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Lesson Plan-Ayuko's 3AM Classroom
Week of October 3rd
Ayuko Lead Teaching

Overview: The children are slowly learning the routines of the classroom and are increasingly comfortable separating from their parents in the morning. We will continue to focus on building relationships among children and teachers by getting to know each others' names and finding a common thread through all forms of play. There will be few activities that incorporate the children's photos and names to encourage interaction among them and help us create a sense of community in the classroom. The play areas continue to be arranged to promote these goals and encourage the development of positive relationships with classmates and teachers.

Expressive Arts
**Materials: Scissors, crayons, markers, stickers.
Rationale: To promote fine motor skills of cutting and snipping.
Skills: fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, persistence, creative expression.

**Materials: Red and yellow paint, paint brushes, white paper, leaf visuals.
Rationale: To explore the changing colors in their surrounding environment. Leaf visuals will be attached to the art easel to provide representation, imagery, and inspiration. To explore mixing of the two colors as well as different design elements including brush stroke, paint application, and pattern making.
Skills: Fine motor skills, creative expression, imagination, problem solving, curiosity, decision making, sensory input, observation, and comparison.

**Materials: Cinnamon-scented play dough, play dough tools (cookie cutters, muffin trays, garlic presses, rolling pins, pizza cutters, mixing bowls, wooden spoons),visuals of people baking pies, pizzas, cupcakes, and muffins at eye level near the play dough table, and pretend oven
Rationale: To promote ideas of baking and eating. To add materials specific to baking and enhance children's imaginary play. To give the play dough a more realistic scent by adding cinnamon.
Skills: Symbolic representation, Fine motor skills, familiarity with play dough and its properties, Observation, Creative expression, imagination, Social skills, turn taking

Sensory
**Materials: Blue water, basters, and a variety of containers
Rationale: To promote experimentation with cause and effect and how the children can use the basters in the water. To explore what happens when colored water is added to clear water.
Skills: Observation, familiarity with materials, math skills (volume and spatial relations), comparison, prediction, and fine motor.

**Materials: Four noise sticks.
Rational: To promote experimentation with sound and how to produce sound. To challenge children's thinking while creating a satisfying trial and effect game with teachers and peers.
Skills: Physical coordination, observation, and sensory input.

Science
**Materials: Our Turtles, Tuck and Rainbow. Magnifying glasses.
Rationale: To observe the turtles in the terrarium using magnifying glasses. To continue discussing how to care for these pets as a class: What do they eat? How do we hold them? How do they clean themselves?
Skills: Observation, prediction, ideas, try out, and comparison.

** Materials: Gourds and squash that vary in color, size, shape, and texture, Tomatoes that vary in color, size, and shape, Various colors of maize, Magnifying glasses, Visuals of gourds, tomatoes, and squash
Rationale: To continue interest and curiosity in tomatoes after discovering both ripe and unripe tomatoes in the garden on the playground. To spur interest in fall season and harvest items, such as gourds and pumpkins. To explore the different colors, sizes, shapes, and textures we see in different varieties.
Skills:Observation skills, Comparison skills, Classification skills, Expressive language skills, Scientific and higher level thinking skills, reason, and problem solve

Dramatic Play
**Materials: Animal smocks and scarves.
Rationale: To encourage creative expression and role play. To explore and discuss different textures of fabric.
Skills: Sensory input, creative expression, and role play.

**Materials: Baby dolls, baby items (clothes, bottles, rattles), pets (puppies and bunnies), dog food tray, dog food, and visuals of pets and babies.
Rationale: To stimulate pretend play with familiar household pets. To encourage social interaction between peers and teachers. To provide opportunities to learn about caring for another living animal. To support cooperative play.
Skills: Communication, social skills, role play, symbolic representation, and cooperative play.

**Materials: Familiar household kitchen items, furniture, plastic food, gourds, tongs, puffballs, and bowl.
Rationale: To support pretend play, symbolic play, foster social interaction and cooperative play. To simulate snack time experience and practice using tongs to grab snack.
Skills: Communication, cooperation, turn taking, role play, symbolic representation, Fine motor skills and independence

**Materials: Wooden cars, dump trucks, and street signs.
Rationale: To support pretend play, symbolic play, foster social interaction and cooperative play.
Skills: Communication, cooperation, turn taking, role play, symbolic representation, and social skills.

Math and Manipulatives
**Materials: Face matching games, seriation and color stackers, and puzzles.
Rationale: To promote fine motor development, facial recognition, shape and color differentiation, and hand-eye coordination for spatial awareness.
Skills: visual discrimination, turn taking, fine motor control.

**Materials: Leaves of multiple varieties and colors, color coded sheets of construction paper.
Rationale: To observe the differences and similarities between the leaves. To sort the leaves by color and discuss some of their identifying features.
Skills: Problem solving, collaboration, color recognition, sorting, grouping, following directions, mathematical thinking, reasoning.

**Materials: Baskets with color lining, visual color representation, written color name.
Rationale: To provide opportunitites to lean how to clean up and help sort items in the classroom. To learn color recognition and classification skills and provide direct instruction and visual aids.
Skills: Color Recognition, Grouping, Sorting, Self help skills, problem solving, reasoning.

Language and Literacy
**Materials: Signs, questions, storylines, and related books posted in various curriculum areas and a variety of books on the book shelf. Books relating to caretaking and vehicles.
Rationale: To support their development in beginning role play, experience the basic components of language systems, and support understanding the changes of the season.
Skills: Listening, speaking, phonological awareness, observation, vocabulary expansion.

Blocks
**Materials: Hollow and cardboard blocks and pictures of children building with blocks.
Rationale: To support mathematical skills, social interaction, and collaborative building. To be incorporated into buildings or roads for the vehicles located nearby.
Skills: Communication, collaboration, large motor, expressive creation, mathematical and scientific concepts.

Large Motor
**Materials: Indoors - Climbing equipments, A-Frame Ladder, slide, and jumping donut. Outside - Natural materials such as grass, plants, and trees, wooden house, picnic table, slide, rakes for raking leaves, wheel barrows, and tools for digging and molding sand.
Rationale: To support basic skills such as jumping, climbing, balance, coordination, and upper and lower body development and promote social interaction and role play.
Skills: Perceptual Motor Skills (spatial, temporal, directional, and body awareness) and physical fitness (cardio vascular endurance, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility, and agility).

Large group
Materials: name songs, fall songs, books, fingerplay, discussion about taking care of self - hand washing.
Rationale: To begin a routine, familiarize the children with each other's names, and promote a beginning sense of group, community, and collaboration.
Skills: fine motor development, hand eye coordination, listening, speaking, patience, taking turns, communication, and social skills.

Music - Music will be apparent throughout the day to support transitions and encourage participation.
Materials: Piano, drums, tone blocks, and shakers.
Rationale: to promote exploration of sound, volume, rhythm and social interaction.
Skills: turn taking, fine motor development, and mathematical concepts such as beats and patterns.

Snacks:
Monday: Graham crackers and milk.
Wednesday: Apple sauce and milk.
Thursday: Birthday snack, pretzels and milk.

Lesson Plan-Ayuko's 3AM Classroom
Weeks of 9/20 and 9/26
Ayuko Lead Teaching

Overview: The first couple of weeks we will focus on helping the children say goodbye to their families and adjusting them to the school environment. As the children explore and investigate the classroom, we hope they begin to think positively of the teachers and school. Slowly we will begin to learn the routines of the classroom and give children the support they need to make transitions through the morning. The play areas are arranged to promote these goals and encourage the development of positive relationships with classmates and teachers.

Expressive Arts
Materials: Wooden paint brushes, paper, and primary color paints Rationale: To explore brush strokes and color mixing.
Skills: Fine motor control, observation, and hand-eye coordination.
Materials: Paper, markers, stickers, and scissors.
Rationale: To explore the properties of a variety of art materials.
Skills: Fine motor control and hand-eye coordination.
Materials: Playdough and a variety of molding tools.
Rationale: To produce an outlet for creative expression and promote social interaction.
Skills: Fine motor development (squeezing, poking, and pinching), observation, generating ideas, and sensory input.

Sensory
Materials: Water, measuring cups, funnels, large and small jars.
Rationale: To encourage a practice of pouring and filling and develop the concept of empty and full, less and more, and in and out. To encourage social awareness as children notice what those across from them are doing with the same materials
Skills: Observation, math skills (volume and spatial relations), comparison, prediction, and fine motor.
Materials: Three noise sticks.
Rational: To promote experimentation with sound and how to produce sound. To challenge children's thinking while creating a satisfying trial and effect game with teachers and peers.
Skills: Physical coordination, observation, and sensory input.

Science
Materials: Our Turtles, Tuck and Rainbow. Magnifying glasses.
Rationale: To observe the turtles in the terrarium using magnifying glasses. To begin discussing the idea of caring for these pets as a class: What care does it entail?
Skills: Observation, prediction, comparison, classification.
Materials: Natural materials such as seed pods, pine cones, and leaves, magnifying glasses.
Rationale: To observe and feel the texture of the natural materials that are found in the children's everyday lives. To become aware of the similarities and differences of the materials.
Skills: Observation, exploration, record, try out, and comparison.

Dramatic Play
Materials: Familiar household kitchen, baby items, multiethnic babies, various dress-up clothes, and dump trucks and cars.
Rationale: To support pretend play, symbolic play, foster social interaction and cooperative play.
Skills: Communication, cooperation, turn taking, role play, symbolic representation, and social skills.
Materials: Scarves, sheer sheets, pillow, and books.
Rationale: To promote social interaction, peek-a-boo games, and provide a room/cozy area to read and relax.
Skills: Social skills, turn taking, and communication.
Materials: Stuffed household pets: dogs and rabbits.
Rationale: To stimulate pretend play with familiar animals they know or have at home. To promote social interaction among the children and teachers.
Skills: Social skills, cooperation, communication, turn taking, and role play.

Math and Manipulatives
Materials: Shape sorters, seriation and color stackers, and puzzles.
Rationale: To promote fine motor development, shape and color differentiation, and hand-eye coordination for spatial awareness.
Skills: visual discrimination, turn taking, fine motor control.

Language and Literacy
Materials: Signs, questions, and related books posted in various curriculum areas and a variety of books on the book shelf.
Rationale: To support their development in language and literacy and emergent reading, such as the process of independently turning pages in a book and dictating a story from the pictures.
Skills: Listening, speaking, phonological awareness, vocabulary expansion.

Blocks
Materials: Hollow, foam, and cardboard blocks.
Rationale: To support mathematical skills, social interaction, and collaborative building. To be incorporated into buildings or roads for the vehicles located nearby.
Skills: Communication, collaboration, large motor, expressive creation, mathematical and scientific concepts.

Large Motor
Materials: Indoors - Climbing equipments, stairs, slide, and Trampoline. Outside - Natural materials such as grass, plants, and trees, wooden house, picnic table, slide, and tools for digging and molding sand.
Rationale: To support basic skills such as jumping, climbing, balance, coordination, and upper and lower body development and promote social interaction and role play.
Skills: Perceptual Motor Skills (spatial, temporal, directional, and body awareness) and physical fitness (cardio vascular endurance, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility, and agility).

Large group
Materials: name songs, books, fingerplay.
Rationale: To begin a routine, familiarize the children with each other's names, and promote a beginning sense of group, community, and collaboration.
Skills: fine motor development, hand eye coordination, listening, speaking, patience, taking turns, communication, and social skills.

Music - Music will be apparent throughout the day to support transitions and encourage participation.
Materials: Piano
Rationale: to promote exploration of sound, volume, rhythm and social interaction.
Skills: turn taking, fine motor development, and mathematical concepts such as beats and patterns.

Snacks:
Wednesday 9/22 and Thursday 9/23 - graham crackers, milk, and water.
Monday 9/26, Wednesday 9/28, Thursday, 9/29: TBD

Winter Lesson Plan 2.14-2.19
Co-Lead Teaching

Overview:
There are a few of curriculum themes that are developing in the classroom. With the discussion of pregnancy and going to the hospital, some children have started to act out scenarios of taking care of their stuffed animals and each other using available "bandages" and stethoscopes. Related to this idea, we are also focusing on body awareness, movements our bodies make, and senses of touch and taste. As we are getting close to Spring and warm weather is approaching, we will have many discussions about what we can do outdoors with the warm, melted snow. There will be provocations: Why is the snow melting? Where is the "white" snow? What happened to the ice? Our classroom curriculum areas and outdoors will support these emerging interests.
Expressive Arts:
**Materials: Easel, different sizes of white paper, water, water color cakes, paint brushes
Rationale: To build on creative expression and practice using different brushes at the easel.
Skills: Fine motor, cause and effect, creative expression, try out new things, observation, comparison.
**Materials: Play dough, cooking utensils, "oven, and stove top."
Rationale: To support creative expression and symbolic representation. To provide opportunities to act out "mixing "and "making" food.
Skills: Sensory input, observation, manual dexterity, fine motor, symbolic representation.
Sensory:
**Materials: large blocks of ice, water spray, penguins, polar bears, seals, hammers, screwdrivers, cups, water, two types of salt
Rationale: To continue the children's knowledge, understanding, and exploration of ice. To see and feel the effect of salt over ice.
Skills: fine motor, problem solving, collaboration, communication, creative expression, turn-taking
**Materials: soft fabric, rough materials
Rationale: To expose develop awareness for rough and soft materials. To connect the senses of touch and sight.
Skills: Sensory input, observation, exploration, mathematic logic, problem solving.
Science:
**Materials: oranges and lemons (with addition of other fruit or vegetables later in the week), charts, facial expression visuals.
Rationale: To introduce the sense of taste. To conduct a taste test of oranges and lemons, compare the flavors, and record their assessment. To introduce new vocabulary, such as sweet and sour.
Skills: Sensory input, exploration, experimentation, observation, try out, record.
Dramatic Play:
**Materials: Stethoscope, bandages, thermometers, stuffed animals
Rationale: To introduce the emerging interest that occurred last weekend about going to the doctor's office.
Skills: Communication, collaboration, role play, negotiating.
**Materials: Kitchen: Pots and Pans, Dishes, Silverware, wooden spoons, towels, oven mitts, spices. Grocery Store: baskets, food boxes, plastic food, grocery bags, "credit" cards
Rationale: To continue building awareness of where food from home comes from. To act-out going to the grocery store, come home to store and sort the food away, and "cook."
Skills: Self-help, communication, collaboration, creative expression, social skills, role play, choice-making, cause and effect

Math and Manipulatives:
**Materials: Sorting manipulatives, nesting books. body puzzles, counting/alphabet puzzles.
Rationale: To promote the mathematical concept of sorting items. To continue mathematical exploration of counting, numbers, seriation. To encourage understanding of the children's own bodies.
Skills: fine motor, sorting, seriation, numerical awareness, counting, body recognition, self-help skills

Language and Literacy:
**Materials: Name cards, markers, alphabet stencils.
Rationale: To continue to facilitate letter and name awareness. To encourage writing as a form of communication. To promote the development of fine motor skills.
Skills: fine motor, letter awareness, literacy, communication
**Materials: Grocery lists, recipe charts, books related to curriculum areas, books in reading nook, metal pan, magnetic letters, felt boards
Rationale: To create awareness of letters and print. To promote creativity and storytelling. To understand and follow pictorial directions. To build familiarity with books and the alphabet. To apply new concepts to play.
Skills: letter awareness, creative expression, fine motor, literacy, phonological awareness, listening, communication, numerical awareness, turn taking
Blocks:
**Materials: Planks, tubes and gutters, ramps, small hollow blocks, small hotwheel cars, unit blocks, cylindrical and round objects.
Rationale: To continue to experiment with ramp manipulation and development. To continue to experiment with how fast or slow different objects roll down the ramps.
Skills: Problem solving, experimentation, role play, creative expression, symbolic representation, large and fine motor, collaboration, communication, prediction

Large Motor:
**Materials: rope swing, blue slide and stairs, area for throwing/target practice, bolster hill, balance beam.
Rationale: To continue to promote physical development through balance, coordination, upper body and core strength. To foster social interaction and turn-taking through sharing the same equipment. To foster spatial awareness, awareness of the environment, self and others. 


Skills: Core strength, coordination, balance, risk taking, spatial awareness, depth perception, climbing, upper and lower body strength, motor planning, grasping, turn taking, and social interaction

**Materials: Fabric, dancing dresses, CDs, music, tambourines
Rationale: To incorporate "dancing" as part of an exercise activity and relate this concept to health and how it affects our bodies. To encourage creative movement. To create independence while choosing music.
Skills: Creative expression, large motor, social skills, role play, collaboration, communication
Please continue to share your child's favorite song, songs, or CDs with us so we could offer them as options for the dance area. We will be creating playlists on the computer so the children will have the option to choose a song for listening and dancing.

**Materials: Outdoors: Treasure hunting, colored water in spray bottles, shovels and buckets, sleds, snow plow vehicles.
Rationale: To begin a "treasure hunt "activity and look for marks that indicate where to look for these items. To explore the results of adding color to the snow. To encourage experimentation and problem solving. To practice snow manipulation.
Skills: Fine and gross motor, experimentation, collaboration, discussion, observation, prediction, comparison, exploring novel situations, problem-solving

Large Group:
**Materials: Songs with a variety of languages, book "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" to continue letter awareness, number songs and rhymes led by teacher.
Rationale: To introduce a variety of culture, languages, and songs. To continue to encourage letter and numerical awareness. To encourage awareness of each other by sharing a common experience.
Skills: Turn-taking, attention span, communication, follow directions, awareness and respect for others

Music:
**Materials: piano, drums, tambourines, song cards, sand blocks.
Rationale: To explore volume and sound. To facilitate social interaction. To connect volume to hearing, as one of the five senses.
Skills: creative expression, imitation, communication, awareness of senses,
**Materials: dance dresses, fabric, cds, playlists on computer
Rationale: To connect music to creative movement. To introduce new genres and languages of songs. To explore body movement. To explore dance as a form of exercise.
Skills: creative movement and expression, self-confidence, social interaction, collaboration

Snacks:
Monday:Crackers and milk
Wednesday:Toast and Jam
Thursday: Alphabet soup and crackers

Winter Lesson Plan 2.7-2.11
Kari Lead Teaching

Overview:
The themes of winter, snow, and ice are still very relevant in our classroom and the children are continually showing interest in the topics. We are continuing to apply that theme throughout the classroom. The cooking project proved to be very successful on Monday and the children created an excellent tasting soup that everyone enjoyed. We followed a recipe to make the soup, which was a very successful sequencing visual. To extend play in the kitchen/grocery store area, we will be adding recipes and grocery lists for the children to use. From receiving many grocery items (thank you, parents) and having conversations at the snack tables, we found that the children eat nutritious food at home. Because of this, we have decided to deepen the concept of "what is nutritious?" and introduce the idea of sorting and labeling food as healthy or unhealthy. We will connect this concept to keeping our bodies healthy and discuss what we can do to maintain good health. It seems that children have also had a growing interest in letters and writing. We have noticed some children writing letters, asking questions about words and even writing their own name. To encourage this essential skill we will be turning the art table into a writing center. We will also connect literacy to other areas of the classroom.

Expressive Arts:
**Materials: Easel, white paper, water, water color cakes, paint brushes
Rationale: To extend the exploration of liquid watercolors in the science area to watercolor cakes on the art easels. To build on creative expression and to practice using different mediums.
Skills: Fine motor, creative expression, try out new things, observation, comparison

**Materials: "glurch" (compound of liquid starch and glue), drying rack, cutting tools, molds and presses
Rationale: To continue exploration of the material glurch. To practice observation, prediction, and testing hypothesis. To try out new tools and create new ways of manipulation.
Skills: Sensory input, observation, prediction, hypothesis, cause and effect, manual dexterity

Sensory:
**Materials: large blocks of ice, penguins, polar bears, seals, hammers, screwdrivers, saws, monkey wrenches, small fish, measuring cups, water, salt
Rationale: To continue the children's knowledge, understanding, and exploration of ice. To begin introducing the inquiry stage of the learning cycle, develop their curiosity and problem solve on how to melt and break ice. To work on collaboration of ideas between children. To support symbolic play and representation with the animals and the ice.
Skills: fine motor, problem solving, collaboration, communication, creative expression, turn-taking

Science:
**Materials: soft fabric, rough materials
Rationale: To introduce two of the five senses. To connect the senses of touch and sight and promote logical thinking and mathematical skill of sorting with rough and soft materials.
Skills: Sensory input, observation, exploration, mathematic logic, problem solving

Dramatic Play:
**Materials: Kitchen: Pots and Pans, Dishes, Silverware, wooden spoons, towels, oven mitts, spices. Grocery Store: baskets, shelves, food boxes, plastic food, grocery bags, "conveyor belt", shopping carts, "credit" cards
Rationale: To practice and build on cooking skills. To connect purchasing food and cooking food. To continue to practice and act-out going to the grocery store To act out and connect how the body temperature changes with cold and hot food.
Skills: Self-help, communication, collaboration, creative expression, social skills, role play, choice-making, cause and effect

Math and Manipulatives:
**Materials: Sorting baskets for cloth and healthy vs. unhealthy food, body puzzles, counting/alphabet puzzles, stringing beads, counting bears
Rationale: To promote the mathematical concept of sorting items. To encourage understanding of the children's own bodies. To begin awareness of the concept of what is healthy for our bodies. To continue mathematical exploration of counting and numbers.
Skills: fine motor, sorting, numerical awareness, counting, letter recognition, body recognition, self-help skills

Language and Literacy:
**Materials: Letter cards, alphabet, pencils, writing paper, name cards
Rationale: To facilitate letter awareness. To encourage writing as a form of communication. To promote the development of fine motor skills.
Skills: fine motor, letter awareness, literacy, communication
**Materials: Grocery lists, recipe charts, books related to curriculum areas, books in reading nook
Rationale: To create awareness of letters and print. To understand and follow pictorial directions. To build familiarity with books and the alphabet. To apply new concepts to play.
Skills: phonological awareness, listening, communication, numerical awareness, turn taking
**Materials: metal pan, magnetic letters, felt boards
Rationale: To facilitate letter awareness. To promote creativity and storytelling.
Skills: letter awareness, creative expression, fine motor, literacy

Blocks:
**Materials: Planks, tubes and gutters, ramps, small hollow blocks, unit blocks, white fabric, small cars, cylindrical objects, penguins.
Rationale: To continue to experiment with ramp manipulation and development. To create homes and play space, such as a slide, for artic animals. To continue to experiment with how fast or slow different objects roll down the ramps.
Skills: Problem solving, experimentation, role play, creative expression, symbolic representation, large and fine motor, collaboration, communication, prediction

Large Motor:
**Materials: Wall ladder, rope swing, blue slide and stairs, area for throwing/target practice, bolster hill, balance beam.
Rationale: To continue to promote physical development through balance, coordination, upper body and core strength. To foster social interaction and turn-taking through sharing the same equipment. To foster spatial awareness, awareness of the environment, self and others. 


Skills: Core strength, coordination, balance, risk taking, spatial awareness, depth perception, climbing, upper and lower body strength, motor planning, grasping, turn taking, and social interaction

**Materials: Fabric, dancing dresses, CDs, music, tambourines
Rationale: To incorporate "dancing" as part of an exercise activity and relate this concept to health and how it affects our bodies. To encourage creative movement. To create independence while choosing music.
Skills: Creative expression, large motor, social skills, role play, collaboration, communication
We would love for parents to share their child's favorite song, songs, or CDs with us so we could offer them as options for the dance area. We will be creating playlists on the computer so the children will have the option to choose a song for listening and dancing.

**Materials: Outdoors: Snow and ice on the playground, colored water in spray bottles, shovels and buckets, sleds, snow plow vehicles, large ocean/arctic animals
Rationale: To explore the results of adding color to the snow. To encourage experimentation and problem solving. To practice snow manipulation.
Skills: Fine and gross motor, experimentation, collaboration, discussion, observation, prediction, comparison, exploring novel situations, problem-solving

Large Group:
**Materials: Healthy vs. unhealthy food cards, book "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" to continue letter awareness, number songs and rhymes led by teacher, "Head, shoulders, knees and toes" song to connect awareness of body parts, discussions of what is healthy for our bodies as well as what we can do to keep our bodies healthy.
Rationale: To make the connection of health and our bodies. To continue to encourage letter and numerical awareness. To encourage awareness of each other by sharing a common experience.
Skills: Turn-taking, attention span, communication, follow directions, awareness and respect for others

Music:
**Materials: piano, shakers
Rationale: To explore volume and sound. To facilitate social interaction. To connect volume to hearing, as one of the five senses.
Skills: creative expression, imitation, communication, awareness of senses,
**Materials: dance dresses, fabric, cds, playlists on computer, tambourines
Rationale: To connect music to creative movement. To explore body movement. To explore dance as a form of exercise.
Skills: creative movement and expression, self-confidence, social interaction, collaboration

Snacks:
Monday: Graham crackers and milk
Wednesday: Trail mix and milk
Thursday: Animal crackers and orange slices

Winter lesson plan 1.31-2-4
Winter Lesson Plan
January 31-February 4 


Sarah Lead Teaching

Overview:


Over the past few weeks, the children have continued to show an interest in snow and ice, especially with the addition of snow in the sensory table. The children have been particularly interested in the new 'frozen fish,' as they have used their problem-solving skills and some tools (including hammers, screwdrivers and warm water) to get the fish out of the cubes of ice. We also want to build on the children's growing interest in story telling and rhyming by providing opportunities to tell stories and create rhymes in the classroom. In addition, the recent cold temperatures have inspired the children to 'warm up' by making hot food in the dramatic play area. In order to build off of this interest, we will be planning a cooking project on Monday during which the children will assist in making homemade soup. Their interest in cooking has also inspired us to provide the children with an opportunity to "shop" for the ingredients necessary for their own cooking endeavors. We will continue to foster their communication skills, creativity and problem-solving skills in the upcoming weeks with these alterations.

Expressive Arts 



**Materials: butcher paper, glue, and various collage materials.
Rationale: To build on gluing and creative skills. To interpret nature through artistic representation. To create artwork in collaboration with other children. To communicate creative ideas to others.
Skills: Fine motor, try out new ideas, creativity, persistence, artistic expression, symbolic representation.

**Materials: Easel, white paper, various paint colors, rollers, toy cars.
Rationale: To explore color mixing. To try out painting with novel tools. To build on creative expression. 

Skills: Fine motor, try out new things, symbolic representation, creativity, artistic expression.

**Materials: "glurch" (compound of liquid starch and glue), markers, molds and presses, cutting tools, cooking ingredients such as sand, and herbs.
Rationale: To explore a new substance and its liquid and solid states. To practice observation, make predictions, and test hypotheses. To try out a variety of new tools to see cause and effect relationships. 
To practice mixing ingredients and testing out 'recipes'. 

Skills: Sensory input, fine motor, turn taking, creative expression, manual dexterity, observation, cause and effect, creativity.

Sensory

**Materials: Snow, Measuring cups, Small water bottles, Plastic animals, Shovels, Water, Tools (screwdrivers, hammers, saws), Ice, Plastic fish in ice cubes

Rationale: To experiment with cause and effect as the snow melts through their own manipulation and use of water. To support symbolic play of hibernation with plastic animals. To encourage problem-solving skills in breaking/melting ice.

Skills: Sensory input, turn taking, comparison, observation, prediction, imitation, fine motor, cause and effect, creative expression, role play, problem-solving
Science

**Materials: light table, water color paints and brushes, coffee filters, contact paper, butcher paper, flashlights.
Rationale: To encourage exploration of colors, mixing them and using them in different media (i.e. on coffee filters vs. butcher paper). To raise awareness of the possibilities and consequences of mixing different colors together. To build on this awareness and encourage exploration through color-mixing in different media. To explore the differences in color when water and light are added to paints. 

Skills: Exploration, comparison, observation, fine motor, prediction, creative expression

Dramatic Play

**Materials: Kitchen: Pots and Pans, Plastic food, Dishes, Silverware, Cardboard boxes of warm food. Grocery Store: baskets, shelves, food boxes, plastic food, grocery bags, conveyor belt (black paper on low shelf)
Rationale: To determine which foods make the body warm. To connect how the body temperature changes with cold and hot. To practice and build on cooking skills. To encourage independence in choosing and cooking food. To practice and act-out going to the grocery store to buy food to bring home and cook.
Skills: Self-help, communication, collaboration, creative expression, social skills, role play, choice-making, cause and effect


We would love to receive donations of packaging of your child's favorite foods (boxes or plastic containers) so we can pretend to shop for those items. We would also like to compile a list of favorite foods and grocery stores so that teachers can refer to these during play to spark personal connections. Feel free to email us or let us know in person. Paper bags from these stores would also be appreciated.
Math and Manipulatives 



**Materials: seriation and color puzzles, color-matching bears, beads.



Rationale: To classify by color and size, to seriate, and to count. To match items by color. To practice self-help skills, hand-eye coordination, and fine motor control. To understand part to whole relationships in putting together a puzzle. 

Skills: Counting, seriation, classification, matching, sorting, comparison, persistence, fine motor control, hand-eye coordination

Language and Literacy 




**Materials: Felt story boards (sea-creatures, castle, Hungry Hungry Caterpillar), books to match with story boards.
Rationale: To increase awareness of story sequencing. To promote creativity in literacy activities (i.e. creating own stories with sequenced events).
Skills: Literacy and pre-literacy, sequencing events, communication, creative expression.
**Materials: Rhyming stories, rebuses depicting steps for cooking and dressing, books related to curriculum areas, books in reading nook.

Rationale: To create phonemic awareness. To practice following print left to right. To understand and follow pictorial directions. To find and apply new information from books to their knowledge and play. To build familiarity with print and books.

Skills: Listening, speaking, reading, phonological awareness, sequencing, alphabetical awareness, heuristic language, acquiring knowledge from print sources, turn taking. 



Blocks 



**Materials: Hollow blocks and unit blocks, planks, tubes and gutters, "winter vehicles" such as dump trucks, snow plow, and cars, cylinders for rolling, ramps. 

Rationale: To continue to experiment with the height of ramps, size of vehicles, and properties of other objects (smooth vs. rough blocks) and how these properties affect speed down a ramp. To encourage dramatic play of plowing and loading snow and other construction tasks. To encourage collaboration, prediction, and analysis.


Skills: Cooperation, collaboration, creativity, symbolic representation, large and fine motor, spatial concepts, construction skills (building), try out new ideas, prediction, analysis
Large Motor 




**Materials: Wall ladder, rope swing, blue slide and stairs, target for throwing/target practice, bolsters.
Rationale: To promote physical development through balance, coordination, upper body and core strength. To foster social interaction through sharing the same equipment. To foster spatial awareness, awareness of the environment, self and others. 


Skills: Core strength, coordination, balance, risk taking, spatial awareness, depth perception, climbing, upper and lower body strength, motor planning, grasping, turn taking, and social interaction

**Materials: Outdoors: Snow and ice on the playground, colored water in spray bottles, shovels and buckets, sleds, snow plow vehicles, jewels/treasures for scavenger hunt.
Rationale: To explore the possibilities of adding water to snow. To encourage experimentation with color-mixing in snow. To create storylines regarding snow removal. To practice shoveling and scooping snow.
To problem-solve with melting, breaking, and building ice. To use investigation skills to search for treasures.
Skills: Fine and gross motor, experimentation, collaboration, discussion, observation, prediction, comparison, trying new things and exploring novel situations, problem-solving.
Large group
**Materials: Movement and instrument activities, storytelling with felt, discussion of snow in the classroom and outside and how we might make it melt, discussion of the outside temperature and how it affects how we dress. Book "Eeny Meeny Miney Mouse" to listen for rhymes. Songs and rhymes led by teacher (gather, name, and topic songs and rhymes), modeling of activities.


Rationale: To practice rhythmic awareness and literacy skills, phonological awareness, and singing skills. To increase awareness of each other. To connect to others by sharing a common experience.
Skills: Attention span, attending and orienting, respect for one another, following directions, communication.
Music 




**Materials: Piano, drums, and maracas. 




Rationale: To promote exploration of sound, volume, rhythm and social interaction. To promote social interaction by encouraging the children to play instruments both in large group and during free play 



Skills: Creative expression and movement, mathematical concepts (beats and patterns), imitation, call and response, communication.

Snacks
 


Monday: Soup (cooking project with Kari)
Wednesday: Orange slices and crackers
Thursday: Pretzels and milk

Winter Lesson Plan


January 24th-28th 

Teachers Co-Lead Teaching


Overview:

Our field trip to the Mississippi River sparked a lot of interest in snow and ice. During the field trip, children commented on the texture and appearance of the snow (sparkly, cozy, melted, brown/white) and wondered how snow melts and why the river was not frozen. In order to explore this interest, we will encourage children to problem solve about how to melt the snow in the sensory table and perhaps create our own river. Art materials will be introduced that speak to the different textures, luster, patterns, and colors of snow and ice we saw on our walk. Children have also been dressing up in snow clothes and testing their warmth with a quick walk outside. Afterward, they have been coming to the dramatic play area to cook warm food to get warm. On Monday Sheila will come in to cook apple crisp with us to expand upon this interest in cozy, warm foods.

Expressive Arts 


**Materials: butcher paper, glue, and various collage materials. Rationale: To explore the process of gluing and collage. To interpret nature through artistic representation. To create artwork in collaboration with other children.
Skills: Fine motor, try out new ideas, creativity, persistence, artistic expression, symbolic representation.


**Materials: Easel, dark paper, white and pastel paint colors, and paddle brush. 


Rationale: To explore different textures this painting tool can create. To explore the contrast between the light paint and dark paper. To explore color mixing.
Skills: Fine motor, try out new things, symbolic representation, creativity, artistic expression.


**Materials: "glurch" (compound of liquid starch and glue), markers, molds and presses, cutting tools.


Rationale: To explore a new substance and its liquid and solid states. To practice observation, make predictions, and test hypotheses. To try out a variety of new tools to see cause and effect relationships. 

Skills: Sensory input, fine motor, turn taking, creative expression, manual dexterity, observation, cause and effect, creativity.


Sensory
**Materials: Snow, Measuring cups, Small water bottles, Plastic animals, Shovels, Water, Gutters, Ice
Rationale: To experiment with cause and effect as the snow melts through their own manipulation and use of water. To connect the field trip and melted river to our classroom. To support symbolic play of hibernation with plastic animals.
Skills: Sensory input, turn taking, comparison, observation, prediction, imitation, fine motor, cause and effect, creative expression, role play

Science
**Materials: light table, water color paints and brushes, coffee filters, contact paper, clear water in spray bottles
Rationale: To encourage exploration of colors, mixing them and using them in different media (i.e. on coffee filters vs. contact paper). To raise awareness of the possibilities and consequences of mixing different colors together. To build on this awareness and encourage exploration through color-mixing in different media. To explore the
differences in color when water and light are added to paints.
Skills: Exploration, comparison, observation, fine motor, prediction, creative expression

**Materials: flashlights, colored gel screens (three primary colors), different colored fabrics, colored cellophane, reflective surfaces (mirrors, aluminum foil)
Rationale: To promote hands-on exploration of color and light. To encourage mixing colors in a new medium (light). To explore and compare the differences of reflecting light on different surfaces (i.e. foil vs. mirror).
Skills: Exploration, trying out, comparison, observation, prediction, fine motor

Dramatic Play
**Materials: Babies: Hats, Blankets, Long sleeves, Long pants, Sweaters. Winter Clothing: Snow pants, Jackets, Hats, Mittens, Boots, Mirror. Kitchen: Pots and Pans, Plastic food, Dishes, Silverware, Cardboard boxes of warm food
Rationale: To work on self-help skills by practicing getting themselves dressed in snow gear. To make their own choices on clothing and which item they want to wear. To connect the classroom interest in babies to the theme of snow and ice. To determine which foods make the body warm. To connect how the body temperature changes with cold and hot.
Skills: Self-help, communication, collaboration, creative expression, social skills, role play, choice-making, cause and effect

We would love to receive donations of packaging of your child's favorite warm food (i.e., soup box, hot chocolate container) so we can pretend to come in from the cold and eat cozy food. We would also like to compile a list of favorite foods so that teachers can refer to these during play to spark personal connections. Feel free to email us or let us know in person.

**Materials: A world map, post-it notes, small pictures of airplanes to stick on the map, dry erase markers. 


Rationale: To become familiar with the world map and concepts of countries, cities, travel, and distance. To explore symbols and symbolic representation.


Skills: Role play, prediction, symbolic representation, communication, collaboration, creative expression, cooperation, social skills





Math and Manipulatives 



**Materials: seriation and color puzzles, lacing cards, beads.


Rationale: To classify by color and size, to seriate, and to count. To practice self-help skills, hand-eye coordination, and fine motor control. To understand part to whole relationships in putting together a puzzle.
Skills: Counting, seriation, classification, sorting, comparison, persistence, fine motor control, hand-eye coordination


Language and Literacy 



**Materials: Rhyming stories, rebuses depicting steps for cooking and dressing, books related to curriculum areas, books in reading nook.
Rationale: To create phonemic awareness. To practice following print left to right. To understand and follow pictorial directions. To find and apply new information from books to their knowledge and play. To build familiarity with print and books.
Skills: Listening, speaking, reading, phonological awareness, sequencing, alphabetical awareness, heuristic language, acquiring knowledge from print sources, turn taking. 




Blocks 



**Materials: Hollow blocks and unit blocks, planks, tubes and gutters, "winter vehicles" such as dump trucks, snow plow, and cars. 


Rationale: To experiment with the height of ramps, size of vehicles, and properties of other objects (smooth vs. rough blocks) and how these properties affect speed down a ramp. To encourage dramatic play of plowing and loading snow and other construction tasks. To encourage collaboration, prediction, and negotiation.

Skills: Cooperation, collaboration, creativity, symbolic representation, large and fine motor, spatial concepts, construction skills (building), try out new ideas


Large Motor 



**Materials: Wall ladder, monkey bars with rope swings, blue slide and foam donut to jump to, A-frame ladders with connecting bridge, and Pedalo and scooters.

Rationale: To promote physical development through balance, coordination, upper body and core strength. To foster social interaction through sharing the same equipment. 

Skills: Core strength, coordination, balance, risk taking, spatial awareness, depth perception, bilateral movement, climbing, upper and lower body strength, motor planning, grasping, turn taking, and social interaction


**Materials: Outdoors: Snow and ice on the playground, colored water in spray bottles, shovels and buckets, sleds, snow plow vehicles.
Rationale: To explore the possibilities of adding water to snow. To encourage experimentation with color-mixing in snow. To create storylines regarding snow removal. To practice shoveling and scooping snow.
Skills: Fine and gross motor, experimentation, collaboration, discussion, observation, prediction, comparison, trying new things and exploring novel situations

Large group 



**Materials: Discussion of snow in the classroom and outside and how we might make it melt, discussion of the outside temperature and how it affects how we dress and whether snow melts. Book "Eeny Meeny Miney Mouse" to listen for rhymes. Songs and rhymes led by teacher (gather, name, and topic songs and rhymes), dance and instrument activities, modeling of activities


Rationale: To practice rhythmic awareness, phonological awareness, and singing skills. To increase awareness of each other. To share in a common experience.
Skills: Attention span, attending and orienting, respect for one another, following directions.


Music 



**Materials: Piano, drums, and shakers. 



Rationale: To promote exploration of sound, volume, rhythm and social interaction. To promote social interaction by encouraging the children to play instruments both in large group and during free play 


Skills: Creative expression and movement, mathematical concepts (beats and patterns), imitation, call and response, communication.


Snacks
 

Monday: Apple Crisp (cooked with Sheila during class)
Wednesday: Pretzels and milk
Thursday: Rice cakes and milk

Winter Lesson Plan

January 18th-21st
Teachers Co-Lead Teaching
Overview:

The cold weather has been a predominant topic with the children these past couple of weeks. The children have been talking about snow plows, making tracks in snow and looking for tracks. As we take a field trip to the Mississippi River behind the Educational Sciences building to check whether rivers or all water turns to ice in cold weather, we will continue to focus on the weather, snow, and ice as the children learn about the contrast of warmth and cold and discover ways to manipulate these natural materials. Color mixing has also peeked the children's curiosity recently. In the upcoming weeks, we want to expand on this topic and implement the science of color into various areas of the classroom curriculum.
Expressive Arts 

**Materials: Easel, dark paper, white and pastel paint colors, and paddle brush. 

Rationale: To experiment using a different form of painting utensil. To continue to promote creative expression while providing colors that represent snow and winter. To create a contrast between light paint and dark background.
Skills: Fine motor, try out new things, symbolic representation, creativity, artistic expression.
**Materials: 4x4 inch square white paper, a variety of colored construction paper, hole punchers, crayons, markers, stickers, and scissors. 

Rationale: The children will continue to create their personal "art decorations" to be hung on the classroom board. To provide the opportunity to experiment and creatively express oneself with materials provided. To create artwork in collaboration with other children.

Skills: Fine motor, try out new ideas, creativity, persistence, artistic expression.
**Materials: two primary colored play dough, rolling pins, cheese slicers, odd shaped tools, number cookie cutters.

Rationale: To experiment mixing and molding two different primary colors. To try out a variety of new tools to see cause and effect relationships. 

Skills: Sensory input, fine motor, turn taking, creative expression, manual dexterity, observation, cause and effect, try out, creativity.
Sensory 

** Materials: Snow, measuring cups, shovels, plastic animals
Rationale: To explore molding and digging snow in a smaller container. To explore how snow melts over time. To connect how animals deal with and play in the cold snow to how we play with the snow.
Skills: Sensory input, turn taking, comparison, observation, prediction, imitation, fine motor

Science 

**Materials: light table, washable markers, coffee filters, saran wrap, vis-à-vis markers.
Rationale: To encourage exploration of colors, mixing them and using them in different media (i.e. on coffee filters vs. saran wrap). To raise awareness of the possibilities and consequences of mixing different colors together.
Skills: Exploration, comparison, observation, fine motor, prediction

**Materials: flashlights, colored gel screens (three primary colors), different colored fabrics, colored saran wrap or fabric
Rationale: To promote hands-on exploration of color and light. To encourage mixing colors in a new medium (light).
Skills: Exploration, trying out, comparison, observation, prediction, fine motor.
**Materials: Snow and Ice in the playground. 

Rationale: To compare, observe, mold, feel, and begin wondering about the difference between snow and ice and what it is made out of. To explore how we can alter and affect the snow and ice.
Skills: Ideas, discussion, experimenting, observation, try out ideas, cause and effect, predicting.
Dramatic Play 

**Materials:Winter Clothing in the "mud room," Snow pants, Jackets, Hats, Mittens, Boots.
Rationale: To work on self-help skills by practicing getting ready to go outside in the snow.
Skills: Self-help, communication, collaboration, creative expression, social skills, role play
**Materials: Household kitchen furniture, plates, bowls, cups, food, high chair, babies, warm baby clothes, blankets, bottles, and crib.

Rationale: To connect Ayuko's pregnancy and the classroom interest in babies to the current theme of snow, ice and winter through dressing the babies for warm weather and preparing food that warms the body up. To provide an opportunity to symbolically represent the children's experiences or curiosity of taking care of babies, making, and serving food for themselves and others. 

Skills: Role play, symbolic representation, communication, collaboration, creative expression, cooperation, social skills.

**Materials: A world map, post-it notes, small pictures of airplanes to stick on the map, small pictures of a variety of animals, dry erase markers. 

Rationale: To begin exploring the world map and learning new words such as continent, country, ocean, route, and destination. To promote awareness of where a variety of animals originated (i.e. Panda - China. Koala - Australia). 

