Recently in Ross's Weekly Plans F12 Category

Weekly Lesson Plan For Ross' Class
Week of: May 20-24, 2013
Lead Teaching This Week: Hilary

Overview:
Hello Families! Last week was truly a week full of spring, with all the nice weather we had... hopefully, this week will be the same ☺. Last week, we kept an eye on the children's hosta plants outside the classroom...and noticed some dramatic changes! We also planted our own seeds during large group, and we will continue thinking/discussing how to care for them throughout the week; especially, "Watering our seeds so they grow!" Another change we made to the classroom was in the dramatic play area, switching from a coffee shop to a doctor's office. This week we will explore aspects of a doctor's office and continue to add new materials with the help of the children: using their past experiences and visit to the doctor as a guide.

Sensory Table:
• Materials: Soil, plastic trees, shovels, rakes, rocks, plastic bugs
• Rationale: The soil table continues to be a hit, as the children continued to explore with the soil and bugs all last week. We started to use the bugs and trees to create forests and make our own stories. This week we will additional materials like plastic trees and other animals that eat bugs or live in the woods to introduce the concept of food chains and habitats.
• Skills: peer interactions/collaboration, problem solving, imagination/creativity, fine motor

Expressive Art (art table):
• Materials: Easel: paint, paintbrushes, plastic egg carton halves, paper; Art table: Paper, watercolors, water, egg carton halves, paintbrushes.
• Rationale: Last week the children explored the new medium of watercolors. This week we will continue working with water colors and may add coffee filters to explore the differences in changing the type of paper we use as well as how the liquid color spreads and changes as it goes through/across the paper.
• Skills: recognition of colors, making patterns by using different colors, artistic expression, imagination/creativity, fine motor,

Science:
• Materials: soil, seeds, water, spray bottle, cartons, journals, pencils
• Rationale: Last week during large group we looked outside to see if our plants were growing along the front of the building, and boy, did they ever! The children noticed that some of their plants were even bigger than their popsicle sticks. Some of the children also planted their own seed to take care of in the classroom, as it turns out we had a bad bunch of soybeans...with no one's pouches resulting in germination. This week we will continue watching the plants outside and drawing what we see in our journals. We will also continue our seed planting and taking care of our plants by watering them every day and tracking the changes.
• Skills: hypothesizing, making observations, exploring, recording data/information, strengthen understanding of plant life cycle

Math/Manipulatives:
• Materials: Shape puzzles, small build blocks in different shapes such as squares, rectangles, and triangles, geo board
• Rationale: Last week the children continued to work on the puzzles with shapes, and this week we will switch out some of the puzzles to bring in some geo boards for the children to start exploring with. Geo boards work on fine motor skills and involved putting rubber bands on different pegs on the board. The children will create different shapes using their rubber bands.
• Skills: shape/shapes recognition, symbolic representation (creating with blocks), fine motor

Literature Center (including The Nook):
• Materials: paper, stamps, paint, white boards, markers light table, storybook pieces
• Rationale: The writing table continues to be a hit! Last week the children worked on making words by using letter stamps and drew lots of pictures! This week we will continue to provide paper and stamps for the children to use. The books on tape also seems to be a hit and we this week we may add some more books on tape to our collection. The children were introduced to new storybook pieces to use on the light table to create their own stories. We will continue using the storybook pieces this week and will add a few imaginative books to help give the children some ideas.
• Skills: letter recognition, pre/early literacy skills, imaginative thinking, symbolic representation, literacy skills

Dramatic Play:
• Materials: "Doctors office" props (syringes, rubber gloves, stethoscope, band aids) dress up clothes (scrubs, doctors coat)
• Rationale: The play in the coffee shop has started to fade this past week, so in collaboration with the afternoon class and a few discussions with some of the children we have decided to create a new dramatic play area. With the new change the children were excited to play in the doctor's office and made comments about a time when they went to the doctor. On Monday we will have even more new materials in the doctor's office!
• Skills: imaginative/creative play, peer relationships, large motor skills, symbolic representation, connection to surrounding community/real-life experiences.

Large Motor: Gym and Playground:
• Materials: Gym: monkey bars w/ connected slide and donut hole, a-frame balancing bridge and climbing walls Playground: wheelbarrows, shovels, wagons, tricycles and soccer balls)
• Rationale: The set up in the gym continues to be a hit! The children swing on the money bars with their feet and love trying to walk across the a-frame balancing bridge. After this week the teachers will be making some new changes to the gym. Also with the weather being so nice outside the teachers are going to open the toddler playground during free play to allow for larger motor/big body play. On the playground, we continue to bring out shovels, wagons, buckets, tricycles and soccer balls. We are seeing a lot of soccer games and digging in the sand to find treasure (gems).
• Skills: jumping/landing skills, upper/lower body, cardiovascular endurance, hopping, propulsion skills, static balance.

Announcements and reminders:
• This week, Laura E and Hilary will be gone on Monday, and Laura E will be gone on Thursday. Sheila will join us on Monday.
• NO SCHOOL MONDAY, MAY 27 - In observance of Memorial Day
• Don't forget about the Pizza Party the following day - Tuesday night: 6-7.30p. We hope you can come!
Put in on the calendar - "End of the Year" Party on Thursday, June 6!

Snack:
Monday - Cucumbers & crackers
Tuesday - Rice Chex & fruit smoothies
Wednesday - Pretzels & dried apples
Thursday - Rice cakes & carrot sticks
Friday - Oven fries
**All snacks served with choice of milk or water, unless noted**

Weekly Lesson Plan for Ross' Class
Week of: May 13 - 17, 2013
Lead teaching this week: Team teaching

Overview/goals: Hello families! With all of the rain from this past week we are hoping the plants outside will continue to grow. Last week, the children placed a popsicle-stick with their picture on it next to the budding hostas in front of the building, and will get an opportunity to observe and record the changes. This may be something fun to look at on your way in each morning, too! The teachers also noticed the children spending less time in the classroom coffee shop; therefore real food and drinks have been brought in to reengage the children. The children have been given the opportunity to sell, make, and serve the food/drinks, giving them the connection of what a real coffee shop job is like. Next week the children will continue selling "kid tea" and receiving their snack from the coffee shop. The teachers are thinking of changing the dramatic play area this week, too, so the children will get an opportunity to give their ideas about what the next area could be! As we get closer and closer to the end of the session, we want to start bring closure to some of our classroom explorations that have taken place this spring, as well as over the course of the school year.

Expressive Art (drawing table, clay table, paint easel):

• Materials: Drawing table: Paint, paint rollers, Styrofoam plants, Styrofoam blocks; Clay table: clay, cutting tools, wire, branches; Painting easel: paint, paper, and paint brushes

• Rationale: Experimenting with different ways to transfer designs from Styrofoam onto paper continues to be popular at the art table, thanks to Liam's sister, Alma, whom introduced this activity to the children last week. Color mixing and collaborating at the easel has also continued. The children are mixing primary colors to create new colors. Black and white paint is also available to create different hues. Story telling will continue at the clay table, using the materials at the table to help act out stories. A pirate story was told last week, which included a princess and a queen. The children created pirate ships and castles to go along with their storytelling.
• Skills: Creative/artistic expression, social skills, symbolic representation, experimentation, fine motor skills

Sensory Table:
• Materials: Soil, plastic insects, rocks, plastic trees/plants, plastic shovels and spades, grass seeds
• Rationale: Last week the children enjoyed using their imaginations at the soil table, by creating different scenarios for the insects. They explored the soil and built different homes/buried the insects. Many children tried to bury the large rocks and then ask other children to try and find them. Some children created "bad guy" and "good guy" insects and played various games following that theme.
• Skills: Fine motor skills, collaboration with peers, exploration of components of soil

Math/Manipulatives:

• Materials: Fraction puzzles, various shape puzzles, alphabet puzzles, story telling vinyl pieces; the nook: story telling pieces

• Rationale: The fraction puzzles have continued to be a challenging one for the children to figure out. They enjoy the challenge and will sometimes work together to help put together the pieces. The 3D/spatial rectangle puzzle has also been a popular and challenging puzzle that challenges the children's spatial planning/problem solving. These puzzles will continue to be the main focus of our table.
• Skills: One-to-one correspondence, fine motor skills, learning about/comparing fractions, part-to-whole relationships, shape recognition, letter recognition

Literature Center/The Nook:
• Materials: Rubber stamps, markers, pencils, scissors, paper and white boards

• Rationale: The story pieces in the nook continue to be popular among the children. After watching Laura P retell the "Jack and Jill" nursery rhyme, the children have started using the pieces to tell their own invented stories. The teachers will continue to bring the story pieces to large group and tell new stories in hopes to spark the interest in some new storytellers. The literature center will remain the same since the children are still interested in using the rubber alphabet stamps to write messages.
• Skills: Pre/early literacy skills, letter recognition, fine motor strength, phonemic awareness, creativity skills

Dramatic Play:
• Materials: "Coffee Shop" props (to-go coffee cups, lids, mugs, pitchers, cash register, our "own" money), food "making" materials (beads, puff balls, small squares, bottle caps), kitchen/cooking props (hand mixer, plates, our "own" oven, pans), coffee beans, measuring cups/spoons.
• Rationale: We had lots of fun in the coffee shop last week; we decided to make our own "kid tea" this week and sold it in the coffee shop. The children took on roles like the cashiers, customers, and servers. This also got them excited to use the food making materials, again. In addition to using the materials to make our own food we decided to make our own "kid" tea this week and sell it in the coffee shop. This week we will continue to use these materials to make more food and also may bring in another food item to sell out of the coffee shop for our the possible "grand closing" of the coffee shop, as we also feel ready for a new dramatic play set-up.
• Skills: imaginative/creative play, peer relationships, large motor skills, symbolic representation, connection to surrounding community/real-life experiences, math skills (measuring).

Block Area:
• Materials: Large hollow blocks, small shaped blocks, ramps, traction pads, wheels, keyboards.
• Rationale: We saw a plethora of TIVs, rocket ships, police cars, and stage building (to act out our own plays) in the block area last week. We have been busy working with the new materials that were added last week, like the wheels. During the play with the car building a few of the children used the wheels as fuel to put in their cars. This week we will continue to use these new materials to add onto the structures we build. With only a few weeks left in the school year we will start to wrap up some of these stories in the dramatic play area.
• Skills: Large and fine motor skills, problem solving, peer relationships.

Large-motor:

• Materials: Gym: Monkey bars w/ connected slide and donut hole, a-frame balancing bridge and climbing walls Playground: wheelbarrows, shovels, wagons, tricycles and soccer balls

• Rationale: In the gym: The children have enjoyed our new gym set. The A-frame balancing bridge and the monkey bars have been a hit this past week. The children will continue to explore the new set up. They will be able to challenge themselves physically to get to the top of the climbing wall, which they are eager to jump down from. On the playground: A frisbee has been introduced on the playground and the children have created rules for taking turns when throwing it. With the more spring-like weather lately, there have been worm hunts and digging for worms as well. Hopefully as it warms up, tricycles and wagons will be able to be used every day.

• Skills: Peer relationships, upper/lower body strength, dynamic and static balance hopping, jump/landing skills, propulsion skills,

Announcements/special interests:
• The all-school camping trip is this weekend! For those not planning to spend the night, I hope you'll still be able to join us for the events on Saturday. See the flyer of the Lab School homepage for more information.
• It's our dish week next week, and we would really appreciate help from the parents one last time!
• Believe it or not, the end of the year is almost here, and that means we'll be celebrating in a few ways. We have the Pizza Party on Tuesday, May 28 from 6-7.30p. We also have our "End of the Year" party schedule for Thursday, June 6. More details will come in the next week about times and possible locations, so stay tuned!

Snack:
Monday - Bagel pizzas
Tuesday - Celery & Sunbutter
Wednesday - Carrots & rice cakes
Thursday - Popcorn
Friday - Applesauce & crackers
** All snacks served with a choice of milk or water, unless otherwise noted**

Weekly Lesson Plan For Ross' Class
Week of: May 6 - 10, 2013
Lead teaching this week: Laura P.

Overview/goals:
Hello families! Hopefully soon we will be seeing warmer temps, and spring will finally be ready to show itself, as we are ready to welcome it into our classroom (especially on the playground, as well)! In our class we have been focusing a lot on plants and the type of care that plants need in order to grow big and strong. Warmer temps and sunshine will help us emphasize this point. This week small groups are beginning to delve into more projects exploring more with numbers, letters and simple machines! Small groups will be introducing activities that will help foster deeper critical thinking skills of hypothesis creating/testing, and reasoning.

Sensory Table:
• Materials: Soil, plastic insects, rocks, plastic trees/plants, plastic shovels and spades
• Rationale: During large group, the children were shown how to plant seeds using soil. The importance of having rich nutrient filled soil was also discussed. In addition to this discussion, we also talked about how to care for our plants in order to help them grow. The children came up with a list of ways to help care for plants (e.g. not squishing, smashing or sitting on them. This week we will possibly bring in real grass seed to plant in a section of the sensory table that will be sectioned off.
• Skills: Fine motor skills, collaboration with peers, exploration of components of soil

Expressive Art (drawing table, clay table, paint easel):
• Materials: Drawing table: Paint, plastic shapes, plastic letters, receipt paper rolls, balls with designs, paper; Clay table: clay, cutting tools, wire, flowers/plants; Painting easel: paint, paper, and paint brushes
• Rationale: Mixing paints at both the drawing table and paint easel has continued to be a focal point of both art centers. The creation of stories and patterns has taken place at the drawing table expressed through the use of the stamping materials. A flower has been brought to the clay table to help inspire the children to create new clay structures. Interesting flowers and plants will be continually added to the table for inspiration. Frances will also we be in our class on Monday and Tuesday to help facilitate our print making activities.
• Skills: Creative expression, shape recognition, symbolic representation, experimentation, fine motor skills

Science:
• Materials: Rat home, insect homes, soybean seeds/pouches
• Rationale: The soybeans have relocated to the science center where children will be able to replant new seeds since our first trial did not turn out as expected. They will be able to compare and contrast the two different seeds and see which will bring more results. The children have hypothesized reasons why their seeds may not have been successful. They came up with reasons such as; there wasn't enough water, there was too much water and there was no soil. After bringing in the new larger rat home, the children have brainstormed ways to help the rats explore the heights of their new habitat. Drawings have been sketched in their journals and the hollow blocks have also been used to make smaller versions of what can be built in the rat homes. The soybeans have also relocated over to the science center where children will be able to replant new seeds since our first trial did not turn out as expected.
• Skills: Observation, data collection/recording, hypothesis creating/testing, making predictions

Math/Manipulatives:
• Materials: Fraction puzzles, various shape puzzles, alphabet puzzles; the nook: transparent shapes, people and worm pieces
• Rationale: Puzzles have continued to be a self-motivated activity in our classroom. The children have enjoyed the new shape and alphabet puzzles that have been brought in. The shape puzzles tie into the discussion we had about fractions, and the alphabet puzzles tie in with the small group of letters. New fraction puzzles will be added to help expand the children's understanding of the concept.
• Skills: Learning about/comparing fractions, part-to-whole relationships, shape recognition, letter recognition

Literature Center/The Nook:
• Materials: Rubber stamps, markers, pencils, scissors, paper and white boards
• Rationale: Last week the children showed an increase interest in the books on tapes, as well as looking at the books on the shelves on their own. New books will be added to the caves, where the bookshelves are currently located, while some of the children's favorites will still be kept in the classroom. Story pieces will also be added to the nook. Children will be able to tell their own story using these pieces from nursery rhymes that may already be familiar.
• Skills: Pre/early literacy skills, letter recognition, fine motor strength, phonemic awareness

Dramatic Play:
• Materials: Kitchen props (pots, pans, utensils, mixers, ovens, sink), to-go coffee cups, measuring cups/spoons, real coffee beans, food "making" materials (puff balls, beads, glass gems, bottle caps and small tile squares)
• Rationale: There has been a continually growing interest in using the open-ended materials to make food. The creation of food has expanded from coffee shop food to dog food and baby food for those children dressing up in the dramatic-play clothes and taking on roles such as animals, mommies, and babies. To bring back the interest/excitement to the coffee shop, we will serve real beverages (kid tea or juice) out of the coffee shop during open snack this week.
• Skills: Problem solving, peer relationships, creative expression, imaginative play, symbolic representation, measuring skills, counting skills

Blocks:
• Materials: Large hallow blocks, small shaped blocks, ramps, traction pads, and wheels
• Rationale: Creation of TIV's, rocket ships, and racecars continues to blossom and expand into more elaborate adventures. A new interest in creating stages for plays and putting on plays has also recently reemerged. The children dress up for their plays and often create the narrative themselves. These plays have been written down and recorded with the help of teachers. This week we will bring in more costumes and props for the plays (e.g. songs and books). Small marble ramps will also be added to help build on the high interest on ramps.
• Skills: Supporting social relationships, problem solving, large and fine motor skills

Large-motor:
• Materials: Gym: Monkey bars w/ connected slide and donut hole, a-frame balancing bridge and climbing walls Playground: wheelbarrows, shovels, wagons, tricycles and soccer balls
• Rationale: In the gym: The new gym set up has the children eager to head down to the gym! The children are just getting used to this new set up and have been exploring all the different areas. There are plenty of different stations and still room for group games. On the playground: Tricycles and wagons have been brought out on the warmer days, but with the weather constantly changing our time outside varies from day to day. We will continue to bring out shovels, tricycles, wagons and soccer balls as weather permits.
• Skills: Upper/lower body strength, hopping, jump/landing skills, propulsion skills, dynamic and static balance

Announcements/Special Interest
• We got a few most spaces for the all-school camping trip! If you're still thinking about it, put your name on the list, as time (and space) is running out! See the flyer on the Lab School website for details.
• Teacher Frances will join us on Monday and Tuesday to help expand the growing interest in the printmaking that took place at the art table last week. Alma (Liam's sister) will also join us for a bit on Monday, as it was she that was the catalyst for this exploration for this new artistic creation!
• Mark your calendar if they haven't been done so already: Pizza Party - Tuesday May 28 from 6-7.30p (rain date is set from the 29th, same time)

Snack:
Monday - Frozen peas & pretzels
Tuesday - Cucumber slices & crackers
Wednesday - Rice cakes & Craisins
Thursday - Granola bars (gluten-/dairy-free)
Friday - Bagel pizzas
** All snacks served with a choice of milk or water, unless otherwise noted**

Weekly Lesson Plan for Ross' Class
Week of: April 29 - May 3, 2013
Lead teaching this week: Laura E

Overview/goals:
Hello families! This week we will finally enjoy some snow-free weather! The main focus of the week will be spring and what changes we will see. The children will watch their soybean seed grow and sprout (hopefully!). The student teachers will also begin small groups this week. The topics include: numbers and fractions, letter and words, and simple machines. The student teachers will spend time this week introducing their topic through fun and engaging activities.

Sensory Table:
• Materials: Soil, spades, small containers, rocks, and plastic insects
• Rationale: After spending the last few weeks exploring "sink and float" at the water table, it is time to bring in a new sensory material. This week we will be exploring the living and non-living things found in soil. The children will get an opportunity to build homes for various insects.
• Skills: exploration of living and non-living things/the natural world, hypothesis creating/testing skills, and logical thinking

Expressive Art (drawing table, clay table, easel):
• Materials: Easel: paint, paintbrushes, plastic egg carton halves, paper; Art table: paper, paint, number and shape stamps, and Styrofoam stamps. Clay Table: apple cutter, cutting tools, clay, and hammers
• Rationale: The easel will continue to be a quieter area for children to express their creativity. Experimenting with mixing colors is continuing to grow in interest. As we begin introducing fractions through measuring cups and blocks, we will incorporate fractions into the clay table as well. The apple cutter and various cutting tools can be used to gain awareness about halves, quarters and wholes. The drawing table will continue with shape and number stamps. The children will be given the opportunity to make their own stamps with Styrofoam, maybe with the help from the "creator" of the project - Liam's sister Alma.
• Skills: recognition of shapes and numbers, patterning, artistic expression, imagination/creativity, symbolic representation, and problem solving

Science:
• Materials: seeds, insect houses, new/larger rat home
• Rationale: Last week the children planted a soybean seed in a plastic bag with a wet tissue. We will continue to observe and record the growth of these seeds and eventually transplant the newly germinating seeds grow larger and larger...hopefully getting to relocate them outside on the playground! Last week the children put torn up newspaper in our new and improved rat cage! This activity motivated the children to think about what else we could add to our rat cage. This week the children will continue to design a multi-level platform for our rats and possibly start exploring with some real construction wood and tools.
• Skills: Observation, data collection/recording, exploration of life cycles, hypothesis creating/testing, and logical thinking

Math/Manipulatives/The Nook:
• Materials: Various Alphabet puzzles and vertical fraction puzzles. The Nook; transparent colored shapes and people
• Rationale: Many children enjoy challenging puzzles in our class, so we added new puzzles to the math/manipulative table this week. Last week in large group we began talking about fractions. The vertical fraction puzzle is a fun way to continue exploring parts of a whole. We have also continued talking about letters and words in large group. The alphabet puzzles will help the children with letter awareness.
• Skills: letter awareness, comparing fractions (part to whole relationships), imaginative thinking and problem solving

Literature Center:
• Materials: paper, rubber alphabet stamps, white boards, markers and notebooks
• Rationale: Last week the children became familiar using the rubber alphabet stamps. This week they will continue to use these stamps to write their names and other messages. The children will continue to use whiteboards and notebooks to draw plans for the rat cage and their soybean. Teachers will continue to encourage the children to write words that describe changes in the seed.
• Skills: letter recognition, pre/early literacy skills, fine-motor strength/endurance, dexterity, and creativity

Dramatic Play:
• Materials: "Coffee Shop" props (to-go coffee cups, lids, mugs, pitchers, cash register, our "own" money), food "making" materials (beads, puff balls, small squares, bottle caps), kitchen/cooking props (hand mixer, plates, our "own" oven, pans), coffee beans, measuring cups/spoons
• Rationale: There is a continued interest in "cooking" and "baking" the food in the coffee shop. To build off of that interest the teachers want to bring in some real cooking projects! This week we will have a group of children help bake some cookies or muffins to sell at our coffee shop! This will not only be a great opportunity to reintroduce fractions (while baking) but will also give the children a chance to make use of all the money they have created!
• Skills: imaginative/creative play, peer relationships, large motor skills, symbolic representation, connection to surrounding community/real-life experiences, math skills, and real baking skills

Blocks:
• Materials: Large hollow blocks, various shaped small blocks, ramps and vinyl gutters, balls, bowling pins, and wheels
• Rationale: The creative ideas for construction in the block area are endless! A new focus is simple and complex machines. The children will continue to explore the endless building possibilities (TIVs, Rocket Ship, helicopter, car factory, houses, and stages for plays)
• Skills: building peer relationships, group collaboration, problem-solving skills, symbolic representation

Large-motor:
• Materials: Gym: trampoline, bumpy slide, and rope ladder; Outside: Tricycles, wheelbarrows, shovels, wagons, and soccer balls
• Rationale: Spring has finally sprung! The snow is melted which allows the children to ride the tricycles, pull their wagons and play ball sports! The gym will remain the same this week with a large interest being the rope ladder. Children will challenge themselves by trying to reach the top without teacher assistance, and as you might hear the children say, "No help!"
• Skills: Large motor, peer interactions, teamwork and cooperation upper-/lower-boy strength, static and dynamic balance, jumping/landing skills, proprioceptive (body-in-motion) skills, spatial-/directional-awareness, propulsion skills

Announcements/Special Interest
• Spring is HERE! Now (assuming mother nature doesn't play any more cruel jokes on us), you can keep the snow gear at home! You may want to send rain boots along to combat the mud, however.
• Still a few spots left for the all-school camping trip coming up the weekend of May18th. It's a really fun time and hope many of you can join us!

