Week of February 16-20, 2015!

Thank the snow gods that we have not had any snow that impacted our learning this week!  The end of winter is in sight! Phew! Here's what we were up to this week:

We had a blast celebrating the year of the sheep! In celebration of Chinese New Year (one of our favorite holidays!) the children learned a lot about Chinese culture and traditions.  Did you know that the Chinese New Year celebrates the coming of spring? Right before the start of the new year, families clean their homes to remove the old and welcome the new.  Fireworks are also important as they drive away the evil and red envelopes with money are given to young children to keep them healthy and give them a long life.  What's not to love?! (To our Chinese families, I hope my info is accurate!). And the year of the sheep (pronounced "yang" in Chinese) heralds a year of promise and prosperity.  We are off to a great start! 

At the start of the week, the children made lanterns to decorate the classroom.   They carefully cut slits in their paper to create the body of the lantern.  The children are proudly displaying them, hanging beautifully in our classroom to help us light the way.  We also practiced writing the Chinese character for "sheep" using a red crayon or marker because red symbolizes good fortune and joy.  And because no holiday is complete without a yummy meal, the teachers cooked up rice noodles for snack.  The children were offered kid-friendly chop sticks to practice eating with and they all gave it their best attempt.  They all did very well! 

Yoga class on Thursday incorporated Chinese traditions into the children's practice.  We began class by pretending we were fireworks to scare off the evil, we listened to the sound of the Chinese gong and used our bodies to quickly jumped up into the sky.  After the evil was gone, it was time to clean the house.  The children reached up high to clean the ceilings and bent down low to clean the floors, we also made sure to clean the dishes and our shoes and, of course, under the beds!  After all that stretching it was time for us to make noodle soup! The children imagined adding in their favorite foods such as chicken nuggets, chocolate, eggs, and so much more.  The children had their final savasana (rest) to the beautiful and relaxing sounds of a bamboo flute.  Namaste!

To round out the week, the children had a new year parade led by a decorated dragon while the children made the sounds of firecrackers by walking on bubble wrap.  

What's happening next you ask? The children will be exploring ice and water all next week.  Since we have an abundance of snow, why not bring it inside and use it!  Our activities will include painting with colored ice cubes, water and ice experiments and snow in the sensory table.  Stop by our blog next week to hear all about it!

Friendly reminders:

- Please try to drop off you child no later then 9:15am.  The children gather for morning meeting promptly at 9:15 and curriculum follows right after at 9:30.  We have noticed families arriving late.  Please remember, if you arrive after 9:15, we ask that you enter quietly and quickly.  Because our day has already started, a teacher may not be available to help your child.  Parents are responsible to help their child quickly join the group. Remember, morning meeting sets the tone of the day and gets the children excited for the morning's activities.  We appreciate everyone arriving to school on time!

- Our fundraiser has one week left!  All profits will go directly to creating a larger garden for the children and for additional playground equipment.  The Butter Braids are just delicious and super convenient for holidays.  They arrive frozen and are baked up when you are ready for a fresh, yummy treat.  Don't forget to ask your family, friends and neighbors!

- And a huge thank you for all of the families who voted for us in Hulafrogs's "Most Loved" contest! Our school came in second place in the Burlington/Winchester division! Not too shabby!

Here are some pictures from this past week:

Block challenges, we saw some great team work with these!

Yum! Noodle snack with chop sticks!

Practicing the Chinese character for Sheep

Our dragon dance parade for good luck!

Chinese New Year lanterns!

Week of February 9-13, 2015!

It has been exactly one month and one day since the start of our last full week of school.  Unbelievable and also pretty incredible to see all of the snow mounds out there.  Next week begins winter break for most kiddos but because we love the children so much, we decided to stay open!  We will, however, be closed on Monday, February 16th in observance of President's Day so we'll see you all on Tuesday.  

Here is what we were up to this week:

Because it was short and sweet, the children took their time creating and carefully designing their handmade valentine's for their classmates.  Last year the teachers came up with a great idea to get rid of those teeny tiny valentine's purchased from the store that take every parent hours to fill out on their child's behalf for the ENTIRE class!  So, our new idea is to practice the art of appreciating one another.  