Skills: Role play, prediction, symbolic representation, communication, collaboration, creative expression, cooperation, social skills



Math and Manipulatives 


**Materials: Lacing cards, large beads and string (beading), and puzzles

Rationale: To provide opportunities to sort by color and count with one-to-one correspondence. To provide materials that support hand-eye coordination and fine motor control. To understand part to whole relationships in putting together a puzzle. 

Skills: Counting, sorting, comparison, persistence, fine motor control, hand-eye coordination
Language and Literacy 


**Materials: Rhyming stories, sequencing steps, and a variety of books being displayed in different curriculum areas as well as the reading nook. 


Rationale: To promote awareness of rhymes. To recognize and refer to sequencing steps to follow directions. To find and apply new information in books to their knowledge and play, while continuing to facilitate the development of the basic components of language. Skills: Listening, speaking, reading, phonological awareness, sequencing, alphabetical awareness, heuristic language, give and ask for information, turn taking. 


Blocks 


**Materials: Hollow blocks and unit blocks, planks, "winter vehicles" such as dump trucks, snow plow, and cars. 

Rationale: To encourage dramatic play of plowing and loading snow. To construct and create vehicles to support the story lines of traveling. To experiment with the height of ramps and how it effects the speed of the vehicles. To encourage collaboration, prediction, and negotiation.
Skills: Cooperation, collaboration, creativity, symbolic representation, large and fine motor, spatial concepts, construction skills (building), try out new ideas
Large Motor 


**Materials: Wall ladder, monkey bars with rope swings, blue slide and foam cylinders with climbing rope, A-frame ladders with the donut hole and a connecting bridge, and Pedalo.
Rationale: To promote physical development through balance, coordination, upper body and core strength. To foster social interaction through sharing the same equipment.
Skills: Core strength, coordination, balance, risk taking, spatial awareness, depth perception, bilateral movement, climbing, upper and lower body strength, motor planning, grasping, turn taking, and social interaction
**Materials: Outdoors: Snow and ice on the playground, colored water in spray bottles, Sleds, Shovels, Buckets, Dump trucks, Snow/ice
Rationale: To explore the possibilities of adding water to snow and discuss how we alter the snow and the ice outside. To encourage experimentation with color-mixing in snow. To discover how we can move snow as well as how we can mold it to create our own structures.
Skills: Fine and gross motor, experimentation, collaboration, discussion, observation, prediction, comparison, trying new things/exploring novel situations, cause and effect, self-expression, social skills, trying out new ideas.
Large group 


**Materials: Discussion about field trip (snow/ice), looking for the frozen river. Creating a provocation - can we make a snow house? A snow person? Songs and rhymes led by teacher (gather, name, and topic songs and rhymes), reading "Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats, dance and instrument activities, modeling of activities

Rationale: To increase awareness of each other. To sings songs that are familiar as we get used to the school routine again.
Skills: Attention span, attending and orienting, respect for one another, following directions.
Music 


**Materials: Piano, drums, and shakers. 


Rationale: To promote exploration of sound, volume, rhythm and social interaction. To promote social interaction by encouraging the children to play instruments both in large group and during free play 

Skills: Creative expression and movement, mathematical concepts (beats and patterns), imitation, call and answer, communication.
Snacks

Wednesday:Raisins and rice cakes
Thursday:Birthday snacks

Winter Lesson Plan

January 10th-14th 

Ayuko and Elizabeth Lead Teaching

Overview:

As the children and new teachers settle in, our focus will be on building new relationships and strengthening existing ones. As we continue to discuss Ayuko's pregnancy, the children will have the opportunity to role-play caring for babies and pets in the dramatic play area. Themes of transportation and construction will be highlighted to allow children to deepen and develop current play themes. Winter weather and winter animals will be featured in the cave area and in large group discussions to bring awareness of the surrounding environment.

Expressive Arts 

**Materials: Easel, black paper, white and pastel paint colors. 

Rationale: To promote creative expression while providing colors that represent snow. To create a contrast between light paint and dark background. 

Skills: Fine motor, try out new things, symbolic representation, creativity, artistic expression.

**Materials: 4x4 inch square white paper, a variety of colored construction paper, hole punchers, crayons, markers, stickers, and scissors. 

Rationale: The children will continue to create their personal "art decorations" to be hung on the classroom board. To provide the opportunity to experiment and creatively express oneself with materials provided. To create artwork in collaboration with other children.

Skills: Fine motor, try out new ideas, creativity, persistence, artistic expression.

**Materials: Playdoh, rolling pins, cheese slicers, odd shaped tools, and cookie molds.

Rationale: To experiment with a variety of new tools. To try out materials to see the cause and effect relationship. 

Skills: Sensory input, fine motor, turn taking, creative expression, manual dexterity, observation, cause and effect, try out, creativity.

Sensory 

**Materials: Liquid soap in small containers, water, variety of containers, cups, hand mixers, funnels. 

Rationale: To explore how bubbles are created by experimenting with adding soap to water. To begin wondering how tools can create more bubbles. 

Skills: Sensory input, turn-taking, comparison, observation, imitation, prediction, trying out new ideas, fine motor

Science 

**Materials: Light table, primary color water, Petri dishes, cups, pipettes

Rationale: To provide the opportunity to explore colors and mixing them. To encourage color mixing with liquids. To make predictions and observe cause and effect.
Skills: Observation, prediction, fine motor, comparison, try out

To extend the exploration of color, we have a color board display. We would appreciate donations of natural and non-natural materials such as leaves, tinsel, ribbons, orange peel, etc, to school so we can begin sorting and displaying them on the board by color. The colors will be sorted by Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Purple.

**Materials: Animal fur, stuffed woodland animals, winter animal visuals, animal books with winter and hibernation themes

Rationale: To act out, make sense of, and discuss the process and reason for hibernation and how animals survive in the winter. 

Skills: Ideas, discussion, observation, sensory input

**Materials: Snow and Ice in the playground. 

Rationale: To compare, observe, mold, feel, and begin wondering about the difference between snow and ice and what it is made out of. To explore how we can alter and affect the snow and ice.
Skills: Ideas, discussion, experimenting, observation, try out ideas, cause and effect, predicting.

Dramatic Play 

**Materials: Household kitchen furniture, plates, bowls, cups, food, high chair, babies, baby clothes, blankets, bottles, and crib.

Rationale: To act out story lines of taking care of babies as Ayuko continues to discuss her pregnancy with the children. To provide an opportunity to symbolically represent the children's experiences or curiosity of taking care of babies, making, and serving food for themselves and others. 

Skills: Role play, symbolic representation, communication, collaboration, creative expression, cooperation, social skills.


**Materials: Wooden trains, airplanes, cars, maps, post-it notes, small pictures of airplanes to stick on the map. 

Rationale: To provide an opportunity to reenact some of the travel experiences the children may have had over winter break. 

Skills: Role play, symbolic representation, communication, collaboration, creative expression, cooperation, social skills




Math and Manipulatives 


**Materials: Sewing blocks, counting matching game, seriation stackers, puzzles

Rationale: To support awareness of numbers and counting. To provide materials that support hand-eye coordination and fine motor control. To understand part to whole relationships in putting together a puzzle. 

Skills: Counting, comparison, persistence, fine motor control, hand-eye coordination

Language and Literacy 


**Materials: A variety of books being displayed in different curriculum areas as well as the reading nook. 


Rationale: To promote finding and applying new information in books to their knowledge and play, while continuing to facilitate the development of the basic components of language. 


Skills: Listening, speaking, reading, phonological awareness, alphabetical awareness, heuristic language, give and ask for information, turn taking. 



Blocks 


**Materials: Hollow blocks and unit blocks, planks, vehicles

Rationale: To encourage construction and creating airports, houses, garage, train tracks, and bridges, to support the story lines of traveling. To encourage collaboration and negotiation.
Skills: Cooperation, collaboration, creativity, symbolic representation, large and fine motor, spatial concepts, construction skills (building), try out new ideas

Large Motor 


**Materials: Wall ladder, monkey bars with rope swings, blue slide and foam cylinders with climbing rope, A-frame ladders with the donut hole and a connecting bridge, and Pedalo.
Rationale: To promote physical development through balance, coordination, upper body and core strength. To foster social interaction through sharing the same equipment.
Skills: Core strength, coordination, balance, risk taking, spatial awareness, depth perception, bilateral movement, climbing, upper and lower body strength, motor planning, grasping, turn taking, and social interaction

**Materials: Outdoors: Sleds, buckets, shovels, looking for and making tracks. 

Rationale: To provide children opportunities to engage in activities that challenge their physical skills including a focus on balancing and coordination skills. To facilitate activities that promote usage of snow and ice.

Skills: Fine and large motor, body manipulation, physical fitness, hand-eye coordination, cause and effect, turn-taking

Large group 


**Materials: Songs and rhymes led by teacher (gather, name, and topic songs and rhymes), reading "Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats, dance and instrument activities, modeling of activities

Rationale: To build familiarity with new teachers. To increase awareness of each other. To sings songs that are familiar as we get used to the school routine again.
Skills: Attention span, attending and orienting, respect for one another, following directions.

Music 


**Materials: Piano, drums, and shakers. 


Rationale: To promote exploration of sound, volume, rhythm and social interaction. To promote social interaction by encouraging the children to play instruments both in large group and during free play 

Skills: Creative expression and movement, mathematical concepts (beats and patterns), imitation, call and answer, communication.

Snacks

Monday:Bananas and graham crackers
Wednesday:Raisins and rice cakes
Thursday:Trail mix

Winter Lesson Plan
January 4th -7th
Ayuko and Elizabeth Lead Teaching

Overview:
As we welcome the children and families back from the long winter break, we plan to keep things simple to allow easy interactions with our new student teacher team. We are assuming that some children may have had travel experiences during break so we will have trains, planes, cars, and maps available to capitalize on the memories. The snow scenery will be featured in the cave with a variety of woodland animals as they hibernate for the winter. Learning the basic steps of dressing for the winter outdoors (snowpants and boots and the rest) will be a big focus of our early days together.

Expressive Arts
**Materials: Easel, black paper, white and pastel paint colors.
Rationale: To promote creative expression while providing colors that represent snow. To create a contrast between light paint and dark background.
Skills: Fine motor, try out new things, symbolic representation, creativity, artistic expression.

**Materials: 4x4 inch square white paper, a variety of colored construction paper, hole punchers, crayons, markers, stickers, and scissors.
Rationale: Square papers will be available for the children to begin creating their personal "art decorations" to be hung on the classroom board. To provide the opportunity to experiment and creatively express oneself with materials provided. To create artwork in collaboration with other children.
Skills: Fine motor, try out new ideas, creativity, persistence, artistic expression.

**Materials: Playdoh, rolling pins, cheese slicers, odd shaped tools, and cookie molds.
Rationale: To experiment with a variety of new tools. To try out materials to see the cause and effect relationship.
Skills: Sensory input, fine motor, turn taking, creative expression, manual dexterity, observation, cause and effect, try out, creativity.

Sensory
**Materials: Liquid soap, water, variety of containers, cups, hand mixers, funnels.
Rationale: To experiment with how bubbles are created by using a variety of tools. To begin wondering which tool can create more bubbles.
Skills: Sensory input, turn-taking, comparison, observation, imitation, prediction, trying out new ideas, fine motor

Science
**Materials: Light table, primary color water, Petri dishes, cups, pipettes
Rationale: To provide the opportunity to explore colors and mixing them. To encourage color mixing with liquids.
Skills: Observation, prediction, fine motor, comparison, try out
We also have a color board displayed. Please feel free to bring in a variety of natural and non-natural materials such as leaves, tinsel, ribbons, orange peel, etc, to school so we can begin sorting and displaying them on the board by color. The colors will be sorted by Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Purple.

**Materials: Animal fur, stuffed woodland animals, winter animal visuals, animal books with winter and hibernation themes
Rationale: To act out, make sense of, and discuss the process and reason for hibernation and how animals survive in the winter.
Skills: Ideas, discussion, observation, sensory input

**Materials: Snow and Ice in the playground.
Rationale: To compare, observe, mold, feel, and begin wondering the difference between snow and ice and what it is made out of. To begin thinking about what type of animals enjoy the cold.
Skills: Ideas, discussion, experimenting, observation, try out ideas, cause and effect, predicting.

Dramatic Play
**Materials: Household kitchen furniture, plates, bowls, cups, food, high chair, babies, baby clothes, blankets, bottles, and crib.
Rationale: To act out story lines of taking care of babies as Ayuko will begin discussing her pregnancy to the children. To provide an opportunity to symbolically represent the children's experiences or curiosity of taking care of babies, making, and serving food for themselves and others.
Skills: Role play, symbolic representation, communication, collaboration, creative expression, cooperation, social skills.


**Materials: Wooden trains, airplanes, cars, maps, post-it notes, small pictures of airplanes to stick on the map.
Rationale: To provide an opportunity to reenact some of the travel experiences the children may have had over winter break.
Skills: Role play, symbolic representation, communication, collaboration, creative expression, cooperation, social skills


Math and Manipulatives 

**Materials: Sewing blocks, counting matching game, seriation stackers, puzzles
Rationale: To support awareness of numbers and counting. To provide materials that support hand-eye coordination and fine motor control. To understand part to whole relationships in putting together a puzzle.
Skills: Counting, comparison, persistence, fine motor control, hand-eye coordination

Language and Literacy 

**Materials: A variety of books being displayed in different curriculum areas as well as the reading nook.

Rationale: To promote finding and applying new information in books to their knowledge and play, while continuing to facilitate the development of the basic components of language. 

Skills: Listening, speaking, reading, phonological awareness, alphabetical awareness, heuristic language, give and ask for information, turn taking. 

Blocks 

**Materials: Hollow blocks and unit blocks.
Rationale: To encourage block building and make airports, houses, garage, train tracks, and bridges, to support the story lines of traveling.
Skills: Cooperation, collaboration, creativity, symbolic representation, large and fine motor, spatial concepts, construction skills (building), try out new ideas

Large Motor 

**Materials: Indoors: basic gym set up for the first week.
Rationale: To provide and promote opportunities to engage in activities that enhance and challenge their physical skills.
Skills: Upper and lower body strength, endurance, balance, coordination, symbolic representation, creativity, turn-taking

**Materials: Outdoors: Sleds, buckets, shovels, looking for and making tracks.
Rationale: To provide children opportunities to engage in activities that challenge their physical skills including a focus on balancing coordination skills. To facilitate activities that promote usage of snow and ice.
Skills: Fine and large motor, body manipulation, physical fitness, hand-eye coordination, cause and effect, turn-taking

Large group 

**Materials: Songs and rhymes led by teacher (gather, name, and topic songs and rhymes), reading "Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats, dance and instrument activities, modeling of activities
Rationale: To introduce the children to the new student teachers. To sings songs that are familiar to them as they get used to the school routine again.
Skills: Attention span, attending and orienting, respect for one another, following directions.

Music 

**Materials: Piano, drums, and shakers. 

Rationale: To promote exploration of sound, volume, rhythm and social interaction. To promote social interaction by encouraging the children to play instruments both in large group and during free play
Skills: Creative expression and movement, mathematical concepts (beats and patterns), imitation, call and answer, communication.

Snacks
Wednesday: Apples and Rice cakes
Thursday: Graham crackers and raisins

Ayuko's 3AM Classroom 

November 15-19 

Nora Lead Teaching


Overview: The children have shown increased interest in their growing bodies. Through dance and song activities they have been able to further explore their body and its capabilities. To follow up on this interest we will continue to introduce a variety of movement and rhythmic activities and encourage the children to observe, compare, and record a variety of measurements such as their height and size of their hands. We have recently found the children taking notice of numbers as they count various objects both individually, such as toy cars and other manipulatives, and during large group activities and songs. The classroom will be arranged to begin focusing on number concepts. As the weather gets colder, the children will also be practicing the number sequence and steps needed to dress for the outdoors with added layers and accessories. As Thanksgiving break is fast approaching, we find that some families travel to see their extended family members and friends. If you are going to be away for the Thanksgiving break, please let the teachers know if your child will miss class. Also, we would love to hear where you are going and how you will get there (via plane ride, train, etc) so we may incorporate this into our lessons and to prepare the children for any changes in schedule.

Expressive Arts 

**Materials: A variety of liquid water colors, brushes, and paper at the easel
Rationale: To provide an opportunity to experiment with new paint consistencies; to provide an additional outlet for creative expression
Skills: Fine motor, color recognition, symbolic representation, creativity, artistic expression.
**Materials: Stencils, markers, and colored paper. 

Rationale: To promote fine motor coordination and continue to practice tracing as an artistic expression

Skills: Persistence, hand-eye coordination, try out new ideas, risk-taking
**Materials: Natural Clay, rolling pins, cutting tools, and plastic animals

Rationale: To further explore the consistency of clay and the impression various footprints leave in the material. To create lasting molds to symbolically represent their ideas and creativity
Skills: Sensory input, fine motor, creative expression, manual dexterity, observation, creativity

Sensory 

**Materials: Sand, water, various molds, containers, scoops
Rationale: To explore using both dry and wet sand to make structures. To compare and contrast between the two textures
Skills: Sensory input, turn-taking, comparison, observation, imitation, prediction, trying out new ideas

Science 

**Materials: Small objects of various weights (both light and heavy), large fans, ribbons, tabletop rulers

Rationale: To observe and experiment the power of breath, wind, and fans in the movement of materials of various weights. To begin learning how to measure and record the distance of the movement of materials.
Skills: Observation, comparison, prediction, measurement, turn taking, trying new ideas, recording

**Materials: Kites made of plastic bags and yarn [outside]
Rationale: To construct hand-made kites and to explore the effects various wind patterns have on the movement of objects
Skills: Cause and effect, prediction, observation, comparison

Dramatic Play 

**Materials: Familiar kitchen furniture, table, plastic baked goods, plastic and cardboard coffee cups, condiments, credit card machine, plastic credit cards
Rationale: To further explore an emerging interest of "drinking" and "ordering" coffee, the classroom restaurant will be converted into a neighborhood coffee shop. To familiarize children with number concepts by adding prices to items and credit card machines. To encourage the exchange of items between children using various roles, such as cashier, customer, or server
Skills: Role play, symbolic representation, communication, collaboration, creative expression, cooperation, social skills.

***Please bring in any left over coffee cups when you are done with them to add to our "neighborhood coffee shop!"

Math and Manipulatives 


**Materials: Measuring wall (to measure and explore height), various sized hand and foot prints, tabletop ruler near fan
Rationale: To give the children opportunities to compare and record how their bodies continue to grow; to record and compare the strength of wind and air using a variety of objects.
Skills: Counting, recording, observing, comparing, turn taking, persistence, numbers
**Materials: Montessori seriation pegs, train puzzles, "Dressing Dolls."
Rationale: To challenge children to use problem-solving skills to order and place pegs according to size and shape. To become familiar with self-help skills such as buttoning, zipping, and snapping clothing items.
Skills: Problem solving, seriation, persistence, fine motor control, hand-eye coordination, comparison

Language and Literacy 

**Materials: Books about our growing bodies and numbers in the new "Reading Cave"

Rationale: To promote finding and applying new information in books while continuing to facilitate the development of the basic components of language. 

Skills: Listening, speaking, reading, phonological awareness, alphabetical awareness, numerical awareness, heuristic language, give and ask for information, turn taking. 

**Materials: Large cards outlining steps of getting ready for outside (hat, mittens, etc.)
Rationale: To provide a visual representation outlining the sequence of steps needed to prepare for going outside.
Skills: Follow directions, alphabetic awareness, sequencing, self-help skills
**Materials: Menus with prices, notepads, markers, credit cards and machine

Rationale: To encourage writing and reading to promote letter, word, and number recognition in the coffee shop and kitchen
Skills: Fine motor, writing, alphabetical awareness, numerical awareness, vocabulary expansion 


Blocks 

**Materials: Various sized wooden boards and ramps, hollow blocks, small cars, cardboard "trains"
Rationale: To further explore building road structures such as tunnels and bridges of various heights; to continue to foster experimenting with weight, balance, and height; to create "trains" and other vehicles out of recycled materials
Skills: Cooperation, collaboration, creativity, symbolic representation, large and fine motor, spatial concepts, construction skills (building), try out new ideas

Large Motor 

**Materials: Indoors- climbing wall, slide, stairs, A-frame and balancing beams, donut hole, monkey bars, basketball hoops, balls, and mats; large group activities led by teachers
Rationale: To provide children opportunities to engage in activities that challenge their physical skills. To provide opportunities for the children to practice climbing and strengthen their upper and lower bodies. To focus on receptive skills including throwing, catching, and grasping. 

Skills: Upper and lower body strength, endurance, hand-eye coordination, receptive skills (throwing, grasping, reaching, catching), balance, visual/spatial discrimination, symbolic representation, creativity, turn-taking
**Materials: Outdoors- Trikes, wagons, buckets, shovels, basketball hoop, balls, sand molds
Rationale: To provide children opportunities to engage in activities that challenge their physical skills including a focus on propulsion skills through riding the trikes. To encourage the children to make creations out of the sand with the variety of molds and buckets.
Skills: Fine and large motor, body manipulation, physical fitness, hand-eye coordination, cause and effect, turn-taking
***Materials: Outdoors- Kites made of plastic bags and yarn
Rationale: To facilitate further exploration and inquiry in the (unpredictable) windy weather; to examine how the wind and varying weather conditions affects them when they move
Skills: Observation, comparison, large and fine motor,

Large group 

**Materials: Songs and rhymes led by teacher (gather, name, and topic songs and rhymes), story telling, dance and instrument activities, modeling of activities
Rationale: To expand on specific topics of interest (body awareness) through sharing a common experience. To practice a routine and be part of a community of learners. 

Skills: Attention span, attending and orienting, respect for one another, following directions.

Music 

**Materials: Piano, bells, tambourines, xylophone, interactive music PowerPoint, guitar, maracas 

Rationale: To promote exploration of sound, volume, rhythm and social interaction. To allow the children an opportunity to use the computer to choose different instrument sounds to listen to the sounds instruments make. To promote social interaction and community by encouraging the children to play instruments both in large group and during free play
Skills: Creative expression and movement, mathematical concepts (beats and patterns), imitation, call and answer, communication.



Snacks:

Monday: Pineapple chunks and pretzels
Wednesday: cucumbers and crackers
Thursday: soy butter and graham crackers

Fall lesson plan - week of November 8th
Ayuko's 3AM Classroom
November 8-12
Courtney Lead Teaching

Overview: The children are continuing to form stronger relationships with one another and working together in the classroom. As we work to solidify the children's familiarity with one another, we will continue to facilitate social awareness by sharing common areas, promoting dramatic play, and offering a "matching" game with the children's faces to their name. The temperatures outside have continued to drop and the idea of wind is still being explored indoors and outside on the playground. We will begin focusing on the process of "preparing" to go outside when it is cold and all the steps that we take to get dressed after snack. Furthermore, we will continue to promote opportunities for the children to think about how wind affects objects and give them the opportunity to use "wind" to make objects move. Additionally, we will support and encourage literacy as the children begin spelling and recognizing the letters in their names. The children have recently expressed an interest in the topic of growing and getting "bigger." We will continue to foster this interest in a variety of ways to expand the children's body awareness through a variety of activities available during the week.

Expressive Arts
**Materials: A variety of colors, rollers, and paper
Rationale: To provide an opportunity to experiment with new painting tools. To encourage creativity through mixing colors and experimenting with different paint strokes.
Skills: Fine motor, hand-eye coordination self-expression, risk taking, observation, comparison, and promote social interaction.
**Materials: Scissors and paper with lines
Rationale: To promote fine motor skills of cutting and snipping. To experiment with different methods of cutting (little snips, longer cuts, straight-line cutting) on different lines on the paper. To give opportunities to "write" on the lined paper as the interests in writing names and words have increased.
Skills: fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, persistence, creative expression, patterns, writing, heuristic language, and alphabetic awareness.

Sensory
**Materials: Natural Clay, rolling pins, cutting tools.
Rationale: To introduce and explore a natural material that can be molded and sculpted. To experience the different properties of the clay.
Skills: Sensory input, fine motor, creative expression, alphabetic awareness, symbolic representation, manual dexterity
**Materials: sand, scoops, rakes, sifters, shells, rocks, plastic insects, and paddlewheels
Rationale: To explore and experiment with sand by using different tools and containers to excavate and collect.
Skills: Sensory input, observation, measurement, experimentation, math skills (spatial relations and volume), comparison, prediction, fine motor, and creativity.

Science
**Materials: Ribbons, cotton, leaves, feathers, light materials, and heavy materials.
Rationale: To experiment with creating our own "wind" by using a large fan to move light objects and test heavier objects.
Skills: Observation, comparison, try out, prediction, cause and effect.
**Materials: Plastic and stuffed animal birds, basket nests, acorns, seeds, pictures of birds (highlighting the feeding process).
Rationale: To continue to support the children's interest in various types of birds, their habitats, and the process of caretaking of baby birds through dramatic play scenarios and creating bird feeders.
Skills: Creative Expression, observation, role play, social skills, classification, comparison, prediction.
**Materials: Sunflower seeds, pine cones, soy butter, paper bags, string, bird seed.
Rationale: To continue to support the children's interest in birds and the process of feeding the birds outside our classroom by creating our own bird feeders.
Skills: Observation, cause and effect, prediction, comparison, try out ideas.

Dramatic Play
**Materials: Familiar kitchen furniture, table, plastic foods highlighting those that encourage serving (pizza, part to whole plastic fruits/vegetables, cake, cupcakes), serving trays, silverware, plates, bowls, cups, pitchers, menus, aprons, notepad (to take orders), and writing tools.
Rationale: To continue to encourage the children's interest in being in a restaurant setting. To support acting out scenarios of "preparing" and "serving" various foods and drinks to others. To support and promote writing and taking food orders (asking questions) from other children, and serving (sharing).
Skills: Role play, symbolic representation, communication, collaboration, creative expression, cooperation, social skills.
***Please continue to let the teachers know if your child has any favorite restaurants/coffee shops or specific restaurant experiences you would like to share to make our classroom restaurant more personal and familiar to the children.

Math and Manipulatives
**Materials: Sorting shells, bugs, rocks etc ("buried" in the sand table)
Rationale: To give the children opportunity to group, sort, and count the different objects they find buried in the sand.
Skills: Fine motor control, visual and spatial discrimination, one-to-one correspondence, grouping and ordering, counting, turn taking, manual dexterity.
**Materials: Measuring wall (to measure and explore height), small to large hand and foot prints placed on the floor and table of the classroom.
Rationale: To give the children opportunity to explore and record how our bodies grow.
Skills: Give and ask for information, speaking, counting, keeping record, measurements, seriation, visual and spatial discrimination.

Language and Literacy
**Materials: Books related to the wind, cold weather, construction and growing (body awareness).
Rationale: To promote finding resources and new information in books while continuing to facilitate the development of the basic components of language.
Skills: Listening, speaking, reading, phonological awareness, alphabetical awareness, heuristic language, give and ask for information.
**Materials: Letter matching game to spell out the children's names or initials
Rationale: To continue to support knowledge of symbol and representational systems. To promote alphabetical awareness, name recognition, and letter formations and letter matching.
Skills: fine motor, reading, writing, alphabet awareness, and vocabulary expansion
**Materials: Menus, notepads and markers
Rationale: To encourage writing and reading to promote letter and word recognition in the restaurant area.
Skills: fine motor, writing, alphabetical awareness, and vocabulary expansion
**Materials: Construction paper, markers, tape
Rationale: To encourage writing and reading of the signs the children want to make for their roads and construction areas.
Skills: fine motor, writing, alphabetical awareness, and vocabulary expansion

Blocks
**Materials: various sized wooden ramps, hollow blocks, wood blocks, wooden planks, various wheels, small trucks, cars, and road signs.
Rationale: To promote road building with different surfaces (ramps, tunnels, streets). To continue to foster experimenting with speed, weight, direction, acceleration and slope.
Skills: Cooperation, collaboration, creative expression, large and fine motor, spatial concepts, construction skills (building), scientific skill, experimenting, reasoning.

Large Motor
**Materials: Indoors- climbing wall, slide, stairs, A-frame and balancing beams, donut hole, monkey bars, basketball hoops, balls, and mats.
Rationale: To provide children opportunities to engage in activities that challenge their physical skills. To provide opportunities for the children to practice climbing and upper and lower body strength. To focus on receptive skills including throwing, catching, and grasping.
Skills: Upper and lower body strength, endurance, hand-eye coordination, receptive skills (throwing, grasping, reaching, catching), balance, visual/spatial discrimination
**Materials: Outdoors- trikes, wagons, buckets, shovels, sand molds, ribbons with handles
Rationale: To provide children opportunities to engage in activities that challenge their physical skills including a focus on propulsion skills through riding the trikes. To encourage the children to make creations out of the sand with the variety of molds and buckets. To use the ribbons with handles to experiment how the wind affects them when they move.
Skills: Fine and large motor, body manipulation, physical fitness, hand-eye coordination, cause and effect.

Large group
**Materials: Songs and rhymes led by teacher (gather, name, and topic songs and rhymes), story telling, guest dancers, modeling of activities
Rationale: To expand on specific topics of interest (birds, wind, growing, and winter clothing) through sharing a common experience. To practice a routine and be part of a community of learners.
Skills: Attention span, attending and orienting, respect for one another, following directions.

Music
**Materials: Piano, bells, tambourines, xylophone, interactive music PowerPoint, posted song selections.
Rationale: To promote exploration of sound, volume, rhythm and social interaction. To allow the children an opportunity to use the computer to choose different instrument sounds to listen to the sounds instruments make. To promote social interaction and community by encouraging the children to use the instruments in the cave while singing a familiar song together.
Skills: Creative expression and movement, mathematical concepts (beats and patterns), imitation, call and answer, communication.

Snacks:
Monday: Bananas and graham crackers
Wednesday:Rice cakes and carrots
Thursday: Rice cakes and carrots

Dear Families,

The children in the Construction Group were originally grouped together because some children had shown interest in manipulating objects (such as blocks and other building materials) in order to create some sort of structure while other children had shown interest in the trucks that they used for loading and dumping. The group has been together for 3 weeks and has already increased development in both cognitive and social skills. The children began by reading books about construction and doing hands-on activities. They were provided with various sizes and colors of blocks to collaboratively create various structures, such as a wooden house or a road. They were also given wooden pegboards and pegs to practice their hammering skills. Soon the children were walking around the Lab School, finding structures to "fix" and began learning how to look and create their own blueprints. The Construction Group will continue to examine various types of blue prints and be exposed to original blueprints from an architect (and possible group guest!) The group will soon be venturing off to a construction site nearby on campus. I look forward to continue learning about different aspects of construction with the children!

Sincerely,
Nora

Dear families,
The construction group has been working hard the past few meetings!
We recently visited the construction site outside of the playground on
our field trip. The children seemed to enjoy getting a closer look at
some of the tools, vehicles, and processes that we have been learning
about. After the field trip we returned to our own construction site
(on the playground) and the children were anxious to imitate some of
the skills they had seen the previous day. I look forward to our last
few meetings with the construction group, as we will continue to
collaboratively build outside with some new materials (possibly snow?)

Dear Parents,

The music and movement group has been filled with action over the past few weeks! The children have participated in activities that have involved stretching, dancing, moving like animals, singing, and playing instruments. The children who are a part of this small group have brought their individual interests to make our small group a success so far. These past few weeks of small group have given me insight to what types of music and movement activities work best for each child in the group. Relationships have already begun to form in our small group, and I plan to emphasize and focus on these social interactions and relationship. We will continue to explore different activities that promote different types of movement and large motor development.

I look forward to continuing to have action-filled and fun experiences with our music and movement group!

Thanks!

Jessica

The music and movement small group has been going so well the past few weeks! The children have really started to connect more with each other and I'm seeing relationships blossoming between the children. We continued to do activities that included different ways to move our body. Most recently, the children have really enjoyed "Going On A Bear Hunt". We read the book, participated along with the song, and went on our own bear hunt throughout the school. The children showed interest in wanting to do another bear hunt and next week we will be going outside to find another bear. I am really looking forward to our field trip next week and I hope the children are too!

Fall lesson plan - week of October 26th
Lesson Plan-Ayuko's 3AM Classroom
October 26th-29th
Nora Lead Teaching

Overview: The children have started to form relationships and increasingly shown interest in one another. Specifically, the children are starting to become interested in their own names, as well as names of others in the class and various objects. To encourage this interest, literacy will be intentionally woven into the curriculum areas. Strong wind has been affecting us as the weather continues to change. We will highlight how wind is visible around us, both inside and outside. As the children are displaying their emerging interests in birds, nests, and each other, we will adapt the class environment to continue to stimulate and support these interests in various areas of the classroom.


Expressive Arts 

**Materials: Colored play dough, rolling pins, a variety of molds (such as turtles and houses), and Alphabet cookie cutters.
Rationale: To introduce the components of literacy and to encourage the use of a variety of molds to represent objects and ideas.
Skills: Sensory input, fine motor, creative expression, alphabetic awareness, symbolic representation.
**Materials: Dark colored paper and chalk (at the easel). 

Rationale: To provide an opportunity for children to experience novel ways of writing and drawing. To form ideas and concepts.
Skills: Fine motor, self-expression, risk taking, observation, comparison, prediction. 

**Materials: Colored paper, laminated alphabet letters, various colored bingo stampers, and markers
Rationale: To continue the practice of creating shapes, such as circles, and to encourage early writing skills, such as the imitation of letter formations.
Skills: Fine motor, alphabetic awareness, writing, reading.

Sensory 

**Materials: Finger paint, finger painting paper, and trays.
Rationale: To explore creating artwork through a novel way, using one's own hands and fingers.
Skills: Sensory input, fine motor, self-expression, risk taking, try out new ideas.
**Materials: two types of colored water, large funnels, funnel tube contraption, paddle wheels, and a variety of containers. 

Rationale: To observe and experiment with movement of larger amounts of water using tubes, funnels, and paddle wheels. To continue to support the exploration of what happens when the colors are mixed together.
Skills: Sensory input, observation, measurement, familiarity with materials, experimentation, math skills (spatial relations), comparison, prediction, and fine motor.

Science 

**Materials: Ribbons, milkweed, feathers, light materials
Rationale: To experience the impact wind has on various materials on the playground and inside the classroom
Skills: Observation, comparison, try out ideas, prediction, cause and effect.
**Materials: Sticks, twine, neutral colored playdough, tree stumps, pictures of birds and foliage.
Rationale: To begin learning about how birds live and create bird nests. To encourage and support their understanding of how bird nests are made. 

Skills: Observation, cause and effect, prediction, comparison, try out ideas. 

**Materials: Pictures of birds, plastic and stuffed animal birds, basket nests, books about birds (in the Cave).
Rationale: To encourage the exploration, observation, and understanding of various types of birds through dramatic play.
Skills: Observation, role play, communication, classification, comparison, prediction. 


Dramatic Play 

**Materials: Familiar household kitchen furniture, baking ingredient packages (salt, flour, sugar, etc.), mixing bowls, cooking trays.
Rationale: To encourage further exploration and inquiry of baking interest shown in children.
Skills: Role play, symbolic representation, communication, cooperation, social skills.
**Materials: Baby dolls, clothing, strollers, bottles, plates, bibs.
Rationale: To encourage caretaking, baby dolls will be placed close to the kitchen area in order to be fed and cared for.
Skills: Fine motor, role play, symbolic representation, collaboration.



Math and Manipulatives
**Materials: Puzzles, new seriation and color stackers, pegs and pegboards, Mr. Potato Head
Rationale: To provide opportunity to practice one-to-one correspondence, as well as seriation.
Skills: Fine motor control, visual and spatial discrimination, one-to-one correspondence, seriation, turn taking, manual dexterity. 


Language and Literacy
**Materials: Books related to the theme of Birds (in the bird cave), about wind and the changing weather, and about ramps.
Rationale: To encourage finding resources and new information in books (birds, wind, and ramps) while facilitating the development of the basic components of language.
Skills: Listening, speaking, reading, phonological awareness, alphabetical awareness, heuristic language.
**Materials: Letter cookie cutters, letter stencils.
Rationale: To begin increasing their knowledge of symbol and representational systems. To foster alphabetical awareness, name recognition, and letter formations.
Skills: fine motor, reading, writing, alphabet awareness, vocabulary expansion.
Blocks 

**Materials: Wooden ramps, various wheels, books about ramps, small trucks and cars.
Rationale: To facilitate awareness of physics, such as speed, weight, direction, acceleration and slope.
Skills: Reasoning, hypothesizing, experimenting, scientific skills, cooperation, spatial concepts, fine motor skills.
**Materials: Multicolored plastic blocks, hollow wood blocks, and foam blocks.
Rationale: To support scientific and mathematical skills of mass, balance, and spatial sense through the construction of additional ramps and building structures.
Skills: Initiative, creative expression, communication, collaboration, fine motor, mathematical and scientific concepts, cause and effect.


Large Motor 

**Materials: Indoors- plastic cars, tools and toolboxes, stairs, donut hole, bean bag board and bean bags; large group movement activities. Outside -ribbons added to fence, dump trucks, wheelbarrows, shovels and scoops, wooden boats.
Rationale: To provide children opportunities to engage in activities that challenge their physical skills; to encourage the development of cognitive skills, such as cause-and-effect through observation and experimentation with the wind and its effects on various materials, such as ribbon.
Skills: Physical fitness (endurance, strength, flexibility), following directions, observation and comparison, body manipulation.

Large group 

**Materials: Songs led by teacher (gather, name, and topic songs)
Rationale: To build awareness of a specific topic (Birds and Wind) through sharing a common experience; practicing a routine and being part of a community of learners.
Skills: Attention span, attending and orienting, respect for one another, following directions.

Music

**Materials: Piano, drums, and individual xylophones in music corner
Rationale: To promote exploration of sound, volume, rhythm and social interaction. 

Skills: Mathematical concepts (beats and patterns), imitation, call and answer, communication.

Snacks: 

Monday: Birthday snack
Wednesday: TBD
Thursday: TBD

Lesson Plan-Ayuko's 3AM Classroom
Week of October 11th
Ayuko Lead Teaching
Overview: As children settle into the routine of the classroom, we continue to support them through the transitions and help them become aware of themselves and each other through positive interactions and problem solving. We will continue to explore what is happening outside, focusing on the changing foliage and on the behavior of animals in our environment. We will encourage and spur social interactions between children, as they learn how to share a common space and materials.
Expressive Arts
**Materials: Glue, Q-tips, colored paper, natural materials (leaves, sticks, acorns, pine cones, grass, etc).
Rationale: To use and feel the materials we see and find outside and create artistic expression. To explore the texture of glue and familiarize the children with the purpose and use of glue.
Skills: Fine motor, self-expression, problem solve, sensory input, risk taking, observation, comparison, prediction.
**Materials: Fall tempera paint colors, paper, various sized brushes.
Rationale: To experiment making various strokes and shapes using a variety of brushes.
Skills: Fine motor, self-expression, risk taking, try out new ideas, comparison.

Sensory
**Materials: Water, yellow and blue food coloring, basters, ice cube trays, and a variety of containers.
Rationale: To explore what happens when the yellow and blue water are mixed together. To continue supporting the use of the baster for manual dexterity and transferring water.
Skills: Observation, familiarity with materials, math skills (volume and spatial relations), comparison, prediction, and fine motor.

**Materials: Scented playdough, cookie cutters, rolling pins, timer, oven, and "baking ingredients" (i.e. salt and oregano)
Rationale: To encourage the children to experience and practice adding, molding, stirring, and mixing ingredients to create baked goods. This will eventually lead up to a cooking activity at the play dough table where the children will participate in the making of pumpkin muffins.
Skills: Sensory input, creative expression, math skills (counting, measurement), fine motor

**Materials: Mini rain sticks/shakers.
Rationale: To promote experimentation with sound and how to produce sound. To challenge children's thinking while creating a satisfying trial and effect game with teachers and peers.
Skills: observation, trial and error, and sensory input.

Science
**Materials: Mirrors on walls, flashlights, light table with color gels.
Rationale: To experiment with reflections, light, and shadows.
Skills: observation, cause and effect, prediction, comparison, try out ideas.
**Materials: Introduction of real turtles, natural materials, terrarium
Rationale: To begin implementing the idea of hosting a real turtle in our class: what kind of care does it entail? How do we make its habitat?
Skills: Observation, ideas, try out.
**Materials: Fall vegetables and fruit - pumpkins, gourds, squash, tomatoes, potatoes, and any other vegetables brought in; magnifying glasses; knife (to be used by teachers) and cutting board.
Rationale: To further explore and investigate the harvested items by cutting them open and seeing the seeds.
Skills: observation, predication, classification, comparison, try out ideas, record.

Dramatic Play
**Materials: Loft "bear cave," squirrels, and other woodland animals (bears, rabbits, wolves), materials the children will collect in nature, various animal fur, posted questions and books focusing on the squirrels and other woodland animals.
Rationale: To provide a space/cozy area to foster an animal story line to promote pretend and symbolic play and support social interaction among students and teachers. To support their development in language, literacy, and promote emergent reading such as dictating a story from the pictures. To create an opportunity to learn about woodland animals native to Minnesota, emphasizing the animals' lifestyles to the changes in season.
Skills: Role play, creative expression, sensory input, cooperation, turn taking, and communication, symbolic representation, and social skills; listening, speaking, phonological awareness, vocabulary expansion on the subject matter.

**Materials: Familiar household kitchen, baby items, multiethnic babies, various dress-up clothes, and moving trucks, diggers, unit blocks, and cars.
Rationale: To support pretend play, symbolic play, foster social interaction and cooperative play.
Skills: Communication, cooperation, turn taking, role play, symbolic representation, and social skills.

Math and Manipulatives
**Materials: Face matching game, seriation and color stackers, natural material sorting activity, and puzzles.
Rationale: To promote fine motor development, facial recognition, shape and color differentiation, and hand-eye coordination for spatial awareness.
Skills: visual discrimination, turn taking, fine motor control.

Language and Literacy
**Materials: Signs, questions, storylines, and related books posted in various curriculum areas and a variety of books on the book shelf. Books relating to fall (hibernation, leaves, etc).
Rationale: To support their development in beginning role play, experience the basic components of language systems, and support understanding the changes of the season.
Skills: Listening, speaking, phonological awareness, observation, vocabulary expansion.

Blocks
**Materials: Square and rectangle unit blocks, hollow and cardboard blocks, and pictures of children building with blocks.
Rationale: To support mathematical skills, social interaction, and collaborative building. To be incorporated into buildings, homes for the babies, or roads for the vehicles located nearby.
Skills: Communication, collaboration, large motor, expressive creation, mathematical and scientific concepts.

Large Motor
**Materials: Indoors - race car tracks, uneven surfaces, donut hole, stairs. Outside - Rocking boat, rakes for raking leaves, wheel barrows, wooden wagon, and tools for digging and molding sand.
Rationale: To support basic skills such as walking, climbing, balance, coordination, and upper and lower body development and promote social interaction and role play.
Skills: Perceptual Motor Skills (spatial, temporal, directional, and body awareness) and physical fitness (cardio vascular endurance, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility, and agility).

Large group
**Materials: Name songs, turtle songs, books, fingerplay.
Rationale: To begin a routine, familiarize the children with each other's names, and promote a beginning sense of group, community, and collaboration.
Skills: fine motor development, hand eye coordination, listening, speaking, patience, taking turns, communication, and social skills.

Music - Music will be apparent throughout the day to support transitions and encourage participation.
**Materials: Piano, drums, tone blocks, and shakers.
Rationale: to promote exploration of sound, volume, rhythm and social interaction.
Skills: turn taking, fine motor development, and mathematical concepts such as beats and patterns.