Snack
Monday - Pretzels
Tuesday - Rice Chex
Wednesday - Whole-wheat crackers and raisins
Thursday - Celery and sunbutter
Friday - Home-made biscuits and maple butter
* All snacks served with milk and water, unless otherwise noted *

Weekly Lesson Plan for Ross' Class
Week of: April 22-26, 2013
Lead teaching this week: Hilary

Overview/goals:
Hello families! Just as we start to think about spring, we get some more snow. However, we did get the opportunity to see the snow melt and new buds growing on the playground. This week we will start to think about spring and what happens in the spring, specifically looking at how a seed grows. The student teachers have also been watching the areas of interest in our room to help gather children for our small groups, which will probably be starting sometime this week.

Sensory Table:
• Materials: Toy boats, rocks, bottle caps, golf balls, yellow counting balls, glass gems, and nuts & bolt various "boats" (differently shaped/sized plastic containers)
• Rationale: The water table has continued to be a hit this past week as we continued to explore what items would sink or float. At large group, we continued to expand on our counting by seeing how many yellow counting balls it would take to sink different-sized "boats." This week we will be adding new materials to the water table to continue our focus on larger-quantity counting; using the laminated numbers to help us record the number of items we count.
• Skills: cause-and-effect, hypothesis creating/testing skills, rationale counting, making estimations, data collecting/recording

Expressive Art (drawing table, clay table, easel):
• Materials: Easel: paint, paintbrushes, plastic egg carton halves, paper; Art table: Paper, paint, number and shape stamps. Clay Table: clay, wooden mallets, wire, sticks, plastic/rubber insects
• Rationale: Last week, after using stamps to create money, an interest developed in using stamps to also create stamped art at the art table. This week, we will provide paint and printmaking materials to continue the process of stamping and printmaking. At the clay table last week, children showed little interest in building bughouses. To bring the interest back, we will introduce new tools that will allow the children to create and combine smaller shapes to make larger objects/sculptures.
• Skills: recognition of shapes, patterning, artistic expression, imagination/creativity, fine motor, symbolic representation, familiarity with new materials, exploring a new art medium

Science:
• Materials: Seeds, soil, insect houses, new/larger rat home
• Rationale: Last week the children looked at our classroom pets and the kind of homes they lived in. The children showed a particular interest in our pet rats and what kinds of bedding the rats used in their cage. The children first brainstormed ideas about what kind of things the rats would like to "play" on. Next, we researched on the computer different types of rats and their home environments. We will continue our investigation next week, as well clean out the paper and put in aspen bedding. Also, even with the recent snow, we have seen some plants starting to sprout outside, and we want to take a closer look. We will begin to explore the lifecycle of plants: starting with a soybean.
• Skills: observation, data collection/recording, exploration of life cycles, hypothesis creating/testing

Math/Manipulatives/The Nook:
• Materials: Shape puzzles, small building (parquetry) blocks in different shapes such as squares, rectangles, and triangles, shape puzzles, simple-counting. The Nook; transparent colored shapes and people.
• Rationale: Last week the children started exploring more challenging puzzles with shapes, as well as participated in a cooking project with Sheila where they made muffins using measuring cups and spoons - which helped build further awareness for our focus on fractions. The concept of ½'s and wholes by using measuring cups to measure the amounts transferred into our coffee shop and the puzzle/math table, as the children explored the shape/fraction puzzles available. In the nook, children were introduced to new colored shapes like triangles, rectangles, circles and people. We will continue using these shapes and let the children use these shapes to "create" their own stories on the light table.
• Skills: shape/shapes recognition, symbolic representation (creating with blocks), measuring skills such as ½ cup and 1 cup (learning about/comparing fractions /part-to-whole relationships), imaginative thinking, symbolic representation, shape recognition

Literature Center:
• Materials: paper, rubber alphabet stamps, white boards, markers,
• Rationale: Last week the children worked on making words by using letter stamps and learned a new game called guess the word (similar to Hangman, but without drawing of people/pictures, just a "guess and write the letters" game). This week we will provide small white boards so the children can play their own game with words and use the letters stamps to continue working on letter recognition.
• Skills: letter recognition, pre/early literacy skills, fine-motor strength/endurance, dexterity

Dramatic Play:
• Materials: "Coffee Shop" props (to-go coffee cups, lids, mugs, pitchers, cash register, our "own" money), food "making" materials (beads, puff balls, small squares, bottle caps), kitchen/cooking props (hand mixer, plates, our "own" oven, pans), coffee beans, measuring cups/spoons.
• Rationale: We had lots of fun in the coffee shop last week and continued to use the materials we added to our own coffee shop. The children had fun using the materials to create "marshmallow soup" and sandwiches using our new felt pieces. While creating the food, the children are invented new recipes and thinking specifically about the ingredients they need to add - now using half and whole cup measurements! This week we will continue to use these materials to make more food and will start focusing on measuring and adding materials to our recipes - continuing the exploration on the abstract topic of fraction by asking the children to incorporate more into their play (which is how they internally sort out and make sense of the world).
• Skills: imaginative/creative play, peer relationships, large motor skills, symbolic representation, connection to surrounding community/real-life experiences, math skills (measuring).

Blocks:
• Materials: large blocks, wood molding, sections of vinyl gutters, balls, small blocks, ramps and Pathways building book
• Rationale: The block area continues to be a hit in the classroom! Ramp building is the main focus, and the children have started looking at books to come up with ideas for their ramp building projects. This week, we hope to have the children start drawing their own building plans/"blueprints" to show others how to recreate their structures, as well as make improvements on the previous day's creation. Children have also started to build submarines and airports. This week we will add a book about building to help further our ramp and imaginative building.
•Skills: building peer relationships, group collaboration, problem-solving skills, symbolic representation

Announcements and reminders:
~ We hope you all can attend the David Walsh lecture on Monday night from 7-9p. See the website for more details.
~ The music students will be coming back one last time on Thursday. The children have really enjoyed their visits, actively participating in all the songs/activities the students have shared.
~ We will have students from my motor development course join us in the gym on Monday and Friday of this week. They are bringing in some fun activities for the children, and we're excited to have them join us!
~ Spots are still available for the all-school camping trip happening on the weekend of May 18th. See the email sent by Amy P. last week for further details.

Snack:
Monday - Pretzels & carrots
Tuesday - Rice cakes & raisins
Wednesday - Chex cereal & orange slices
Thursday - Crackers & cucumbers
Friday - Bagels & jam

Weekly Lesson Plan For Ross' Class
Week of: April 15 - 19, 2013
Lead-teaching this week: Team teaching

Overview: The snow seems to be staying, and the only people that seem to be excited about this are the children; getting those last chances to sled, make snow sculptures, and throw snowballs. At least the children are making the best of the unpleasant spring weather! Thankfully, the weather did not stop us from making it to the Purple Onion last week. The children really enjoyed taking a closer look at all the details of the coffee shop, and brought many of those ideas back to our classroom coffee shop. There was the addition of a "real" kitchen for cooking the food, a collection of new ingredients to help make all the different food in the "real" kitchen, as well as a group that created the menu using the new ingredients that could be cooked in our "real" kitchen! It's been a very busy place, needless to say. The coffee shop has also supported many areas of development, and the teachers are thinking of ways to tie in the foci of numbers, letters/literacy, and life cycles into the existing play. Over the next few weeks the student teachers will expand on this topics, incorporating them into the various areas and activities throughout the classroom - helping the children's understandings of these concepts to grow!

Expressive Arts (easel, art table, clay table)
• Materials: Easel: paint, paintbrushes, plastic egg carton halves, paper; Art table: White paper, markers (thick lined and thin lined Sharpies); Clay Table: clay, wooden mallets, wire, sticks
• Rationale: Last week, the children worked on creating "beautiful drawings" for the Spring Soiree and this created a new interest in representational drawing. This week, we will again provide drawing materials and look specifically at the details of what we are drawing; focusing on the elements of lines (i.e. curved, straight, and zigzag lines used to create various shapes). At the clay table, children showed interest in building bughouses. We will continue using clay this week to create and combine smaller shapes to make larger objects.
- Skills: recognition of shapes, patterning, artistic/ creative expression, imagination/creativity, fine motor skills, symbolic representation, experimentation, color recognition

Sensory (water table)
• Materials: Toy boats, rubber ducks, ping-pong balls, rocks, corkscrews, bottle caps, golf balls, abacas, and yellow counting balls
• Rationale: The water table has some frequent visitors as we have continued our exploration of sink and float: now thinking about the reasons why these items actually sink or float. To expand on the aspects of counting, we added an abacas to keep track of our large-quantity counting. After materials were used to sink a boat, we counted the materials one by one using our abacas to keep track. To help "collect/record the data" of how many items it takes to sink each boat, the question; "How many ____ does it take to sink this boat?" will be posted on the shelf next to the water table. The children will be able to place laminated numbers and items such as rocks, balls etc in the blank spots.
• Skills: Problem solving with peers, making estimations, cause and effect, counting, early concepts of addition and subtraction, grouping, comparing amounts,

Science
• Materials: Our classroom pets (mealworms and hissing cockroaches), wasp nest, insect books, magnifying glasses and if/when the weather improves, the natural environment of our playground!
• Rationale: The children have a growing interest in living things such as the insects that live in our classroom. We will continue exploring the insect homes within the class and learn further information about insects through books and online research. When the weather improves the children will bring notebooks to the playground and investigate what insects they can find on the playground.
Skills: learning about our insects: their anatomy and how to care for them, scientific/higher-level thinking skills, observing and interpreting information about the natural world through exploring the playground, generalization skills (connections between insect homes and other animal/human homes).

Language and Literacy
• Materials: Paper, pencils, tempera paint, vinyl rollers, plastic and Styrofoam blocks/stampers, enlarged pictures of real money, markers, Our class name book, staplers, tape,
• Rationale: Last week, teacher Frances joined us and introduced the idea of making our own money for the coffee shop. The children were immediately hooked and started rolling paint onto any and all rectangular pieces of paper. Upon a closer look (with a digital microscope), the children noticed all the details on the bills that made them special. We will definitely continue this exploration next week; adding more values/numbers to our bills as well as add our own "special" details for our money!
• Skills: Letter recognition, pre/early literacy skills, analyzing and synthesizing, symbolic representation.

Math and Manipulatives (including the nook)
• Materials: Shape puzzles, insect puzzles, small build blocks in different shapes such as squares, rectangles, and triangles
• Rationale: The children quickly figured out some of our puzzles and are able to solve them with on their own. New puzzles will be added to the area in order to give the children more of a challenge. We also brought in some small parquetry blocks that come in different shapes in order to help support our focus on shape recognition, as well as facilitate peer interactions. These blocks encourage children to work together in building a large, collaborative structure, working on problem solving to see how the pieces can fit together.
• Skills: One-to-one correspondence, part to whole relationships (with putting together puzzles), awareness of different shapes/shape recognition, symbolic representation (by creating with blocks)

Dramatic Play (including the caves)
• Materials: "Coffee Shop" props (to-go coffee cups, lids, mugs, pitchers, cash register, our "own" money), food "making" materials (beads, puff balls, small squares, bottle caps), kitchen/cooking props (hand mixer, plates, our "own" oven, pans)
• Rationale: We had lots of fun in the coffee shop last week and went on a field trip to the Purple Onion to see a real coffee shop in action; this trip helped the children create new ideas and gave them an idea of what we could add to our own coffee shop. Throughout the week we added our own money, menus, and materials to make food with in the kitchen. This week we will focus on adding to our menus and building on to our kitchen, we also will start to brainstorm ideas to come up a name for our coffee shop.
• Skills: imaginative/creative play, peer relationships, large motor skills, symbolic representation, connection to surrounding community/real-life experiences

Blocks
• Materials: Large hollow blocks, small multi-shaped unit blocks, ramps, various size balls, bowling pins (dominoes)
• Rationale: There was a continued interest in building houses and TIV's out of the large blocks. A new growing interest is ramp building. The children are using various sized blocks to create ramps and figuring out the best way to build them through trial and error. They have been extremely engaged in figuring out different ways to get the ball to go down the ramp. For example, some children attempted to get the ball to jump from one ramp to another and then knock over some bowling pins. We will continue to use our Ramps and Pathways book to inspire new types of ramps we can try!
• Skills: Large/fine-motor skills, symbolic representation, concepts related to building/balance/engineering, problem solving through peer interaction and logical thinking, and endless opportunities for dramatic play

Large motor
In the gym: There is a new gym set-up coming this week! We'll have our current set-up on Monday, and then a new set of games and activities on Tuesday! We will send up the updated information once the new arrangement is complete. On the playground: Well...the snow is back and it appears it will be here for a while, however it has not dampened the spirits of the children! They are eager to get back on the sledding hill. Because it has been so "warm" with all this snow, it has also created perfect snowball/snow-sculpting snow, which has also been the current favorite activity outside!

Announcements/reminders
~ Thanks so much to all of you for helping out, donating/contributing, and/or attending the Spring Soiree! It was a huge success, and a very fun evening! It is truly a very special event that has a monumental impact on the amazing community we (the teachers AND the families) work so hard to create! If your were unable to attend, we hope you can join us next year, but thanks for any and all help you so generously shared to make that wonderful evening come together!
~ Laura E will be back from her tennis tournament on Monday. Hilary will be out on Monday, and returning Tuesday. It will be great to have the whole gang back together again!
~ The music students will be returning on Thursday to expand on the songs/activities they shared with our class last week. The children really enjoyed the "A-tisket A-tasket" song they brought last Thursday!

Snack
Monday - Rice cakes & orange slices
Tuesday - Carrot muffins
Wednesday - Crackers & raisins
Thursday - Pretzels & carrots
Friday - Sunbutter sandwiches
** All snacks served with a choice of milk or water **

Weekly Lesson Plan for Ross' Class
Week of: April 8-12 2013
Lead teaching this week: Ross

Overview: Although it seems spring may have left us by providing our group with some unseasonably cold temperatures, it did not stop us from having tons of fun our first week back! In the classroom, the children quickly reconnected with one another, although we had many children gone on trips still the week. The coffee shop was a very popular area, seeing many visitors each day. Eventually the teachers asked, "How do you make real coffee?" and brought a group to the kitchen to figure out how one actually makes coffee! There was also a strong interest in exploring the materials at the sink and float table - leading to some intriguing questions related to, "Why [do] some things float and some don't?" Meanwhile, on the frozen tundra that was our playground, the children had a blast on the "ice-slide," which was the previously known as the sledding hill. After a clean sheet of ice covered the hill, the children tried to figure different ways to safely propel themselves from the top to the bottom of the hill. The results were successful, and accompanied by shrieks of excitement! With all this inquisitive thinking and question asking, it's clear the children are eager to learn. To foster this higher-level thinking and hypothesizing, the teachers will continue to encourage the children to think about and test their answers to their interesting questions.

Expressive Arts (paint, collage, clay)
• Materials: At the art table: an assortment of shape-collage materials (squares, circles, triangles, rectangles, etc.), carpet square platforms, pencils, markers, paper, scissors, tape dispensers, staplers
 At the clay table: clay, plastic insects, wood knives

• Rationale: The art table saw several visitors that quickly jumped into the creative story telling, using the various loose pieces to invent fanciful stories. The pieces will continue to be available this week, however there will be a temporary shift as the children work collaboratively on a special classroom project that will be available at the Spring Soiree this Saturday. Come to the event and you'll get a chance to see what the children have been working on. At the clay table, a group of children were very interested in using the clay to create elaborate insect homes for our plastic insects. We will continue to create various insect homes, while taking a closer look at the actual habitats of these creatures live in.
• Skills: recognition of shape, patterning, artistic expression, symbolic representation, sequencing of storytelling, persistence, imagination/creativity, connections/expressions of observed world, fine motor strength/endurance

Sensory (water table)
• Materials: plastic sieves, golf balls, ping-pong balls, corks, rocks, rubber duckies, toy boats 

• Rationale: The sink and float table saw several children discussing what makes the items stay atop the water ("Because there is air inside!") and what makes others sink to the bottom ("Because they're too heavy."). Also, toy boats were added last week to further fuel the sink and float debates and asking the question, "Now when that rock is in the boat, it doesn't sink...why is that?" We will continue these discussions this week, as well as figure out the load-capacity of the various boats we have!
• Skills: sensory input, familiarity with materials, dexterity, hypothesis creating/testing skills, cause-and-effect, opportunities for cooperation/collaboration/negotiation

Science
• Materials: our classroom pets (highlighting the mealworms and hissing cockroaches), wasp nest, "insect home" matching game, insect books/pictures/diagrams, magnifying glasses, children's notebooks
• Rationale: With the interest of making insect homes at the clay table growing, we will begin to focus on the various habitats of our creatures living at the science table: not only what their homes look like, but learn more about what things they actually eat, where they sleep, or do they actually sleep? Supplemental books and online resources will be used to help us gain a stronger understanding about our classroom creatures. • Skills: learning about our insects: their anatomy and how to care for them, scientific/higher-level thinking skills, observing and interpreting information about the natural world, generalization skills (connections between insect homes and other animal/human homes).

Math and Manipulatives
• Materials: shape-picture making game, seriated/nesting "bug" boxes, new insect and shape puzzles, parquetry blocks, Tana Hoban book Cubes, Cones, Cylinder, & Spheres
• Rationale: The children really enjoyed the new puzzles, especially the "really tough" city puzzle; resulting in many children discussing what pieces needed to go where and why! However, we want to add a bit more "manipulation" to the table. We will add larger parquetry blocks to allow for more building and construction while focusing on geometric shapes.
• Skills: concepts related to geometry/shape, part-to-whole relationships, one-to-one correspondence, counting, opportunities for collaborative problem solving.

Language and Literacy
• Materials: Our Name Book, Our Alphabet Book, paper, envelopes, pencils, markers
• Rationale: With the coffee shop up and running, the writing table has been transformed into our classroom mint - creating/"printing" countless dollars to make sure everyone can purchase treats at the coffee shop. We want to take a closer look at the bills there are making and compare them to actual bills. Teacher Frances will be joining us on Monday and Tuesday to help with this, potentially facilitating a Styrofoam printing activity shared by Liam's sister Alma last winter - create a "stamp" out of Styrofoam and using ink or paint to print our own classroom currency!
• Skills: pre-/early-literacy skills, number/letter recognition, artistic expression, phonemic awareness, fine-motor coordination/endurance

Dramatic Play
• Materials: "Coffee Shop" props (to-go coffee cups and lids, mugs, pitchers, cash register), dress-up materials (i.e. dresses, shoes, boots, fabric, play phones), baby-dolls, cribs, baby clothes
• Rationale: The coffee shop has been the hot spot since our return from break. Many children "go to work" everyday and make a variety of tasty beverages and treats. To expand on this interest, as well as make it more real for all the students, we will take a trip to the Purple Onion to see a real coffee shop in action! After comparing our shop to the Purple Onion, we will see what additions we can make to ours to ensure we have the best coffee shop possible for all of our customers!
• Skills: imaginative/creative play, connections to previous experiences/memory skills, promoting social interactions while foster new and old relationships, practicing various social skills, symbolic representation

Blocks
• Materials: large hollow blocks, small multi-shaped unit blocks, peg people, wood houses made by children, ramps, balls, various sized wheels, bowling pins
• Rationale: There was continued TIV and house building taking place last week, however the really exciting new development happened on Friday. A few from the group found some pictures in the Ramps and Pathways book that was in the area, and eagerly wanted to build the ramp with the jump in it. Studying the pictures closely, they figured it out and got their ball to jump from one ramp to the next. These intrigued many classmates, and will be the continued focus in the area: what other kinds of ramps can we make!
• Skills: large-/fine-motor skills, symbolic representation, concepts related to building/balance/engineering, supporting social relationships/interactions, opportunities for endless dramatic play

Large-motor
• In the gym: The current gym set-up still continues to be quite popular and challenging. We increased the slope of the triangle slide, now making it a challenging inclined plane. Also, the donut slide moved to become a "long jump" landing spot for those wanting to challenge their strong/confident jumping skills. And the scooter board track continues to change daily with new ideas for games coming from the children.
• On the playground: We had a very exciting "ice slide" last week, however the recent increase in temps has all but melted it away. Many new digging projects have started, however we will see how well those go - as the ground may be frozen each morning with the oncoming cold snap. • Skills: upper-/lower-boy strength, static and dynamic balance, hopping (lower leg strength/coordination), jumping/landing skills, proprioceptive (body-in-motion) skills, spatial-/directional-awareness, propulsion skills

Announcements/Special Interest
• We have our class field trip to the Purple Onion on Wednesday. Please turn in your child's permission slip by Tuesday, and send them in their Lab School shirt on Wednesday!
• It's finally (almost) here! The Spring Soiree is this Friday!! We hope you all can make it. Thanks to the few that have already contributed to our "Outside Summer Fun" basket, however it is looking a bit sparse. If you're still wondering was to contribute, see Ross' email for more "summer fun" ideas! Again, we hope to have donations collected by Tuesday.
• You received an email last week about an upcoming speaker and I highly recommend checking it out. David Walsh's book No: Why Kids - Of All Ages - Need to Hear It And Ways Parents Can Say It has been nationally recognized and a resource we've shared with many families over the years. Please see the flyer, as well as the email from last week, for more information!

Snack
Monday - Black bean & sweet potato quesadillas (dairy and gluten free)
Tuesday - Carrots & crackers
Wednesday - Rice chex & raisins
Thursday - Grapefruit & pretzels
Friday - Popcorn & milk
* All snacks served with milk and water, unless otherwise noted *

Weekly Lesson Plan for Ross' Class
Week of: April 1-5, 2013
Lead teaching this week: Ross

Overview: HAPPY SPRING AND WELCOME BACK!! Although there is still snow on the ground, the temperature is rising and the days are growing longer...I think it's safe to say- spring is here! As for the action in the room, we will be picking up right where we left off at the end of the winter session. Subtle changes and extensions have been made to the areas around the room, allowing the children to revisit existing stories while exploring new materials to initiate new ideas and thinking. During the final 10 weeks, one major focus we have is to foster the intrinsic motivation to learn and discover that we find in all children. Spring is a magic time of year that lends itself to seemingly non-stop investigation of the natural world: with countless opportunities to observe the growth and changes taking place both outside as well as within the classroom. I'm looking forward to jumping into all the learning that awaits us in these final few months!

