration, observation, cause and effect, fine motor skills, prediction, and investigation

Materials: white, red, and green play dough, rolling pins, slicers, garlic presses, cutting boards, baking pans, and cupcake pans
Rationale: To continue to develop their creative thinking using play dough as a representation. To continue to foster and support the children's interest in baking and cooking by using the play dough to symbolically represent food and tools in the kitchen.
Skills: sensory input and exploration, storytelling, creative symbolic representation, fine motor skills, creative expression and imagination, and turn taking

Science:
Materials: classroom plants, water spray, clipboards, colored pencils, charcoal, seeds, and dirt
Rationale: To support the children's independent thinking and investigation of plants by allowing each of the children to plant their own soybean seeds in the classroom. To support the children's understanding of plant growth through the observation of their own seeds beginning to sprout. To continue encouraging the children to symbolically represent parts of plants through visual art.
Skills: observation, prediction, conversation, cause and effect, explanation, investigation, fine motor skills, symbolic representation, and care taking

Dramatic Play:
Materials: Stuffed animal birds, blankets, plastic foliage and flowers, eggs, fabric, pipe cleaners, paper towel rolls (binoculars) felt board nest and materials (twigs, grass, eggs, mud, string), video of a robin building a nest (played on the computer), bird nest visuals
Rationale: To continue to explore and expand the children's interests in birds and their nests. To provide opportunities for children to explore how different nests are made. To encourage children to begin to engage in symbolic play as birds. 
To participate in building nests for themselves and the birds. To introduce the idea of going outside to collect natural materials for making bird nests.
Skills: Collaboration, social skills, turn taking, communication, symbolic representation, creative expression, symbolic play, fine-motor skills, role play, observation

Materials: kitchen furniture, food, utensils, mixing bowls, play dough, picnic table, and picnic basket
Rationale: To continue to make and bake food for each other using play dough as a representational tool to make new types of food. To promote beginning literacy by making recipes and posting children's favorite foods.To continue to support symbolic play and collaboration.
Skills: social skills, collaboration, symbolic representation, cooperation, communication, creative expression, role play and, literacy

Math and Manipulatives:
Materials: seriation and number puzzles, shape puzzles, bristle blocks, shape and color sorters, and weaving
Rationale: To match and problem solve in completing different types of puzzles. To explore seriation and numbers/counting. To support matching and sorting geometric shapes. To support the children's interest in weaving with ribbons. To begin to explore the concept of weaving and support their ability to weave different materials.
Skills: fine motor skills, 1 to 1 correspondence, matching, problem solving, observation, risk taking, persistence, seriation, weaving, and trial and error

Language and Literacy:
Materials: Clip boards, pencils, a variety of books being displayed in different curriculum areas relating to emerging and current play themes including spring and firefighting, letters and name cards (available at the art table), and recipes in the kitchen area
Rational: To strengthen the use of books and stories for knowledge and inspiration for play. To support the children's understanding of literacy through the use of their own recipes and favorite foods. To continue to facilitate the development of the basic component of language. To continue to encourage the children to explore the different letters in their name.
Skills: Listening, speaking, observing, spelling, letter identification, conversation, reading, turn taking, symbolic representation, name recognition

Music:
Materials: Bird calls CD, triangles, rain sticks, egg shakers, clappers, and xylophone


Rationale: To continue to create and listen to sounds that remind us of birds and their songs. To begin creating beats and rhythm to the sounds of birdcalls played on the CD. To encourage temporal awareness and rhythm. To allow the children to creatively express themselves through sound.

Skills: Sensory input, hand eye coordination, exploring, large and fine motor skills, imagination, creative expression, listening, and auditory discrimination

Blocks: 

Materials: Hollow blocks, wooden blocks, foam blocks, plastic interlocking blocks, planks, firefighter gear (hats, foam "hoses", and spray bottles), fire trucks, cars, firefighter figurines, light table, and translucent Duplos


Rationale: To continue to encourage the children to act out scenarios based on previous experiences, knowledge, and incidental information. To continue to support the children assuming different roles in fantasy play. To encourage meaningful problem solving and building. 

Skills: Communication, collaboration, problem solving, role-taking, symbolic representation, turn-taking, spatial concepts, fine motor, cooperation, symbolic play

Large Motor:
Outdoor Materials: scoops, shovels, buckets, lawn mowers, bug catchers, magnifying glasses, teeter-totters, tricycles, dishes, bowls, cups, and strainers
Rationale: To continue searching for signs of spring. To facilitate social interactions through play and problem solving when using the teeter totters. To continue looking for worms, caterpillars, and various insects. To begin role-playing through the use of lawn mowers and various kitchen materials available.
Skills: turn taking, large motor, motor coordination, searching, scanning, muscular endurance, hand eye coordination, balance, cardiovascular endurance, role-taking, and fine-motor skills

Indoor Materials: stepping pyramid, climb and jump, balance beam, monkey bars, slide, rope climb up the bumpy ramp, wall ladder, scooters
Rationale: To support and develop upper body strength and core muscles. To provide challenging activities that foster the children's muscular and cardiovascular endurance.
Skills: upper body strength, motor coordination, hand eye coordination, propulsion skills, balance, depth perception, visual perception, lower body strength, turn taking, dynamic balance

Large Group:
Materials: songs and welcome activities led by teacher, discussion of flowers on trees, demonstration of shading paint colors by adding white, demonstration discussion of planting activity, discussion of recipe book in kitchen and circle tape on floor
Rationale: To continue to develop the children's knowledge and investigation of birds, colors and plants. To continue to make the children's nature walk more meaningful through classroom activities and representation. To continue to promote sitting on the circle tape, similar to what they will experience in the multiage classrooms.
Skills: turn taking, communication, socialization, collaboration, attention span, listening skills, receptive skills, speaking, literacy, trying new things, impulse control, and group membership

Snacks:
Tuesday: Birthday snack
Friday: Oatmeal crackers and cucumber

Kelsey Cassidy
Overview:
This week the children will be continuing to develop their understanding of the bird, color, and plant curriculum areas. Moving into the utilization level of learning they will be applying and representing their knowledge in new and functional situations. The children's recent interest in baking and weaving will be supported with new materials in the classroom. We will be continuing to help support the children's transition to the multiage classroom next year. In addition to sitting in a circle during large group, some of the children will start making visits to the multiage classroom this week. This will help familiarize the children with the environment of the other classrooms.

Expressive Arts:
Materials: Large branch, play dough, tempera paint, paintbrushes
Rationale: To explore representational art as well as shading and color matching with the paint. The children will explore using these materials to represent the trees with flowers that we saw on our nature walk. They will mix and shade tempera paint to represent colors of the flowers they saw.
Skills: collaboration, cooperation, symbolic representation, cause and effect, creativity, and fine motor skills

Materials: Art easel, tempera paint, paintbrushes
Rationale: To allow the children to explore the cause and effect of shading. They will have the opportunity to add white to primary and secondary colors and compare the different shades they are able to create.
Skills: cause and effect, creativity, fine motor skills, investigation

Sensory:
Materials: water table, two large water table inserts, measuring cups, small funnels, strainers, basters, and two large blocks of colored ice
Rationale: To continue to develop the children's exploration of color by observing the color from the ice blocks slowly melt into the water surrounding the ice blocks.
Skills: sensory exploration, observation, cause and effect, fine motor skills, prediction, and investigation

Materials: white, red, and green play dough, rolling pins, slicers, garlic presses, cutting boards, baking pans, and cupcake pans
Rationale: To continue to develop their creative thinking using play dough as a representation. To continue to foster and support the children's interest in baking and cooking by using the play dough to symbolically represent food and tools in the kitchen.
Skills: sensory input and exploration, storytelling, creative symbolic representation, fine motor skills, creative expression and imagination, and turn taking

Science:
Materials: classroom plants, soybean plants that the children planted, water spray, clipboards, colored pencils, charcoal, and seeds to plant outside
Rationale: To help support the children in applying their previous knowledge of plants to a new, real world situation by planting seeds outside on the play ground. To continue to support their understanding of plant growth through the observation of the soybeans they planted last week. To continue to encourage the children to symbolically represent parts of plants through visual art.
Skills: application, observation, prediction, conversation, cause and effect, explanation, investigation, fine motor skills, symbolic representation, and care taking

Dramatic Play:
Materials: Stuffed animal birds, blankets, plastic foliage and flowers, eggs, fabric, pipe cleaners, paper towel rolls (binoculars) felt board nest and materials (twigs, grass, eggs, mud, string), video of a robin building a nest (played on the computer), bird nest visuals
Rationale: To continue to explore and expand the children's interests in birds and their nests. To provide opportunities for children to explore how different nests are made. To encourage children to begin to engage in symbolic play as birds. 
To participate in building nests for themselves and the birds. To introduce the idea of going outside to collect natural materials for making bird nests.
Skills: Collaboration, social skills, turn taking, communication, symbolic representation, creative expression, symbolic play, fine-motor skills, role play, observation

Materials: kitchen furniture, food, utensils, mixing bowls, play dough, picnic table, and picnic basket
Rationale: To continue to make and bake food for each other using play dough as a representational tool to make new types of food. To promote beginning literacy by making recipes and posting children's favorite foods.To continue to support symbolic play and collaboration.
Skills: social skills, collaboration, symbolic representation, cooperation, communication, creative expression, role play and, literacy

Math and Manipulatives:
Materials: seriation and number puzzles, shape puzzles, bristle blocks, shape and color sorters, and weaving
Rationale: To match and problem solve in completing different types of puzzles. To explore seriation and numbers/counting. To support matching and sorting geometric shapes. To support the children's interest in weaving with ribbons. To begin to explore the concept of weaving and support their ability to weave different materials.
Skills: fine motor skills, 1 to 1 correspondence, matching, problem solving, observation, risk taking, persistence, seriation, weaving, and trial and error

Language and Literacy:
Materials: Clip boards, pencils, a variety of books being displayed in different curriculum areas relating to emerging and current play themes including spring and firefighting, letters and name cards (available at the art table), and recipes in the kitchen area
Rational: To strengthen the use of books and stories for knowledge and inspiration for play. To support the children's understanding of literacy through the use of their own recipes and favorite foods. To continue to facilitate the development of the basic component of language. To continue to encourage the children to explore the different letters in their name.
Skills: Listening, speaking, observing, spelling, letter identification, conversation, reading, turn taking, symbolic representation, name recognition

Music:
Materials: Bird calls CD, triangles, rain sticks, egg shakers, clappers, and xylophone


Rationale: To continue to create and listen to sounds that remind us of birds and their songs. To begin creating beats and rhythm to the sounds of birdcalls played on the CD. To encourage temporal awareness and rhythm. To allow the children to creatively express themselves through sound.

Skills: Sensory input, hand eye coordination, exploring, large and fine motor skills, imagination, creative expression, listening, and auditory discrimination

Blocks: 

Materials: Hollow blocks, wooden blocks, foam blocks, plastic interlocking blocks, planks, firefighter gear (hats, foam "hoses", and spray bottles), fire trucks, cars, firefighter figurines, light table, and translucent Duplos


Rationale: To continue to encourage the children to act out scenarios based on previous experiences, knowledge, and incidental information. To continue to support the children assuming different roles in fantasy play. To encourage meaningful problem solving and building. 

Skills: Communication, collaboration, problem solving, role-taking, symbolic representation, turn-taking, spatial concepts, fine motor, cooperation, symbolic play

Large Motor:
Outdoor Materials: scoops, shovels, buckets, lawn mowers, bug catchers, magnifying glasses, teeter-totters, tricycles, dishes, bowls, cups, and strainers
Rationale: To continue searching for signs of spring. To facilitate social interactions through play and problem solving when using the teeter totters. To continue looking for worms, caterpillars, and various insects. To begin role-playing through the use of lawn mowers and various kitchen materials available.
Skills: turn taking, large motor, motor coordination, searching, scanning, muscular endurance, hand eye coordination, balance, cardiovascular endurance, role-taking, and fine-motor skills

Indoor Materials: stepping pyramid, climb and jump, balance beam, monkey bars, slide, rope climb up the bumpy ramp, wall ladder, scooters
Rationale: To support and develop upper body strength and core muscles. To provide challenging activities that foster the children's muscular and cardiovascular endurance.
Skills: upper body strength, motor coordination, hand eye coordination, propulsion skills, balance, depth perception, visual perception, lower body strength, turn taking, dynamic balance

Large Group:
Materials: songs and welcome activities led by teacher, discussion of flowers on trees, demonstration of shading paint colors by adding white, discussion of plant growth, discussion of recipe book, dismissal into small groups, and circle tape on floor
Rationale: To support the children in applying their learning to new and functional situations. To continue to develop and support children's representational artwork. To introduce and support play themes throughout the classroom. To continue to encourage the children to sit on the circle tape, similar to what they will experience in the multiage classrooms.

Snacks:
Monday: Raspberries, yogurt smoothies, pretzles
Wednesday: Alphabet soup
Friday: Oatmeal crackers and cucumbers

Overview and Goals
We continue to observe and care for our sunflower seeds. This week we begin experiments with seeds. Children will make predictions about seed germination and growth under different conditions. We continue our discussions of healthy eating and care of our bodies. We will continue to talk about smart food choices and play Katie's food pyramid game. Dalia introduced the importance happiness to our health and we will continue to discuss other ways to maintain a healthy life. Many of the interest areas have not changed much as we have been so busy with visits and small groups. We want the children to have adequate time for exploration and fun!
Expressive Arts
~Materials: Paints, large paint brushes, cardboard, paper, colored pencils, markers, oil pastels, staplers, tape, large roll of paper. The top of the loft holds paper, scissors, markers, staplers, and tape. A variety of seeds for collage.
~Rationale: Use a variety of art materials and provide opportunities for individual expression and focus green/brown color mixes for tree and leaves. We will begin to rebuild our "Tree" to cover the loft; we hope that this location will inspire the children's dramatic play episodes. The large roll of paper will be used for continued body tracing. We will use the extra seeds to create collages and offer opportunities for creative endeavors as well as opportunities to notice their differences and similarities.
~Skills: Creative expression, symbolic representation, risk taking, hand-eye coordination, fine motor development, and intrinsic motivation.
Science
~Materials: Internal body models; torso with internal organs replications miniature human skeleton replica Variety of seeds, soil ,biodegradable planting cups, sunflower seedlings, rulers, note paper, individual seed germination experiments in plastic bags. Grow window with peas and beans. Bed of grass seeds'.
~Rationale: Hands on exploration of replicas our insides; lungs, heart, intestines and bones offer another opportunity (like x-rays) to examine unseen body parts. Opportunities to document the growth and care of our seeds and plants. Develop hypotheses about seed germination and growth under different conditions to add to our understandings and skills as inquiring and investigative people.
~Skills: Understanding our bodies, observation, scientific inquiry, comparison, reasoning, sorting, descriptive and scientific language, self-expression, and peer interactions.
Math Manipulative and Games
This week we will focus on measurement. We will encourage the children to measure their growing plants and keep record of their growth.
~Materials: Plants and rulers. Legos and Legos bases', puzzles.
~Rationale: To offer opportunities to experience and understand measurement, numbers, using rulers. To offer opportunities for creative building, and the support of fine motor skills.
~Skills: Measurement, creative building, eye-hand coordination, and finger strength.
Dramatic and Symbolic Play
~Materials: Pictures of the different medical instruments available in our doctor's office along with labels, stethoscopes, casts, thermometers, doctor's bags, doctor's cot, doctor gowns, signs with step-by-step instructions or what to do when you visit the doctor. Splints and other materials demonstrated by paramedics are also available. In the animal cave: stuffed fish, turtles, frogs, chameleons, snakes, rabbits, and squirrels, fishbowls, aquarium, water dish, fish food, and fabric pieces.
~Rationale: The doctor's office continues as place for expression and expansion of concepts, particularly those revealed by the paramedic visit and our discussions of how we keep our bodies safe. The animal cave offers additional opportunities for symbolic play and cooperation between the children.
~Skills: Understanding of self and others, communication, language, vocabulary, social interactions, sharing, collaboration, symbolic play, understanding of bodies.
Blocks
~Materials: New pipe connecting building materials, hollow blocks, unit blocks, ramps, and boards. Paper and writing materials and musical instruments on and under the loft continue to be used in block area to extend and expand symbolic play.
~Rationale: Continue to offer the children opportunities for creative building. The musical instruments are available as a provocation to include in the dramatic play scenarios in the back of the classroom.
~Skills: Mathematical concepts such as symmetry, dimensions and fractions. Spatial skills, creative building, large motor, and imaginative play.
Language and Literacy
~Materials: Special table with a bound dictionary, classroom dictionary, blank papers and alphabetical dividers. Fun and familiar books, pencils, thin markers, paper, envelopes, folded paper, stamp-sized paper, glue sticks, staplers, and tape. Cards with children's photos and their names written on them. Books related to doctor visits, our bodies, spring, plants, and favorites. Written musical notes and books near musical instruments.
~Rationale: Our classroom dictionary continues to offer plenty of opportunities to create community and feelings of confidence and success. The children are busy not only writing new words but also creating illustrations. Encourage children to read and/or look for information related to different seeds, plants and plants' life cycles. Exposure to musical notes as representation of alternative written expressions.
~Skills: Pre-/ early-literacy skills, building community, and symbolic representation, vocabulary expansion, social skills, and imaginative/creative play.
Large Motor
Playground
~Materials: Bikes, playground equipment, swings, shovels, buckets, scoops, hill.
~Rationale: To encourage children to move their bodies freely. Have room to run and exercise in the fresh air.
~Skills: Cardiovascular endurance, balance, coordination, grasping, climbing, jumping, strength, and flexibility. Social interactions in larger groups with games such as hide and seek and red light green light with Elizabeth's class.
Gym
The Gym has changed!!
~Materials: Stepping pyramid, climb and jump, balance beam, monkey bars, slide, rope climb up the bumpy ramp, wall ladder, scooters
Rationale: To support and develop upper body strength and core muscles. To provide challenging activities that foster muscular and cardiovascular endurance.
Skills: upper body strength, motor coordination, hand eye coordination, propulsion skills, balance, depth perception, visual perception, lower body strength, turn taking, dynamic balance
Special Interest
Large Group
Seed germination experiments- Dirt, sunlight, and water /dirt, sunlight, and no water / sunlight, water, and no dirt. Literacy/dictionary additions: Germination, Sprout, and Leaves-Yoga tree pose Song: Inch by Inch Row by Row -Measuring

Sharon

Weekly Lesson Plan for Ross' Class
Week of: April 30 - May 11, 2012
Lead teaching this week: Ross

Overview: It was a busy week in the community over the last few weeks, with many fields to local areas around campus. Seeing the surrounding community and all that it has to offer kept the children excited and interested in learning! With the start of small group, it's quite possible that more "field work" will need to be completed soon. With a gardening/planting group, a letters/early reading group, a tools/building group, as well as an all-school aquarium group (made up of members from all the classrooms), the children will have many great opportunities to learn and share a plethora of new information! We are also hoping to keep up the excitement with venturing outside when the temperatures climb back up. We will start using half of the toddler playground as an auxiliary extension of our classroom during free-play to give us some much needed room! The back door of our classroom will be our Narnia-esk link from the classroom to the playground...and we're very excited to use it! As you can tell, the energy is simply buzzing in the classroom.