Snacks:
Monday - Bananas & graham crackers
Wednesday - Apples & pretzels
Thursday - Class cooking, pumpkin muffins

3-Day Daily Schedule
Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday
Ayuko's Class

Non- small group days

7:45-8:30 Set-up and planning with assistant teachers. This includes the classroom, gym, playground and snack.

8:30-8:55 Arrival and exploration time. Self-directed activities from various learning centers will be available in front of the room. These centers include the art table, sensory table, manipulalatives, discovery and science table.

8:55-9:10 Large Group. Activities include, singing songs (good morning, name songs, etc), doing movement activities, and sharing and discussing information about interests, events, and projects that are developing during this time.

9:10-10:00 Free play/Self-directed activities from various learning centers. Children may return to the front of the room and finish an activity started during arrival/exploration time or choose activities in the back of the room: dramatic play and block building. Music and movement spontaneously occur during the day.

10:00-10:10 Clean up and toileting.

10:10-10:15 Large group (regrouping time): The children will sing songs and/or discuss the schedule for the rest of the day.

10:15-10:30 Large motor activities in the gym (Room 40)

10:30-10:45 Hand washing and Snack. The children will begin to learn to pass out napkins and cups, pour their own drinks and serve their own snacks.

10:45-10:50 Transition from snack to the playground

10:50 -11:15 Outdoor play

11:15-11:30 Dismissal and Good-byes.

11:30-1:00 Clean up and daily meetings by teachers.

Small Group days (Wednesday and Thursday)
*Note: the schedule will change slightly once "small groups" begin.

7:45-8:30 Set-up and planning with assistant teachers. This includes the classroom, gym, playground and snack.

8:30-8:55 Arrival and exploration time.

8:55-9:10 Large Group.

9:10-9:30 Small Groups

9:30-10:05 Self-directed activities from various learning centers

10:05-10:15 Clean up and toileting.

10:15-10:30 Large motor activities in the gym

10:30-10:45 Handwashing and Snack

10:45-10:50 Transition from snack to the playground

10:50 -11:15 Outdoor play

11:15-11:30 Dismissal and Good-byes.

11:30-1:00 Clean up and daily meetings by teachers.

A teacher pointed out that A and I were shoveling sand into the sand pit. C and S observed their peers and joined by doing the same thing:

Lesson Plan-Ayuko's 3AM Classroom
Weeks of 9/22 and 9/27
Ayuko Lead Teaching

Overview: The first couple of weeks we will focus on helping the children say goodbye to their families and adjusting them to the school environment. As the children explore and investigate the classroom, we hope they begin to think positively of the teachers and school. Slowly we will begin to learn the routines of the classroom and give children the support they need to make transitions throughout the morning. The play areas are arranged to promote these goals and encourage the development of positive relationships with classmates and teachers.

Expressive Arts
**Materials: Wooden paint brushes, paper, and primary color paints
Rationale: To explore brush strokes and color mixing.
Skills: Fine motor grip and hand-eye coordination.
**Materials: Paper, markers, stickers, and scissors.
Rationale: To explore the properties of a variety of art materials.
Skills: Fine motor control and hand-eye coordination.
**Materials: Playdough and a variety of molding tools.
Rationale: To produce an outlet for creative expression and promote social interaction.
Skills: Fine motor development (squeezing, poking, and pinching), observation, generating ideas, and sensory input.

Sensory
**Materials: Water, measuring cups, large and small jars.
Rationale: To encourage a practice of pouring and filling and develop the concept of empty and full, less and more, and in and out. To encourage social awareness as children notice what those across from them are doing with the same materials
Skills: Observation, math skills (volume and spatial relations), comparison, prediction, and fine motor.
**Materials: Four noise sticks.
Rational: To promote experimentation with sound and how to produce sound. To challenge children's thinking while creating a satisfying trial and effect game with teachers and peers.
Skills: Physical coordination, observation, and sensory input.

Science
**Materials: Variety of foliage and camouflaging frogs and turtles.
Rationale: To observe and investigate the items in the terrarium using magnifying glasses. To provoke the idea of hosting a real turtle or frog in our class: what kind of care does it entail.
Skills: Observation, prediction, comparison, classification.
**Materials: Natural materials such as bark, skin of a birch tree, and a large pine cone.
Rationale: To observe and feel the texture of the natural materials that are found in their everyday lives.
Skills: Observation, exploration, record, try out, and comparison.

Dramatic Play
**Materials: Familiar household kitchen, baby items, multi-ethnic babies, various dress-up clothes, and dump trucks and cars.
Rationale: To support pretend play, symbolic play, foster social interaction and cooperative play.
Skills: Communication, cooperation, turn taking, role play, symbolic representation, and social skills.
**Materials: Scarves, pillow, and books.
Rationale: To promote social interaction, peek-a-boo games, and provide a room/cozy area to read and relax.
Skills: Social skills, turn taking, and communication.
**Materials: Farm animals (horses, cows, pigs, rabbits, and cats) and "feed."
Rationale: To stimulate pretend play, reflect on a trip to the state fair, and promote social interaction among the children and teachers.
Skills: Social skills, cooperation, communication, turn taking, and role play.
Math and Manipulatives
**Materials: Shape sorters, seriation and color stackers, and puzzles.
Rationale: To promote fine motor development, shape and color differentiation, and hand-eye coordination for spatial awareness.
Skills: visual discrimination, turn taking, fine motor control.

Language and Literacy
**Materials: Signs, questions, and related books posted in various curriculum areas and a variety of books on the book shelf.
Rationale: To support their development in language, literacy, and emergent reading, such as the process of independently turning pages in a book and dictating a story from the pictures.
Skills: Listening, speaking, phonological awareness, vocabulary expansion.

Blocks
**Materials: Hollow and cardboard blocks.
Rationale: To support mathematical skills, social interaction, and collaborative building. To be incorporated into buildings or roads for the vehicles located nearby.
Skills: Communication, collaboration, large motor, expressive creation, mathematical and scientific concepts.
Large Motor
**Materials: Indoors - Climbing equipments, stairs, slide, and rocking boat. Outside - Natural materials such as grass, plants, and trees, wooden house, picnic table, slide, and tools for digging and molding sand.
Rationale: To support basic skills such as jumping, climbing, balance, coordination, and upper and lower body development and promote social interaction and role play.
Skills: Perceptual Motor Skills (spatial, temporal, directional, and body awareness) and physical fitness (cardio vascular endurance, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility, and agility).
Large group
**Materials: name songs, books, fingerplay.
Rationale: To begin a routine, familiarize the children with each other's names, and promote a beginning sense of group, community, and collaboration.
Skills: fine motor development, hand eye coordination, listening, speaking, patience, taking turns, communication, and social skills.

Music - Music will be apparent throughout the day to support transitions and encourage participation.
**Materials: Piano
Rationale: to promote exploration of sound, volume, rhythm and social interaction.
Skills: turn taking, fine motor development, and mathematical concepts such as beats and patterns.

Snacks:
Wednesday 9/22 and Thursday 9/23 - grain based food, apples, milk and water.
Monday 9/27: TBD
Wednesday 9/29: TBD
Thursday, 9/30: TBD

Phase-In Schedule
Wednesday 9/22, Thursday 9/23
and Monday 9/27
Ayuko's 3AM Class

8:45-9:00 Free play time - front of the room

9:00-9:05 Morning meeting

9:05-9:30 Free play time - whole classroom

9:30-9:40 Clean up

9:40-9:50 Gym

9:50-9:55 Hand washing and toileting

9:55-10:10 Snack

10:10-10:30 Outside and Goodbye

This week was hot! We provided water with paint brushes for the children to paint on a variety of surfaces. They noticed the most dramatic change appeared on the chairs and the walls of the wooden surface. Take a look at their traces of learning.

The children learned the "Jackson Pollack" style of painting. They held the brush over their shoulder and made a circular motion to see the effects of the water splashing against the wall.

The children experimented with a variety of painting strokes and observed the cause and effects of the water absorbing against the dry wall.

Dear families,
We are almost at the end of our school year and soon it will be summer break for the children. I have enjoyed working with each and every one of them. It has been amazing to watch them explore new concepts and learn so many new things. The children have become much more comfortable with us as time has passed and it will be sad to say goodbye. Even though it will be hard to say goodbye, the children have had an amazing week exploring new play areas and materials in the classroom.

My lead teaching week was full of excitement and creativity. The children participated in the new activities with great enthusiasm. During the week, the children explored the collage table and made 3D collages. Many discussed how the glue made it sticky, which was also how the materials stayed on the cardboard base. The children had many material options to choose from including our natural materials, small cardboard triangles, wood pieces, and film canisters.

While working on collages, Katie and Otto were talking with one another. Otto said, "I'm trying to get this on" and Katie asked out loud, "how am I going to get it to stick?" When Katie asked this, Otto said she could get it to stick with glue.

The trains were still in the classroom and train tracks made out of tape were put on the ground. Many of the children enjoyed using these train tracks, as well as driving the trains to other parts of the room. The book "The Little Engine that Could" was read in class, which inspired a lot of play from the children with the trains.

While playing with the trains, Elliott said he was carrying a heavy load down the tracks. "I'm carrying the most heavy load. It's the toys for the people. And the food!" Ellie said, "I am the girl that needs food and toys." Elliott stopped on the "mountain" just like the train in the book and Max said he also "stopped at the mountain. My train is heavy."

Natalie's brother came to visit as a special guest this week. He played musical instruments with the children. He showed the children how to make different sounds and different beats on the drums. The children were really excited to play with him and had quite a bit to say about this experience.

Madeline said "I like to play like this" and Otto said, "I want to play this one." Ellie pointed out that "Cormac has a drum head!!" When Madeline saw Cormac with a drum on his head she said, "You are supposed to play it on the floor!" Beatrix and Maia were also enjoying the drums and decided to use maracas as drum sticks.

The children used the classroom materials in interesting and creative ways. I am excited to continue to play with the children and observe them for one more week before our school year ends. I will miss them and I hope they continue to explore many of the things they have learned throughout the ten weeks they have spent with Natalie and me.

Sincerely,
Theresa

This week the teachers were focused on trying to encourage the children to use the classroom materials purposefully and respectfully by modeling and explaining uses of materials in the classroom. Please take a look below to see some traces of learning.

The children were interested in pinwheels and continued to explore how to spin them. They blew it themselves, ran with it, and used a fan. While on the fan, some of the children started crossing their pinwheels next to each other, finding that friction slows them down.

This is a story about children finding ways to collect caterpillars and house them:

Ely: Put it in there to keep it. Come-on, hey bug.
Cormac: Look at the caterpillars. I'm keeping an eye on them.

Ely: The caterpillars are going in this house.
Cormac: No, I'm going to keep an eye on them.

Elliot and Cormac: Look up there!
Ely: Come down here now.
Cormac: Look at them over here.

*We will begin talking about summer regularly with the children. It will help their transition to the end of Lab School to begin to do the same at home. Use the words, "summer vacation" and tell them it's a time of rest from the Lab School. Please begin informing them that they will say goodbye to their teachers, but will see them again. Additionally, tell them something fun you are likely to do during the summer (go to the park, go to a lake and swim, visit relatives, play with.....). We would like to ask every family to write a short sentence or two about something they will do together this summer to bring to school. We will post these together and refer to them these last two weeks. This will help solidify the idea that our time is almost done at school and we are starting a new phase.

*The Pizza Party will be on Tuesday evening. If you have not already done so, please RSVP to Eva and give her the payment soon. We hope to see everyone there for this final social event of the year!

*Our last day of school is on Thursday, June 3rd. Our goodbye day will be on Wednesday, June 2nd. We will be giving gifts to the student teachers and have a picnic at our playground at around 10:20am. Please come and join us for our last goodbye celebration. We will have a regular school day on Thursday.

Small group information:

Natalie's group: Natalie's small group will be wrapping up the small group sessions with taking what we have learned and using it to explain through art what ants do, where they live, what they eat, and what they look like.

Ayuko's group: After reading the book, The Three Billy Goats Gruff and going to the bridges, we will be discussing materials we need to make a real bridge. We will build our own bridge and act out the story as a culminating activity.

Theresa's group: Theresa's small group will be finishing up their group on laundry by talking about other ways to do laundry as well as using a wash board to do laundry. They will also explore other objects that spin because the children appeared to enjoy it while on their fieldtrip.

Goals: Since we are coming to the end of the school year, we will begin talking about summer regularly with the children. In order to prepare for summer, new play areas, such as a tent in the loft and fish and nets in the water table, have been added to help children get ready for summer activities. Another goal for the week is to have the children express their creativity by building on an activity they started with a teacher (a painting activity) and expanding on it to make it their own.

Art:

*We will have collage materials available for the children to explore with 3D creations. We will encourage their creativity by allowing them to use materials such as empty film canisters, wood pieces, and cardboard pieces, to make 3D sculptures however they imagine.

*The art easel will have multiple paper color choices with different shades of blue paint for the children to use. The paper will have large shapes drawn on them by the teachers to encourage the children to build off of the shapes and create original pictures.

Manipulative/Math:

*New fish and transportation puzzles have been added to the manipulatives table. The fruit patterning activity will continue to be available.

Sensory:

* The water table will continue to be available. Fish and nets will be added for the children to "go fishing." The tubes, buckets, and large funnel will remain in the water table for the children to explore water movement.

*We will be continuing the exploration with glurtch. The children have had the chance to color the glurtch with markers and cut the glurtch with cookie cutters. Glurtch markers, cookie cutters, and scissors will be available to experiment with cause and effect relationships.

Science:

* We will add another aspect of weather awareness to the science table where the children can observe and explore tornados with plastic tornado bottles. This is being done because tornado warnings are common during summer and the children will be more aware of their appearance and what to watch for.

*We will have our fish this week! We will encourage the children's exploration and inquiry of our new pets and continue to have books about fish and their needs for the children to read. Questions will be asked, such as: what do fish eat, how do fish breathe, and why do fish live in water.

Dramatic Play:
* With the summer fast approaching and some children may have been camping since the warm weather, a camping area has been created in the loft. The loft has become a tent and there are different camping supplies available for the children to use. There has also been a pond created out of fabric for the children to practice fishing and pretend to swim in.

*An area for building trains will continue to be available in the classroom. The children have been using blocks to create train tracks and children have also used chairs to create trains for themselves to "ride" on.

Language and Literacy:
*The picture stories will still be available for children in the cave. There are different "scenes" set up for the children to add their picture to and to create a story from. They include a train, a play ground, a couch, and a fire truck. The children have enjoyed using the sticks with their pictures to pretend to ride on the train and fire truck, play on the playground, and sit to read on the couch. They also like carrying the sticks around and using them in the glurtch.

*New books will be added to our book shelves to encourage the children's interests in the new pet fish. There will also be books available on the science table for the children to learn more about taking care of fish. Rhyming books will also be put on the book shelves to encourage children to learn about rhyming.

Construction:
*Unit blocks and hollow blocks will continue to be in the classroom. They will be available for children to increase large motor skills by lifting them and to express creativity.

Music
*The piano will remain in the classroom for children to play. Drums, maracas, sand paper blocks, and a harp will be placed near the piano in the music area. We will be having a guest visiting the classroom to play drums for the children. The children will be encouraged to play along with the drum. Parents, if you know how to play an instrument and would like to play in the classroom, please let us know and we will make time for this to happen.
Large Motor:
*The gym has a new set up. There is a running lane set up for children to practice speed, body control, and turn taking. There is still a bridge between the two A-Frame ladders but now the bridge is slanted which increases children's use of balance, coordination, and concentration. The jumping pit is still located at the bottom of one of the A-Frames which encourages risk-taking, motor planning, and turn taking. The monkey bars foster upper body strength, hand-eye coordination, and motor planning. The motor climber is also open, promoting upper body strength, risk taking, climbing, jumping, depth perception, and hand-eye coordination.

*A teeter totter will be added to the playground so children can work together on lower body strength or use it individually to work on balance while walking across it. Water will also be on the playground. Buckets of water and brushes will be available for "painting" on different playground surfaces. Once the children become comfortable with the use of water, they will be able to make streams with the water in the sand. The pinwheels and kites will stay on the playground for the children to continue their exploration of wind. Ribbons will be hung on the fences so the children can watch them blow as well. The children will continue to have opportunities to throw and catch balls outside in the playground with a basketball hoop being added.

Large group information:

*During large group, the children and teachers will discuss new topics such as the new class fish and tornados (because of the tornado drill at school) in the class. The children will also learn new songs and hear stories about these topics. Because of the new pet, the children will be encouraged to explain what the fish needs and we will learn about how to take care of the fish as a class.

Snacks:
Monday: Cookies by Class & Strawberry

Wednesday: Pretzels

Thursday: Granola Bars

Time is flying by so fast! In the past weeks, the weather has been bringing us a lot of topics of natural science. Speaking of flying, the children were introduced to the concept of "Wind" by flying our homemade kites in our playground. As some were running with it, feeling the tug of the wind, others found that they could get more speed and wind by hooking their kites onto their tricycles.

Right after it rained on Sunday last week, a couple of children started digging in the ground for worms. The children compared what they found ("baby worms") to the worms we used to have in the classroom.

Thank you for brining in the natural materials! We found use out of these materials with playdough. Some children made a "forest" by sticking twigs and pine needles side by side in their dough. Others crumpled it up and made "pancakes and cookies."

Some of you may be wondering how we have been working with large groups in the morning. Though it took a little time to adjust to the new schedule, the children have been participating and discussing during large group as teachers get the chance to introduce and highlight curriculum topics before free play starts.

Theresa introduced the felt story of The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear. The children were encouraged to continue the story and act out the story outside in the playground.

This is the very beginning of large group when the children were singing the gathering song, "Willaby wallaby woo."

Small Groups:

Ayuko's small group will begin reading the The Three Billy Goats Gruff and act out the story. The children will also have the opportunity to visit a nearby bridge and begin discussing how to make a bridge of our own.

Theresa's group will be going on a field trip on Wednesday to a house to explore the laundry machines. Thursday will be used as a day to reflect on the experience the children had and what they learned while at the house. There will also be a laundry activity during small group time for the children's enjoyment.

Natalie's small group will be using the newfound information about ants and how they live to discuss it and draw it out. We will recall any information, and make guesses about what else ants do all day. We will continue to be ants and practice our ant movement.

Goals: The breezy weather continues and the children's interest in the wind seems to persist as well. We hope to guide the children's understanding of the wind by assisting them in making their own wind with their breath and motions. We will also encourage their abstract thinking by asking them questions about where wind comes from. The children have shown a great interest in building and blocks. We will encourage and expand on this with new trains. Riding in and making trains together will also help to foster group work. Lastly to support the children's respectful use of the classroom, we will encourage the children to use the classroom materials purposefully and respectfully by modeling and explaining uses of materials in the classroom.

Art: 

* We will be exploring oil pastels on the art easel this week. The children will have the opportunity to express their creativity and practice their fine motor skills with a new type of art.

Manipulative/Math:

*New seriation manipulatives will be added to give the children opportunities to practice ordering and problem solving.

*A patterning game will be available for children to create and recognize patterns visually.

* Puzzles will continue to be available for children to develop their problem solving and part to whole skills. The puzzles will be new and follow play themes to interest the children. 


* Memory games will be available for the children to recognize similarities and practice memory.

Sensory: 


*The water table will continue to be available. We will add tubes and more funnels for their sensory experience and for them to see the movement of water.

*We will be switching from playdough to glurtch, a stretchy mix of liquid starch and glue, this week! The children will be able to explore properties of glurtch and create colors and shapes by using the glurtch markers and scissors.

Science:

*We will continue our exploration of wind with fans. The fans will have streamers for the children to visually see wind movement. We will add the pinwheels to the table for the children to make wind and observe the effect of moving the pinwheels by using their breath.

*We will be getting fish in the next couple of weeks. We have discussed a class pet for the past few weeks and have now decided on one. This week we will have pictures of potential fish for the children to observe and help choose. Books about fish will be available for the children's beginning exploration of fish.

Dramatic Play:
* An area for building trains will be added to the classroom. The children will be able to use trains and create their own trains from blocks so they can be participants in the play to support teamwork, roleplaying, and large motor development.

* The loft will be changed into a fire truck for the children to "ride" and go fight fires in to keep their interest in firefighting alive with a new set up. We will continue to have the fire fighter hats, jackets, books, and spray bottles.

*The kitchen will remain near the fire station so the "fire fighters" can eat after they finish putting out fires or use it as a house to put out fires.

Language and Literacy:
*The cave will be altered so children can tell stories with pictures of themselves. There will be different "scenes" set up for the children to add their picture to and to create a story from to support their creativity, self-concept, and story telling skills.

*New books that fit the children's interests and play themes will be added to the bookshelf.

Construction:
*Wooden blocks will only be available in the block area. They will be available for children to improve large motor skills by lifting them, to practice purposeful use of materials, and for children to express creativity in building houses, buildings, and space ships. The children will also be encouraged to use the blocks to create train tracks and trains for the children to ride on.

Music
*The piano will remain in the classroom with some other small musical instruments placed near by. This will encourage children to work together to make music for the class to enjoy and it is another way for the children to move in the classroom. It will also foster creativity with melodies and rhythm.

Large Motor: 


*There will be a new gym set up. Stay tuned....

Large group information:

*Large group discussions will continue to focus on wind and the fire station and fire truck area. We will also introduce the topic of our new class fish. We will also be talking about the new train area in the classroom and how children can work together to make and ride the trains.

Ayuko's Snack:

Monday: Cookies made by class & Banana

Wednesday: Rice Cakes & Pears

Thursday: Granola Bars

Dear families,
We are passed the half point of our term and are approaching that last few weeks together. I am certainly enjoying myself and enjoying the children's curiosity and eagerness to learn at school. The children have begun to express themselves fully and have started to show how much they have changed since our first meeting. I am so glad that I am able to get to know and interact with every one of the children.
My week lead teaching was full of enjoyment and surprises. Several children engaged in the curriculum areas that I had envisioned with more enthusiasm and energy than I could have expected. The dramatic play and creativity that the fire station had to offer allowed the children to create stories and experiences that included cooperation, imagination, and understanding of the fire fighting occupation. The materials available in the area served purposes ranging from writing practice to motor practice. The jackets used for playing the role of a fire fighter challenged the children to practice their fine motor skills with clipping the jacket shut. The clipboard and pencil offered the children a chance to write down and explain their play after thoughtfully planning it. Many children spent the majority of free play engaged in fire fighting play.

Sam, Ellie, Ely and others created a fire fighting play. Ely began with an invitation, "Let's play fire!" Sam grabbed the bell, "I can do it!" Ellie took the paper and pencil, "I need to write it down. This is what happened."

The week's large groups focused on curriculum themes including fire fighting and literacy. New fire fighting songs were introduced to the children and their enjoyment was not hidden.
The collage materials in the art area gave children opportunities to create abstract pictures and try art that is new and different. The children experimented with glue and discovered how much glue was necessary to hold certain materials as well as how much glue is too much. It was very exciting to see so many children excited and engaged in their artistic creations.

Sofia, Abby, and Katie
enjoyed creating their own
art with collage materials.
Abby added crayon to hers,
"It says Abby loves Maia."
Katie found shapes in hers,
"It has a square, rectangle,
and there is a circle!"

The felt board had visitors throughout the week. Some children used all the pieces to tell their own story, while other used few of the pieces to tell the parts of the story that they knew best. It was exciting to see some children retell the story The Red, Ripe Strawberry and the Big, Hungry Bear in their own words and with their own added ideas.
The sensory table filled with rocks, frogs, and strawberries gets much attention. The children surround the table and get their hands deep into the rocks. The strawberries have been "hidden," "eaten," and made into frog beds by children. It is nice to see the sensory table being used in so many ways.
The house area is still popular. Children enjoy making food, cleaning dishes, serving food, talking on the phone with others, and doing the laundry. There are a few children who frequent this area, and others who come and go as they see new dramatic scenes arise. It is surprising and wonderful to see how many ways the children can play in the house area.
Overall, I enjoyed watching the children explore and utilize the materials available for each area. They appeared to find fun and interesting ways to play. I am looking forward to seeing what they will do next with the new plans for the next few weeks!

Sincerely,
Natalie

Natalie's group: Wednesday the children are going on a field trip. They will go to Folwell Hall to move and act like bugs in the tunnels connecting Folwell Hall to other buildings. The children will have a day to reflect on Thursday.

Theresa's group: The children have showed an interest in laundry so we are focusing on that topic. The group will learn a new song about laundry and prepare for a field trip the following week.

Ayuko's group: The children recently went on a field trip along Pillsbury Drive to observe and touch a variety of buildings and wonder how they are made. Questions were asked: Can a wolf blow this building? Can you blow this building? We will begin a collaborative project on making our own big house that is sustainable from the wolf's blow.

Goals: Because of the changing (and somewhat unpredictable) breezy weather, we decided to introduce the concept of wind. We will have an electric fan with streamers and pinwheels in the classroom for the children to explore and have kites and streamers that require using wind on the playground. The children have really enjoyed the gluing collage materials over the last week so we will continue to foster this activity and use natural materials the children have collected to add to the collages. In the fire station, we are going to expand on their current role playing scenario by adding a social story about what firefighters do other than put out fires (i.e. provide medical attention, cook at the fire house, sleep at the fire house when there are no fires.) By doing this we hope to extend the children's pretend play skills.

Art:
* We will continue to have collage materials for the children to cut and glue for creative expression and fine motor development. We will encourage the use of natural materials in their collages for continued focus on what we have collected.

* Red, blue, and yellow paints will be available for the children to explore mixing colors and making new colors at the large easel.
Manipulative/Math:

*A new seriation puzzle will be added to the manipulatives table. Also, multi colored fire trucks will be added to the manipulatives table for children to practice sorting. The seriation stacking tree will continue to be available for the children for ordering according to size.

*The children have enjoyed the seriation pegs and we will keep them out for sequencing practice and problem solving.

*Some new puzzles will be available for children to develop their problem solving and part to whole skills. The puzzles will also have connections to classroom play themes.

*A catapult will be added for the children to explore cause and effect and to practice small motor skills.
Sensory:
*We will bring back water at the sensory table. We will encourage the children to get their hands wet and explore how water can be moved and manipulated with cups, funnels, paddlewheels, and strainers.

*Play dough will be available for the children to sculpt creations with the collected natural materials and new tools.

Science:

*We will be exploring wind at our science table with fans and pinwheels. The fans will have streamers for the children to visually see wind movement. The pinwheels will give opportunities for children to make wind on their own and see its effects.
*The butterflies have all emerged. They will be set free this week after discussing with the children how butterflies are better off living outdoors. We will have them for a few days for the children to observe and discuss about where to release them and what they will do after they are released, but we will be setting them free soon.

*The crickets will still be observable and chirping for us. We will encourage the children to ask questions about them and we will have books ready to read to the children.

Dramatic Play:
* The children appear to enjoy the laundry so ironing boards will be added to the area as well. The ironing boards will extend the children's play as well as allow them to try other household jobs they may observe their parents doing.

*The kitchen will be moved to the fire station so the "firefighters" can eat after they fight the fires. We will continue to have the firefighter hats, jackets, books, and spray bottles. Pillows will also be added to the fire station so the firefighter can sleep after they finish eating and working.

Language and Literacy:
*The felt board and pieces will be available in the back of the classroom with familiar story-lines, such as "The Big Hungry Bear" and "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and songs such as "Herman the Worm" the allow the children to tell the story on their own with the felt.
*Various books incorporating play themes and children's interests will be added to the literacy area and cave reading nook.
Construction:
*Blocks will be in the classroom located near the piano. They will be available for children to improve large motor skills by lifting them and for children to express creativity in building houses, buildings, space ships, and what ever else they can think of

Music
*The keyboard will remain in the classroom for children to play. Some other small musical instruments will be placed near the piano for children to use while others are using the piano. This encourages children to work together to make music for the class to enjoy and it is another way for the children to move in the classroom.
Large Motor:
*The tunnel and the slide have been moved in the gym to keep children's interest. The tunnel fosters self-control, crawling, exploring (through windows), depth perception, and spatial awareness. The A-Frame ladders are standing upright connected by a bridge. At the bottom of one of the A-Frames, there is a cushioned pit for the children to jump into from the top of the A-Frame. This promotes balance, coordination, motor planning, and risk-taking. Rope swings have been added to the monkey bars. The swings foster balance, coordination, and strength. The monkey bars foster upper body strength, hand-eye coordination, and motor planning. The motor climber is also available, promoting upper body strength, risk taking, climbing, jumping, depth perception, and hand-eye coordination.

*We will be adding kites made of plastic bags and string to the play ground for the children to feel the tug of the breeze in the kite. Streamers will be available to see how they move in the wind. We will also be releasing the butterflies out on our playground during the week. The children will continue to have opportunities to throw and catch balls outside in the playground with a basketball hoop being added. Digging trucks will be added for children to use for digging and to create some potential dramatic play scenarios where they are construction workers. We will be bringing lettuce plants and green bean plants out to the playground to be planted.

Large group information:

*Large group discussions will include discussing a new pet. We hope to finalize a pet choice with the children to have a few weeks with it before the end of the year. The teachers are narrowing in on one of the suggestions that were made: fish. Natalie and Theresa graduate on Thursday so they may discuss with the children what happens at graduation as well as bring in their caps and gowns. The new additions to the science table will be pointed out to the children to encourage them to explore the wind in the classroom.

Ayuko's Snack:

Monday: Banana & Goldfish

Wednesday: Cheese & Apple

Thursday: Graham Crackers & Oranges

There were many different activities that happened this week. In order to foster the children's ecological awareness, we discussed this topic during large group with the children and created many curriculum areas that supported ways to recycle, use less water, and plant plants to help the Earth.

Since Earth Week was a vital factor to our curriculum, Natalie found a couple of pine trees we could plant. With the children, Natalie looked for a place in our playground to plant a pine tree. The children discussed ideas on how we can support the tree to grow: Dirt, water, and sun.

The piano came back to the classroom to support the developing music curriculum area. The children were encouraged to share the space and play the piano together.

Thank you for finding and bringing in the natural materials to the classroom! The children felt ownership of their own materials they brought and contributed to the sorting activity! We will continue this process as you bring more materials in.

Outside in the playground Alma found a dead bumble bee. The children were curious to see what it looked like and felt it with their fingers.

*Ayuko's small group will be having a field trip this Wednesday at 10am. If you have not returned the permission slip, please do so ASAP. Please have your child wear the green lab school t-shirt for the trip.

*The Parent Feedback form is due tomorrow! If you have not already done so, please fill it out and send it back to Kelley or give a hard copy to Eva. Your input is important to us! This is a great opportunity for me and the school to improve our practice.

*The all school pizza party is on Tuesday, May 25th from 6-7:30pm. Please come and join us, eat pizza, play in the playground, and listen to the Teddy Bear Band! It is a wonderful time for all of us, celebrating the end of the year together!

Ayuko's group will be going on a field trip along Pillsbury drive to look at various building structures for ideas on how to create a strong "house." They will begin creating their own "house" that can withstand the wolf's blow out in the children's playground.

Natalie's group will be concentrating on bug movements. They will explore how different bugs move and how they live.

Theresa's group will be focusing on laundry in the home. They will begin to wash real clothes in real soap and water in a washing bin.

Goals: It's the time to practice the fire drill again. The children noticed the fire alarm in the room and began incorporating a fire fighting theme into their play. We want to foster this interest and have the children explore what being a fire fighter entails, such as getting the 911 call, responding to the call, and putting out the fire to keep people safe. The children have also been very interested in reading the story The Red, Ripe Strawberry, and the Big, Hungry Bear. We want to expand on the children's interest by providing materials to create the story in their play and help them make connections from hearing the story to telling it and acting it out.

Art:
* We will have collage materials, such as the natural materials we have found and other media, for the children to cut and glue to express their creativity. The cutting will also support the children's fine motor development.
Manipulative/Math:

*The seriation stacking tree will continue to be available for the children to order objects according to size.

*Seriation pegs will stay out for sequencing practice and problem solving.

*Various new puzzles will be available for children to develop their problem solving and persistence skills.

*The natural materials collected by the children will continue to be out for sorting. Recycling materials will be available for the children to sort common objects such as plastic, metal, and paper to give them the opportunity to classify objects and recognize differences in them.
Sensory:
*Red playdough will be available for the children to create strawberries as a way to express the story of the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear. The natural materials will also be available to incorporate into their creation and storyline.
*The rock table will still be open for children to engage in "hands on" play. The table will house frogs and plastic strawberries for the children to incorporate familiar stories into their sensory experience.

Science:
*The earthworms will remain available for the children to ask questions about and hold. We will continue to read books about earthworms for children to learn and discover facts about the earthworms. We will have measuring rulers available for the children to measure and compare the size of worms.

*The chrysalids are about to open up and emerge butterflies. Painted Lady Butterfly books will be out for children to have the opportunity to learn and discover new information about our new pets.

*The crickets are chirping and visible for the children to observe. We hope to encourage questions from the children about these different looking insects with books and magnifying glasses.

Dramatic Play:
*The house area will continue to have the laundry room, office, and kitchen. The children will be able to act out family roles including parent, child, or pet.

*There will be a fire drill in the classroom this week so we will incorporate a fire station in the loft area for children to experience and engage in the act of fire fighting. Storylines such as Fire Truck song by Ivan Ulz will be available for the children to act out and explore.
Language and Literacy:
*The flannel board will be available in the back of the classroom for children to show and tell the stories, such as "Herman the Worm" and The Red, Ripe Strawberry and the Big, Hungry Bear.
*Various books incorporating the classroom play themes will be added to the literacy area.

*New and familiar animal books will be available in the reading nook for children to read and learn.
Construction:
*Blocks will be available to create and incorporate the fire station play theme with fire stations, houses, and fire trucks. The children will be encouraged to use large motor skills to build buildings and move fire trucks.
Music
*The keyboard will remain in the classroom for the children to play and explore music. They have the opportunity to recognize patterns and songs that are available on the keyboard. The children will also be learning new songs during large group times.
Large Motor:
*The tunnel has been changed and shortened a little, though still leads to the slide. The tunnel fosters self-control, crawling, exploring (through windows), depth perception, and spatial awareness. The A-Frame ladders are standing upright connected by a bridge. At the bottom of one of the A-Frames, there is a cushioned pit for the children to jump into from the top of the A-Frame. This promotes balance, coordination, motor planning, and risk-taking. Rope swings have been added to the monkey bars. The swings foster balance, coordination, and strength. The monkey bars foster upper body strength, hand-eye coordination, and motor planning. The motor climber is also available, promoting upper body strength, risk taking, climbing, jumping, depth perception, and hand-eye coordination.

*The children will have opportunities to throw and catch balls outside in the playground with a basketball hoop being added. A tunnel has been placed on the playground as well for children to explore in. We will be bringing plants to the playground to be planted to help beautify our earth. Small scoops, magnifying glasses, and buckets will be available to find and catch insects. We will ask the children questions to guide their interest in insects as well as discuss why it is important for the insects to be released. The children have been enjoying and exploring the tricycles! We will continue to provide the tricycles, which supports motor planning, lower and core body strength, and endurance. The yellow race cars are back to encourage children to use lower body strength to move and push the cars with their legs.

Large Group:
* During large group this week, we will be discussing, singing songs, and reading stories about fire fighting and fire trucks. We will also discuss opportunities to incorporate the strawberry story into different types and locations of play.

Snack
Monday: Sunflower Butter Sandwiches
Wednesday: Cheeze Its
Thursday: Graham Crackers

This past week the children had opportunities to explore further in each curriculum area. One of our main goals was to utilize the natural materials we found from the nature walk in a variety of areas. So far we have used them in the sensory area placing logs and sticks as a habitat for the frogs and spiders. We have also used natural materials in the playdough area and many ideas have sparked from this use.

The music area was extended with a use of music and books. With a teacher, the children created rhythm and patterns when they were playing instruments. Natalie was able to capture these moments. Please take a look.

There are many elements to the "house" dramatic play area. With the laundry room, bedroom, work/den area, and the kitchen, the children illustrated what they knew about these areas and how to utilize them. Please take a look at Theresa's documentations.

The small group meetings started this past week! The groups will be meeting every Wednesday and Thursday from now until the end of the term. Groups have been formed as follows:

Ayuko (building/story acting group): Otto, Beatrix, Sam, Max, and Ellie.
Theresa (family/house group): Maia, Cashton, Katie, Cormac, Elliot, and Alma.
Natalie (bug group): Ely, Ebisaa, Abby, Sofia, and Madeline.

Stay tuned to read about how our groups have been growing!

*Thank you to all the families for supporting the Spring Soiree! With your help we were able to have another successful event. For those who made it to the Soiree, we hope you had a wonderful time.

*The Parent Feedback form was sent to you recently. Please let us know how we're doing! I would personally love to hear your comments and suggestions so I can improve my practice. We would like to have all of the responses in by May 3rd.

You should have received an email with an electronic copy. Please fill it out and return it back to Kelley at huds0038@umn.edu OR, if you'd like, you may get a hard copy, which will be available outside of the health office.

Goals: Earth day last Wednesday has inspired us to foster the children's awareness of our planet. We will help the children understand ways to recycle, use less water, and plant plants to help our Earth as means to foster the children's early ecological awareness. The curriculum areas will be enriched with concepts related to the Earth and preserving it.
Art:
* We will have fingerpaints available at the art table for the children to paint and explore. The primary colors will be out to enhance their awareness of mixing colors to make new colors. This will foster their fine motor skills as well as creative expression.
Manipulative/Math:
*A seriation stacking tree will be out to give the children the opportunity to order objects according to size.
*Seriation pegs will be available to practice sequencing objects according to size and to practice problem solving skills as to where each different size peg belongs.
*Various puzzles will be available to challenge the children to use fine motor planning, problem-solving skills, and persistence.
*Recyclable materials will be available for sorting.
*As the children bring in natural materials from their home on Monday, they will have the opportunity to sort them into different compartments for usage in various areas of the classroom.
*The music curriculum area will foster creating and recognizing patterns as well as rote counting.
Sensory:
*New and old tools will be provided at the play dough table for children to create play dough sculptures and green grass scenery. The play dough will be green and yellow to fit along with the Earth theme.
*We will keep the rock table full of frogs, twigs, and miniature logs for the children to explore as a habitat for frogs. They will be able to continue to sort the materials and feel the differences in their textures.
Science:
*The earthworms will continue to be out for the children to view and hold. Books about earthworms will be available for teachers to read to the children to teach children about how the worms live. We hope to model an attitude of questioning and wonder about how they live and through discussion, we will explore further on how to care for them.
*The caterpillars introduced last week are continuing to grow. The children will be able to observe and investigate the lifecycle of the caterpillar.
*We will have crickets join our science table! The crickets will be available for the children to observe, investigate, and ask questions about how they live, where they live, what they eat, and who eats them.
*Following along with the Earth theme, we will plant spring bulbs to show children how they can help beautify the earth.
Dramatic Play:
*The children will continue to be able to use the house to act out different family roles such as parent or infant. The office will continue to be a place where children can "work" on their writing skills by completing the letter "worksheet" or writing on their own blank piece of paper provided in the office. Because it is Earth week, there will be a recycling area set up in the home for children to practice sorting. We appreciate those who have sent in ideas of what else their children might see parents doing in the home on a regular basis - it will enrich our story lines - please send your ideas if you haven't.
Language and Literacy:
*The flannel board will be available in the loft with the familiar story-lines and songs, "Herman the Worm" and "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," to create with felt pieces.
*Various books incorporating play themes will be added to the literacy area and in the cave bedroom.
Construction:
*The vehicles will be available for children to use and a "garbage dump" will be added to the area as well. The goal is for the children to use the trucks to transport objects such as "garbage" or "recycling" rather than crashing them into one another. Smaller objects for recycling will also be added for children to sort and deliver to different areas in the classroom.
Music
*A keyboard will be the newest addition to the music area. Many of the percussion instruments will also remain in the music area for the children to practice rhythms and patterns with a teacher's assistance. The iPod will stay in the music area for the children to listen to music and dance along to.
Large Motor:
*There will be a new gym set up this week. Stay tuned.
*The children will have opportunities to throw and catch balls outside in the playground with a basketball hoop being added. We will also be bringing plants from inside the classroom to the playground to be planted. The children will continue to be encouraged to find and collect natural materials in the playground for the classroom. Small scoops, magnifying glasses, and buckets will be available to find and catch insects. We will ask the children questions to guide their interest in insects as well as discuss why it is important for the insects to be released. The children have been enjoying the tricycles! We will continue to provide the tricycles, which supports motor planning, lower and core body strength, and endurance.
Large Group:
* During large group this week, we will be discussing different topics relating to Earth week, such as recycling, not wasting food scraps by giving them to animals, and planting.

We had a busy week this week! The nature walk and the visit from the architecture students were a success. Please take a look at the pictures below.

The children were eager to go on a nature walk. As we were singing the "Nature Walk" song, the children had opportunities to stop at each featured area to look for nature.

The following day, one of my main goal was to follow up the nature walk with the sorting activity - allowing children to categorize what we found into groups of what they thought was appropriate.



Since we found 4 bags full of natural materials, we will continue to sort these materials and discuss ways we can use them, such as for collages and molding with playdough.

There has been a group of children who have continued their interest in vehicles. Many create roads to drive the truck, to collect "garbage" and dump them in different areas. The architecture students and our teaching team discussed ways we can support their vehicle play and came up with an idea to extend by creating "homes" for their trucks, like a garage. Below are some pictures to illustrate what the children did.

I was amazed by the progression of these buildings. With the teachers, the children began creating bigger homes for other vehicles and objects, eventually creating homes that could fit themselves! We will continue to expand and extend this activity this week.

Natalie was able to document a wonderful story of the children who were playing in the kitchen/home area at the back of the playground. The children have been negotiating and initiates roles for themselves in a variety of dramatic play scenarios.

*Our new schedule will begin this week! We will have our morning meeting at 8:55 am starting Monday, April 19th, continuing until the end of this term. The rest of the schedule remains the same, with slight changes on the days we have small groups. This decision has come in correlation with the idea that by discussing the activities we have set up for the children in each curriculum area, the children will have the opportunity to intentionally think about where they want to play and what they want to do. Additionally, since the children will be going into the multi-age classrooms after this year, it seems appropriate to begin a similar schedule to theirs. This schedule will also support the small group meetings we will have later in the day, providing ample time for investigation and exploration. You will see my revised schedule in the daily schedule section of the website.

*The Spring Soiree is this coming Saturday, April 24th! I will be there with my husband so I hope to see you there too! This is a classy adult only evening held to raise money for the Alex Galle Memorial Scholarship Fund. Alex was the youngest son of our former director, Lynn Galle. The funds in the scholarship go for financial aid for Lab School families. The main fundraising vehicle is a silent auction which parents and Lab School staff make bids during an evening of food, drink and music and fellowship. Let us know if you have any connections with sports stars, local celebrities or interesting places around town. We have occasionally had high bids on a chance to tour an interesting work place or historical site. We have had golfers willing to pay to play a round of golf on a private club. Perhaps you have a skill or expertise (or know someone who does) that other people plan to use in the upcoming year anyway - this is a way you can donate your time to the cause and allow the money to come to the scholarship fund. Please contact Ayuko, Traci (Harper's mom in Dalia's class), or Eva for more information or to share ideas. You are welcome to invite your family and neighbors to donate or to attend too. Our class has been asked to prepare a basket of games - so that's an easy way to become involved. We need everyone's support and creativity to make sure this event is a grand success!

*April Parent Discussion Group is coming up! The topic is: Preparing Your Child for the Transition to Kindergarten. The group will meet on Thursday April 22nd from 1-2pm and Friday April 23rd from 9-10am at room 108. Everyone is welcome.

*Lab School will be closed on Tuesday, April 20th for staff development. You may see our guest of honor, Ashley Cadwell (who came in November for our first staff development) in the school and classrooms on Monday documenting the lead teachers actions and the everyday life of the lab school.