Expressive Arts (paint, collage, clay)
• Materials: At the art table: an assortment of shape-collage materials (squares, circles, triangles, rectangles, etc.), carpet square platforms, pencils, markers, paper, scissors, tape dispensers, staplers
At the clay table: clay, plastic insects, wood knives
• Rationale: To support our focus on shapes and geometry, as well as introducing a new medium for promoting symbolic representation, we will have materials that will allow children to create new pictures using many loose pieces. Initially, the children will be invited to freely explore the materials. However after continued exposure, we hope to help them see that when using many familiar shapes and materials, one can create a new, larger collage pictures! At the clay table, we want to support our investigation of insects, so we have added many toy insects to the table to accompany the clay. I anticipate many interesting creations for our creepy-crawly friends!
• Skills: recognition of shape, patterning, artistic expression, symbolic representation, persistence, imagination/creativity, connections/expressions of observed world, fine motor strength/endurance

Sensory (water table)
• Materials: plastic sieves, golf balls, ping-pong balls, corks, rocks, rubber duckies
• Rationale: Now that the ice and snow have (almost) melted away, we will revisit the exploration of water and introduce the concept of "sink and float." To start, we have an assortment of items to build the children's awareness related the concept; allowing the children to explore items that sink, items that float, and compare the two.
• Skills: sensory input, familiarity with materials, dexterity, hypothesis creating/testing skills, cause-and-effect, opportunities for cooperation/collaboration/negotiation

Science
• Materials: our classroom pets (highlighting the mealworms and hissing cockroaches), wasp nest, "insect home" matching game, insect books/pictures/diagrams, magnifying glasses, children's notebooks
• Rationale: To extend our focus on homes and habitats as well as re-spark interest in the science table, we will take a closer look at our 6-legged pets! We will look at the homes we have created for the mealworms and cockroaches, as well as have an array of other insect-related materials to invite children to explore these interesting creatures!
• Skills: learning about our insects: their anatomy and how to care for them, scientific/higher-level thinking skills, observing and interpreting information about the natural world, generalization skills (connections between insect homes and other animal/human homes).

Math and Manipulatives (including the "Nook")
• Materials: shape-picture making game, seriated/nesting "bug" boxes, new insect and shape puzzles, parquetry blocks (on the light box in the "Nook"), Tana Hoban book Cubes, Cones, Cylinder, & Spheres
• Rationale: We will be shifting our focus to the world of geometry and shape at the math table. Various shape-related puzzles and games will be available to start building awareness of many familiar (and some not so familiar) shapes. We will also have some new insect puzzles to tie in our exploration at the science table.
• Skills: concepts related to geometry/shape, part-to-whole relationships, one-to-one correspondence, counting, opportunities for collaborative problem solving.

Language and Literacy
• Materials: Our Name Book, Our Alphabet Book, paper, envelopes, pencils, markers
• Rationale: The excitement of writing letters/notes to classmates as well as writing our own stories remained high through the winter session, and we want to continue that interest with growing intention as well as pre-/early-literacy support by encouraging children to use the letters of the alphabet and the names of their classmates when creating letters/drawings for one another.
• Skills: pre-/early -literacy skills, letter recognition, phonemic awareness, fine-motor coordination/endurance

Dramatic Play
• Materials: "Coffee Shop" props (to-go coffee cups and lids, mugs, pitchers, cash register), dress-up materials (i.e. dresses, shoes, boots, fabric, play phones), baby-dolls, cribs, baby clothes
• Rationale: We had tons of fun in the play house during the fall and winter session, but thought we were ready for something new. We now have a coffee shop set up in the classroom, and anticipate many visitors each day! The "Bodies" small group made a trip to the Purple Onion at the end of last session, and watching the group gave the teachers the idea to bring in a new theme for the dramatic play. To help build the awareness for all the students, we will take a fieldtrip during the second week to see what other items our coffee shop needs to be the "real thing."
• Skills: imaginative/creative play, connections to previous experiences/memory skills, promoting social interactions while foster new and old relationships, practicing various social skills, symbolic representation

Blocks
• Materials: large hollow blocks, small multi-shaped unit blocks, peg people, wood houses made by children, ramps, balls, various sized wheels, bowling pins
• Rationale: Building ramps became quite popular at the end of the winter session. Many children worked together to create large ramps to roll various wheels and balls down in hopes to knock down as many mini-bowling pins as possible. We will continue support the creation of these ramps, and invite the children to start writing down the "rules" for the games they create. We also will have the children's wood houses available with the peg people in hopes to continue to "neighborhood" building that we started just before break.
• Skills: large-/fine-motor skills, symbolic representation, concepts related to building/balance/engineering, supporting social relationships/interactions, opportunities for endless dramatic play

Large-motor
• In the gym: We will keep the same gym set-up that we had at the end of the winter session: with the large rope swing, donut slide, balance bridge, triangle slide, and scooter boards. The children really enjoyed that set-up and did not get much time with it before we finished our session. New/minor changes may happen over the next week to keep it exciting and fun. We will also start each day with a teacher-facilitated activity.
• On the playground: We have had some thawing and melting take place, however patches of ice and snow still cover the playground. This means, it's going to be messy out there! We will break out the shovels, buckets, and scoops to help facilitate some digging and "exploring" play, however it's quite possible that puddle jumping may become a quick favorite!
• Skills: upper-/lower-boy strength, static and dynamic balance, hopping (lower leg strength/coordination), jumping/landing skills, proprioceptive (body-in-motion) skills, spatial-/directional-awareness, propulsion skills

Announcements/Special Interest
• Be sure to stop down and introduce yourselves to Hilary, Laura E, and Laura P! They're very excited get started and work with our wonderful class!
• SNOWSUITS...we're going to need them! It's going to be messy on the playground. Please send along appropriate clothing will help keep everyone happy while playing outside. Also, please be sure your child has their extra change of clothes in the cubby, as it's possible we will need to do a wardrobe change during the "thaw" on the playground.
• Just a reminder to line up the babysitters for April 13th so we can see you all at the Spring Soiree - invitations should have been delivered over break.
• Speaking of the soiree, if you gathered any donations or ideas for our classroom basket (the "Outside Summer Fun" basket), feel free to drop them off with Ross any time this week. We would like to have all donations gathered by Tuesday, April 9 so we can have the basket finalized before the event! Thanks for you help and generosity with this!

Snack
Monday - Pretzels & craisins
Tuesday - Rice cakes & milk
Wednesday - Sunbutter on celery
Thursday - Pineapple chunks & rice crackers
Friday - Cheerios & raisins
* All snacks served with milk and water, unless otherwise noted *

Weekly Lesson Plan for Ross' Class
Week of: March 11-15, 2013
Lead-teaching this week: Avery

Overview: We had a week filled with snow and exciting small group wrap-ups. Those who braved the snow on Tuesday were able to enjoy over an hour of snowy fun out on the playground, and the snow fun continued throughout the week. Our small groups ended on Thursday and each group did a culminating project to bring together everything the children learned. Avery's group made their own baking soda and vinegar rockets and created a "how-to" video so classmates create and launch their own rocket. Megan's group explored DInkytown using their five senses, and ended with a hot and cold chocolate tasting at the Purple Onion. Veronica's small group created a game for the whole class to play in the gym and taught the other children how to play on Friday. This week is already our last week of the session, so we will be wrapping up various projects throughout the room and allowing the children to utilize the skills and knowledge they have acquired throughout the session.

Expressive Arts (easel, play-dough, wooden pieces)
• Materials: Easel: paint, paintbrushes, plastic egg carton halves, paper. Clay table: colored play-dough, wire, plastic pizza cutters, rolling pins, arctic animals, letter cookie cutters. Art table: Cake box, paper, paint, paintbrushes.
• Rationale: At the easel, the children will continue to make their own colors using the bottles and egg cartons. This will allow the children utilize their color mixing knowledge learned throughout this session. We will also incorporate color mixing at the clay table this week, using two different colors of play-dough so the children can see color mixing using a new medium. At the art table, we will focus on finishing the wooden sculptures and creating a neighborhood by combining all the children's pieces onto a cake box.
• Skills: symbolic representation, self-expression, fine motor skills, utilization of color mixing knowledge, 3D art skills, peer socialization.

Sensory (water, ice, and snow)
• Materials: Ice, water, snow, buckets, arctic animals, spray bottles, snowball maker (plastic apple container)
• Rationale: The children continue to enjoy using the "snowball maker" and color the snow blue. This week, we will make sheets of ice to encourage more dramatic play with the arctic animals. The sheets of ice will contribute to the dramatic play that has been happening here with the arctic animals. The children made penguin slides last week, and the ice sheets will make the slide experience more successful.
• Skills: Cause/effect, peer negotiation/collaboration, scientific thinking and reasoning by exploring with color in the snow.

Science
• Materials: arctic animals, blue trays, ice, paper, pencils, white LEGOS, globe, pictures of arctic animals and homes, packing peanuts, salt
• Rationale: To renew interest in the arctic science table, the teachers will build the base of a large igloo out of packing peanuts. We will introduce this igloo at large group and facilitate more building of arctic homes with the packing peanuts. We will also tape pictures of arctic animals on the globe to show the children where the animals live.
• Skills: Concept knowledge (knowledge of the natural world), symbolic representation, comparing and contrasting, reasoning, 3D art skills, classification, fine motor skills.

Language and Literacy
• Materials: Paper, pencils, markers, class name book, class ABC book, staplers, tape, envelopes, mailbox
• Rationale: This week we will re-introduce our class ABC book, as its first introduction was brief and the children do not seem to know what to do with it. We are hoping that each child will write the letters they know in the book, so each child notice that everyone's written letters look a little bit different, as well as provide an example for children who are still learning how to write the letters. One exciting thing that happened last week was writing all-class letters back and forth with Amy's class to communicate about playing together last Friday.
• Skills: Letter recognition, fine motor skills, pre/early literacy skills, sequencing for writing letters to Amy's class.

Math and Manipulatives (including the Nook)
• Materials: Unifix cubes, number book, matching game, puzzle, games to practice seriation and ordering, number bingo, K'Nex.
• Rationale: A select group of children continue to enjoy making magic wands with the K'Nex, while others enjoy building cars and other structures. The children enjoy playing number bingo, which is reinforcing number recognition and giving the children more opportunities to practice with the "tricky teens." They have also been challenging themselves with new, more difficult puzzles we have available.
• Skills: Number recognition, one-to-one correspondence, rational counting, ordering and seriating skills, peer negotiation/collaboration, problem solving.

Dramatic Play (including the caves)
• Materials: Dress up clothes and shows, dramatic playhouse props, play phones, keys, fabric, arctic animals, musical instruments.
• Rationale: The children engaged in a variety of dramatic play this past week, including: TIVs, dogs, and royal families. There was a lot of play with queens, princesses, and minstrels, who enjoy playing music with "found instruments" (plastic container, paper towel tube). To extend this play, we will add real instruments to our dramatic play area, and hope to inspire more music-centered dramatic play. The instruments also have the possibility of bringing the whole class plays back into action.
• Skills: Peer relationships, socio-dramatic play, symbolic representation, problem solving.

Blocks
• Materials: Large hollow blocks, unit blocks, steering wheels, key boards, fabric, cell phones, keys.
• Rationale: The children continue to work together building TIVs. They have recently started making them bigger which allow more children to build them and play in them once they are completed. There was even some underwater tornado tracking happening this week in the TIVs! The blocks also continue to be a large part of other dramatic play, including a forest in the "royal family" play.
• Skills: Peer relationships, large motor skills, peer negotiation/collaboration, symbolic representation, socio-dramatic play, imaginative play.

Large Motor
• Materials: Rope-swing, "Balance Bridge," donut slide, triangle slide, scooter boards, mini-trampoline
• Rationale: The new gym set-up is ready for action! Although the children get outside regularly and move their bodies quite a bit, mobility is still somewhat limited in snowsuits. Ergo, the theme for this new set-up is "big body movements." We added the smaller triangle slide of the edge of the climber, as well as the large donut slide to the side of the climber - challenging children to slide off the side of the jumping donut and land on their feet! We also added an inclined balance-beam bridge - adding a new level of challenge for those that enjoyed the bridge from the previous set-up. We put the scooter boards in the back of the gym, and we anticipate many new and fun games to be created over the next two weeks! Last, but certainly not least, we added the rope swing! A favorite of many, the large rope-swing challenges children to use many skills simultaneously in order to successfully swing back and forth!
• Skills: upper-body strength/endurance, grasping, pushing/pumping with feet (propulsion skills), spatial-/directional-/body-awareness (proprioceptive skills), jumping and landing, eye-to-foot coordination, static and dynamic balance, flexibility, agility, cardio-vascular endurance, cooperation/negotiation, "big-body" play

Special Interest and Announcements
• The new student teachers will come to visit next week. Hilary, Laura E., and Laura P. will be stopping by next week to meet the children. Laura E. will actually join us for two full days next week (Monday and Wednesday), as she will be missing two days in April for a national tennis tournament, as she is a member of the U of M tennis team.
• Class resumes on Monday, April 1st - have a wonderfully enjoyable spring break!
• There are still a few spots remaining for both summer school programs. Send your sign-up forms to Amy Pieren to get the last remaining spots!

Snack
Monday - Crackers & craisins
Tuesday - Birthday snack (provided by Zoe's family)
Wednesday - Pretzels & milk
Thursday - Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins
Friday - Trail mix

Weekly Lesson Plan For Ross' Class
Week of: March 4 - 8, 2013
Lead-teaching this week: Megan

Overview: We had a wonderful week with the warm weather! The children were able to get outside to construct slides, caves, and tunnels out of the quiznees. Small groups continued to be a fun time for everyone. Veronica's group continued to play games and enjoyed learning how to safely summersault from their guest gymnast that joined their group last week. Avery's group conducted vinegar and baking soda experiments, and eventually launched some rockets. Megan's group worked with their senses of smell and taste to created fruit pizza for the class. This week we will be wrapping up our small groups and getting ready for the end of the winter session. With the spring coming, we want the children to begin utilizing their newly acquired knowledge through the various areas in the classroom. The teachers will challenge these skills by leading challenging teacher-facilitated activities as well as intentionally selecting materials that will require the children to use their newly knowledge during child-directed play. We are looking forward to a week of learning and fun!

Expressive Arts (easel, play-dough, wooden pieces)
• Materials: Easel: paint, paintbrushes, plastic egg carton halves, paper. Clay table: play-dough, wire, rolling pins, letter shaped cookie cutters, plastic pizza cutters. Art table: small wooden pieces, glue, collage material, cake box, paper, paint, paintbrushes.
• Rationale: At the easel, paint pallets (plastic egg carton halves will be added), allowing children to mix and create their own colors - utilizing their color-mixing knowledge learned during the past 10 weeks. Play-dough has been very popular in the classroom again. Children have created pizzas and cake with the plastic pizza cutters, wrote their names using the letters, and continued to build habitats. To ensure the play-dough stays stimulating, we will add art materials that can be used as toppings or home decorations. The children continued to add "beautiful pieces" to their wooden structures. This week, we will use a large cake box to construct a neighborhood with their wood sculptures. We will encourage children to build the neighborhood by asking children what their neighborhoods look like. We will add paint to this area to promote color recognition and the differences between houses. Neighborhood pictures will be placed around the table to prompt ideas to model what a neighborhood can look like.
- Skills: self-expression, fine motor skills, symbolic representation, creative expression, experimentation, color recognition, 3D art skills, social interactions.

Sensory (water, ice, snow table)
• Materials: ice, water, snow, buckets, arctic animals, spray bottles, snowball maker (plastic apple holder)
• Rationale: A "snowball maker" was added to the sensory table last week (thanks to Kassidy for bring it in!) and has been a hit in the classroom. Children used the "snowball maker" as a way to transport snow from one bucket to another. They also used snowballs to stack on top of each other as homes. The children continued to enjoy coloring the snow and we saw a lot of pretend play happening with the arctic animals. Sheets of ice will be added to support this play.
• Skills: Cause/effect, creative expression through play with the arctic animals, prediction, and scientific thinking and reasoning by exploring with color in the snow and building snow structures.

Science
• Materials: arctic animals, blue trays, ice, paper, pencils, white LEGOS, pictures of arctic animals and arctic shelters/homes, salt, packing peanuts
• Rationale: The shift to arctic animals has been successful in the classroom. The children began to use salt as snow and showed interest in constructing homes as seen in pictures. In order to sustain the children's interest in arctic homes, we will be adding more pictures of these arctic animals and continue to use packing peanuts as a material for habitat construction. The packing peanuts attach easily with a quick dip in water, allowing children to find news ways to stack and create their own, unique animal home.
Skills: concept knowledge (knowledge of the natural world), classification, symbolic representation, comparing and contrasting, drawing conclusions, generalizing, reasoning, knowledge of physical properties, fine motor skills

Language and Literacy
• Materials: Paper, pencils, markers, class name book, staplers, tape, envelopes, mail box, pictures of various maps (including treasure maps)
• Rationale: During large group this past week, letters were used in the mystery bag. Teachers used words with the same letter, in order for children to find the similar sound, and guess the letter. We will continue with the mystery letters this week and be making words with the mystery letters to promote the sound of letters together. Maps continue to be popular and we will use this skill to connect to the neighborhood at the art table.
• Skills: Letter recognition, pre/early literacy skills, analyzing and synthesizing, symbolic representation.

Math and Manipulatives (including the Nook)
• Materials: Unifix cubes, puzzles, number puzzles, letter puzzles, number and matching games, materials to practice seriation and ordering, and K'Nex.
• Rationale: The introduction to K'Nex was a hit! The children used the K'Nex to make all types of structures, including magical wands! We have also observed the children using the stacking blocks to create their own seriated towers: standing shortest to tallest. This week, the focus of large group will be on numbers. We will discuss differences and similarities of amounts, practice counting/finding out the number of objects we have, and listen to musical songs related to numerals. We are hoping to promote the math table and see new skills emerge.
• Skills: One-to-one correspondence, fine motor skills, symbolic representation, rational counting, seriation skills, ordering, number recognition, letter-recognition

Dramatic Play (including the caves)
• Materials: Dress up clothes and shoes, dramatic playhouse props, play phones, various fabrics, and arctic animals.
• Rationale: With the popularity of the sensory and science areas, we will be adding arctic animals to one of our caves. We saw a lot of bear pretend play when the bears were first introduced, and are hoping to encourage arctic animal play with the addition to the caves. Putting on plays also continues to be popular in the classroom and we will support this interest by adding props to the dramatic play/block area, as well as books and music, such as cat stories and fairy stories.
• Skills: Peer relationships, socio-dramatic play/imaginative play, symbolic representation, problem solving.

Blocks
• Materials: Large hollow blocks, unit blocks, steering wheels, key boards, keys, fabric pieces, plastic animals.
• Rationale: Last week, the children continued to facilitate and direct their own plays, reenact "Scamper", and build more elaborate TIV's. We saw cooperation skills and friendships growing stronger in the block area. Children worked together to build and divide the space up, in order for plays and TIV's to happen all at once. We will continue with construction and plays. Papers and markers will be close by to encourage sign making.
• Skills: Large motor skills, problem-solving, peer negotiation/collaboration, symbolic representation, peer relationships, socio-dramatic/imaginative play.

Large motor
We will be changing the gym on after school on Monday and will have a new set up on Tuesday! Rumor has it there may be a large rope swing and/or a tricycle track!
On the playground, the quiznees were a hit for all of the children! We saw a lot of building action as well as cooperation happening as the children shared the quiznees. The construction of the tunnels, slides, and caves will continue as long as the quinzees stay up! We will add colored ice cubes for decoration. The children have also been sledding on the slick hill, and we will continue to have sleds on the playground until the snow melts.

Special Interest
• It's our dish week once again. Thanks for your continual help with washing the snack dishes! We appreciate it!!
• Reminder about our "Good-bye" party: It's on Thursday, March 14 @ 10.30a. Hope you all can make it!
• There are still a few spots for both summer programs (4wk nature exploration; 1wk science camp). If you're interested, sign up quickly. See the updated summer school emails for details!

Snack
Monday - Birthday snack
Tuesday - Oven fries
Wednesday - Pretzels & raisins
Thursday - Fruit smoothies & Triscuit
Friday - Popcorn
** All snacks served with a choice of milk or water. **

Weekly Lesson Plan For Ross' Class
Week of: 2-25-2013
Lead-teaching this week: Veronica

Overview: Due to the cold weather this week the children were able to stay inside and get some extra playtime! New dramatic play themes were acted out and the children's interest in block building continued to evolve. The children have been enjoying their small groups getting deep into their topic areas of group games, science exploration, and bodies (exploring the five-senses). On Thursday, a large group of children became interested in putting on a "Ballet Concert." It was great to see the children come together to build a stage and put on a show for us! We are excited to see the small groups continue to evolve and help the children practice collaboration, higher level thinking, following directions, etc. We are excited to see what kind of play themes the children surprise us with next!

Expressive Arts (easel, play-dough, wooden pieces)
• Materials: Easel: paint, paintbrushes, paper. Clay table: play-dough, wire, rolling pins, letter shaped cookie cutters. Art table: small wooden pieces, glue, collage material.
• Rationale: At the easel primary colors will continue to be provided, allowing the children to utilize their knowledge of color mixing and paint new creations. This week we will be reintroducing bottles and small pallets so the children can make their own colors as they paint. The children have responded well to the play-dough and it has revived the interest and creativity often seen at this table. This week we will add letter cut outs for the children to continue exploring letters and name writing, Last week there was an interest in making castles with play dough so we will provide a few supportive materials such as books and "beautiful items" to help with this process. The children have begun creating their wooden structures and some have begun to use the collage materials to decorate their "houses." This week we will continue to encourage children to add to their structures, and begin to put it all together to make one large "neighborhood."
• Skills: color recognition, creative expression through collage, letter/name recognition, making 3D structures, and fine-motor skills.

Sensory (water, ice, snow table)
• Materials: ice, water, snow, buckets, arctic animals, food coloring, spray bottles.
• Rationale: The children have been exploring color mixing in the snow for the past few weeks. We will continue to support the development of symbolic play in this area by providing arctic animals such as penguins and seals. We will also be adding ice cubes in the hopes of inspiring some "ice homes" or "igloos."
• Skills: Cause/effect, creative expression through play with the arctic animals, prediction, and scientific thinking and reasoning by exploring with color in the snow and building snow structures.

Science
• Materials: arctic animals, blue trays, ice, paper, pencils, white Lego's, pictures of arctic animals and arctic shelters/homes.
• Rationale: Although the children have enjoyed the scavenger hunts we have been conducting throughout the past two weeks, we feel the children would benefit from a new "theme" at the science table. In order to spark the interest of the children and make this area a desirable place to explore and learn we will be adding a new "theme" and materials to this table. The focus on animal furs and tracks will shift to arctic animals and the making of arctic shelters such as ice homes and igloos. There has been an interest in this area seen in the block area, and the "Quinzee" that was constructed on the playground has been of high interest to the children. The addition of blue trays to represent water, and ice at this table will hopefully inspire children to build their own ice structures.
• Skills: Observation, symbolic representation, creative expression, knowledge of the natural world, and focusing skills.

Language and Literacy
• Materials: Paper, pencils, markers, class name book, staplers, tape, envelopes, mail box, pictures of various maps (including treasure maps)
• Rationale: We continue to encourage the children to practice their letters and write their names. Recently, many children have become interested in making maps. We have added a globe and atlas books to our room, and this has encouraged this new form of writing. Some children have expressed interest in making maps, but were unsure how to do so. Adding pictures of simple maps and treasure maps will hopefully encourage children to take risks making their own maps.
• Skills: Letter recognition, pre/early literacy skills, analyzing and synthesizing, symbolic representation.