The children chose a name from a hat and created a special, meaningful card for their friend.  A teacher sat with each child and helped them to write a compliment describing the friend they chose at random.  All was going quite smoothly until one little boy pulled out a name and quite puzzled looked at me and said, "I don't know what to say about him." I suggested he take a few moments to come up with a message for the inside of the card.  Off he went to play.  Several minutes later, he came back and told me he was ready.  He stated, "I didn't know that boy so well, so I found him and played trains with him, and you know what? I have something really nice to say about him!"  I think my heart melted immediately. 

THAT, my friends, is what it's all about! No candy, no flowers, no jewelry, none of that! Just taking the time to appreciate those around us and letting them know that we care about them.  

On to the next... we love experiments.  We can turn almost anything into an experiment! So in honor of Valentine's day, why not take those tiny heart candies and see what happens when we put them into different liquids!  Several candy hearts we dropped in liquids including water, oil and vinegar.  The children observed the bottles for a good chunk of the day.  They turned the bottles upside down, shook them, spun them, you name it.  We used the word "dissolved" to describe the process that was taking place.  However, most of the observations were about the liquids changing colors :)

Here are a few reminders:

- Only a few more hours to vote for us on Hulafrog.  Please, please, please click on the link and vote! All you need is an email address and please do not hesitate to use your work emails too (you can always unsubscribe later)! Share this link with your friends, neighbors, family, everyone you know, Vote Here! Thank you!!!

- We have our last Open House of the season on Saturday, February 28th.  Tell everyone about this too!

- A fundraiser to raise money for our playground is now live! We hope you got a chance to try the delicious samples.  They are sooooo good! Best part is, they arrive frozen and you bake them up fresh when you are ready to enjoy them.  So easy and prefect for holidays, the unexpected visitor or house guest!  Each individual purchase will help us raise money for a larger outdoor garden and playground equipment.  Please check your email for more details! Thank you for your participation! 

- Lastly, because Burlington Public is closed next week, they will not be calling snow days.  There is yet another huge storm coming on Wednesday.  You will not find school closing notices anywhere because most schools are closed.  If we need to close school, please check your email, we will be sending out the message as soon as we make an informed decision.  

We wish you all a very Happy Valentine's Day! 

Week of February 2-6, 2015!

Another short week, no more snow please! Here is what we were up to:

Alexander Calder explorations began and the children enjoyed making "sculptures." We read the book, "Sandy's Circus" by Tanya Lee Stone.  The children learned about his life as an artist, his style of work and used the pictures as inspiration for their wire sculptures. The children got very creative and made things such as a flamingo, a special machine that makes feathers, a spooky garden, an elephant that will blow all of the mud away and a juicer! So awesome, little learners! Check out the pictures below!

As Groundhog's Day brought us another 6 weeks of winter, the children were very interested in learning about shadows.  What are they?  How do you make it? Where does it come from?  We just had to pull out our "spotlight" (aka lamp) and experiment.  It didn't take long before the children began creating all sorts of animals with their hands and bodies! 

What's next you ask?  We will continue this month with lessons on Chinese New Year and fun with Valentine's Day crafts.  Don't forget, the children will be creating and designing cards for their friends here at school, you do not have to purchase and tirelessly write out dozens of cards for your child's class! We'll take care of it!

Reminders:

- Don't forget to vote for us on Hulafrog, only one week left! Help us win a new playground! We only need 15 more votes to put us into FIRST PLACE for the Burlington/Winchester category! And thank you to all of those who voted and asked their friends and family to do the same! All you need is an email address and the right link... http://hulafrog.com/burlington-winchester-ma/preschools/

- Our monthly gathering will be at Synergy Dance Studio in Wakefield on Sunday, February 15th at 11:30am.  Join us for 30 minutes of movement, dancing and FUN! Please RSVP via Evite, space is limited to 20 kiddos, siblings are welcome!

Check out all of the fun we had:

A wire sculpture

Wire sculpture in progress

Shadow explorations, a bird perhaps?

And another shadow, this one looks like a bunny!

Week of January 26-30, 2015!

What a snow storm we had! The children enjoyed playing in the HUGE snow drifts today! Don't forget to send your child with snow pants and waterproof gloves everyday.  