Lead Teacher: Ayuko
Goals: As the children have been absorbing nature around us, whether it is the warmth, going on a nature hunt, finding and observing worms, or looking for bugs, we will continue to foster this interest, delving into further understanding of these materials and living things we find. Many curriculum areas will be extended with additional elements to support their curiosity and understanding of the world.
Art:
* We will continue to have water colors available on table top easels with a selection of vibrant spring colors for painting. The children have been making simple strokes and dabs, creating art pieces that will be available to purchase at the soiree.
Manipulative/Math:
*Natural materials from our field trip will be featured for sorting and examining. The children will be sending home a letter to you soon, asking to collect natural materials in your back yard or in your neighborhood. If you and your child have been collecting them, please feel free to bring them in to add them into our collection.
*Various puzzles will be available to challenge the children to use fine motor planning, problem-solving skills, and persistence. A new 3-D tree puzzle focuses on seriation of size and color hue.
*A variety of seriation manipulatives will be available for the children to count and seriate from smallest to largest.
Sensory:
*Using some of the natural materials we are finding in our yards and on our playground, we will be recreating a nature - like habitat for insects and frogs. These items will be placed on a bed of small pebbles. The children will be able to feel, scavenge, and sort these objects into a variety of categories.
Science:
*Earthworms will continue be available at the science table for the children to observe, hold, investigate, compare, and learn about their movement and eating habits. So far, the children have learned that food scraps from our snacks give nutrients to earthworms.
*Painted Lady caterpillars have arrived! Within the next few weeks, the children will be able to observe and learn the lifecycle of Painted Lady butterflies. They will see them as caterpillars, turning into chrysalis, and then emerging into butterflies.
*A variety of fabric and colored cellophane will be available at the light table to experiment with the effects of light through different materials. Squares, triangles and rectangles can be sorted and used as a provocation to "cover the light table" or "make a picture, mosaic style.
Dramatic Play:
*This week, baby dolls were added to the home area to encourage children to carry on care-taking roles in the house area. A laundry room is added to the area to create another dimension/"chore" that could take place in the house. The office now contains simple letter tracing "worksheets" that the children can do in order to practice their writing skills. We will demonstrate the use of the worksheet to the children so they can do some "work" in the home office area. Please help us expand the play themes of "home life" by telling us one or two things your child would be likely to see you doing in the home on a typical day/evening. We are trying to expand beyond cooking and eating into other areas. Some ideas might spark more dramatic play in our expanded "house."
Language and Literacy:
*A large flannel board will be set up in the loft to provide and sequence familiar story-lines or songs, such as "Herman the Worm."
*Various books incorporating play themes will be added to the literacy area.
Construction:
*A variety of boxes will be available for the children around the vehicle area. Since the architecture students have visited our class, the children have used boxes to create homes for vehicles and a "wasteland" for their garbage. The children will have opportunities to recreate these storylines and also have extensions to this area when the architecture students return next Thursday.
Music
*We have supplied the children with more instruments including clappers and castanets to add to their exploration of instruments and making music. We will continue to facilitate making music for others to dance and sing along for creative expression and motor skills. We will continue to play dance DVDs on the computer to discover different ways to dance. We will add music from ipods for the children to listen to, dance to, and sing to. Rhythm repeating games will be on hand for children to participate in and practice memory skills and explore different rhythms.
Large Motor:
*There is a tunnel that leads to the slide. The tunnel fosters self-control, crawling, exploring (through windows), depth perception, and spatial awareness. The A-Frame ladders are on their sides connected by a bridge. This promotes balance, coordination, motor planning, and risk-taking. Build-a-car is available, which fosters fine motor coordination, upper body strength, cooperation, turn taking, and engineering (following a visual model). Monkey bars are back again - this fosters upper body strength, hand-eye coordination, and motor planning. Last, but not least, motor climber is back as well, promoting upper body strength, risk taking, climbing, jumping, depth perception, and hand eye coordination. This week we have added bowling as an additional option.
*The children will have opportunities to throw and catch balls outside in the playground. As the follow-up of the nature walk, the children will continue to be encouraged to find and collect natural materials in the playground for the classroom. Small scoops, magnifying glasses, and buckets will be available to find and catch insects. Though children are encouraged to observe and question how these insects move and survive, we will also discuss the importance of releasing them and having them go back to their "home" at the end of the day. The children have been enjoying the tricycles! We will continue to provide the tricycles, which supports motor planning, lower and core body strength, and endurance.

Snack:
Monday: Trader Joe's Letter Cookies & Banana
Wednesday: Wacky Cake by Class
Thursday: Pineapple & Cheerios

Lead Teacher: Ayuko

Goals: Our interest in planting and growing things continues with additional planting experiences. Spring also is infusing itself via the presence of worms - they are a highlight of springtime digging and we will continue to hunt for them outside and explore them more closely inside.

Art:
* We will have water colors available on table top easels with a selection of vibrant spring colors for painting. On the large easel, pale chalk with green paper will be featured. These activities support the children's fine motor development as well as creativity.
Manipulative/Math:
*An original comparison game will be available for the children to guess, label, and compare pictures that are bigger and have the most objects.
*Natural materials from our yards will be featured for sorting and examining on the light table. Please bring in interesting things you find.
*Various puzzles will be available to challenge the children to use fine motor planning, problem-solving skills, and persistence.
*Gears will be used to foster spatial planning and problem solving skills.
Sensory:
*Small plant pots, brown play dough, and "seed" colored play dough will be available to support the children in thinking about planting seeds. Other clay tools will also be available. Building with play dough supports fine motor strength and precision, as well as creative expression.
*We will add new digging and pouring tools to the sand table and continue to put natural materials and pretend bugs for discovery, sorting and organizing. We will also add small pebbles for sifting and creating a different texture in the sandbox.
Science:
*The seeds which the children examined and sorted last week will also be available for planting this week. We are trying to expose the children to the idea that most foods have a seed, so you may want to comment on other foods that you eat at home that have seeds, or pits.
*We have planted the bulb flowers outside in the playground and will continue to observe and care for them. These activities will allow the children to better understand the life cycle of plants and to take responsibility for caring for living things.
*Earthworms will be available at the science table for the children to observe, investigate, and learn about its movement and eating habits.
Dramatic Play:
*Children have gravitated to the "travel loft" looking at photos of themselves and their classmates traveling - using the seatbelts (which is a nice fine motor challenge). This week we will add additional "travel" accessories like backpacks, tickets and trays for serving food to the travelers. If you have a photo of your child on an airplane or traveling in general, please send it in (or email it to us.)
*A house has been added for dramatic play. The house includes a kitchen, a bedroom (in the cave), and a home office/den. Children will be encouraged to act out a variety of scenarios (i.e. going to work, going to bed, cooking, eating dinner/lunch), collaborate, negotiate, and assign each other roles to play.
Language and Literacy:
*We will encourage the children to draw the worms in the classroom. Clipboards and materials will be available near the worm area for drawing what should be a fairly easy shape. At this point, the intellectual understanding that they can represent what they see by writing is more important than the actual final product of the drawing. Skill in drawing takes time, but starts primarily from the interest and desire to record observations.
*A large flannel board will be set up in the classroom to provide experiences for children to sequence familiar stories and use their imagination to create new storylines. Various books incorporating play themes will be added to the literacy area.
Construction:
We will be collaborating with two design students over the next few weeks. They will continue our nature walk activity, incorporating their ideas and children's input on what to do with found materials. They will also work with us in the classroom with construction oriented projects.
*As some of the children have moved or will soon move to a different house. Moving trucks will be provided near the block area to play out scenarios, such as filling in the trucks with furniture and objects and moving them to another location.
Music
*We have supplied the children with a variety of instruments including drums, xylophones, bells, and tone blocks with mallets to explore the different sounds instruments can create. We will demonstrate and facilitate making familiar songs with the instruments and our voices so that others can dance and sing along to display creative expression and motor skills. We will add dance DVDs on the computer to view as children explore dancing and children become aware of this new area.
Large Motor:
*There is a tunnel that leads to the slide. The tunnel fosters self-control, crawling, exploring (through windows), depth perception, and spatial awareness. The A-Frame ladders are on their sides connected by a bridge. This promotes balance, coordination, motor planning, and risk-taking. Build-a-car is available, which fosters fine motor coordination, upper body strength, cooperation, turn taking, and engineering (following a visual model). Monkey bars are back again - this fosters upper body strength, hand-eye coordination, and motor planning. Last, but not least, motor climber is back as well, promoting upper body strength, risk taking, climbing, jumping, depth perception, and hand eye coordination.
*There has been a lot of interest in finding insects and bugs outside in the playground. Small scoops, magnifying glasses, and buckets will be available to find and catch insects. Though children are encouraged to observe and question how these insects move and survive, we will also discuss the importance of releasing them and having them go back to their "home" at the end of the day. We will try out the new tricycles as well. These are the result of the successful Gym Jam fundraiser and we are very grateful to have new, matching tricycles for Spring - THANK YOU PARENTS!

Snack: TBD

New Song
Nature Walk
We're going on a nature walk
We're gonna bring a camera
We're gonna bring our white bag.
I'm not afraid.

Hey look.
There's our small lawn.
We can't go under it.
We can't go over it.
Gotta walk through it.
Walk walk walk walk ....
Stop! Do you see any nature?

Hey look! I see the alleyway.
Going through the alleyway.
Can't go under it,
Can't go over it,
Gotta walk through it.
Walk walk walk walk.
Stop! Do you see any nature?

Got through the alleyway,
Gonna see the grass.
Can't go under it,
Can't go over it.
Gotta walk through it.
Walk walk walk walk.
Stop! Do you see any nature?

Got through the grass,
Gonna see the great lawn.
Can't go under it,
Can't go over it.
Gotta walk through it.
Walk walk wak walk....
Stop! Do you see any nature?
Let's go for a look.

Announcements:

*The Nature Walk field trip will be on Wednesday, April 14th at 9:15am. If you are joining us, please be in the school lobby by 9:10. We will walk down from the front lawn down to the "great lawn" in Elliot Hall. On the day of, I will give you a series of comments and questions you can ask your child and children around you. Let's have fun and collect lots of natural materials! You can also sing the "Going on the Nature Walk" song with your child, which is posted at the bottom of the lesson plan. If you have not returned the field trip permission form, please do so by Wednesday morning. You will receive an attachment of the form via email.

*Attached on the email is the photo of Beth and Melissa. They are graduate students in the school of Architecture. They have an assignment to observe and participate with children in a design or building situation to compare and contrast how the process of children's play is like the design/build process. They have ideas on doing a follow-up on the nature walk and building/construction area and will be with us every Thursday for 3 weeks.

*After thoroughly thinking about our present schedule, I have decided to add a morning meeting at 8:55 am starting Monday, April 19th, continuing until the end of this term. The rest of the schedule remains the same, with slight changes on the days we have small groups. This decision has come in correlation with the idea that by discussing the activities we have set up for the children in each curriculum area, the children will have the opportunity to intentionally think about where they want to play and what they want to do. Additionally, since the children will be going into the multi-age classrooms after this year, it seems appropriate to begin a similar schedule to theirs. This schedule will also support the small group meetings we will have later in the day, providing ample time for investigation and exploration. You will see my revised schedule in the daily schedule section of the website. We will begin preparing the children for the change in schedule on Wednesday.

*The Spring Soiree is coming up! Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 24th. This is a classy adult only evening held to raise money for the Alex Galle Memorial Scholarship Fund. Alex was the youngest son of our former director, Lynn Galle. The funds in the scholarship go for financial aid for Lab School families. The main fundraising vehicle is a silent auction which parents and Lab School staff make bids during an evening of food, drink and music and fellowship. Let us know if you have any connections with sports stars, local celebrities or interesting places around town. We have occasionally had high bids on a chance to tour an interesting work place or historical site. We have had golfers willing to pay to play a round of golf on a private club. Perhaps you have a skill or expertise (or know someone who does) that other people plan to use in the upcoming year anyway - this is a way you can donate your time to the cause and allow the money to come to the scholarship fund. Please contact Ayuko, Traci (Harper's mom in Dalia's class), or Eva for more information or to share ideas. You are welcome to invite your family and neighbors to donate or to attend too. Our class has been asked to prepare a basket of games - so that's an easy way to become involved. We need everyone's support and creativity to make sure this event is a grand success!

*April Parent Discussion Group is coming up! The topic is: Preparing Your Child for the Transition to Kindergarten. The group will meet on Thursday April 22nd from 1-2pm and Friday April 23rd from 9-10am at room 108. Everyone is welcome.

*Lab School will be closed on Tuesday, April 20th for staff development. You may see our guest of honor, Ashley Cadwell (who came in November for our first staff development) in the school and classrooms on Monday documenting the lead teachers actions and the everyday life of the lab school.

Classroom Newsletter
Ayuko's Class
4/10/10

Dear Families,

What a great start to the spring term: the weather has been perfect and the children came back ready to get into the groove of school. Coming back from Reggio Emilia, I was inspired to change and tweak a few things in the classroom and think about my role as a teacher. Though I have been working on this concept before I went to Reggio, I came back wanting to expand more, think closely about each curriculum area, and design them to engage children further in their play. In the dramatic play areas, the children had fewer, but key objects and materials they could use for role playing. The teaching team came up with questions, suggestions, and comments we could use to support and further children's play.

Ayuko: It's time to take off, find your seat and buckle your seatbelt! Take off!
Katie: Wait! (she comes on the plane with a cooler)
Ayuko: Do you have food for the passengers on the plane?

Ayuko: It's time for refreshments. Make sure you give out some food.

Katie: I don't have drinks.

Ayuko: That's ok, as long as you have food for them to eat.

Katie passes out food to each child.
Ayuko: Where is our destination?

Cashton: My house.

Ellie: My house.

Elliot and Abby: I want to go to my house too!

Ayuko: It's almost time to land. Thank you for boarding the airplane. We hope you join us again.

In the front of the room, the children were encouraged to investigate, dig and explore sand and natural materials, and discover and understand the concept of planting and watering bulbs and seeds. The Reggio philosophy presents that the children learn and understand the world around them in "100 languages," meaning there are many different ways children learn. Using that idea, we had also set up a felt board and playdough area for the children to recreate what they are learning about planting seeds and bulbs.

Outside in the playground, one of my main goals was to have the children focus and notice the natural elements around them, such as the plants, trees, and bugs. Since it was warm, some of the children started to naturally talk about bugs and make bug soup. The teachers pitched in the idea to start looking for these bugs and take care of them. The children saw ants, spiders, and worms. Little did we know, the children showed more excitement and interest in digging for and finding worms and comparing their sizes and shapes.

We are planning to continue this exploration of worms and further study their movements and likes of food by having worms at the science area.

Next week is our nature walk field trip. In order to prepare for the trip, we started talking about it during large group. We sang a song about the areas we are going to visit. While we were outdoors, a couple of children started collecting rocks, twigs, and woodchips in their buckets on their own! We are hoping that this process continues in the playground to bring materials into the classroom.

During the nature walk, the children will be encouraged to look for natural materials and collect them in their bags. With their collection, we are going to sort and discuss ideas on how we can use them in the classroom.

After thoroughly thinking about our present schedule, I have decided to add a morning meeting at 8:55 am starting Monday, April 19th, continuing until the end of this term. The rest of the schedule remains the same, with slight changes on the days we have small groups. This decision has come in correlation with the idea that by discussing the activities we have set up for the children in each curriculum area, the children will have the opportunity to intentionally think about where they want to play and what they want to do. Additionally, since the children will be going into the multi-age classrooms after this year, it seems appropriate to begin a similar schedule to theirs. This schedule will also support the small group meetings we will have later in the day, providing ample time for investigation and exploration. You will see my revised schedule in the daily schedule section. We will begin preparing the children for the change in schedule on Wednesday.

As you can tell, I am very excited for this term and what is going to come out of it. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you for your support and let's enjoy our last 10 weeks together!

Sincerely,
Ayuko

3-Day Daily Schedule
Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday
Ayuko's Class

Non- small group days

7:45-8:30 Set-up and planning with assistant teachers. This includes the classroom, gym, playground and snack.

8:30-8:55 Arrival and exploration time. Self-directed activities from various learning centers will be available in front of the room. These centers include the art table, sensory table, manipulalatives, discovery and science table.

8:55-9:10 Large Group. Activities include, singing songs (good morning, name songs, etc), doing movement activities, and sharing and discussing information about interests, events, and projects that are developing during this time.

9:10-10:00 Free play/Self-directed activities from various learning centers. Children may return to the front of the room and finish an activity started during arrival/exploration time or choose activities in the back of the room: dramatic play and block building. Music and movement spontaneously occur during the day.

10:00-10:10 Clean up and toileting.

10:10-10:15 Large group (regrouping time): The children will sing songs and/or discuss the schedule for the rest of the day.

10:15-10:30 Large motor activities in the gym (Room 40)

10:30-10:45 Hand washing and Snack. The children will begin to learn to pass out napkins and cups, pour their own drinks and serve their own snacks.

10:45-10:50 Transition from snack to the playground

10:50 -11:15 Outdoor play

11:15-11:30 Dismissal and Good-byes.

11:30-1:00 Clean up and daily meetings by teachers.

Small Group days (Wednesday and Thursday)
Please note that the schedule will change slightly once "small groups" begin. Free-play will include "open snack" (i.e. children choose when to come to the table and have snack) rather than a whole group snack. Small groups will take the place of gym and snack on the schedule.

7:45-8:30 Set-up and planning with assistant teachers. This includes the classroom, gym, playground and snack.
8:30-8:55 Arrival and exploration time.
8:55-9:10 Large Group.
9:10-10:00 Self-directed activities from various learning centers and open snack.
10:00-10:10 Clean up and toileting.
10:10-10:15 Large group (regrouping time): The children will sing songs and/or discuss the schedule for the rest of the day.

10:15-10:35 Small Groups

10:35-10:45 Transition from snack to the playground

10:50 -11:15 Outdoor play

11:15-11:30 Dismissal and Good-byes.

11:30-1:00 Clean up and daily meetings by teachers.

There were a couple of "stories" that developed this week. The children's interests in insects and plants have grown tremendously, especially since they have seen some outside in the playground. Please take a look at their journey this week.

Watering and planting has peeked the children's interest as they noticed the bulbs and flowers transform and grow each day. The children were also encouraged to transfer and explore their knowledge of plants and flowers onto the felt board below.



Ayuko: Hey, Madeline, I notice that your flower looks very similar to this flower.
Madeline: Yeah, this one is the same, and that one is the same.
Ayuko: Do you mean, the shape is the same and the color is the same [as the pink petals]?
Madeline: Yeah that's right!
Ayuko: Madeline, I notice that this flower is floating. It looks like its missing a piece. Look at this flower (the plant). What does it have here?
Madeline: A stem!
Madeline found a stem and placed it on the flower.

Out in the playground, a child had mentioned about looking for bugs. A group of children and I began talking about where to search for bugs and what we can do to find them. First we brushed the grass with our hands.

Eba: I'm going to dig and look for ladybugs.
Alma: Good job digging, Eba.

Cormac: Me too!
As we were digging, we found something.

Ely: Look, it's a worm!

Eba: It's a baby worm.
The following day, Sofia and Cormac wanted to continue looking for bugs so they grabbed a shovel and started digging under a tree.
Cormac: I found something! It looks like a bug spider.

We found a small ant and a big ant.

Below are introductions to the new student teachers. Please take a look and get to know them a little better!

Hi, I'm Natalie. I am in the foundations of education: early childhood program. I will be graduating this May. I live in Plymouth in the same house and I have since I was born. I love to cook, clean, and make arts and crafts. I like to make dinner or bake muffins and treats for my family or anyone who will eat my food. I have recently started to enjoy creating new recipes.

My name is Theresa. I am in the Foundations of Education: Early Childhood undergraduate program. I will be continuing on to the graduate level program in the fall. I grew up in Eagan, MN and my parents still live in the house my siblings and I were raised in. I have four sisters and one brother. I am the fourth child in the family. During my spare time, I like to knit. During the summer I also like to spend a lot of time outside and swimming.

We are looking forward to a fabulous last 10 weeks of school!

Announcements:
* The children will have hearing screenings this Wednesday, April 7th. This is a service provided by the audiology department, which occurs once a year during our spring session. We will walk across the street in small groups with the audiology students who will help us play the "listening game." The children usually enjoy playing these games and watch each other complete a task. You will only receive a report if there is some issue with the screening. If you your child has recently been through a hearing screening and/or would like your child to opt out of it, please let me know. Please also feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
*Now that spring has arrived, the children have been embracing the beginnings of nature - plants, flowers, and insects. As a whole class, we will be going on a nature walk around campus on Wednesday, April 14th. You are welcome to join us during this time - permission slips and details will soon to follow.
*The Spring Soiree is coming up! Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 24th. This is a classy adult only evening held to raise money for the Alex Galle Memorial Scholarship Fund. Alex was the youngest son of our former director, Lynn Galle. The funds in the scholarship go for financial aid for Lab School families. The main fundraising vehicle is a silent auction which parents and Lab School staff make bids during an evening of food, drink and music and fellowship. The rest of the evening is free - so please plan to come out and support an excellent cause. In the mean time, please think about any items you have (or can access) which families might be interested in bidding upon. Let us know if you have any connections with sports stars, local celebrities or interesting places around town. We have occasionally had high bids on a chance to tour an interesting work place or historical site. We have had golfers willing to pay to play a round of golf on a private club. Perhaps you have a skill or expertise (or know someone who does) that other people plan to use in the upcoming year anyway - this is a way you can donate your time to the cause and allow the money to come to the scholarship fund. Please contact Ayuko, Traci (Harper's mom in Dalia's class), or Eva for more information or to share ideas. You are welcome to invite your family and neighbors to donate or to attend too. Our class has been asked to prepare a basket of games - so that's an easy way to become involved. We need everyone's support and creativity to make sure this event is a grand success!
*April Parent Discussion Group is coming up! The topic is: Preparing Your Child for the Transition to Kindergarten. The group will meet on Thursday April 22nd from 1-2pm and Friday April 23rd from 9-10am at room 108. Everyone is welcome.
*PAC meeting is this Monday, April 5th from 7-8:30pm. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend. Please join us and share your insight and ideas - or, just as importantly, offer your assistance in making things happen!

Lead Teacher: Ayuko
Goals: Spring has arrived! Some curriculum areas will be focused around the concept of spring, connecting children with plants, natural materials, and emerging insects. We will also continue to build relationships with the new student teachers while in the classroom and out in the playground. Ideas for a classroom pet and possible ways to care for it will continue to be discussed throughout the day.
Art:
* Large and small brushes with a palette of shades of green and a bright flower color will be available on the large easel. This activity supports the children's fine motor development as well as creativity.
Manipulative/Math:
*An original comparison game will be available for the children to guess, label, and compare pictures that are bigger and have the most objects.
*Curlers, rectangular, and square blocks will be available on the light table to encourage small scale building. This activity promotes creativity of combining different building materials together and mathematical skills such as balancing, counting, and sorting.
*Various puzzles will be available to challenge the children to use fine motor planning, problem-solving skills, and persistence.
*Counting bears will be available for sorting by color and counting.
*Gears will be used to foster spatial planning and problem solving skills.
Sensory:
*Small plant pots, brown play dough, and "seed" colored play dough will be available to support the children in thinking about planting seeds. Building with play dough supports fine motor strength and precision, as well as creative expression.
*As insects are emerging outside from the ground, the children will have an opportunity to search and dig for rubber insects in the sand area. Children will group and count a variety of insects using shovels, cups, and rakes.
Science:
*A variety of seeds will be provided with soil at the science table. Children will be encouraged to sort, group, and feel the seeds and dirt. As the days progress, the children will have the opportunity to plant a seed in a cotton ball and in dirt to observe and compare their growth.
*A bulb garden and budding branches will continue to be available for children to observe and care for by watering them. These activities will allow the children to better understand the life cycle of plants and to take responsibility for caring for living things.
Dramatic Play:
*As we have heard of many travels that occurred during spring break, the loft has turned into an airplane (which can also be turned into a car). Pilot hats, shirts, seats and seat belts will be available for the children to act out the process of being in a plane and traveling to a destination. If you have a photo of your child on an airplane or traveling in general, please send it in (or email it to us.)
*The Pet Hospital has moved to an open spot to encourage social interactions and turn taking. We will continue to support the children's play by promoting and taking on different roles within their play.
*The picnic table in the kitchen/home area will continue to be available with picnic baskets, picnic blankets, plates, cups, and food. Children are also using picnic baskets to bring food to their pets at the animal hospital. Food will also be available for the "food service" on the airplane. This play offers children the opportunities to engage in many social interactions as they cooperate together to find places for picnics, pass out plates and cups to each other, and serve food to one another.
Language and Literacy:
*Colored paper, scissors, markers, and stickers will continue to be available for writing. We will also provide the alphabet stencils to encourage children to combine letters to make words and write them.
*A large flannel board will be set up in the classroom to provide experiences for children to sequence familiar stories and use their imagination to create new storylines. Various books incorporating play themes will be added to the literacy area.
Construction:
*Children have started to form an interest for building homes for their pets. The large hollow blocks, unit blocks, and lighter building blocks will continue to be accessible for children to use. This variety of blocks will allow children to make large individual structures or group projects, fostering cooperation and turn-taking.
Large Motor:
* We have a new gym set up. There is a tunnel that leads to the slide. The tunnel fosters self-control, crawling, exploring (through windows), depth perception, and spatial awareness. The A-Frame ladders are on their sides connected by a bridge. This promotes balance, coordination, motor planning, and risk-taking. Build-a-car is available, which fosters fine motor coordination, upper body strength, cooperation, turn taking, and engineering (following a visual model). Monkey bars are back again - this fosters upper body strength, hand-eye coordination, and motor planning. Last, but not least, motor climber is back as well, promoting upper body strength, risk taking, climbing, jumping, depth perception, and hand eye coordination.
*There has been a lot of interest in finding insects and bugs outside in the playground. Small scoops, magnifying glasses, and buckets will be available to find and catch insects. Though children are encouraged to observe and question how these insects move and survive, we will also discuss the importance of releasing them and having them go back to their "home" at the end of the day. The children will continue to have the opportunity to create bubbles by blowing and waving bubble wands. They will then attempt to catch or pop the bubbles. This will foster the children's visual tracking skills, cooperation, and turn-taking abilities. Scooter cars and the basketball hoop with various size balls will also be accessible for children to use.
Snack:

Monday: Cheddar Bunnies & Banana

Wednesday: Trader Joe's Letter Crackers & Oranges

Thursday: Cooking with Eva

Song:
Herman the Worm (can't find the right tune on you tube):
Sittin' on the fence post chewing my bubble gum (chomping noise)
Playing with my yo-yo (woo, woo)
And along came Herman the Worm and he was this big (indicate about 3 inches with your fingers)
Sittin' on the fence post chewing my bubble gum (chomping noise)
Playing with my yo-yo (woo, woo)
And along came Herman the Worm and he was this big (indicate about 12 inches with your hands)
I said "Herman, what happened?"
(With deep voice) "I ate my pants."
Sittin' on the fence post chewing my bubble gum (chomping noise)
Playing with my yo-yo (woo, woo)
And along came Herman the Worm and he was this big (indicate about 20 inches with your hands)
I said "Herman, what happened?"
(With deep voice) "I ate my shirt."
Sittin' on the fence post chewing my bubble gum (chomping noise)
Playing with my yo-yo (woo, woo)
And along came Herman the Worm and he was this big (spread your arms wide)
I said "Herman, what happened?"
(With deep voice) "I ate my Jacket."
Sittin' on the fence post chewing my bubble gum (chomping noise)
Playing with my yo-yo (woo, woo)
And along came Herman the Worm and he was this big (indicate about 3 inches again)
I said "Herman, what happened?"
(With deep voice) "I burped."

Lead Teacher: Ayuko
Goals: Spring has arrived! Some curriculum areas will be focused around the concept of spring, connecting children with plants, natural materials, and emerging insects. We will also continue to build relationships with the new student teachers while in the classroom and out in the playground. Ideas for a classroom pet and possible ways to care for it will continue to be discussed throughout the day.
Art:
* Large and small brushes with a palette of shades of green and a bright flower color will be available on the large easel. This activity supports the children's fine motor development as well as creativity.
Manipulative/Math:
*An original comparison game will be available for the children to guess, label, and compare pictures that are bigger and have the most objects.
*Curlers, rectangular, and square blocks will be available on the light table to encourage small scale building. This activity promotes creativity of combining different building materials together and mathematical skills such as balancing, counting, and sorting.
*Various puzzles will be available to challenge the children to use fine motor planning, problem-solving skills, and persistence.
*Counting bears will be available for sorting by color and counting.
*Gears will be used to foster spatial planning and problem solving skills.
Sensory:
*Small plant pots, brown play dough, and "seed" colored play dough will be available to support the children in thinking about planting seeds. Building with play dough supports fine motor strength and precision, as well as creative expression.
*As insects are emerging outside from the ground, the children will have an opportunity to search and dig for rubber insects in the sand area. Children will group and count a variety of insects using shovels, cups, and rakes.
Science:
*A variety of seeds will be provided with soil at the science table. Children will be encouraged to sort, group, and feel the seeds and dirt. As the days progress, the children will have the opportunity to plant a seed in a cotton ball and in dirt to observe and compare their growth.
*A bulb garden and budding branches will continue to be available for children to observe and care for by watering them. These activities will allow the children to better understand the life cycle of plants and to take responsibility for caring for living things.
Dramatic Play:
*As we have heard of many travels that occurred during spring break, the loft has turned into an airplane (which can also be turned into a car). Pilot hats, shirts, seats and seat belts will be available for the children to act out the process of being in a plane and traveling to a destination. If you have a photo of your child on an airplane or traveling in general, please send it in (or email it to us.)
*The Pet Hospital has moved to an open spot to encourage social interactions and turn taking. We will continue to support the children's play by promoting and taking on different roles within their play.
*The picnic table in the kitchen/home area will continue to be available with picnic baskets, picnic blankets, plates, cups, and food. Children are also using picnic baskets to bring food to their pets at the animal hospital. Food will also be available for the "food service" on the airplane. This play offers children the opportunities to engage in many social interactions as they cooperate together to find places for picnics, pass out plates and cups to each other, and serve food to one another.
Language and Literacy:
*Colored paper, scissors, markers, and stickers will continue to be available for writing. We will also provide the alphabet stencils to encourage children to combine letters to make words and write them.
*A large flannel board will be set up in the classroom to provide experiences for children to sequence familiar stories and use their imagination to create new storylines. Various books incorporating play themes will be added to the literacy area.
Construction:
*Children have started to form an interest for building homes for their pets. The large hollow blocks, unit blocks, and lighter building blocks will continue to be accessible for children to use. This variety of blocks will allow children to make large individual structures or group projects, fostering cooperation and turn-taking.
Large Motor:
* We have a new gym set up. There is a tunnel that leads to the slide. The tunnel fosters self-control, crawling, exploring (through windows), depth perception, and spatial awareness. The A-Frame ladders are on their sides connected by a bridge. This promotes balance, coordination, motor planning, and risk-taking. Build-a-car is available, which fosters fine motor coordination, upper body strength, cooperation, turn taking, and engineering (following a visual model). Monkey bars are back again - this fosters upper body strength, hand-eye coordination, and motor planning. Last, but not least, motor climber is back as well, promoting upper body strength, risk taking, climbing, jumping, depth perception, and hand eye coordination.
*There has been a lot of interest in finding insects and bugs outside in the playground. Small scoops, magnifying glasses, and buckets will be available to find and catch insects. Though children are encouraged to observe and question how these insects move and survive, we will also discuss the importance of releasing them and having them go back to their "home" at the end of the day. The children will continue to have the opportunity to create bubbles by blowing and waving bubble wands. They will then attempt to catch or pop the bubbles. This will foster the children's visual tracking skills, cooperation, and turn-taking abilities. Scooter cars and the basketball hoop with various size balls will also be accessible for children to use.
Snack:

Monday: Cheddar Bunnies & Banana

Wednesday: Trader Joe's Letter Crackers & Oranges

Thursday: Cooking with Eva

Song:
Herman the Worm (can't find the right tune on you tube):
Sittin' on the fence post chewing my bubble gum (chomping noise)
Playing with my yo-yo (woo, woo)
And along came Herman the Worm and he was this big (indicate about 3 inches with your fingers)
Sittin' on the fence post chewing my bubble gum (chomping noise)
Playing with my yo-yo (woo, woo)
And along came Herman the Worm and he was this big (indicate about 12 inches with your hands)
I said "Herman, what happened?"
(With deep voice) "I ate my pants."
Sittin' on the fence post chewing my bubble gum (chomping noise)
Playing with my yo-yo (woo, woo)
And along came Herman the Worm and he was this big (indicate about 20 inches with your hands)
I said "Herman, what happened?"
(With deep voice) "I ate my shirt."
Sittin' on the fence post chewing my bubble gum (chomping noise)
Playing with my yo-yo (woo, woo)
And along came Herman the Worm and he was this big (spread your arms wide)
I said "Herman, what happened?"
(With deep voice) "I ate my Jacket."
Sittin' on the fence post chewing my bubble gum (chomping noise)
Playing with my yo-yo (woo, woo)
And along came Herman the Worm and he was this big (indicate about 3 inches again)
I said "Herman, what happened?"
(With deep voice) "I burped."

If the weather stays dry and on the warm side, tennis shoes are fine for outside. When the rain starts and things get muddy, it would be better to have rain boots or even snow boots. We want the children to be appropriately dressed for fully exploring the outdoors and that will likely mean some mud during the spring months.

Lead Teacher: Ayuko
Goals: As we start back after spring break, our two main goals are to foster connections with our two new student teachers and to celebrate Spring! We will be talking about these events during large group, snack, and at other appropriate times throughout the day. Several curriculum areas will be carried over from prior to break, to provide some continuity and less "competition" for new materials while the student teachers get settled. We will hope for continued warm weather and extend our time outdoors as we hunt for and notice changes to our playground.
Art:
*Children will have the opportunity to paint with large and small brushes on the large easel. This activity will help extend children's fine motor development and feature a palette of many hues of green to represent the changes outside.
Manipulative/Math:
*Jenga blocks will be available for children to construct towers of varying heights, using problem-solving skills to create the most stable towers. Children will be encouraged to predict how high they can build and to count the numbers of blocks used in their construction efforts.
*Various puzzles will be available to challenge children to use fine motor planning, problem-solving skills, and persistence.
*New jackets provide a chance for children to practice new self help skills. We will have some "dressing clowns" available to encourage children to try latching, buttoning, zipping and the like. We will also encourage them to attempt to do the same on their spring jackets.
Sensory:
*Colored play dough will be offered for children to use with different-textured rollers, mashers, and shape cutters. Building with play dough supports fine motor strength and precision, as well as creative expression.
*We will add seed pods, pinecones and other natural materials to the sand table to encourage children to look for similar things outside. When the environment is new and different, children are more likely to take notice of details they may gloss over later. Shovels and small diggers will complete the array of options here.
Science:
*A bulb garden and budding branches will be available for children to observe and to make experience the magic of growing and flowering spring plants. In addition, the children will be offered an opportunity to care for the plants by watering them. These activities will allow the children to better understand the life cycle of plants and to take responsibility for caring for living things.
*The light table will be moved into the cave area this week. Translucent blocks and colored discs will be placed on top of the light table to allow children to explore shadows and the contrast between light and dark.
Dramatic Play:
*The Pet Hospital will continue in the loft area, complete with various materials such as kennels, leashes, blankets, bandages, stethoscopes, thermometers, and veterinarian scrubs. Additional animals, such as birds and turtles, will join the many dogs and cats available. This area is arranged in a spacious and thoughtful way to encourage social interactions. We will support the children's play by promoting and taking on different roles within their play. We encourage families to bring or e-mail photographs of family pets to post in the Pet Hospital to aide in the children's dramatic play scenarios.
*The children have expanded the kitchen/home area to include picnics. To support this play, we will set up a picnic table in the kitchen/home area and provide picnic baskets, picnic blankets, and additional plates, cups, and food to allow for many children to participate. This play will offer children the opportunity to engage in many social interactions as they cooperate together to find places for picnics, pass out plates and cups to each other, and serve food to one another.
*Zoo animal figurines will be available for children to explore and manipulate. Children will also have the opportunity to create zoo homes for the animals using various blocks, feed the animals using "food", and utilize trucks to be used as zoo keeper's vehicles. This play will foster children's cooperation, turn-taking, and empathy skills as they work on taking care of the animals.
Language and Literacy:
*We hope the children enjoyed receiving their "drawing" in their home mail box over spring break. Remind them that they made the note and brought it to the mailbox. We hope this experience will support them in continuing to write notes and leave messages for each other and their families. We will have colored paper, scissors, markers, and stickers for writing. If there is interest, we may walk to deliver more mail in the mailbox a short distance from Lab School.
*A large flannel board will be set up in the classroom to provide experiences for children to sequence familiar stories and use their imagination to create new storylines. Various books incorporating play themes will be added to the literacy area.
Construction:
*The large hollow blocks, unit blocks, and lighter building blocks will continue to be accessible for children to use. This variety of blocks will allow children to make large individual structures or group projects, fostering cooperation and turn-taking.
*Children will have the opportunity to construct zoo homes or other structures for the zoo animals, combining block play with dramatic play scenarios.
Large Motor:
*The gym has been simplified to start the trimester. A see saw will provide a chance for cooperative play and also lessons in physics as the children walk its length on their own. A basketball hoop in the back will encourage throwing, receptive and propulsive skills. The trampoline is available to support gross motor, turn taking, balancing, and flexibility. The rope swing and rope ladder will continue to be available to foster upper body strength, turn taking, spatial awareness, muscular strength, and endurance.
*Outside, children will have the opportunity to create bubbles by blowing and waving bubble wands. They will then attempt to catch or pop the bubbles. This will foster children's visual tracking skills, cooperation, and turn-taking abilities. Scooter cars, and the basketball hoop with various size balls will also be accessible for children to use.
Snack:
Monday: Rice Cakes
Wednesday: Pretzels
Thursday: Graham Crackers

The last week of school was filled with a range of emotions. Though it is sad to say goodbye to the student teachers, it was also a week filled with exciting activities. The children enjoyed meeting and learning about taking care of "injured" and "sickly" animals from Carol, the veterinarian technician. Jeannine also prepared a wonderful large group activity where children had an opportunity to write a letter and send it by going to the ICD building post office. Look in your mailbox in the next two days! Please take a look at what the children have been doing this week.

The children learned about and enjoyed manipulating two types of bandages: a soft white bandage and a sticky cast-like bandage.

Maia said, "these are my babies." She carefully bandaged and gave the birds shots. After the babies were "better" she took them out for a picnic.

This is a story about two post office workers:

Ellie: I'm going to the post office!
Cashton: Wait!
Ellie gets on the bus and Cashton joins. They both sit on the bus waiting for their stop.

Ayuko: Here is the post office.
Cashton and Ellie sit down and start unpacking their mail.
Ellie: Okay, I'm done now.
Ellie leaves the post office and goes to the mail box. Cashton filled the slots with his "mail" and his bag. Once he finished, he left the post office and went back to the mail box.

After Jeannine informed the children the process of writing and folding the letter into an envelop, the children worked together at three different tables and wrote a letter to themselves.

As a group, we tiptoed up the stairs to the ICD "post office." At the top of stairs, children gathered and each placed their letters into the mail box.

Don't forget to check your mailboxes in the next day or two.

Thank you all for another great term! See you in two weeks.

It's hard to believe that this is the last week of school before Spring Break! The children and I have been working hard, making gifts for the student teachers. Each child contributed and decorated the vases at one point or another. This was an opportunity for me to talk about goodbyes and the upcoming transition with the children. Below are some of the pictures I took of the children decorating the vases.

As we were working in the hallway, some teachers walked by asking us what we were doing. Elliot and Abby said out loud, "these are presents for the student teachers!" and "We are decorating!"

We will be giving these vases to the student teachers on Wednesday, March 10th, during snack time. You are welcome to join us at that time or anytime during the day.

*Our last day of this term will be on Thursday, March 11th. We will have a "goodbye" day on Wednesday, March 10th. Families are welcome to say goodbye to the student teachers and spend time with your child anytime during the day, including snack and outside times. Please make sure to park at a ramp or metered parking spots. The angled parking area is only available for 20 minutes. The children and I will be giving the teachers gifts at snack time.

*School resumes on Monday, March 29th! Have a great Spring Break!

*We have just learned that Natalie and Theresa will be our new student teachers in the Spring. Pictures of them will soon follow. We have been talking with the children about the upcoming Spring break, and the fact that the current student teachers will move on to new schools when the children come back. Please let them know that Natalie and Theresa will be joining us when the children return to school.

Lesson Plan

Week of: March 8th 2010

Goals: As we enter the last week of the term, our main goal is to help prepare the children for the upcoming Spring Break and for the transition to new student teachers. We will be talking about these events during large group, snack, and at other appropriate times throughout the day. Several curriculum areas will be extended in the classroom, including the letter writing center, the pet hospital, the light table area, and the flannel storyboards. We will also incorporate new play themes, such as picnics, zoo, and bubbles, stemming from recent field trips that some of the children have recently participated in. With the recent warm weather, we will offer children the opportunity to observe bulbs sprouting and buds blossoming both in the classroom setting and outdoors.

Art:
*Children will have the opportunity to paint with large and small brushes on a transparent plexiglass easel. This activity will help extend children's fine motor development and offer unique opportunities for cognitive and social engagement as the children observe each other while they create an art piece together.

Manipulative/Math:
*Jenga blocks will be available for children to construct towers of varying heights, using problem-solving skills to create the most stable towers. Children will be encouraged to predict how high they can build and to count the numbers of blocks used in their construction efforts.

*Various puzzles, including the large wooden shape puzzle, will be available to challenge children to use fine motor planning, problem-solving skills, and persistence. "Animal" nesting cups will provide children with opportunities to focus attention on individual size differences from large to small.

Sensory:
*Colored play dough will be offered for children to use with different-textured rollers, mashers, and shape cutters. Building with play dough supports fine motor strength and precision, as well as creative expression.

*Water will be added to the sand table to offer children the opportunity to explore the differences between these two types of sand and to create structures and shapes using various molds, shovels, and containers. These activities allow children to observe and imitate other children's actions, use creativity, and develop social skills, such as turn-taking.

Science:
*A bulb garden and budding branches will be available for children to observe and to make predictions about the plants' growth and changes. In addition, the children will be offered an opportunity to care for the plants by watering them. These activities will allow the children to better understand the life cycle of plants and to take responsibility for caring for living things.

*The light table will be moved into the cave area this week. Translucent blocks and colored discs will be placed on top of the light table to allow children to explore shadows and the contrast between light and dark.

Dramatic Play:
*The Pet Hospital will continue in the loft area, complete with various materials such as kennels, leashes, blankets, bandages, stethoscopes, thermometers, and veterinarian scrubs. Additional animals, such as turtles, birds, and snakes, will join the many dogs and cats available. This area is arranged in a spacious and thoughtful way to encourage social interactions. We will support the children's play by promoting and taking on different roles within their play. We encourage families to bring or e-mail photographs of family pets to post in the Pet Hospital to aide in the children's dramatic play scenarios.

*The children have expanded the kitchen/home area to include picnics. To support this play, we will set up a picnic table in the kitchen/home area and provide picnic baskets, picnic blankets, and additional plates, cups, and food to allow for many children to participate. This play will offer children the opportunity to engage in many social interactions as they cooperate together to find places for picnics, pass out plates and cups to each other, and serve food to one another.