Math and Manipulatives (including the nook)
• Materials: Unifix cubes, puzzles, number puzzles, letter puzzles, number and matching games, materials to practice seriation and ordering, and Kinects.
• Rationale: The math table has continued to be a great place to observe the many cognitive capabilities of the children in our classroom. Adding new materials each week is important in keeping the children challenged and interested at this table, while also keeping some class favorites. This week the addition of new puzzles and games will allow us to observe some new skills. We will be removing the LEGOS and Mobilo's from the nook and adding Kinects in order to allow for more detailed and refined building. The Mobilo's have been a great addition in order to draw children to this area, but the simplicity of this material is somewhat limiting to the children's interest in building more complex structures.
• Skills: One-to-one correspondence, fine motor skills, symbolic representation, rational counting, seriation, ordering, number recognition, letter-recognition, short/long term memory.

Dramatic Play (including the caves)
• Materials: Dress up clothes and shoes, dramatic playhouse props, play phones, various fabrics, and toy animals.
• Rationale: Dramatic play and block building have continued to intertwine. TIVs and weather watching have been an interest all throughout this session. However, this week the children became interested in stage building and acting out a "ballet concert" and "Peter and the Wolf" for the whole class. We hope to extend this interest into next week and support the children with their desire to story tell and put on shows.
• Skills: Peer relationships, socio-dramatic play/imaginative play, symbolic representation, problem solving.

Blocks
• Materials: Large hollow blocks, unit blocks, steering wheels, key boards, keys, fabric pieces, plastic animals.
• Rationale: The children surprise us in the block area every day! It seems something new is being constructed and acted out, while also staying constant with the interest in TIVs. On Friday the entire block area was dedicated to building the stage and props for "Peter and the Wolf." Chairs were set out and the children who were not "actors" enjoyed being in the audience and watching the show. This week we will continue to support the children in this interest by suggesting story ideas and following the children's lead, helping them express their ideas.
• Skills: Large motor skills, problem-solving, peer negotiation/collaboration, symbolic representation, peer relationships, socio-dramatic/imaginative play.

Snack
Monday - Clementines & pretzels
Tuesday - Whole wheat bagels & non-dairy honey butter
Wednesday - Fruit pizza (made by Megan's small group!)
Thursday - Corn chex & milk
Friday - Applesauce & graham crackers

Weekly Lesson Plan for Ross' Class
Week of: February 11-15, 2013
Lead teaching this week: Avery

Overview: We had a wonderful "warm" week, filled with sledding, snow angels, and more outside fun that the children have been missing with the recent subzero temperatures. Hopefully our winter fun outside will be able to continue this week. Last week, many children make binoculars and have been exploring with them all week; looking for animals and watching the snowfall. We plan to support this new interest, and a continuing dramatic play theme of "spies" by incorporating scavenger hunts around the school into our free play. This is promoting child-directed play that has led to strong critical thinking opportunities as children continue to figure out more difficult clues from teachers, and more recently, from their peers. In addition, all of the small groups have gotten off to a great start. We are excited to see what each group will evolve into and where the children's interests might take us! Be sure to check your child's small group update on the class webpage!

Expressive Arts (easel, play-dough, sand)
• Materials: Easel: Paint, paintbrushes, paper. Clay Table: Play-dough, wires, hammers, wooden knives, popsicle sticks. Art table (sand): Sand, trays, plastic people, beautiful things (such as gems, bottle caps, and corks).
• Rationale: At the easel this week, the children enjoyed finger painting with the primary colors. This allowed for exploration with the finger paint, as well as utilization of color mixing. To continue the challenge of making specific colors, we will encourage the children to replicate the color of their bedroom to prepare for pajama day! The clay table has unfortunately not seen much action this week with our current set-up. In order to get the children excited about this area again, we will introduce play-dough. The novelty of play-dough will be of interest to the children and hopefully invite exploration of a new material. At the art table, we have continued to practice writing on our sand trays, as well as make collages with our "beautiful things." This week, we will continue to have the sand trays and encourage children to practice writing their names and other letters.
• Skills: Color recognition, color mixing, cause/effect, fine-motor strength, creative expression, letter/name recognition.

Sensory (water/ice/snow table)
• Materials: Ice, water, snow, buckets, plastic animals, food coloring in spray bottles.
• Rationale: The children explored melting ice for the past few weeks, and with our recent snowfalls, we have decided to switch our sensory table focus back to snow. In order to initiate more symbolic play, we have added some plastic sea animals, such as seals and penguins. We will add an extra element of color mixing to the snow, as they have already seen color mixing with ice and water.
• Skills: Prediction, cause/effect, scientific thinking and reasoning.

Science
• Materials: Animal track pictures, animal fur, stuffed animals, paper, pencils, materials for binocular making, books.
• Rationale: Last week, children became interested in making binoculars and using them to search for animals as well as watching the snow fall outside our window. This week, we will add more structure to the binocular use by going on scavenger hunts around the school for stuffed animals or animal tracks. Our scavenger hunt will also incorporate elements of "spy" dramatic play that has been happening for a few weeks.
• Skills: Observation, searching/scanning, problem solving, sensory experience, focusing skills, knowledge of natural world

Language and Literacy
• Materials: Paper, pencils, markers, Our Name Book, staplers, tape, envelopes, mail box, children's pictures, books, relating to numbers and letters.
• Rationale: We continue to encourage the children to practice writing their letters, especially their names. With the start of small groups, the children have been writing and sharing fewer stories as they are getting used to the new routine. We will encourage the children to keep writing stories, by having story-telling days on Mondays and Fridays before snack. This week, we will encourage the children to use materials at the writing center to make props for the block and dramatic play. Veronica introduced a game using letters and letter sounds at large group on Thursday called "Musical Carpet Squares". To give the children more experience with this game, we will continue to incorporate it in our large groups this week.
• Skills: Letter recognition, phonemic awareness, pre-/early-literacy skills

Math and Manipulatives (Including the nook)
• Materials: Unifix cubes, puzzles, number puzzles, letter puzzles, number LEGOS, abacus, matching games, Mobilos.
• Rationale: The children have continued to show interest in the teddy-bear dressing puzzles, finding humor in mismatching the three bears' outfits. We also used the abacus for counting, as well as simple addition and subtraction problems. There have been several children building racecars and machines in the nook area this week. To continue the racecar theme, we will be adding Mobilos to the nook.
• Skills: One-to-one correspondence, fine motor skills, symbolic representation, rational counting, number recognition, letter recognition, short-term memory.

Dramatic Play
• Materials: Dress-up clothes and shoes, dramatic playhouse props, play phones, "spy cases" (plastic VHS boxes).
• Rationale: Last week, there was a lot of dramatic play and block play intertwining. There have been food deliveries from the kitchen to the TIV workers, spaceship builders, and princesses. Some children have taken an interest in dressing up as animals: specifically cheetahs. The classroom spies have also continued to go to work, finding lost materials in the room, as well as objects hidden by the teachers. We will continue with self-directed play in this area, facilitating and initiating play when necessary.
• Skills: Peer relationships, socio-dramatic/imaginative play, symbolic representation, problem solving.

Blocks
• Materials: Large hollow blocks, unit blocks, steering wheels, key boards, keys, fabric pieces, plastic animals.
• Rationale: The TIVs continue to take over the block area most days. There are usually multiple TIVs being built and played on, and with time, the children are becoming more skilled at building them. This week, there have been a couple very large TIVs that could comfortably fit five children! Children began incorporating small animals into their play. They enjoy feeding them, finding places for them in the block structures, and finding babysitters for them. We will continue with self-directed play this week, supporting the play when necessary. We will do this by adding scenarios for the children's play, initiating peer collaboration, and further developing the socio-dramatic play.
• Skills: Large motor skills, problem-solving, peer negotiation/collaboration, symbolic representation, peer relationships, socio-dramatic/imaginative play.

Large-motor
• In the gym: ~Materials: Crawling tube, bumpy slide, A-Frame with balance beam, hopscotch, scaling block wall, basketball hoop, basketballs and climbing wall

• Rationale: A new gym set-up was introduced on Friday, much to the excitement of the children. While many new pieces of equipment have been added, we have kept the bumpy slide as many children continue to enjoy experimenting with going down the slide in different ways and pretending they are rocket ships getting ready for "blast off." All of these activities build the children's core strength, encourage socialization and cooperation, and support the children's exploration of what they can do with their bodies!
• On the playground: The children have been able to enjoy sledding this week with the recent snowfalls, which was a huge hit! The fluffy snow is not ideal for snow sculpting, but the children have found other ways to enjoy the snow, including: snow angels, shoveling, and throwing snow (at the building and trees!). We hope to be able to continue sledding and other snow play this week.
• Skills: Large-motor/locomotion skills, cardiovascular endurance, turn-taking, muscular strength, static and dynamic balance, jumping, hopping, throwing, spatial awareness, propulsion skills (throwing/shooting basketballs)

Announcements/Special Interest
• We will be a having a pajama day on Friday! Our intention is to build this up throughout the week with various activities relating to the children's bedrooms and their favorite pajamas.
• Veronica will lead a cooking project on Monday, making avocado and cheese sandwiches.
• Conferences are going very well! For those with conferences this week, please double-check your day and time.
• Summer school enrollment is now open! If you are interested, please see the emails send out last week for more information about how to sign up!
• This Friday, the our class and Amy's class will start our "Student Teacher Exchange" program - allowing each of our student teachers a chance to work with another teacher and teaching team for a day. This Friday, Veronica will visit Amy's class and one of their teachers named Taya will join us!

Snack
Monday - Avocado & cheese sandwiches (made with Veronica!)
Tuesday - Sunbutter on plain rice cakes
Wednesday - Vegetable soup & Triscuits
Thursday - Popcorn
Friday - Applesauce & crackers
** All snacks served with a milk and water, unless otherwise noted**

Weekly Lesson Plan for Ross' Class
February 4 - 8, 2013
Lead Teaching This Week: Megan

Overview: We had a cold end to the week, but this didn't stop the children from wanting to play outside! Hopefully the weather permits us to go outside this week and re-open our sledding hill with some fresh snow. We are seeing lots of friendships blossoming in the classroom through newly discovered common interests. To continue supporting these friendships while increasing the level of thinking and processing going on during the play, the teachers will closely observe the play and offer supporting materials to extend the stories created by the children.
At the end of the week, we started the student teacher small groups. We will continue to work with these groups on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursdays. Avery's group will explore the world of science, starting with a closer look at melting and freezing. Veronica's group will challenge the children's various content skills (color, number, alphabetic letter, etc.) through cooperative games. Megan's group will explore the many amazing things the body can do while also incorporating data collecting and recording.
Finally, a special thank you to Liam's dad, Dan, for coming into the classroom and enthusiastically teaching the children about static electricity. The children really enjoyed trying the different experiments.

Expressive Art (art table and clay table)
• Materials: Sand, trays, writing tools, beautiful things (such as gems, bottle caps, and corks), plastic people, wooden pins, clay, clay tools (rolling pins, wood knives, wood hammers), paper, pencils, plastic animals (bears, deer, moose, raccoons, squirrels, hedgehogs), finger paint
• Rationale: The sand table has allowed the children to explore with writing in new ways and making collages with the "beautiful things." This week, we will draw the focus on specific alphabetic letters that children can write in the sand and also use the sand trays as clues for the "mysteries" in the classroom. We have also added plastic people to the art table that will allow children to take their artistic creations to the third dimension. At the easel, color mixing has continued with red, blue, and yellow finger paint. We will continue to focus on color mixing with their hands and allowing the children to utilize their new knowledge related to mixing the colors red, yellow and blue.
• Skills: letter recognition, color recognition, cause/effect, fine-motor strength/coordination, creative expression

Science
• Materials: animal track pictures, stuffed bears, squirrels, and birds, bear books, paper, pencils, animal furs, computer
• Rationale: Last week, the children continued to work on animal homes at the clay table, and slowly evolved to creating an "animal playground." To bring attention back to the science area, we will be matching different furs with animal tracks. We will be using the furs to figure out which animal fits with the appropriate tracks. We will also shift the focus from many woodland animals bears, and learn about bear homes, their "everyday lives," and how their bodies change for winter. To help with that, we have found a live streaming video from Ely, Minnesota, showing a black bear and her newborn cubs. We will look through the website to learn more facts about bears.
• Skills: observation skills, sensory exploration, interpreting information about the real world about bears

Sensory (Ice and Water)
• Materials: Ice in various sizes, warm water, cold water, ice cube trays, Unifix cubes, buckets,
• Rationale: With weather changes from last week, the children were able to see how different temperatures affect the ice trays outside. This week, we will continue to explore melting and freezing of ice. As a provocation, we will freeze Unifix cubes inside of ice buckets and exploring the use of different temperatures of water to melt the ice and reach the cubes the fastest.
• Skills: Predicting, higher-level thinking/reasoning skills, cause/effect, scientific thinking and reasoning, concepts related to temperature,

Language and literacy
• Materials: paper, pencils, markers, Our Name Book, books relating to letters and numbers, staplers, tape, envelopes, mail box, children's pictures
• Rationale: As we continue our focus on writing and letter recognition, we will incorporate Our Name Book into activities throughout the classroom: for example, encouraging children to add more writing to their dramatic-play stories. Another recent popular activity is the stories/books created by the children. Over the week, the children continued to create stories, adding more detailed illustrations each day. They also are eager to share their stories with their classmates before snack. So far the stories have been about fairies, dragons, Arthur, and siblings/families. The children use their creativity to draw pictures and practice their writing. Lastly, we added number and alphabet books to our book cave to promote alphabet recognition and encourage the children to look at the letters in the words.
• Skills: Letter recognition, fine motor skills, creativity with stories, social interactions/peer relationships, pre-/early-literacy skills

Math and Manipulatives (Including the nook)
• Materials: counting and number matching game, paper, markers, Unifix cubes, puzzles, LEGOS, number cubes,
• Rationale: With the spy kits being so successful in the classroom, we have connected the math table to the spy play, making them the "math investigators". We will continue to connect math to the "mysteries" of the classroom with patterns, puzzles, and counting. From the "homework assignment" from last week, we were able to make a chart with the ages of the children in the classroom. The nook continues to be a busy spot for some children with the construction of LEGO cars, trucks, and racetracks. We will use these popular topics to bring these children to the sand table and create environments for their automobiles.
• Skills: one-to-one correspondence, data collecting and recording, number recognition, symbolic representation, higher level thinking skills, fine motor skills

Dramatic Play
• Materials: dress-up clothes and shoes, animal costumes, play kitchen furniture (chairs, refrigerator, table, cupboards, stove, sink), cooking utensils, dishes, aprons, chef hats, plastic lids and caps, pieces of fabric, baby-dolls, various sized teddy bears, phones, "spy cases" (of VHS plastic boxes)
• Rationale: Last week, we saw a combination of dramatic play mixing with the blocks. Some children worked in the kitchen and brought food to the hard working tornado fighters. The baby dolls are also being included in the tornado play by finding safe spots in the caves for them to go to, as well as finding babysitters to care for them. This week we will continue with the self directed play, and will be adding animal costumes to the dress up clothes. We will hope to see the baby doll play expand to baby bear play, as we will see in the live bear webcam.
• Skills: Social relationships, socio-dramatic/imaginative play, symbolic representation

Blocks
• Materials: large hollow blocks, unit blocks, long wood blocks, steering wheels, key boards, phones, keys,
• Rationale: The TIVS in the classroom are still a hit! Last week, we saw children working together to find tornadoes as well as make sure everyone was in a safe spot. Children also constructed ambulances that are used for injured people and animals in the tornadoes. This play has been self directed and very successful. With limited materials, we are seeing the children use their resources and create new keyboards and cell phones with blocks and wood boards. With the live webcam of the bears, we suspect the construction of bear homes will be popular and will be adding in white blocks.
• Skills: large motor skills, fine motor skills, problem-solving, symbolic representation, social relationships, cooperation, socio-dramatic/imaginative play

Large motor
Materials: Sleds, shovels, Pedalo, bumpy slide, rolling hill, jump-rope-swings, climbing wall
Rationale: The children continue to enjoy going to the gym every morning! With gym jam being so fun, we will be introducing new games to promote turn taking and social interactions. The bumpy slide has been a popular spot for the children, as they use their bodies to make a bridge that others can go under. Hopefully it warms up outside and we can re-open our sledding hill!
• Skills: pushing with feet/propulsion (pedaling), standing/balancing, grasping, climbing, turn-taking, directional awareness, core-muscle strength, body awareness/proprioceptive skills, pumping/swinging, jumping/landing, cardiovascular strength/endurance

Additional Announcements
• Conferences start this week! Be sure to double-check the time you signed up for, and please bring any questions or comments you have about your child. Ross is very excited to sit down with each of you and talk with you all.
• Small groups have officially started, which means the return of "Open Snack" on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday - allowing the children choose when they have snack during free-play.
• Thanks to all the families that braved the elements and joined us for GYM JAM last Friday! It was an absolute blast and hope you all had just as much fun as we (the teachers) did.
• Avery will lead a cooking project on Monday: making fruit salsa with the children.

Snack
Monday - Fruit salsa & cinnamon tortilla crisps (made with Avery!)
Tuesday - Cheerios & milk
Wednesday - Carrots & triscuit
Thursday - Pretzels & celery
Friday - Cranberry apple muffins

Weekly Lesson Plan for Ross' Class
January 28 - February 1, 2013
Lean Teaching This Week: Veronica

Overview: Although it was a short week, we packed in a lot of fun and learning! The children continued to be interested in making animals and asking about animal homes. We have started to wrap up our focus on color mixing at the art table, and intend to continue supporting these concepts in other areas of the room. Also this week, we will begin implementing the student teacher curriculum topics of literacy, numbers, and color mixing throughout the classroom. These include the "gathering ages and numbers homework," color mixing with ice cubes, and literacy. Finally, we will discuss the start small groups this week; which may start as soon as this Wednesday.

Art Table
• Materials: Sand, trays, writing tools, beautiful things (such as gems, bottle caps, and corks)
• Rationale: Color mixing has been happening at the art table since the beginning of this session and is in the process of being wrapped up and moved to the painting easel. We will continue to incorporate color mixing into other areas of the room, but the art table will now be home to sand art. The children have been working on writing and in particular their names. The sand art will be a new sensory experience and be a way for the children to creatively express themselves through writing. The use of beautiful things to make a 3-D collage will support literacy skills, but also be a way for children to express themselves creatively.
• Skills: Creative expression, symbolic representation, memory, utilization, interest in and awareness to print, letter and name recognition.

Science and Clay Table
• Materials: animal track pictures, animal track making kit, clay, stuffed bears, squirrels, and birds, bear books, paper, pencils, plastic animals (bears, deer, moose, raccoons, squirrels, hedgehogs), clay tools (wood knives, wood hammers, rolling pins).
• Rationale: The children explored different animal tracks and recreated the tracks at the clay table (See "Science Weekly Documentation" for visuals) last week. The children enjoyed using the plastic animals to walk across their clay paths and make footprints with them, as well as making homes to keep the animals protected. Because of the cold weather, the children could not explore outdoors to look for more animal footprints, but we hope to venture outside this week if the weather permits. The children also showed interested in homes other than animals. They built apartments, houses, and "houses on wheels" in the block area. Next week, we will bring in materials so the children use the clays to construct homes for "people."
• Skills: Observing and interpreting information about the real world, concepts related to habitats, higher level thinking skills, peer relationships and social interactions, fine motor skills.

Sensory (Ice and Color Mixing)
• Materials: ice, warm water, cold water.
• Rationale: Last week the children continued to explore colors and color mixing by mixing and melting the colored ice cubes. The children became very interested in warm vs. cold water, and how the warm water affects ice. This week we will set up the water table to have both warm and cold water so that the children can explore temperature and melting ice.
• Skills: Predicting, cause/effect, scientific thinking/reasoning, concepts related to temperature and changing of physical states, hypothesis/creating testing.

Language and Literacy
• Materials: Materials: winter-related books, favorite story books, books related to colors and color mixing; at the writing table: paper, pencils, staplers, tape, envelopes, mailbox, children's pictures, Our Name Book
• Rationale: The addition of the name book has not prompted as much name writing as hoped. Teachers will facilitate name writing at this table throughout the week. We will also use this name book over at the sand art table as provocation to get children writing their names. We added books relating to color mixing to our book cave. Lastly the children continued their interest in story writing at the writing table, as we transcribed their stories about fairies and princesses. Next week we will continue this story creating/telling at the writing table, and ask the children to also write their names on their stories and illustrations.
• Skills: pre/early literacy skills, letter and name recognition, fine motor coordination/strength.

Math and Manipulatives (Including the Nook)
• Materials: puzzles, counting and number matching game, Unifix cubes, LEGOS, number cubes.
• Rationale: The children continue to be drawn to the puzzles, and especially love to stack the Unifix cubes. The Nook has also been a busy spot for some children, as we have seen the construction of TIV, spaceships, and cars. This week, Megan will use the information gathered from the "homework" that went home on Friday to make a table for the class containing information about age and numbers.
• Skills: number recognition, concepts related to quantity, counting, one-to-one correspondence, promote a sense of classroom community, symbolic representation, data collecting and recording.

Dramatic Play
• Materials: Materials: Play kitchen furniture (i.e. table, chairs, refrigerator, cupboards, stove/oven, sink), dishes, cooking utensils, aprons, chef hats, plastic lids and caps, dress-up clothes and shoes, pieces of fabric, baby-dolls, various sized teddy bears, phones, "spy cases" (of VHS plastic boxes)
• Rationale: Last week, we saw a relocation of the big dramatic play stories; leaving the house and moving to the blocks. However, when the kitchen was in use it was still being used for house play and cooking Spy play has continued to be popular and the children love using their spy cases to search for clues. We have been sending the spies on "missions" and there are a lot of secret meetings and hiding going on in the caves. Next week facilitate the spy play by giving clues and missions to complete.
• Skills: socio-dramatic/imaginative play, symbolic representation, social skills, promotion of new and existing friendships, acting out scenarios using memory, connections to the observed world.

Blocks
• Materials: large hollow blocks, unit blocks, cell phones, steering wheels, keyboards.
• Rationale: Oh the block area! This has been one busy spot this week. It is home to TIV machines, cars, spies, babysitters, ambulance drivers...the list goes on and on! At the end of last week, the children became very interested in building houses and apartments. They created a "neighborhood" where they "call" each other using their cell phones to warn each other about any danger (specifically "severe weather"). The danger is reported from the TIV driver, whom alarms the neighborhood if there is a tornado coming. The driver also calls the ambulance driver to help with any emergencies. There has been some great play going on in the block area, and next week we will continue to facilitate and extend the children's ideas: including the addition of streets and driveways to the neighborhoods
• Skills: large/fine motor skills, symbolic representation, problem solving, social relationships, negotiation, collaboration, socio-dramatic play.

