Feet Can

Dear Parents,

On Monday we started off in the yard. We watched a black squirrel chase after a grey squirrel around our jungle gym, then past our tables. They raced along the sandbox and finally up a tree together. We used our sense of sight to watch them run all over the yard for a long time. 

We read My Five Senses again, and talked about all of the senses we use during circle time.
In the big room everyone was eager to show us fast feet. We ran fast and slow, some medium, and mostly all in one direction.

One day during circle, we brought several kick balls into the center of the circle. We tried like the dickens to use only our feet to kick, and not our hands. We did pretty good. Someone shouted during the kicking and laughing, “This is so fun, it’s like a party!”

On Thursday we did an obstacle course. The children walked across blocks, stepped through a hanging hula hoop, swam over bean bags, crawled under a tunnel, and balanced on stepping stones. We went around and around the course for over thirty minutes, only stopping because we were running out of time. Someone said after twenty minutes, “I love this!” The longer we went, the more creative and challenging they made it. The children first stepped, and then hopped through the hula hoop. In the tunnel, they crawled first, and eventually many were sliding on their backs. 

We traced everyone’s feet on Friday and then colored them with crayons. We read Hello Toes! Hello Feet! When discussing what yucky stuff might be on the bottoms of our shoes, someone commented, “Did you know Staten Island is the cleanest place on earth?” We did not know. 

Have a clean weekend,

Therese and Nicole

Hands Can

Dear Parents,

We started our week by making a list of things we can do with our hands: scratch a mosquito bite, brush our teeth, grab a toy vehicle, give high fives, play with play dough, blow our nose, eat breakfast, and one person said, “Not hitting and not pushing!”

On Tuesday we used our hands to cut paper with scissors. Some children said their cuttings looked like aliens and people. They did. 

On Wednesday we used our hand muscles to squeeze glue and make textured collages. While they dried we played on the jungle gym, inside first, and then outside. We used our hands to dig in the sandbox. 

We used our hands to sing Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, and B-I-N-G-O.

We read Hands Can, Here Are My Hands, Wash Your Hands!, Hands Are Not For Hitting, I Can! Can You?, Time To Pee!, Germs Are Not For Sharing, I Hear A Pickle, and My Five Senses. We talked about what senses we use during snacks. The children said we see our snacks, smell our snacks, taste our snacks, hear our snacks, and touch our snacks. 

On Friday we sat in a big circle in the big room and took turns rolling and catching balls. We used three balls. The children were excited to get turns and aimed to roll to friends. Afterwards, we went to play outside. 

Next week: feet!

Have a fun weekend,

Therese