*Zoo animal figurines will be available for children to explore and manipulate. Children will also have the opportunity to create zoo homes for the animals using various blocks, act out play scenarios using small "puppets" (each child's face will be placed on a popsicle stick), feed the animals using "food", and utilize trucks to be used as zoo keeper's vehicles. This play will foster children's cooperation, turn-taking, and empathy skills as they work on taking care of the animals.

Language and Literacy:
*The children have been creating and writing letters in the mail center using colored paper, scissors, markers, and stickers. To promote literacy skills and to further the development of a caring classroom community, individual mailboxes will continue to be available in the front of the classroom. Additionally, a large mailbox will be made available for children to place in mail for family members or to collect mail and deliver it with mail bags throughout the classroom. Addresses, such as "#2 Block Road" or #3 Loft Street" will be posted throughout the classroom. Children will be able to deliver mail using mail bags to these different addresses. Children will also be given an opportunity to draw a picture or write a letter to their family, which will be mailed home over Spring Break. A small group of children will be walking to a mailbox within close proximity to the school to mail out these letters.

*A large flannel board will be set up in the classroom to provide experiences for children to sequence familiar stories and use their imagination to create new storylines. Various books incorporating play themes will be added to the literacy area.

Construction:
*The large hollow blocks, unit blocks, and lighter building blocks will continue to be accessible for children to use. This variety of blocks will allow children to make large individual structures or group projects, fostering cooperation and turn-taking.

*Children will have the opportunity to construct zoo homes or other structures for the zoo animals, combining block play with dramatic play scenarios.

Large Motor:
*The beanbag toss fosters eye-hand coordination, directional awareness, depth perception, and receptive and propulsive skills. The trampoline is available to support gross motor, turn taking, balancing, and flexibility. The rope swing and rope ladder will continue to be available to foster upper body strength, turn taking, spatial awareness, muscular strength, and endurance. The elevated balance beam is available to promote eye-foot coordination, risk-taking, and directional awareness. The A-frame climber and crossed balance beams support upper body strength, risk-taking, turn taking, balance, and problem-solving. The donut is attached to the side of the slide, which will encourage the children to take risks, problem solve, and work on their coordination. The Pedalo will assist the children with skills of balancing, motor planning, turn taking, negotiating, sharing, and communicating with each other.

*Outside, children will have the opportunity to create bubbles by blowing and waving bubble wands. They will then attempt to catch or pop the bubbles. This will foster children's visual tracking skills, cooperation, and turn-taking abilities. Scooter cars, and the basketball hoop with various size balls will also be accessible for children to use.

Large Group:
*Various themes will be explored during large group this week. Books, songs, and activities will be incorporated focusing on goodbyes, Spring and new beginnings, letter writing, the pet hospital, zoo, and picnics.

Snacks:
Monday: Rice Cakes & Banana
Wednesday: Fruit & Oat Bars & Cantaloupe
Thursday: Cheeze-Its & Apple

Classroom Newsletter
February 26,2010

Dear Families,

It has been a busy week in the toddler/preschool classroom. The children were able to explore new curriculum areas and extend current play themes. The children began the week with a great cooking project with Darya. The children worked together to make blueberry muffins for our snack. They discovered that when they mixed blueberries in the batter it turned greenish blue once it was baked, but the children thought they sure tasted "Yummy." The children continued to work in the bakery to decorate their goods with "frosting" out of the pastry bags.

The biggest change in our classroom was the sand table. The children have noticed the tracks left from the vehicles in the sand. Making the water wheel move with sand has also been an attraction at the table. Some of the children have even put their cars under it to get a "car wash." The sand table has been a nice addition to our classroom; the children seem to enjoy running the sand through their fingers, finding hidden cars, and pouring out the sand.

The children have been spending some quality time writing messages to family and friends. They have enjoyed the notes that have been sent in by their parents! Thank you for supporting this literacy experience. I was also able to make two new felt board stories for the children to use, which are Five Green and Speckled Frogs and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. The children reenact the stories with the felt pieces on their own, as well as cooperatively with their peers. These stories have provided the children with concrete material for them to role play.

The children were able to enjoy most of the week outside. I dug out the snow and opened the playhouse area for them to rediscover, which has been a great success. They have been cleaning up the areas, discovering left over toys from last fall. The children also enjoy standing on the fence line and pushing snow through the fence to the street. They spend time looking around the playground for pieces that will plop through the chain link on to the street. They giggle with delight when it hits the ground.

I would like to thank you for the opportunity to learn from your children. This is truly a place where teacher and students learn together.

I have included some great photos taken by Jeannine for the newsletter.

Experimenting with Paint

Abby almost completely filled her paper with paint. "I'm going to make this for my mom," she says.

Eba says, "It's dripping!" Eleanor agrees, "I'm going to let it drip!" Eba says, "I'm making this for my brother" while Eleanor decides, "I'm making this for my dad."

Five Green And Speckled Frogs

Cashton, Alma, Eleanor, Beatrix, Abby, and Katie retell the sequence of the story, "Five Green and Speckled Frogs," counting the frogs as they dive into the pond.

Giving and Receiving Mail

Cashton cuts with scissors and experiments sticking two materials together with a glue stick.

Katie uses a marker to draw a picture of teacher Jeannine and herself.

Abby places her mail into the mailbox. "It goes in here," she states. She is excited to find lots of mail inside. "This is for me!" she says excitedly!


Sofia works and glues thoughtfully with the glue stick. "This one is for me!" she says.

Experimenting with Color

"It's getting bigger," Eleanor says, looking at the color spreading on the coffee filter.

Maia uses two hands to squeeze her pipette, observing the color coming out through the end and onto the coffee filter.

"Look at mine!" Beatrix proudly exclaims as she holds up her dyed coffee filter.

The liquid watercolors dripped onto Eba's hands. He looks at his painted- colored hands and says excitedly, "I look like a tiger!"

-We are starting to talk with the children about the upcoming Spring break, and the fact that the student teachers will move on to new schools when the children come back. It will help children make the transition easier if you mention this at home as well. Please let them know that new student teachers will be joining us and teacher Ayuko will stay.
-We encourage parents to bring in (or email in) pictures of a family pet to post in the Pet Hospital.
- Our last day of this term will be on Thursday, March 11th. We will have a "goodbye" day on Wednesday, March 10th. Families are welcome to say goodbye to the student teachers and spend time with your child anytime during the day, including snack and outside times. Please make sure to park at a ramp or metered parking spots. The angled parking area is only available for 20 minutes. The children and I will be giving the teachers gifts at snack time.
-Many thanks for doing the laundry! Your contribution has helped us to continually have clean towels and sheets.

Lesson Plan
Lead Teacher: Darya
Week of March 1st 2010
Goals:
We are continuing to encourage the children to express their artistic creativity. The Pet Hospital will further the children's development in recognizing their feelings, the feelings of their peers, and it will promote empathy by taking care of the animals. The eye spy game at the sand table will foster the children's ability to make predictions and investigate.
Art:
The children will have many creative opportunities this week.
-Available for the children is glue paint with glitter. The children have seen the effect of painting on light paper so we will also have black paper available for them to use. This will allow the children to compare and contrast the different colored paper.
-The children will have the opportunity to use markers to color coffee filters and explore what happens when water is placed on the colored filter. This will encourage the children to investigate, ask questions, and further their understanding of cause and effect.
-The children will explore Glurch, which is a mixture of glue, water, and borax, as a new sensory experience. The children can experiment stretching it, cutting it, and coloring it with markers.
Manipulative/Math:
- Jenga blocks will be available for the children to explore how high they can build before it falls over. We will also encourage the children to count the number of blocks they used to construct the tower.
-One to one correspondence with pegs and number cards will continue to be available for the children as they continue to master their fine motor skills.
Sensory:
The children have been digging, pouring, and feeling the sand. Some children were interested in hiding the cars underneath the sand. To further this interest, we have transformed the sand table into an eye spy game. Cards with pictures of objects will encourage the children to search for the objects that have been hidden in the sand. This will encourage the children to problem-solve, share, and negotiate, as they work together to find all of the hidden objects.
Science:
-The children have been exploring the table top pendulums. They are experimenting with the concept of height, building small towers to be knocked over. To further the use of the pendulums we will add them to the construction area. Here we will encourage the children to build their own pendulums. This activity allows the children to hypothesize how tall objects need to be in order to get knocked over.
Dramatic Play:
-The loft is now a Pet Hospital, complete with various tools such as bandages and stethoscopes, animals, and dress-up clothes. The area will be arranged in a spacious and thoughtful way to encourage social interactions. We will support the children's play by promoting and taking on different roles within their play. We encourage parents to bring in (or email in) pictures of a family pet to post in the Pet Hospital.
-The children have continued to put fires out around the classroom. The costumes and props will remain in the classroom for the children to enhance their dramatic play.
-The kitchen area has been connected to the Pet Hospital. The children will be able to use this area as their house, where they can feed and take care of their pets. We will support the children as they start to take on different roles within the play such as a pet owner or the pet.

Language and Literacy:
-Mail center has been a popular area in the classroom. The children have been creating and writing letters. Color paper, scissors, markers, and stickers are still available for the children to use to create messages. The mailboxes are now located in the front of the classroom making it easier for parents to sneak a letter into their child's box.
-The felt boards have moved to the cave. The children have enjoyed singing and moving the felt objects to the song "The five speckled frogs." New felt stories have been added to this area, promoting sharing, negotiating, and communicating.

Construction:
- The pendulums have been added to this area to inspire the children to construct and test their own pendulums.
-The large hollow blocks, unit blocks, and lighter building blocks will continue to be accessible for the children to use. This variety of blocks will allow children to make large individual structures or group projects, fostering cooperation and turn-taking. We will encourage the children to take ownership of their structures to give them a sense of accomplishment and pride.
Music:
-The musical instruments have been moved to a more open area, encouraging more children to explore the instruments. We have also added new instruments. The computer will have various songs the children can select and play. Children will be encouraged to express the way the music makes them feel. We will support the children as they try to follow patterns of beats and create their own patterns.
Large Motor:
-The gym set up has changed. The beanbag toss fosters eye-hand coordination, directional awareness, depth perception, receptive, and propulsive skills. The trampoline is available to support gross motor, turn taking, balancing, and flexibility. The rope swing and the rope ladder will continue to be available to foster upper body strength, turn taking, spatial awareness, muscular strength and endurance. The elevated balance beam is available to promote eye-foot coordination, risk-taking, and directional awareness. The A-frame climber and the crossed balance beams support upper body strength, risk-taking, turn taking, balance, and problem solving. The donut is attached to the side of the slide, which will encourage the children to take risks, problem solve, and work on their coordination. The Pedalo will assist the children with skills of balancing, motor planning, turn taking, negotiating, sharing, and communicating to each other.
-The wood house structure outside is dug out for the children to climb and use in their play.

Large Group:
We will do different activities and songs that encourage the students to follow a rhythm or a pattern. We will also read stories such as "The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" and "goldilocks and the Three Bears" to encourage the children to reenact these stories during their play. We will also discuss new themes in the classroom, such as the Pet Hospital. We will incorporate movement experiences during large group that involve the entire body and coordination. These activities are promoting following directions, large motor development, and spatial awareness.
Snacks
Monday: B-day snack & Corn Muffins
Wednesday: Graham Crackers & Kiwi
Thursday: Multigrain Cheerios & Pineapple

Classroom Newsletter
February 20, 2010

Dear Families,

We had a wonderful week as children enthusiastically engaged in exploring and learning in the new and extended curriculum areas in the classroom. The children were involved in many activities such as baking projects in the bakery area, exploring rhythms with various instruments, creating and giving mail to one another, experiencing speed and distance with ramps, playing "I Spy" on the playground with photo cards, and participating in firefighter dramatic play. One highlight early in the week included having Maia's mom, Nicole, visit our classroom to make delicious cakes (galettes) with the children. The children also had the opportunity to decorate crowns and learn a new French song together. It was a very fun day - thank you Nicole! Highlights of three curriculum areas are included below:

Many children spent time engaged in the new bakery area, creating muffins, cakes, and bread out of playdough and then decorating their "delicious" creations with collage items, such as jewels colorful foam shapes, and rickrack. Children used small straws, placed in an upright position, to serve as candles on the cakes. This led to some wonderful pretend play of birthday parties. Children strengthened their social connections as they passed out food to their peers and sang "Happy Birthday" to each other.


Madeline, Ebisaa, Elliot, and Katie thoughtfully molded and decorated birthday cakes. Otto said, "I'm making a birthday cake!" and then passed out dessert to the children around him. Ebisaa and Elliot asked Otto, "Can I have some?" Later on, Abby, Katie, and Maia made a birthday cake for teacher Ayuko.

The children also further developed their literacy skills and helped support a caring community by making cards and letters for others in the classroom and to members of their family using colored paper, scissors, markers, and stickers. Children enjoyed finding their individual mailbox, designated by their name and photograph. Many children were surprised and excited by finding mail addressed to them!

Katie asked teacher Jeannine for help in addressing her letter. Katie then wrote her own letter, exclaiming, "I'm going to make a letter for Max!" Abby was excited to find mail in her mailbox, noticing the large letter "A" on the card. She said, "This is my letter. "A" is for me!" She then enthusiastically sat down to create her own mail. Otto used many stickers to make a letter for himself, and then wrote a letter to teacher Darya. Sofia created three letters indicating, "My letter is for mom, dad, and Luciana!"!"

Many children explored the various instruments presented throughout the week in the music area. Children experienced loud and soft sounds, fast and slow beats, and high and low notes through the use of drums, maracas, shakers, and xylophones. On many occasions, children played side by side, comparing the different instrument sounds and creating cooperative music melodies.

Katie and Ebisaa played the drums using alternating hands. Ebisaa asked, "Do you see a conga? I like the conga!" He then told Katie, "Let's play fast!" Sam and Cormac used drum sticks and their hands to explore the drums. Ebisaa, Cormac, Sam, and Katie played their drums together, creating different rhythm patterns.

I greatly enjoyed lead teaching this week and learned so much from the children! They are full of energy, have such amazing ideas, and have such very kind hearts. It was wonderful to see all the exploring and learning taking place in the different areas of the classroom. Thanks so much for your support and for providing us with the opportunity to work with your wonderful children!

Sincerely,
Jeannine

Announcements:

*Thanks to all the parents who have come in for conferences, we look forward to meeting with the final group of families this next week.

*Our last day of school for this term will be on Thursday, March 11th. We will have a "goodbye" day on Wednesday, March 10th. Families are welcome to say goodbye to the student teachers and spend time with your child anytime during the day, including snack and outside times. Please make sure to park at a ramp or metered parking spots. The angled parking area is only available for 20 minutes. The children and I will be giving the teachers gifts at snack time.

*Mark your calendars (and get a babysitter) for Saturday April 24th for the Spring Soiree. More info to follow about this most special adult evening of fun, frolic, food, and fund-raising.

*Feel free to send in letters for your children to receive in their class "mailbox." They have been writing letters to their peers, family, and teachers and opening their letters to read them.

Lesson Plan
Lead Teacher: Edenia
Week of February 22nd 2010

Goals:
We are continuing to encourage children to recognize their own feelings, the feelings of their peers, and to initiate caring actions towards others. The opportunity for continued cause and effect learning will be available to the children this week. The mail center has been a popular activity that has been extended with the addition of letters and name cards for the children to reproduce if they wish.

Art:
The children will have many creative opportunities this week. There will be fabric dyeing available for the children to create their own designs. Emotion music will be added to the easel area where the children can listen and interpret what the music sounds like.

Manipulative/Math:
-The fascination with how fast and far the race cars can go has been extended with the addition of ramps at the end of the tracks. The children will have the opportunity to launch their vehicles to see how far they travel. The children will also be able to explore the relationship between speed and how far the cars travel up loops.
-One to one correspondence with pegs and number cards will continue to be available for the children as they continue to master their fine motor skills.

Sensory:
The sensory table has changed to sand!! The children will have the opportunity to dig, pour and run their hands through the sand. The same water wheels (from last week's water table) will be available for the children to discover how two different substances (sand and water) can cause the same effect.

Science:
-There are several opportunities for making guesses about what "will happen if I do this" in the class room this week. Table top pendulums with small objects to knock over will be available on the science table. This activity will encourage the children to hypothesize how tall objects need to be in order to get knocked over.
-Water wheels, funnels, and scoops at the sand table will allow children to use their observation and prediction skills and further their understanding of cause and effect as they pour sand through their hands and the water wheels.

Dramatic Play
-The children have continued to put fires out around the classroom. The costumes and props will remain in the classroom for the children to enhance their dramatic play.
-The loft has the felt boards for the children to act out a few common stories.

-The combined playdough/kitchen area continues to be a busy place with children enthusiastically mixing ingredients. The children will have the opportunity to use pastry bags to decorate their creations.

-The children will have a baking experience on Monday with Darya, they will be making blueberry muffins.

Language and Literacy:
To continue to develop literacy skills and to further the development of a caring classroom community, individual mailboxes have been setup for each child. Color paper, scissors, markers, and stickers will be available for children to create messages for others in the classroom and outside of school. There is also a mailbox. This may encourage the children to go through the motions of sending a piece of mail.

Construction:
The large hollow blocks, unit blocks, and lighter building blocks will continue to be accessible for children to use. This variety of blocks will allow children to make large individual structures or group projects, fostering cooperation and turn-taking. We will encourage two separate areas for block building, one for knocking down, and one for more permanent building. We hope this will lessen arguments and encourage the children to take ownership of their structures to give them a sense of accomplishment and pride.

Music:
-The addition of music to elicit an emotion from the children will be a new feature at the art easel and it will be used during large group as a discussion prompt. There will be string instruments added to the cave for the children to discover.
-Patterns of beats will also give the children opportunities to make their own musical sounds if they wish.

Large Motor:
*The gym set up has changed. The beanbag toss fosters eye-hand coordination, directional awareness, depth perception, receptive, and propulsive skills. The trampoline is available to support gross motor, turn taking, balancing, and flexibility. The rope swing and the rope ladder will continue to be available to foster upper body strength, turn taking, spatial awareness, muscular strength and endurance. The elevated balance beam is available to promote eye-foot coordination, risk-taking, and directional awareness. The A-frame climber and the crossed balance beams support upper body strength, risk-taking, turn taking, balance, and problem solving. The donut is attached to the side of the slide, which will encourage the children to take risks, problem solve, and work on their coordination. The Pedalo will assist the children with skills of balancing, motor planning, turn taking, negotiating, sharing, and communicating to each other.

*The wood house structure outside will be dug out for the children to finally climb! This will be an exciting opportunity for the children to play in the house and use the stairs.

Large Group:
The children will have the opportunity to repeat rhythm patterns during large group. We will also listen to different music to determine what emotion we feel when we hear it. I will bring stories to large group that correlate with the story boards that are available in the loft.

Snacks
Mon: Cooking project
Wed: Granola Bars and bananas
Thurs: Sunflower Butter Sandwiches

*Thank you for supporting us at Gym Jam! With your help, we were able to raise $2,200.00! This will go towards buying new equipments for the gym and outdoor playground.

*Parent-teacher conferences are beginning this week! I will send you an email to remind you of the conference time (about a day or two prior to the conference) and attach a copy of your child's developmental summary (written by me). Please read through the developmental summary and bring a copy to the conference if you wish. We will base our conference on the the summary. I will meet you in the lobby at the time of our meeting.

*If you have cake decorating skills that you would be willing to demonstrate to the children, please let us know. Thank you!

*If your child has an interest in particular space explorations, please share a highlight with us so we can incorporate this into our play.

Classroom Newsletter
2/13/10

Dear Families,

This was an exciting week full of cooking, valentines, and exploration. Throughout the week the children worked together creating wonderful collaborative art pieces which brightened up the walls of our classroom. The dramatic play areas were a big hit! The children were engaged and curious of the new and extended themes in the classroom. Below are some of the highlights from the curriculum I developed this week.

The ramps and the race track have been a popular area in the classroom.

The children explored the ramps and made comments about speed and distance. As the week progressed they started creating their own ramps. They worked together to make "bumps" in the race track. It started with Katie and Ebisaa working together cooperatively. Then other children joined in. Playing in this area encouraged the children to take turns and negotiate.

Max discovered how to make a bridge for the cars to travel underneath.

The race track encouraged the children to share, as they took turns making it to the finish line.

The children were careful to stay on the track. When their cars went off the track, the dramatic play scene in the "repair shop" emerged. They called for children to fix their cars or help them get them un-stuck.

The children were enthusiastic about taking a ride to the moon in the "rocket ship." They put on their space helmets and their jet packs and climbed aboard the rocket ship. On the rocket ship we sang: "Zoom zoom zoom we're going to the moon. Zoom zoom zoom we're going to the moon. If you'd like to take a trip, climb aboard my rocket ship. Zoom zoom zoom we're going to the moon. 1, 2, 3, BLAST OFF!!!" Once they arrived on the moon many of the children searched for "space creatures." They searched the classroom for interesting things to bring back to the rocket ship. Some children brought back cars, tigers, and spiders.

This week in the gym the children learned a new game called "Bug in the Rug." The children were asked to close their eyes as the teacher picked one child to be the "bug" and hide underneath a blanket. Once the "bug" is chosen the rest of the children open their eyes and try to guess who the "bug" could be. The children enjoyed becoming the bug, waiting patiently for the rest of the class to discover who the "bug" was. This game challenged the children to problem solve and rationalize their thinking. They enjoyed singing "Bug in the rug, bug in the rug, whose that bug in the rug" and watching as the bug is slowly revealed.

Leading teaching this week was a wonderful experience. I enjoyed watching the children explore the different areas I had created around the room. Their curiosity and creative minds delighted me. Thanks for all your support this week.

Sincerely,
Darya

Lesson Plan
Lead Teacher: Jeannine
Week of February 15th 2010

Goals:
As the school year progresses, we are continuing to encourage children to recognize their own feelings, the feelings of their peers, and to initiate caring actions towards others. This week children will have the opportunity to create and give notes to others in the classroom to promote a caring community. We will also be focusing on developing children's creative expression through various art, sensory, and music activities. Many current play themes will be extended and we will incorporate more storylines created by children and books about these themes to support their pretend play skills.

Art:
*After a two week break, the easels will return to the classroom. Children will have the opportunity to paint using the liquid watercolors at the tabletop easels. We will also provide a range of pre-recorded music close to this area. As the children seem interested, we will prompt them to choose paint colors and strokes that represent the emotions provoked by the music. This art activity will help children develop their fine motor skills and allow for creative expression.

Manipulative/Math:
*Throughout the week, the children have been engaged in "racing" the small vehicles down the tracks and through the tunnels. We will extend this area to allow children to further learn about mathematical concepts, such as speed, height, and distance. A large-print tape measure will be added to this area. Students will also have the opportunity to race cars through smaller independent ramp structures and create vehicles using Mobilos. As children build with the Mobilos, they will be able to test their creations on the ramps and recognize how adaptations made may influence the cars speed, height, and distance.

*Circular nesting cups, nesting "letter books," and a crayon sequencing puzzle will provide children with opportunities to focus attention on individual size differences from large to small. The shape sorter and number peg boards will be available to promote recognition of shapes and numerals and to develop fine motor control.

Sensory:
*The children will continue to mix ingredients such as cornmeal, cornstarch, and colored water on individual trays. During the week many children were interested in exploring their mixtures with their fingers, in addition to the spoons and pipettes provided. To expand this sensory experience, shaving cream and oil will be available to further children's sensory exploration.

Science:
*Water flow and movement will be the focus of the sensory table this week. Water wheels, funnels, and tubes will allow children to use their observation and prediction skills and further their understanding of cause and effect. In addition, children will have the opportunity to create bubbles with soapy water and hand-held beaters.

Dramatic Play:
*The children have continued their interest in the space ship theme, taking many rocket ship rides in the loft area. To extend their space exploration, colored flashlights, funnel phones, and a slide show of space landings will be added to this area. If your child has an interest in particular space explorations, please share a highlight with us so we can incorporate this into our play.

*The combined playdough/kitchen area continues to be a busy place with children enthusiastically mixing ingredients. Among the many recipes, chocolate chip cookies and sugar cakes continue to be a favorite. This week we will transform this area into a bakery. Chef apparel, pastry bags, pretend bakery items and muffin and cake pans will be available to foster dramatic play in this area. In addition, playdough and various collage items will allow children to participate in cake decorating experiences. If you have cake decorating skills that you would be willing to demonstrate to the children, please let us know. Thank you!

*Another play theme that has been emerging this past week has been pretend fire play. Firefighter apparel, hoses, and spray bottles will allow children to act out play scenarios related to this theme. Some overlap between space (children have been putting out fires on the rocket ships) and blocks (putting out building fires) may occur with the close proximity of the fire fighter items to both the rocket ship and block areas.

Language and Literacy:
*Many of the children were very interested in the process of giving and receiving valentines. To continue to develop literacy skills and to further the development of a caring classroom community, individual mailboxes will be setup for each child. Color paper, scissors, markers, and stickers will be available for children to create messages for others in the classroom and outside of school.

*A large flannel board will be setup in the classroom to provide opportunities for children to sequence familiar stories and to use their imagination to create new storylines. Various books incorporating current play themes will be added to the literacy area.

Construction:
*The large hollow blocks, unit blocks, and lighter building blocks will continue to be accessible for children to use. This variety of blocks will allow children to make large individual structures or group projects, fostering cooperation and turn-taking.

Music:
*Various percussion instruments, including drums, maracas, and tambourines, will be provided for children to explore and create beats and rhythm patterns. Along with song cards, the emotion pictures will continue to be posted to tie in discussions of music and emotions. Pre-recorded music of different genres will be played to aid learning of pitch, loudness, and tempo.

Large Motor:
*In the gym, a rope swing is set up to facilitate upper body strength, full body coordination, maintaining body balance, spatial awareness, and muscular endurance. An A-frame is connected to a balance beam supporting eye-foot coordination, balance, lower body coordination, and turn taking. There is a throwing corner to support directional awareness, upper body strength/coordination, depth perception, throwing/catching skills, eye-hand coordination, and agility. "Bolster Island" - a donut hole surrounded by bolsters - is located in the middle of the gym to support team building, climbing on uneven surfaces, spatial awareness maintaining balance, and upper/lower/core strengthening. Mat jumping station is also available to support two-footed landing, lower body/core strengthening coordination, depth perception, and turn taking.

*The children have been greatly enjoying the fresh coating of snow. They continue to have fun making tracks in the snow, pulling the sleds, using the dump trucks sometimes as snow plows, and going down the slide into a pile of snow. In addition to these engaging activities we will provide the children with "I Spy" photograph cards as challenging activities to find familiar objects on the playground.

Large Group:
*Music and movement will be one focus of large group this week. Children will have the opportunity to dance and move to different genres of music, play simple instruments, and follow rhythm patterns. Other current play themes, such as firefighting, space traveling, and letter writing will be included as well.

Snack:
Monday: Snack made by the class and banana
Wednesday: Birthday Snack
Thursday: TBD

As the goal for this week was to learn how to collaborate together and acknowledge each other, you will see below that the children have not only started working together, but they also started respecting each other's presence.

Metal race car tracks were a hit! The children used the ramps to drive the cars up into a basket and also drive the cars down to see how far and fast they would go. Sooner or later the children began collaborating to make a long road for these trucks. Looks like there was lots of traffic, but they took turns and made the road into a two way street.

There has been an increased interest in the use of these light foam blocks since the beginning of the year. As the children work together, helping each other build, they also began labeling their construction as "houses," "cribs," and "buildings." Each structure has gotten more sophisticated than before.

Katie is experimenting with a variety of rolled objects. As she is concentrating on rolling, Ellie is taking a picture of her facial expression. Taking pictures of children's expressions was a popular activity throughout the week since the cave promoted activities that supported recognizing, empathizing, and labeling children's emotions and displayed photographs of children with a variety of facial expressions.

While listening to the "Freeze Dance" song by Greg and Steve, children danced to the beat and froze their bodies. The children were very creative on ways to move!

* Valentines Day exchange will be on Thursday, February 11th. While we make it a practice not to celebrate holidays in the classroom, we do facilitate a card exchange for those who wish to participate on this day. We find that it greatly supports the children's social connections to receive a card from their classmates. Making or addressing cards is also a wonderful way for children to work on emerging fine motor/writing skills. Whether your child draws a "message" or design on the card, put stickers on, glues something, or helps label the envelopes, (perhaps by taping or gluing the photos of the recipient) there is probably something your child can do to participate in this ritual. We will put a copy of the photo page in your child's box. Please do not send candy or other gift as part of the greeting. At this age, they still are thrilled by a simple card and why ruin that innocence so soon in life? Imagine a child happily looking through their valentines, admiring each and every one, suddenly discovering a piece of candy. I've seen it. What happens is they move quickly to tossing away the other notes as garbage while they rummage through looking to see if there are more with candy. We will use lunch bags for the children to hold their notes.

*Gym Jam was a success! It was a joy seeing children running around freely and playing with a variety of balls. Thank you all for coming and supporting us for a good cause - we are hoping to purchase a new crash mat and a variety of tricycles for large motor play.

*Thank you all for signing up for the parent/teacher conference! I'm looking forward to meeting with you soon. The master sign up sheet will continue to be on the door for confirmation.

Student teachers continue their small group meetings this week, developing small project themes and activities.

Darya's movement group has recently danced with scarves and moved like animals. They also played a game, "follow the leader," giving each child an opportunity to move like an animal of their choice.

Edenia's sensory group explored the properties of bubbles. They added liquid soap into water and experimented with creating bubbles. They used a hand held mixer and a sponge to increase the amount of foam in the water.

Jeannine's food group will meet on Monday for the 2nd time. They will be looking for a picnic spot around school, doing family style servings, and eating food that is suitable for picnics.

Lesson Plan
Lead Teacher: Darya
Week of February 8th, 2010

Goals:
The focus for this week will be to support the children as they learn to negotiate, solve problems, and make predictions. We will also encourage the children to express their feelings and take the time to recognize how other children are feeling based on their facial expression. Changes in the classroom have been made to extend some of the dramatic play scenarios that emerged the previous week.

Art:
- The children will engage in a new art project that incorporates science. Some parents might recognize the project because it was available for the children on Creativity Night. The children will mix ingredients such as corn meal, baking soda, and salt, using small scoops. They will also have the opportunity to use eye droppers to add different colors of water to their mixing. This will allow the children to explore concepts of color and texture. The small scoops and eye droppers allow the children to develop their fine motor skills as they pinch the droppers and grab the scoops using a couple of fingers.
-The children will continue to collaborate and work on an art piece as a class. A table will have one large piece of paper for the students to draw on together. The piece of art will be displayed at the end of each day. Displaying their work will reinforce their pride and accomplishments. The art table throughout the week may contain additional mediums, such as letter stencils, for the children to explore and enjoy together.
Manipulative/Math:
- New materials will be available in the science area that will encourage the children to reason, problem solve, and classify. The activity will allow the children to sort the animals based on a specific attribute (i.e. if they have legs, fins or claws).
-The stacking of the pegs will continue to be available with the peg boards. The pegs are promoting mathematical skills such as counting, balancing, and making patterns.
-There will be measuring spoons and simple three step "recipes" for the students to use in the kitchen. These "recipes" will support the children as they take turns completing different parts of the recipe and learn sequencing.
Sensory:
-Throughout the week we have noticed the children bringing their cars to the water table. In the water table they preceded to wash them and drive them around. Thus, the water table is now set up to be a car wash. The children will use sponges and scoops to wash their cars. In the middle of the week a station may be set-up for the students to dry their cars once they have been washed. This area will encourage the students to share the resources and work together as they clean their cars.
- Adding pans, bowls, and measuring cups to the playdough table has furthered the children's interest in baking. They have been creating a variety of food items, such as muffins and soup. To engage the children we have added additional recipes and another ingredient to the table. The playdough and the measuring cups allow the children to continue to practice their fine motor skills. If you have a favorite (especially one in which your child helps out with), please send it in for us to post in this area as inspiration for variety of food creations. Thank you!

Science:
-The students will have the opportunity to sort objects based on a specific attribute. This will allow them to group the objects based on a common characteristic. This area will increase the children's awareness of how objects are similar and different. The objects are also in different sizes allowing the children to order them from largest to smallest.
-The ramps have been expanded to encourage the students to take notice of how far their car has traveled. There will be tape measures and the floor will be marked with numbers. This will encourage the children to experiment with the length and steepness of the ramps. This activity will allow the children to explore aspects of speed, friction, gravity, and velocity.

Dramatic Play:
- The kitchen and playdough area will remain combined at the front of the classroom to support the children's interest in baking.
-The loft area has been transformed into a space ship, to encourage the theme that emerged after reading the book "What next, baby bear!" by Jill Murphy. This book is about a baby bear creating a rocket ship to go to the moon. Once he arrives on the moon he has a picnic with his new friend the owl. In the loft we added pictures of rocket ships and astronauts. There are also control panels that the children can use to pretend to steer the rocket ship. There are hard hats available for the children to use as "space helmets" and I have created jet packs. This area promotes creativity and imagination for pretend play.
-The children have enjoyed using the ramps and the small cars. Out of this play came the theme of race cars. Following the interest of the children, we have created a race track for the children to use. This area will allow the children to take on the role of a race car driver. This area will encourage children to practice taking turns. It will also encourage children to follow simple rules such as driving one way down the track. The children will problem solve, coming up with ideas on how they can keep their cars from crashing into one another. Throughout this play scenario the children are fostering social skills such as cooperation, sharing, and problem solving.
Language and Literacy:
-There will be new and classic story books added to the literacy area. Children will be encouraged to read and act out familiar and classic stories such as goldilocks and the three bears. Acting out these stories encourages children to recall and pull information from their memory.
-Favorite family recipes will be posted in the playdough area as a reference for children to use when recreating experiences of cooking, eating, and serving.
-Feeling words such as mad, happy, tired, and sad will be posted along with photographs of the teachers displaying different emotions to allow the children to begin recognizing and label others' emotions.
-Documentation of children acting out stories and exploring different play themes will be posted throughout the classroom for children to use as a reference to their play.
Construction:
-The large hollow blocks and unit blocks are still available for the children to use. They have been moved by the loft to encourage the children to create their own rocket ships and buildings.
- The lighter building blocks we added allow the children to create "tall" structures. While they construct these "tall" structures they are becoming familiar with aspects of balancing. The large area for construction continues to encourage cooperation and group projects.
Large Motor:
-The gym has been changed! A rope swing set up to facilitate upper body strength, full body coordination, maintaining body balance, spatial awareness, and muscular endurance. An A-frame is connected to a balance beam supporting eye-foot coordination, balance, lower body coordination, and turn taking. There is a throwing corner to support directional awareness, upper body strength/coordination, depth perception, throwing/catching skills, eye-hand coordination, and agility. "Bolster Island" - a donut hole surrounded by bolsters - is located in the middle of the gym to support team building, climbing on uneven surfaces, spatial awareness maintaining balance, and upper/lower/core strengthening. Mat jumping station is also available to support two-footed landing, lower body/core strengthening coordination, depth perception, and turn taking.
-Outdoors, colored and "glittery" ice molds will be buried in the snow for the children to find by digging with their hands or with various tools. Shovels, scoops, and pails will continue to be available outdoors to support the use of upper body strength. In addition, children will have the opportunity to push trucks and wheelbarrows and pull sleds through the snow to foster endurance. We will also introduce spray bottles with different colored water that the children can use on the snow. This will allow the children to mix colors on a new medium.

Large Groups:
We will incorporate movement experiences during large group that involve the entire body and coordination. We will do different activities and songs that encourage the students to follow a rhythm or a pattern. These activities are promoting following directions, large motor development, and spatial awareness.
Snack
TBD

The children continue to be fascinated with snow and ice in the classroom. It was especially helpful to have and manipulate these natural elements in the classroom because it was too cold for us to go out! Children have embraced dramatic play, learning how to include other children, use various forms of props, and negotiate roles and story lines with each other.

A variety of scissors were displayed with lined paper. The children were encouraged to pick scissors of their choice and cut or make snips along the lines of the paper. This activity strengthened their fine motor control and dexterity as they learned how to work the regular and adaptive scissors.

This is a story derived from the children about a bear family living in the cave. The children were negotiating to claim a space in the cave and sharing "food" with each other. Though they were all collaborating in a bear cave story, they each contributed to the story line by finding their own food and showing different bear personalities.

The bears were sleeping in the cave. Ellie bear said, "It's time to wake up! Lets get some food!" The bears stretch and begin crawling out of their cave.

Ellie bear said, "I found food, come back to the cave!" The other "cubs" grab their source of food to share. Alma bear found a shark that she thought her fellow bears could eat and share. Ely and Cormac found pegs.

After they finished their food, the children went back to sleep.

The children have been balancing and adding the blocks to make taller towers and vehicles to support their pretend play.

Since we didn't have a chance to go out this week, the children enjoyed digging for jewels in the snow in the classroom.

Small Group
Small groups met this week.

Edenia's sensory group (Cashton, Maia, Elliot, Abby, Sofia) had a sensory experience with making bubbles using sponges and hand mixers.

Darya's music and movement group (Max, Beatrix, Katie, Madeline, Sam) recently met to play instruments and dance.

Jeannine's food group (Otto, Ely, Cormac, Eba, Ellie, Alma) went on a "picnic" with her group.

Please remember that not every child at this age is ready to participate in such a group. Some children may choose to participate on certain days and not others. Though we encourage children to join us, it is their choice to participate on any given day.

Announcements:
-Valentines Day is fast approaching. While we make it a practice not to celebrate holidays in the classroom, we do facilitate a card exchange for those who wish to participate on this day. We find that it greatly supports the children's social connections to receive a card from their classmates. Making or addressing cards is also a wonderful way for children to work on emerging fine motor/writing skills. Whether your child draws a "message" or design on the card, put stickers on, glues something, or helps label the envelopes, (perhaps by taping or gluing the photos of the recipient,) there is probably something your child can do to participate in this ritual. We will put a copy of the photo page in your child's box. Please do not send candy or other gift as part of the greeting. At this age, they still are thrilled by a simple card and why ruin that innocence so soon in life? Imagine a child happily looking through their valentines, admiring each and every one, suddenly discovering a piece of candy. I've seen it. What happens is they move quickly to tossing away the other notes as garbage while they rummage through looking to see if there are more with candy. We will use lunch bags for the children to hold their notes, and will do the exchange on Thursday, February 11th.

-Please remember to sign up for the parent/teacher conference if you have not already done so. If you cannot sign up in person, please send me via email your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choice of time. Thank you.

-We are interested in posting family recipes. If you have a favorite (especially one in which your child helps out with), please send it in for us to post in this area as inspiration for variety of food creations. Thank you!

-Gym Jam is on Friday, February 5th between 6:30pm to 8:00pm. Bring the kids, the cousins, the neighbors the grandparents and come RUN AND PLAY! Watch your email for more info on location. Bierman Field is located on 15th Avenue SE. Enter between 5th and 6th St. SE - there will also be signs for you to follow.

-This Wednesday is the Coffee Hour with the Director, Barb Murphy, from 8:45 am to 9:45am. Come and ask questions on Lab School Curriculum, history, child development, or anything else. Barb is a great source of information, advice, support and laughter.

Lesson Plan
Lead Teacher: Edenia
Week of February 1st, 2010

Goals:
The focus for this week will be to support the children as they are learning to work together, acknowledge each other, and create a community. We would also like the students to learn, recognize, empathize, and express emotions with each other using words, signs, and photos. Changes in the classroom have been made to extend some of the curriculum ideas and to support the play themes the children have been involved with.

Art:
The children will begin to work on a collaborative piece of art. A table will have one large piece of paper for the students to draw on together. The piece of art will be displayed at the end of each day. Displaying their work will reinforce their pride and accomplishments. The art table will also have several types of scissors to allow the students to practice and strengthen their fine motor skills.

Manipulative/Math:
- There will be new puzzles incorporating the themes of self help, animals and vehicles.

-The stacking pegs will continue to be available with the peg boards. The children have been exploring how high they can make them before they bend over. As the children stack the pegs they are using fine motor movements and eye hand coordination. The pegs are promoting mathematical skills such as counting, balancing, and making patterns. This activity also supports turn taking as they stack together; it also is promoting problem solving skills as they figure out how high they can stack them before the pegs bend and fall.

-There will be measuring spoons and simple three step "recipes" for the students to make.

Sensory:
-Although making cookies continues to be a favorite choice in the playdough area, other baking ideas are emerging as well. To further these interests, we will expand the playdough area to include pans, bowls, and measuring cups. In addition, we will offer children the opportunity to add mint to the playdough, using a shaker bottle. There will also be bowls of cornmeal for the students to stir/measure into their playdough recipes. Creating with playdough allows children to develop small muscle control and use creativity and inventiveness. We are interested in posting family recipes. If you have a favorite (especially one in which your child helps out with), please send it in for us to post in this area as inspiration for variety of food creations. Thank you!
-Water will be making its way back to the sensory table as a concrete habitat for the marine animals. There will be scoops for catching fish as well as tongs to get the fish out of the water. As the students explore the habitat for the fish they will also have the opportunity to play out the Slippery Fish song. The song supports understanding of the food chain (the idea of the smaller animal getting eaten by a progressively bigger animal).

Science:
-The students will have the opportunity to hypothesize about which set of foot prints belong to what animal. -There have been longer and steeper ramps for the students to explore from the loft area. There will be a variety of rolling and sliding materials to experiment with speed, friction, gravity, and velocity.
Dramatic Play:
- The kitchen and playdough area are going to be combined in the front of the classroom to support the interest in food, creating recipes, and serving each other. This is going to be a significant change to their classroom which we hope will allow them to integrate all aspects of a kitchen into their cooking. For example, the students will have all of the baking items, place settings and food in one central location.
-The loft area has been stripped of large furniture to accommodate the multiple pretend play stories that happen in that area. This area promotes social skills such as cooperation and play negotiation in a familiar setting.
-The children have enjoyed using the materials in the "Repair Shop." Some children have taken on the role of the mechanic, asking the other children how they can fix their vehicle. Many children enjoy using the tow trucks to help bring the broken vehicles to the shop. There are shirts with name tags allowing the children to dress up like a mechanic. This will hopefully inspire them to go deeper as they see themselves as a mechanic. Throughout this play scenario the children are fostering social skills such as cooperation, sharing, and problem solving.

Language and Literacy:
-There will be new books related to the themes in classroom, such as architecture/building books, alphabet, and emotion books.
-Favorite family recipes will be posted in the playdough area as a reference for children to use when recreating experiences of cooking, eating, and serving.
-Feeling words such as mad, happy, tired, and sad will be posted along with photographs of children displaying different emotions to allow children to begin recognizing and labeling their emotions.
-Documentations of children acting out stories and exploring different play themes will be posted throughout the classroom for children to use as a reference to their play.
Construction:
-The large hollow blocks and unit blocks are still available for the children to use in the repair area. The children started using the ramps to roll wheels from the repair shop in the cave. They are investigating the speed and distance the wheels, pegs, and rods can travel. Along with the ramps the classroom has shown interest in building rocketships and "fancy" condos to support their dramatic play themes of taking trips to the moon. We will add smaller lighter building blocks for the students to heave up onto their "tall" structures. The large area for construction continues to encourage cooperation and group projects.
Large Motor:
-The gym has been changed to continue to support children's use of balance, coordination, strength, and endurance.
-Outdoors, colored and "glittery" ice molds will be buried in the snow for the children to find by digging with their hands or with various tools. Shovels, scoops, and pails will continue to be available outdoors to support the use of upper body strength. In addition, children will have the opportunity to push trucks and wheelbarrows and pull sleds through the snow to foster endurance.
Large Groups:
There will be further discussion about emotions, what they look like, and the correlating American Sign Language (ASL)signs. We will incorporate movement experiences during large group that involve the entire body and coordination. These activities are promoting following directions, large motor development, and spatial awareness.