Expressive Arts (paint, collage, clay)
• Materials: At the art table: "cut-out" geometric shapes (pre-cut as well as uncut), scissors, tape, shape-collage books,
At the clay table: various lengths of wire, rocks, natural materials (nuts, shells, twigs)
• Rationale: The shape collages have been a great catalyst for a boom in representational drawing taking place at the art table. Whether using the pre-cut shapes, drawing and cutting out their own shapes, or simply drawing freehand, the children and been busy creating at the art table, and we will continue that focus through next week! At the clay table last week, we brought back the tools and open-ended materials, inviting the children to revisit the clay with idea to freely create and use the clay as a vehicle for story creating/telling. We saw interesting pizzas, animals, and other sculptures. We will see what creations "come to life" next week.
• Skills: concepts related to shape/geometry, using/understanding what a "line" is/can be, artistic expression, symbolic representation, persistence, creativity, connections/expressions of the observed world, fine motor strength/endurance

Sensory (water table)
• Materials: water, various toy animals that live in/near water, glass gems, rocks, small containers with lids
• Rationale: The water table was very popular last week, just as we anticipated! The children really enjoyed creating stories using the animal and scuba-diver toys - with many of the stories mainly revolving around the collecting of treasure (the glass gems). We will keep the table and materials the same and see where the stories take us this week!
• Skills: symbolic representation, storytelling/dramatic play, familiarity with materials, upper-body/hand strength, opportunities for cooperation/collaboration/negotiation

Science
• Materials: wheatgrass seeds, pots, spray bottles, science journals
• Rationale: After only a week, the wheatgrass has shot high to the sky, already stretching 4-5in! It truly grows quick and the children have really enjoyed checking in on the pot every day; commenting and recording the changes, as well as making sure it gets watered daily to "keep it growing taller." The Gardening group has also started some new seed-growing investigations, and hopefully they can share some of the findings with the class as we continue our exploration of the plant life-cycle.
• Skills: scientific/higher-level thinking skills, observing and interpreting information about the natural world, data collection/recording, hypothesizing, exploring/revisiting life cycles

Math and Manipulatives
• Materials: Parquetry blocks (another multi-shape puzzle set) and pattern cards, geo-boards, multi-colored tan-gram puzzles (using a square, rhombus, and various sized triangle pieces to form/create different shapes and images), magnetic shapes and magnet boards
• Rationale: The shape exploration still proves to be a hit! The children now proudly point out shapes they see around the classroom as well as in nature. The parquetry block pattern cards are also fun for many, however some of the children have started brainstorming about how to design/draw their own images for the pattern cards. The teachers will work with children interested in this, showing them how to trace the shapes to make their own images.
• Skills: concepts related to geometry/shape/symmetry, part-to-whole relationships, one-to-one correspondence, counting, opportunities for collaborative problem solving.

Language and Literacy
• Materials: alphabet stamps, ink pads, paper, envelopes, pencils, blank books, magnetic alphabet letters and boards, books on CD/easy-reader books (in the nook)
• Rationale: With all the busyness last week, the ABC stamps never made it to the table, however they will be added this week...and we anticipate an explosion of stamping taking place at the writing table! (Don't worry, it's all washable ink!) The teachers will continue to support the recent interest in using invented spelling for many signs/letters being delivered around the room. It is also quite possible that the Letters small group may help with some of these new labels!
• Skills: pre-/early -literacy skills, letter recognition, phonemic awareness, fine-motor coordination/endurance

Dramatic Play
• Materials: Dress-up materials (i.e. dresses, shoes, boots, fabric, costumes), play phones, jewelry, sunglasses, dramatic playhouse props, various loose parts
• Rationale: The selling of candy continued to be a very popular activity last week, however with no centralized bins or means of collecting payments, it got to be quite messy in the block area. With the help of the children (in both our class as well as in the afternoon class), we plan to create and arrange our own candy-store within the dramatic-play house! With the inclusion of the children, the sense of ownership will be huge, as will the connection/communication with the children in the afternoon.
• Skills: ownership/responsibility of play area, community building with the afternoon class, imaginative/creative play, supporting opportunities for relationships and using various social skills, symbolic representation, memory skills

Blocks
• Materials: large hollow blocks, small multi-shaped unit blocks, peg people, tray of "loose parts"
• Rationale: The children discovered new elements of building last week; making raised and slanted roofs that spanned between houses, making covered "walkways." The "neighborhood" is growing in the back of the room, with the inclusion of more and more children, as well as stronger negotiation of space and materials between the children.
• Skills: large-/fine-motor skills, symbolic representation, concepts related to balance, supporting social relationships/interactions, opportunities for endless dramatic play

Large-motor
• In the gym: A new gym set-up is ready and waiting in the gym for the children on Monday - some of you might have already seen it when visiting the Green Market. The bumpy-slide has been attached to the climbing bars and will now be ascended via a climbing rope. We have also created a mat-pyramid that the children can climb to reach the raised balance beam that connects to the climber/jumping station. When jumping, the children will be challenged to land in specific spaces (hula-hoops, taped shapes, etc.). Finally, the monkey bars have been raised slightly to get more practice with hand-to-hand crossing of bars that aren't as high or as far apart as those on the playground. Connected to that, is a plank slide for added fun/incentive to cross the bars!
• On the playground: The plants are growing, the bugs/insects are waking up...life is thriving on the playground! The children continue to find countless ways to play and have a blast while outside. Quite a few are "re-finding" the fort amongst the trees and have really started to create some involved stories in there. Games of "chase" and "capture" have become popular (as your child may be talking about), however know the games are under close supervision and have clearly agreed upon rules by the children and teachers. Research shows the importance of big-body/rough-and-tumble play, especially in early childhood, and although there are chances for bumps and bruises, we want to make sure this kind of play is done as safely as possible. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to ask!
• Skills: Upper-body strength, propulsion skills, grip strength/endurance, large-motor/locomotor skills, static and dynamic balance, lower leg strength/coordination, jumping/landing skills, opportunities for big-body/rough-and-tumble play

Announcements/Special Interest
• Thanks to all those that contributed/helped out at the Green Market last week. I hope you all were able to get some great new items for your child(ren). If you have any feedback/ideas for future markets, please let myself or Christine (Ellie's mom) know!
• The final PAC meeting will be this Wednesday night, May 2, from 7-8.30p. A flyer is posted on the Lab School mainpage, however this is an important meeting for wrapping up this year as well getting plans/improvements ready for next school year. We hope many of you can make it, and will share your great ideas for improving the Lab School!

Snack
Monday - Pasta Salad
Tuesday - Yogurt & granola
Wednesday - Birthday snack provided by Charles
Thursday - Oatmeal crackers & cucumber
Friday- Trail mix & milk
* All snacks served with milk and water, unless otherwise noted *

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Overview: Small groups have begun, bringing additional attention to the three topics of gardening, birds, and letters. In addition to discussing these topics during small groups, we will continue to focus on these aspects of the curriculum in our classroom throughout the day. The seeds we have planted indoors (wheat grass, bell peppers, corn) have all begun to sprout and grow. The children continue to reflect on what the plants need to help them grow, and often stop by to give the seedlings a spray of water and observe the changes that have happened each day. In order to support the children's growing interest in the alphabet, letter stamps are added to the writing center. Additionally, blank paper books are also available to support the children's growing interest in storytelling. Adults will take dictation as children tell imaginative tales, create colorful illustrations, or use cut-out pictures to bring their stories to life. Shapes and geometry also continue to be a source of interest and exploration. Shape cookie cutters are placed at the easel to encourage shape-stamping. Finally, we continue enjoying the Spring weather outdoors, taking advantage of the fresh green grass as we engage in games with rules, such as Red Light, Green Light, Freeze Tag, Hide and Go Seek, and many others.

Sensory (water table)
• Materials: water, aquatic animal figurines, glass gems, rocks, small
containers with lids
• Rationale: In order to extend the children's strong interest in
symbolic play and dramatic story creation, especially with animals, we
will bring in the water table and add some new water-related toys.
• Skills: symbolic representation, storytelling/dramatic play,
upper-body/hand strength, opportunities for
cooperation/collaboration/negotiation

Math and Manipulatives
•Materials: puzzles, tanagrams, geometric puzzles, alphabet puzzles, shape magnets and magnet board, Geo-Boards (rubber band boards)
•Rationale: To encourage children to begin exploring with different shapes, and allow them to create their own shapes using rubber bands on the geo-boards. To facilitate discussion of the properties of different shapes (including angles and sides) as well as introduce the idea that certain shapes can be combined to create other shapes. To emphasize part-whole relationships while offering letter-recognition opportunities.
•Skills: letter recognition, shape identification, part-whole relationships, one-to-one correspondence, counting, fine motor development, problem solving, geometry vocabulary (sides, angles).

Blocks

•Materials: Large hollow blocks, small multi-shaped unit blocks, furniture, peg people, construction materials (construction vehicles), paper and pencils, laminated pictures of different house features (windows, address numbers, etc).
•Rationale: To support children's creativity and problem solving skills. To extend last week's investigation of "rat playgrounds" and encourage children to think creatively about how best to support the exploration of our classroom pets. This will help facilitate cooperation and idea sharing, whilc children hypothesize how to keep the rats safe, contained, and happy.
•Skills: Large motor development, expressive creation, symbolic representation, cooperative play, creative problem-solving, reflecting on and interpreting previous experiences, social problem-solving, and fine motor development

Dramatic Play
•Materials: Housekeeping materials (furniture, dishes, food), dress-up fabric and shoes; the caves are set as bedrooms with "beds," baby dolls, and baby-care items such as diapers and baby powder, baby books, stuffed "baby" animals and care items, Wooden farms set (in caves), "Farm" felt-board images.
•Rationale: To allow for the expression of family life and to encourage social interaction while playing with familiar props. To support the extended, cooperative play as children work together to sustain a pretend play session. To continue the children's interest in symbolic representation by allowing them to create stories about both farm animals and the farmers who care for them. To extend our new interest in planting and growing by providing the opportunity to imagine the ways farmers plant and grow food. * In order to ensure that the children's rich imaginitve play scenarious continue to grow and develop, we will discuss possible new set-up in the dramatic play area. In conjunction with the morning class, we will work together to decide upon what new materials we can include in the dramatic play areas, and what we can pretend to be (doctors?, Candy Shop Employees?, Farmers?) Check back in later this week to see what the children have chosen.
•Skills: Gross- and fine-motor skills, creative role-play, peer interaction, imagination, social problem solving, and symbolic representation, creative story-telling, knowledge of jobs in the community.

Expressive Art
•Materials: paint and shape cookie cutters at the easel, natural materials for collage, clay, markers, crayons, colored pencils, scissors, bottle caps, glue, and tape, yarn, pipe cleaners, construction paper shapes, shape outlines to support cutting.
•Rationale: to explore with hands and tools to promote sensory awareness, increase fine motor skills, foster social relationships as children observe and work together with their peers, engage in an in-depth investigation of a basic elements of art. To support continued exploration with shapes and the shapes we see in our everyday lives, To emphasize the properties of shapes and how they can be combined, To emphasize artistic principles of line, pattern, and texture.
•Skills: fine motor development (strength, coordination), creativity, symbolic representation, sensory input, color recognition, identification of shapes, part whole relationships, hand-eye coordination, creative problem solving.

Science
•Materials: cockroaches, beetles, mealworms, salamander, Rats, computer, magnifying glasses, planting materials (dirt, egg cartons, seeds), spray bottles, paper for recording.
•Rationale: to support children's curiosity of the natural world around us and to encourage the investigation of nature. To continue to observe familiar natural experiences (classroom pets) while extending ideas about these phenomena. To extend our exploration of living things by planting seedlings that we can care for, observe, and eventually transfer outdoors. To offer opportunities to chart the growth of plants and observe how living things can change over time.
•Skills: observation, scientific investigation and inquiry, outdoor/indoor connection, making comparisons, recording change over time, using technology as a source of information, making predictions.

Language and Literacy
•Materials: the writing center has a variety of writing utensils, paper, envelopes, staplers, tape, pictures of children in our classroom, alphabet chart, dictionary, and samples of written words, and a book of the children's names and pictures. Magnetic upper- and lower-case letters and magnet boards, Blank paper books, Rubber alphabet stamps and ink pads.
•Rationale: To continue to support children as they engage in letter and note writing. To provide opportunities to become familiar with combining letters in different and novel ways. To encourage peer collaboration and communication through creating words together and writing the names of peers. To emphasize a variety of purposes for writing, including storytelling (fiction and nonfiction).
•Skills: fine motor, pre-writing, and letter recognition, phonological awareness, using texts in a variety of ways.
•Materials: The library continues to offer fiction and nonfiction texts, including those that support our continued discussion of feelings and emotions, plants, and shapes.
•Rationale: to encourage reading time with friends and teachers, encourage exploration of fiction and nonfiction texts. To encourage the use of books as a source of information. To become familiar with a variety of stories and genres.
•Skills: receptive language, early literacy, predicting, listening, phonological awareness, and community building.

Large Motor
Materials: stepping pyramid, climb and jump, balance beam, monkey bars, slide, rope climb up the bumpy ramp, wall ladder, scooters
Rationale: To support and develop upper body strength and core muscles. To provide challenging activities that foster their muscular and cardiovascular endurance.
Skills: upper body strength, motor coordination, hand eye coordination, propulsion skills, balance, depth perception, visual perception, lower body strength, turn taking, dynamic balance

Snacks
*Monday: Boiled Eggs and Graham Crackers
*Wednesday: Alphabet Soup
*Thursday: Oatmeal Crackers and Cucumbers

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Large Motor

Science

Art

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Weekly Lesson Plan for Ross' Class
Week of: April 23-27, 2012
Lead teaching this week: Ross

Overview: This spring session is flying by - it is hard to imagine we are already almost half way through! The caliber of the play and the interest in learning/exploring new things continues to increase every week. Related to the play, the teachers see richer extensions on existing stories; revisiting, adding, and extending to play themes from the previous day (more detail in the dramatic play section below!). As for the learning taking place around the room, the children continue to ask thoughtful and relevant questions to go deeper into the topics we are investigating: i.e. "What/how do plants eat?" "What shapes do I use to draw...?" "How fast will these seeds grow?" It appears the children are ready for new small groups, which will start next week! Being that this will be the third time around, the groups will dig in to their topics more quickly than the previous two sessions, however still using the interest and conversations from the children to help guide the focus of the groups. We will send out the group topics and members soon!

Expressive Arts (paint, collage, clay)
• Materials: At the art table: "cut-out" geometric shapes (pre-cut as well as uncut),scissors, tape, shape-collage books,
At the clay table: tiny flower pots, pine needles, thick wire, gems
• Rationale: We wrapped up the plant drawing last week, and began a new focus on using shapes to help draw familiar images. During large group, the children listened to a draw-and-tell story that ended in a night sky and a very tall flower; consisting of rectangles, an oval, a crescent (moon), small stars, bent lines, and many straight lines. It inspired many to try and recreate it during free play. We will continue with the stories but also look at other books (as well as objects around the room) and begin using simple shapes to help us draw the different images/objects.
• Skills: concepts related to shape/geometry, using/understanding what a "line" is/can be, artistic expression, symbolic representation, persistence, creativity, connections/expressions of the observed world, fine motor strength/endurance

Sensory (water table)
• Materials: water, various toy animals that live in/near water, glass gems, rocks, small containers with lids
• Rationale: Allow the was a resurgence with the sand last week, it was unfortunately our time to share the sand table with another class. However, we will be bringing back the ever-popular water table with some new water-related toys to create new, exciting stories to continue the rich dramatic/symbolic-representational play at the water table!
• Skills: symbolic representation, storytelling/dramatic play, familiarity with materials, upper-body/hand strength, opportunities for cooperation/collaboration/negotiation

Science
• Materials: wheatgrass seeds, pots, spray bottles, science journals
• Rationale: It only took a few days (3 to be exact), but the grass seeds have already started to sprout! Thanks to daily watering (at the appropriate amount - 5 sprays), time in the windows to collect the sun light, and a rather warm room, green sprouts are shooting up in nearly all of the pots! We will continue to observe and care for out grass as it growers taller and taller. We have also added other seeds to the table, and will begin to hypothesize what these seeds may grow into. We may also add a seed-matching game later in the week as we continue to investigate the different seeds made by various plants/foods.
• Skills: scientific/higher-level thinking skills, observing and interpreting information about the natural world, data collection/recording, hypothesizing, exploring/revisiting life cycles

Math and Manipulatives
• Materials: Parquetry blocks (another multi-shape puzzle set) and pattern cards, geo-boards, multi-colored tan-gram puzzles (using a square, rhombus, and various sized triangle pieces to form/create different shapes and images), magnetic shapes and magnet boards
• Rationale: The children continue to be enthralled with investigating shapes. Last week, we talked about 5-sided pentagons, 6-sided hexagons, and 8-sided octagons. The children will point on various shapes they see around the school. To build on this, we may create a few "shape-scavenger-hunts" for around the school, however we may also send a little "homework" project home to find various shapes around the home. We will also continue to pair shapes and art, hopefully helping the children make the link between combining shapes and having that lead to representation figure drawing.
• Skills: concepts related to geometry/shape/symmetry, part-to-whole relationships, one-to-one correspondence, counting, opportunities for collaborative problem solving.