This week was short and sweet and we wrapped up our Inventors unit! We learned about the inventors of the Barbie Doll and Lego blocks! We also set up various learning stations around the room for the children to explore during free play.  

Do you know how Barbie and Ken got their names? The founder, Ruth Handler's children are named Barbara and Ken! Ruth designed the dolls for her daughter who loved playing with paper dolls and fabric clothing.  In 1959 the Barbie was born! 

The Lego founder, Ole Kirk Christiansen, was a carpenter who designed wooden toys.  He wasn't fond of how the wooden toys did not interlock and would collapse when manipulated.  He experimented with plastic and the Lego was created! 

Both the Barbie and Lego discussions lead to projects in the preschool classroom! See our pictures below!

Next month also brings lots of great curriculum topics! With Groundhog's Day on February 2nd, we will discuss and investigate shadows! And then Chinese New Year is upon us! We love learning about Chinese New Year and all of the great traditions.  The noodle snack is always a big hit!

Friendly reminders:

- Don't forget your child's snow gear! We go outside everyday!
- Tuition is due on Monday, February 2nd
- Families DO NOT have to send in Valentines.  We will be creating valentines at school with the children.  
- School will be closed on Monday, February 16th in observance of President's Day

*Don't forget to vote for us on HulaFrog!!!! Voting ends on February 14th so there are only 2 weeks left! Click Here to vote! Sign up is quick and easy and HulaFrog has lots of great local resources for families too!*

And a very special thank you to all of the families who supported our school and purchased books from the Scholastic Reading Club! Your purchases helped us earn books for our classroom.  Stay tuned for the next flier arriving in February!

Making Paper Dolls with Fabric Scraps

Block Learning Station: Can you fill the outline with blocks?
Lot's of teamwork happening!

Snow explorations with colored water and eye droppers

Lego Challenge: Can you make the first letter of your name?

Learning Station: Can you make a pattern with the colored blocks? (The light table was shining bright as the children manipulated the blocks)

Week of January 19-23, 2015!

Inventors month continues! This week the children learned about how the popsicle and Tollhouse cookies came to be!

The popsicle all began when eleven-year-old Frank Epperson from San Francisco accidentally left a jar of flavored soda water with a stir stick in it outside on a chilly night.  When the morning came, he awoke to a frozen treat on a stick! And in true preschool fashion, this kind of information calls for an experiment!  When asked what happens to a popsicle if it is left in the classroom, the children responded with answers such as, "it will melt" and "you need cold or else it will melt." The children knew just what would happen.  But, what would happen if we put it on the light table or in the dark?  So out came the popsicles and the children decided to put a popsicle in the closet (dark), on the light table (heat), under a lamp (heat) and outside (cold).  Since experiments can take some patience, the children tried out their own hypotheses on how to make the popsicle melt faster! They naturally gathered around the light table and tried putting animals and fabric around the popsicle, "If we put all this stuff around it, it will help melt it, we have to make the cup hot!"  Very cool! Check out the pictures below!

On Friday, we introduced the children to the story of the chocolate chip cookie!  Did you know that Ruth Wakefield, from Massachusetts, created the Tollhouse Cookie in 1930?  One day, Ruth began making chocolate cookies for her guests at her inn named The Tollhouse Inn.  She ran out of bakers chocolate and decided to substitute semi-sweet chocolate morsels instead.  She hoped that once she baked the cookies, the morsels would melt making the chocolate cookies she had made for years.  The chocolate chips stayed in tact in the oven and she decided to serve them after all!  The guests loved the cookies and Ruth originally decided to call them Chocolate Crunch Cookies and the recipe is the same Tollhouse Cookie recipe we use today! So, of course, we just had to make our own Tollhouse Cookies today! Check out our pictures below!

Reminders:
- All scheduling additions/changes for Fall 2015 must be submitted as soon as possible.

- Spread the news! Our Open Houses are scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday, January 24th from 9-11am and Saturday, February 28th form 9-11am.  Tell your friends!

- Don't forget to send your child with warm winter gear for outdoor play! We try to get out everyday!

Pre-experiment discussion

Popsicle under the lamp

Popsicle Outside

Popsicle in the closet (dark)

Popsicle on the light table

Popsicle surrounded by animals to make it warmer

Mixing up our Tollhouse cookies!