Snack:
Monday: Birthday snack, Fruit & Oat Bars by Amy's class
Wednesday: Cheddar Bunnies & Banana
Thursday: Cheese & Crackers

New curriculum areas were developed by the student teachers and these areas were very popular features this week. Children were excited to come back to school and a lot of exploration occurred in these new novel areas.

Out on the playground, the children began creating their own story line of truck accidents last week by saying, "help my truck is stuck!" This play theme continued in the classroom. Using the tow trucks and tools, children began helping each other by bringing in the trucks to the mechanic/fix-it shop.

Ramps were a big hit in the cave - Sam said, "look at this! It's going fast!" Max, Ely, and Cashton tested different rolling tools to see which ones rolled the fastest.

On Wednesday, Alma, with the help of Cashton, pretended to look for her toy bunny in the snow, digging a deep hole with her hands. The children and I continued to dig a hole the following day, this time looking for "treasures." We dug all the way to the bottom and found sand! Some children found it funny and tested that it was a hole big enough to fit a child inside. To extend this activity, we are planning to hide color ice in the snow to create a scavenger hunt.

The children were most curious about what sharks eat at the habitat area. While some children fed the sharks smaller fish, other children thought they like to eat snow. Some of these ocean animals traveled into "frozen water" at the sensory table.

As the children explored, molded, and felt the snow and ice at the sensory table, some noticed it was melting. They said, "it's cold.", and "Look! Look at what I did!" The children also began using the snow as a prop for their dramatic play. Sofia ate "ice cream." Sharks and other ocean/arctic animals seemed to enjoy snow as their food and swim in the frozen water. Sooner or later, they started playing with trucks as well, making tracks in the snow. They said, "help help! My truck is stuck!"

*The conference sign up sheet will be posted on the door Monday morning. Please sign up for a time that will work for you. If you cannot sign-up in person, you may send me an email with your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choice of time. I'm looking forward to our meeting.

*We are interested in posting family recipes. If you have a favorite (especially one in which your child helps out with), please send it in for us to post in this area as inspiration for variety of food creations. Thank you!

*It's time to think about enrollment for the 2010-11 school year! Forms are sent via email this year. (Hard copies will also be available in the school office after that date.) Hard copies of the forms and the enrollment fee of $150.00 per family will be due by Monday, February 1st to retain your priority status. Payment must be included for enrollment to be complete.

*The next Lab School event to help you pass the winter blahs is GYM JAM. The date is Friday, February 5th. The children get to move, so do you (if you want to) and it's a lot of good old fashioned ball, jumping and running fun. If you thought creativity night was too crowded for your taste, don't worry! Bierman is so huge that you can barely hear the other people - lots of space to invite friends, neighbors and relatives - and you should, because it's all for a good cause - free will donations go towards buying new tricycles for the children in our classroom. We hope to see you there.

Lesson Plan
Lead Teacher: Darya, Edenia, and Jeannine
Week of January 25, 2010

Goals:
-The goal of this week is to urge the children's play and thinking deeper, moving beyond exploration of materials. We hope the children will compare their thinking with that of others and start to ask questions and investigate. They have shown interest in what the sharks eat so we will introduce elements of the food chain. The children have also been creating nests for the birds where they watch patiently to see if the eggs will hatch. To embrace this curiosity we are adding nests and animal tracks to our science area. The children will look closer at the different properties of snow and ice. They will work together to free frozen objects in the ice. We will also be building upon the play scenarios surrounding the repair shop. We will be singing songs and reading books to help the children learn the different names of some tools.

Art:
-Easel: The easel will contain new liquid watercolors. The children will be able to discover what happens when they mix the colors together.
- To further the children's exploration of animals, the science area will focus on animal tracks. Children will use a variety of stamps featuring the tracks of different animals. We will ask the children to examine the differences and similarities between the footprints. This will bring up concepts of shape and size. They will become aware that animals have unique footprints and through these markings you can identify the kind of animal.
-The art table will also have regular and adaptive scissors to allow the students to practice and strengthen their fine motor skills.

Manipulative/Math:
- There will be new puzzles incorporating the animals and vehicles in the classroom.
-The children continue to enjoy the Montessori seriation cylinders. The self correcting activity is promoting cognition and communication skills. The children are discussing what is too big, too small, next, in, and out with each other while they work on this activity. This activity also supports fine motor movements.
-The stacking pegs will be available with the peg boards. The children have been exploring how high they can make them before they bend over. They have also been using the pieces to roll down the ramps in the classroom. As the children stack the pegs they are using fine motor movements and eye hand coordination. The pegs are promoting turn taking as they stack together; it also is promoting problem solving skills as they figure out how high they can stack them before the pegs bend and fall.
-Our counting conversations are continuing at the snack tables along with which table has more children. The children are also continuing to follow the number sequence for getting ready to go outside. This activity promotes the order of the steps it takes to get their outdoor gear on.

Sensory:
-Although making cookies continues to be a favorite choice in the playdough area, other baking ideas are emerging as well. To further these interests, we will expand the playdough area to include pans, bowls, and measuring cups. In addition, we will offer children the opportunity to add mint to the playdough, using a shaker bottle. Creating with playdough allows children to develop small muscle control and use creativity and inventiveness. We are interested in posting family recipes. If you have a favorite (especially one in which your child helps out with), please send it in for us to post in this area as inspiration for variety of food creations. Thank you!
-The children have greatly enjoyed the novelty of exploring snow and ice in an indoor setting. In addition to exploring the snow and ice with cups, scoops, and molds and recognizing the physical differences between these two forms of frozen water, the children have been interested in bringing animals (including penguins and polar bears) and trucks (which have been getting "stuck" into the snow) into the sensory table. We will have smaller versions of these items available to allow more space for children's play. We will also offer children interesting objects to make imprints and tracks in the snow and provide building and molding tools to make snow sculptures/creations. These activities allow children the opportunity to observe and imitate other children's actions, use creative expression, and develop social skills, such as turn-taking. Children will also have the opportunity to practice persistence and self-regulation skills as they problem-solve how to dislodge natural materials such as leaves, branches, and pinecones from the ice using tools and droppers, sprayers, or cups with warm water.

Science:
-The children have embraced the new animal habitat areas, generating many play themes. The nesting area has been of particular interest. The children have been involved with showing compassion for the birds and their nests and have been excited about "hatching eggs." In addition, the children have enjoyed the water habitat area, acting out the food chain with sharks eating some of the smaller animals. To support the children's interests, we will provide materials such as raffia for children to construct their own nests and smaller ocean animals to provide further opportunities to demonstrate ocean food chains. We will also include maps with visuals of rivers, oceans, and mountains to further expand children's understanding of habitats.
-To foster the children's interest in animals and creating imprints and tracks in the snow, the science table will include authentic molds of animal tracks. In order to support the children's interests in nesting birds and hatching eggs, bird nests will be available for children to look at and touch.

Dramatic Play:
-The children have enjoyed using the materials in the "Repair Shop." Some children have taken on the role of the mechanic, asking the other children how they can fix their vehicle. Many children enjoy using the tow trucks to help bring the broken vehicles to the shop. We are adding shirts with name tags allowing the children to dress up like a mechanic. This will hopefully inspire them to go deeper as they see themselves as a mechanic. Throughout this play scenario the children are fostering social skills such as cooperation, sharing, and problem solving.
-The children are still fascinated with the trains. They are creating bridges and tunnels for the trains to drive through.
-The movement of the kitchen and home area to the loft was a success. Many children enjoy the coziness of this area, transforming it into their house. They have been pretending they are adults; taking care of babies and making important phone calls to their work. Some children have also been taking on the role of a pet owner, while other children have pretended to be a cat or a dog. To further the interest in this area we are going to bring in various food containers. In the future we may choose to turn the kitchen area into a pet shop, but for now it will remain as it is. This area promotes social skills such as cooperation and play negotiation in a familiar setting.

Language and Literacy:
-Favorite family recipes will be posted in the playdough area as a reference for children to use when recreating experiences of cooking, eating, and serving.
-Feeling words such as mad, happy, tired, and sad will be posted along with photographs of children displaying different emotions to allow children to begin recognizing and labeling their emotions.
-Documentations of children acting out stories and exploring different play themes will be posted throughout the classroom for children to use as a reference to their play.

Construction:
-The large hollow blocks and unit blocks are still available for the children to use in the repair area. The children started using the ramps to roll wheels from the repair shop in the cave. They are investigating the speed and distance the wheels, pegs, and rods can travel. This activity is enabling the children to take turns with the materials that can roll. The large area for construction continues to encourage cooperation and group projects.

Large Motor:
-The gym will continue to support children's use of balance, coordination, strength, and endurance. Children's balance will be fostered through the uneven surface created by the mats, children's coordination will be supported through stepping or crawling under of cones, and children's strength will be promoted through use of the climbing rope. In addition, the gym perimeter offers a "track" for children to drive scooter cars around, complete with "stop" and "slow down" signs. The children will also have opportunities to participate in large group directed activities with balls to promote their use of listening skills, direction following, and gross motor skills. This will also include the use of throwing and catching balls, which promotes the use of trapping and propulsion skills.
-Outdoors, colored and "glittery" ice molds will be buried in the snow for the children to find by digging with their hands or with various tools. Shovels, scoops, and pails will continue to be available outdoors to support the use of upper body strength. In addition, children will have the opportunity to push trucks and wheelbarrows and pull sleds through the snow to foster endurance.

Large Groups:
There will be further discussion about emotions, what they look like and the correlating ASL (American Sign Language) signs. This will allow the children to see what an emotion looks like and how to express how they feel. Large group is also providing the children with story lines to draw from during their experience at school. There have been some movement experiences during large group that involve the entire body and coordination. These activities are promoting following directions, large motor development, and spatial awareness.

Small Group
-Student teachers will begin their small group meetings this week. We will be taking groups out into the hallway to have an introductory meeting. Please remember that not every child at this age is ready to participate in such a group. Some children may choose to participate on certain days and not others. Though we encourage children to join us, it is their choice to participate on any given day.

Snacks
Monday: Graham Crackers made by Ross' Class & Banana
Wednesday: Rice Cakes & Kiwi
Thursday: Multigrain Cheerios & Apple

The goals for this week were to expand and support the children's symbolic play skills while continuing the themes in the dramatic play area. Children were busy collaborating and adding new scenarios to their pretend play. We also observed a lot of scientific thinking skills developing as the children explored the sensory, science, and art tables in the classroom.

Katie and Cashton making tea for the animals in their cave. Katie especially wanted to feed the wolf so it would be full before it went to bed.

Train on the railroad tracks. Sam collected the wooden people and placed them on his train - he said, "all aboard!" Children were curious to see how the train cars connected. After modeling the connection with one child, that child helped many other children connect the trains together.

The sorting game at the science table took a life of its own as the children started to sort all the water animals and place them in the "blue" water at the water table.

The children were interested in the concept of the cause and effect of mixing colors, using basters, and pouring water from one container to another.

Classroom Newsletter
1/15/10

Dear Families,

What a wonderful two weeks it has been. Now that the children have experienced the "getting to know each other" phase in the first term, the second term seems to reflect their growing relationships and friendships. A lot of these interactions are evident by the way the children collaborate and cooperate in the dramatic play area. We also have had many opportunities to extend the children's play, adding new elements to each theme.

The airport has been a big hit. Many children have been in and out of this area flying airplanes or riding in one. A world map has been an intriguing visual that allowed the children to experience the concept of destination. They are able to physically see the abstract concept that living in "Minneapolis," or going to "Mexico" leads to a place where we can point and label on a map.

The children took the concept of "traveling" and "transportation" to another level by going somewhere on a school bus, which has also been interchanged with a city bus. They seem fascinated by the idea of pretending to ride the bus to go to school. After the day of riding the bus with Ebisaa, other children started to gather, stating that they want to go to school as well. Sofia claimed that she was on the bus to go swimming. She even brought "snacks" to eat on the bus.

Traveling on the bus has been a sub-theme since it is their mode of transportation to go from one curriculum area (cave) to another (water table).

The story of a bear cave and hibernation has led us to discuss topics such as real vs. not real, adding a new word, "pretend," to the children's vocabulary. Even though our experience of "going on a bear hunt," became a little too realistic for some children, I was pleased to see the aftermath of that incident. During snack time, the children were empathetic; concerned about the few children who seemed scared to see the "real bear." They suggested that we go on a hunt for horses instead. The following day, we acted out a story about going on a horse hunt and they all enjoyed taking a picture of the "horses" and feeding them carrots. Below are the lyrics I have made up. You can sing it to the tune of "going on a bear hunt" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzIcu6tbEko with slight adaptation.

I am excited to see children taking a lot more interest in each other. They are learning how to collaborate, discuss, and work together towards a common goal. I believe we are off to a great start to the new term.

Going on a Horse Hunt
We're going on a horse hunt
We're gonna take a camera.
I'm not afraid.
We're coming to a tall mountain.
Can't go under it.
Can't go through it.
Gotta climb up it!
Do you see anything?
Wait, I see horses down there.
Quick, follow me.
We're going through the tall grass.
Can't go under it.
Can't go over it.
Gotta go through it.
Swish swish swish swish....
Stop! I see them (whisper). Let's tip toe...
Lets take a picture - click.
Lets give the horses some carrots.
Do you think they like their snacks?
I bet we can have our snacks....Are you hungry?
(Go back to the classroom)

Announcements
- NO SCHOOL on Monday January 18 in recognition of Martin Luther King Day.

-The Parent Discussion Groups will be meeting again, talking about guidance and limit setting. The meetings will be Thursday January 28 from 1.15-2.30pm, Friday January 29 from 9-10.15a, and Tuesday February 2 from 6.45-8p.

~ Barb has set up another round of "Coffee with the Director" and is inviting you all to have a chance to sit down and chat with her! The meetings will be on Tuesday, February 2 from 8.45-9.45a and Wednesday, February 3 from 8.45-9.45a AND 12.45-1.45p. Hope you can make it to one of the coffee hours.

-Thank you very much to our laundry helpers. - Please sign up to bring home laundry on Wednesday if you can.

-Thanks so much to parents for taking seriously our pleas of labeling clothing and having everything "at the ready." So, just to remind: If you are coming in the classroom to drop your child off, please help us out by putting hats and mittens in the jacket sleeve when you hang up the jacket and having boots and snowpants ready to go (either hanging or in a backpack.) If you forget boots or snowpants on a given day, please let us know and find a pair from Eva so they are all ready to go at dressing time.

-Please join us for creativity night, this Wednesday evening from 6:00pm to 7:30pm. Children will be able to explore a different activity in each of the three classrooms (sen-sory exploration in our classroom, clay in Ross' and Jenn' classroom and light in Amy and Dalia's classroom. In addition, a dance teacher from the U will run three group ses-sions in the gym. We hope you can make it!

Lesson Plan
Lead Teacher: Ayuko
Week of January 19, 2010

Goals:
The children have embraced the bear cave habitat and appear ready for more exposure to different animals. So we will expand the repertoire of animal play/information experi-ences offered. The snow and ice in our daily life is also a potential rich material to bring into the classroom for further exposure and understanding. We also plan to build upon some play themes children have developed with their cars around being "stuck" in the snow by re-introducing tools and a "fix-it" shop in the classroom. Continuing to master the basic steps of getting dressed for going outside is also a theme we are working on.

Art
-Easel: The easel will contain liquid watercolors. The children will be able to compare the difference between round cake and liquid watercolors. The vibrant colors will be very inviting for the children to explore.
-The children are becoming more adept at using glue to stick items to paper, though this is a process with many steps. We will continue to make collages at the art table to offer further exposure.

Manipulatives/Math
- New puzzles around the themes of trains and other vehicles will be available.
-A sorting game with photos of different types of vehicles will provide an early math and vocabulary experience.
-Stacking pegs will be available with the peg boards. This activity promotes mathematical skills such as one to one correspondence, counting, and pattern making.
-The Montessori seriation cylinders will be out - this self correcting activity pro-motes attention to individual size differences and gradations from small to large.
-We have begun a daily practice of counting the number of children at each snack table to work on counting, one to one correspondence, and estimation of size (one table is smaller and typically has the fewest number of children.)

Sensory
- The cinnamon playdough has inspired a great deal of baking. We will incorpo-rate a new stove in the playdough area as well as new cooking tools. Building with clay will support fine motor strength and precision, as well as creative ex-pression.
- The children have enjoyed playing outside in the snow and experiencing their natural winter environment. To further these interests, we will provide snow and ice in the sen-sory table for the children to explore with scoops, pails, chisels, and molds. In addition, we will have interesting objects available, including shells, pinecones, and spools, to make imprints in the snow. Children will have the opportunity to learn about the melting process of snow and ice and will discover differences between these two forms of frozen water. In addition, children's social skills, such as cooperation and turn-taking will be fostered as they negotiate the use of materials and space.

Science
- Because the snow covers the birds' typical sources of food, we plan to daily put out bird food this week to attract more birds to our window. The beginning dialogue of this proc-ess supports understanding of seasonal cycles and awareness of animal adaptation to the seasons.
- Concepts of melting and freezing will be explored in the sensory table via work with the ice and snow.
- The animal habitat and sorting areas have come alive with different animals and new habitats. The children have been moving the animals from the sorting areas to areas they consider as habitats, such as water, straw, etc. In order to expand these connections, we will continue with the bear cave but have added a "water" area with water animals and finally a nesting area with birds. One real nest from the science closet is featured but we would also like to see the children make their own habitats/nests for the animals in the dramatic play area. We will encourage children to continue moving the animals to the habitats they think they belong in.

Dramatic Play
-The children have continued to use the trains with gusto. We will involve them in ex-panding the track on the floor to allow more space to play. The airplane play has shifted to stories of traveling with children packing suitcases and wearing pilot uniforms.
-The kitchen and home area will move to the loft for a more cozy experience. Use of this area promotes social skills such as cooperation and play negotiation in a familiar set-ting.
-Outside some of the children have been pretending their cars are stuck in the snow and there have been some playful collision with the trains in the classroom. To further the children's interest, we have created a "Repair Shop." The children can wear hard hats and use tools to fix the cars and trains that have crashed. This will allow the children to act out different scenarios and take on different roles within the play. They could be the owner of a car that needs to be repaired or they could become the mechanic and run the shop. This will allow the children to foster social skills such as cooperation, sharing, and problem solving.

Language and Literacy
-Stories related to our curriculum themes will be read at large group.
-Story concepts are embedded in the fix - it area, where a five page story provides the base for pretend play.
-When dressing the children, we are using a series of numbered wall charts to plan the order of dressing, which promotes sanity in dressing as well as exposure to left to right reading sequence and the concept that print/pictures carry meaning.

Construction
-Large hollow blocks and simple unit blocks are located nearby the train area and airport to encourage building along with these activities. Construction gives children the oppor-tunity to use creative expression as well as learn the basic principles needed for building, such as creating sturdy bases and symmetry. The large area for construction also encour-ages cooperation and group projects.

Large Group/Music
-During large group this week we will sing some familiar songs and work with rhythm instruments on some instrumental tunes. The song "We are the dinosaurs" by Laurie Berkner has been particularly popular. Look it up on You-tube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLdDKNxrL68 it's not a familiar one to most parents, but is very catchy and easy to learn.

Large Motor
- The gym is set up to support balance and coordination to enhance children's experiences outdoors, walking on the snow, slippery ice etc. The triangular bolster has a rope to sup-port arm strength by hand over hand climbing. There is an uneven surface created with mats for the children to practice balance and lifting their legs up. They are able to walk through a walkway made out of the green mats, arriving to a jumping station and jumping into the donut. The scooter cars are available for driving all around the gym perimeter. There is a gas station and a fix it shop. There are signs that tell the children to slow down and stop...Two hurdles in the middle of the mats allow for jumping, stepping over (lifting legs up) or crawling under (also possible to go over with their hands and feet like a "cat.")
-Outdoors, the large motor challenge is walking in the snow. Some children are light enough to stay on the crusty top layer, but most sink through, which is a challenge. We also have sleds for riding and trucks for filling with snow.

Snack
Monday: No School
Wednesday: Pretzels & Banana
Thursday: Cheese & Crackers

*We would appreciate donations of unique collage materials (such as tinsel, shiny items, odd wall paper, tissue paper, and colorful translucent materials) that would look attractive in the light. Some of these materials may be used with the glue as well.
*Thursday, January 14: PAC meeting, 7:00pm - 8:30pm. Every parent is welcome.
* School will be closed on Monday, January 18 for Martin Luther King Day.
* Wednesday, January 20th: Family Creativity Night, 6:00pm - 7:30pm
* Please mark your calendars for Friday, February 5: Gym Jam at Bierman Indoor Football Field, 6:30pm - 8:00pm - More information to follow.

Lesson Plan
Lead Teacher: Ayuko
Week of January 11, 2010

Goals:
As the children settle into the school routine again, we have found that their interest in each curriculum area has also deepened. The themes of the dramatic play area (hibernating, air-planes/airport, and trains) will continue with the goal of extending their role-playing and symbolic play skills. We will incorporate more story lines created by children and books about these themes to support their pretend play skills. Spaces will be arranged to expand some areas so children have opportunities to include more peers into their play.

Art
-water color experiments will be featured with table top easels, marker drawing, and water spraying. As the extension of last week's invented art-water experience, the children will also be able to experiment with cause and effect relationships as they ob-serve how water reacts to marker drawings on different surfaces, such as paper and coffee filters.
-glue will be provided with collage and sensory materials. Children will be able to compare this sticky substance to the contact paper that will be featured at the light table - both serving the purpose of sticking materials together.

Manipulatives/Math
- Woodland animal and vehicle puzzles will be available to support fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and visual discrimination.
- Children will be encouraged to match and sort various animals according to their features. This activity supports the skill of classifying and grouping like objects.
-The Montessori seriation cylinders will continue to be available as the children have in-creased their interest in this activity. This self correcting activity promotes attention to indi-vidual size differences and gradations from small to large.

Sensory
- Cinnamon play dough and various forms of cookie cutters will be available this week at the play dough table. Children have been baking cupcakes and cookies while utilizing the molds and pretend oven. Building with dough will support fine motor strength and precision, as well as creative expression.
- There will be two separate bins with red and blue water at the water table. Children will have the opportunity to pour, measure, and mix the water using scoops, basters, and cups. This is also a wonderful area for developing social skills such as turn-taking.

Science
- Children will explore and sort various materials at the light table while also placing the ma-terials onto contact paper. Children will be able to have a sensory experience to compare con-tact paper with the glue to find differences and similarities. We would appreciate donations of unique collage materials (such as tinsel, shiny items, odd wall paper, tissue paper, and colorful translucent materials) that would look attractive in the light. Some of these ma-terials may be used with the glue as well.
-A sorting game will be available for children to match the animal according to its method of travel. Simple pictures, such as sky, land, and water will be arranged with plastic toy animals that match accordingly. Questions will be asked: How do these animals travel? Where do they belong? Which ones have legs? Which ones have wings?

Dramatic Play
-Airport and Train areas will be expanded for physical traveling. Train tracks will be pro-vided on the rug along with additional suitcases. A world map has been used by children to pinpoint "where they want to go." This has allowed children to act out scenarios to fly and ride to their destination.
- The pretend kitchen and home will be areas where children have the opportunity to recreate experiences of cooking, eating, and serving. This will also promote social skills such as co-operation and play negotiation.
-The loft has been divided with sheets to create additional caves. Documentations of children acting out stories of hibernation will be posted so children can use them as reference to their story. Observing other children's documentation also aids children to learn, expand, or create new stories of their own.

Language and Literacy
-We will be acting out stories related to the various themes in the classroom (hibernation, air-ports, trains)
- We will be focusing on the comprehension of stories this week. Teachers will read books during large group and free play and ask questions that are related to the story throughout the day. We are curious to find what parts of the stories they remember.
-We also have a variety of pictures of different objects, which the children are asked to de-scribe the use of (eg. Shovel - to dig)

Construction
-Large hollow blocks and simple unit blocks are located nearby the "airport" to encourage building along with these activities. As we have seen some children "riding" on wooden air-planes, children will be encouraged to create bigger airplanes with hollow blocks to allow more children the chance to ride along. Construction gives children the opportunity to use creative expression as well as learn the basic principles needed for building, such as creating sturdy bases and symmetry. The large area for construction also encourages cooperation and group projects.

Large Group/Music
-We will be featuring stories, songs, and finger play about hibernation and woodland animals. We will incorporate movement activities that focus on animals, such as a bear, rabbit, and an owl (Wide-eyed owl story below).

Large Motor
-A new gym set-up will be featured this week. The gym will be arranged to support the basic skills of large motor development, such as running, jumping, balancing, and upper and lower body strength. More information to follow.
-Sleds, buckets, and shovels will be available in the playground. We will also be exploring snow by making tracks and molding and building snowmen, as featured in Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

Snack
Monday: Birthday snack & Banana
Wednesday: Rice Chex & Oranges
Thursday: Wheat Muffins by Class

Wide-eyed owl
There is a wide-eyed owl
With a pointy nose,
Two pointy ears,
And claws for his toes.
When he is high up in a tree,
He flaps his wings and says,
Whoo whoo whoo.

Welcome back! Though we had a long winter break, the children dove back into the classroom routine right away. It almost seems like we never left! As you will see below, we had our first run of dressing all 16 children in snow pants. However, I must note that it was a quickest dressing that I have ever done - kudos to the team! The children loved the snow and used it in many different ways. Getting back into the routine myself, I didn't have a chance to take a lot of pictures, but please take a look at the snippets that we experienced within these two days.

Children exploring in the snow: Abby said, "I'm scooping the snow away from the slide!" She spent at least 10 minutes shoveling on her own. By the end, a couple of children went down the big slide, helping her remove the snow. Elliot right away grabbed a shovel and decided to flatten the snow on the benches. I asked if he's removing the snow, and he said, "no, I'm doing this" and continued to level the snow on the bench.

This invented water/marker/art activity was a hit! At first, it seemed the children were most interested in spraying water at the table. However, once the children noticed the markers beading and erasing with water, they were enamored by the way the colors mixed and beaded. A lot of sharing and negotiation took place since there were only three water bottles and there were as many as five children gathering in this area.

The bear caves and the pilot areas were a hit! This is just a glimpse of how the children utilized them. Katie was a pilot riding the large wooden airplane to "Greenland." Beatrix and Maia were animals living in a cave at first, but the caves turned into a house for cats, which also became the "party house" that the neighbors were going to come and dance in.

This is a story created by Eba.

At the back of the classroom, Eba grabbed a backpack and said to me, "I'm going to school!" So I said, "how are you going there?" He said, "On a bus." He hopped on the edge of the loft and Cashton joined with the backpack because he wanted to go to school too. We sang "the wheels on the bus" while we were driving and Eba said, "It's time to get off now!"

The cave underneath the booth was the school and Eba said that he was going to do "Homework" in there. Elli joined the group and read with him. As soon as the book finished, he said, "It's time to go home" and he rode the bus with Abby and Cashton.
As the children were singing "the wheels on the bus," Eba said, "Ok, I'm home." He walked to the cubby where he started and sat down.

We have a great new team this term and I'm looking forward to working with them. The teachers dove right into interacting with the children -- it almost seems like they were always here. Below are their self introductory paragraphs so you can get to know them a little better. Enjoy!

My name is Jeannine and I am very excited to begin student teaching in your child's classroom! I am in my second year of classes in the M.Ed. Initial Licensure program in Early Childhood Education and Special Education. My husband, Tim, and I live in Woodbury with our children, Madison, age12, and Max, age 9. We also have a pet guinea pig named Chestnut. I have worked as an elementary school social worker and currently work in an early childhood special education classroom. In my free time, I love to read, garden, and go on bike rides and hikes with my family.

Hello, my name is Edenia. I am a new student teacher at the Lab School. I will be turning 42 next week. I live in NE Minneapolis with my husband and two children. My daughter, Paxton, is 9 and my son, Wyatt, is 6. We have a family dog named Henry (100 pound golden lab). I do not have a lot of free time while I am in school but I try to give back to the community as much as I can. I am a Junior Brownie Girl Scout Leader for a 4th grade troop in St. Anthony. I have walked the 3 Day for Breast Cancer twice. I volunteer as an Art Adventures picture person for the school my children attend, as well as, any other classroom needs there may be. I work for the Oceanaire Seafood Room and have been a part of the company for the past 15 years. My ethnic background is German and Cuban but I was born and raised here in Minnesota and lived with my Mother and sister in Eden Prairie. I love to garden in the summer, play at the pool, travel and spend as much time as possible with my family.

Hi, my name is Darya. At the end of the spring semester I will hopefully be receiving an undergraduate degree in the Elementary Education program with a specialty in Pre-primary. Once I graduate I will continue my studies and go on to the Initial Licensure program. I am very excited to have the opportunity to student teach at the lab school. I am the youngest of my family being born just minutes after my twin sister. I was born and raised in Minneapolis but it's still hard to get used to this cold weather. I enjoy camping, kayaking, and hiking. I recently took a trip to Georgia where I hiked part of the Appalachian Trail and canoed next to alligators.

Lesson Plan
Lead Teacher: Ayuko
Week of January 4, 2010

Goals:
As we welcome the children and families back from the long winter break, we plan to keep things simple so as to allow easy interactions with our new student teacher team. We are assuming that some children may have had travel experiences during break so we will have trains, planes, cars and maps available to capitalize on the memories. The snow will be featured with play in the cave about woodland animals hibernating for the winter. Learning the basic steps of dressing for the winter outdoors (snowpants and boots and the rest) will be a big focus of our early days together.

Art
-Easel: The easel will feature white chalk on dark paper to evoke the snow of the past few weeks. Students can experience color concepts, such as light and dark, and they will be able to use their fine motor skills to manipulate the chalk by blending and smearing.
-Table top easels will feature water colors - a continuation of the exploration we began just before break. The children are slowly mastering the skill of dabbing the wet brush onto the cake to absorb color.
-At the art table, a new experience will be introduced - an invented art-water ex-perience where children can use dry erase markers on the plastic table cloth and then spray/wipe what they drawn. As the water causes the drawing to bead up, we are curious to see how the children respond to this transformation of states. This experience has elements of art, science and fine motor work.

Manipulatives/Math
- New puzzles around the themes of train and other vehicles will be available.
-A sorting game with photos of different types of vehicles will provide an early math and vocabulary experience.
-The Montessori seriation cylinders will be out - this self correcting activity pro-motes attention to individual size differences and gradations from small to large.

Sensory
- Dough colored play dough will be available this week at the play dough table. We will assume that some children may bring associations of holiday baking to the work, so we will have ovens and rolling pins available. Building with dough will support fine motor strength and precision, as well as creative expression.
- Large containers, scoops, and cups will be available at the water table for pouring, dumping, and measuring water. Water promotes sensory awareness as children feel the water and see the volumes change when it is transferred to a different container. Questions will be asked: which container has more water? How did this happen? This is also a wonderful area for developing social skills such as turn-taking.

Science
-The large light table will be presented in the cave area this week. Children will explore and sort different materials which look attractive in the light (shells, feathers and tissue paper.)
-A variety of foods will be available for smelling and tasting (lemon, pineapple, rye bread, green pepper and celery) to help children explore the sense of taste. Words like sour, sweet, bitter, crunchy, and soft are likely to be used in the context of tasting these items.

Dramatic Play
-Two types of trains will be available, along with airports and wooden airplanes. A world map will allow children to experience the concept of long and short distance. We expect there may be stories of going on the plane, of coming to the airport and of taking tickets. We would appreciate any information about destinations you have traveled to as a way to open conversations with your child.
- The kitchen and home area will be another focus in the dramatic play area. Children will have the opportunity to recreate experiences from the recent holidays and cook and serve. This will also promote social skills such as cooperation and play negotiation.
-The question "where do the animals go in the winter?" will be posed and explored in the cave via stories (The Bear Snores On) and plastic animals. A simple three part story will be posted (1)the animals are cold, winter is coming, 2) they find a cave so they can sleep, 3) winter is over, it is warm now, the animals wake up) to promote an initial awareness of the seasonal cycle of hibernation. White fabric is ready to reenact snow storms. Little caves for the toy animals as well as a child sized cave are set up for enacting the story. This process helps children learn about different woodland animals (racoons, squirrels, bears and foxes) and begin to incorporate simple pretend stories into their dramatic play.

Language and Literacy
-The art table will promote the use of dry erase pens for drawing and writing.
-Story concepts are embedded in the woodland cave. The map area has pens and post it notes to affix to places of interest on the map

Construction
-Large hollow blocks and simple unit blocks are located nearby the train area and airport to encourage building along with these activities. Construction gives children the oppor-tunity to use creative expression as well as learn the basic principles needed for building, such as creating sturdy bases and symmetry. The large area for construction also encour-ages cooperation and group projects.

Large Group/Music
-During large group this week we will sing some familiar songs and work with rhythm instruments on some instrumental tunes. Stories about Winter will be featured.

Large Motor
- During large group time in the gym, we will start to explore the parachute. Children will experiment with making the parachute go up, down, fast, and slow. This activity will strengthen large muscle groups while simultaneously allowing the children to work cooperatively.

Snack
Monday: No School
Wednesday: Cheddar Bunnies
Thursday: Graham Crackers

*Please let us know a highlight or two of your child's winter break - so that we may have something to comment to them. Children feel special when we can connect about something meaningful to them (a visit from Grandma - an airplane ride, a first time sledding) so this will help our new student teachers to connect with your child.

*We are also interested to have an update about toilet training - this sometimes changes over the break (and our memories benefit from a recap of where your child is at.)

*We will post a new "laundry helpers list" for this ten weeks - Please sign up on Wednesdays to bring home laundry. Thank you.

*Please take the time to label mittens, hats, boots, snowpants and jackets. The first few days of dressing are always WILD! Children often don't have a sense of ownership of their things, yet they help us by taking clothing out of their cubbies. If they are not labeled, it is very hard to know who's clothes are whose. If you are coming in the classroom to drop your child off, please help us out by putting hats and mittens in the jacket sleeve when you hang up the jacket and having boots and snowpants ready to go (either hanging or in a backpack.) If you forget boots or snowpants on a given day, please let us know and find a pair from Eva so they are all ready to go at dressing time.

The children explored with themes of opposites this past week: in and out and light and dark. There was also a lot of group collaboration in cooking and playing together in the dramatic play area. Please take a look.

Children going in and out of the "house" underneath the monkey bars and pretending to be kitties and puppies.

Children using color gels to experiment with light and dark and color and no color.

Abby and Beatrix negotiating and working together on clicking and learning the alphabet.

Eva visited our classroom to make "French fries" with the children for snack. Different children visited Eva from time to time to help cut the potatoes. Some learned new "tricks" to cut the potatoes by observing each other.

Katie lying down as a patient while "Dr. Sam" checks on Katie's "illness."

Announcements
* Please continue to talk with your child about the upcoming transitions and break. If you have a family calendar, you may want to put an X on the individual days for the period of time that we will be closed for winter break. You can then make a ritual of crossing off the days until we meet again. This will provide a visual of the time we will be apart, as well as a good math experiences with recordkeeping and marking time.
*. Please feel free to email us a sentence highlight about your weekend that will help us reconnect with your child (eg. car/plane trip, visit from Grandparents, new food eaten, etc.)
* Thank you all so much for your support this semester and for providing us with your wonderful children!

Lesson Plan
Lead Teacher: Elizabeth
Week of November 30, 2009

Goals:
During our last week of school, our main goal is prepare the children for the upcoming break and the new student teachers. This week will include visits from the new teachers and goodbye snacks. We will be talking about these events during large group, snack, and throughout the day. Our curriculum for the week will focus on going deeper into themes that have been emerging, such as opposites, which will take on the form of light/dark on the light table and wet/dry in the sand table. We will also be focusing on dramatic play in the form of doctor and kitchen play, and on patterning and classification.

Art
• Easel: We will be exploring watercolors at our easel this week. Children will be able to experience the process of mixing water and paint in order to produce color of different intensities. This will provide an opportunity to explore color mixing and allow them to express themselves creatively.
• We will continue to practice cutting as well. This will be combined with collage in order to extend the cutting experience. The fine motor skills of grasping, squeezing, opening and clenching the fingers, and hand-eye coordination will be developed through cutting, spreading glue, and sticking the shapes to the glue.
Manipulatives
• Manipulatives that focus on ordering and seriation will be available. Blocks of different sizes can be stacked, lined up, and compared and contrasted. Boards with different color and height columns allow children to sort and arrange columns using different characteristics. Ordering and seriation are mathematical skills that lead to classification and patterning.
• Simple interlocking puzzles will be available, which help children develop the part-whole relationship. Interlocking puzzles are also important in visual discrimination, mental manipulation (the ability to hold an image in mind while rotating it, considering it from different angles, etc.), and hand-eye coordination, as children must examine the borders and shapes of the pieces in order to place them successfully.
Sensory
• Glurch will be a new medium available at the playdoh table. This is a mixture of liquid starch and glue, and is similar to Silly Putty. Children will be able to explore it with their hands and with tools. This experience will promote sensory awareness, fine motor strength, and social skills as children interact with each other to comment on what they are feeling and seeing.
• Water will continue to be available at the sand table, as will molds and scoops. Several children have begun to bury small animals in the sand or use larger ones dramatically, and we will therefore introduce small plastic insects into the table as a new element for this play. The sand table is an excellent place for social interaction, as children can look across at each other and observe what each other are doing. Turn taking and negotiation skills are rehearsed when objects and space must be shared.
Science
• The light table is still available in the cave this week. Small blocks of different shapes and sizes will be available to manipulate with the light table underneath. This highlights the light/dark contrast and produces shadows. The science area will enhance children's skills of inquiry, prediction, and experimentation.
• The science table will include a ramp display this week. Children will be able to explore different types and heights of ramps, using small cars and balls. They will be able to see, explore, and talk about which ramps are the fastest, which are the highest, and which are the longest. This is a continuation of an interest in ramps that has developed in the block area, and will provide a more focused exploration.
Math
• Ordering and seriation will be focuses in the manipulatives that will be available. We will also be counting during transitions to and from the gym and during large group, singing songs such as "One Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato, Four." We will also be patterning with our bodies (i.e., pat clap pat clap) which helps children internalize rhythm and pattern.
Dramatic Play
• The doctor and vet play will continue this week. A cot will be added so that children can take on the role of both patient and doctor. A desk with writing materials adds a literacy element to the area.
• The kitchen and home area is another space intended for dramatic play. With many children having participated in a "feast" this weekend, we expect many cooking and eating scenarios to take place. Dramatic play allows children to think abstractly by mentally transforming objects and people to fit the play scheme. It also promotes social interaction, negotiation, and cooperation, as well as allowing children to practice the events of real life. Please feel free to email us a sentence highlight about your weekend that will help us reconnect with your child (eg. car/plane trip, visit from Grandparents, new food eaten, etc.)
• The "little people" play will continue with the dollhouse and garages. Here, we will encourage children to act out scenarios that will help them learn conversation schemes and build the skill of symbolic representation.
Language and Literacy
• The writing center will be available for the children to practice writing on lined paper and explore tools such as alphabet stencils and rulers. This area will help the children develop a concept of print, such as recognizing directionality of print, symbolic representation, and alphabet awareness.
• We will also be incorporating literacy elements into the doctor/vet office. Children will be able to write "prescriptions," fill in medical charts, and take phone messages. An eye chart will expose children to environmental print. Writing that is embedded in play will help children realize the importance and usefulness of written language.
• We will continue to sing songs involving rhyming with and manipulating children's names, such as "Willaby Wallaby" and "The Name Game." Using a familiar word and manipulating it by adding a new beginning sound introduces children to segmentation and blending that are important literacy skills.
Construction
• Duplos will still be available in the block area, which provides a new medium with which to create tall towers and roads. The bond of these blocks to each other makes it easier to build vertically. When building up, children must consider balance, stability, part to whole, and symmetry.
Music
• During large groups we will be singing some old favorites as well as some new songs. We will continue to sing songs such as "Willaby Wallaby" and "The Name Game" in order to expand children's abilities to discriminate sounds in words and rhyme, both of which are important literacy skills. We will also use clapping, patting, and other movement in order to create patterns with our bodies and internalize rhythm.
Large Group
• During large group this week we will continue talking about the winter break and the upcoming transitions. We will discuss how the student teachers will be going off to new schools soon, and how the children will have new student teachers when they return from break. Discussing these big transitions will help the children prepare for and process the changes. Children will also have the opportunity to meet a few of the new student teachers, which will make the transition more concrete. Large group this week will also be used as a way to model some of the materials in the classroom. A book about going to the doctor and a short scenario involving a sick baby doll will help children have a script to use when playing in this dramatic play area.
Large Motor
• In the gym we will continue to use the parachute, which encourages group interaction, large motor control, and coordination.
• On the playground, we will be incorporating animal dress-up materials to encourage large animal play. Children will be encouraged to become different animals and move in new, interesting ways. Large muscle coordination and strength will be emphasized as the children hop, jump, crawl, gallop, and run.
• Trikes will be available on the playground, which are proving to be an enjoyable challenge for many children. Children must use leg muscles and coordination in order to push the pedals and propel themselves forward. They also use negotiation and turn taking when sharing the trikes.
Snack
Monday: B-Day & Homemade Graham Crackers in the Freezer
Wednesday: Party Snack (muffins by Becky)
Thursday: Pineapple & Rice Cakes

Songs
One potato, two potato, three potato, four!
Well, I made a batch of hot potatoes
Dropped 'em on the floor!!

Five potato, six potato, seven potato, eight!
So I stomped 'em into mashed potatoes
And plopped 'em on a plate

Nine potato, ten potato, can't believe my eyes!
The children ate 'em up and now they want some french fries!!!
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 fries!

Websites
www.starfall.com
The "ABCs" section has interactive activities that focus on letter names and sounds. This not only encourages literacy development (children enjoy repeating the names and sounds with the computer!) but also promotes computer skills such as mouse manipulation. Using a mouse requires a lot of hand-eye coordination!

As there were field trips occurring throughout the week, there were many more opportunities to engage in one-on-one-conversation and intimate interactions with smaller groups of children. The teachers were able to model and support conversation in dramatic play as well as normal interactions.

Bob leading an activity that emphasizes body awareness and isolates body part movements, such as moving the mouth and elbows (shown above).

The children began noticing the pile of leaves and started raking them, lying in them, and throwing them up in the air to see them blow in the wind and land on each other.

The children were experimenting with flashlights and mixing colors using colored disks, stimulating perceptual awareness and cognition.

Doctor play has been emerging outside in the playground. Here, Katie told a couple of children, "Help, my eyebrows are falling off!" Maia and Beatrix took turns giving Katie "shots" on the eyebrows to fix them.

Kitty play is continuing in the classroom. The children were negotiating roles as the caretaker and kitties.

As the U of M grounds people were chopping up part of an oak branch, some of children had an opportunity to see the process. Some of the logs were transferred to our sand box area in the playground. Here the children were observing the logs and the mysterious hole that was created in the logs. Questions were asked, "how did this happen?" "What do you think happened here?" and "why?" One child answered, "The branches were cut so we can play with them...But the tree is sad because it got cut!"

Madeline writing a letter to Mom and Dad. As she was writing "Dad," she saw me write a D on another paper and said, "That's not how you write a 'D,' this is a 'D'!"

November 16, 2009

Dear families,

Another exciting week at the lab school is behind us! As our time as student teachers is winding down, it is consistently a pleasure to come to school and witness the joy and curiosity in each of your children. They have each shown growth over the past several weeks, and I have a great sense of pride to have been a part of this important time in their lives.