Language and Literacy
• Materials: alphabet stamps, ink pads, paper, envelopes, pencils, blank books, magnetic alphabet letters and boards, books on CD/easy-reader books (in the nook)
• Rationale: A handful of children have found the books on CD and have enjoyed snuggling up in the nest to list to a book or two. We will keep that around to have that cozy spot for children to practice their pre-/early-literacy skills. We will also add some alphabet stamps to bring over some new visitors to the writing table. We will connect this to the practice of writing by encouraging the children to make the stamps, then trace the letters they made.
• Skills: pre-/early -literacy skills, letter recognition, phonemic awareness, fine-motor coordination/endurance

Dramatic Play
• Materials: Dress-up materials (i.e. dresses, shoes, boots, fabric, costumes), play phones, jewelry, sunglasses, dramatic playhouse props, various loose parts
• Rationale: Last week, we saw an explosion of rich stories and play themes revolving around "candy stores." The children used the various loose parts from the block shelf, and began building candy stores - selling (actually kindly giving it away) to any and all that were in need of a sweet treat! We will add more "candy-related" loose parts, as well as some new containers and shelves to the area, and see where this goes next week.
• Skills: imaginative/creative play, supporting opportunities for relationships and using various social skills, symbolic representation, memory skills

Blocks
• Materials: large hollow blocks, small multi-shaped unit blocks, peg people, tray of "loose parts"
• Rationale: As mentioned about, there was quite a buzz about the new "candy stores" moving in, and we will encourage their continued "expansion" throughout the week. We will also encourage the children to make their own signs and menus for what they will be selling each day. Another popular activity from last week was the creation of a "ballet-dance/gymnastics area." The children used the plank blocks to make a "blocked off area" that would be safe for the tumbling practice (under close supervision of a teacher, of course). If this continues, we may try to invite members of the gymnastics and/or dance teams to come in and show us some real moves!
• Skills: large-/fine-motor skills, symbolic representation, concepts related to balance, supporting social relationships/interactions, opportunities for endless dramatic play

Large-motor
• In the gym: With the GREEN MARKET taking place next week, the changing of the gym will be gradual. The plans are still in discussion, but the final products will be posted in next week's lesson plan, however anticipate some propulsion-related scooter board activities, moving the bumpy slide to the climbing wall, and some elevated monkey bars!
• On the playground: With all the rain last week, there were quite a few children interest in hunting for insects, bugs, and worms. We will continue our quest by flipping over more logs and rocks around the playground next week. And albeit not a huge structural change, a gigantic batch of brand new woodchips/mulch was added to the swings last week...and it smells amazing! It just makes it really feeling like spring on the playground, and with the temperatures climbing back up, expect that we will be getting outside earlier!
• Skills: Propulsion skills, grip strength/endurance, upper-body strength, large-motor/locomotor skills, static and dynamic balance, lower leg strength/coordination, jumping/landing skills, emerging skills related to propelling self (on the swings/trikes)

Announcements/Special Interest
• Thanks to all those that contributed to our classroom basket, as well as brought in other items for the Soiree! Your generosity was, is, and always will be greatly appreciated! Thank you all for helping make it a very special evening.
• This is the week of field trips! For those that got the notice about the aquarium field trip with Sheila and I (it was only a few from our class, so if you don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry, you didn't miss something in a previous email!), we will be heading to Twin Cities Reptile on Monday. If your child is not going on this trip, they may be asked to join for another trip. However, we will all be heading to Bierman Athletic Field on Friday to celebrate "Week of the Young Child." It will be similar to GYM JAM!, in that the children will get to run and play, however we will make our presence known as we walk through Dinkytown: letting the surrounding community know that we are a part of the University, too! See the permission slip for details.
• Be sure to bring in your old games, toys, etc. for the GREEN MARKET, happening this Thursday and Friday. Just think, you'll finally be able to get rid of those stale books, games, and toys while being able to replace them free of cost!

Snack
Monday - Sunbutter sandwiches
Tuesday - Field trip/birthday snack
Wednesday - Apples & pretzels
Thursday - English muffin pizzas
Friday - Yogurt & granola
* All snacks served with milk and water, unless otherwise noted *

Weekly Plan for April 23rd-27th
Hannah Lead Teaching
Overview:
This week, we will continue to explore the different signs of spring such as birds, colors and plants in addition to what we found on our nature walk. As the children have been becoming aware of all of these different ideas, it will be important to help them explore the materials further so they can begin to create personal meaning. We have also been noticing how much the children have been growing in so many ways. Since they are getting older, it will be important to talk about the transition that will happen next year when the children go to the multiage classroom. This week, we will begin to discuss this transition as we implement some simple rules, such as sitting in a circle during large group, which will help familiarize the children with the preschool way of life.

Expressive Arts:
Materials: large branch, tissue paper, string, ribbon, natural materials
Rationale: To continue to explore the signs of spring. To incorporate some of the natural materials collected on our nature walk into our classroom. To allow the children to express themselves creatively using materials that represents spring.
Skills: collaboration, cooperation, symbolic representation, creativity, and fine-motor skills.

Materials: light table, eye-droppers, Petri-dishes, small jars, water and food coloring
Rationale: To continue to encourage the children to mix different colors together to see what happens. To continue to encourage children to ask questions about color mixing.
Skills: cause and effect, fine motor skills, investigating, questioning, observing, predicting

Sensory:
Materials: water table, two large water table inserts, measuring cups, small funnels, strainers, food coloring, basters, materials that correlate with the colors being presented such as: scoops, fish, boats
Rationale: To maintain the encouragement of color mixing and exploration between primary colors through the use of materials.
Skills: fine motor skills, collaboration, cooperation, predicting, observing, investigating, sensory exploration and input, cause and effect

Materials: green, orange, and purple playdough, rolling pins, slicers, and garlic presses
Rationale: To begin exploring the secondary colors (orange, green, purple). To continue incorporating and molding playdoughs to symbolically represent colorful birds and plants we have been learning about in our classroom. To continue to foster symbolic play and creative thinking. 

Skills: sensory input and exploration, storytelling, creative symbolic representation, fine motor skills, observation, creative expression and imagination, turn-taking, cause and effect

Science:
Materials: Classroom plants, water spray, seeds, sorting trays, clipboards, colored pencils, charcoal
Rationale: To help the children continue to understand the parts of growing plants with visuals and conversation. To allow the children to see the differences between each type of seed. To encourage children to begin sorting and classifying different types of plants and seeds. To continue encouraging the children to symbolically represent parts of a plant through visual art.
Skills: Observation, prediction, conversation, cause and effect, explanation, investigating, fine motor skills, symbolic representation, classifying, grouping, collaboration

Dramatic Play:
Materials: Stuffed animal birds, blankets, plastic foliage and flowers, eggs, fabric, pipe cleaners, paper towel rolls (binoculars) felt board nest and materials (twigs, grass, eggs, mud, string), video of a robin building a nest (played on the computer), bird visuals
Rationale: To continue to explore and expand the children's interests in birds and their nests. To provide opportunities for children to explore how different nests are made. To encourage children to begin to engage in symbolic play as birds. 
To participate in building nests for themselves and the birds.
Skills: Collaboration, social skills, turn-taking, communication, symbolic representation, creative expression, symbolic play, fine-motor skills, role play, observation

Materials: Kitchen furniture, babies, food, mixing bowls, utensils, crib

Rationale: To continue to make and bake food for each other and have collaborative work. To continue to promote symbolic play.

Skills: Social skills, cooperation, communication, collaboration, role play, creative expression, symbolic representation

Materials: molds representing dirt, fake flowers, watering cans, shovels, flower parts felt board (seed, root, stem, petal, pistol), baskets, visuals, vines, vegetables
Rationale: To continue incorporating the idea of gardening. To help the children explore strategies on how to harvest plants. To physically move through the gardening process while guiding the children. To encourage children to pick and harvests flowers and vegetables and use them in other areas of the classroom (such as food for cooking, flowers for vases)
Skills: social skills, cooperation, collaboration, fine motor, role play, creative expression, symbolic representation, observation

Math and Manipulatives:
Materials: Color sorting games, abacus, seriation and number puzzles, spring weather related clothing matching game, matching color-wheel, shape puzzle
Rationale: To continue to support the exploration of colors and weather. To match and problem solve in completing different types of puzzles, to explore seriation and numbers/amounts.
Skills: 1 to 1 correspondence, matching, problem solving, observation, risk taking, persistence, seriation, trial and error, fine-motor skill

Language and Literacy:
Materials: Clip boards, pencils, a variety of books being displayed in different curriculum areas relating to emerging and current play themes including Spring and firefighting, letters and name cards (available at the art table)
Rational: To strengthen the use of books and stories for knowledge and inspiration for play.To continue to facilitate the development of the basic component of language. To continue to encourage the children to explore the different letters in their name. 

Skills: Listening, speaking, observing, spelling, letter identification, conversation, reading, turn taking, symbolic representation, name recognition

Music:
Materials: Bird call CD's, triangles, rainsticks, egg shakers, clappers, xylophone

Rationale: To continue to create and listen to sounds that remind us of birds and their songs. To begin creating beats and rhythm to the sounds of bird calls played on the CD. To encourage temporal awareness and rhythm amongst the children. 
To allow the children to creatively express themselves through sound.
Skills: Sensory input, hand eye coordination, exploring, large and fine motor skills, imagination, creative expression, listening, auditory discrimination

Blocks:
Materials: Hollow blocks, wooden blocks, foam blocks, plastic interlocking blocks, planks, firefighter gear (hats, boots, plastic firefighter clothing, foam "hoses", and spray bottles), fire trucks, cars, firefighter figurines

Rationale: To encourage the children to act out scenarios based on previous experiences, knowledge, and incidental information. To continue to support the children assuming different roles in fantasy play. To encourage meaningful problem solving.
Skills: Communication, collaboration, problem solving, role-taking, symbolic representation, turn-taking, spatial concepts, fine motor, cooperation, symbolic play

Large Motor:
Outdoor materials: Scoops, shovels, buckets, lawn mowers, bug catchers, magnifying glass, baskets, balance beam, tricycles, dishes, bowls, cups, strainers
Rationale: To continue searching for signs of spring. To begin looking for worms and various insects. To begin role-playing through the use of lawn mowers and various kitchen items available. 

Skills: turn taking, large motor, motor coordination, searching, scanning, muscular endurance, hand eye coordination, balance, cardiovascular endurance, role-taking, fine-motor skills

Indoor Materials: Jump-the-gap, basketball, rolling slide, hopscotch, pitch-back, ladders, and monkey bars

Rationale: To arrange the equipment to provide new challenges emphasizing jumping and dynamic movement, throwing and catching, and target practice

Skills: Depth-perception, static and dynamic jumping, throwing/catching, hand-eye coordination, visual-perception, hopping on one foot, upper-arm strength, climbing, coordination, and core-strength

Large Group:
Materials: Songs and welcome activities led by teacher, discussion of birds and their nests, demonstration of eye-dropper color mixing activity, introduction to focus groups, demonstration and discussion of gardening activities, circle tape on the floor
Rationale: To continue to promote exploration of plants, gardening, color, birds, and nests. To introduce and support play themes throughout the classroom. To encourage children to sit on the circle tape similar to what it will be like in the multiage classrooms.
Skills: Attention span, listening, receptive skills, speaking, taking turns, communication, social skills, literacy, trying new things, impulse control, group membership, collaboration

Snacks:
Tuesday: Birthday Snack - popsicles
Friday: Cooking in class - muffins

Weekly Plan for April 23rd-27th
Hannah Lead Teaching
Overview:

We will continue to explore the signs of spring, such as birds, colors, and plants. Last week, many of the children spent time exploring the different materials in our classroom. This week, we will focus on involving children in the inquiry level of learning to help support independent thinking and investigation. We will also focus on allowing the children to make connections with what they learn to the real world. In addition, we have been noticing how much the children have been growing in so many ways. Since they are getting older, it will be important to talk about the transition that will happen next year when the children go to the multiage classroom. This week, we will begin to discuss this transition as we implement some simple rules, such as sitting in a circle during large group, which will help familiarize the children with the preschool way of life.

Expressive Arts:
Materials: large branch, tissue paper, string, ribbon, natural materials
Rationale: To continue to explore the signs of spring. To incorporate some of the natural materials of spring into our classroom. To allow the children to express themselves creatively using materials that represents spring.
Skills: collaboration, cooperation, symbolic representation, creativity, and fine-motor skills.

Materials: light table, eye-droppers, Petri-dishes, small jars, water and food coloring
Rationale: To continue to encourage the children to mix different colors together to see what happens. To continue to encourage children to ask questions about color mixing.
Skills: cause and effect, fine motor skills, investigating, questioning, observing, predicting

Sensory:
Materials: water table, two large water table inserts, measuring cups, small funnels, strainers, food coloring, basters, materials that correlate with the colors being presented such as: scoops, fish, boats
Rationale: To maintain the encouragement of color mixing and exploration between primary colors through the use of materials.
Skills: fine motor skills, collaboration, cooperation, predicting, observing, investigating, sensory exploration and input, cause and effect

Materials: green, orange, and purple playdough, rolling pins, slicers, and garlic presses
Rationale: To begin exploring the secondary colors (orange, green, purple). To continue incorporating and molding playdoughs to symbolically represent colorful birds and plants we have been learning about in our classroom. To continue to foster symbolic play and creative thinking. 

Skills: sensory input and exploration, storytelling, creative symbolic representation, fine motor skills, observation, creative expression and imagination, turn-taking, cause and effect

Science:
Materials: Classroom plants, water spray, seeds, sorting trays, clipboards, colored pencils, charcoal
Rationale: To help the children continue to understand the parts of growing plants with visuals and conversation. To allow the children to see the differences between each type of seed. To encourage children to begin sorting and classifying different types of plants and seeds. To continue encouraging the children to symbolically represent parts of a plant through visual art.
Skills: Observation, prediction, conversation, cause and effect, explanation, investigating, fine motor skills, symbolic representation, classifying, grouping, collaboration

Dramatic Play:
Materials: Stuffed animal birds, blankets, plastic foliage and flowers, eggs, fabric, pipe cleaners, paper towel rolls (binoculars) felt board nest and materials (twigs, grass, eggs, mud, string), video of a robin building a nest (played on the computer), bird visuals
Rationale: To continue to explore and expand the children's interests in birds and their nests. To provide opportunities for children to explore how different nests are made. To encourage children to begin to engage in symbolic play as birds. 
To participate in building nests for themselves and the birds.
Skills: Collaboration, social skills, turn-taking, communication, symbolic representation, creative expression, symbolic play, fine-motor skills, role play, observation

Materials: Kitchen furniture, babies, food, mixing bowls, utensils, crib

Rationale: To continue to make and bake food for each other and have collaborative work. To continue to promote symbolic play.

Skills: Social skills, cooperation, communication, collaboration, role play, creative expression, symbolic representation

Materials: molds representing dirt, fake flowers, watering cans, shovels, flower parts felt board (seed, root, stem, petal, pistol), baskets, visuals, vines, vegetables
Rationale: To continue incorporating the idea of gardening. To help the children explore strategies on how to harvest plants. To physically move through the gardening process while guiding the children. To encourage children to pick and harvests flowers and vegetables and use them in other areas of the classroom (such as food for cooking, flowers for vases)
Skills: social skills, cooperation, collaboration, fine motor, role play, creative expression, symbolic representation, observation

Math and Manipulatives:
Materials: Color sorting games, abacus, seriation and number puzzles, spring weather related clothing matching game, matching color-wheel, shape puzzle
Rationale: To continue to support the exploration of colors and weather. To match and problem solve in completing different types of puzzles, to explore seriation and numbers/amounts.
Skills: 1 to 1 correspondence, matching, problem solving, observation, risk taking, persistence, seriation, trial and error, fine-motor skill

Language and Literacy:
Materials: Clip boards, pencils, a variety of books being displayed in different curriculum areas relating to emerging and current play themes including Spring and firefighting, letters and name cards (available at the art table)
Rational: To strengthen the use of books and stories for knowledge and inspiration for play.To continue to facilitate the development of the basic component of language. To continue to encourage the children to explore the different letters in their name. 

Skills: Listening, speaking, observing, spelling, letter identification, conversation, reading, turn taking, symbolic representation, name recognition

Music:
Materials: Bird call CD's, triangles, rainsticks, egg shakers, clappers, xylophone

Rationale: To continue to create and listen to sounds that remind us of birds and their songs. To begin creating beats and rhythm to the sounds of bird calls played on the CD. To encourage temporal awareness and rhythm amongst the children. 
To allow the children to creatively express themselves through sound.
Skills: Sensory input, hand eye coordination, exploring, large and fine motor skills, imagination, creative expression, listening, auditory discrimination

Blocks:
Materials: Hollow blocks, wooden blocks, foam blocks, plastic interlocking blocks, planks, firefighter gear (hats, boots, plastic firefighter clothing, foam "hoses", and spray bottles), fire trucks, cars, firefighter figurines

Rationale: To encourage the children to act out scenarios based on previous experiences, knowledge, and incidental information. To continue to support the children assuming different roles in fantasy play. To encourage meaningful problem solving.
Skills: Communication, collaboration, problem solving, role-taking, symbolic representation, turn-taking, spatial concepts, fine motor, cooperation, symbolic play

Large Motor:
Outdoor materials: Scoops, shovels, buckets, lawn mowers, bug catchers, magnifying glass, baskets, balance beam, tricycles, dishes, bowls, cups, strainers
Rationale: To continue searching for signs of spring. To begin looking for worms and various insects. To begin role-playing through the use of lawn mowers and various kitchen items available. 

Skills: turn taking, large motor, motor coordination, searching, scanning, muscular endurance, hand eye coordination, balance, cardiovascular endurance, role-taking, fine-motor skills

Indoor Materials: Jump-the-gap, basketball, rolling slide, hopscotch, pitch-back, ladders, and monkey bars

Rationale: To arrange the equipment to provide new challenges emphasizing jumping and dynamic movement, throwing and catching, and target practice

Skills: Depth-perception, static and dynamic jumping, throwing/catching, hand-eye coordination, visual-perception, hopping on one foot, upper-arm strength, climbing, coordination, and core-strength

Large Group:
Materials: Songs and welcome activities led by teacher, discussion of birds and their nests, demonstration of eye-dropper color mixing activity, introduction to focus groups, dismissal into small groups, demonstration and discussion of gardening activities, circle tape on the floor
Rationale: To continue to promote exploration of plants, gardening, color, birds, and nests. To introduce and support play themes throughout the classroom. To encourage children to sit on the circle tape similar to what it will be like in the multiage classrooms.
Skills: Attention span, listening, receptive skills, speaking, taking turns, communication, social skills, literacy, trying new things, impulse control, group membership, collaboration

Snack:
Monday: TBD
Wednesday: TBD
Thursday: TBD

Overview:
Last week the children focused on what is on the outside of their bodies by tracing themselves and coloring in their clothes, facial features, and the myriad traits that make them unique individuals. Now we will shift focus to a study of what is on the inside of the body and build awareness of how the systems within work together to help us thrive and grow. The field trip to Ag Awareness day was a huge success as well (thank you parent volunteers)! They were genuinely interested in what the farmers had to say, the animals they got to see, and the seed planting activity. We planted seeds in the classroom as well, and will track changes as we observe the plant life cycle. This upcoming week is also one of the most amazing weeks of the whole school year, The Week of the Young Child. We will take advantage of this opportunity by providing novel art activities that allow the children to express their unique ideas as well as by having discussions of the many similarities they all share. We will culminate the week by taking the children on a field trip to Bierman Field where they will celebrate through large motor activity and fun with the children from UofM Child Development Center.

Art:
-Materials: Leaves from trees, green paper of different shades, green markers, green pastels, green pencils/crayons placed in the loft. CD's, paint, glue, seeds, metallic letters.
-Rationale: We will begin the week by using reflective CD's that capture light and will provide a surface for collage work using metallic letters and a variety of seeds. To continue adding to our springtime tree at the loft, we have moved the materials to the back of the room to make them more accessible.
-Skills: Creative expression, symbolic representation, observation, fine motor coordination

Sensory:
-Materials: Sensory table with sand, plants, wood, toy insects, and shovels.
-Rationale: To present the children with a chance to manipulate sand with their hands and tools. It also provides them with a miniature glimpse into the habitat of insects and plants and allows them to work together to create the habitat they see fit.
-Skills: Sensory input, generalizing knowledge, fine motor skills, small group interaction

Math:
-Materials: Seeds for sorting, sequencing for plant growth/harvesting, floor puzzles, board puzzles, and Legos.
-Rationale: Seed sorting and sequencing will allow the children to practice their mathematical skills, following a step-by-step process of growth, and learn more about plant life cycles. Legos provide a wonderful opportunity for creative expression while practicing fine motor skills, matching, and constructing.
-Skills: Experimentation, comparing, exploration, hypothesizing, observation, sequencing, matching, constructing, and creative expression.