Cookies in progress! Yum!

Week of January 12-16, 2015!

This month is just flying by! As you know, this month we are learning about Inventors/Inventions and this week is electricity week!  Mrs. M has found some really cool stuff for us to experiment with! The children are learning how telephones came to be and how circuits work.  We first discussed telephones, the children explored how well certain sounds pass through a string telephone (i.e. a piece of string with a cup tied on each end).  The experiment included trying different cups, plastic vs. styrofoam vs. tin cans.  We wanted to see of different materials made different sounds, etc.  You will have to ask your child what happened! And if they don't know, you will have to try it at home!

The second half of the week, we introduced the children to Thomas Edison and explored with circuits and batteries (totally safe, we promise!).  Our lesson taught the children that to make a motor work, there must be a connection or a "loop".  With out a loop, the motor will not work.  Mrs. M found this great toy that showed exactly that, it is called an Energy Stick (purchased on the Steve Spangler website).  All 23 children stood in a circle and held hands.  The connection worked when all hands were connected but if the circle was broken, the stick would not light up.  Perfect example of a circuit! The children also explored with a tiny motor to make a fan spin and to make a light bulb light.  Very cool science!

Next week we will wrap up electricity and learn about how popsicles, crayons and toll house cookies came to be! 

Reminders: 
- We will be closed for MLK day on Monday, January 19th.  School we resume as usual on Tuesday.

- Our Monthly gathering is this Sunday, January 18th at 1pm at Collins Bowl-a-drome in Billrica, please RSVP via evite so we know how many children to expect.

- We are collecting non-perishable goods for the Burlington Food Pantry this month.  Please do not forget to bring in items to help our community!

- Lastly, don't forget to tell your friends and neighbors that we are currently enrolling for Fall 2015! If you haven't already done so, please email any schedule changes/additions to Joanna ASAP.  Spots are quickly filling up!

Take a look at all of the fun we had with electricity:

 Some wire explorations at the art tables

 Basic circuit

 Teacher demonstration of using a circuit to make a fan spin

 A student demonstrating how a circuit works with the Energy Stick

 Children working together to make a "loop"

At the science center exploring with the circuit and motor

Week of January 5-9, 2015!

Happy New Year! We hope everyone enjoyed their winter break! We are starting the new year fresh with a new curriculum topic and a discussion about our hopes and dreams for the new year (aka resolutions for kids!)

We are diving right into our new topic, Inventors! The children have found it very fascinating that cars did not always look like they do today.  We read, "Eat My Dust, Henry Ford's First Race" by Monica Kulling and "The Night Henry Ford met Santa" by Carol Hagen.  After we read the first book, the children held car races, first flat on the floor using force and then elevated on a ramp.  The children had a blast while learning about force, motion and acceleration!  

Now it is very unlike us to read a holiday book after the holidays but in the book, "The Night Henry Ford met Santa," Henry went to Santa's workshop and discovered the idea of an assembly line.  Henry then took the idea back to his factory and that is how the assembly line came to be! As an extension activity, the children sat at a long table and were each given a pile of one specific lego.  As the children added their piece, they passed it down to their friend who continued to add a different piece until the creation was complete!  

We also talked about our "hopes and dreams" for the new year.  The children told us what they hope to accomplish or try this year.  Some of the answers included:

"Helping my mommy with the baby"
"Making a big garden with a lot of fruit and vegetables"
"I am going to play hide and seek!"
"I am going to run farther"
"I want to try camping"
"I am going to be a good big brother!"

It was very special to hear the excitement in the children's voices as they individually shared their dreams for the new year!

In other news, the pre-k has been introduced to Scholastic News.  We are trying out this new program to support early reading skills and to teach the children about current events in short and easy articles.  So far it has been a big hit!

Our organization of the month is the Burlington Food Pantry! Please send in non-perishable items for families in need during the month of January.  We will also be collecting items at our monthly gathering next weekend.

Lastly, our monthly gathering will be at Collin's Bowl-a-drome in Billrica on Sunday, January 18th at 1pm.  Join us for some old fashioned bowling with good friends! Please RSVP via Evite! 

Check back next week for more pictures!  In the mean time, log onto Shutterfly and see what we were up to in December!