I enjoyed my week as lead teacher, and it was wonderful see all of my curricular ideas come to life in the classroom. The body awareness aspect of my curriculum took off with great gusto! The different sized paper cut outs of hands and feet sparked a lot of interest in size. Many of the children placed their hands over the cut outs to find "their" size. One of the children in Frances' class demonstrated his developing understanding of size by saying, "here's the baby feet, and here's the daddy feet." The mirrors in the classroom were a fun spot for children to examine their facial features and compare them with other children's features. Many funny faces were enjoyed as well.

Our large groups for the week were also focused on body awareness. The children enjoyed a new rendition of "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes." In Ayuko's class, we added a verse to one of our classroom favorites, "Open, Shut Them," which involved blinking and winking! Children in both classes had fun dancing to "The Freeze Song" in the gym, and they did a great job listening for the musical changes that indicated freezing and dancing.

Painting in the classroom took on a new life this past week as the children explored painting on pieces of standing plexiglass. Many of the children in the classroom are regulars at the easel and art table, but this plexiglass set-up seemed to invite some new children into the realm of art. Children enjoyed looking through the plexiglass to see one another. One child in Ayuko's class was thrilled to learn that he could paint over and cover up a teacher's hand that was behind the plexiglass. The game interested two other children who came over to join in the activity.

The music and dancing center have also been a highly-frequented area in the classroom. The children are becoming more familiar with manipulating the mouse on the computer to select one of five song buttons It is such a joy to watch the children as they experiment with the cause and effect of clicking and hearing music! Children in both classes have enjoyed listening to the different genres of music and dancing accordingly. We have seen a great deal of marching to The Imperial March from "Stars Wars" and lots of movement with flowing scarves to a classical piece by Johann Strauss. I was surprised to see how many of the children have shown preferences for certain types of music and musical instruments. Overall, this area has been a great creative outlet for many children, and teachers (just ask to see Teacher Bob's jig).

The dramatic play areas are an ever-popular place. We have been reveling in the amount of group play that has been happening in both classes. Many of the children in Frances' class took a trip on a train made of cardboard boxes. One child even declared, "We need tickets!" We have been seeing whole litters of kitty cats in Ayuko's class, complete with human caregivers and delicious cat food! These group play experiences are truly creating a sense of community between the children. I have enjoyed watching the blossoming relationships and emerging social skills as the children learn to share materials and negotiate play themes.

After a long and successful run, our grocery store recently came to a close. We send thanks to all of you who sent in your food containers, and to those of you who were able to clue us in as to what types of foods your child likes to eat and cook. This information was so helpful as we supported play from the grocery store into the play kitchen. The children were tickled when we offered just the right spice for their mac and cheese or knew that they liked soy nut butter on their toast. This home-school connection makes our classroom community lively and meaningful.

I have enjoyed my time as lead teacher. The children teach me so much each day; their curiosity and excitement is a reminder of the kind of attitude I hope to bring with me to class. So, it is with that curiosity and excitement that I look forward to lead teaching again next week!

Sincerely,
Becky

Announcements
• We are looking for a family to care for Peely during Thanksgiving break. If you are interested in helping out with our classroom gerbil, please let a teacher know!
• Please mark your calendars for our goodbye snack on Wednesday, December 2nd. It will take place on our second to last day of school at 10:15am. Please come and then spend the rest of the morning with us on the playground.
• Please consider hosting a playdate at an area park during the month of December. It will be nice for the children (and families) to connect during the long break. Let Eva know so the info can be in the calendar being prepared.
• During large group this week we will begin to talk about the winter break and the up-coming transitions. We will discuss how the student teachers will be going off to new schools soon, and how the children will have new student teachers when they return from break. Discussing these big transitions will help the children prepare for and process the changes, and it would benefit both the teachers and the children if you could discuss this at home as well.
• School will be closed on November 26th and 27th, due to Thanksgiving break. School will resume on Monday, November 30th.

Lesson Plan for Ayuko's Class
Lead Teacher: Becky
Week of November 23, 2009

Goals:
As the curriculum for this week developed, themes of opposites emerged; concepts of light and dark, wet and dry, tall and short, and large and small will be embedded in the various curriculum areas and large group times. In addition to supporting the children's exploration of opposites, we as teachers will also help them refine these explorations by highlighting "medium" and the middle of the extremes. We will continue this theme of finding a happy middle ground during play by supporting the children as they learn to consider their own desires as well as the desires of others.

Art
•Easel: After a two week break, the easel will return to the classroom. We will present dark paper and chalk for the children to explore. Students will learn color concepts, such as light and dark, and they will be able to use their fine motor skills to manipulate the chalk by blending and smearing.

Manipulatives
• Children will have the opportunity to use scissors at one of the manipulative ta-bles. We will present the children with lined paper and magazines so that they can practice the fine motor skill of cutting.
• New puzzles surrounding the themes of color, doctor, and animals will be avail-able. We will also incorporate a puzzle with interlocking pieces to scaffold de-veloping part-whole skills.

Sensory
• Modeling clay will be available this week at the play doh table. Modeling clay offers a unique opportunity as it will dry when exposed to air. Finished products can be painted and kept. Pictures of towers and tall buildings will be posted as inspiration for the children during their exploration of the new medium. Building with clay will support fine motor strength and precision, as well as creative ex-pression.
• Water will be added to the sand table so the children can experiment with the concepts of wet and dry. Molds and buckets will be available for the children to make sand castles and other structures. The sand table promotes sensory aware-ness as children feel and manipulate the sand; it is also a wonderful area for de-veloping social skills such as turn-taking.

Science
• A new, large light table will be presented in the cave area this week. Children will ex-plore the concepts of light and dark, as well as shadows. Translucent colored gels and discs will be available, along with flashlights and various natural materials to create shadows. The science area will enhance children's skills of inquiry, prediction, and ex-perimentation.

Math
• We will continue our exploration of weight and measurement this week. Children will be given the opportunity to use various measuring tools such as scales, tape-measures, and unit blocks. These mathematic opportunities will give children the chance to use their comparative thinking by finding out which item is longest, shortest, heaviest, and lightest.

Dramatic Play
• One of the dramatic play elements this week will be an area for playing doctor or vet, complete with tools and dress-up clothes. The area will be arranged in a spacious and thoughtful way so as to encourage social interaction. We as teachers will support the play by promoting empathy and other care-giving qualities.
• The kitchen and home area will be another focus in the dramatic play area. Children will have the opportunity to experiment in the play kitchen and go back and forth be-tween "home" and the "doctor" or "vet." This area will also promote social skills such as cooperation and play negotiation.
• The "little people" play will continue with the dollhouse and garages. Here, we will encourage children to act out scenarios that will help them learn conversation schemes and build the skill of symbolic representation.

Language and Literacy
• A new writing center will be presented for the children to practice writing on lined paper and exploring tools such as alphabet stencils and rulers. This area will help the children develop a concept of print, such as recognizing directionality of print, symbolic representation, and alphabet awareness.
• We will also be incorporating literacy elements into the doctor/vet office. Children will be able to write "prescriptions," fill in medical charts, and take phone messages. Writing that is embedded in play will help children realize the importance and usefulness of writ-ten language.
• The children have also been showing an interest in the workings of the computer. As such, we are going to have an alphabet program running so the children get the practice of pointing and clicking the mouse, as well as an animated phonics experience.

Construction
• In addition to the large, hollow blocks, new duplo blocks will be added to the construc-tion area. These blocks that click together will help the children build large, sturdy struc-tures that can easily be manipulated or combined with someone else's structure. We will also have a variety of duplo vehicles for the children to use and explore. Construction gives children the opportunity to use creative expression as well as learn the basic princi-ples needed for building, such as creating sturdy bases and symmetry. The large area for construction also encourages cooperation and group projects.

Music
• During large groups we will be singing some old favorites as well as some new songs. The theme of opposites will come up in songs such as "The Wheels on the Bus" and "Open, Shut Them." We will also be singing some silly songs that bring the children's attention to rhyming, such as "Willaby, Wallaby" and "The Name Game."

Large Group
• During large group this week we will begin to talk about the winter break and the up-coming transitions. We will discuss how the student teachers will be going off to new schools soon, and how the children will have new student teachers when they return from break. Discussing these big transitions will help the children prepare for and process the changes.

Large Motor
• During large group time in the gym, we will start to explore the parachute. Children will experiment with making the parachute go up, down, fast, and slow. This activity will strengthen large muscle groups while simultaneously allowing the children to work cooperatively.
• On the playground, we will be incorporating animal dress-up materials to en-courage large animal play. Children will be encouraged to become different ani-mals and move in new, interesting ways. Large muscle coordination and strength will be emphasized as the children hop, jump, crawl, gallop, and run.

Snack
Monday: Homemade Fries made by class & B-Day snack
Wednesday: Cheddar Bunnies & B-Day snack
Thursday: No School.

songs
"Open, Shut Them" (finger play)
Open shut them open shut them (open your hands and close them into a fist)
Give a little clap clap clap
Open shut them open shut them
Lay them in your lap lap lap
Creeping crawling creeping crawling, (walk your fingers up from your legs to your chin)
Right up to your chin chin chin (point to your chin)
Open wide, your little mouth (open your mouth wide and pretend to put your fingers in)
But do not let them in (hide your hands behind your back)

"Willaby, Wallaby"
Willaby wallaby (Name, but replace the first sound with a W: ie. Waia instead of Maia)
An elephant sat on (real name)
*Repeat

Dear Families,
With just three weeks of school left it seems like the beginning of the end. It's very sad to think of our time at the lab school being over and these students that we have come to know moving on to meet a new batch of student teachers! My first week of lead teaching proved to be an eventful one, with picture day in both classes, a visit from a dance student, and a short week for Frances' class. We also made applesauce together in Frances' class and have been delving deeper into our small group projects in Ayuko's class. It was great to see the children becoming more comfortable with each other this week, which manifested itself through group play episodes and increased levels of sharing and cooperation.
The back of our classroom underwent a major shift last week--we moved the kitchen into the loft and switched the grocery store and construction areas in order to provide a larger space for construction with cardboard boxes. My hope was to connect the grocery store with the kitchen so that the children could bring food home and use it in kitchen play. As they became familiar with this set up, we began seeing children "call" the person in the grocery store to ask for apples or mac and cheese to be brought home for dinner. Several children worked together to mix, stir, and bake pretend cakes and soups. One child decided that if we ate spices, they might be hot, which created a short scenario between a few children of fanning our tongues and then pretending to drink water.
As the grocery store play began to fade out, one child discovered that the corner of the loft/kitchen made a neat little area for "pets" to sleep and hide in, which led to an ongoing theme of pretending to be kitties. Several children crawled around the room on all fours, meowing and pretending to eat food out of dishes on the floor. We even had a kitty picnic, where the "people" in the scenario gathered food and dishes and took the kitties to an area of the room which became the park. Approximately five children then pretended to have a picnic and take a nap. It was great to see such an extended group dramatic play experience! Children were imitating each other, sharing materials, negotiating both space and the direction of the story line, and communicating their ideas.
I had wanted to infuse new materials into the science center, so we introduced a magnet display. This began as a simple exploration of magnetic wands and a few metal objects. The simple fact that the wands jump together when you bring them close was pretty interesting. While exploring the classroom with her wand, one child discovered that the wands stuck to the back door of the classroom, which is made entirely out of metal. This was an exciting discovery and led to tests of the table legs and door knobs found around the room. The next step was to introduce paperclips, which are interesting to watch fly up to the magnet when it is dipped into their bowl. Several children also discovered that they are hard to remove from the wand once stuck.
Music has continued to be an important part of our day. We have been exploring instruments both in large group activities and during free play. We have been playing the CDs brought in by families during free play time, and several children come over to dance or play along on various instruments. This week we turned the computer into a juke box with a selection of five different pieces of music that children can choose themselves. Children have had a great time using scarves, bells, and shakers to express themselves through creative movement. I also wanted to emphasize rhythm during my large group times, so we sang songs such as "We're Going on a Bear Hunt," "The Stick Song," "Ram Sam Sam," and "The Hokey Pokey." These songs have strong beats that the children could experience with their bodies while clapping, patting, or moving. "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" was quite exciting as we sang about discovering the bear in the cave and then running out of the cave, through the river, up and down a tree, and through the tall, tall grass.
I enjoyed stepping into the leadership role during my first lead teaching week, and I'm excited to be able to revise my strategies the next time around. It's a great feeling to have put thought into the curriculum and room arrangements and then watch the children explore, manipulate, and expand upon what is presented to them. Thank you all for your support and for providing us with such wonderful children.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth

One of the goals for this week was to support meaningful interactions amongst children, while building their confidence in their own unique skills, preferences, and physical characteristics. Below you will see some of these connections and skills evident and blossoming.

After the children found their own hand size, they compared them to their teachers and peers. The footprints became an unexpected hopscotch-like game. The children took turns jumping onto the next larger footprints, displaying skills of one-to-one correspondence.


New forms of writing utensils--such as thin markers and pencils--ignited the children's interests in drawing, tracing, and writing at different areas of the classroom.


Plexiglass paint offered a chance for the children to paint and work together on the same surface. Children painted while also watching their peers, and learned new methods to mix and paint.

Picture 211.avi Picture 212.avi
As the children learned to use the mouse on the computer, choosing a song of their liking, they also had opportunities to explore creative expression and increase body awareness. As the children listened to different sounds and music from the computer, they used their bodies to interpret what they heard.

It seems the combination of the small dramatic play dolls, house, and the kitchen/grocery theme led the children to role play, pretend, and explore the concept of care taking. While some children chose to be household pets, such as a cat or a dog, others chose to be the caretakers, and took their pets to the "park" to have "picnics."

One child, wanting to start a stacking slide, informed and gathered a group of children to participate.

As the children "washed" baby dolls, the children demonstrated their ability to care for a baby: carefully washing the hair, the body, and singing to it. Once the baby was clean, they took the baby out to dry it.

*Mark your calendars for joining our good-bye snack (with the student teachers) and free-play on the playground! We hope you can join us on Wednesday, December 2nd.

*Thank you for signing up to do the laundry! We will have another sign up sheet for January after winter break!

*Parents can support the zoo theme (in the classroom) with natural conversations at home about visiting a zoo, or perhaps with books that reference zoos in some way. If you would like to share, we would be happy to hear any anecdotes about past zoo visits that you might have. Also, should you have any shoeboxes you can donate, we could use about ten of them for a little zoo train.

Lesson Plan for Ayuko's class
Week of November 16th
Lead Teacher: Bob

Goals:
• As the sophistication of the children's play and their comfort at school increases, we have noticed increased verbal confidence and activity. To support these blossoming skills, we will pay close attention to engaging in and supporting conversations in the classroom. We will find the time and the opportunity to engage in one-on-one-conversation, as well as modeling and supporting conversation in dramatic play as well as normal interactions. This is of course something we normally do, but it seems ready for some extra attention at this time.

Art:
• The transparent plexiglass easels with small paintbrushes continue this week, offering unique opportunities for cognitive and social engagement. In addition to brushes, sponges will be offered. Sponges might be used as a brush, but they also suggest a new, daubing technique for a different result.
Manipulatives:
• A variety of puzzles continue to be presented featuring themes of construction, body awareness, shapes, numbers, and letters. Puzzles challenge the children to use fine motor planning, problem-solving skills, and persistence.
• Several different activities will feature magnets and magnetic materials. The children will continue to use their creativity and scientific inquiry to attempt to manipulate objects and understand magnetic force.
• Sorting activities will also be provided. Grouping of like-objects is a precursor to more advanced classification skills, and sorting activities promote hand-eye coordination, fine motor development, and color and shape awareness. These manipulatives can also be used in exploring the concept and dimension of equality and weight on the balance beam scale.
Sensory:
• The water table will turn to sand this week, offering further experience in flowing material. The contrast offers an opportunity to make comparisons between substances and experience with a potentially three-dimensional material and offers many opportunities for creative and dramatic play.
• Play dough: children will continue to explore the idea of making tracks and prints in the dough. Children will also be encouraged to try to make prints of their own hands, fingers, and shoes. These prints will be used for observation and comparison to other prints. We will also experiment with filling moulds and enclosed space with play dough.
Science:
• Materials related to body awareness will remain for further investigation and extensions. With the children we will devise simple and organic and informal ways to measure hands and feet for comparison, offering both social and cognitive interactions.
• Balance beam scales will be placed in the room to investigate measures of a different kind ('equal' and 'weight') using a variety of manipulatives and other objects in the classroom, heightening the children's awareness of the physical world around them.
• In the cave, we will install a small light box and mirrors, which will encourage children to experiment with light and shadow, reflected images, and mixing colors using colored gels on the light board, stimulating perceptual awareness and cognition.
Dramatic Play:
• Small trucks and cars continue to be popular in the block area. These experiences provide social opportunities for the children and encourage turn taking and cooperation.
• Small dramatic play people and houses will continue to be available. The materials will be positioned next to the block area in order to help children bridge the various types of dramatic play that is happening in the room. These small manipulatives offer children the opportunity to act out familiar household themes and practice their symbolic representation skills.
• Picnics have emerged as an area of interest and will be supported with picnic baskets and picnic cloths to extend this dramatic play.
• This week, using cardboard boxes and unit blocks, a zoo will go under construction, extending the dramatic play we are seeing in the small house and among the trucks and blocks. We are hoping to extend the dramatic play among the 'house', the zoo, and a construction area building, creating diversified possibilities for dramatic play interactions, and the children's use of imagination. Parents can support this theme with natural conversations at home about visiting a zoo, or perhaps with books that reference zoos in some way. If you would like to share, we would be happy to hear any anecdotes about past zoo visits that you might have. Also, should you have any shoeboxes you can donate, we could use about ten of them for a little zoo train.
Language and Literacy:
• The dramatic play centers will incorporate many literacy elements. Signs and labels will be used where appropriate and best make the literacy connection for the children.
• Road signs and traffic regulations will be enforced in the block area to help extend vehicle and road play.
• New books surrounding our themes of the zoo and animals, body awareness, construction, and fall will be added to the classroom.
• Many children have been showing an interest in letters and letter sounds. We will continue to support this interest by pointing out alliteration, beginning sounds of words, and letters in the children's names.
• Given the increased interest in letters, we will set up a writing center to help create additional opportunities and motivations to investigate printed communication.
Construction:
• Cardboard box construction continues as a catalyst for large group projects! We will continue to encourage the children to use their imaginations, and each other, in order to make large structures such as trains and busses. This area promotes creative thinking, large and fine motor development, and many pro-social skills such as sharing, collaboration of ideas, and turn taking.
• Augmenting cardboard boxes will be shoeboxes, providing materials that could possibly make a zoo train.
• Large hollow and small unit blocks are available for construction. Many of the children have been exploring roads and ramps, and both vehicles and children have traveled the pathways. We will continue to support the play in this area and help to extend the road construction play by adding road signs and stoplights.
Music and Movement:
• Children continue to explore the musical instruments in the music corner. We will offer the children some new ways to create rhythm. New drums and a shaker-making station will be available.
• We will continue to have songs available on the computer to which children can listen and/or dance. Materials such as ribbons and scarves will also be available to encourage creative movements inspired by the different types of music. This area allows children to explore creative expression, increase body awareness, and engage in many sensory-rich experiences such as listening to different sounds and using their bodies to interpret different types of music.
Large Group:
• We will continue to emphasize body awareness, but as social skills steadily emerge, we will also begin to emphasize more social stories. The children's play indicates increased interest in dramatic scenarios and cooperative undertakings. Story selections and activities will reflect this interest, supporting their natural social development.
Large Motor:
• Cozy Coupes will be replaced by the faster yellow sports cars this week. Also available, will be two low pushcarts, which should promote cooperative play and turn-taking. Basketball hoops and balls of different sizes will continue to be available as well. Ball play increases hand-eye coordination, helps to build balance and large muscle groups, and is a wonderful way to spark social interaction.
• Children are continuing to show improved skill in the gym. We will support the children as they explore climbing on the A-frame ladder, swinging on the rope swings, going down the slide, and jumping off of the mat-mountain. The new gym arrangement increases risk-taking ability, strengthens alternate-feet climbing and endurance, and helps to refine coordination.

* The Oleanna book sale will be in the gym on Thursday and Friday of next week (November 12th and 13th).

* Parents are also encouraged to check out the parent discussion groups taking place on Tuesday and Thursday! The topic is "Things Parents should know about the Transition to Kindergarten." The dates and times of the discussion groups are as follows: Thursday, November 12, 9:00 - 10:30 a.m. (Room 108), Thursday, November 12, 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. (Room 105), and Tuesday, November 17, 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. (Room 108). For more information, please click on the Parent Discussion Group page.

NEWSLETTER--Ayuko's Class

by Bob
November 7, 2009

I have to be honest and say I have been learning from my mistakes as much as I have from my successes. In my eagerness to promote appreciation of our natural and native environment, I learned how easy it was for me to fashion a 'thinking' lesson rather than a more experiential lesson appropriate to the ages of the children. (Perhaps my two teenage daughters have me 'thinking' a lot lately.) And so I adjust. A head on structural comparison of the specifics of native prairie plant species became a lot less important than which seed floated the most (orange butterfly weed), or, what kind of animal might live in the hollow knot of a branch, or, what does the inside of the green gourd look like? Will it look the same as the orange pumpkin? We cut them open to find out. The children, on their own, found out whether the gourds floated or not, by putting them in the water table (mixed results, pending more advanced study design). Eager to bring all of my knowledge to them, I had briefly overlooked that they are already 'scientists' and natural empiricists, already supremely inquisitive and experimental by nature. What I need to do is supply them with the material and watch and listen to their thoughts, and support their many discoveries.

In dramatic play, I am happy to see the grocery store doing a pretty brisk business every day. It has been interesting to see the level of play detail grow over time, from simple filling of shopping baskets, to more detailed playing out of dramatic scripts, from scanning products or manually entering product codes, to sending the groceries down the conveyor belt to be bagged. A few children have even taken their groceries 'home' to the play kitchen. In addition to signage, the grocery store has also involved literacy with pads of paper by the register to 'sign' or write out receipts with. The store has offered many opportunities for detailed dramatic play as well as cooperative social interactions. I'd also like to thank all parents for stocking our store with a wonderful selection of products.

It's a pleasure to watch the changes occurring in 'vehicular' block play. Simple roads eventually required ramps. Numerous 'collisions' required social negotiations on rules of the road. Last week, a child suddenly commented, "We need stop signs!" Another child playing cars heard this comment, and after a second dashed off, immediately returning with a hardcover picture book, which he stood up against the roadway, quietly proclaiming, "Stop sign!"--a real bit of symbolic invention. In the days ahead, we are wondering if the roadway will reach and incorporate play in the dollhouse.

Changing painting tools at the art easel proved a real draw for some children who had been a little ambivalent about painting. Painting with wood rollers, bumpy rollers, and foam brushes was just plain exciting. Interestingly, adding black paint also appeared to be a powerful draw for particular children. We don't know whether it was the high contrast it offered, or the more graphic effect of black line against color. Of course, we never want to force children to do art, however much we might want them to try it, so we will always look for different ways to invite children into a positive experience with it, watching for their interests, and finding ways to invite them to new experiences.

Play dough--what can I say. It is the substance that is always magic. This past week we have seen various tracks left in it, by a variety of animals and vehicles, challenging the children to think of evidence of things not present. Children continue to learn to roll snakes, a fine motor skill. And for a number of children, it remains an area of sensory solace, a comforting place to be and a comforting thing to do, an activity around which social possibilities arise.

We are experimenting more with making music, listening to music and dancing to music. We are discovering some pretty avid dancers as well as many curious children interested in dancing and hope to do more of it in the weeks ahead. And thanks for sending in music, and letting us know about your children's favorites.

My first week as lead teacher was very busy. I appreciate all the support and understanding from all parents and my colleagues in the classroom. One learns very quickly about the importance of a good, strong team.

A lot of cooperation and collaboration came out this week as the children worked together in acting out stories, especially when they were outside. Children are acting out more complex scenarios, with each role more defined. As you browse through the pictures, you will see moments when children interacted and conversed together, with and without teacher facilitation.


Children experiencing the roles of "cashier" and "customer." Cashton bringing the groceries "home" to the loft to make some food.

Otto exclaimed, "I want to play ring around the rosie!" and asked children and teachers to play with him. He gathered a group to start the song.

Children "hiding" from a "monster." They said to the teachers, "you have to be quiet..."

Everyday children were experiencing shaving cream in a different way. The children felt the shaving cream, spread it up the arms and tray, and squeezed it between their fingers. After spreading the shaving cream on the tray, children started making tracks and patterns with their fingers. By Thursday, letter blocks were provided as tools to make prints on the shaving cream and experiment with cause and effect.

The children have been curious to see how the magnets work at the science table. Since there are a limited amount of wands, children are encouraged to take turns and share using the wands. Madeline and Alma approached the science table together and Madeline handed a wand to Alma and said, "Here you can have this one."

Kelsey doing a directed large motor activity in the gym. We pretended to chew an imaginary bubble gum, blow it, have it pop, and peel it off. All the children participated.

This is a play that began between Maia and Cashton, without teacher facilitation. Maia made a "birthday cake" for Cashton at the water pit. Soon after, their play transferred to the kitchen area. More children started to join "the birthday party" - Children asked to have their own birthday cakes, which Maia made in the kitchen. She lit the "candle" for each child who had their "birthdays" that day while the rest of the children sang the "happy birthday" song for each other. The children had a family style meal, passing each other small pieces of cake. Within a 20 minute period, various children came in and out of this play scenario.

Lesson Plan for Ayuko's Class
Week of November 9th
Lead Teacher: Becky

Goals:
As the children become more comfortable in the classroom, personalities and social interactions are blossoming. To support this, we will offer opportunities for personal observation and reflection to help the children build confidence in their own unique skills, preferences, and physical characteristics. We will also assist the children to share these special traits with one another to encourage meaningful interactions. These interactions will reinforce small and large group play patterns that are emerging in the classroom.

Art:
• Plexiglass easels will be provided at the art table. The transparent surfaces will give the children an opportunity to see each other and engage in social interactions while making art. Small paint brushes will be available to extend the children's fine motor development, and examples of painted portraits will be hung in the art area for inspiration.

Manipulatives:
• A variety of puzzles will be presented featuring themes of construction, body awareness, shapes, numbers, and letters. Puzzles challenge the children to use fine motor planning, problem-solving skills, and persistence.
• Several different activities will feature magnets and magnetic materials. The children will continue to use their creativity and scientific inquiry to attempt to manipulate objects and understand magnetic force.
• Sorting activities will also be provided. Grouping of like-objects is a precursor to more advanced classification skills. Additionally, sorting activities will promote hand-eye coordination, fine motor development, and color and shape awareness.

Sensory:
• At the play doh table, children will continue to explore the idea of making tracks and prints in the dough. We will also encourage the children to try to make human prints using their hands, fingers, and shoes. These prints will be used for observation and comparison to other prints.
• In the water table, we will use bubbles and cloths to "wash" baby dolls. This sensory experience will also help to promote caregiving attitudes.

Science:
• The science corner will feature activities and materials that are centered around body parts and awareness. We will compare hand and feet sizes, measure our heights on the wall, and use mirrors to examine our facial features. We will reinforce emerging body part vocabulary (e.g. elbows, knees, eyes, ears, etc.), and practice the scientific process of observing and describing what we see.

Dramatic Play:
• We have been excited to see children "shop" at the grocery store and bring the food home to the kitchen area. We will continue to support and bridge the dramatic play that is happening in these two areas. We will add price tags, coin slots, and signature/receipt pads to enhance emerging math and literacy skills.
• Small trucks and cars continue to be popular in the block area. New trucks as well as road signs will be added to extend dramatic play themes of driving on the roads. These experiences provide social opportunities for the children and encourage turn-taking and cooperation.
• Small dramatic play people and houses will continue to be available this week. The materials will be positioned next to the block area in order to help children bridge the various types of dramatic play that is happening in the room. These small manipulatives offer children the opportunity to act out familiar house-hold themes and practice the symbolic representation skills.

Language and Literacy:
• The dramatic play centers will incorporate many new literacy elements. Writing pads and pens will be available in the grocery store and the home area for children to sign and make receipts, make shopping lists, and take phone messages. The magnetic alphabet refrigerator magnets continue to be a popular element to our play kitchen.
• Road signs will be introduced in the block area to help extend vehicle and road play.
• New books surrounding our themes of body awareness, construction, grocery stores, and fall will be added to the classroom.
• Many children have been showing an interest in letters and letter sounds. We will continue to support this interest by pointing out alliteration, beginning sounds of words, and letters in the children's names.

Construction:
• Large hollow and small unit blocks are available for construction. Many of the children have been exploring roads and ramps, and both vehicles and children have traveled the pathways. We will continue to support the play in this area and help to extend the road construction play be adding road signs and stop lights.
• The cardboard box construction has been a catalyst for large group projects! We will continue to encourage the children to use their imaginations, and each other, in order to make large structures such as trains and busses. This area promotes creative thinking, large and fine motor development, and many pro-social skills such as sharing, collaboration of ideas, and turn-taking.

Music and Movement:
• As children continue to explore the musical instruments in the music corner, we will offer the children some new ways to create rhythm. New drums and a shaker-making station will be available.
• We will have songs available on the computer to which children can listen and/or dance. Materials such as ribbons and scarves will also be available to encourage creative movements inspired by the different types of music. This area allows children to explore creative expression, increase body awareness, and engage in many sensory-rich experiences such as listening to different sounds and using their bodies to interpret different types of music.

Large Group:
• The activities for large group this week will be centered around body awareness and creative movement. We will read books and sing songs that increase the children's awareness and vocabulary of body parts. New materials and songs will be used to explore different ways of self-expression. We will also continue to encourage children to participate in the group activities so as to feel a part of the classroom community.

Large Motor:
• A soccer net will be available on the playground for children to practice aim and kicking. Basketball hoops and balls of different sizes will continue to be available as well. Ball play increases hand-eye coordination, helps to build balance and large muscle groups, and is a wonderful way to spark social interaction.
• Children are continuing to show improved skill in the gym. We will support the children as they explore climbing on the A-frame ladder, swinging on the rope swings, going down the slide, and jumping off of the mat-mountain. The new gym arrangement increases risk taking ability, strengthens alternate-feet climbing and endurance, and helps to refine coordination.

Snack:
Monday: Banana & Letter Cookies
Wednesday: Apple & Cheddar Bunnies
Thursday: Corn Muffins & Honey

Small Groups:
• Becky's group has been meeting to explore themes such as vehicles, construction, and ramps. After exploring the ways that toy cars move on block ramps, the children were thrilled to discover a "natural" ramp in the building to test their cars on. Most recently, the children used this ramp to test a variety of objects, such as rolling pins, balls, books, and dolls to determine which items would roll and which items would not.
• Bob's Woodland Animal Small Group met for the third time this past week and seems to be coming out of the woods. Cardboard boxes were introduced as a material for them to work with and alter as they chose. They became houses not only for animals but also for fire trucks and the children themselves. We will see where developments take us.
• Elizabeth's Peely Group has been exploring different aspects of caring for a pet. We have constructed toys for her out of found materials, cleaned her cage, and observed her behavior. The children have enjoyed discovering what she does when given toilet paper tubes and pieces of wood.

We saw a lot of movement and dancing as well as cooperative play and interaction happening this week. Please take a look.

The children were grocery shopping in the dramatic play area.

After connecting the two boxes with nuts and bolts, the children started using them as train cars/seats.

Children were hiding in the "woods" while the "monster" was sleeping.

Children were learning how to swing on a rope, using their upper body and core muscle strength.

Children were climbing over the A-frame ladder and bridge.

Picture 164.avi
The children were dancing and playing instruments in the rug area.

Lesson Plan for Ayuko's Class
Week of November 2nd
Lead Teacher: Elizabeth

Goals:
As children continue to settle in, become familiar with routines, and adjust to goodbyes, we are focusing on the relationships that are forming between them. We are encouraging children to tell each other how they feel when they encounter conflicts and ask each other to play when they are excited about a new activity. We also continue to observe play themes that are cropping up in the classroom, and we try to turn these into curriculum areas or activities whenever possible.

Art:
• Art Table: Different textured materials will be available to place underneath paper (i.e., lace, sand paper, corrugated cardboard) or to use directly for drawing. This provides children with a new and interesting experience and gives sensory feedback, while also developing the grasp on the writing utensil and pre-writing skills.
• Easel: We will add letter-shaped stamping blocks as well as new tools, such as rollers and sponge brushes, to the easel this week. Children will be able to paint with fall colors while exploring these new tools. Painting encourages artistic expression, hand-eye coordination, fine motor control, turn-taking, and the addition of letter shapes will develop letter recognition skills.

Manipulatives:
• Sandpaper letters will be placed at the manipulatives table, which can be traced and explored. This will help children physically experience the shapes of letters. This also develops fine motor control and steady movement.
• Sewing cards are available for practicing the in-and-out pattern of sewing. By repeating this motion, children internalize the concept of patterning, as well as beginning sewing techniques. This activity also builds hand-eye coordination, fine motor control, and patience.
• New and old puzzles depicting woodland animals, fall themes, numbers, and letters will be set out for children to work with. Puzzles are a great way to practice spatial awareness, problem-solving skills, the concept of part-whole, and fine motor development.

Sensory:
• Children will be able to work with shaving cream as a sensory activity. This activity will allow them to become aware of their sense of touch as well as develop their hand and finger muscles.
• At the playdoh table we will be using different tools to make tracks and prints in the dough. This encourages artistic expression as well as develops children's understanding of cause and effect. Fine motor development, the sense of touch, sharing, and social interactions are strengthened through this activity.
• In the water table, children will experience cause and effect when pouring, scooping, and filling, and will use water to manipulate water wheels.

Science:
• Children will be able to learn about and explore magnets this week in the science area. Magnetic wands and different metal and non-metal objects will be available for comparison and discovery. This will expand children's ability to think critically, make comparisons, observe and classify, and make hypotheses. Children will be able to use the magnetic wands throughout the classroom in order to test out different materials.

Dramatic Play:
• The loft area will be transformed into a kitchen this week. Children will be able to shop at the grocery store and then bring groceries home to the kitchen area, which will increase dramatic play and a home-school connection. The confined space of the loft encourages social interaction and negotiation skills, as well as large motor development when climbing in and out of the space.
• The grocery store will be moved to occupy the space in front of the loft, which will increase interaction and flow between these two areas. More literacy elements, such as making shopping lists, writing receipts, and labeling shelves, will be added to this area. Numeracy skills will be strengthened in the form of prices and coins. Children will be encouraged to work together to perform the roles of "cashier," "customer," and "shelf stocker." Children will also practice negotiation and cooperation skills when figuring out how to share popular items such as shopping carts and cash registers.
• Small dramatic play elements such as manipulative people, buildings, and small blocks will be added to the cave to encourage dramatic play in this cozy area. This will encourage social interaction, awareness of one's own body and space, abstract thinking, and a connection to real life.
• Cars and trucks will be available in the construction area, as well as small blocks for road construction.

Language and Literacy:
• In the grocery store, there will be labels on the shelves and writing opportunities when working with receipts or shopping lists. Magnetic letters will encourage letter recognition and manipulation. Pictures illustrating possible scenarios in the grocery store will encourage children to read and understand symbols, which is a pre-literacy skill.
• Letters are available for manipulation and exploration throughout the classroom. Letter puzzles, letter stamps at the easel, and labels will encourage children to become familiar with letters and discover the letters in their names.
• New books relating to the themes in the classroom will be brought out.

Construction:
• The construction area will move into the space previously occupied by the grocery store and kitchen. This will allow for more space to build and to push vehicles. Small unit blocks will be available, which work well as roads for our smaller vehicles. New large vehicles will replace the fire trucks. Having a variety of small and large blocks and vehicles encourages seriation and matching. Construction skills such as stacking build hand-eye coordination, muscle control, planning, cause and effect, cooperation, and impulse control.
• Cardboard boxes and planks that can be connected with plastic nuts and bolts have been available in the construction area. Children are just beginning to explore the possibilities of this project: they are now independently attaching pieces together to create structures, including a car with windshield wipers. These materials will continue to be available, and if any families wish to bring in sturdy cardboard boxes that can be added to our collection of materials, we would gladly receive them (preferably bigger than shoe boxes and smaller than 3-4 feet long). Open-ended materials like this encourage abstract and creative thinking, and the nuts and bolts are good fine motor practice.

Music:
• Maracas, bells, and shakers are available, along with the piano, for musical exploration. During our free play period, we will also periodically play recordings of different genres of music so that children can play along on instruments and dance. Music and creative movement allow children to explore their bodies, their senses, and artistic expression.

Large Group:
• During large group this week we will be adding new songs to our repertoire and reading books that have to do with the themes of the classroom. In addition, singing old favorites will allow children to participate on an ever increasing level. Each song will focus on rhythm or pitch so as to develop these early music skills. Another goal of large group is to extend children's ability to sit in the group, which we will continue to focus on this week.

Large Motor:
• The new gym arrangement has proven to be a challenge and an exciting change. This week children will continue to work on mastering the A-frame climbing structure, which requires them to climb up one incline, over a bar, and down the incline on the other side. This is good practice for spatial awareness, hand-eye coordination, large muscle development, balance, alternation of feet, and upper body strength.
• Children will continue to explore new cars outside. They will be able to help rake up leaves into a pile and decide what we should do with them (jump in? throw away?). We will also have a basketball hoop available for aim, throwing skills, and strength and muscle development.

Snack:
Monday: Banana & Rice Cakes
Wednesday: Letter Cheeze-Its & Apple
Thursday: Graham Crackers & Kiwi

• Picture day will be on Wednesday, November 4th. Please inform one of the teachers (before Wednesday) if you plan to purchase a portrait for your child. This is by no means a requirement. All the children will be photographed together for a class photo after the individual portraits are finished.
• Please continue to let us know of your child's favorite song and send us a You Tube link, CD, or mp3 if you have it!
• We would love to receive medium-sized cardboard boxes for our construction project. These should be larger than a shoe box, big enough for a child to sit in is a good size; smaller ones would be useful too.

We had yet another busy week this week. We noticed a lot of relationships are starting to develop. Please take a look.

After discovering the sand and mud, the children explored mixing water and sand.

Children enjoying the game of "stacking" slide.

Katie and Alma making "buttercream" together.

After discovering a large branch in the playground, Alma and Eba helped Elizabeth carry it to the gate, to be put up in our "tree house."

One of the examples of overcoming physical challenges: Madeline learned how to climb up and down the wall ladder and then jumped off from the third rung.

Children using rhythm sticks during the directed large motor activity in the gym.

Children gathering at the water table, taking turns using the water materials.

**Spring Soiree meeting will be held on Nov. 2nd at 7:00pm. This is the main fund raiser event (held sometime in April) for parent financial support which we believe will be crucial as the economy continues its slump. In addition, it is a pleasant social event for the Lab School community. If there are any parents who weren't at the PAC meeting but would like to be a part of this event, please come! Meeting room TBD.

**If there is a particular shopping routine or ritual, and particular stores that you visit that you would like to share with us, please do and we may be able to incorporate it and support your child's play.

**Please continue to send in empty food containers (no sharp metal edges, glass, or containers of nut products) of favorite foods of your family to be added to our grocery store for pretend play.

**if you have a favorite music on a CD that you or your child would like to share with us, please feel free to bring it in.

**We will be taking short, small-group nature walks in the coming weeks and would like to have any parent helpers who are able to join us. Please let us know.

**Parent-teacher conference continues this week. I will be sending you a confirmation/reminder soon. I'm looking forward to meet and chat with you!

Small Group
• Student teachers will continue their small group meetings this week, developing small project themes and activities. Groups have been formed as follows:

Teacher Becky-Vehicles Group: Otto, Cormac, Beatrix, and Maia
Teacher Elizabeth-Peely Group: Cashton, Alma, Katie, Ely and Madeline
Teacher Bob-Woodland Animals Group: Sam, Sofia, Abigail and Ebissa.

Again, please remember that not every child at this age is ready to participate in such a group. Some children may choose to participate on certain days and not others. Though we encourage children to join us, it is their choice to participate on any given day.

Lesson Plan for Ayuko's Class
Week of October 26th, 2009
Bob-Lead Teaching

Goals:
As children become even more comfortable with the classroom routines and become more confident at school, more of their individual characters are showing through. With this increased ease and comfort, play is becoming more involved and new abilities are being unveiled. We will watch and observe these abilities and find ways to support them and scaffold them. While we continue to foster social interactions, we will continue to support their awareness of the magnificent natural living world around them.

Art
• Art table: We continue our exploration of collages by providing glue and natural materials at the art table. More children are beginning to find creative expression with this different medium. When the rains stop we hope to get outside to collect more leaves, sticks, and other natural and found objects to add to our collages. These works of art will be on display in our classroom "tree house".
• We will look to the children for creative ideas to add to the tree house to make it their own. To support them in this we will position a leaf-making tray next to the tree house. On it will be scissors, tape, crayons and construction paper in fall colors.
• Painting on easel: The warm "fall" colors red, orange, yellow, and brown will continue on the easel this week, but other painting tools will be supplied, offering a different experience from the traditional paint brush. Painting offers the valuable experiences of artistic expression, hand-eye coordination, and color mixing.
Manipulatives
• Stacking cups remain popular, demonstrating seriation and rank ordering to size, along with other manipulatives emphasizing numbers and counting. To enhance hand-eye coordination, motor planning, and fine-motor development, we will continue to have large beads, string, and sewing cards available
• More alphabet puzzles will also be introduced to help children with letter recognition and early phonemic awareness, continuing a response to a notable increase in letter interest. Puzzles help to improve spatial awareness, an understanding of part-whole relationships, and fine motor development.
Sensory
• This week in the play doh area we shift emphasis and tie in concepts of the natural world by providing small woodland animal toys with which the children can make casts and animal tracks. With a finer play doh they might even be able to make an impression of a leaf, as well as small twigs and seeds. Along with sensory feedback, these manipulations are not unlike scientific inquiry and investigation, creating a record, an 'impression' of an organism--examining the evidence of an animal not seen.
• The water table, filled with rocks, toy boats, and water animals such as frogs, fish, and turtles, has been very busy. The rocks have been a surprising source of interest. New and different ones will be added. A lot of learning transfer takes place here. The children observe each other and learn new small motor skills , such as pincer grasp, and fine muscular control with the turkey basters , and encounter the physical properties of water and objects in water.
Science
• Harvest time gourds are replacing the wildflowers. (It has already been discovered that some float in the water table.) We will be cutting open some of the gourds during the week to see what's inside. Will it look like the insides of an orange pumpkin?
• The book cave remains a quiet place for a read, and quiet social interactions, though there is a chance that it could also become part of the habitat of a woodland animal, perhaps a raccoon, or a squirrel, or even a wolf den--small life histories of other species.
Dramatic Play
•The kitchen will now give way to a grocery area, with carts, a check out counter and a card swipe to pay for the groceries. It has been evident to us that even in this last week play skills are changing and increasing. We feel the new scenario will provide more dramatic scripts from their life experiences. Knowing something about shopping, they will be able to experiment and learn about it themselves. **If there is a particular shopping routine or ritual, and particular stores that you visit that you would like to share with us, please do and we may be able to incorporate it and support your child's play. We will be adding familiar elements from our homes, such as empty food packages (i.e., macaroni and cheese boxes), in order to foster the home-school connection. **Please continue to send in empty food containers (no sharp metal edges, glass, or containers of nut products) of favorite foods of your family to be added to our grocery store for pretend play.
• Babies and pets will remain close to our dramatic play area in order to expand upon the caretaking theme and provide comfort items if needed. Engaging in caretaking play helps the children to feel empowered and responsible, and symbolic play expands the children's abstract thinking and encourages social interaction.
• A new fall wardrobe of dress up clothes will be added to the dramatic play area, complementing the creative drama of the grocery store.
Language and Literacy
• We all listen carefully for emerging words and speech, acknowledging and supporting new language abilities while encouraging them to learn from each other. New topics and dramatic scenarios will create new opportunities for language and communication. Many children are suddenly verbalizing their alphabetic awareness, which we will continue to support with puzzles and many other active opportunities for alphabetic and phonemic awareness in our daily and numerous conversations.
Construction
• Having moved out of the (woodland) loft, the tool shop is now a compact place for 'bolting' together various lengths of cardboard panels. Turning a bolt with a screwdriver is a very challenging small motor skill which many of the children readily and eagerly undertake, demonstrating a great deal of persistence and concentration.
• Several types of blocks are available for the roadwork that often occurs in the back. The smaller blocks have come into play as buildings that the fire engines can save. Building blocks are wonderful spatial, motor, creative, and cognitive tools for the young mind and body.
Music
Beginning this week, teachers will offer small, brief listening (and perhaps dancing) sessions based on music they have selected from their collections, offering a wide variety of creative music expression from around the world. Together, children will become familiar with different aesthetic expressions from diverse cultures. Parents, if you have a favorite music on a CD that you or your child would like to share with us, please feel free to bring it in.
Large Group
• This week, in addition to songs and stories, we will begin to add more conversation to our large group meetings, modeling the exchange of information and social skills in a large group. Topics will be related to our woodland nature theme, and other topics of interest to all in the room.
• In addition to a variety of small instruments such as shakers, drums, and small glockenspiels, rhythm sticks debuted in the gym this past week and will be enjoyed in many a rhythm session to come, exercising fine motor skills with music and whole body rhythm.
Large Motor
• There is a new gym arrangement this week. Swings at the monkey bars foster climbing, hanging, muscular endurance, upper body strength, balance, and vestibular movement. There will be a donut attached to the slide, supporting skills such as spatial awareness, flexibility, balance, risk taking, and core muscle strength. Balls will be available for target practice (kicking and throwing). This fosters throwing, aim, hand-eye coordination, visual perception, catching and trapping, and kicking. A-Frame and bridge support climbing, balance, turn taking, hand-eye coordination, spatial awareness, alternation of feet, and upper body strength. Mat Mountain is available for climbing up and down and jumping. This activity fosters risk taking, spatial awareness, and depth perception.
• Various sized soft balls will be available outside for generating dynamic body movement, coordination and social cooperation. New cars, trucks, rakes, sieves, buckets, shovels, wheelbarrows, the play platform and kitchenware will continue to be a focus outdoors. The children learn coordination and strengthen large muscle groups through running, pulling and pushing cars and trucks, and scooping.