Science:
-Materials: A variety of seeds, seed sprouter with alfalfa sprouts, plants, plant sequencing cards, body poster, skeleton, organ puzzle. The computer will show time lapse videos of plants growing.
-Rationale: The children will continue to observe and care for the seeds they planted and watch for signs of growth. The children have explored the five senses and the outside of the human body. Now we will take a closer look at what happens on the inside of the body.
-Skills: Experimentation, comparing, exploration, hypothesizing, observation, self-awareness, and conceptual knowledge.

Language and Literacy:
-Materials: Classroom dictionary, markers, paper, books about healthy living, books about springtime, books about plants/seeds.
-Rationale: The children are continuing to enjoy the literacy experience of adding words to the classroom dictionary. They also love being read to and discussing the stories and non-fiction books that they have been presented with. We will continue to select both types of books in order to enhance their language and literacy skill set, as well as advance their knowledge of our curriculum topics.
-Skills: Letter recognition, descriptive writing, alphabetic principle, listening skills, book structure, experience with informative and narrative texts.

Blocks:
-Materials: Hollow blocks, unit blocks, step-by-step process pictures, paper, pencils, and farm animals.

-Rationale: The children have really enjoyed using the blocks for a variety of different reasons. Since our field trip on Tuesday, the children have enjoyed incorporating the blocks with their farm animal play and continue to represent their knowledge and experiences related to these animals. 
The children have also enjoyed creating stages out of the large hollow blocks, and these materials present them with the opportunity to put on "shows" for their classmates.
-Skills: Creative expression, representational building, social skills, planning, spatial skills, geometry, sequencing, construction skills, and large motor strength.

Dramatic Play:
-Materials: Doctor's office with exam room, reception desk, doctor kits, checklists depicting body parts, light table with x-ray pictures, labels for instruments, and baby dolls to practice on. Musical instruments are located under the loft.
-Rationale: The children have a preference for pretending to be doctors rather than patients. By adding the dolls there will more opportunities for extending the play since there will always be patients at the ready for the doctors to examine and care for. As the children learn more about bodies inside and out, they will be able to use this information in their play. 
The musical instruments will continue to be easily accessible as the children use them daily by pretending to be a band or to provide music for the plays they act out on stage.
-Skills: Role-play, symbolic play, peer interactions and social skills, problem solving, sharing, planning, sequencing, extending play, carrying over knowledge from other areas of learning.

Large Motor:
-Materials: Playground--bikes, shovels, bricks, kites, soccer balls, and basketball hoop/balls. Gym--Jump-the-gap, basketball, rolling slide, extended hopscotch, pitch-back, ladders, romper stompers, monkey bars, and rope-swings.
-Rationale: The children have been enjoying the large motor play that has been presented to them. The rope swings target their balance, propulsive skilss, coordination, and core strength. The children have just begun to engage in the sporting activities outside, and will continue to engage in organized play with more peers.
-Skills: Depth-perception, static and dynamic jumping, throwing/catching, hand-eye coordination, visual-perception, hopping on one foot, upper-arm strength, climbing, coordination, propulsive skills, balance, sequencing and patterns, organized play, and core-strength.

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Overview and Goals
Last week, we went on a nature walk and found many different seeds and sprouting plants. Some of the seeds were added to our science area. This week we will care for our seeds, notice the changes that might take place, and encourage discussions related to what we see. Our paramedics and ambulance visit was a success and this week we will revisit and reflect on this experience. Our classroom set-up and materials will support children's endeavors and will allow them to continue to investigate their bodies, focusing on the inside of our bodies.
Expressive Arts
~Materials: Table easels, clear double-paned table easel, paint, thin paint brushes, paint, paper, markers, color pencils, crayons, oil pastels, tape, and stapler. The top of the loft holds paper, scissors, markers, staplers, and tape.
~Rationale: This week we will continue to use a variety of art materials and to provide opportunities for individual expression. We will encourage the children to represent themselves on paper through painting, drawing, and body tracing. We will begin to rebuild our "Tree" to cover the loft; we hope that this location will inspire the children's creations.
~Skills: Creative expression, symbolic representation, risk taking, hand-eye coordination, fine motor development, and intrinsic motivation.
Science
This week we will incorporate the human body into the science area as well as introducing the pollination/ life cycle of flowers! We will continue to care for our plants and notice the changes that might take place during the week.
~Materials: The children's planters with seeds, "growing window" with green bean and pea seeds, skeleton and images of the body; a wasp hive and pictures of bees and flowers, as well as real flowers; computer will display slow motion videos of plants growing.
~Rationale: We will encourage children to explore the pollination/ life cycle of bees to expand on their prior knowledge and interest. The planters will be accessible to children so that they have the opportunity to take care of their plant (watering) and to observe the changes to it over time. The skeleton and the body pictures will aid the children in discovering what is inside of their bodies.
~Skills: Observation, exploration, scientific inquiry, sequencing, comparison, reasoning, sorting, descriptive language, self-expression, self- awareness, peer interactions, and understanding our bodies.
Math, Manipulatives and Games
~Materials: Legos, inset puzzles, and floor puzzles.
~ Rationale: We will encourage children to build with Legos while following a sequencing process. We will also foster their creative endeavors by encouraging them to build independently and with their classmates.
~Skills: Sequencing, creative building, eye-hand coordination, cooperation, peer interactions, sorting, and finger strength.
Dramatic, Symbolic Play and Blocks/Creative Building
After the paramedics' visit, the children quickly incorporated what they learned from them and merged it into their play in the Doctor's Office. We have added babies to this area to expand on the children's play. The children continue to express their interest in our "Rare Animal Pet Shop."
~Materials: Labeled pictures of medical instruments, stethoscopes, casts, thermometers, doctor's bags, doctor's cot, doctor gowns, signs with step-by-step instructions or what to do when you visit the doctor, real EKGs, baby dolls, carriers, and blankets. In the animal cave: stuffed fish, turtles, frogs, chameleons, snakes, rabbits, and squirrels, fishbowls, aquarium, water dish, fish food, and cloths.
~Rationale: We have added plastic baby dolls to the Doctor's Office to expand on the children's imaginative play and creative expression. This week, we will include first aid supplies that resemble the ones used by the paramedics.
~Skills: Understanding of self and others, communication, language, vocabulary, social interactions, collaboration, application of previous knowledge, symbolic play, and understanding of bodies.
Blocks
~Materials: Hollow blocks, unit blocks, ramps, and boards. Music instruments under the loft.
~Rationale: Based on the children's overwhelming interest in the musical instruments, we will display images of notes, rhythms, musical staffs as well as have the instruments available. The piano will also be available for children to use.
~Skills: Mathematical concepts such as symmetry, dimensions and fractions; spatial skills, creative building, large motor, imaginative play, creativity, and fine motor; and creative expression through music, imagination, cooperation, sharing.
Language and Literacy
We learned many new medical terms after our visit with the paramedics and during our tour of an ambulance. During large group, we will discuss new words and add them to our class dictionary. Don't forget to send new words to school! The children continue to be excited about adding new words to our classroom dictionary on a daily basis.
~Materials: Special table with a bound dictionary, classroom dictionary, blank papers and alphabetical dividers; books about doctor's visits, our bodies, the environment, spring, plants, bugs, insects and healthy eating; pencils, thin markers, lined paper, envelopes, folded paper, stamp-sized paper, glue sticks, staplers, and tape; and laminated cards with children's photos and names on them.
~Rationale: To expand the children's vocabulary by introducing new words in large group and in small groups and encouraging children to look up unfamiliar words in the bound dictionary.
~Skills: Pre-/ early-literacy skills, building community, communication, symbolic representation, vocabulary expansion, social skills, and imaginative/creative play.
Large Motor
Playground
~Materials: Bikes, playground equipment, swings, shovels, buckets, scoops, hill.
~Rationale: To provide an environment that allows the children to practice large motor skills while building on peer interaction.
~Skills: Cardiovascular endurance, cooperation, balance, coordination, grasping, climbing, jumping, strength, and flexibility.
Gym
~Materials: Jump-the-gap, basketball, rolling slide, hopscotch, pitch-back, ladders, and monkey bars.
~Rationale: We continue to provide new challenges that emphasize jumping and dynamic movement, throwing and catching, and target practice as well as cooperation and turn-taking.
~Skills: Depth-perception, static and dynamic jumping, throwing/catching, hand-eye coordination, visual-perception, hopping on one foot, upper-arm strength, climbing, coordination, core-strength, communication, community building, and cooperation.
Special Interest
We will be meeting in our small groups this week!
Sheila will be continuing a "Building our Aquarium" community project with children from all classrooms.
Thank you for the donations for our spa basket ☺
Question of the Day
We continue to have a daily question for the children. This question highlights concepts, skills and topics discussed in the classroom and/or sparks additional questions. This week we will also be making a thank you card for the paramedics who came to our classroom!
REMINDERS!!
Last PAC meeting of the year: Wednesday, May 2nd, 7-8:30
Lab School Camping Adventure: Saturday May 19th-Sunday, May 20th
Pizza Party: Tuesday, May 22nd, 6-7:30 (Rain date is Wednesday, May 23rd)
Memorial Day- No School, on Monday, May 28th
Last day of the year will be Thursday, May 31st, please plan on attending our classroom celebration of learning this day. Details to come!

Katie

Cooking with Sharon

Paramedics' Visit

Science

Language and Literacy

Planting

Language and Literacy

Walk-Looking for Seeds

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Weekly Lesson Plan for Ross' Class
Week of: April 9-13, 2012
Lead teaching this week: Ross

Overview: Last week we put a strong focus on shapes and the world of geometry - and the children really enjoyed it! Over the course of the week, we looked at many different shapes (square, rectangle, triangle, circle, oval, star, and heart): comparing the number and lengths of the sides, as well as what kind of lines are needed to draw different shapes (i.e. straight, bent, zigzag, or wavy lines). They had a blast thinking about where they can find these shapes in the real world. The children also really enjoyed the drawing activities that went along with the exploration of shapes; practicing their drawing skills related to creating the various shapes. Along the "lines" of drawing, the children have really enjoyed watching all the growing plants, both inside and outside the classroom. We will begin to shift our focus to observing/participating in the life cycle of a plant, starting at the science table and eventually making its way to the raised planting bed on the playground. We are very eager to get planting and put this learning into motion!

Expressive Arts (paint, collage, clay)
• Materials: At the art table: budding and blossoming plants and flowers, pencils, ultra-fine tip Sharpie markers, art/drawing reference books, "cut-out" geometric shapes (pre-cut as well as uncut)
At the clay table: tiny flower pots, pine needles, thick wire, gems
• Rationale: The drawing has continued to "blossom" at the art table, as we see more children looking closely at the flowering plants and drawing what they see. We will begin to connect their drawings to the discussions about shape and line we have had recently. We hope this will help open up the world of representational art by helping the children think more intentionally about their drawings. At the clay table, some of the children have enjoyed creating their own plants with the wire, clay, and tiny pots, and this week we will do more demonstrations about how to build vertically while keep the sculpture balanced (as several of the "plants" kept tipping over).
• Skills: concepts related to shape/geometry, using/understanding what a "line" is/can be, artistic expression, symbolic representation, persistence, creativity, connections/expressions of the observed world, fine motor strength/endurance

Sensory (sand table)
• Materials: LOTS more sand, shovels, shells, mini-spoons, wood blocks, small plastic animals/trees
• Rationale: At the beginning of the week, we were dangerously low on sand, which lends itself to very low inspiration for building. With the addition of 100lbs of sand (!), we have seen a resurgence with building at the sand table! "Brown Sugar Mountain" was created last week, and by the sounds of it, we will see more building this week.
• Skills: symbolic representation, storytelling/dramatic play, familiarity with materials, dexterity, hypothesis creating/testing skills, opportunities for cooperation/collaboration/negotiation

Science
• Materials: wheat grass seeds, pots, spray bottles, science journals
• Rationale: Although the Decorah eaglets are now much bigger and moving about the nest, the children have moved on to the world of plants and observing their growth. We would like to do some richer exploration and inquiry investigation related to observing the plant life cycle as we will invite the children to plant their own pot of wheatgrass seeds. According to several plant enthusiasts, we should see some sprouts by the end of the week! Because these plants will be at the science table every day, the children will have the chance to do daily recordings of their very own plant. I have a feeling we will have tons of fun "watching grass grow!"
• Skills: scientific/higher-level thinking skills, observing and interpreting information about the natural world, data collection/recording, hypothesizing, exploring/revisiting life cycles

Math and Manipulatives
• Materials: Geo-boards (rubber band shape makers), multi-colored tan-gram puzzles (using a square, rhombus, and various sized triangle pieces to form/create different shapes and images), magnetic shapes and magnet boards
• Rationale: The shape exploration really took off last week, with the new favorite activity being the shape-making Geo-boards. The children use the rubber bands and stretch them around the pegs on the board to make various shapes. It has been very popular and thought provoking - as the children recreate a shape made by a peer or try to make their own.
• Skills: concepts related to geometry/shape/symmetry, part-to-whole relationships, one-to-one correspondence, counting, opportunities for collaborative problem solving.

Language and Literacy
• Materials: paper, envelopes, pencils, blank books, magnetic alphabet letters and boards (at the "satellite table" in between the cubbies and reading area), books on CD/easy-reader books (in the nook)
• Rationale: One major change/addition we will be making to the literacy center is adding of books on CD/easy-reader books to the life-size eagle's nest made by the children (in the nook). We want to create a cozy place for children to explore their pre-/early-literacy skills that the children will also have ownership of. There also seems to be a rekindling interest in the self-written/self-illustrated books taking place. We will continue to foster this interest by reading these newly created stories throughout the day.
• Skills: pre-/early -literacy skills, letter recognition, phonemic awareness, fine-motor coordination/endurance

Dramatic Play
• Materials: Dress-up materials (i.e. dresses, shoes, boots, fabric, costumes), play phones, jewelry, sunglasses, dramatic playhouse props
• Rationale: The house play continues to infiltrate the block area on a daily basis. Making phone calls has become very popular, especially when using the corded play phone. If any of you have an old, corded phone just collecting dust in the basement or the attic, we would gladly take it off your hands - as it is currently the most popular phone in the classroom!
• Skills: imaginative/creative play, supporting opportunities for relationships and using various social skills, symbolic representation, memory skills

Blocks
• Materials: large hollow blocks, small multi-shaped unit blocks, peg people, tray of "loose parts"
• Rationale: With the focus on shapes last week, the teachers highlighted that many of the same shapes could be found on the unit block shelf. This led to plenty of small-block building snaking its way amongst the hollow block houses. We saw many long trains (some spanning nearly wall-to-wall), stations, and "bad, mean witch" castles. The hollow blocks continue to be quite popular, but an equalizing interest has popped up with using the unit blocks as it has shown the large-block builders the versatility of building with the smaller blocks.
• Skills: large-/fine-motor skills, symbolic representation, concepts related to balance, supporting social relationships/interactions, opportunities for endless dramatic play

Large-motor
• In the gym: We had so many visitors join us in the last week (leading yoga and raptor/bird activities) that we did not have much time to explore the new changes made to the gym last week. The gym and the equipment will remain the same for another week, and then look for some new changes! The teachers will continue to introduce new and fun games to play throughout the week!
• On the playground: Similar to the gym, the cooler temps and strong winds/rain kept us from getting a lot of time on the playground last week. If weather permits, we will definitely try to go outside for longer amounts of time - working on adding more sticks to the fort as well as searching and discovering the new plants popping up all around!
• Skills: Large-motor/locomotor skills, static and dynamic balance, hopping (lower leg strength/coordination), jumping/landing skills, emerging skills related to propelling self (on the swings/trikes)

Announcements/Special Interest
• The Spring Soiree is only a week away and our "Night on the Town" basket is looking at bit sparse. Any and all contributions would be very-much appreciated! If you would like to add some to the basket, but are unsure about what that could be, please ask Ross and he will gladly share some ideas!
• We have a field trip to the Ag-Awareness Day event on Tuesday. Sounds like a lot of fun and hope some of your can join us!
• With "spring showers" probably persisting intermittently for the next few weeks, please send along your child's raingear (if you have some) on those wetter day, as we will try to get outside (at least for a little bit) most days. We do have rain panchos for those families who don't have their own rain jackets.

Snack
Monday - Sunbutter sandwiches
Tuesday - Field trip/birthday snack
Wednesday - Apples & pretzels
Thursday - English muffin pizzas
Friday - Yogurt & granola
* All snacks served with milk and water, unless otherwise noted *

Weekly Lesson Plan for Ross' Class
Week of: April 9-13, 2012
Lead teaching this week: Ross

Overview: Last week we put a strong focus on shapes and the world of geometry - and the children really enjoyed it! Over the course of the week, we looked at many different shapes (square, rectangle, triangle, circle, oval, star, and heart): comparing the number and lengths of the sides, as well as what kind of lines are needed to draw different shapes (i.e. straight, bent, zigzag, or wavy lines). They had a blast thinking about where they can find these shapes in the real world. The children also really enjoyed the drawing activities that went along with the exploration of shapes; practicing their drawing skills related to creating the various shapes. Along the "lines" of drawing, the children have really enjoyed watching all the growing plants, both inside and outside the classroom. We will begin to shift our focus to observing/participating in the life cycle of a plant, starting at the science table and eventually making its way to the raised planting bed on the playground. We are very eager to get planting and put this learning into motion!

Expressive Arts (paint, collage, clay)
• Materials: At the art table: budding and blossoming plants and flowers, pencils, ultra-fine tip Sharpie markers, art/drawing reference books, "cut-out" geometric shapes (pre-cut as well as uncut)
At the clay table: tiny flower pots, pine needles, thick wire, gems
• Rationale: The drawing has continued to "blossom" at the art table, as we see more children looking closely at the flowering plants and drawing what they see. We will begin to connect their drawings to the discussions about shape and line we have had recently. We hope this will help open up the world of representational art by helping the children think more intentionally about their drawings. At the clay table, some of the children have enjoyed creating their own plants with the wire, clay, and tiny pots, and this week we will do more demonstrations about how to build vertically while keep the sculpture balanced (as several of the "plants" kept tipping over).
• Skills: concepts related to shape/geometry, using/understanding what a "line" is/can be, artistic expression, symbolic representation, persistence, creativity, connections/expressions of the observed world, fine motor strength/endurance

Sensory (sand table)
• Materials: LOTS more sand, shovels, shells, mini-spoons, wood blocks, small plastic animals/trees
• Rationale: At the beginning of the week, we were dangerously low on sand, which lends itself to very low inspiration for building. With the addition of 100lbs of sand (!), we have seen a resurgence with building at the sand table! "Brown Sugar Mountain" was created last week, and by the sounds of it, we will see more building this week.
• Skills: symbolic representation, storytelling/dramatic play, familiarity with materials, dexterity, hypothesis creating/testing skills, opportunities for cooperation/collaboration/negotiation

Science
• Materials: wheat grass seeds, pots, spray bottles, science journals
• Rationale: Although the Decorah eaglets are now much bigger and moving about the nest, the children have moved on to the world of plants and observing their growth. We would like to do some richer exploration and inquiry investigation related to observing the plant life cycle as we will invite the children to plant their own pot of wheatgrass seeds. According to several plant enthusiasts, we should see some sprouts by the end of the week! Because these plants will be at the science table every day, the children will have the chance to do daily recordings of their very own plant. I have a feeling we will have tons of fun "watching grass grow!"
• Skills: scientific/higher-level thinking skills, observing and interpreting information about the natural world, data collection/recording, hypothesizing, exploring/revisiting life cycles

Math and Manipulatives
• Materials: Geo-boards (rubber band shape makers), multi-colored tan-gram puzzles (using a square, rhombus, and various sized triangle pieces to form/create different shapes and images), magnetic shapes and magnet boards
• Rationale: The shape exploration really took off last week, with the new favorite activity being the shape-making Geo-boards. The children use the rubber bands and stretch them around the pegs on the board to make various shapes. It has been very popular and thought provoking - as the children recreate a shape made by a peer or try to make their own.
• Skills: concepts related to geometry/shape/symmetry, part-to-whole relationships, one-to-one correspondence, counting, opportunities for collaborative problem solving.