Large Motor
- Materials: Pedalo, bumpy slide, rolling hill, jump-rope-swings, climbing wall
- Rationale: The gym continues to be a favorite place to visit every day. The only changes coming to this area will be the reintroduction of "Choice Gym" on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. We will also continue to introduce new games each day! Outside: Somehow, we're loosing snow on the playground. But it's not stopping our fun! Soccer continues to be a hit, and others have found places to go "ice skating" on the playground.
- Skills: pushing with feet/propulsion (pedaling), standing/balancing, grasping, climbing, turn-taking, directional awareness, core-muscle strength, body awareness/proprioceptive skills, pumping/swinging, jumping/landing, cardiovascular strength/endurance

Additional Announcements and Reminders
- Liam's dad (Dan) will join us on Monday to do some fun science (static electricity) experiments with the children. It's should be a shockingly good time!
- Ross will be out of the classroom on Tuesday, getting ready for conferences.
- For those families returning next year, please return your enrollment forms by Friday

Snack
Monday - Corn Chex & milk
Tuesday - Apples & rice cakes
Wednesday - Pretzels & carrots
Thursday - Sunbutter sandwiches
Friday - Popcorn & fruit smoothies
** All snacks served with a choice of water or milk, unless otherwise noted**

Weekly Lesson Plan for Ross' Class

January 22 - 25, 2013

Lead Teaching This Week: Team Teaching

Overview: Despite the quick warm up during the week before, winter came back in full swing and kept everyone inside; "Even the animals!" Last week, many children got excited to look for animal tracks on the playground, however upon finding almost none, it was agreed that maybe it was "too cold and the animals [were] all sleeping." These hypotheses will continue to drive our investigation of animal homes and animal behaviors during the winter months. We will also promote more hypothetical thinking throughout the room, as we begin to push the children's thinking to more investigative levels during the next several weeks. We feel the children are ready to further explore and investigate the questions they have raised. To support this higher-level thinking and question asking, we will also start thinking about forming new small groups - beginning in the next week or two.

Expressive Art (art table and clay table)

• Materials: color mixing materials (bottles filled with red, blue, yellow, black, and white paint; brushes; mixing pallets; color swatches), collage materials, earth clay, wooden tools, wire, woodland animals, animal track molds, and pictures
• Rationale: This past week, the children explored color mixing with red, blue, and yellow paints, as well as different shades of those mixtures by using black and white paint. We introduced a " Color Recipe Book" for mixing colors, where we invited the children to make new colors and record their "specific" ingredients (i.e. 3 drops of..., 2 seconds of..., 1 circle-full of..., etc.) so their classmates could replicate the newly-created color. This week, we will continue to extend on color mixing by using the "Color Recipe Book" while also exploring the influence of colored paper on the colors the children make. At the clay table: Last week, children were invited to begin constructing animal homes by using animals from the block area as prompts. The children were very interested in this, so extending this while also incorporating the animal print molds at the clay table will be a focus this week. We also began discussing animal homes and animal tracks. The children became especially interested in animal tracks after going outside and searching for them around the school. We will incorporate this growing interest into the play at the clay table, as well: using the toy animals to make their own tracks in the clay.
• Skills: growing understanding of mixing colors, color recognition, cause and effect, comparison skills, reasoning skills, fine-motor strength/coordination, symbolic representation, creative expression, elements of storytelling
Artistic expression, imagination/creativity, and connections to the observed world.

Sensory Table (snow table)
• Materials: colored ice cubes/blocks, scoops/hand-shovels, buckets, castle and shell molds
• Rationale: Due to the near-absence of snow, we have switched our focus to melting ice using water. Last week, the children explored what will make the ice and snow melt the fastest. A new addition to this area in the coming week will be color mixing. We will melt different colored ice cubes into a bin of water and observe the changes, as well as create new opportunities to support our focus on color mixing.
• Skills: Utilization of color mixing knowledge from the art table, predicting, cause/effect, scientific thinking and reasoning, concepts related to temperature/texture/changing of physical states (i.e. melting from a solid to a liquid), fine-motor strength, hypothesis creating/testing

Science
• Materials: animal track molds, woodland stuffed animals, books about winter and animal hibernation, clipboards, pencils,
• Rationale: Last week, the children learned about winter habitats for animals. Small groups went outside and explored around the Lab School playground for animal footprints. Another group specifically focused on the squirrel nests found high in the trees, and ended up gathering materials from the art closet to recreate their own squirrel nests! The children seemed to really enjoy going outside to investigate the animals found around the playground. This week, children will continue to explore habitats by constructing homes, as well as learning more about distinguishing various animals by their footprints.
• Skills: observation and interpreting information about the real world, concepts related to habitats, high-level thinking/reasoning skills, symbolic representation, imaginative/creative play

Language and Literacy


• Materials: winter-related books, favorite story books; At the writing table: paper, pencils, staplers, tape, envelopes, mailbox, children's photos
• Rationale: Some children have become interested in writing and illustrating stories and sharing them at story time before snack. As the stories seem to be "works in progress," they ended each tale with the suspenseful, "To be continued." If your child is talking about book making at home, join them in the process and help transcribe their tale - we would love to share it with the class! Also with the budding interest in writing, as well as encouraging more name writing at the "Question of the Day," we will introduce a name writing practice book called Our Name Book. Each child will have a page in the book that has their name typed, as well as an area for them to write their name; letting the children see how others are practicing with writing their names, too.
• Skills: promote social skills and a sense of classroom community, pre-/early literacy skills, letter and name recognition, fine-motor coordination/strength

Math and Manipulatives (including The Nook)


• Materials: various puzzles, counting and number matching game, Unifix cubes, LEGOS, counting flashcard game
• Rationale: The math table has been very busy, as we have facilitated several different activities in this area last week. The most popular was the making of a Unifix cube tower, and seeing how tall they were by counting the cubes. The children then started using the chart to compare their heights; commenting on being taller or shorter then fellow classmates. This week we will continue our focus on number recognition and counting by invite the remaining children to come get measured. Also, due to a small repair job that closed the Nook last week, the children seemed to have forgotten about it. To get more action going there, we have added a canopy to the ceiling and will be incorporating the LEGOS into our dramatic play.
• Skills: number recognition, concepts related to quantity, counting, one-to-one correspondence, dexterity, symbolic representation, data collection and recording

Dramatic Play
• Materials: Play kitchen furniture (i.e. table, chairs, refrigerator, cupboards, stove/oven, sink), dishes, cooking utensils, aprons, chef hats, plastic lids and caps, dress-up clothes and shoes, pieces of fabric, baby-dolls, various sized teddy bears, phones, "spy cases" (of VHS plastic boxes)
• Rationale: Dramatic play is taking place all over the classroom! In the kitchen there is lots of house play, cooking for each other, and also cooking for the bears happening. We saw children snuggling up with the stuffed bears to have sleepovers and "pajama parties." Similarly, the baby dolls received quite a bit of TLC as of late - receiving lots of extra care and "putting [them] to sleep." The teachers have also observed multiple play scenes occurring in other areas of the room. The children have been interested in playing "village," "spies," and "puppy owners." Adding new props such as the video cases - as well as giving direction to the play; such as providing "clues" for missing materials - helped keep the focused. The teachers will continue to plant "clues" around the room this week. Also, we will encourage using hollow blocks around the kitchen to make it bigger and look more like a "village."
• Skills: socio-dramatic/imaginative play, symbolic representation, social skills (e.g. compromising skills, negotiation, conflict resolution skills, etc.), promotion of new/existing friendships, acting out scenarios using memory, connections to the observed world

Blocks


• Materials: large hollow blocks, unit blocks, pieces of white felt, steering wheels, keyboards
• Rationale: The blocks were very popular, with nearly all the hollow blocks being used to make space ships and tornado machines (specifically the TIV from Tornado Alley). The children's self-directed play and working together to locate tornados (and "finding a safe spot to stay") has promoted the formation of new friendships, as well as created ample opportunities to practice various social skills! To support this self-directed and cooperative play, the teachers will carefully observe the play and offer supportive materials throughout the week.
• Skills: large/fine-motor skills, symbolic representation, problem-solving, social relationships, negotiation, compromise, collaboration, socio-dramatic play

Large Motor
- Materials: Pedalo, bumpy slide, rolling hill, jump-rope-swings, climbing wall
- Rationale: The new gym set up was a hit! Children really enjoyed rolling, hopping, and jumping down the rolling hill. They also tested their newly developing pumping and balancing skills on the jump-rope-swings. Finally, they formed a line every day to get a turn on the Pedalo. The only changes happening this week will be inclusion of teacher-facilitated games led by the student teachers. Outside: It's going to be a cold week, and if the actual temp or wind-chill are below 0 degrees, we will stay inside. However, on those few days that we might make it out, we will have the sleds for pulling each other around the playground, and (of course) the daily soccer match.
- Skills: pushing with feet/propulsion (pedaling), standing/balancing, grasping, climbing, turn-taking, directional awareness, core-muscle strength, body awareness/proprioceptive skills, pumping/swinging, jumping/landing, cardiovascular strength/endurance

Special Interest
• Please be sure to sign up for a conference time if you have not done so already: updated schedule on our class page.
• GYM JAM draws nigh - Friday, Feb. 1 (6.30-8.30p). Fun for everyone, including other families in your neighborhood! Invite others to join us on this very fun evening!
• Enrollment reminder--The enrollment forms that were emailed last week are due by February 1st.
• We will be finishing up our research project with Ru this week.

Snack
Monday - NO SCHOOL
Tuesday - Oatmeal and raisins
Wednesday - Birthday snack (provided by Kassidy's family)
Thursday - Cucumber slices and rice cakes
Friday - Carrot sticks and whole-wheat crackers
**All snacks served with a choice of milk and water, unless noted**

Weekly Lesson Plan for Ross' Class

January 14 - 18, 2013

Lead Teaching This Week: Ross

Overview: We had a wet and wild finish to our week on Friday, but as you could probably tell from your child's thoroughly-soaked boots and snowpants, they had a great time outside: there were shrieks of excitement heard across the playground as the collective group sloshed and stomped through the puddles. The same excited squeals could be heard as many members of our class zipped down our sledding hill earlier in the week! Needless to say, our class is having a great time playing outside together, and the same can be said for the energy inside the room - the children have quickly reconnected with one another and have picked up right where they left off before winter break. It is also clear the children are ready to dive into learning some new content as well, with many eagerly joining their Activity Time groups "ready to learn." We will bring in more provocations to the various areas of the classroom with the intention of stimulating deeper critical thinking skills related to our current foci (color mixing, animal homes, changes in our own homes, as well as concepts of number and quantity).

Expressive Art (art table and clay table)

• Materials: color mixing materials (bottles filled with red, blue, yellow, black, and white paint; brushes; mixing pallets; color swatches), collage materials, clay, wooden tools, wire

• Rationale: After reflecting on discussions from large group last week, the teachers will continue to help foster a stronger understanding of color mixing: asking the children to help create a "Color Recipe Book" to help their fellow classmates know the "exact" amounts needed to make certain secondary colors (as well as various light and dark shades). We also hope to work on create a chromatic color chart to display outside the classroom, showing what we have learned about color mixing. At the clay table, a group of children have been very interested in creating various "locations" out of clay: one being a farm filled with animals, a house, and a barn; another being outer space, complete with flying rockets; and the last a junkyard, filled with a menagerie of broken-down "pieces of junk." We will continue to support the expansion of these "locations" by encouraging those interested to continue adding new pieces to the existing structure each day.
• Skills: growing understanding of mixing colors, color recognition, cause and effect, comparison skills, reasoning skills, fine-motor strength/coordination, symbolic representation, creative expression, elements of storytelling

Sensory Table (snow table)
• Materials: snow, scoops/hand-shovels, buckets, castle molds
• Rationale: We had snow...now we have started to run out. Thanks to spring-like temps, our snow supply has started to run low (...in Minnesota...in January?!?). However, the wet snow has lent itself to great sculpt-ability, so the teachers have added pictures of various snow sculptures to the area to inspire some new "snow castle" creating. The melting of the snow has also piqued the interest in explore different ways to melt snow. We will explore both the sculpting and melting interests more this week, and follow each interest as best we can with the supplies Mother Nature provides.
• Skills: scientific thinking and reasoning, concepts related to temperature/texture/changing of physical states (i.e. melting from a solid to a liquid), fine-motor strength (related to scooping/shoveling), hypothesis creating/testing

Science
• Materials: woodland stuffed animals, books about winter and animal hibernation, clipboards, pencils,
• Rationale: This week we will to a closer look at the question, "Where do the animals (around our homes and school) go in the winter?" Each day, a teacher will bring a group over to the area and develop some hypotheses related to the questions: possibly taking the groups outside and around the playground to see what evidence they can find. We may also invite the children to do some search for evidence of animals around their homes, as well. We will keep you informed as to the developments of this investigation.
• Skills: awareness building related to animal homes - where animals live in the winter, high-level thinking/reasoning skills, observations, symbolic representation, imaginative/creative play

Language and Literacy


• Materials: winter-related books, favorite story books; At the writing table: paper, pencils, staplers, tape, envelopes, mailbox, children's photos
• Rationale: As the children continue to draft and send letters and pictures to one another, the teachers want to capitalize on these great opportunities to have the children continually practice writing their names (and additional words, as each child is ready). We will make a small book with each child's picture and typed name. Then, over the course of the week, the teachers will encourage the children to write their name and add it to the book; allowing each child to see their own written name, as well as continue try again to add a new/update version written by themselves.
• Skills: promote social skills and a sense of classroom community, pre-/early literacy skills, letter recognition (with name writing), fine-motor coordination/strength

Math and Manipulatives (including The Nook)


• Materials: new puzzles, counting and number matching game, Unifix cubes, LEGOS
• Rationale: The counting and stacking with the Unifix cubes really took off this week! The children used them to count and match heights of stacks, measure various small items in the room, make ABAB color patterns, as well as do a quick survey of the class' favorite colors. To expand on these ideas, the teachers will have the children help record this "data" on various charts to help show all the information they are gathering about their peers.
• Skills: number recognition, concepts related to quantity, counting, one-to-one correspondence, dexterity, symbolic representation, data collection and recording

Dramatic Play
• Materials: Play kitchen furniture (i.e. table, chairs, refrigerator, cupboards, stove/oven, sink), dishes, cooking utensils, aprons, chef hats, plastic lids and caps, dress-up clothes and shoes, pieces of fabric, baby-dolls, various sized teddy bears
• Rationale: Last week, several different "potions" were made in our play kitchen: some that eventually became food to feed hungry baby-dolls; some used by fairies, princesses, and princes; and others to ward off tornados trying to "mess up the classroom!" It is clear making and creating "food" is becoming the favorite pastime in the kitchen - potentially leading us toward our restaurant play-theme in the very near future.
• Skills: socio-dramatic/imaginative play, symbolic representation, social skills (e.g. compromising skills, negotiation, conflict resolution skills, etc.), promotion of new/existing friendships

Blocks


• Materials: large hollow blocks, unit blocks, woodland animals, cotton/poly-fil (stuffed animal material), steering wheels
• Rationale: Related to the potion making - specifically the tornado potions - we have seen several TIV's (the mega-truck from the Science Museum movie Tornado Alley) assembled in the back of our room. The machines have been plenty big and able to hold several "scientists." This group is doing its best to collect information about the storms...as well as "make them disappear before they get to the classroom!" This is a fun and exciting topic for many in the room, however tornadoes and storms can be an upsetting topic for some children - as the separation between pretend and reality is still forming for some. We have kept the play more focused on the constructing and driving of the TIV's rather than the intensity/unsettlement that may come with finding any tornados. We are monitoring the play closely, but please let us know what things your child is saying about the play - especially if there are any feelings of unsettlement, as we want all children to feel comfortable and safe while at school.
• Skills: large/fine-motor skills, symbolic representation, problem-solving, social relationships, negotiation, compromise, collaboration, socio-dramatic play

Large Motor
- Materials: Pedalo, bumpy slide, rolling hill, rope swing, climbing wall
- Rationale: We have a new gym set-up with a few old favorites: the bumpy slide and the climbing wall. In addition, we have brought out the Pedalo, created small swings with ropes hanging from the monkey bars, and built a rolling hill with the gym mats. These activities build the children's core strength, encourage socialization and cooperation, support exploration of what they can do with their bodies, and makes up for some of the things that we can't do outside during the winter time (such as rolling down a grassy hill). Outside: we opened our sledding hill last week and hope for more snow so that the children can continue to use the sleds! Also, many of the children have been shoveling and building with the snow; asking questions about and exploring ice and melting, and discovering how the winter weather effects the structures on the playground. Lastly, soccer continues to be a hit...even in the snow!
- Skills: pushing with feet/propulsion (pedaling), standing/balancing, grasping, climbing, turn-taking, directional awareness, core-muscle strength, body awareness/proprioceptive skills, pumping/swinging, jumping/landing, cardiovascular strength/endurance

Special Interest
• PAC meeting on Thursday, Jan. 17 (7-8.30p). All are welcome; we would love to have more voices there!
• GYM JAM is coming!! Friday, Feb. 1 (6.30-8.30p). Be sure to put it on your calendars now!!
• NO SCHOOL: Monday, January 21 - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
• The research project mentioned last week will be starting this week. Ruxue (Rook-sue) will join us on Tuesday to meet the children and then begin her study on Wednesday. Please direct any questions about the study to Ross.

Snack
Monday - Clementines & crackers
Tuesday - Blueberry muffins (possibly made with Sheila)
Wednesday - Carrots & hummus
Thursday - Popcorn (made by the children!)
Friday - Black bean quesadillas
**All snacks served with a choice of milk and water, unless noted**

Weekly Lesson Plan for Ross' Class

January 3 - 11, 2013

Lead Teaching This Week: Ross

Overview: Welcome back everyone and happy 2013!! I hope your time away from school was relaxing, restorative, and enjoyable! Because we have been away for quite some time, we will take the first few days back to get settled into our daily schedule as well as reconnect with one another: especially our new student teachers Avery, Megan, and Veronica. To make a comfortable and smooth adjustment back to school, we will have many familiar materials available: the playhouse and dress-up clothes in the dramatic play area, the color mixing at the art table, and LEGOS in the Nook (the smaller size versus the large size that we had at the end of the fall). We will also continue our focus on exploration of "homes;" continuing to look at our homes as well as animal homes - specifically what animals may do different to their homes during the winter months. We're excited to start our winter session and are glad to have you all back!

Expressive Art (art table and clay table)

• Materials: color mixing materials (bottles filled with red, blue, yellow, black, and white paint; brushes; mixing pallets; color swatches), collage materials, clay, wooden tools

• Rationale: To promote familiarity, as well as quick reconnections through favorite activities, we will revisit color mixing at the art table. However, while will focus more on utilizing our new knowledge about mixing various colors (including various shades of the same color) to create a beautiful documentation to display outside the classroom "showing what we know" about how to mix colors. At the clay table: The clay will be available; with new provocations and stories to retell - bringing the children back to the table to revisit this amazing material.
• Skills: artistic expression, creativity, fine-motor strength/coordination, symbolic representation, color recognition, cause and effect, comparison skills, reasoning skills

Sensory Table (snow table)
• Materials: snow, scoops/hand-shovels, buckets, castle molds
• Rationale: There is no mistaking it - winter is upon us! Unlike last year, we have snow on the ground and plan to bring it inside to explore its various physical properties (i.e. "How does it feel on your bare hands?" "How does the snow change once it's been inside?" "How many ways can we change the snow?"). True, the children will be able to play with it outside, however we are putting on out investigative hats, getting out hands "dirty" (or cold rather), and taking a closer look at snow!
• Skills: scientific thinking and reasoning, concepts related to temperature/texture/changing of physical states (i.e. melting from a solid to a liquid), fine-motor strength/endurance (related to scooping/shoveling), hypothesis creating/testing

Science
• Materials: woodland stuffed animals, books about winter and animal hibernation, clipboards, pencils,
• Rationale: We will continue our exploration of animal homes by asking the question, "What do the animals around our school do in the winter?" We will investigate this question by having conversations, looking at books, as well as possibly looking for videos about animal hibernation on the computer. We will also have a small (dead) orange tree at the science table, filled with woodland animals to allow the children the opportunity to carry out any of their own hibernation stories.
• Skills: awareness building related to animal homes - where animals live in the winter, high-level thinking/reasoning skills, observations, symbolic representation, imaginative/creative play

Language and Literacy


• Materials: books, "Book Cave," At the writing table: paper, pencils, staplers, tape, envelopes, mailbox, children's photos
• Rationale: To help foster the reconnection between the children, the teachers revisit writing letters with the children; specifically helping with the facilitation of addressing and signing of the letters. The teachers will also encourage the children to look in the mailbox and deliver letters throughout the day - helping the children recall the names of their classmates, as well as hopefully sparking new connections between peers.
• Skills: promote social skills and a sense of classroom community, pre-/early literacy skills, letter recognition (with name writing), fine-motor coordination/strength

Math and Manipulatives (including The Nook)


• Materials: new puzzles, counting and number matching game, Unifix cubes, LEGOS
• Rationale: One area with a new focus will be the math. To begin the winter session, we will explore numerals/number recognition and quantity. The games and materials in the area will challenge children to recognize the various written numbers and find the corresponding number of materials. In the Nook, LEGOS will be available for the children to build and create with...and knowing the popularity of this material, I have a feeling the Nook will be a very popular place!
• Skills: number recognition, concepts related to quantity, counting, one-to-one correspondence, dexterity, symbolic representation

Dramatic Play
• Materials: Play kitchen furniture (i.e. table, chairs, refrigerator, cupboards, stove/oven, highchair, sink), dishes, cooking utensils, aprons, chef hats, plastic lids and caps, dress-up clothes and shoes, pieces of fabric, baby-dolls, various sized teddy bears
• Rationale: The house was clearly a favorite area during the fall; seeing many visitors every day. We will keep the set up familiar for the first few weeks, however will observe their play closely to help bring in a new play theme. Restaurant was becoming popular at the end of the fall session, and may resurface during our first few weeks back.
• Skills: socio-dramatic/imaginative play, symbolic representation, social skills (e.g. compromising skills, negotiation, conflict resolution skills, etc.), promotion of new/existing friendships

Blocks


• Materials: large hollow blocks, unit blocks, woodland animals, cotton/poly-fil (stuffed animal material), steering wheels
• Rationale: The block area was another very popular area in the fall. We will have the basic building materials on the large-block side of the room; letting the children reenact stories from the fall or create new stories. To support our focus on animal homes during the winter, we will add props to the small-block side of the room and promote "winter habitat building." Supplemental books and pictures will also be in the area to act as a provocation.
• Skills: large/fine-motor skills, symbolic representation, connection to focus on animal homes, problem-solving, social relationships, negotiation, compromise, collaboration, socio-dramatic play

Large Motor
• Materials: In the Gym: monkey bars, "Bumpy Slide," climbing stairs, jumping platform, climbing bars. On the Playground: snow shovels, buckets, play dishes, scoops, sleds (for pulling around the playground - NO SLEDDING YET).
• Rationale: With the colder weather upon us, the gym will become a main source of our large-motor activity during the winter session. We will try to get outside every day, however with the dressing of 19 children in full snowsuits, we sometimes get less time outside then desired! As for our initial focus in the gym, we want to foster full body strength through climbing and jumping activities. We will also support proprioceptive and sensory skills as the children take turn-after-turn on the "Bumpy Slide." We will also continue to start each trip to the gym with a teacher-facilitated activity. Outside, the children will build plenty of strength as they trek around the snow-covered playground in their full snow gear! The sleds will come out after the first few days of returning, however only be used for towing and pulling one another around the playground. We want to make sure everyone, including our new student teaching team, feels settled and ready for the non-stop fun and excitement that comes with the sledding hill!
• Skills: balance, large-motor strength/coordination/endurance, eye-hand/eye-foot coordination, body in motion/space (i.e. proprioception), cardiovascular strength, depth perception, risk-taking, collaborative play, propulsion skills (kicking), social skills (i.e. negotiation, compromise, turn-taking)

Special Interest
• Be sure to stop down and meet our new student teachers; they're very excited to get started and work with your children!
• A reminder about parking: please remember to park your car in an angled spot (or parking meter) if you are planning to walk in with your child. Leaving your car unattended and parked along the curb during drop-off makes it extremely challenging to get the cars through our driveway.
• NO SCHOOL: Monday, January 21 - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
• Please send your child's snow gear with them every day! Some days it might warm up to just above zero by the time we plan to head outside, and it's always easiest to get your child into their own gear. Also, labeling helps ensure your child's gear goes home with them each day!