Snack
Monday: Birthday snack & Pretzels
Wednesday: Birthday snack & TLC Crackers
Thursday: Banana & Multigrain Cheerios

We had a busy week! Below are the highlights and moments we captured throughout the week.

Children cooking at the play-doh area, each making their own special dish.

Bob and Sam investigating the Minnesota native wild flowers.

Children noticing and playing with the snow on the ground and the oak tree.

Our first cooking project. We made applesauce and ate it for snack

The children taking time to "eat" at the kitchen area.

Fire fighter play in the dramatic play area: "Oh no! We have to put out the fire!"

Children discovering the flashlights and experimenting its use in the cave.

Going on a school exploration.

Story time during free play.

• We will be taking short, small-group nature walks in the coming weeks and would like to have any parent helpers who are able to join us. Please let us know.
• We will be collecting empty food containers of favorite foods for our dramatic play area, in order to bring familiar objects into our classroom.
• The weather has been very unpredictable lately. If your child has a pair of snowpants, boots, hats, and waterproof mittens at home, please bring it to school (labeled with your child's name) on the days we have snow in case we go outside. We have extra pairs of snowpants and snow accessories in school in case you do not have these readily available for your child. Snow is coming too soon, but we love to go outside to take advantage of the learning opportunitites provided in the "natural world." Thank you for your cooperation.
• Parent-teacher conference begins this week! Thank you for signing up. I will be sending you a confirmation/reminder soon. I'm looking forward to meet and chat with you!

October Meetings - Parent Discussion Group - Supporting the Development of Your Child's Social Skills
What are some ways you can help your child to develop socially? There are ways you can support the development of play skills and the emerging friendships the children are forming at school. Come prepared to share problems and ideas!

* Tuesday, October 20 - 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
* Wednesday, October 21 - 1 - 2:15 p.m.
* Friday, October 23 - 9 - 10:15 a.m.
* (We will meet in Room 108 - right above the school)

Lesson Plan for Ayuko's Class
Week of October 19th, 2009
Becky, Elizabeth, and Bob Co-Lead Teaching

Goals: As children settle into the routine of the classroom, we continue to support them through the transitions and help them become aware of themselves and each other through positive interactions and problem solving. We will continue to explore what is happening outside as the fall weather rapidly turns into winter, focusing on the changing foliage and on the behavior of animals in our environment. We will encourage and spur social interactions between children, as they learn how to share a space and materials.

Art
• Art table: We will continue our exploration of collages by providing glue and natural materials at the art table. We hope to get outside to collect leaves, sticks, and other treasures to add to our collages. These works of art will be on display in our classroom "treehouse" that we will be making this week.
• Painting on easel: Warm "fall" colors like red, orange, yellow, and brown will be available on the easel this week. Painting offers the valuable experiences of artistic expression, hand-eye coordination, and color mixing.
Manipulatives
• Old and new stacking cups will be available to practice seriation, or the ordering according to size. This valuable math skill will be accompanied by stacking toys that emphasize numbers and counting. We will continue to have large beads, string, and sewing blocks available to enhance hand-eye coordination, motor planning, and fine-motor development.
• New puzzles depicting the themes of fall, animals, and firefighters will be available. Alphabet puzzles will also be introduced to help children with letter recognition and early phonemic awareness. Puzzles help to improve spatial awareness, an understanding of part-whole relationships, and fine motor development.
Sensory
• The play doh area has been full of busy cooks! We will continue to foster this home-school connection by providing kitchen tools and food pictures in this area. The play doh table offers wonderful opportunities for sharing creations (we hear a lot of, "Look! I made noodles!") and sharing materials. New materials such as paper punches, herbs, and spices are being added to the play doh to enhance sensory awareness through touch, sight, and smell. The children will also have a literacy experience in this area as they look for their name and picture on our food wall.
• The water table will be transformed into a dramatic play center filled with rocks, toy boats, and water animals such as frogs, fish, and turtles. This pond area will encourage social interaction, science skills like displacement, and dramatic play skills like symbolic representation.
Science
• As we continue to observe seasonal changes, the wildflowers in the classroom are going to seed. The orange butterfly weed in particular offers a fantastic experience as the fine filaments attached to the seed easily lift it on a short puff of air, letting it slip lazily along the convection currents in the room. Several of the children have become adept 'puffers.'
• With harvests coming in, there will be a selection of gourds replacing the wildflowers, including a traditional orange pumpkin.
• Peely the gerbil remains quite happy. Many children check on her each day, wondering what she eats, and why she burrows into the bedding material. This interest will lead to further discussions about caring for living things, and the characteristics of living things.
• The book cave is a popular place for a quiet read, and quiet social interactions. It has also hosted a 'flashlight show', where one child observed, "the circle gets bigger when I put it up!" That is, the cone of light increased in diameter as the light source moved away from the reflective plane: physics, math, and scientific method in action.
Dramatic Play
• The kitchen area has been condensed in order to allow for cooking play to occur in the play-dough area as well. We will be adding familiar elements from our homes, such as empty food packages (i.e., macaroni and cheese boxes), in order to foster the home-school connection. Please send in an empty food container (no sharp metal edges, glass, or containers of nut products) of a favorite food in your family to be added to our kitchen for pretend play.
• In addition to babies, we have introduced pets into our dramatic play area in order to expand upon the caretaking theme and provide comfort items if needed. Engaging in caretaking play helps the children to feel empowered and responsible, and symbolic play expands the children's abstract thinking and encourages social interaction.
• Firefighting equipment, tools, and wheeled vehicles are available in order to encourage a variety of scenarios. Building with blocks and pushing trucks help develop strength and coordination, and dramatic play elements help children to expand their creative thinking.
Language and Literacy
• Children have been demonstrating increased interest in the alphabet. To support that interest, we will add alpha/numeric symbols into our play. An alphabet puzzle will now be on the puzzle table. We will add letters and numbers to our collage material and look for other opportunities to support this interest.
• With our changing themes, new books are in the classroom. Some portray the work of firefighters while others tell stories of woodland animals. Cards describing the children's favorite recipes are mounted at their eye level in the play doh kitchen.
• We all listen carefully for emerging words and speech, acknowledging and supporting new language abilities while encouraging them to learn from each other.
Construction
• The tool shop will be moved out of the loft next week to a smaller section of the dramatic play area. The children will be involved in a slow transformation of the loft area into a woodland habitat. Aspects of the transformation will include bringing live materials into the area and finding ways to artfully attach them to, and include them in the space. We hope to have the children's help in finding those materials.
Music
• A variety of small instruments such as shakers, drums, and small glockenspiels will be added to the piano area. Children will be able to explore rhythm, sounds, volume, technique, pitch, and movement. Making music and improvising together is an excellent scenario for social interaction and the enjoyment of each other in a shared activity.
Large Group
• The student teachers have been introducing a range of new materials mixed in with the old favorites. The new songs often require specific movements or verbal responses from the children, adding to their vocabulary and body awareness, as well as their glee. The old favorites are often reworked to challenge their expressive language skills or balance and body coordination.
Small Group
• Student teachers will begin their small group meetings this week. We will be taking groups out into the hallway to have an introductory meeting to get a feel for what the children are interested in. Please remember that not every child at this age is ready to participate in such a group. Some children may choose to participate on certain days and not others. Though we encourage children to join us, it is their choice to participate on any given day.
Large Motor
• The new gym arrangement has been a wonderful place to see developing risk-taking qualities. The children have been practicing their climbing skills while going over the A-frame ladder, across a bar bridge, and going up another ladder. Once they are at the top, many children have been enjoying big jumps into a padded area. This exciting area has also given us the opportunity to practice waiting for a turn. The teeter-totters continue to be a favorite game, giving wonderful vestibular feedback through rocking while also encouraging the children to work in pairs.
• Cars, trucks, rakes, and shovels will continue to be a focus outdoors. The children strengthen large muscle groups through running, pulling and pushing cars and trucks, and scooping. We will also be introducing balls of various sizes for children to practice hand-eye coordination, propulsion skills like throwing and kicking, and social interaction.

Snack:
Monday: Homemade sweet & russet potato fries with ketchup (by Amy) and bananas
Wednesday: Letter Cheez-Its & Apple
Thursday: Pretzels & Pineapple

Parent Discussion Group: Supporting the Development of Your Child's Social Skills
What are some ways you can help your child to develop socially? There are ways you can support the development of play skills and the emerging friendships the children are forming at school. Come prepared to share problems and ideas!
Tuesday, October 20 - 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
Wednesday, October 21 - 1 - 2:15 p.m.
Friday, October 23 - 9 - 10:15 a.m.
For more information please click on "Parent Discussion Group" under "Current Parents" on your left.

•We have enjoyed seeing the different things that children have brought into school and their enthusiasm for their treasures. We are happy to keep receiving what nature brings to your yard. The outside world is changing rapidly and helping your child to notice some of the transformations may feed their curiosity about nature.

•To encourage the home-school connection, please share with us what kinds of food your family likes to cook and eat. We have found the children to be much more conversant when we comment on specific foods that we know they like to cook.

•Half of the families have signed up for our fall parent-teacher conference. The main sign up sheet will be posted on the door. If you cannot sign up in person, please give me your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choice time via email. Suggest some alternate times if none of these work for you.

•Many thanks for staying in your cars at pickup time unless you have a spot in the angled parking lot or a metered spot. We realize the line moves slowly and it feels like you could run and grab your child quickly, but then the whole line of cars can't get around you. Please remember to stay in your car in the pickup line unless you have a parking spot. Eva will let us know that you are here via walkie-talkie and we will bring your child out to you. This allows the line of cars to keep inching forward. Also, please label all backpacks and jackets - this will also facilitate getting children to you more quickly at the end of the day.

Lesson Plan for Ayuko's Class
Week of October 12th, 2009

Goals: As we continue to support the children through the transitions of the day, they are increasingly aware of what will happen next. Many of our activities are geared towards helping children see themselves as part of a community: learning each other's names, becoming aware of each other's presence, and delving into the difficult problem solving which occurs when their desires collide with someone else's. We are also structuring simple activities that remind children of things they do at home in order to gain some comfort and insight into their personalities. We are continuing to make the most of the fall weather for exploring natural materials before the cold winter starts.

Art
•Art table: In addition to markers and paper, we will explore some of the science table materials (seeds and dried flower pods) at this location. We are hoping to incorporate some of these natural materials into the children's art by attaching them to contact paper.
•Painting on easel: Primary color paints will continue to be available to explore color mixing. Brush strokes (vertical, horizontal, circle, dabbing) will be modeled and the children will be encouraged to experiment.
•We will begin using glue with natural collage materials at the table using q-tips as an application instrument.
Manipulatives
•Dishes with small puff balls will be featured that the children can move to a tray using tongs. This process promotes fine motor development, persistence, and hand-eye coordination as children manipulate the tongs, grab objects, and successfully transfer them into another area. The nesting cups continue to be popular. Simple sewing blocks will allow us to explore the process of hand passing with a tool through a hole. These activities promote fine motor development and motor planning, size and color differentiation, stacking, and spatial awareness.
•Puzzles will be available to enhance fine motor development, spatial awareness, visual discrimination, and understanding of shapes. Puzzle topics include tools, food, and vehicles.
Sensory
•The children will continue to explore the connection between play doh and cooking this week. Materials, tools, and pictures will be provided to inspire many different cooking creations. Fine motor skills will be strengthened through rolling and squeezing dough, and manipulating various tools like spatulas and garlic presses. Dramatic play elements such as plates, cups, and flatware will encourage children to share their creations through meaningful social interactions. To encourage the home-school connection, please share with us what kinds of food your family likes to cook and eat. We have found the children to be much more conversant when we comment on specific foods that we know they like to cook.
• We will continue using the water tools from last week as they are still engaging the children: Bottles with smaller spouts and tubes of different diameters allow for connection to funnels and potential construction possibilities (small tubes inside of larger tubes). We will add color to the water to create an additional attraction. Water play helps develop the concept of empty and full, less and more, and in and out. Shells are also present in the water table to provide a sensory element.
• Small rain sticks are available to promote experimentation with sounds. The motor planning involved with turning the rainstick upside down challenges children's thinking, physical coordination, and creates a satisfying trial and effect game to share with teachers and others.
Science
•At the end of last week, play insects and small animals appeared among the wildflowers and the hollowed out branch in the classroom. The children were curious about what insects they were. There is also a hollow knot on the branch that is difficult to see into. This week we will cut it open to see what is inside. We will also look for late season insects hiding behind bark on the tree stumps and among the leaf litter on the playground. We have enjoyed seeing the different things that children have brought into school and their enthusiasm for their treasures. We are happy to keep receiving what nature brings to your yard. The outside world is changing rapidly and helping your child to notice some of the transformations may feed their curiosity about nature.
•As we experience part of what happens on a prairie, we will also experience fall harvest foods. As the apple season draws to a close, children will examine various kinds of apples displayed at the science table. As we experience several varieties of apple in our own "taste test," we will also make apple sauce as a class on Wednesday.
•Children will be encouraged to observe Peely in her "home." We will focus on her movements and daily routine, asking children questions about the similarities and differences with human life. Children are beginning to take note of Peely's small heart beat, and we are copying the way she eats. We will experiment with adding toilet tissue rolls to see what she does.
Dramatic Play
•The dramatic play area has been expanded to include firefighter equipment in order to incorporate fire rescue play that has developed from our tools area. Dramatic play helps children practice social skills and expand their creative thinking.
•Tools, workbenches, and hard hats will continue to be available in the loft area to extend the block play and to "fix" the toy cars and trucks that have been "crashing" or "breaking." This will promote social-emotional development through sharing, negotiation, cooperation, and communication.
•A diaper changing table and baby doll accessories are available in addition to multi-ethnic babies with baby carriages, bassinets, and strollers to foster symbolic play.
•Scarves, animal fabrics, and skirts will be available for children to support their pretend play, and foster social interaction and cooperation.
•Wheeled vehicles (dump trucks, cars, trains, and buses) are available to promote pretend play.
Language and Literacy
•In addition to the book area, we will incorporate a cozy reading/play area in the cave. The children have utilized this space as a place to relax and enjoy small group interaction. The cave promotes reading with peers or teachers, sharing of space, and social awareness. Language and literacy activities occur throughout the day and the classroom is filled with activities and materials that support their development. We will also start posting what things children like to cook at home near the playdough table.
Construction
•Hollow wooden blocks will be available in the block area to extend the construction of roads and ramps for the trucks. Smaller foam blocks have been placed in the loft area to encourage social interaction during construction. Tools are still available and the children will be encouraged to use them in mechanic play, construction, or firefighter play. Using both small and large blocks will help develop motor skills, expanding block play into the loft will challenge children to think creatively, and negotiating the space and materials will help develop social skills such as sharing, cooperation, and communication.
Music
•Instruments such as shakers and drums will be included throughout the day to support transitions and encourage participation. We will sing familiar songs as well as incorporate new songs as part of our routine and name songs to encourage the children to learn each other's names.
•The piano is open for the children to use to promote the exploration of sounds, volume, rhythm and social interaction.
Large Group
•We have been singing the Choo Choo Train song to introduce the children's names to each other. We will also continue to sing Little Green Frog and Open Shut Them. We will introduce a new rhyme, about the rain and snow, as that seems to be the way the weather is going. (See words below.)
Large Motor
• We have experimented with the sit and spins and the teeter totters in the gym. The sit and spins take some motor planning but allow the children to experience the powerful centrifugal force of spinning. The teeter totters are a two person toy allowing children to feel the sensations of balance, rocking, and "weightlessness." There are also low balance beams to promote toe to heel walking, balancing, and coordination. A couple of cozy spots are available for dramatic play and relaxation. A ladder leads up to an A-frame climber, which fosters spatial awareness, motor planning, and turn taking.
•Rakes, wheel barrels, and dump trucks will be available to support the children's interests in collecting, carrying, and dumping fallen leaves. We will also be exploring the front of the playground as we walk through the tall grass, investigating, and observing the things we find. The playground environment also supports the children's upper and lower body development, such as running and using tools to dig and mold sand.
Snack
Monday: Birthday snack and crackers
Wednesday: Snack by class & Cheddar Bunnies
Thursday: Graham Crackers made by Ross' Class & Applesauce for dipping

Songs:
LITTLE GREEN FROG
'Mm-ack' went the little green frog one day
'Mm-ack' went the little green frog
'Mm-ack' went the little green frog one day
And they all went 'Mm-Mm-ack'

But we all know frogs go la-di-da-di-da
La-di-da-di-da, la-di-da-di-da
We all know frogs go la-di-da-di-da
They don't go mm-mm-ack.

If All the Raindrops
If all the raindrops were oranges and lemon drops?
Oh what a rain that would be.
Standing outside with my mouth open wide.
Ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh.
If all the raindrops were oranges and lemon drops?
Oh what a rain that would be.

If all the snowflakes were strawberries and milkshakes?
Oh what a snow that would be.
Standing outside with my mouth open wide.
Ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh.
If all the snowflakes were strawberries and milkshakes?
Oh what a snow that would be.

As we are going into our 4th week of school, the teachers have noticed new connections and relationships blossoming amongst the children. Please take a look.

Cashton and Sofia playing parallel to each other, pounding the pegs with a hammer.

Katie, Cormac, and Alma observing Peely with Elizabeth.

Alma, Otto, Cashton, Ebisaa and Becky filling the buckets with sand to make a sand structure.

Children gathering to sing and dance to "Ring around the Rosie."

Cormac and Sam helping Otto fill his wheelbarrow.

Children pretending to be "cars" during a directed large motor activity in the gym.

10/6 PAC Meeting: 7pm-8:30pm
A group of parents works to support the lab school community in a variety of ways. Everyone is welcome.

10/8 Coffee with Barb: 8:45am-9:45am, 12:45pm-1:45pm
Our director will be available to answer any questions you may have about the lab school and the philosophy. The meeting will take place in the lounge.

Parent-Teacher conference
Please sign up for the parent-teacher conference if you have not already done so. The main sign up sheet will be posted on the door. If you cannot sign up in person, please give me your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choice time via email. Times that are taken: 10/19 - 1:30, 10/20 - 8:30, 9:15, 10/21 - 4:45, 10/27 - 9:15, 10/28 - 11:30

• Please check your child's folder daily for artwork, announcements, and other school news. The folder basket will be out at the door each morning at arrival and will be with us at the end of the morning at dismissal time.
• Please sign in your child upon arrival and note who will be picking up your child at the end of the day. This is particularly important in the beginning of the year when we don't know each family's schedule.
• Please do not bring any food into the classroom as we have children with allergies to a variety of foods, primarily dairy, wheat, and eggs. Many thanks for your help in keeping everyone safe.

Lesson Plan for Ayuko's Class
Week of October 5th, 2009

Goals: The children are slowly learning the routines of the classroom and are increasingly comfortable separating from their parents in the morning. We will continue to focus on building relationships among children and teachers by getting to know each others' names and finding a common thread through all forms of play. There will be several activities that incorporate the children's photos and names to encourage interaction among them and help us create a sense of community in the classroom. The play areas continue to be arranged to promote these goals and encourage the development of positive relationships with classmates and teachers.

Art
•Painting on easel and table: Since there have been a lot of children wanting to paint at the easel over the past few weeks, the children will have an opportunity to do collaborative painting on the table or individual painting at the easel. Primary color paints will continue to be available to explore color mixing. Brush strokes (vertical, horizontal, circle, dabbing) will be modeled and the children will be encouraged to experiment.
•Art table: Scissors will be featured in addition to markers, paper, and stickers to explore cutting and snipping. Cutting promotes hand-eye coordination, fine-motor development, and persistence.
Manipulatives
•The manipulatives table will have a basket with various forms of plastic shapes that the children can move to a tray using tongs. This process promotes fine motor development, persistence, and hand-eye coordination as children manipulate the tongs, grab objects, and successfully transfer them into another area. The counting blocks and color stackers will also be available. These activities promote mathematical concepts such as counting and seriating, fine motor development, size differentiation, hand-eye coordination, and spatial awareness.
•Puzzles will be available to enhance fine motor development, spatial awareness, visual discrimination, and understanding of shapes. Puzzle topics include tools, food, and vehicles.
Sensory
•There has been a lot of use of the oven at the playdough table. Cooking supplies and materials for making "pizza" will be available. Children will be able to kneed and decorate their dough with their "topping" of choice. This activity promotes fine motor development (squeezing, poking, and pinching), symbolic representation (modeling), and social interaction and turn taking.
•Bottles with smaller spouts and tubes will be added to the water table to promote the usage of a funnel and accurate pouring. Basters will also be available to experiment with the cause and effect of transferring water and to promote fine motor development, such as squeezing and releasing. Water play also helps develop the concept of empty and full, less and more, and in and out.
•Four noise sticks will continue to be available to promote experimentation with sounds. This challenges children's thinking, physical coordination, and creates a satisfying trial and effect game to share with teachers and other children.
Science
•This week we will continue to observe seasonal changes through experiences with various native plants. Stalks of orange butterfly weed, New England aster, purple prairie clover, Joe Pye weed and black-eyed-Susan's will be in vases, available for picking up and examining. Teachers will support and guide the childrens' exploration of differences between seeds and seedpods, leaves and plant structures. As these stalks and those outside begin to die we will talk about what these new seeds will do. As interest develops, we can both plant these seeds in pots in the room, and make small "sprout bags" from small plastic bags, a cotton ball, and a navy bean, dramatically demonstrating the sprouting process over a few days time. We also encourage you to look in your neighborhood with your child for fall leaves and plants to bring to school.
•As we experience part of what happens on a prairie, we will also experience fall harvest foods. As the apple season draws to a close, children will examine various kinds of apples displayed at the science table. Throughout the week, we will investigate and experience several varieties of apple in our own "taste test."
•Children will be encouraged to observe Peely in her "home." We will focus on her movements and daily routine, asking children questions about the similarities and differences with human life.
Dramatic Play
•A diaper changing table and baby doll accessories are available in the loft area in addition to multi-ethnic babies with baby carriages, bassinets, and strollers to foster symbolic play.
•Tools, workbenches, and hard hats will be available in the loft area to extend the block play and to "fix" the toy cars and trucks that have been "crashing" or "breaking." This will promote social-emotional development through sharing, negotiation, cooperation, and communication.
•Scarves, animal fabrics, and skirts will be available for children to support their pretend play, and foster social interaction and cooperation.
•Bead coasters will be available in the cave area to promote turn taking, shape recognition, hand-eye coordination, sorting, and counting.
•Wheeled vehicles (dump trucks, cars, trains, and buses) are available to promote pretend play.
Language and Literacy
•Books, in relation to the theme/topic of the curriculum, will be strategically placed in various areas of the classroom. Language and literacy activities occur throughout the day and the classroom is filled with activities and materials that support their development. Many activity areas are also labeled to help children begin to recognize print.
Construction
•Tools and workbenches will now be available in the loft, near the block area. Working with tools will help develop hand-eye coordination, both fine and gross motor skills, as well as mathematical skills, such as matching a peg to an appropriate hole, seriation, stacking and balancing, and one-to-one correspondence. This type of construction also encourages social interaction, collaboration, negotiation, and creativity, as we expect children to incorporate blocks and vehicles into their tool play.
Music
•Instruments such as shakers and drums will be included throughout the day to support transitions and encourage participation. We will sing familiar songs as well as incorporate new songs as part of our routine and name songs to encourage the children to learn each other's names.
•The piano is open for the children to use to promote exploration of sounds, volume, rhythm and social interaction.
Large Group
•We have been singing the Choo Choo Train song to introduce the children's names to each other. We will also continue to sing Open and Shut Them and Ram Sam Sam to promote fine motor movements and hand-eye coordination. We will include a new song, Rum Tum Tum, while playing the drum to learn the children's names, as well as rhythms and beats.
Large Motor
•The gym has been arranged. There will be low balance beams to promote toe to heel walking, balancing, and coordination. A couple of cozy spots are available for dramatic play and relaxation. A beam leads up to an A-frame climber, which fosters spatial awareness, motor planning, and turn taking.
•Rakes, wheel barrels, and dump trucks will be available to support the children's interests in collecting, carrying, and dumping fallen leaves. We will also be exploring the front of the playground, walking through the tall grass, investigating, and observing things we find. The playground environment also supports the children's upper and lower body development, such as running and using tools to dig and mold sand.
Snack
Monday: Banana & Trader Joe's Crackers
Wednesday: Apples & Special K Crackers
Thursday: Birthday snack & cheddar bunnies

What a successful first week of school with everyone together! Below are some photos illustrating our busy week in and out of the classroom.

Katie painting and exploring color mixing. Cashton and Bob working together on the shape sorter.

Cormac using measuring cups to fill a big bucket with water.

Children climbing up and down the A-Frame ladder, learning how to take turns and wait to climb one at a time.

Children taking turns using blocks to make a "bridge."

Children learning and exploring how to use scissors.

Children molding and "cooking" at the playdough area.

After taking notice of the crab apples at the science table, Bob and the children began to investigate them.

Children eating and relaxing right before we get ready to go outside.

Dear Families,

Welcome to the 3-AM classroom! We are delighted to see the children gathering and getting to know each other during these first days of school. The phase-in schedule was extremely helpful for the children to get settled into the classroom environment. The children explored the classroom materials while beginning to notice their peers playing around them. Some children started singing the "Old MacDonald" song in the barn cave with me. A few other children collaborated to make ramps and roads with the moving trucks. There was a group of children who "cooked" and poured "tea" in the kitchen while other children and teachers pretended to consume the "refreshments." Thank you to all the families who have contributed to our harvest/garden area at the science table. Some of the children are beginning to notice these items and have been very curious to see the various types of corn, touching the kernels with their fingers. Peely has been a wonderful addition to our classroom as well. The children constantly look at her with a magnifying glass to see what she is doing. While Peely curled her body up at the corner of the terrarium, a couple of children noticed that she was "hiding her face because she is sleeping."

As the children begin to feel comfortable in the environment, they start showing preferences for teachers, children, and toys in school. In the past few days, we noticed more pushing and grabbing of the toys as the children have been learning how to live in a shared space. Children in this age group have great difficulty sharing materials. We are encouraging the use of the phrase, "Can I have a turn when you're done?" or a shortened version of "my turn next?" to provide opportunities for children to gain experience with strategies for dealing with sharing. There will be bumps along the road as hitting, grabbing, and biting may occur, which is all normal but difficult to see our children go through. Please know that we are watching to make sure children are kept safe, yet our longer term goal is to have the children learn how to engage with each other appropriately. This may also mean that we talk through what happened and give alternate strategies to the children for next time. These changes take time but begin to take root as we work through this process.

We are observing each child's play so we can incorporate their interests into future lesson planning. This is a wonderful way to stimulate their interests and motivate their learning. We will continue to get to know each other through various forms of play such as: art, sensory activities, dramatic play, manipulatives, science, literacy, block construction, and large motor activities.

As this is the beginning of the school year, we have a few important announcements. From now on, we will meet regularly on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursdays from 8:30 to 11:15am. During pick-up time, we will have until 11:30 to dismiss all the children. We appreciate your punctuality as the student teachers have classes to get to and we need the time to clean up the classroom and review the day.

For the next few weeks, we will be leaving a permanent marker out at drop off time for you to label your child's jacket and backpack. Since most children this age don't always remember which coat is theirs, it will help us out when we are assisting them to put on their jackets and sweaters. As some of you may have noticed, after snack time while it is still warm outside, we ask the children to either put on their sweaters and coats in the classroom or place them in the big laundry basket before going out to the playground. We teachers may not be aware of whose jacket belongs to whom unless we see them wearing it in the morning. It would be very helpful if you could take the time to label all of your child's clothing. Thank you.

The curbside drop-off and pick up policy will begin October 5th (8:30-8:45am drop-off, and 11:15-11:30 pick-up). Please refer to the parking letter on the drop-off and pick up policy. Thank you for your cooperation.

There are also some reminders and policies that are very important for you to know:

*Birthdays are celebrated in the classroom during snack time. It is a very low-key event, however, parents may join us during snack time if they like. The State of Minnesota licensing guidelines require that all snacks be either store bought or prepared at school. Suggestions include: popsicles (Edy's 100% juice bar, and at the organic section of Cub: All Fruit Bars and Little Cuties - tofuti) and yogurt (Yo Kids from the Cub organic section or Dannon's all natural yogurt.)

*Each child has a folder with school information, newsletters, artwork, etc. for you to take home. Please check this folder on a regular basis.

*Please have your child come into school with a backpack, labeled with their name inside or out. The backpacks are helpful to put school materials in as well as accessory clothing once winter begins.

*Favorite toys, books, and other materials from home are often very difficult to share. Please try to leave these items at home. We also have a NO WEAPONS policy, meaning such toys or items must stay at home. Security items, such as a blanket or a stuffed animal, can be helpful for children getting acclimated to school. To avoid getting lost, they should be left in the cubbies unless needed by your child.

*Due to the hazards of extreme allergies, we are a PEANUT-FREE school. Please check the ingredients carefully on any snack items and make sure the products do not contain peanuts, and are not processed in the same factory where peanuts may have been handled (it will be written on the label).

*If you or an authorized caregiver picks up your child in person during dismissal time, please make sure to notify the lead teacher when you are leaving school with your child. For safety purposes, we want to make sure that every child is dismissed properly.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Sincerely,
Ayuko

9/30 PAC Welcome Coffee Hours: 8:30-9:30
The Parent Advisory Council is hosting a get together in the lounge. If you are available, please take the opportunity to enjoy a casual conversation with fellow Lab School parents. Snacks, Coffee, and Tea will also be provided.

10/6 PAC Meeting: 7pm-8:30pm
A group of parents works to support the lab school community in a variety of ways. Everyone is welcome.

10/8 Coffee with Barb: 8:45am-9:45am, 12:45pm-1:45pm
Our director will be available to answer any questions you may have about the lab school and the philosophy. The meeting will take place in the lounge.

We had a wonderful first two days of school. The children explored their new environment and started noticing their classmates. Please take a look at the pictures I was able to take...

The children were easing into the routine of having snacks and then getting ready to go outside.

The children exploring the classroom environment.

Katie, realizing the oven was "hot," grabbed two oven mits to carefully take out the cupcakes.

Elizabeth and Otto collaborated to make a bridge/road with a ramp. As Otto placed two of his trucks on the road, Madeline brought her blue truck to form a line.

The children were digging sand and taking turns using the sand tools.

Cormac, along with his classmates on Thursday, drove to the gas station and "paid" Bob to pump gas.

• Parent Information Night is this Thursday evening from 7-9pm. Please come to hear about our philosophy, curriculum and helpful points to starting off the year successfully. This is an adult-only event.
• Please check your child's folder daily for artwork, announcements, and other school news. The folder basket will be out at the door each morning at arrival and will be with us at the end of the morning at dismissal time.
• Please sign in your child upon arrival and note who will be picking up your child at the end of the day. This is particularly important in the beginning of the year when we don't know each family's schedule.
• Please do not bring any food into the classroom as we have children with allergies to a variety of foods, primarily dairy, nuts, wheat, and eggs. Many thanks for your help in keeping everyone safe.

We have a great team of student teachers this term, and they are looking forward to working with you and your children. The information below should help you get to know them a little better:

Bob
I grew up in the Hudson River Valley, in Hastings-on-Hudson, just outside of New York. Before coming to Minneapolis, I had worked for ten years as a unit manager in broadcast television, with the "Today Show" in New York, and the NBC News Bureau in London. In 1990, my wife and I moved to Minneapolis to expand her background in cancer research into the area of epidemiology. After many years as a dad at home looking after our two daughters, now aged fourteen and sixteen, I entered the Early Childhood/Early Childhood Special Educations Initial Licensure/Masters program. I look forward to working with preschool children and becoming involved on issues of quality, funding and universal access to preK programs. I enjoy reading (usually non fiction) and doing successful home repairs. I also love observing nature. Minneapolis is a wonderful place to live and raise children.

Elizabeth
I am in my second year in the M. Ed. Initial Licensure program in Early Childhood Education and Special Education, and I am excited to be starting my series of student teaching experiences! I grew up in Lawrence, Kansas, and did my undergraduate degree at Oberlin College (in Oberlin, Ohio) in German studies and French Horn performance. I moved to the Twin Cities in 2006 to work for Americorps as a literacy coordinator, and then I spent a year in Berlin, Germany, teaching English. After I complete my degree, I hope to work either as an early childhood or early childhood special ed teacher. I enjoy knitting and crocheting, biking, gardening and shopping at farmers markets, reading, music, and being with friends and family.

Becky
I am originally from LaCrosse, WI, but I have been living in Minneapolis for the past five years. I am in my second year of the Early Childhood/Early Childhood Special Education masters program. My undergraduate degree is in Theatre/Dance from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. My passion for dance and movement led me to study somatic movement therapy with various practitioners throughout the country; I am particularly interested in the early movement patterns and reflexes of infants and toddlers. After completing the education program, I hope to work in special education in a birth-to-three program or a special education preschool. In my free time you can find me at the local farmer's markets, in my kitchen, outside taking walks and bike rides, and at home snuggling with my two cornish rex cats, Henri and Pippin.

Hello families! My name is Ayuko Uezu Boomer. I was born and raised in Manhattan, New York, and moved to the Twin Cities a couple of years ago with my husband, George, who is a native Minnesotan. My immediate family and friends still live in NYC so I visit there often. In my down time, I like to take my dog, Otsuu, out for a walk and play with my cat, Tama, on his cat tree. I enjoy traveling, singing, and eating. If you know any good restaurants to go to in Minnesota, please let me know. I love to try them out.

This is my third year teaching at the SGM Lab School. I was trained at the Lab School at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. There, I earned my M.S.Ed degree in teaching from Nursery to 6th grade. I also lived in Japan for a couple of years teaching English to children ranging from 5 to 18 years old. After returning from Japan, I became a preschool teacher in Manhattan, and continued to be in this profession. I am looking forward to having an exciting year with you and your children!

We will be updating our weekly lesson plan on the Lab School website at the beginning of each week, so you can discuss school activities at home with your child. As you read it over, you will have an idea about what we are planning on exploring and investigating in the classroom. You may notice that your child's description of the day's activities slightly differs from the description we teachers give you. If you read that the children are "exploring shapes and colors" at the manipulatives table, the children may tell you that they played with puzzles and toys. Even though you may read about the activities in a newsletter or the lesson plan, please take the opportunity to ask your child about their day, using the lesson plan as your guide.

Lesson Plan for Ayuko's Class
Weeks of September 23rd and 28th, 2009

Goals: The first couple of weeks we will focus on helping the children say goodbye to their families and adjusting them to the school environment. As the children explore and investigate the classroom, we hope they begin to think positively of the teachers and school. Slowly we will begin to learn the routines of the classroom and give children the support they need to make transitions through the morning. The play areas are arranged to promote these goals and encourage the development of positive relationships with classmates and teachers.

Art
•At the easel, wooden paint brushes will be available to explore brush strokes and fine motor grip. Primary color paints will be available to explore color mixing.
•The children will be able to explore the properties of paper, markers, stickers, and scissors at the art table.
Manipulatives
•The manipulative tables will have shape sorters and colored stackers. The shape sorters promote fine motor development, shape and color differentiation, and hand-eye coordination for spatial awareness. The colored stackers serve the same purpose, but also promote the awareness of size differentiation and seriation (large to small.)
•Puzzles will be available to enhance fine motor development, spatial awareness, visual discrimination, and understanding of shapes. Puzzle topics include fruit and vehicles.
Sensory
•Play dough will be available for sensory exploration, fine motor development (squeezing, poking, and pinching), symbolic representation (modeling), and to promote social interaction.
•The water table contains items such as measuring cups and bottles to encourage the practice of pouring and filling. Water play is soothing and calming to most children and also encourages social awareness as children notice what those across from them are doing with the same materials. Water play also helps develop the concept of empty and full, less and more, and in and out.
•Four noise sticks promote experimentation with sound and how to produce the sound. This challenges children's thinking, physical coordination, and creates a satisfying trial and effect game to share with teachers and other children.
Science
•Various forms of foliage and camouflaging frogs will be hidden in a terrarium. The children will be encouraged to observe and investigate the items in the terrarium using magnifying glasses.
•We are beginning to collect leaves, flowers, fruit and vegetables from our garden and surroundings for observation, exploration, and discussion. Please feel free to bring in natural materials that your child finds around your yard, garden, or neighborhood.
Dramatic Play
•Familiar household items are available in the kitchen area to promote social interaction and cooperative play. There are also multi-ethnic babies available with baby carriages, bassinets, and strollers to foster symbolic play.
•Scarves and soft stuffed animals are available at the loft area to promote social interaction, pretend play, and playing peek-a-boo games.
•There are various dress-up clothes available for children to support their pretend play and foster social interaction and cooperative play.
•The barnyard set is arranged in the cave area with horses, cows, and pigs to stimulate pretend play, perhaps reflect on a trip to the state fair, and promote social interaction among children and teachers.
•Moving trucks and cars are available to promote pretend play, social interaction, and negotiation.
Language and Literacy
•Language and literacy activities occur throughout the day and the classroom is filled with activities and materials that support their development. We have a book area for the children to read stories individually or with their peers or teachers. The process of independently turning pages in a book and dictating a story from the pictures is also a form of emergent reading. We will begin to have a daily circle time when the children are ready to sing and read a story together, until then we will read books in smaller groups.
Construction
•The block area is open for social interaction and collaborative building. Block building promotes mathematical concepts such as balancing, connecting pieces from parts to whole, and exploring concepts of space (width and height), as well as hand-eye coordination. This area contains cardboard boxes, large wooden hollow blocks, and foam blocks. We expect the blocks may eventually be incorporated into buildings for the vehicles located nearby.
Music
•Music will be apparent throughout the day to support transitions and encourage participation. We will sing good morning songs as part of our routine and name songs to familiarize children with each other's names. We will also sing some finger-play songs to promote fine motor development and hand-eye coordination.
•The piano is open for the children's use to promote exploration of sound, volume, rhythm and social interaction.
Large Motor
•The gym will be arranged to assess and support basic skills such as jumping, climbing, balance, and coordination.
•There will be a tent, "camp fire," and a picnic table at the grassy area to promote camping pretend play. The playground is also arranged to support the children's upper and lower body development, such as running and using tools to dig and mold sand.
Snack
Wednesday 9/23: rice cakes, water, and milk (first half of alphabet.)
Thursday 9/24: rice cakes, water, and milk (second half of alphabet.)
Monday 9/28: pretzels, water, and milk
Wednesday 10/1: cheddar bunnies, water, and milk
Thursday 10/2: Birthday snack, graham crackers, water, and milk

3-Day Daily Schedule
Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday
Ayuko's Class

7:45-8:30 Set-up and planning with assistant teachers. This includes the classroom, gym, playground and snack.

8:30-8:45 Arrival and individual welcome of children.

8:45-9:40 Self-directed activities from various learning centers. These centers include the art table, sensory table, manipulatives, book area, discovery and science table, dramatic play, and construction area. This may also include small group time, the topics of which will be generated by the interests of the children. Music and movement may spontaneously occur during the day.

9:40-9:50 Clean up and toileting.

9:50-10:00 Large Group. Activities include, reading stories, singing songs (good morning, name songs, etc), doing movement activities, and discussing topics that occur during this time.

10:00-10:05 Transition to the gym.

10:05-10:20 Large motor activities in the gym (Room 40)

10:20-10:45 Hand washing and Snack. The children will begin to learn to pass out napkins and cups, pour their own drinks and serve their own snacks.

10:45-10:50 Transition from snack to the playground

10:50 -11:15 Outdoor play

11:15-11:30 Dismissal and Good-byes.

11:30-1:00 Clean up and daily meetings by teachers.

Phase-In Schedule for Ayuko's Class
Wednesday 9/23, Thursday 9/24
and Monday 9/28

8:45-9:25 Free play time - self directed activities

9:35-9:40 Large Group

9:40-9:50 Gym

9:50-9:55 Hand washing and toileting

9:55-10:10 Snack

10:10-10:30 Outside and Goodbye

Dear Families,
Below is a copy of my goals for the beginning of the school year.

Social Development:
• Establish relationships among teachers and children.
• Start a consistent routine in the classroom.
• Observe and become familiar with each child's social approach and interactions.
• Encourage and support the use of classroom expressions to facilitate exchange of materials ("Can I have a turn?" "It's not your turn yet.")

Emotional Development
• Establish a sense of security with the teachers and the school environment.
• Support children and parents in forming and managing positive separations.
• Learn each child's form of expression, but also encourage using words to express how they feel.
• Encourage each child's independent thinking and decision-making

Physical Development
• Learn each child's large motor capabilities (energy level, spatial awareness)
• Learn each child's small motor capabilities (fine motor skills, manual dexterity)

Cognitive Development
• Observe and support each child's style of learning
• Observe and become familiar with each child's interests.
• Observe and become familiar with each child's language abilities (vocabulary, expressive, receptive).

Creative Development
• Become familiar with each child's creative expression through different media.
• Learn each child's interests through various forms of play.
• Support and foster each child's exploration and discovery during play.