Language and Literacy
• Materials: paper, envelopes, pencils, blank books, magnetic alphabet letters and boards (at the "satellite table" in between the cubbies and reading area), books on CD/easy-reader books (in the nook)
• Rationale: One major change/addition we will be making to the literacy center is adding of books on CD/easy-reader books to the life-size eagle's nest made by the children (in the nook). We want to create a cozy place for children to explore their pre-/early-literacy skills that the children will also have ownership of. There also seems to be a rekindling interest in the self-written/self-illustrated books taking place. We will continue to foster this interest by reading these newly created stories throughout the day.
• Skills: pre-/early -literacy skills, letter recognition, phonemic awareness, fine-motor coordination/endurance

Dramatic Play
• Materials: Dress-up materials (i.e. dresses, shoes, boots, fabric, costumes), play phones, jewelry, sunglasses, dramatic playhouse props
• Rationale: The house play continues to infiltrate the block area on a daily basis. Making phone calls has become very popular, especially when using the corded play phone. If any of you have an old, corded phone just collecting dust in the basement or the attic, we would gladly take it off your hands - as it is currently the most popular phone in the classroom!
• Skills: imaginative/creative play, supporting opportunities for relationships and using various social skills, symbolic representation, memory skills

Blocks
• Materials: large hollow blocks, small multi-shaped unit blocks, peg people, tray of "loose parts"
• Rationale: With the focus on shapes last week, the teachers highlighted that many of the same shapes could be found on the unit block shelf. This led to plenty of small-block building snaking its way amongst the hollow block houses. We saw many long trains (some spanning nearly wall-to-wall), stations, and "bad, mean witch" castles. The hollow blocks continue to be quite popular, but an equalizing interest has popped up with using the unit blocks as it has shown the large-block builders the versatility of building with the smaller blocks.
• Skills: large-/fine-motor skills, symbolic representation, concepts related to balance, supporting social relationships/interactions, opportunities for endless dramatic play

Large-motor
• In the gym: We had so many visitors join us in the last week (leading yoga and raptor/bird activities) that we did not have much time to explore the new changes made to the gym last week. The gym and the equipment will remain the same for another week, and then look for some new changes! The teachers will continue to introduce new and fun games to play throughout the week!
• On the playground: Similar to the gym, the cooler temps and strong winds/rain kept us from getting a lot of time on the playground last week. If weather permits, we will definitely try to go outside for longer amounts of time - working on adding more sticks to the fort as well as searching and discovering the new plants popping up all around!
• Skills: Large-motor/locomotor skills, static and dynamic balance, hopping (lower leg strength/coordination), jumping/landing skills, emerging skills related to propelling self (on the swings/trikes)

Announcements/Special Interest
• The Spring Soiree is only a week away and our "Night on the Town" basket is looking at bit sparse. Any and all contributions would be very-much appreciated! If you would like to add some to the basket, but are unsure about what that could be, please ask Ross and he will gladly share some ideas!
• We have a field trip to the Ag-Awareness Day event on Tuesday. Sounds like a lot of fun and hope some of your can join us!
• With "spring showers" probably persisting intermittently for the next few weeks, please send along your child's raingear (if you have some) on those wetter day, as we will try to get outside (at least for a little bit) most days. We do have rain panchos for those families who don't have their own rain jackets.

Snack
Monday - Sunbutter sandwiches
Tuesday - Field trip/birthday snack
Wednesday - Apples & pretzels
Thursday - English muffin pizzas
Friday - Yogurt & granola
* All snacks served with milk and water, unless otherwise noted *

Overview
Last week our walk to explore spring using the senses of sight, hearing, and touch allowed the children to gather information about seasonal change. The observations they gathered will be incorporated into this week's focus on transforming the classroom tree to reflect the changes they see among the trees in their environment. We will also begin a planting project so the children will gain first hand experience with growing plants from seeds. Our field trip to Ag Awareness Day will be an opportunity to talk to farmers, ask questions, and find out more about where the foods we eat come from. We will continue learning about the human body by creating body tracings and encouraging the children to add the details they see on the outside of their bodies. It will be a celebration of the things that make each of them unique individuals yet acknowledges the many similarities they all share.

Art
-Materials: Oil pastels and contrasting paper, leaves from trees, green paper of different shades, green markers, green pastels, green pencils/crayons, easel with different shades of green paper, different shades of green paint.
-Rationale: As the season changes to spring, trees begin to bud with green leaves and so will our classroom tree in the loft! We will present a variety of materials that the children can use to represent what they see happening in nature.
-Skills: Creative expression, symbolic representation, observation, fine motor coordination, color experimentation.

Math
-Materials: Seeds for sorting, Construx, floor puzzles, sequencing games, interlocking puzzles, photo cards representing step-by-step process for building, photo cards representing step-by-step planting process and seed to plant growth, and spring bingo.
-Rationale: The children continue to build their skill in assembling the Construx. As their comfort and skill grows, so does the intricacy and creative design of their structures. The new spring bingo game will provide opportunities for matching and also will spark conversations about springtime change. The mathematical concept of sequencing will be incorporated into planting activities, which will require following a step-by-step process. The sequence of growth depicted on photo cards will allow the children to show the order of events as a seed grows into a plant.
-Skills: Sequencing, process skills, planning, construction skills, analysis, synthesis, ordering, fine motor strength and hand-eye coordination.

Science
-Materials: Tasting experiment with apples, peas, radish, and green olives. Musical instruments. A variety of seeds at the light table, as well as a seed sprouter with alfalfa seeds.
-Rationale: The children will explore their sense of taste by sampling a variety foods to compare the distinct flavors. The children have been enjoying using the musical instruments to explore their sense of hearing so we added a variety of instruments under the loft. As we dive deeper into learning about plant growth and spring, the children will sprout alfalfa seeds, taste them, and later in the week, plant their own seeds. -Skills: Experimentation, comparing, exploration, hypothesizing. observation, self-awareness, and conceptual knowledge.

Language and Literacy
-Materials: Classroom dictionary, markers, paper, books about healthy living, books about springtime, books about plants/seeds, tape stories on top of the loft.
-Rationale: The children are enjoying the literacy experience of adding words to the classroom dictionary. They also love being read to and discussing the stories and non-fiction books that they have been presented with. We will continue to select both types of books in order to enhance their language and literacy skill set, as well as advance their knowledge of our curriculum topics.
-Skills: Letter recognition, descriptive writing, alphabetic principle, listening skills, book structure, experience with informative and narrative texts.

Blocks
-Materials: Hollow blocks, unit blocks, step-by-step process pictures, paper, pencils, and farm animals
-Rationale: The children have really enjoyed using the blocks for a variety of different reasons. As part of our preparation for the field trip on Tuesday, we added farm animals to the unit blocks. We hope they will inspire the children to represent their knowledge and experiences related to these animals.
-Skills: Creative expression, representational building, social skills, planning, spatial skills, geometry, sequencing, construction skills, and large motor strength.

Dramatic Play
-Materials: Doctor's office with exam room, reception desk, doctor kits, checklists depicting body parts, charts indicating body parts, light table with x-ray pictures, labels for instruments.
-Rationale: The children have really enjoyed the doctor play over the last few weeks and have continued to extend their activities. As we learn about our bodies more, the children will be able to use this learning in their play.
-Skills: Role-play, symbolic play, peer interactions and social skills, problem solving, sharing, planning, sequencing, extending play, carrying over knowledge from other areas of learning.

Large Motor
-Materials: Playground--woodworking station, bikes, shovels, bricks, kites, soccer balls, and basketball hoop/balls. Gym--Jump-the-gap, basketball, rolling slide, extended hopscotch, pitch-back, ladders, romper stompers, and monkey bars.
-Rationale: The children have been enjoying the large motor play that has been presented to them, and in an attempt to further the play we have extended the hopscotch with a slightly different end pattern to keep them focused. The romper stompers will aid them in coordinating their upper and lower bodies as well as target their balance. We have begun to bring the sports out doors so they have more room to play with more peers and to initiate organized games with rules to their play.
-Skills: Depth-perception, static and dynamic jumping, throwing/catching, hand-eye coordination, visual-perception, hopping on one foot, upper-arm strength, climbing, coordination, balance, sequencing and patterns, organized play, and core-strength

Snack
Monday - Fruit salad & whole wheat crackers
Tuesday - Animal crackers (Field trip)
Wednesday - Sunbutter sandwiches & milk
Thursday - Yogurt & granola
Friday- Graham crackers & raisins

Weekly plan 4.16-4.20
(Lauren lead teaching)

Overview:

We will continue to explore the topics of spring and begin merging some of our themes together which include plants/gardening, birds, and colors. In the previous week, we set materials out for the children to gain awareness. This week, we will present these topics at the exploration level, observing and exploring materials and then creating their own personal meaning and understanding. The whole class will go on a walk this Tuesday so they are able to expand their learning about the signs of Spring. The new rats continue to be a significant change in our classroom. We will continue to learn how to care for the rats and have opportunities to touch and interact with them. Additionally, as new friendships have been emerging, we will make it our goal to foster these friendships.

Expressive Arts
Materials: plant stamps, stamp pads, red, blue, and yellow markers, paper, scissors, tape
Rational: To continue to identify and explore the primary colors. To continue to encourage color mixing through the use of materials.
Skills: fine motor skills, collaboration, sensory input and exploration, prediction,
questioning, cause and effect

Materials: Secondary color finger paints, paper, light table
Rational: To continue to encourage children to explore color mixing using their hands and secondary color paints.
Skills: Observation, prediction, try out, cause and effect, imagination

Sensory
Materials: water, 2nd water table, water table insert, water movement pipes, 2 primary color food colorings, funnels, clear measuring cups, empty small containers, strainers, materials that correlate with the colors being presented such as: scoops, fish, boats
Rationale: To maintain the encouragement of color mixing and exploration between primary colors through the use of materials.
Skills: fine motor skills, collaboration, investigating, questioning, observation, prediction,
sensory exploration, sensory input, cause and effect, problem-solving, persistence

Materials: Red, blue, and yellow playdough, playdough tools such as rolling pins, slicers, and garlic presses
Rationale: To begin incorporating and molding primary color doughs to symbolically represent colorful birds and plants we have been learning about in school. To begin finding ways to mix colors to get the desired color dough for their play. To continue to foster symbolic play and creative thinking.
Skills: awareness of change of seasons and colors, sensory input, storytelling, creative symbolic representation, fine motor skills, observation, creative expression and imagination, turn-taking

Science
Materials: Classroom plants that will allow children to see the roots, water spray, seeds, clipboards, pencils, chalk pencils
Rationale: To help the children continue to understand the parts of growing plants with visuals and conversation. To allow the children to examine each part of a plant individually. To allow the children to see the differences between each types of seed. To begin encouraging the children to symbolically represent parts of a flower through drawing.
Skills: Observation, prediction, conversation, cause and effect, explanation, investigating, fine motor skills, symbolic representation

Dramatic Play
Materials: Stuffed animal birds, blankets, plastic foliage and flowers, eggs, music
Rationale: To continue to explore and expand the children's interests in the emerging signs of spring, including birds and their nests. To provide the children opportunities to collaborate on building homes for the birds. To allow children to explore the different types of sounds birds make through musical instruments, CD's, and stuffed birds.
Skills: Collaboration, turn-taking, communication, auditory discrimination, symbolic representation, creative expression, listening

Materials: Kitchen furniture, babies, food, mixing bowls, utensils, crib
Rationale: To carry forward opportunities to make and bake food for each other and have collaborative work. To continue to promote pretend play.
Skills: Social skills, cooperation, communication, collaboration, role play, creative expression, symbolic representation

Materials: molds representing dirt, fake flowers, watering cans, shovels, books, flower parts felt board (seed, root, stem, petal, pistol), baskets, visuals
Rationale: To begin incorporating the idea of gardening. To help the children explore strategies on how to harvest plants. To physically move through the gardening process while guiding the children with books and felt board materials.
Skills: social skills, cooperation, fine motor, role play, creative expression, symbolic representation, observing

Math and Manipulative
Materials: Color sorting games, abacus, puzzles related to classroom themes, spring weather related clothing matching game, matching color-wheel
Rationale: To continue to support awareness of colors and weather. To match and problem solve in completing a puzzle
Skills: 1 to 1 correspondence, matching, cause and effect, problem solving, observation, risk taking, persistence

Language and Literacy
Materials: Clip boards, pencils, maps, a variety of books being displayed in different curriculum areas relating to emerging and current play themes including Spring and firefighting
Rational: To lengthen the use of books and stories for new knowledge and inspiration for play, while continuing to facilitate the development of the basic component of language. To promote numerical representation through the use of the maps, pencils, and paper.
Skills: Listening, speaking, observing, spelling, numeric identification, conversation, reading, turn taking, symbolic representation

Music
Materials: Bird call CD's, triangles, rainsticks, egg shakers, clappers, xylophone
Rationale: To continue to create and listen to sounds that remind us of spring, specifically bird calls. To begin creating beats and rhythm to the sounds of bird calls played on the CD.
Skills: Sensory input, hand eye coordination, exploring, large motor, fine motor, imagination, creativity

Blocks
Materials: Hollow blocks, wooden blocks, foam blocks, plastic interlocking blocks, planks, firefighter gear (hats, boots, plastic firefighter clothing, foam "hoses", and spray bottles)
Rationale: To encourage the children to act out scenarios based on previous experiences, knowledge, and incidental information. To support the children assuming different roles in fantasy play. To incorporate the firefighter gear to make sense out of the duties of a firefighter.
Skills: Communication, role-taking, symbolic representation, turn-taking, spatial concepts, fine motor, collaboration, cooperation

Large Motor
Outdoor materials: Scoops, shovels, buckets, large trucks, bug catchers, magnifying glass, baskets, balance beam, lawn mowers
Rationale: To continue searching for signs of spring. To support large motor skills by providing a variety of equipment. To begin role playing through the use of lawn mowers.
Skills: Sharing, turn taking, large motor, motor coordination, searching, scanning, muscular endurance, hand eye coordination

Indoor Materials: Jump-the-gap, basketball, rolling slide, hopscotch, pitch-back, ladders, and monkey bars
Rationale: To arrange the equipment to provide new challenges emphasizing jumping and dynamic movement, throwing and catching, and target practice
Skills: Depth-perception, static and dynamic jumping, throwing/catching, hand-eye coordination, visual-perception, hopping on one foot, upper-arm strength, climbing, coordination, and core-strength

Large Group
Materials: Songs and welcome activities led by teacher, discussion of Spring and caretaking methods for the rats, demonstration of activity, introduction of curriculum areas
Rationale: To continue to promote awareness of plants, gardening, color, and birds. To introduce and support play themes throughout the classroom.
Skills: Attention span, listening, receptive skills, speaking, taking turns, communication, social skills, literacy, trying new things

Snack:
Tuesday: Sunbutter and graham crackers
Friday: Birthday snack

Weekly plan 4.16-4.20
(Lauren lead teaching)

Overview:

We will continue to explore the topics of spring and begin merging some of our themes together which include plants/gardening, birds, and colors. In the previous week, we set materials out for the children to gain awareness. This week, we will present these topics at the exploration level, observing and exploring materials and then creating their own personal meaning and understanding. We will begin taking the children on walks more frequently so they are able to expand their learning about the signs of Spring. The new rats continue to be a significant change in our classroom. We will continue to learn how to care for the rats and have opportunities to touch and interact with them. Additionally, as new friendships have been emerging, we will make it our goal to foster these friendships.

Expressive Arts
Materials: Red, blue, yellow, purple, green, orange markers, crayons, paper, tape, world globe, and a map of the University of Minnesota campus
Rational: To continue to explore the primary colors, as well as secondary colors. To encourage cartography by incorporating visual paper maps and the world globe.
Skills: fine motor skills, collaboration, sensory input and exploration, prediction, questioning, cause and effect, creativity, symbolic representation, literacy

Materials: Secondary color finger paints, paper, light table
Rational: To continue to encourage children to explore color mixing using their hands and secondary color paints.
Skills: Observation, prediction, try out, cause and effect, imagination

Sensory
Materials: water, 2nd water table, water table insert, water movement pipes, 2 primary color food colorings, funnels, clear measuring cups, empty small containers, strainers, materials that correlate with the colors being presented such as: scoops, fish, boats
Rationale: To maintain the encouragement of color mixing and exploration between primary colors through the use of materials.
Skills: fine motor skills, collaboration, investigating, questioning, observation, prediction,
sensory exploration, sensory input, cause and effect, problem-solving, persistence

Materials: Red, blue, and yellow playdough, playdough tools such as rolling pins, slicers, and garlic presses
Rationale: To begin incorporating and molding primary color doughs to symbolically represent colorful birds and plants we have been learning about in school. To begin finding ways to mix colors to get the desired color dough for their play. To continue to foster symbolic play and creative thinking.
Skills: awareness of change of seasons and colors, sensory input, storytelling, creative symbolic representation, fine motor skills, observation, creative expression and imagination, turn-taking

Science
Materials: Classroom plants that will allow children to see the roots, water spray, seeds, clipboards, pencils, chalk pencils
Rationale: To help the children continue to understand the parts of growing plants with visuals and conversation. To allow the children to examine each part of a plant individually. To allow the children to see the differences between each types of seed. To begin encouraging the children to symbolically represent parts of a flower through drawing.
Skills: Observation, prediction, conversation, cause and effect, explanation, investigating, fine motor skills, symbolic representation

Dramatic Play
Materials: Stuffed animal birds, blankets, plastic foliage and flowers, eggs, music
Rationale: To continue to explore and expand the children's interests in the emerging signs of spring, including birds and their nests. To provide the children opportunities to collaborate on building homes for the birds. To allow children to explore the different types of sounds birds make through musical instruments, CD's, and stuffed birds.
Skills: Collaboration, turn-taking, communication, auditory discrimination, symbolic representation, creative expression, listening

Materials: Kitchen furniture, babies, food, mixing bowls, utensils, crib
Rationale: To carry forward opportunities to make and bake food for each other and have collaborative work. To continue to promote pretend play.
Skills: Social skills, cooperation, communication, collaboration, role play, creative expression, symbolic representation

Materials: molds representing dirt, fake flowers, watering cans, shovels, books, flower parts felt board (seed, root, stem, petal, pistol), baskets, visuals
Rationale: To begin incorporating the idea of gardening. To help the children explore strategies on how to harvest plants. To physically move through the gardening process while guiding the children with books and felt board materials.
Skills: social skills, cooperation, fine motor, role play, creative expression, symbolic representation, observing