Snack
Monday - NO SCHOOL
Tuesday - NO SCHOOL
Wednesday - NO SCHOOL
Thursday - Pretzels and raisins
Friday - Rice cakes and apples
**All snacks served with a choice of milk and water, unless noted**

Weekly Lesson Plan for Ross' Class

November 19 - Dec 4, 2012

Lead Teaching This Week: Team teaching

Overview: This week will be a short one because of the Thanksgiving holiday. Small groups will be ending on Wednesday, and the children have enjoyed creating fairy houses, building a large cardboard home, and acting out stories to music! As small groups conclude, a new collaborative project with the afternoon class will continue to help foster the connection between the classrooms. Our classes will work together to create a spider habitat and the children will have a chance to observe actual spiders building their webs. In addition to the cross-classroom community building, we will continue to focus on solidifying the existing social relationships in our class during the last 2 weeks of the fall session. We want to create strong connections within the room before we part for the month of December. Be sure to check upcoming postings and updates about classroom and all-school events taking place over break to help your child stay connected with their peers - four weeks is a long time to be away from school and friends...especially when you're 3, 4, or 5yrs old!

Expressive Art (art table and clay table)

• Materials: clay, wooden tools, cloth, small zoo animals, red and blue paint, mixing containers, paint brushes, paper

• Rationale: We will add yellow paint to color mixing, so the children can create a wide variety of colors. We will also work towards the creation of a large color-mixing collage. As we did with our pink collage, the children will assist us in collecting different shades of purple and other colors they mix. We will then create a rainbow-like collage to put on the wall showcasing the range of shades for each color. At the clay table: Last week a teacher modeled how to use a popsicle stick to make bricks. The children showed an interest in this, so this week they will get a chance to try it themselves. The teachers will create a foundation for a group castle. The children can work together and negotiate what to add and how to complete the castle. We will also demonstrate how to use a sponge to help the bricks stick together, like mortar.
• Skills: color recognition, creativity, fine-motor strength/coordination, symbolic representation, cause and effect, problem-solving, comparing/contrasting, reasoning skills, seriation (i.e. ordering the shades of color from lightest to darkest)

Sensory Table (water table)
• Materials: water, scoops, baby-dolls, sponges, drying rack, different sized pitchers and measuring cups, funnels
• Rationale: Last week the water table was changing colors! Before the children arrived, the teachers added a few drops of food coloring to the table, changing the water to blue and pink. The children showed their excitement by exclaiming the color to their classmates as they arrived. With all this excitement, the children have initiated lots of self-guided play at the table! They filled the containers with the colored water and compared the volume by holding them next to each other. Next week, the teachers will provide containers filled with colored water. The children will have opportunities to gradually mix the colored water into the clear water in the table and observe how the colors change.
• Skills: Fine-motor strength, eye-to-hand coordination, cause-and-effect, fostering social relationships, sensory exploration, symbolic representation, care-taking, dramatic play, comparing-contrasting, counting, color recognition

Science
• Materials: class pets (rats, cockroaches, mealworms), magnifying glasses, clipboards, pencils, felt people and clothing, rotting pumpkin, tarantula shell, spider body in glass, spider photo puzzles, books about spiders
• Rationale: After creating a birds' nest at the science table, the children brought it outside and put it in a tree on our playground. We will check on it over the next week to see if any real animals decided to make it its home. Along the lines of animal homes, many children have commented on the bugs that they are finding inside our classroom. To support this interest, the teachers added various spider materials at the science table. We want to support the children's awareness of where spiders live and how they make their homes. After they have had a chance to learn a little bit about spiders, the teachers will add a large wood frame to the science area. The children will be able to use this frame to cooperatively build a spider web home with help and facilitation from a teacher.
• Skills: observation skills, sensory exploration, collaboration, scientific investigating, critical thinking skills, foster classroom community, fine motor skills, symbolic representation, imaginative/creative play, promote social relationships

Language and Literacy


• Materials: books, cushions/pillows, couch, paper, pencils, staplers, tape, envelopes, mailbox, markers, rulers, children's photos, children's journals, felt storyboards and story pieces
• Rationale: The felt storyboard has been a popular item. We recently added more open-ended story pieces to it such as people, forest animals, and food: allowing the children can create their own stories. They noticed the pieces immediately and began creating stories about the people having a feast. This week we will continue to encourage them to tell their own stories, as the felt board will be a selected choice for activity time.
• Skills: pre-/early literacy skills, social skills, letter recognition, fine motor coordination/endurance, creative expression, foster home-to-school connection, story-telling

Math and Manipulatives (including The Nook)


• Materials: puzzles, weather matching game, multi-link cubes, abacus, seriated Montessori blocks, DUPLOS,
• Rationale: Building on our theme of seriation, the children will get a chance to try new ways of seriating. Other Montessori blocks will be added, so they can begin to distinguish between tallest and shortest and thickest and thinnest. In The Nook: Many children came to this space to build habitats, homes, and vehicles for the DUPLO people. They noticed the photos on the walls that depict different DUPLO structures. Some children recreated these structures; often expanding upon what they see in the photos. The teachers took pictures of the children's creations with the intention of adding the photos to walls the Nook.
• Skills: matching, color recognition, seriation, patterning, counting, one-to-one correspondence, sorting, opportunities for collaborative problem-solving, early concepts of measurement, finger strength and dexterity, symbolic representation, visual referencing

Dramatic Play
• Materials: Play kitchen furniture (i.e. table, chairs, refrigerator, cupboards, stove/oven, highchair, sink), dishes, cooking utensils, cookbook, corks, fruit pits, string, beads, plastic lids and caps, our kitchen photos, dress-up clothes and shoes, restaurant props, phones, pieces of fabric, baby-dolls, clothes, bottles, beds, glow-in-the-dark stars, blue fabric, pretend wetland animals (i.e. frogs, turtles, fish), rocks, logs
• Rationale: The children were eager to use the new cooking materials; including the beads, plastic lids and caps, to make meals for their peers. They worked together to make the meals, often assigning tasks and sharing ideas. In the baby-doll cave, the children figured out how to share the small space and negotiate when the light should go on and off so, "the babies can take their nap." In our 'backyard' cave, the frogs have been a hit! The children had conversations about various frog families, and took their frogs on adventures around the classroom. The teachers will continue to support the children's discussions about what frogs eat, how they grow, and what other animals share their habitat.
• Skills: imaginative/creative play, symbolic representation, promote social relationships, foster home-to-school connection, social skills (i.e. negotiation, compromise), critical thinking skills (i.e. reasoning, comparing/contrasting, perspective-taking)

Blocks


• Materials: large hollow blocks, unit blocks, sticky mats, steering wheels, photos of windows and house numbers, keys, cardboard home, cardboard pieces
• Rationale: The cardboard home created by Anna's small group will be placed in the block area. With this addition, we will see what kind of stories develop. When the house goes away, cardboard pieces will be added for open-ended building. We hope with these the children can problem solve and plan how to create their own homes or structures
• Skills: large/fine-motor skills, symbolic representation, concepts of balance, counting, problem-solving, social relationships, negotiation, compromise, collaboration, creative/imaginative play

Large Motor
• Materials: In the Gym: New gym set-up coming Tuesday. On the Playground: climber, slides, swings, rakes, buckets, shovels, bricks, sand, rope, wheelbarrows, construction trucks, wagons, trikes, traffic signs, jumping board, dishes
• Rationale: Due to the Oleanna Book Sale that took place at the end of last week, the gym is currently in 'transition phase.' We will play a few group games on Monday, and a new set-up will be coming! On the playground, many children are eager to play soccer. The group that participates in this activity has negotiated rules to follow, such as picking the ball up and bringing it back to the grass when it goes 'out of bounds.' They are also figuring out how to share the ball with everyone who wants to play. Other children have become immersed in digging in the sand. Some are working together to dig a large trench, while other are making individual holes to search for buried treasure. The teachers will continue to facilitate this collaborative play and provide opportunities for the children to interact positively with their peers.
• Skills: balance, large-motor strength/coordination/endurance, eye-hand/eye-foot coordination, body in motion/space (i.e. proprioception), cardiovascular strength, depth perception, risk-taking, collaborative play, propulsion skills (kicking), social skills (i.e. negotiation, compromise, turn-taking)

Special Interest
• Class pictures are now available. Stop down and see the sign-up sheet attached to the door.
• Reminder - NO SCHOOL: Thursday, Nov. 22 and Friday, Nov 23 - Thanksgiving weekend.
• Another reminder - Our end of the session "Good-bye" party for Anna and Rebekah is on Thursday, Nov 29 starting at 10.30a. We hope you all can make it!
• Ross will be out of the classroom on Tuesday, Nov. 27 - work compensation day.

Snack
Monday - Pickles and whole wheat crackers
Tuesday - Rice cakes and craisins
Wednesday - Popcorn and milk
Thursday - NO SCHOOL
Friday - NO SCHOOL
**All snacks served with a choice of milk and water, unless noted**

Weekly Lesson Plan for Ross' Class

November 12 - 16, 2012

Lead Teaching This Week: Anna

Overview: Animal habitats were a big focus last week. In large group, we discussed bird's nests and we began building a collaborative nest. Continuing with our animal habitat theme, we sang and acted out the song Five Green and Speckled Frogs. In the song, the frogs jump into their home (a pool), similar to our frog habitat in the classroom. This week we will continue to explore our animal habitat theme by completing our collaborative bird's nest with the afternoon class and we will try to "think like a bird" to find the best place for it. Another thing we've focused on is color mixing. The children did an exciting cooking project that involved "coloring" their muffins. This week we will add a new paint color to the mixing table: blue. The children will get to apply their growing understanding of color mixing as they make different shades of purple!

Expressive Art (art table and clay table)
• Materials: clay, wooden tools, cloth, small zoo animals, red and blue paint, mixing containers, paint brushes, paper
• Rationale: This week we will introduce blue paint to color mixing and challenge them to see how many shades of purple they can create with red and blue. The children will also work on seriating their purple colors from lightest to darkest. At the clay table, the children have continued to enjoy using the animals. This week we will help the children move from sensory-based play to imaginative play by modeling and encouraging them to create habitats for the animals and act out stories with them.
• Skills: color recognition, creativity, fine-motor strength/coordination, symbolic representation, cause and effect, problem-solving, comparing/contrasting, reasoning skills, seriation (i.e. ordering the shades of color from lightest to darkest)

Sensory Table (water table)

• Materials: soapy water, scoops, baby-dolls, sponges, drying rack, different sized pitchers and measuring cups, funnels, eye droppers, turkey basters, pipes

• Rationale: Last week we added a sign at the water table that asked, "How many scoops does it take to fill each container?" along with photos of the different containers. A few children worked on filling the containers, with one child even using a sponge to squeeze water into it. This week we will facilitate the activity by showing them the different measuring cups they can use to fill the containers and counting with them as they fill them up. A few new materials will be added, so the children can compare them. A chart will be created and put on the wall nearby, so the children can begin recording their findings.
• Skills: Fine-motor strength, eye-to-hand coordination, cause-and-effect, fostering social relationships, sensory exploration, symbolic representation, care-taking, dramatic play, comparing-contrasting, counting

Science 

• Materials: class pets (rats, cockroaches, mealworms), birds' nests, pretend birds and eggs, magnifying glasses, clipboards, pencils, nest building materials (sticks, leaves, yarn, grass), felt people and clothing, rotting pumpkin

• Rationale: We introduced the larger collaborative nest frame to be created by both morning and afternoon classes. A group of children worked together to make the frame stronger by weaving string through the sticks. The children will continue to add materials to the nest until we decide that it is complete. The children will think about a bird's needs and weather conditions to determine if the nest is finished. We will then have a discussion about where to put the nest.
• Skills: observation skills, sensory exploration, collaboration, scientific investigating, critical thinking skills, foster classroom community, fine motor skills, symbolic representation, imaginative/creative play, promote social relationships

Math and Manipulatives (including The Nook)

• Materials: puzzles, weather matching game, multi-link cubes, abacus, seriated Montessori blocks, DUPLOS, photos of DUPLO homes

• Rationale: We will continue to build on our theme of color seriation by adding a color matching memory game. This will help the children learn to recognize different shades of colors and determine which shades are dark and which are light. In The Nook: Last week the children built several structures such as a hospital and veterinary clinic. A photo of a tall tower inspired several children and they worked to build their own tower. This week we will take pictures of the children's structures and add them to the wall, so the children can revisit them with a sense of pride and accomplishment in their work.
• Skills: matching, color recognition, seriation, patterning, counting, one-to-one correspondence, sorting, opportunities for collaborative problem-solving, early concepts of measurement, finger strength and dexterity

Language and Literacy

• Materials: books, cushions/pillows, couch, paper, pencils, staplers, tape, envelopes, mailbox, markers, rulers, children's photos, children's journals, felt storyboard
• Rationale: Due to the children's interest in story-telling, a felt storyboard will be added to the book cave, so the children can bring their stories to life, or tell their own version of a favorite story. In the writing center, the children have discovered their journals and drawing/"writing" in them has become a popular activity. Needless to say, we have a full mailbox everyday! This week in large group we will begin to incorporate their journals by doing activities such as having the children practice writing their name. This will give them a chance to see the different ways they can use their journals.
• Skills: pre-/early literacy skills, social skills, letter recognition, fine motor coordination/endurance, creative expression, foster home-to-school connection, story-telling

Dramatic Play

• Materials: Play kitchen furniture (i.e. table, chairs, refrigerator, cupboards, stove/oven, highchair, sink), dishes, cooking utensils, cookbook, corks, fruit pits, string, beads, plastic lids and caps, our kitchen photos, dress-up clothes and shoes, restaurant props, phones, pieces of fabric, baby-dolls, clothes, bottles, beds, glow-in-the-dark stars, blue fabric, pretend wetland animals (i.e. frogs, turtles, fish), rocks, logs

• Rationale: In the play kitchen, we thinned out the materials to change the children's focus. We added abstract materials, such as beads and string to stretch their imaginations and allow them to transform the materials into their desired food/cooking item. Since the children have been building tables in the block area and taking the food they cooked to them, we added some restaurant props in the dress-up area. In the caves, our backyard frog habitat has taken off, especially after we sang the song Five Green and Speckled Frogs in large group. The children are going to the habitat and acting it out with the frogs and logs. We will continue to facilitate play and discussion about our "backyard," including what the frogs eat, who else lives with them, and how/why frogs can go on land and in the water.
• Skills: imaginative/creative play, symbolic representation, promote social relationships, foster home-to-school connection, social skills (i.e. negotiation, compromise), critical thinking skills (i.e. reasoning, comparing/contrasting, perspective-taking), counting

Blocks

• Materials: large hollow blocks, unit blocks, sticky mats, steering wheels, photos of windows and house numbers, keys

• Rationale: Music continues to be a driving force in this area. The children are putting on dress-up clothes and dancing and acting out songs. They continuously request that we put on the Peter and the Wolf record. Now that they are familiar enough with the music to know what's happening in the story, we will encourage the children to build props that they can use while acting it out.
• Skills: large/fine-motor skills, symbolic representation, concepts of balance, counting, problem-solving, social relationships, negotiation, compromise, collaboration, creative/imaginative play

Large Motor

• Materials: in the Gym: A-frame (with attached slide), stair climber with donut and climbing rope, climbing wall, stacked mats, monkey bars with triangle-block slide, trampoline/teeter-totter, balancing dome, throwing station with bean bags and hanging basket targets. On the Playground: climber, slides, swings, rakes, buckets, shovels, bricks, sand, rope, wheelbarrows, construction trucks, wagons, trikes, traffic signs, jumping board, dishes

• Rationale: The children are having a blast with the new gym arrangement. Popular activities include jumping off the mats while holding hands and jumping over the triangle-block slide at the end of the monkey bars. This week the bolsters with the stair climber will be replaced by the large blue donut, which the children can use for climbing. On the playground, a ball was brought out and the children got involved in a game of soccer. We will continue to assist with this to help the children learn about the rules of the game and to ensure safe and fair play.
• Skills: balance, large-motor strength/coordination/endurance, eye-hand/eye-foot coordination, body in motion/space (i.e. proprioception), cardiovascular strength, depth perception, risk-taking, collaborative play, propulsion skills (throwing)

Special Interest
• The dance students will be with us for one more week! So far, the children have really enjoyed their visits!!
• Oleanna Book Sale!! See the flyer for details, but do try to stop by the gym on Thursday or Friday and see all the great books!
• NO SCHOOL: Thursday, Nov. 22 and Friday, Nov 23 - Thanksgiving weekend.
• Believe it or not, the end of the session is quickly approaching! We will have our end of the session "Good-bye" party for Anna and Rebekah on Thursday, Nov 29. We invite you all to join us for snack around 10.30a, followed by a quick sing-a-long. We hope you all can make it!

Snack
Monday - Cinnamon sugar whole-wheat tortilla chips
Tuesday - Carrots and crackers
Wednesday - Pretzels and Craisins
Thursday - Cereal and milk
Friday - Class-made pretzels (made with Anna!)
**All snacks served with a choice of milk and water, unless noted**

Weekly Lesson Plan for Ross' Class
November 5 - 9, 2012
Lead Teaching This Week: Rebekah

Overview: Small groups have really taken off; with lots of productive play is happening in all three groups! The children are starting to create things that they will be able to share with the rest of their classmates, including a musical performance, a child-size house made of wood, and a habitat for fairies! We have also started open-snack three days a week. This involves clearing only one table for snack service and allowing the children to choose when they want to come and eat during free play. This gives them a sense of ownership over their schedule and allows for less intrusion during productive play scenarios. The children have adapted to this change very well. During large groups, the children have continued to adapt the familiar 5 Little Pumpkins song to fit other subjects, such as birds, cats, and children. They are able to practice rhyming by suggesting new words to use in the songs. They show excitement during these activities and are eager to share their ideas with the group. Music has become a very popular activity in our classroom. The teachers will continue to encourage the children to use music to enrich and expand upon their dramatic play. This will involve them acting out songs and coming up with their own stories to go along with instrumental music.

Expressive Art (art table and clay table)
• Materials: clay, wooden tools, cloth, small zoo animals, pink, white, and black paint, mixing containers, paint brushes, paper, color swatches (shades of pink and red)
• Rationale: The children have been exploring color mixing by combining red and white to make different shades of pink. They have made produced tons of sheets of different colored pink- and red-painted paper! The teachers have started to cut these sheets into small squares that the children will be able to use to create a large mosaic piece of art for our classroom. The color-mixing exploration has also produced a lot of extra pink paint. The teachers have been collecting this paint in cups. We will give the children opportunities to use this extra paint to make more sheets of pink- and red-painted paper to use for our large mosaic display. During this process we will support the children's understanding of 'lighter' and 'darker' by encouraging them to order their color creations from lightest to darkest.
• Skills: color recognition, creativity, fine-motor strength/coordination, symbolic representation, cause and effect, problem-solving, comparing/contrasting, reasoning skills, seriation (i.e. ordering the shades of color from lightest to darkest)

Sensory Table (water table)
• Materials: soapy water, scoops, baby-dolls, sponges, drying rack
• Rationale: The children have recently developed an interest in washing baby-dolls at the water table. To support this play, the teachers added soap to the water to create a "bubble-washing table." Sponges and a drying rack have also been added to this space. The children can use the scoops and sponges to wash their babies. The teachers will listen to the children's conversations to gain an understanding of where their play can go next.
• Skills: Fine-motor strength, eye-to-hand coordination, cause-and-effect, fostering social relationships, sensory exploration, symbolic representation, care-taking, dramatic play

Science
• Materials: class pets (rats, cockroaches, mealworms), birds' nests, pretend birds and eggs, magnifying glasses, clipboards, pencils, nest building materials (sticks, leaves, yarn, grass), felt people and clothing, rotting pumpkin
• Rationale: The children have had opportunities to use natural materials to create birds' nests at the science table. As a provocation, the teachers will build a stick frame to promote a more collaborative effort between the children in creating a bird home. We hope that by presenting a foundation, the children will be inspired to add to the frame to make it 'safe' and 'warm' for the birds that may live there. We will also add a notebook in which the children can keep track of tasks completed, or make 'to-do' lists. This way, they can think about the benefits of sharing responsibilities and working together. The teachers have also discovered that one of our pumpkins is beginning to rot. This week, we plan to put the pumpkin in a glass aquarium (tightly sealed) and allow the children to observe the changes that occur.
• Skills: observation skills, sensory exploration, collaboration, scientific investigating, critical thinking skills, foster classroom community, fine motor skills, symbolic representation, imaginative/creative play, promote social relationships

Math and Manipulatives (including The Nook)
• Materials: puzzles, home matching game, weather matching game, unifix cubes, abacus, seriated montessori blocks, DUPLOS, photos of DUPLO homes
• Rationale: The children have shown interest in measuring many things in our classroom, including themselves! They have used both a tape measure and stacking pegs to determine the heights and lengths of different objects. The teachers want to build on this concept by promoting seriation: ordering objects based on a physical property, such as height, length, or shade of color (i.e. lightest to darkest, shortest to tallest, etc.). We will encourage the children to use their measurements, as well as visual observation, to put objects in order. The children have also demonstrated a shared interest in construction. In order to further support this interest, we will transform the nook into a construction site for DUPLO building. The teachers will include photos of DUPLO homes built by us to give the children some ideas of what to make.
• Skills: matching, color recognition, seriation, patterning, counting, one-to-one correspondence, sorting, opportunities for collaborative problem-solving, early concepts of measurement, finger strength and dexterity

Language and Literacy
• Materials: books, cushions/pillows, couch, paper, pencils, staplers, tape, envelopes, mailbox, markers, rulers, children's photos, children's journals
• Rationale: Many of the children have had opportunities to act out stories through their dramatic play. These experiences have evolved and the children are beginning to develop their own stories. In order to support their ideas and to facilitate their story-telling, the teachers will provide each child with their own journal. The children can use these journals to depict/illustrate/"write" their stories. They can also use them for note-taking during scientific observation. These will be available at the writing table. The teachers will also include a play mailbox to support the popular activity of letter-writing.
• Skills: pre-/early literacy skills, social skills, letter recognition, fine motor coordination/endurance, creative expression, foster home-to-school connection, story-telling

Dramatic Play
• Materials: Play kitchen furniture (i.e. table, chairs, refrigerator, cupboards, stove/oven, highchair, sink), dishes, cooking utensils, pretend food, cookbook, corks, fruit pits, our kitchen photos, dress-up clothes and shoes, phones, pieces of fabric, baby-dolls, clothes, bottles, beds, glow-in-the-dark stars, blue fabric, pretend wetland animals (i.e. frogs, turtles, fish), rocks, logs
• Rationale: Many children are continuing to care for the baby-dolls in this area. They are dressing the babies and putting them to bed when playtime is done. In order to help simulate 'nighttime,' the teachers will add glow-in-the-dark stars to the ceiling of the baby-doll cave. The children can turn off the light to darken the space and see the stars glow. We will encourage them to count the stars and compare their sizes. The teachers will also transform the pet cave into the 'backyard' of our dramatic playhouse. We will encourage the children to think about their yards and neighborhoods at home and about what things they notice in these places. Due to the budding interest of frogs amongst the children, the teachers have included a basket with blue fabric to act as water, rocks, logs, and various wetland animals. During 'Activity Time,' a small group will come to this space to help set up these materials according to their ideas and suggestions.
• Skills: imaginative/creative play, symbolic representation, promote social relationships, foster home-to-school connection, social skills (i.e. negotiation, compromise), critical thinking skills (i.e. reasoning, comparing/contrasting, perspective-taking), counting

Blocks
• Materials: large hollow blocks, unit blocks, sticky mats, steering wheels, photos of windows and house numbers, keys
• Rationale: This has been such a productive space! The children are working collaboratively to build large structures, such as trucks and zoos. They are also using this space to act out stories within songs, such as Scamper, Bear Hunt, and more recently, Peter and the Wolf. The children build the scenes of these stories using large blocks and other props. They adopt roles and listen to the music to help direct their actions. They discuss their ideas for building and negotiate who gets to be what character. The teachers will continue to incorporate music in block play.
• Skills: large/fine-motor skills, symbolic representation, concepts of balance, counting, problem-solving, social relationships, negotiation, compromise, collaboration, creative/imaginative play

Large Motor
• Materials: in the Gym: A-frame (with attached slide), stair climber with seriated cylinder bolsters and climbing rope, climbing wall, stacked mats, monkey bars with triangle-block slide, trampoline/teeter-totter, balancing dome, throwing station with bean bags and hanging basket targets. On the Playground: climber, slides, swings, rakes, buckets, shovels, bricks, sand, rope, wheelbarrows, construction trucks, wagons, trikes, traffic signs, jumping board, dishes
• Rationale: The children are enthusiastic about the new gym set-up. Its activities promote a higher level of risk-taking, which the children are embracing. They are exploring different ways to use the materials, such as going down the slide backwards, jumping from one pile of stacked mats over another, and going up and down the seriated bolsters. Many have also participated in throwing bean bags through the basket targets. The teachers will continue to encourage the children engaged in this activity to all throw at the same time, and to all collect the bean bags at the same time, so that no one gets hit accidentally. Outside, there has been a lot of work happening at the 'construction site,' including digging holes and paving roads. The teachers will continue to make the dump trucks and shovels accessible to the children for this play.
• Skills: balance, large-motor strength/coordination/endurance, eye-to-hand/eye-to-foot coordination, body in motion/space (i.e. proprioception), cardiovascular strength, depth perception, risk-taking, social skills, collaborative play, propulsion skills (throwing)

Special Interest
• Picture day is coming! Our class will take their pictures (individual and class photos) during the school day on Wednesday. It is also a bit of a "busier" day, so it will be a simpler schedule that day: no small groups, longer time outside (as there probably will be no gym before taking pictures)
• The Oleanna Book Sale is coming! On Thursday (Nov. 15) and Friday (Nov. 16), the gym will be FILLED with great books at great prices! Please stop in and check it out. It's a great way to take care of some holiday gift shopping, as well as support a great local bookseller. Also, we (the Lab School) receive a credit to add books to our school library based on the number of books sold during the sale. Basically, the more books purchased during the book sale, the more books we get to add to our school library! Everybody wins! Finally, each teacher typically creates a "wish list" for books they'd like to add to their collection. Please talk with Susan (the kind woman running this book sale - all by herself, no less!) for details if you're interested in giving a gift to the school/classroom teacher.

