Simon Says do the Hokey Pokey

Dear Parents,

We started our week playing Simon Says. He said to touch your nose, touch your toes, reach for the stars, and flap your wings. Then he said to go into the big room and fly like an eagle, slowly at first, and then quickly. The eagles did a few laps and went back to the classroom for snacks.

On Tuesday, Simon said to do the Hokey Pokey. That’s what it’s all about! There was a good amount of laughter. Besides being fun and active, these games encourage listening eyes and ears, and body awareness, my body and yours. 

We got to our finger painting and hand prints on Thursday. The children mixed red, yellow, black, and white. Some shouted, “Mine’s pink!” and “I see orange!” 

We read many books about fall leaves and seeds. We sang I’m An Acorn and A Ram Sam Sam. On Friday we used our sense of touch to feel something in the Feely Box. The children guessed: something spiky, crunchy, pointy, round and spiky, an acorn, something from a tree, and a sweet gum tree fruit. They were accurate guesses. 

We are working on using our words when we want a turn, when we want a friend to stop, when we need to go to the bathroom, or when we want to get in a game. Some children need help finding the right words, and others need help stopping to listen and see how a friend is feeling. 

Simon Says have a great weekend!

Therese

Connecting Colors

We began our week working in the classroom, connecting and disconnecting math manipulatives. These toys fine tune fine motor skills, hand-eye-coordination, and learning colors, shapes, and counting. They also helps to hone sharing and listening skills. While playing on the carpet, some also chose play dough or the drawing table. 

Play dough strengthens hand muscles needed for fine motor skills. Holding small crayons does the same. We are still mixing colors with our play dough, it takes many days of squeezing and squishing to get a new color. Most of our play dough is still red or yellow. 

On Tuesday we played with shaving cream at the table. The children drew on the table using hands, fingers, and fingernails. We made circles, straight lines, and a few letters. The children said the shaving cream felt warm, soft, and sticky. The next day we added yellow, and blue or red, to get two new colors. 

We are still learning each others' names, how to share, keeping our hands on our own bodies, and listening eyes and ears. 

In circle we read books about fall and leaves turning colors. Many children said they had seen the fruit of the sweetgum tree, some had not. We looked at a picture of it in our book. Someone said, "It's spiky."

On Friday we read Little Blue and Little Yellow. We talked about when we mixed blue and yellow at the easel. It was just like in the book when little Blue and little Yellow hugged. We looked around to see who was wearing green. Many.

Have a green weekend,

Therese