Math and Manipulative
Materials: Color sorting games, abacus, puzzles related to classroom themes, spring weather related clothing matching game, matching color-wheel
Rationale: To continue to support awareness of colors and weather. To match and problem solve in completing a puzzle
Skills: 1 to 1 correspondence, matching, cause and effect, problem solving, observation, risk taking, persistence

Language and Literacy
Materials: Clip boards, pencils, maps, a variety of books being displayed in different curriculum areas relating to emerging and current play themes including Spring and firefighting
Rational: To lengthen the use of books and stories for new knowledge and inspiration for play, while continuing to facilitate the development of the basic component of language. To promote numerical representation through the use of the maps, pencils, and paper.
Skills: Listening, speaking, observing, spelling, numeric identification, conversation, reading, turn taking, symbolic representation

Music
Materials: Bird call CD's, triangles, rainsticks, egg shakers, clappers, xylophone
Rationale: To continue to create and listen to sounds that remind us of spring, specifically bird calls. To begin creating beats and rhythm to the sounds of bird calls played on the CD.
Skills: Sensory input, hand eye coordination, exploring, large motor, fine motor, imagination, creativity

Blocks
Materials: Hollow blocks, wooden blocks, foam blocks, plastic interlocking blocks, planks, firefighter gear (hats, boots, plastic firefighter clothing, foam "hoses", and spray bottles)
Rationale: To encourage the children to act out scenarios based on previous experiences, knowledge, and incidental information. To support the children assuming different roles in fantasy play. To incorporate the firefighter gear to make sense out of the duties of a firefighter.
Skills: Communication, role-taking, symbolic representation, turn-taking, spatial concepts, fine motor, collaboration, cooperation

Large Motor
Outdoor materials: Scoops, shovels, buckets, large trucks, bug catchers, magnifying glass, baskets, balance beam, lawn mowers
Rationale: To continue searching for signs of spring. To support large motor skills by providing a variety of equipment. To begin role playing through the use of lawn mowers.
Skills: Sharing, turn taking, large motor, motor coordination, searching, scanning, muscular endurance, hand eye coordination

Indoor Materials: Jump-the-gap, basketball, rolling slide, hopscotch, pitch-back, ladders, and monkey bars
Rationale: To arrange the equipment to provide new challenges emphasizing jumping and dynamic movement, throwing and catching, and target practice
Skills: Depth-perception, static and dynamic jumping, throwing/catching, hand-eye coordination, visual-perception, hopping on one foot, upper-arm strength, climbing, coordination, and core-strength

Large Group
Materials: Songs and welcome activities led by teacher, discussion of Spring and caretaking methods for the rats, demonstration of activity, introduction of curriculum areas
Rationale: To continue to promote awareness of plants, gardening, color, and birds. To introduce and support play themes throughout the classroom.
Skills: Attention span, listening, receptive skills, speaking, taking turns, communication, social skills, literacy, trying new things

Snacks
Monday: Apples and Milk
Wednesday: Yogurt and granola
Thursday: Sunbutter and graham crackers

Overview and Goals
This week we are expanding our understanding of how to be and stay healthy as individuals. A special visit from a paramedic crew is scheduled for Thursday. Since spring has arrived in Minnesota have been noticing the changes in the landscape here on campus, the students are examining the sprouting and blooming of plants and trees. We will expand the science area to include a place for planting our own seeds. We continue to study our five senses adding the sense of "taste" this week. This has a logical connection to plants and healthy eating! We will continue to promote the children's interest, passion, and joy in creating and expanding our classroom dictionary.
Expressive Arts
~Materials: Easel, paints, thin paint brushes, sharpie markers, paper, colored pencils, markers, oil pastels, staplers, tape, large roll of paper.
~Rationale: Use a variety of art materials and provide opportunities for individual expression and focus on fine lines to create self-portraits. The large roll of paper will be used for body tracing.
~Skills: Creative expression, symbolic representation, risk taking, hand-eye coordination, fine motor development, and intrinsic motivation.
Science
This week we will add the last sense to this area; the sense of taste! We will also begin our exploration of seeds and plants.
~Materials: Variety of seeds, soil ,biodegradable planting cups, sunflower and pea seeds. Snack Stoplight salad. Special table with a wasp hive, pictures of bees and wasps, and a list of differences between bees and wasps (created by the children). Herbs, cotton balls with different smells. Small cups with olives, apples and other small items for tasting.
~Rationale: To come full circle and explore the sense of taste; focusing on words to describe it such as salty, sweet, bitter, etc. To offer children opportunities to see and handle a variety of seeds, and begin to discuss planting and caring for our plants. The students' special interest in bees and wasps continues in the context of helping seeds, plants and flowers to grow.
~Skills: Observation, scientific inquiry, comparison, reasoning, sorting, descriptive language, self-expression, peer interactions, and understanding our bodies.
Math, Manipulatives and Games
~Materials: Construx, step-by-step directions, inset puzzles, and floor puzzles.
~ Rationale: We continue our strong focus on sequencing, number sequencing-ordinal numbers and following a step-by-step plan. We continue to link the development of our understanding of sequencing by using step-by-step directions while planting seeds, building with blocks and cooking snacks
~Skills: Sequencing, creative building, eye-hand coordination, and finger strength.
Dramatic, Symbolic Play and Blocks/Creative Building
The doctor's office continues to be a popular place to cooperate, collaborate and use many of the skills we are focusing in the classroom. . Following the children's interest in taking care of the animals in one of the caves, we have set up a "Rare Animals' Pet Shop."
~Materials: Pictures of the different medical instruments available in our doctor's office along with labels, stethoscopes, casts, thermometers, doctor's bags, doctor's cot, doctor gowns, signs with step-by-step instructions or what to do when you visit the doctor. In the animal cave: stuffed fish, turtles, frogs, chameleons, snakes, rabbits, and squirrels, fishbowls, aquarium, water dish, fish food, and cloths.
~Rationale: We continue to encourage play that incorporates the use of the specific names for the instruments available in the doctor's office. We will also encourage the children to add these words into our dictionary. This week, we will be focusing on allergies and medical emergencies through our field experience with an ambulance and paramedics on Thursday. In the animal cave, we will be focusing on facilitating symbolic/ imaginative play related to animals.
~Skills: Understanding of self and others, communication, language, vocabulary, social interactions, collaboration, symbolic play, understanding of bodies.
Blocks
~Materials: Hollow blocks, unit blocks, ramps, and boards. Music instruments under the loft.
~Rationale: Continue to offer the children opportunities for creative building. The children have shown interest and excitement when playing the musical instruments; we have decided to create a special space for these under the loft in response to the children's curiosity. The musical instruments are available for the children to use and include in the dramatic play scenarios in the back of the classroom as well as to use as a way to explore sound and music.
~Skills: Mathematical concepts such as symmetry, dimensions and fractions. Spatial skills, creative building, large motor, imaginative play, creativity, and fine motor. Creative expression through music, imagination, cooperation, sharing.
Language and Literacy
The children continue to add words to our dictionary on a daily basis. If you happen to discuss a new word at home and your child seems enthusiastic about it, please send us a note and we will ask your child to add to our dictionary.
~Materials: Special table with a bound dictionary, classroom dictionary, blank papers and alphabetical dividers. Fun and familiar books, pencils, thin markers, paper, envelopes, folded paper, stamp-sized paper, glue sticks, staplers, and tape. Cards with children's photos and names written on them. Books related to doctor visits, our bodies, spring, plants, and favorites.
~Rationale: Our classroom dictionary continues to offer plenty of opportunities to create community and feelings of confidence and success. The children are busy not only writing new words but also creating illustrations. Encourage children to read and/or look for information related to different seeds, plants and plants' life cycles.
~Skills: Pre-/ early-literacy skills, building community, and symbolic representation, vocabulary expansion, social skills, and imaginative/creative play.
Large Motor
Playground
~Materials: Bikes, playground equipment, swings, shovels, buckets, scoops, hill.
~Rationale: To encourage children to move their bodies freely. Have room to run and exercise.
~Skills: Cardiovascular endurance, balance, coordination, grasping, climbing, jumping, strength, and flexibility.
Gym
~Materials: Jump-the-gap, basketball, rolling slide, hopscotch, pitch-back, ladders, and monkey bars.
~Rationale: After focusing on balance during the last gym set-up, we decided to arrange the equipment to provide new challenges emphasizing jumping and dynamic movement, throwing and catching, and target practice.
~Skills: Depth-perception, static and dynamic jumping, throwing/catching, hand-eye coordination, visual-perception, hopping on one foot, upper-arm strength, climbing, coordination, and core-strength.
Special Interest
The teachers have started to discuss small group topics and configurations. We are hoping to start meeting in our groups next week!
Sheila will begin a community project with children from all classrooms. Three children from our classroom will be joining her on Mondays to work on our school aquarium: Benny, Iris, and Huxley.
Question of the Day
We continue to have a daily question for the children. This question highlights concepts, skills and topics discussed in the classroom and/or sparks additional questions.
REMINDERS
Our Spring Soiree is this Saturday, April 21...
Our classroom basket topic for our this event is SPA: we are in need of lots of donations!!
Last PAC meeting of the year: Wednesday, May 2nd, 7-8:30
Lab School Camping Adventure: Saturday May 19th-Sunday, May 20th
Pizza Party: Tuesday, May 22nd, 6-7:30 (Rain date is Wednesday, May 23rd)
Memorial Day- No School, on Monday, May 28th
Last day of the year will be Thursday, May 31st, please plan on attending our classroom celebration of learning this day. Details to come!

Katie & Sharon

Overview: The session is in full swing, and now we are also in full SPRING! This week, gardening activities will be highlighted, including cutting up fruits in the search for seeds, planting different types of seeds, and thinking about what items we may want to have in our outdoor garden. In conjunction with our interest in gardening, farm sets are made available in the cave. This will give the children the opportunity to explore planting and growing food using their imagination and symbolic representation. Our exploration of shapes also continues as we search for shapes in the world around us and create artwork using a variety of shape cut-outs.

Sensory
•Materials: sand, pvc pipes, shovels, spoons, seashells, wooden beams.
•Rationale: To investigate the properties of sand while acting out a familiar experience: Building, laying pipes, etc. Seashells are added to facilitate burying and finding activities and provide children with the opportunity to discuss their own experiences with seashells (i.e. recent trips to the beach) while using descriptive vocabulary (bumpy, spotted, shiney, etc). We will continue to support recent symbolic play related to train track building using a variety of loose parts. This will be our last week of using the sand table for the year, so the children will be encouraged to try their final building ideas out before we switch to a new sensory table.
•Skills: large and fine motor development, hand-eye coordination, scientific exploration, cooperative play, social relationships building, sharing materials, expressive language, comparing and contrasting.

Math and Manipulatives
•Materials: puzzles, tanagrams, geometric puzzles, alphabet puzzles, shape magnets and magnet board, Geo-Boards (rubber band boards)
•Rationale: To encourage children to begin exploring with different shapes, and allow them to create their own shapes using rubber bands on the geo-boards. To facilitate discussion of the properties of different shapes (including angles and sides) as well as introduce the idea that certain shapes can be combined to create other shapes. To emphasize part-whole relationships while offering letter-recognition opportunities.
•Skills: letter recognition, shape identification, part-whole relationships, one-to-one correspondence, counting, fine motor development, problem solving, geometry vocabulary (sides, angles).

Blocks

•Materials: Large hollow blocks, small multi-shaped unit blocks, furniture, peg people, construction materials (construction vehicles), paper and pencils.
•Rationale: To support children's creativity and problem solving skills. To extend last week's investigation of "rat playgrounds" and encourage children to think creatively about how best to support the exploration of our classroom pets. This will help facilitate cooperation and idea sharing, whilc children hypothesize how to keep the rats safe, contained, and happy.
•Skills: Large motor development, expressive creation, symbolic representation, cooperative play, creative problem-solving, reflecting on and interpreting previous experiences, social problem-solving, and fine motor development

Dramatic Play
•Materials: Housekeeping materials (furniture, dishes, food), dress-up fabric and shoes; the caves are set as bedrooms with "beds," baby dolls, and baby-care items such as diapers and baby powder, baby books, stuffed "baby" animals and care items, Wooden farms set (in caves), "Farm" felt-board images.
•Rationale: To allow for the expression of family life and to encourage social interaction while playing with familiar props. To support the extended, cooperative play as children work together to sustain a pretend play session. To continue the children's interest in symbolic representation by allowing them to create stories about both farm animals and the farmers who care for them. To extend our new interest in planting and growing by providing the opportunity to imagine the ways farmers plant and grow food.
•Skills: Gross- and fine-motor skills, creative role-play, peer interaction, imagination, social problem solving, and symbolic representation, creative story-telling, knowledge of jobs in the community.

Expressive Art
•Materials: primary colors (red, blue, and yellow) mixing at the easel, natural materials for collage, clay, markers, crayons, colored pencils, scissors, bottle caps, glue, and tape, yarn, pipe cleaners, construction paper shapes.
•Rationale: to explore with hands and tools to promote sensory awareness, increase fine motor skills, foster social relationships as children observe and work together with their peers, engage in an in-depth investigation of a basic elements of art. To support continued exploration with shapes and the shapes we see in our everyday lives.
•Skills: fine motor development (strength, coordination), creativity, symbolic representation, sensory input, color recognition, identification of shapes, part whole relationships, hand-eye coordination, creative problem solving.

Science
•Materials: cockroaches, beetles, mealworms, salamander, Rats, computer, magnifying glasses, planting materials (dirt, egg cartons, seeds)
•Rationale: to support children's curiosity of the natural world around us and to encourage the investigation of nature. To continue to observe familiar natural experiences (classroom pets) while extending ideas about these phenomena. To extend our exploration of living things by planting seedlings that we can care for, observe, and eventually transfer outdoors.
•Skills: observation, scientific investigation and inquiry, outdoor/indoor connection, making comparisons, recording change over time, using technology as a source of information, making predictions.

Language and Literacy
•Materials: the writing center has a variety of writing utensils, paper, envelopes, staplers, tape, pictures of children in our classroom, alphabet chart, dictionary, and samples of written words, and a book of the children's names and pictures. Magnetic upper- and lower-case letters and magnet boards.
•Rationale: To continue to support children as they engage in letter and note writing. To provide opportunities to become familiar with combining letters in different and novel ways. To encourage peer collaboration and communication through creating words together and writing the names of peers.
•Skills: fine motor, pre-writing, and letter recognition, phonological awareness, using texts in a variety of ways.
•Materials: The library continues to offer fiction and nonfiction texts, including those that support our continued discussion of feelings and emotions, plants, and shapes.
•Rationale: to encourage reading time with friends and teachers, encourage exploration of fiction and nonfiction texts. To encourage the use of books as a source of information. To become familiar with a variety of stories and genres.
•Skills: receptive language, early literacy, predicting, listening, phonological awareness, and community building.

Large Motor
Gym: Materials: Jump-the-gap, basketball, rolling slide, hopscotch, pitch-back, ladders, and monkey bars.
Rationale: After focusing on balance during the last gym set-up, we decided to arrange the equipment to provide new challenges emphasizing jumping and dynamic movement, throwing and catching, and target practice.
Skills: Depth-perception, static and dynamic jumping, throwing/catching, hand-eye coordination, visual-perception, hopping on one foot, upper-arm strength, climbing, coordination, and core-strength.

Special Announcements:
*Check out volunteer sign-up for in-classroom participation opportunities
*Don't forget the Spring Soiree is this Saturday. Look for the amazing flower pots painted by our class!
Snacks
*Monday: Sunbutter Sandwiches and Bell Peppers
*Wednesday: Classmade Applesauce and Cinnamon whole wheat tortillas
*Thursday: Yogurt and granola

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Baking on Thursdays

Focused Groups
Science with Sharon

Cooking with Katie

Language and Literacy with Dalia

Language and Literacy

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Overview:
Ayuko, Lauren, Kelsey, Hannah, Co-teaching

There will be a few new curriculum topics focusing on plants/gardening, birds, and colors, which all encompass around the concept of Spring. We will be introducing these topics at the awareness level, observing and finding out what they already know about the subject and what they want to know further. The class will take a field trip at the end of the week to investigate further and observe the signs of spring around the school. The new rats have been a significant addition to our classroom. The children will continue to learn how to care for the rats and have opportunities to touch and interact with them.

Expressive Arts:
Materials: Primary color finger paints, paper, light table.
Rationale: To encourage children to explore color mixing using their hands and primary color paints
Skills: Observation, prediction, try out, cause and effect, imagination.

Materials: plant stamps, stamp pads, red, blue, and yellow markers, paper, scissors, tape
Rational: To identify and explore the primary colors. To encourage color mixing through the use of materials.
Skills: fine motor skills, collaboration, sensory input and exploration, prediction,
questioning, cause and effect

Sensory:
Materials: water, 2nd water table, water table insert, water movement pipes, food
coloring, funnels, clear measuring cups, materials that correlate with the color(s) such
as: scoops,fish, boats
Rationale: Primary colors will be introduced one day at a time to promote awareness of
each color. By the end of the week, two colors will be presented together to encourage
color mixing and exploration.
Skills: fine motor skills, collaboration, investigating, questioning, observation, prediction,
sensory exploration, sensory input, cause and effect, problem-solving

Materials: Red, blue, and yellow playdough, playdough tools, natural materials, woodland animals
Rationale: To incorporate primary color doughs to support making homes, food, and environment. To begin finding ways to mix colors to get the desired color dough for their play. To continue to foster symbolic play and creative thinking.
Skills: vocabulary (woodland animals, hibernation, waking, lair, primary colors), awareness of change of seasons and colors, sensory input, storytelling, and creative symbolic representation.

Science:
Materials: New classroom plants that will allow children to see the roots, water spray, flower parts felt board (root, stem, petal, pistol)
Rationale: To help them better understand the parts of growing plants with visuals and through conversation. To continue to make connections between the changing of the season and plants beginning to grow.
Skills: Observation, prediction, conversation, cause and effect, and explanation.

Materials: Circular tops, windmill circular rotation, lazy susan.
Rationale: To further explore circular motion and the concept of constant motion and spinning after observing circular motion in the gears and lazy susan.
Skills: Observation, experimentation, cause and effect, collaboration, questioning.

Dramatic Play:
Materials: stuffed animal birds, blankets, plastic foliage and flowers, eggs
Rationale: To continue and expand the children's interests in the emerging signs of spring, including birds and their nests. To provide the children opportunities to collaborate on building homes for the birds. To allow children to explore the different types of sounds birds make.
Skills: collaboration, turn-taking, communication, auditory discrimination, symbolic representation, creative expression, listening

Materials: Kitchen furniture, babies, food, mixing bowls, utensils, crib, car seats, construction tools.
Rationale: To integrate a few forms of dramatic play in the loft/kitchen area, such as fixing furniture in the house or kitchen with the tools. To provide opportunities to make and bake food for each other.
Skills: Social skills, cooperation, communication, collaboration, role play, creative expression, symbolic representation

Math and Manipulative:
Materials: Color sorting games, abacus, number puzzle, puzzles related to classroom themes, and spring weather related clothing matching game.
Rationale: To promote awareness of colors and weather. To introduce number concepts with manipulatives and numeral stencils. To match and problem solve in completing a puzzle.
Skills: 1 to 1 correspondence, matching, cause and effect, problem solving, observation, risk taking, persistence.