Snack
Monday - Oatmeal
Tuesday - Apples and sunbutter dip
Wednesday - Rice chex and raisins
Thursday - Bagels and pumpkin butter
Friday - Colorful muffins (made with Rebekah!)
**All snacks served with a choice of milk and water unless otherwise noted**

Weekly Lesson Plan for Ross' Class
October 29 - November 2, 2012
Lead Teaching This Week: Student Teacher Team Teaching

Overview: The children have shown a lot of enthusiasm about the new materials in our classroom! One group of objects in particular has become a popular theme during our large group meetings: the pumpkins! (Special thanks to Zoe's family for sharing them). The children have been singing about pumpkins and making pumpkin shapes with their bodies (thanks to some fun movement activities that were inspired by the dance students that joined us last Monday). They also opened up a pumpkin and looked inside, made pumpkin smoothies, and even enjoyed an all-pumpkin snack on Friday! This week, we will build on these movement activities (and interest in pumpkins) by making more shapes using different parts of our bodies. We will also continue to expand upon and adapt the songs we sing by using ideas that the children offer. This involves taking familiar songs and switching out words, humming, or 'silently singing' (mouthing the words and making the movements without any sound). Another thing we will focus on this week is how the weather is changing outside; as the children are beginning to talk about the weather-protective clothing that they are bringing to school. We will support this dialogue as well as encourage them to observe the changes in weather. A couple ways that we will accomplish this are by looking out the windows during large group, and going on walks outside

Expressive Art (art table and clay table)
• Materials: clay, wooden tools, cloth, small zoo animals, red and white paint bottles, paint mixing containers, paint brushes, paper, trays
• Rationale: The addition of the small animals to the clay table has made this space even more popular! Many children are using the animals to make marks ("footprints") in the clay. Others are covering the animals with clay, intending to hide them or to give them 'armor.' At the art table, the children have been exploring color mixing. After a quick demo at large group, they are beginning to use their brushes to mix different shades of red and pink. They are comparing the colors, using words such as, 'lighter' and 'darker' to describe them. We have also introduced red and pink items from around our classroom and asked the children to try and match their paint color to these things - increasing their intentionality when mixing their colors.
• Skills: color recognition, creativity, fine-motor strength/coordination, symbolic representation, cause and effect, problem-solving, comparing/contrasting, reasoning skills

Sensory Table (water table)
• Materials: water, large containers, scoops, funnels
• Rationale: The children continue to enjoy exploring the properties of water. They have worked together to fill jugs of water using pitchers and funnels. More specifically, the children were interested in the speed with which the water flowed at different heights and how the water stream varied when using different pouring vessels. Our goal is to give them different materials to explore how the flow of water can be manipulated. Due to this interest in water flow, materials such as hoses and turkey basters will be added.
• Skills: large-/fine-motor strength, eye-to-hand coordination, math concepts related to counting/measuring/comparing-contrasting, cause-and-effect, fostering social relationships, sensory exploration

Science (Nook)
• Materials: class pets (rats, cockroaches, mealworms), birds' nests, pretend birds and eggs, magnifying glasses, clipboards, pencils, nest building materials (sticks, leaves, yarn, grass), felt people and clothing, soft animals, blankets/scarves, sticks and logs, small insects, cardboard tree, construction paper
• Rationale: The children have continued to show interest in exploring the materials in this space. Some are using the materials to make bird homes. They are also having conversations about keeping the eggs warm and protected. In order to help support the process of building nests, a teacher will be present in this space during free time to facilitate and work together with the children to make a larger nest that will (hopefully) stay together. In the nook, some children have noticed the new cardboard tree constructed by the afternoon class. They are commenting on all of the animals that have made the tree their home. To build on this interest, red, orange, brown and yellow construction paper will be added so that the children can make leaves for the tree.
• Skills: observation skills, sensory exploration, collaboration, scientific investigating, critical thinking skills, foster classroom community, imaginative/creative play, promote social relationships

Math and Manipulatives
• Materials: pegs, pegboards, puzzles, home matching game, magnet boards and magnets, weather matching game
• Rationale: Last week the children became immersed in measuring each other with the pegs. They counted "how many pegs tall" each child was and they began keeping track of their measurements on a child-made chart next to the pegs. This week we will continue charting their measurements to include a collective class height chart!
• Skills: matching, color recognition, seriation (i.e. stacking highest to lowest), patterning, counting, one-to-one correspondence, sorting, opportunities for collaborative problem-solving, early concepts of measurement, finger strength and dexterity

Language and Literacy
• Materials: books, cushions/pillows, couch, paper, pencils, staplers, tape, envelopes, markers, rulers, children's photos
• Rationale: The children are spending more time in the 'book cave' since we have added cushions and pillows to this space. Some children show the pictures and tell the stories to others. Teacher facilitated book reading occurs in this space before we eat snack. During reading, they are noticing what is happening in the pictures and making predictions about what will happen next. At the writing table, children are continuing to use envelopes and their photos to send letters to friends, family, and teachers. Many children are also using this space to draw their ideas for play in other parts of the classroom (i.e. a doorbell for a blockhouse).
• Skills: pre-/early literacy skills, social skills, letter recognition, fine motor coordination/endurance, creative expression, foster home-to-school connection

Dramatic Play
• Materials: Play kitchen furniture (i.e. table, chairs, refrigerator, cupboards, stove/oven, highchair, sink), dishes, cooking utensils, pretend food, cookbooks, corks, fruit pits, our kitchen photos, dress-up clothes and shoes, phones, pieces of fabric, soft animals, pet carriers, leashes, baby-dolls, clothes, bottles, and beds
• Rationale: With the addition of the new cooking utensils, the children made all kinds of dishes. A few additional open-ended objects (e.g. corks, fruit pits) were added so the children could use them as extra pieces of food to cut up for their dishes. They have also been bringing their food to the block area and eating it on the structures they've made.
• Skills: imaginative/creative play, symbolic representation, promote social relationships, foster home-to-school connection, social skills (i.e. negotiation, compromise), critical thinking skills (i.e. reasoning, comparing-contrasting, perspective-taking)

Blocks
• Materials: large hollow blocks, unit blocks, sticky mats, steering wheels, photos of windows and house numbers, keys
• Rationale: The children have continued to use both the large and small blocks for building houses, cars, and trucks. We have been having conversations about keeping our bodies safe near these big structures by using sticky mats in between stacked blocks to keep the structures more stable. Some children are also using the photos to decorate their houses. More recently, the children have begun to construct tables using the large blocks. Some bring over chairs to sit around the table, while others take orders and bring food from the kitchen to serve.
• Skills: large/fine-motor skills, symbolic representation, concepts of balance, counting, problem-solving, dramatic play, social relationships

Large Motor
• Materials: in the Gym: A-frame (with balance beam and jumping station), "crisscross" balance beams with obstacle cones, climber with stairs and slide, climbing wall, monkey bars, trampoline, wooden boat/bridge, balancing dome, tumbling bolsters. On the Playground: climber, slides, swings, rakes, buckets, shovels, bricks, sand, rope, wheelbarrows, construction trucks, wagons, trikes, and traffic signs, jumping board
• Rationale: With the addition of the balancing dome in the gym, the children have enjoyed seeing how many of them can fit on it without falling off. They have also been practicing their tumbling skills on the tumbling bolsters. However, a new gym set-up will be unveiled during the week, as the teachers will work together to rearrange the gym to test new skills. On the playground, digging holes has been a popular activity. The children have been seeing how deep and how wide they can make their holes, while other children have been digging for "treasures."
• Skills: balance, large-motor strength/coordination/endurance, eye-to-hand/eye-to-foot coordination, body in motion/space (i.e. proprioception), cardiovascular strength, depth perception, social skills, collaborative play

Special Interest (large group, music, cooking, fire drill, etc)
• Thank you to all the families for taking the time to sit down with me for conferences. Although sometimes tricky to schedule, it is always nice to have more than just a few minutes along the curb to talk about all the amazing things your child is doing!
• The dance students will be joining us again this Monday - sharing some new, fun movement activities!

Snack
Monday - Graham crackers and apples
Tuesday - Rice cakes and sun butter
Wednesday - Cereal and raisins mix
Thursday - Popcorn
Friday - Oatmeal
**All snacks served with a choice of milk and water unless otherwise noted**

Weekly Lesson Plan for Ross' Class
October 22-26, 2012
Lead Teaching This Week: Anna

Overview: Last week was shorter week due to the M.E.A. holiday. Therefore this week, we will be continuing many of our activities from last week, such as exploring properties of water at our new water table, creating bird nests at the science table, and building large structures in the block area. However, we will have a new and exciting activity at the art table; color mixing! Small groups started last week and the children seem very interested in their topics. Take some time to talk to your child about their small group activities, and be sure to look at the "Small Group Docs" on the "Projects" tab of our class webpage.

Expressive Art (art table and clay)
• Materials: clay, pieces of cloth, bendable wires, plastic animals, clear trays, paint (red, black, and white), paintbrushes, paper
• Rationale: Our painting activity at Creativity Night turned out to be a hit! Therefore, this week at the art table we'll be introducing a new focus on color mixing with paint; starting with an exploration of the color red. Midweek we will add white paint with the red; then the children will be able to experiment with mixing different amounts with the red and white paint to see how many shades of red they can make. At the clay table, creating both food and animal homes continues to be popular. As a result of the popularity of the animal homes, small plastic woodland animals will be added to the clay table.
• Skills: color recognition, creativity, fine-motor strength/coordination, symbolic representation

Sensory Table (water table)
• Materials: water, large containers, scoops, funnels
• Rational: The children are having a blast with the new water table. Having just introduced it last week, we will continue to allow the children to explore the properties of water. Many children have enjoyed pouring out the water from different heights, as well as counting how many scoops it will take to fill up the different jugs.
• Skills: large-/fine-motor strength, eye-to-hand coordination, math concepts related to counting/measuring/comparing-contrasting, cause-and-effect, fostering social relationships, sensory exploration

Science (including the Nook)
• Materials: nest materials (sticks/twigs, leaves, bark, plant/flower extracts, string), magnify glasses, clipboards, pencils. In the Nook: rocks, branches, wood, fabric, cardboard tree, stuffed animals
• Rationale: Last week we had to postpone our walk because it was a short (and busy!) week. Therefore, our exploratory walk around the school will take place this week. On our walk, we will look for different animal nests as well as collect nest-making materials. Also at our science table, we added felt dressing people: with these, the children will be able to think about how weather affects our clothing choices as they dress the felt people for various "seasonal" events. In the Nook: Our woodland habitat seems to be a favorite place for several children. This week a cardboard tree will become the newest addition to our habitat, prompting a discussion about the animals that use a tree as their home.
• Skills: observation skills, sensory exploration, collaboration, scientific investigating, critical thinking skills, foster classroom community, imaginative/creative play, promote social relationships

Math and Manipulatives
• Materials: pegs, pegboards, puzzles, home matching game, (new materials will be added midweek)
• Rationale: We will continue working with the stacked pegs and seeing what objects can be measured. However, we will also build on the children's matching skills with new puzzles and games. As new materials are presented, children will have the opportunity to build finger strength and dexterity.
• Skills: matching, color recognition, seriation (i.e. stacking highest to lowest), patterning, counting, one-to-one correspondence, sorting, opportunities for collaborative problem-solving, early concepts of measurement, finger strength and dexterity

Language and Literacy
• Materials: books, couch, pillows/cushions, pencils, markers, paper, envelopes, staplers, tape, children's photos
• Rationale: The children seem to enjoy curling up in the book cave with their favorite story. Independent "reading" continues to take place, as well as children telling their own versions of stories. At the writing table letter writing is still the dominant activity. Due to our short week, we were unable to discuss the idea of addressing letters. We will talk about it this week and we will also talk about using the children's photos when sending a letter, so they know who will be receiving it.
• Skills: pre-/early literacy skills, social skills, letter recognition, fine motor coordination/endurance, creative expression, foster home-to-school connection

Dramatic Play
• Materials: Play kitchen furniture (i.e. table, chairs, refrigerator, cupboards, stove/oven, highchair, sink), dishes, cooking utensils, pretend food, cookbooks, recipe cards, our kitchen photos, dress-up clothes and shoes, phones, pieces of fabric, soft animals, pet carriers, leashes, baby-dolls, clothes, bottles, and beds
• Rationale: With the recent discussions about our kitchens and cooking projects (Stone Soup), we will explore this theme more. Additional cooking utensils and items will be added, such as a whisk, stirring spoon, and mixing bowls, so the children can pretend to cook their own dishes. Recipe cards and cookbooks will also be brought in, so children can look up recipes, or even "write" their own! In our pet cave, many children continue to walk, feed, and nurture the puppies and kitties. With this as a base, we will start a discussion on caretaking this week. Any children with pets will be encouraged to bring in a picture of themselves with their pet for us to put on the wall in our pet cave.
• Skills: imaginative/creative play, symbolic representation, promote social relationships, foster home-to-school connection, social skills (i.e. negotiation, compromise), critical thinking skills (i.e. reasoning, comparing-contrasting, perspective-taking)

Blocks
• Materials: large hollow blocks, small multi-shaped unit blocks, peg people, wood houses
• Rationale: After working on building a very tall pantry door last week, an interest in building big structures still remains. This week we will continue to explore that interest with a focus on investigating and problem solving ("How can we build these structures safely and successfully?").
• Skills: large/fine-motor skills, symbolic representation, concepts of balance, counting, problem-solving, dramatic play, social relationships

Large Motor
• Materials: in the Gym: A-frame (with balance beam and jumping station), "crisscross" balance beams with obstacle cones, climber with stairs and slide, climbing wall, monkey bars, trampoline, wooden boat/bridge. On the Playground: climber, slides, swings, rakes, buckets, shovels, bricks, sand, rope, wheelbarrows, construction trucks, wagons, trikes, and traffic signs, jumping board
• Rationale: Last week we didn't get to spend a lot of time in the gym and since the arrangement just got changed, we will continue to enjoy it. However, a few new obstacles were added to the balance beams for a new challenge. On the playground, the children have had a lot of fun jumping in the giant leaf pile. They will continue to get opportunities to practice their balancing skills when walking on the jumping board and jumping into the pile of leaves. It seems like that will continue to be a favorite activity!
• Skills: balance, large-motor strength/coordination/endurance, eye-to-hand/eye-to-foot coordination, body in motion/space (i.e. proprioception), cardiovascular strength, depth perception, social skills, collaborative play

Special Interest (large group, music, cooking, fire drill, etc)
• Students from the Dance Department will join us during large group this Monday and for the next four weeks! We were one week ahead of ourselves, but excited for them to join us nonetheless.
• Conferences continue this week, check your times and take a look at the questionnaire.

Snack
Monday - Cheerios & milk
Tuesday - Toast & pumpkin butter
Wednesday - Pretzels & raisins
Thursday - Whole wheat crackers & apples
Friday - Pumpkin smoothies (made by the children) & graham crackers
**All snacks served with a choice of milk and water unless otherwise noted**

Weekly Lesson Plan for Ross' Class
October 15-17, 2012
Lead Teaching This Week: Student Teacher Team Teaching

Overview: Now that we have completed on first month of school, some clear interests have emerged: including a love for music and movement (specifically the song Scamper), big block building, and creating homes using loose parts/wood at the art. These interests have continued to solidify a sense of community in our classroom. With this growing sense of community, the children have started to facilitate their own play as they have become more familiar with the environment and their friendships have formed. To continue building on their interests as well as promote critical thinking, we will introduce our small groups starting this week. Small groups will be an opportunity for the children to work together with the same group of peers three days a week on a focused topic that will evolve based on their interests and discussions.

Expressive Art (art table and clay)
• Materials: wood pieces/scraps, clay, wooden tools, bendable wires, and pieces of cloth.
• Rationale: Last week the addition of more wood pieces/scraps really drew the children in and they eagerly worked on building various structures; including homes and buildings. A few children even began a collaborative home building project. This week we will continue to build on that idea. We will work towards creating one large home as a group and focus on being more intentional with our planning. At the clay table, the children have continued to show a lot of interest in creating things with clay! This past week our focus was making ingredients and cooking tools for Stone Soup and Witches' Brew. This week, we will build on the theme of cooking by using the clay and tools in different ways (i.e. the wires for spoons, the cloth for oven mitts, the basket for a pot). The teachers will pay attention to the children's discussions and see what other ideas they come up with.
• Skills: symbolic representation, creativity, fine motor strength/coordination, social skills, planning/critical thinking skills.

Sensory Table (water table)
• Materials: water, large containers, scoops, and funnels.
• Rationale: We said 'goodbye' to the sand table last week, as it has found a home in a different classroom. This week we will have a water table in its place, where the children can begin to explore the physical properties of water by scooping, dumping, pouring, and filling. Where we go next will be influenced by the conversations and interests of the children.
• Skills: large-/fine-motor strength, eye-to-hand coordination, math conceptions related to counting/measurement/comparing-contrasting, cause-and-effect, fostering social relationships, sensory exploration, creative expression

Science (including the Nook)
• Materials: nest materials (leaves, bark, sticks, grass, dirt, plant/flower extracts), magnifying glasses, clipboards, pencils. In the Nook: rocks, branches, wood, fabric, stuffed animals
• Rationale: To center our focus on "homes" at the science table, we will look specifically at one kind of home: nest. We will add nest-making materials. Using the prompt, "What kind of nest would you build if you were a bird?" the children will be able to use the materials on the table to build their own bird's nest. We will also go on an exploratory walk around the school, so we can begin collecting materials for a class nest. In the Nook, the children are continuing to enjoy our cozy woodland habitat. Several children have frequently played back there during arrival time and activity time. They are creating and enacting their own stories with the animals and environment.
• Skills: observation skills, sensory exploration, collaboration, scientific investigating, critical thinking skills, foster classroom community, imaginative/creative play, promote social relationships, symbolic representation.

Math and Manipulatives
• Materials: pegs, pegboards, puzzles, seriated Montessori beads, and a home matching game.
• Rationale: To build on the children's emerging skills in measurement, we have placed a pegboard on the floor next the cubbies. This gives the children the opportunity to stack the pegs, starting at the floor, and discover how high they can make them go. The teachers will encourage problem-solving by asking the children how they could help the pegs to stay up when they are stacked high. The teachers will also encourage the children to measure objects (including themselves!) with the stacked pegs.
• Skills: matching, color recognition, seriation (i.e. stacking highest to lowest), patterning, counting, one-to-one correspondence, sorting, opportunities for collaborative problem solving, early concepts of measurement

Language and Literacy
• Materials: books, couch, pillows/cushions, pencils, markers, paper, envelopes, staplers, tape, children's photos
• Rationale: Not only are the children spending more time in the book cave, but independent "reading" is also taking place, with some children looking at books and telling their own version of the story. In addition to adding more books centered on our theme of homes and habitats, the teachers will bring in some of their childhood favorites to share with the children. At the writing table, letter writing continues to be a popular activity. A few students have displayed interest in sending their letters, so we'll explore the idea of creating a mailbox as well as addressing our letters.
• Skills: pre-/early literacy skills, social skills, letter recognition, fine motor coordination/endurance, creative expression, foster home-to-school connection.

Dramatic Play
• Materials: Play kitchen furniture (i.e. table, chairs, refrigerator, cupboards, stove/oven, highchair, sink), dishes, pretend food, our kitchen photos, dress-up clothes and shoes, phones, pieces of fabric, soft animals, pet carriers, leashes, baby-dolls (new ones!), clothes, bottles, and beds.
• Rationale: This week we will continue to talk about how the weather is changing outside, and how these changes affects us. Now that the baby-dolls have warmer clothes for the colder weather, we will also add more weather-appropriate dress-up clothes for the children to practice putting on and taking off, and to extend their understanding of what we need to do when weather changes.
• Skills: imaginative/creative play, symbolic representation, promote social relationships, foster home-to-school connection, critical thinking skills (i.e. reasoning, compare-contrasting, perspective-taking), social skills (i.e. negotiation, compromise), self-help skills (i.e. putting on/taking off clothes)

Blocks
• Materials: large hollow blocks, small multi-shaped unit blocks, peg people, wood houses
• Rationale: Acting out the song Scamper is still a popular activity with the children and we will continue to add components to it. A group of children have taken particular interest in building the pantry door that the mouse sneaks under, specifically trying to build it to the ceiling! We will work on finding a way to safely and successfully do so (or at least get it as high as we can!).
• Skills: large/fine motor skills, symbolic representation, concepts of balance, counting, problem-solving, concepts of balance, dramatic play, social relationships.