Language and Literacy
Materials: Alphabet stencils, name Stencils, a variety of books being displayed in different curriculum areas as well as the reading nook relating to emerging and current play themes including Spring, babies, food, construction, turtles
Rationale: To promote the use of books and stories as resources for new knowledge and inspiration for play, while continuing to facilitate the development of the basic components of language.
Skills: phonological awareness, listening, speaking, spelling, alphabetical awareness, conversation, reading, turn taking

Music:
Materials: song cards, triangles, tone bells, CD, rainsticks.
Rationale: To create and listen to sounds that remind us of spring. To craete a variety of sounds that are made of metal. To begin creating beats and rhythm to the songs we sing.
Skills: sensory input, hand eye coordination, exploring, large motor, fine motor

Blocks:
Materials: Hollow blocks, wooden blocks, foam blocks, plastic interlocking blocks, planks, ramps, wheels
Rationale: To support the emerging interest of circular motion by rolling round materials down the ramps. To continue supporting the children in creating structures as well as working together to create collaborative buildings.
Skills: Fine motor, large motor, spatial concepts, symbolic representation, construction skills, creativity, collaboration, communication, cooperation

Large Motor:
Outdoor materials: Scoops, shovels, buckets, bug catchers, trikes, magnifying glass, baskets
Rationale: To begin searching for signs of spring. To support large motor skills by providing a variety of equipment.
Skills: sharing, turn taking, propulsion skills, large motor, motor coordination, searching, scanning, muscular endurance, hand eye coordination

Indoor Materials: Jump-the-gap, basketball, rolling slide, hopscotch, pitch-back, ladders, and monkey bars.
Rationale: To arrange the equipment to provide new challenges emphasizing jumping and dynamic movement, throwing and catching, and target practice.
Skills: Depth-perception, static and dynamic jumping, throwing/catching, hand-eye coordination, visual-perception, hopping on one foot, upper-arm strength, climbing, coordination, and core-strength.

Large Group:
Materials: Songs and welcome activities led by teacher, discussion of Spring and caretaking methods for the rats, demonstration of activity, and introduction of curriculum areas. 

Rationale: To promote awareness of plants, gardening, color, and birds. To introduce and support play themes throughout the classroom
Skills: Attention span, listening, receptive skills, speaking, taking turns, communication, social skills, literacy, trying new things

Snacks:
Tuesday: Oranges and whole wheat crackers
Friday: Bananas and graham crackers

Overview:
Ayuko, Lauren, Kelsey, Hannah, Co-teaching

There will be a few new curriculum topics focusing on plants/gardening, birds, and colors, which all encompass around the concept of Spring. We will be introducing these topics at the awareness level, observing and finding out what they already know about the subject and what they want to know further. The children will begin taking trips in small groups around the school premisis to observe the signs of spring. The new rats have been a significant addition to our classroom. The children will continue to learn how to care for the rats and have opportunities to touch and interact with them.

Expressive Arts:
Materials: Primary color finger paints, paper, light table.
Rationale: To encourage children to explore color mixing using their hands and primary color paints
Skills: Observation, prediction, try out, cause and effect, imagination.

Materials: plant stamps, stamp pads, red, blue, and yellow markers, paper, scissors, tape
Rational: To identify and explore the primary colors. To encourage color mixing through the use of materials.
Skills: fine motor skills, collaboration, sensory input and exploration, prediction,
questioning, cause and effect

Sensory:
Materials: water, 2nd water table, water table insert, water movement pipes, food
coloring, funnels, clear measuring cups, materials that correlate with the color(s) such
as: scoops,fish, boats
Rationale: Primary colors will be introduced one day at a time to promote awareness of
each color. By the end of the week, two colors will be presented together to encourage
color mixing and exploration.
Skills: fine motor skills, collaboration, investigating, questioning, observation, prediction,
sensory exploration, sensory input, cause and effect, problem-solving

Materials: Red, blue, and yellow playdough, playdough tools, natural materials, woodland animals
Rationale: To incorporate primary color doughs to support making homes, food, and environment. To begin finding ways to mix colors to get the desired color dough for their play. To continue to foster symbolic play and creative thinking.
Skills: vocabulary (woodland animals, hibernation, waking, lair, primary colors), awareness of change of seasons and colors, sensory input, storytelling, and creative symbolic representation.

Science:
Materials: New classroom plants that will allow children to see the roots, water spray, flower parts felt board (root, stem, petal, pistol)
Rationale: To help them better understand the parts of growing plants with visuals and through conversation. To continue to make connections between the changing of the season and plants beginning to grow.
Skills: Observation, prediction, conversation, cause and effect, and explanation.

Materials: Circular tops, windmill circular rotation, lazy susan.
Rationale: To further explore circular motion and the concept of constant motion and spinning after observing circular motion in the gears and lazy susan.
Skills: Observation, experimentation, cause and effect, collaboration, questioning.

Dramatic Play:
Materials: stuffed animal birds, blankets, plastic foliage and flowers, eggs
Rationale: To continue and expand the children's interests in the emerging signs of spring, including birds and their nests. To provide the children opportunities to collaborate on building homes for the birds. To allow children to explore the different types of sounds birds make.
Skills: collaboration, turn-taking, communication, auditory discrimination, symbolic representation, creative expression, listening

Materials: Kitchen furniture, babies, food, mixing bowls, utensils, crib, car seats, construction tools.
Rationale: To integrate a few forms of dramatic play in the loft/kitchen area, such as fixing furniture in the house or kitchen with the tools. To provide opportunities to make and bake food for each other.
Skills: Social skills, cooperation, communication, collaboration, role play, creative expression, symbolic representation

Math and Manipulative:
Materials: Color sorting games, abacus, number puzzle, puzzles related to classroom themes, and spring weather related clothing matching game.
Rationale: To promote awareness of colors and weather. To introduce number concepts with manipulatives and numeral stencils. To match and problem solve in completing a puzzle.
Skills: 1 to 1 correspondence, matching, cause and effect, problem solving, observation, risk taking, persistence.

Language and Literacy
Materials: Alphabet stencils, name Stencils, a variety of books being displayed in different curriculum areas as well as the reading nook relating to emerging and current play themes including Spring, babies, food, construction, turtles
Rationale: To promote the use of books and stories as resources for new knowledge and inspiration for play, while continuing to facilitate the development of the basic components of language.
Skills: phonological awareness, listening, speaking, spelling, alphabetical awareness, conversation, reading, turn taking

Music:
Materials: song cards, triangles, tone bells, CD, rainsticks.
Rationale: To create and listen to sounds that remind us of spring. To craete a variety of sounds that are made of metal. To begin creating beats and rhythm to the songs we sing.
Skills: sensory input, hand eye coordination, exploring, large motor, fine motor

Blocks:
Materials: Hollow blocks, wooden blocks, foam blocks, plastic interlocking blocks, planks, ramps, wheels
Rationale: To support the emerging interest of circular motion by rolling round materials down the ramps. To continue supporting the children in creating structures as well as working together to create collaborative buildings.
Skills: Fine motor, large motor, spatial concepts, symbolic representation, construction skills, creativity, collaboration, communication, cooperation

Large Motor:
Outdoor materials: Scoops, shovels, buckets, bug catchers, trikes, magnifying glass, baskets
Rationale: To begin searching for signs of spring. To support large motor skills by providing a variety of equipment.
Skills: sharing, turn taking, propulsion skills, large motor, motor coordination, searching, scanning, muscular endurance, hand eye coordination

Indoor Materials: Jump-the-gap, basketball, rolling slide, hopscotch, pitch-back, ladders, and monkey bars.
Rationale: To arrange the equipment to provide new challenges emphasizing jumping and dynamic movement, throwing and catching, and target practice.
Skills: Depth-perception, static and dynamic jumping, throwing/catching, hand-eye coordination, visual-perception, hopping on one foot, upper-arm strength, climbing, coordination, and core-strength.

Large Group:
Materials: Songs and welcome activities led by teacher, discussion of Spring and caretaking methods for the rats, demonstration of activity, and introduction of curriculum areas. 

Rationale: To promote awareness of plants, gardening, color, and birds. To introduce and support play themes throughout the classroom
Skills: Attention span, listening, receptive skills, speaking, taking turns, communication, social skills, literacy, trying new things

Snacks
Monday: Oranges and Whole wheat crackers
Wednesday: Cheerios and milk
Thursday: (Cooking) muffins and milk

Overview
Our goals for this week are to bring the topics of healthy bodies and springtime growth into focus. To do so we changed the science center to include the senses of smell and hearing and will encourage the children to think about how their senses help their bodies. This includes participating in activities that emphasize using their senses to perceive and learn about seasonal change. We will focus on plants by encouraging children to search for new growth/change on the playground as well as by caring for classroom plants. The children drew many flowers over the past two weeks so we will add the new challenge of using clay to represent the flowers and plants that are reflective of the seasonal changes that they see in the natural environment.

Art
Expressive Materials
-Materials: Easel with pastel colors and small brushes, clay, flowers, oil pastels, chalk, contrasting paper
-Rationale: Mirrors have been placed at the easel to promote awareness of faces as inspiration for creative design. At the table we will provide oil pastels and chalk as a new medium for them to explore. We will also encourage children to get reacquainted with the clay. Flowers will be used at the center of the table for those ready to try representational molding with the clay. We will also encourage children to explore the human body with the clay by considering questions such as "How can I use my body/hands to change the clay?" or "Can a make the shape of my hand using the clay?"
-Skills: Creative expression, symbolic representation, self-expression, fine motor strength/coordination

Math
-Materials: Construx, floor puzzles, sequencing games, interlocking puzzles, photo cards representing step-by-step process for building
-Rationale: The Construx are a builder with a lot of potential. Many of the children developed personal designs with both the Legos and Mobilos which can now be applied and extended by adding more detail with the Construx.
-Skills: Sequencing, process skills, planning, construction skills, analysis, synthesis, ordering, fine motor strength and hand-eye coordination.

Science
- Materials: Tape player with tape of different sounds, shaker sound matching game, large seashells, musical instruments, different types of herbs in containers, flowers, pine cones. Light projector located under the loft.
-Rationale: As the children continue to learn more about the 5 senses, they will begin to explore their senses of hearing and smell. Using materials from nature, such as the different herbs, plants, and seashells, will begin to build an awareness of the connection between their bodies and the outside world. The light projector will provide the means for them to experiment with light and shadows by creating body/body part shadows.
-Skills: Experimentation, observation, comparing, matching, generalizing, conceptual knowledge, self-awareness.

Language and Literacy
-Materials: Classroom dictionary, markers, paper, envelopes, staples, tape computer, and new books related to spring growth, and healthy body growth. Tape story listening center in the loft.
-Rationale: To provide children with an opportunity to expand their knowledge of letters and letter sounds they will be helping to create a classroom dictionary. We will be incorporating new vocabulary having to do with spring, body growth, along with familiar words. The listening center in the loft is a cozy space for listening to stories with peers.
-Skills: Letter recognition, alliteration, name recognition, descriptive and creative writing/dictation, fine motor dexterity and coordination.

Blocks
-Materials: Hollow blocks, unit blocks, fabrics, step-by-step process pictures, paper and pencils
-Rationale: The children have been building animal dens as well as space ships over the past two weeks. They have a desire to be completely enclosed so we have added fabric to use as a safe covering for their structures.
- Skills: Creative building, social skills, planning, spatial skills, geometry, sequencing, construction skills, and large motor.

Dramatic Play
-Materials: Doctor's office with exam room and reception desk counter, doctor kits, checklists depicting body parts, charts indicating body parts, light table with x-ray pictures, labels for doctor instruments with corresponding body part they are used for.
-Rationale: The children have enjoyed engaging in doctor play and have continued to find new ways to extend and add depth to their activities. Familiarity with the dramatic play center will present the children with an opportunity to incorporate the new knowledge we will be learning about our bodies. The checklists and examining procedure will continue to provide them with the means to practice sequencing and literary skills.
-Skills: Role-play, symbolic play, peer interactions and social skills, problem solving, sharing, planning, sequencing, extending play, carrying over knowledge from other areas of learning

Large motor
-Materials: Playground--woodworking station, bikes, shovels, bricks, kites. Gym--Jump-the-gap, basketball, rolling slide, hopscotch, pitch-back, ladders, and monkey bars.
-Rationale: We introduced the children to woodworking late last week and are focusing on safety and proper tool usage. We are starting with hammers, nails, and sandpaper and will also help the children notice the different densities and textures of the wood pieces.
-Skills: Depth-perception, static and dynamic jumping, throwing/catching, hand-eye coordination, visual-perception, hopping on one foot, upper-arm strength, climbing, coordination, and core-strength

Snack
Monday - Whole wheat english muffin pizzas
Tuesday - Carrots & hummus
Wednesday - Apples & Cheerios
Thursday - Chex & milk
Friday- Bananas & whole wheat crackers

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Weekly Lesson Plan for Ross' Class
Week of: April 9-13, 2012
Lead teaching this week: Ross

Overview: The past two weeks have flown by! The children quickly settled back into the routines of the classroom and were ready to pick up right where they left off. There is an excited, yet focused, energy buzzing around the room. The children are really diving into the areas in the classroom and revisiting themes and stories from the days before - elaborating on previous activities and taking them farther: for example the eagles nest in the nook has continued to grow in detail and thoughtfulness with the addition of a second room to the nest "so more birds could live there" as well as varieties of beautiful ribbon to tie the branches together. We have seen similar focus growing in the block, art, and science areas, too! We want to continue this self-guided learning while creating meaningful segues to related topics facilitated by the teachers to promote the learning and discovery of new things - specifically related to planting and caring for our own seeds, as well as breaking down the medium of drawing by exploring the question, "What is a line?" We're excited to see where these areas and questions take us!

Expressive Arts (paint, collage, clay)
• Materials: At the art table: budding and blossoming plants and flowers, pencils, ultra-fine tip Sharpie markers, art/drawing reference books
At the clay table: thick wire, gems, clothespins, rocks
• Rationale: This past week, we introduced a "planted garden" that had a variety of plants and bulbs in it that would grow and change quickly over the week. We invited the children to draw their observations each day to reflect on the changes they saw. Several children became very interested and wanted to check if "any new flowers bloomed." We will use their drawings as an introduction to representational drawing and use them to look at lines in art. At the clay table, the children are ready for a new focus, and we will use the blooming flowers as a motivator to create new, vertical sculptures.
• Skills: artistic expression, symbolic representation, persistence, imagination/creativity, connections/expressions of the observed world, fine motor strength/endurance

Sensory (sand table)
• Materials: Spray bottles, shovels, mini PVC pipes, mini-spoons, wood blocks, pieces of cardboard
• Rationale: Last week we added some animals and trees to sand table to create opportunities for more symbolic/dramatic play. The new additions brought new life to the table, so to continue the new stories being told, we added "spoon people" - drawing faces on the mouths of the mini-spoons. The children have seemed to really enjoy creating their own people. We will see where the stories go this week!
• Skills: symbolic representation, storytelling/dramatic play, familiarity with materials, dexterity, hypothesis creating/testing skills, opportunities for cooperation/collaboration/negotiation

Science
• Materials: the rats, various examples of bird nests, nest-building materials (i.e. sticks, string, yarn, ribbon), the computer streaming the Decorah eagles (and eaglets, hopefully!)
• Rationale: We shared two of our not-so-baby rats with Ayuko's class last week, and recalled the pet-care knowledge we learned in the winter with their class so they could take of care their new pets. That means: we are officially down to two rats! They will be our permanent pets from here on out. And now that we've got our two rats, they need names! Both our class, as well as the afternoon class, will get a chance to name the rats this week. The Decorah eagles also continued to be an attention grabber as we watched them each day; noticing how big they got over the past week! The focus on growing/getting bigger continued as the children noticed how the flowers in the art area changed every day last week. On the topic of watching plants grow, we also invited each child to pick out an "unknown" plant (a hosta) in front of the school and will be observing its changes over the next few weeks. There has been a ton of data observing and collecting as of late!
• Skills: scientific/higher-level thinking skills, observing and interpreting information about the natural world, generalization skills (connections between animals that make nests).

Math and Manipulatives
• Materials: various jigsaw puzzles, a Montessori fraction puzzle, multi-colored tan-gram puzzles (using a square, rhombus, and various sized triangle pieces to form/create different shapes and images), magnetic shapes and magnet boards
• Rationale: The math table continues to be a popular spot for many, with children stopping by throughout the day to challenge their spatial planning skills as they try to fill the boards with as many tan-gram pieces as possible. We will start a more focused exploration of geometry as we begin to look at the number of sides each shape has, as well as examine the concept of symmetry.
• Skills: concepts related to geometry/shape/symmetry, part-to-whole relationships, one-to-one correspondence, counting, opportunities for collaborative problem solving.

Language and Literacy
• Materials: paper, envelopes, pencils, blank books, magnetic alphabet letters and boards (at the "satellite table" in between the cubbies and reading area)
• Rationale: As we fly through the last 10 weeks of the school year, we while begin to put a stronger emphasis on letter awareness, phonemic awareness, and other pre-/early-literacy skills related to on-set of early reading. We will do this through various letter and sound games both at the writing table as well as throughout the day (i.e. during large group and snack time). Games such as "Tell me a word that starts with the letter B (or ...with an mmm sound)" as well as simply sight word picture/spelling matching games will become available: eventually being made by the children, we hope!
• Skills: pre-/early -literacy skills, letter recognition, phonemic awareness, fine-motor coordination/endurance

Dramatic Play
• Materials: Dress-up materials (i.e. dresses, shoes, boots, fabric, costumes from the "Princesses in Powerland" play), play phones, jewelry, sunglasses, dramatic playhouse props
• Rationale: The house play has officially moved to the blocks! The house props (i.e. food, dishes, babies, pets, tables, chairs, etc.) start in the playhouse and eventually make their way to the new and improved blockhouses in the back of the room. It has lead to rich, elaborate stories involving large families and communities (with "neighbors") that have all been child-directed. It has been really neat to see the stories unfold each day!
• Skills: imaginative/creative play, supporting opportunities for relationships and using various social skills, symbolic representation, memory skills

Blocks
• Materials: large hollow blocks, small multi-shaped unit blocks, peg people, tray of "loose parts"
• Rationale: The blocks are very popular, with ALL the large hollow blocks being used every day to make several different kinds of homes for princesses, wolves, kitties, and most recently...ninjas! While all this large block building is taking place, we also have a group that has found the loose parts tray on the unit-block shelf, and have continued to make very detailed castles, peg-people homes, and trains. We will continue to add new and interesting loose parts to add to the detail of the creations being made.
• Skills: large-/fine-motor skills, symbolic representation, concepts related to balance, supporting social relationships/interactions, opportunities for endless dramatic play

Large-motor
• In the gym: The gym will continue to have the "lava-river" jump, bumpy slide, monkey bars, basketball hoop, and climbing wall. One addition that we will make is an extension on the hopscotch course, adding more squares and numbers to challenge the children to go farther and count higher! We will also encourage the practice of the one-foot-two-feet pattern to build lower body strength/coordination/endurance. However, because it is continually getting nicer outside, we will spend less time in the gym and focusing more of our large-motor time on the playground. Look for the "No-gym" or "Choice-gym" card on the door.
• On the playground: The playground is quickly becoming a favored spot and we want to celebrate the arrival of spring! We will plan to get out earlier on the nicer days to get ample time outside! Currently the children have really enjoyed digging extremely large holes, cruising around on the trikes and wagons, as well as practicing the "big" monkey bars!
• Skills: Large-motor/locomotor skills, static and dynamic balance, hopping (lower leg strength/coordination), jumping/landing skills, emerging skills related to propelling self (on the swings/trikes)

Announcements/Special Interest
• The Parent Ed. discussions led by Amy Susman-Stillman are this week! The details and info can be found on the website.
• If you have donations for our class' "Night On The Town" soiree basket (or any other gifts/donations), please bring them in and drop them off with Ross or Sheila so they can be correctly recorded and valued.
• There are still a few spots left for both the 4-week exploration and 2-week focused summer camps. Sign up today!
• There are also a few spots left for the all-school camping trip (including in the lodge). Sign up with Sheila and join the fun! If you're not interested in staying the night, you're welcome to join the Saturday daytime activities (any and all can come for that!).

Snack
Monday - Chex cereal with milk
Tuesday - Whole wheat cinnamon toast
Wednesday - Carrots & hummus
Thursday - Edamame & whole wheat crackers
Friday - Apples & Cheerios
* All snacks served with milk and water, unless otherwise noted *

Overview and Goals
This coming week we will continue to explore our five senses and our bodies; the children are enthusiastically discussing these topics with their classmates and teachers and we will continue to offer plenty of opportunities to deepen their explorations. We will continue to promote the children's interest, passion, and joy in creating and expanding our classroom dictionary. This strong focus on language and literacy is sparking children's interest in letters, reading and writing and are developing the skills to represent our words with illustrations. Our dictionary is strengthening our sense of community as well as helping become experts at describing and explaining words, sounding letters and putting the sounds together to create words!

Expressive Arts
~Materials: Construction paper, oil pastels, markers, crayons, color pencils, glue sticks, staplers, tape, scissors. Easel with thin brushes, colored paints, large construction paper; mirrors for self-portraits.
~Rationale: Use a variety of art materials and provide opportunities for individual expression and with focus on fine lines to create self-portraits.
~Skills: Creative expression, symbolic representation, risk taking, hand-eye coordination, fine motor development, and intrinsic motivation.
Science
We continue to discuss our five senses: this week we will focus on the sense of smell and the sense of hearing.
~Materials: Herbs, cotton balls with different smells, sound canisters, musical instruments, and sound loto. Projector in the back of the classroom. Special table with a wasp hive, pictures of bees and wasps, and a list of differences between bees and wasps (created by the children).
~Rationale: To encourage active exploration of smell and hearing. To offer children hands-on opportunities to understand these two senses, the differences between all senses and their possible uses. The projector continues to offer opportunities to investigate light, reflection and shadows. The children's strong interest in bees and wasps inspired the teachers to create a special space to continue to investigate these insects.
~Skills: Observation, scientific inquiry, comparison, reasoning, sorting, descriptive language, self-expression, peer interactions, investigation of ourselves and exploration of lights and shadows.
Math, Manipulatives and Games
We continue our strong focus on sequencing. Number sequencing-ordinal numbers and following a step-by-step plan. We continue to link the development of our understanding of sequencing by using step-by-step directions while playing in the doctor's office, building with blocks and creating with a new creative building material.
~Materials: Construx, step-by-step directions, inset puzzles, and floor puzzles.
~Rationale: Continue to offer daily opportunities for children to understand sequencing and begin to use ordinal numbers on a regular basis.
~Skills: Sequencing, creative building, eye-hand coordination, and finger strength.
Dramatic, Symbolic Play and Blocks/Creative Building
The doctor's office continues to be a popular place to cooperate, collaborate and use many of the sills we are focusing in the classroom.
~Materials: Pictures of the different instruments available in our doctor's office along with labels, stethoscopes, casts, thermometers, doctor's bags, doctor's cot, doctor gowns, signs with step-by-step instructions or what to do when you visit the doctor. One of our caves will continue to offer opportunities for symbolic play with woodland animals.
~Rationale: This coming week, we will focus on facilitating play that incorporates the use of the specific names for the instruments available in the doctor's office. We will also encourage the children to add these words into our dictionary! We will encourage children to share their experiences when visiting the doctor, hospital, dentist, etc.
Skills: Understanding of self and others, communication, language, vocabulary, social interactions, collaboration, symbolic play, understanding of bodies.
Blocks
~Materials: Hollow blocks, unit blocks, ramps, and boards. Basket with musical instruments.
~Rationale: Continue to offer the children opportunities for creative building. The musical instruments are available as a provocation to include in the dramatic play scenarios in the back of the classroom.
~Skills: Mathematical concepts such as symmetry, dimensions and fractions. Spatial skills, creative building, large motor, imaginative play.
Language and Literacy
The introduction of our dictionary has been a great success in the classroom. This week we will continue to encourage the children to add their favorite words to it, as well as new words we learn in the different areas of the classroom.
~Materials: Special table with a bound dictionary, classroom dictionary, blank papers and alphabetical dividers. Fun and familiar books, pencils, thin markers, paper, envelopes, folded paper, stamp-sized paper, glue sticks, staplers, and tape. Cards with children's photos and names written on them. Books related to doctor visits, our bodies, spring and favorites. We are beginning to add books about plants.
~Rationale: Our classroom dictionary continues to offer plenty of opportunities to create community and feelings of confidence and success. The children are busy not only writing new words but also creating illustrations.
~Skills: Pre-/ early-literacy skills, building community, and symbolic representation, vocabulary expansion, social skills, and imaginative/creative play.
Large Motor
Playground
~Materials: Bikes, playground equipment, swings, shovels, buckets, scoops, hill.
~Rationale: To encourage children to move their bodies freely. Have room to run and exercise.
~Skills: Cardiovascular endurance, balance, coordination, grasping, climbing, jumping, strength, and flexibility.
Gym
Materials: Jump-the-gap, basketball, rolling slide, hopscotch, pitch-back, ladders, and monkey bars.
Rationale: After focusing on balance during the last gym set-up, we decided to arrange the equipment to provide new challenges emphasizing jumping and dynamic movement, throwing and catching, and target practice.
Skills: Depth-perception, static and dynamic jumping, throwing/catching, hand-eye coordination, visual-perception, hopping on one foot, upper-arm strength, climbing, coordination, and core-strength.
Special Interest
Woodworking
~Materials: In the playground: Woodworking benches, woodworking tools and pieces of wood.
~Rationale: To encourage children to become aware with using woodworking tools; we are planning on a classroom project in the near future.
~Skills: Hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, strength, familiarity with a variety of tools.
Question of the Day
We continue to have a daily question for the children. This question highlights concepts, skills and topics discussed in the classroom and/or sparks additional questions.

REMINDERS
Upcoming Events
Our Spring Soiree is Saturday, April 21... I hope you are in the midst of arranging for childcare for the children!! I will be taking attendance ☺
Last PAC meeting of the year: Wednesday, May 2nd, 7-8:30
Lab School Camping Adventure: Saturday May 19th-Sunday, May 20th
Pizza Party: Tuesday, May 22nd, 6-7:30 (Rain date is Wednesday, May 23rd)
Memorial Day- No School, on Monday, May 28th

Last day of the year will be Thursday, May 31st, please plan on attending our classroom celebration of learning this day. Details to come!

Dalia

Cooking-Dalia

Focused Groups
Science with Sharon- Wednesday and Thursday

Dramatic Play with Katie

Science

Focused Groups
Dramatic Play with Katie

Language and Literacy with Marie
for Wednesday and Thursday of this week

Art/Science with Dalia

Science

Overview:
As the weather is getting warmer, the children are beginning to take notice of budding flowers, leaves on trees, and plants in our playground. They have also been observing and looking for some bugs. The curriculum areas will continue to be focused around the concept of Spring, connecting children with plants and emerging insects from the natural world. We will also be taking advantage of our playground, trying to spend more time outdoors to further study these themes. We will also begin preparing for the rats to come into the classroom by discussing the necessary means to care for them. In addition to these emerging themes, we will also be extending some of the current curriculum areas to further their investigation.

Expressive Arts:
2am: The art area will continue to focus on the liquid water color paint this week as we continue to make our classroom gift for the Spring Soiree.
**Materials: Light table, liquid water color paints, brushes, white paper.
Rationale: To continue to explore watercolor with the effect of the light from the light table.
Skills: Fine motor skills, creative thinking and expression, sensory input and exploration.

**Materials: Markers, lazy susan, round paper, scissors, a variety of masking tapes, crayons, name and letter stencils.
Rationale: To support emergent writing and the children's interest in writing their own names. To encourage team-work in learning how to use the lazy susan and using it to create a design with markers. To support fine motor skill in cutting tape into small pieces and decorating the paper with tape.
Skills: fine motor skills, collaboration, creative thinking and expression.

Sensory:
**Materials: 2nd water table, Water, funnels, water movement pipes, scoops, cups, strainers.
Rationale: To further explore and observe the movement of water by adding a 2nd, lower, water table and experiment with how water transfers from one place to another.
Skills: Observation, conversation, collaboration, investigating, questioning, prediction, sensory exploration, sensory input, cause and effect, problem-solving

**Materials: Red and brown playdough, playdough tools, natural materials, woodland animals
Rationale: To continue to foster symbolic play and creative thinking by making animal homes, food, and environment using natural materials. To provide the raw material for exploration of the themes of animal habitats as Winter ends and Spring begins.
Skills: vocabulary (woodland animals, hibernation, waking, lair), awareness of change of seasons, sensory input, storytelling, and creative symbolic representation.

Science:
**Materials: Circular tops, windmill circular rotation.
Rationale: To further explore circular motion and the concept of constant motion and spinning after observing circular motion in the gears and lazy susan.
Skills: Observation, experimentation, cause and effect, collaboration, questioning.

**Materials: A few classroom plants and water spray.
Rationale: To continue to observe and care for by watering the plants and better understand the life cycle of plants. To take responsibility caring for living things.
Skills: Observation, prediction, conversation, cause and effect, investigation

Dramatic Play:
**Materials: Kitchen furniture, babies, food, mixing bowls, utensils, crib, car seats.
Rationale: To provide opportunities to make and bake food for each other and have collaborative work.
Skills: Social skills, cooperation, communication, collaboration, role play, creative expression, symbolic representation

**Materials: Construction hats, construction vests, tools, cement trucks, cars, tape, marker, pegs and hammer, classmate pictures, wheels.
Rationale: To support the emerging interest of circular motion by rolling round materials down the ramps. To continue and expand the children's interest in "fixing" things in different areas of the classroom. To support literacy by creating signs that are related to construction and their play.
Skills: Social skills, collaboration, cooperation, communication, fine motor, creative expression, role play, symbolic representation

Math and Manipulative:
**Materials: Color sorting games, puzzles related to classroom themes, and gears
Rationale: To promote awareness in cause and effect relationships by connecting the gears together. To match and problem solve in completing a puzzle.
Skills: 1 to 1 correspondence, matching, cause and effect, problem solving, observation, risk taking, persistence. 


Language and Literacy

**Materials: Alphabet stencils, name Stencils, a variety of books being displayed in different curriculum areas as well as the reading nook relating to emerging and current play themes including Spring, babies, food, construction, turtles

Rationale: To promote the use of books and stories as resources for new knowledge and inspiration for play, while continuing to facilitate the development of the basic components of language.

Skills: phonological awareness, listening, speaking, spelling, alphabetical awareness, conversation, reading, turn taking


Music:

**Materials: song cards, triangles, tone bells, symbols, drums.
Rationale: To create and listen to a variety of sounds that are made of metal. To begin creating beats and rhythm to the songs we sing.
Skills: sensory input, hand eye coordination, exploring, large motor, fine motor

Blocks:
**Materials: Hollow blocks, wooden blocks, foam blocks, plastic interlocking blocks

Rationale: To continue supporting the children in creating structures as well as working together to create collaborative buildings.
Skills: Fine motor, large motor, spatial concepts, symbolic representation, construction skills, creativity, collaboration, communication, cooperation

Large Motor:
**Outdoor materials: Scoops, shovels, buckets, bug catchers, trikes, magnifying glass, baskets
Rationale: To begin searching for signs of spring. To support large motor skills by providing a variety of equipment.
Skills: sharing, turn taking, propulsion skills, large motor, motor coordination, searching, scanning, muscular endurance, hand eye coordination

**Indoor Materials: Jump-the-gap, basketball, rolling slide, hopscotch, pitch-back, ladders, and monkey bars.
Rationale: To arrange the equipment to provide new challenges emphasizing jumping and dynamic movement, throwing and catching, and target practice.
Skills: Depth-perception, static and dynamic jumping, throwing/catching, hand-eye coordination, visual-perception, hopping on one foot, upper-arm strength, climbing, coordination, and core-strength.

Large Group:
**Materials: Songs and welcome activities led by teacher, discussion of Spring and caretaking methods for the rats, demonstration of activity, and introduction of curriculum areas. 

Rationale: To promote discussions about their new interests such as budding plants and insects that are emerging from the ground. To introduce and support play themes throughout the classroom
Skills: Attention span, listening, receptive skills, speaking, taking turns, communication, social skills, literacy, trying new things

Snack:
Tuesday:cantaloupe and oatmeal cookies (cooking project)
Friday:sliced cucumbers and pretzels

Overview:
As the weather is getting warmer, the children are beginning to take notice of budding flowers, leaves on trees, and plants in our playground. They have also been observing and looking for some bugs. The curriculum areas will continue to be focused around the concept of Spring, connecting children with plants and emerging insects from the natural world. We will also be taking advantage of our playground, trying to spend more time outdoors to further study these themes. We will also begin preparing for the rats to come into the classroom by discussing the necessary means to care for them. In addition to these emerging themes, we will also be extending some of the current curriculum areas to further their investigation.

Expressive Arts:
3am: **Materials: Light table, water color cakes, water, brushes, white paper.
Rationale: To explore a different medium of watercolor with the effect of the light from the light table.
Skills: Fine motor skills, creative thinking and expression, sensory input and exploration, trying out new things

**Materials: Markers, lazy susan, round paper, scissors, a variety of masking tapes, crayons, name and letter stencils.
Rationale: To support emergent writing and the children's interest in writing their own names. To encourage team-work in learning how to use the lazy susan and using it to create a design with markers. To support fine motor skill in cutting tape into small pieces and decorating the paper with tape.
Skills: fine motor skills, collaboration, creative thinking and expression.

Sensory:
**Materials: 2nd water table, Water, funnels, water movement pipes, scoops, cups, strainers.
Rationale: To further explore and observe the movement of water by adding a 2nd, lower, water table and experiment with how water transfers from one place to another.
Skills: Observation, conversation, collaboration, investigating, questioning, prediction, sensory exploration, sensory input, cause and effect, problem-solving

**Materials: Red and brown playdough, playdough tools, natural materials, woodland animals
Rationale: To continue to foster symbolic play and creative thinking by making animal homes, food, and environment using natural materials. To provide the raw material for exploration of the themes of animal habitats as Winter ends and Spring begins.
Skills: vocabulary (woodland animals, hibernation, waking, lair), awareness of change of seasons, sensory input, storytelling, and creative symbolic representation.

Science:
**Materials: Circular tops, windmill circular rotation.
Rationale: To further explore circular motion and the concept of constant motion and spinning after observing circular motion in the gears and lazy susan.
Skills: Observation, experimentation, cause and effect, collaboration, questioning.

**Materials: A few classroom plants and water spray.
Rationale: To continue to observe and care for by watering the plants and better understand the life cycle of plants. To take responsibility caring for living things.
Skills: Observation, prediction, conversation, cause and effect, investigation

Dramatic Play:
**Materials: Kitchen furniture, babies, food, mixing bowls, utensils, crib, car seats.
Rationale: To provide opportunities to make and bake food for each other and have collaborative work.
Skills: Social skills, cooperation, communication, collaboration, role play, creative expression, symbolic representation

**Materials: Construction hats, construction vests, tools, cement trucks, cars, tape, marker, pegs and hammer, classmate pictures, wheels.
Rationale: To support the emerging interest of circular motion by rolling round materials down the ramps. To continue and expand the children's interest in "fixing" things in different areas of the classroom. To support literacy by creating signs that are related to construction and their play.
Skills: Social skills, collaboration, cooperation, communication, fine motor, creative expression, role play, symbolic representation

Math and Manipulative:
**Materials: Color sorting games, puzzles related to classroom themes, and gears
Rationale: To promote awareness in cause and effect relationships by connecting the gears together. To match and problem solve in completing a puzzle.
Skills: 1 to 1 correspondence, matching, cause and effect, problem solving, observation, risk taking, persistence. 


Language and Literacy

**Materials: Alphabet stencils, name Stencils, a variety of books being displayed in different curriculum areas as well as the reading nook relating to emerging and current play themes including Spring, babies, food, construction, turtles

Rationale: To promote the use of books and stories as resources for new knowledge and inspiration for play, while continuing to facilitate the development of the basic components of language.

Skills: phonological awareness, listening, speaking, spelling, alphabetical awareness, conversation, reading, turn taking


Music:

**Materials: song cards, triangles, tone bells, symbols, drums.
Rationale: To create and listen to a variety of sounds that are made of metal. To begin creating beats and rhythm to the songs we sing.
Skills: sensory input, hand eye coordination, exploring, large motor, fine motor

Blocks:
**Materials: Hollow blocks, wooden blocks, foam blocks, plastic interlocking blocks

Rationale: To continue supporting the children in creating structures as well as working together to create collaborative buildings.
Skills: Fine motor, large motor, spatial concepts, symbolic representation, construction skills, creativity, collaboration, communication, cooperation

Large Motor:
**Outdoor materials: Scoops, shovels, buckets, bug catchers, trikes, magnifying glass, baskets
Rationale: To begin searching for signs of spring. To support large motor skills by providing a variety of equipment.
Skills: sharing, turn taking, propulsion skills, large motor, motor coordination, searching, scanning, muscular endurance, hand eye coordination

**Indoor Materials: Jump-the-gap, basketball, rolling slide, hopscotch, pitch-back, ladders, and monkey bars.
Rationale: To arrange the equipment to provide new challenges emphasizing jumping and dynamic movement, throwing and catching, and target practice.
Skills: Depth-perception, static and dynamic jumping, throwing/catching, hand-eye coordination, visual-perception, hopping on one foot, upper-arm strength, climbing, coordination, and core-strength.

Large Group:
**Materials: Songs and welcome activities led by teacher, discussion of Spring and caretaking methods for the rats, demonstration of activity, and introduction of curriculum areas. 

Rationale: To promote discussions about their new interests such as budding plants and insects that are emerging from the ground. To introduce and support play themes throughout the classroom
Skills: Attention span, listening, receptive skills, speaking, taking turns, communication, social skills, literacy, trying new things

Snack:
Monday:cantaloupe and graham crackers
Wednesday:sliced cucumbers and pretzels
Thursday:oranges and triscuits