Large Motor
• Materials: in the GYM: A-frame (with balance beam and jumping station), "crisscross" balance beams, climber with stairs and slide, climbing wall, monkey bars, trampoline, wooden boat/bridge.
on the PLAYGROUND: climber, slides, swings, rakes, buckets, shovels, bricks, sand, rope, wheelbarrows, construction trucks, wagons, trikes, and traffic signs.
• Rationale: We have continued to introduce new large motor games in the gym and the children have really enjoyed them: a few new favorites being "Double-bubble," "Long-jump," and "Over, Under, Through" For more description of these just ask the teachers! This week we will also continue with 'choice gym' three days a week. This gives the children the opportunity to be thoughtful about their choices and engage in activities that are interesting to them. On the playground, the children have noticed that more and more leaves have fallen to the ground. This week, we hope to rake a large pile on the playground before the children go outside. The teachers will pay attention to the children's reactions and give them opportunities to jump and play in the pile.
• Skills: balance, large-motor strength/coordination/endurance, eye-to-hand/eye-to-foot coordination, body in motion/space (i.e. proprioception), cardiovascular strength, depth perception, social skills, collaborative play

Special Interest (large group, music, cooking, fire drill, etc)
• Students from the Dance Department will join us during large group on Mondays for the next few weeks! The students are learning how to plan and carry out activities for young children, and we're very excited to work with them!
• LEAF PARTY TUESDAY! If you can join us, bring a rake and meet us on the playground at 10.40a to help make the biggest...leaf pile...ever! (Adults are welcome, invited, and [possibly] encouraged to jump in the leaves, as well!)
• Creativity Night: THIS Tuesday, Oct. 16 from 6-7.30p...we'll see you all there!
• Conferences starting this week, check your times and take a look at the questionnaire.

Snack
Monday - Apples and pretzels
Tuesday - Whole wheat crackers and Craisins
Wednesday - Oatmeal
Thursday - NO SCHOOL
Friday- NO SCHOOL
*All snacks served with milk/water unless otherwise noted*

Weekly Lesson Plan for Ross' Class
October 8-12, 2012
Lead Teaching This Week: Rebekah

Overview: Hard to believe, but we're already coming up to the end of our first month of school this week! The energy is high, yet productive, in the room, and the children's comfort with one another continues to grow stronger every day. The focus on homes has truly helped support our intentions with forming/supporting a classroom community, as the various family/home pictures around the room have the children talking and sharing with one another on a regular basis. We will continue the discussions (and thinking) about homes as we also continue exploring the care needed for our various class pets. Along those topics lines, the teachers will begin discussing topic ideas for small groups, which will be started soon. It feels like we only started days ago, but at the same time it feels like this class has been together for months with the sense of community that has already formed!

Expressive Arts (paint, collage, clay)
• Materials: primary color paint at the easel, various natural and "beautiful" materials for collage (e.g. wood pieces, pinecones, seed pods, leaves, shells, corks, cardboard pieces, other "house" like props, etc.), markers, crayons, clay (with supportive tools: mallets and wood knives)
• Rationale: Last week a small group of builders got inspired by some of the home-sculptures made by the children in Amy's class. We brought in some pieces of scrap wood, and the building took off! We will follow this "home-building" focus by adding more wood scraps (as well as an array of loose parts) to start the creative process of fabricating/recreating homes.
• Skills: color recognition, creativity, fine-motor strength/coordination, artistic expression, symbolic representation, social skills, imagination

Sensory (sand table)
• Materials: sand will be available with scoops/shovels, buckets, seashells, sand molds, and carving tools.
• Rationale: Now that water has been added to the sand, the children are using it to make sand castles. Many are burying the seashells as hidden treasure and asking others to find it. To support our content focus of "homes," we have also made carving tools available for the children to use to make windows, doors, etc. on their sandcastle homes.
• Skills: large-/fine-motor strength, eye-to-hand coordination, math conceptions related to counting/measurement/comparing-contrasting, cause-and-effect, fostering new/existing social relationships, sensory exploration, creative expression

Science (including the "Nook")
• Materials: our classroom pets (i.e. the rats, the mealworms, the cockroaches, and the salamander), magnifying glasses, clipboards, pencils, various animal homes (i.e. bird nests, a piece of a wasp nest, a conch shell), pretend birds with feathers, and bird eggs.
• Rationale: The children have quickly taken on partial responsibility for caring for our classroom pets! In the morning, many have been noticing when the rats' water is low, or if the mealworms have been eating their food. They have also been exploring the birds' nests and asking questions about how they are made. In order to develop this interest, we will go on a nature walk and look for animal homes, in particular, birds' nests. We will also begin to collect materials outside that could be used to construct our own birds' nests. Also, the carpet finally arrived in the nook and a woodland habitat as been constructed; where stuffed animals, branches, rocks, and fabric that together to make the deep worlds come to life in our room.
• Skills: scientific awareness building and investigating, observation skills, critical thinking skills, strengthening home-to-school connection, foster sense of school/classroom community, sensory exploration, collaboration, creative expression

Dramatic Play
• Materials: play furniture (i.e. stove, fridge, sink, and cupboard), dishes, pretend food, kitchen photos, dress-up clothes, fabric, old cell phones, baby-dolls, baby clothes, stuffed animals, leashes, and pet carriers.
• Rationale: The dramatic play area is gaining popularity due to all of our kitchen photos that have been posted on the wall. The children are eager to point out their photos and talk about who and what are in them. This has also stimulated discussion about what types of food the children like to cook and eat at home. We will continue to foster the home-to-school connection through conversation about our kitchens. The children have also taken an interest in caring for the pets and baby-dolls by making them food, dressing the dolls, and taking the pets for walks. We have started to talk about the changes in weather and how that is affecting our homes and surrounding habitats. This week we will evaluate whether the baby-dolls have clothes that are warm enough for the change in weather. A small group will take a trip to the curriculum closet to collect new, warmer clothes for the dolls.
• Skills: imaginative/creative play, symbolic representation, promote social relationships, foster home-to-school connection, critical thinking skills (i.e. reasoning, compare-contrasting, perspective-taking), social skills (i.e. negotiation, compromise)

Math and Manipulatives
• Materials: seriated Montessori beads, puzzles, and multi-colored wood pegs and connectors
• Rationale: Last week, the counting pegs found a new purpose - stacking them as high as possible and measuring some of the children in class! We will capitalize on this interest of measuring/large-quantity counting by creating a space to continue measuring various items (including people) in the class. We will also add some new matching games to encourage interactions/cooperative-play at the table.
• Skills: matching, color recognition, seriation (i.e. stacking highest to lowest), patterning, counting, one-to-one correspondence, sorting, opportunities for collaborative problem solving, early concepts of measurement

Language and Literacy
• Materials: books, couch, pillows/cushions, pencils, markers, paper, envelopes, staplers, tape, children's photos.
• Rationale: The children have come up with many different ways to utilize the writing table during their play, whether it be for writing letters, drawing pictures, making signs, creating books, etc. They have also been spending more time in the book cave, where we have added pillows and cushions to make the space more inviting and home-like. We will also add more stories about homes and habitats to bring attention to our content focus. As children continue to create at the writing table, we will continue to support them in making their own books, particularly about their homes, to share with fellow classmates and teachers.
• Skills: pre-/early-literacy skills, social skills, letter recognition, introduction to storytelling, fine-motor coordination/endurance (as children hand muscles grow stronger with holding writing utensils), creative expression, foster home-to-school connection

Blocks
• Materials: large hollow blocks, small multi-shaped unit blocks, peg people, wood houses
• Rationale: The song Scamper [little mouse] has exploded in the block area! We've got a very musical class and they love to reenact this song over and over...and over! Some children have started using the blocks to create different aspects of the song (i.e. the pantry door, the mouse's house, etc.). To extend this thinking and building, the teachers will work with the interested group to facilitate the creation of the "set" for the song so more children can join and scamper safely through the blocks!
• Skills: large-/fine-motor skills, symbolic representation, concepts of balance, counting, comparing/contrasting skills, social relationships, opportunities for endless dramatic play

Large Motor
• Materials: in the GYM: A-frame (with balance beam), "crisscross" balance beams, slide, jumping station (attached to the slider climber), climbing wall, monkey bars, trampoline
on the PLAYGROUND: climber, slides, swings, buckets, shovels, construction trucks, wagons, and trikes
• Rationale: We have a new gym set-up focusing heavily on balance. Balance beams have been added to two of the main stations to facilitate eye-to-foot coordination and strengthen the children's sense of equilibrium. Also, the "community building" games have been a hit and will continue this week - being led by Anna and Rebekah!
• Skills: balance, large-motor strength/coordination/endurance, eye-to-hand/eye-to-foot coordination, body in motion/space (i.e. proprioception), cardiovascular strength, depth perception, turn taking, social skills

Special Interest (large group, music, cooking, fire drill, etc)
• Brr!! The temps have dropped (some say plummeted), which means the children need to be bundled up on the playground. Hats, gloves, and thicker jackets are needed as we will still spend at least 30min outside on these crisp, yet beautiful, autumn days! So head to the basement, dig out that cold-weather gear, and send it along each day! • Thanks to those that helped with dishes last week...it was a HUGE help!!
• The first PAC meeting is Monday Oct. 8 from 7-8.30p. I do hope many of you can and will attend, as your participation and voice keep the progress of the Lab School moving on the up-and-up! I'll see you there!!
• Creativity Night: Tuesday Oct 16 from 6-7.30p
• Reminder -- NO SCHOOL -- Oct. 18 (Th) & 19 (F) (Lab School Staff Development)

Snack
Monday - Carrots & Pretzels
Tuesday - Trail mix
Wednesday - Rice cakes & Craisins
Thursday - Oven fries
Friday- Popcorn

*All snacks served with milk/water unless otherwise noted*

Weekly Lesson Plan for Ross' Class
October 1-5, 2012
Lead Teaching This Week: Team Teaching

Overview: The first two weeks have wrapped up, and it is safe to say our class has quickly settled into the daily routines as well as have excitedly met their new classmates - resulting in many new friendships! Being that our class is consists of all returning children to the Lab School, the quick settling-in is no surprise; however it also makes it clear that we will need to add some more supporting materials to various learning centers. The children are raring to go - excited to learn and make new friends. And although the group has settled in quite comfortably, we will continue to foster the social/classroom community during these next several weeks. With that, even as "veterans" of the school, some children need more time to fully warm up to the idea of coming back to Lab School. Please let me know if your child is sharing any apprehensions about coming back, and we will make sure to give them the extra support they need.

Expressive Arts (paint, collage, clay)
• Materials: primary color paint at the easel, various natural and "beautiful" materials for collage (e.g. wood shavings, pinecones, seed pods, leaves, shells, corks, cardboard pieces, other "house" like props, etc.), markers, crayons, clay (with supportive tools: mallets and wood knives)
• Rationale: The art table has been a popular place for a select group of children; seeing the regular visitors nearly every day. However, to build the interest for others (as well as tying in our focus on homes), some "house-like" props have been added to hopefully inspire some new visitors to stop by and start creating!
• Skills: color recognition, creativity, fine-motor strength/coordination, artistic expression, symbolic representation, social skills

Sensory (sand table)
• Materials: sand will be available with scoops/shovels, funnels, buckets, seashells
• Rationale: The sand has been a very popular area, especially with the new possibility of building sand castles. Water was added to the sand table to keep the dust done, and the sand castle creating exploded! We have added shells to support the new "home" building, and will watch to see what happens next.
• Skills: large-/fine-motor strength, eye-to-hand coordination, math conceptions related to counting/measurement/comparing-contrasting, cause-and-effect, fostering new/existing social relationships

Science
• Materials: various bird nests/animal homes, animal homes matching game, critters living in the science area (i.e. hissing cockroaches, mealworms, and a tiger salamander), magnifying glasses, clipboards, and pencils
• Rationale: The children have really enjoyed checking in on the creatures nearly every day - the most exciting being the rats and their new (bigger) home. A group of children helped create a care sheet for the rats, thinking about the things they needed (i.e. food, water, a clean cage). We will continue to investigate the rats' new home; critically thinking about what else they may need, as well as taking a similar look at the cages/homes for the mealworms and cockroaches.
• Skills: scientific awareness building and investigating, observation skills, critical thinking skills, strengthening home-to-school connection, foster sense of school/classroom community

Dramatic Play
• Materials: "house" furniture (e.g. stove, fridge, sink, and cupboard), plates, pretend food, shoes, fabric, stuffed animals, baby-dolls, and care supplies
• Rationale: The "house" has been one of the hottest spots in the classroom: many coming to prepare food for fellow classmates and teachers, while others are inclined to take care of the babies and pets. To build a more personal connection to the area, as well as bring in our focus on homes, the children will be asked to bring in a picture of their home this week- starting with the kitchen. We are hoping that bringing in a picture of their home will inspire the telling/reenacting stories from home and strengthening the home-to-school connection.
• Skills: imaginative/creative play, symbolic representation, fostering social relationships

Math and Manipulatives
• Materials: seriated Montessori beads, puzzles, and multi-colored wood pegs and connectors
• Rationale: New puzzles have been added to the math table, as it was clear our group was ready for some new challenges! We will also begin exploring the math concept of matching by bringing in manipulative sets that challenge to children to match items by various qualifiers. Matching is a key concept necessary for later mathematical thinking and conceptual development.
• Skills: matching, color recognition, seriation (i.e. stacking highest to lowest), patterning, counting, one-to-one correspondence, sorting, opportunities for collaborative problem solving

Language and Literacy
• Materials: pencils, markers, paper, envelopes, staplers, tape
• Rationale: As many of you might have already seen, there have been many letters written and brought home for many family members. To help personalize these letters, as well as foster pre-/early-literacy skills, we added a picture-sorting tray - loaded with many copies of each child's picture in its own tray. This allows children to "sign" their letter with their picture, and "address" a letter to a new friend!
• Skills: pre-/early-literacy skills, social skills, letter recognition, introduction to storytelling, fine-motor coordination/endurance (as children hand muscles grow stronger with holding writing utensils)

Blocks
• Materials: large hollow blocks, small multi-shaped unit blocks, peg people, wood houses
• Rationale: The other "hot spot" in the room is the block area. Many children find their way to the back of the room every day, and begin a large-scale building project. So far, we have seen: trucks, princess houses, super-hero houses, giant "stairs," telescopes, and even a new "play" area for the rats (which will still be up Monday morning). This area will be a great spot to bring children together and foster the new friendships that are quickly forming!
• Skills: large-/fine-motor skills, symbolic representation, concepts of balance, counting, comparing/contrasting skills, social relationships, opportunities for endless dramatic play

Large Motor
• Materials: in the GYM: A-frame, slide, jumping station with padded donut landing zone, climbing wall, monkey bars, trampoline
on the PLAYGROUND: climber, slides, swings, and lush grasses and tress provided by Mother Nature
• Rationale: The children are quite eager to get the to gym every morning, and the past week we have started our time with a group game. Having the group come in and play a game helps develop waiting, turn-taking, and inhibitory control skills (a.k.a. executive function skills) as they start their time with a teacher-facilitated activity. Ask your children about the jumping games of "1,2, or 3," "Through the Hoop," as well as the class-favorite "Sleeping Children." Outside, the rakes, shovels, and buckets have been added to support all the play taking place on every inch of the playground. The stick house has also become a favorite place for many!
• Skills: large-motor strength/coordination/endurance, eye-to-hand and eye-to-foot coordination, body in motion (i.e. jumping and sliding), cardiovascular strength, depth perception, turn taking, social

Special Interest (large group, music, cooking, fire drill, etc)
• The "Dish Helper Chart" is posted on the door of the classroom. Thanks to those that have signed up! We still have a few more days and would greatly appreciate just a bit more help!
• Stay tuned for the "homework assignments" coming from Anna and Rebekah this week!
• The first PAC meeting is Monday Oct. 8 from 7-8.30p. Again, the participation, idea-sharing, and discussions that take place during these meetings really help make our school a great place for all families!
• Creativity Night is coming soon...put Tuesday Oct 16 from 6-7.30p on the calendar and we'll see you there!

Snack
Monday - Rice cakes & raisins
Tuesday - lass-made applesauce
Wednesday - Harvest granola bars (dried apple/cranberry)
Thursday - Tortilla crisps & apple slices
Friday- Cheerios & milk
*All snacks served with milk/water unless otherwise noted*

Weekly Lesson Plan for Ross' Class
September 18-28, 2012
Lead Teaching These Weeks: Ross

Overview: And so begins another year! As you will notice the room is filled (or rather, not so filled), with many familiar materials. At the beginning of the school year, I feel it's extremely important that the children feel comfortable with coming to school. Even the "veterans" of the Lab School sometimes need some adjustment time to get back into the routines of coming to school every day. That is why we start the year with many familiar materials. Also, I feel it is vital that the children begin connecting with one another rather than the materials in the room. A key element to supporting the learning in early childhood revolves around the social relationships of the child, and that is why building relationships is a primary focus of the fall session. Our goals for the first few weeks are to help your child be excited about coming to school, feel like the Lab School is a safe and fun place to be while they are here, and get to know their peers (hopefully establishing new or reigniting previous friendships). Our overarching focus of the year is "Homes and Habitats" and you will see this theme represented in many areas of the classroom.

Expressive Arts (paint, collage, clay)
• Materials: primary color paint at the easel, various natural and "beautiful" materials for collage (e.g. wood shavings, pinecones, seed pods, leaves, etc.), markers, crayons, clay (with supportive tools: mallets and wood knives)
• Rationale: To foster creativity and artistic expression, we will have a variety of familiar/intriguing materials. We also plan to create opportunities for children to work together/observe the work of their peers by inviting groups of children to work together at the art table; initiating/fostering social relationships.
• Skills: color recognition, creativity, fine-motor strength/coordination, artistic expression, symbolic representation, social skills

Sensory (sand table)
• Materials: sand will be available with scoops/shovels, funnels, and various shaped containers
• Rationale: Exploring the physical properties of sand is extremely engaging for children. It also allows for many opportunities for children to play together: working cooperatively to fill containers, make large piles (i.e. "mountains"), as well as create countless dramatic play storylines.
• Skills: large-/fine-motor strength, eye-to-hand coordination, math conceptions related to counting/measurement/comparing-contrasting, fostering new/existing social relationships

Science (including the "Nook")
• Materials: various bird nests/animal homes, animal homes matching game, critters living in the science area (i.e. hissing cockroaches, mealworms, and a tiger salamander), magnifying glasses, clipboards, and pencils
• Rationale: We have loaded the science table with various animal homes as an awareness builder for our focus on "Homes and Habitats." The children will have the opportunity to explore the materials and begin thinking about what animals live where and why. While these explorations take place, we will initiate conversations with the children in hopes to potentially open up our investigation of one of the most relevant and meaningful places each of the children: their own home!
• Skills: scientific awareness building and investigating, observation skills, strengthening home-to-school connection, foster sense of school/classroom community

Dramatic Play
• Materials: "house" furniture (e.g. stove, fridge, sink, and cupboard), plates, pretend food, shoes, fabric, stuffed animals, baby-dolls, and care supplies
• Rationale: Playing house is one of the most common themes for young children to play, as it is what they know the best! This will help support the children's growing comfort with school and each other as they can play with familiar props and storylines.
• Skills: imaginative/creative play, symbolic representation, fostering social relationships

Math and Manipulatives
• Materials: seriated Montessori beads, puzzles, and multi-colored wood pegs and connectors
• Rationale: These open-ended materials allow the children to sort, order, and arrange the materials in various ways while allowing the teachers to ask specific content questions that help us learn more about what your child knows. They also create great opportunities for children to work together, which has been proven to show strong learning potential when children work in groups.
• Skills: color recognition, seriation (i.e. stacking highest to lowest), patterning, counting, one-to-one correspondence, sorting, opportunities for collaborative problem solving

Language and Literacy
• Materials: pencils, markers, paper, envelopes, staplers, tape
• Rationale: Many children have already shown an interest in writing during the home-visits, and we feel it is imperative to support the pre-/early-literacy skills involved with writing. We also want to begin the year off with opportunities to tell and create stories with the children, and the writing center will (hopefully) become a hub for creation of stories (from both the teachers and the children!).
• Skills: pre-/early-literacy skills, letter recognition, introduction to storytelling, fine-motor coordination/endurance (as children hand muscles grow stronger with holding writing utensils)

Blocks
• Materials: large hollow blocks, small multi-shaped unit blocks, peg people, wood houses
• Rationale: Blocks (large and small) offer amazing opportunities for children to create and represent the world as well as how they make sense of it! The vast building potential allows for children to symbolically represent almost anything: planes, trucks, homes, planets, and even math problems! Blocks are also a seminal component to building/supporting social relationships between the children. The addition of the peg-people (wood dowels with a picture of each child/teacher on them) will help create great opportunities for the children to comfortably play/form relationships with one another - using the peg people initiate interactions.
• Skills: large-/fine-motor skills, symbolic representation, concepts of balance, counting, comparing/contrasting skills, social relationships, opportunities for endless dramatic play

Large Motor
• Materials: in the GYM: A-frame, slide, jumping station with padded donut landing zone, climbing wall, monkey bars, trampoline
on the PLAYGROUND: climber, slides, swings, and lush grasses and tress provided by Mother Nature
• Rationale: The gym is another great venue to help the children get to know one another by observing peers try the various equipment, participating in group activities, taking turns, and often finding someone who enjoys the same activities. The gym also lends itself to be a space for fun teacher-facilitated activities! To begin the year, we will play a few games during the week that will help the children meet one another. On the playground we will keep the buckets, shovels, and tricycles in the shed for the first few days, letting the children explore playground and discover all the amazing things it has to offer!
• Skills: large-motor strength/coordination/endurance, eye-to-hand and eye-to-foot coordination, body in motion (i.e. jumping and sliding), cardiovascular strength, depth perception, turn taking, social

Special Interest (large group, music, cooking, fire drill, etc)
• ENROLLMENT FORMS - if you still have any forms to turn in, please bring them with you on your child's first day.
• Just a reminder, there will be no curbside drop-off on Tuesday or Wednesday (possibly Thursday).
• With the cooler temps seemingly on their way, be sure to send the appropriate
clothes with your child. Our room does stay warm, so have your children wear
a few layers may help them stay comfortable as they travel from inside and out.
• Don't forget to bring your family pictures so we can add them to our "Family Wall."

Snack (As we are still waiting for the last of the allergy information to come
in this week, snack will remain quite simple...it will change for next week.)
Monday - NO SCHOOL
Tuesday - Whole wheat crackers & apple slices (First half of the class: 2hrs)
Wednesday - Whole wheat crackers & apple slices (First half of the class:2hrs)
Thursday - Cucumber & Carrots & milk (Whole class: 2hrs)
Friday- Graham crackers & raisins (First full day with whole class)
*All snacks served with milk/water unless otherwise noted*