Week of March 23-27, 2015!

The snow is melting! Wahoo! Does this mean spring is almost here?! We sure hope so! Here is what we were up to this week:

Map month is coming to a close.  We had a blast with treasure maps and maps of our bodies this week! The children had a pirate day on Monday and Tuesday.  The teachers set up a walk-the-plank obstacle course, treasure maps were created and the block area was transformed into a pirate ship construction zone! All we heard were the sounds of pirates around our classroom, Arghhh!

As the week continued, each child created a "Map of Me." Each child's body was traced on a large piece of paper.  The children loved seeing their life-size outline.  We had a discussion about what is inside our bodies and how our bodies work.  We talked about the food in our bellies and where our heart beats.  The body interpretations are very fascinating ranging from drawing what they see on the outside of their bodies to more intricate drawings of our insides.  Check out the pictures below!  Body mapping will continue for a few more school days until each child has had an opportunity to create their body!

What's up next:
April showers bring May flowers, right? Let's study the weather! April's curriculum topic will include lots of weather talk and experiments including in depth studies and observations on clouds.  There is so much to be learned!  Artist of the month is TBD, we are looking for a fun weather themed masterpiece to present to the children. 

Friendly Reminders:
- Scholastic Book Club orders are due TODAY (Friday)!  It's not too late, orders can be submitted online!

- Tuition is due on Wednesday, April 1st

- Our school will be closed from April 20-24th for spring recess. 

- Picture Day pictures will be distributed in about 2 weeks! We cannot wait to see those cute kids of yours!

- Continue to send your children with snow gear and most importantly boots! There is still snow and lots of mud out there!

Lastly, we are looking for previously loved outdoor play houses.  Two of the children's beloved play houses collapsed under the weight of all the snow this winter.  And a huge thanks to our amazing families, past and present, we have already had one donated!

Check out the pics from this week:

A super cool treasure map!

A pirate ship creation with crew members aboard

A new magnetic engineering activity

The start of a "Map of Me"

A great artist hard a work, check out those details!

Happy Friday!
Joanna

Week of March 16-20, 2015!

Happy Spring!  Isn't it ironic that it is supposed to snow tomorrow?! I guess it would be worse if it snowed today!  Here is what we've been up to this week:

Our Picture Days were a success! The children brought their smiles to school and boy were they cute! If your child missed picture day, we will give you a coupon to have your child's picture taken at one of their studios.  Please email me for more info.  

Our map studies continued! The children learned all about using a compass and how to figure out which direction they are traveling.  Each child was given a sheet of paper with pictures of familiar places in the classroom (the clock, mirror, black dog, etc).  Once they located the item, they checked their compass and recorded the direction.  

We also read the book, "Henry's Map" by David Elliot.  The book followed a pig named Henry on a mission to straighten up and organize the farm animals.  Shortly after, the children were presented with a challenge to make their own map of the farm to help Henry out.  The children added all types of animals including crocodiles and monkeys! 

Other map books we read this month included, "My Map Book," by Sara Fanelli, "Me on the Map," by Joan Sweeney, "How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the USA," by Marjorie Priceman, "Mapping Penny's World," by Loreen Leedy and "The Change Your Name Store," by Leanne Shirtliffe.  All wonderful books about maps, states and different countries! Try to find them at your local library to continue the learning at home!

And our curriculum time has been filled with fun skill building activities this week! The pre-k group read, "Princess Pigtoria and the Pea" by Pamela Duncan Edwards.  After clapping out all of the 'P' words in the story, the children played a game of Pictionary only using P words! It was so great to see each child choose a P word and draw a picture for their friends to guess.  Check out the picture below!  And the preschool group, focused on counting with manipulatives, sequencing sizes and tracing and recognizing letters. 

Extension Activity:
Have you ever heard of GeoCaching? It's an outdoor treasure hunt that uses maps, coordinates and a GPS to find a Geocache (aka treasure box) at a particular location.  Inside the Geocache is a log book and maybe a trinket or two.  If you take a trinket, you must leave a trinket of your own.  Here is the website, Geocaching and here is a quick Q&A to find our more about this super cool activity! And it's FREE! It may be best to wait a few weeks until the snow melts a little more and don't forget to let us know how it goes and if you find any treasures! 

What's Coming Next:
We are continuing with the map theme for one more week.  We will explore treasure maps and make a "Map of Me." After tracing each child on a large piece of paper, the children will make a map of their body.

Friendly Reminders:
- March's Monthly Gathering will be tomorrow, Saturday, March 21st at 1pm at the Barefoot Books store in Concord, MA.  The children will enjoy a story and activity for just $5! Please view the Evite for more details and to RSVP.  Did I mention this is one of my favorite books stores?!

- Please continue to send your child with snow gear, we still have plenty of snow in the playground.  We will let you know when the children will no longer need their gear.

- Our spring break will be April 20-24, 2015.  The school will be closed during this week.  

Check out some pics from this week:

Working on patterns

Making names with magnetic letter constructors

Pictionary with the letter P!

And a very cool horse tower during picture day

Happy Friday!
Joanna

Week of March 9-13, 2015!

What a change in everyone's mood! With the recent warm weather and daylight savings, I feel like nothing can get us down! The kids are happy and the teachers are happy! Spring is almost here, I can feel it!

Here is what we were up to this week:

Our Map Month continues with the (almost) completion of the Jasper John "Map" recreation! The children cannot stop pointing to the map trying to figure out who made which state! I love how they are naturally becoming more familiar with the names of each state.  Bravo, children!

I mentioned last week that we discussed as a class how a map doesn't have to be just roads, states or countries.  We can map anything! We have been talking a lot about Burlington (and surrounding towns) and what we see around town and on our way to school.  The children have been drawing familiar landmarks including Trader Joe's, the fire department, Burlington Mall, H Mart and so many others! As the month progresses, we hope to incorporate the drawings into a big map of Burlington.  

Mapping the town lead us right into a discussion about where we live.  Do you live in a house, apartment, townhouse, etc?  The children discussed the people who live in there home and we decided to incorporate some math into our discussion by graphing the number of people who live with us.  The graph is a great way to show children how you can organize a group of numbers and 
quickly find out which one has the most/least. 

In addition to all of the learning, the children have been so happy to be back outside after so many weeks indoors! A huge thank you to all of the families who spent an hour or so of their weekend with us to get those kiddos back outside. We love snow explorations especially now that it is getting warmer! Our families rock!

What's happening next:

Next week will begin our compass explorations! The children will become more familiar with the terms north, south, east and west and they will have lots of opportunities and activities using the compass!   

Reminders:

- Picture day is next Thursday and Friday, March 19th and 20th!  Please reference the form that went home with your child so you know which day your child is having their picture taken.  I will be sending out a more detailed email at the beginning of next week.  And don't forget to return the form so we know which color background you want for your child.

- Our March Gathering will be on Saturday, March 21st at 1pm at the Barefoot Books store in Concord.  There will be story time and a craft.  All of the teachers here LOVE Barefoot Books and we know you and you child will love the shop and the activity too! The cost for the event is $5/child. If you are interested in attending the event, money will be collected at school prior to the 21st.  Please bring exact change.

Lastly, another huge thank you for all of the families who participated in our fundraiser and/or who donated money! We raised just over $500 and we are so excited to add more plants, trees and equipment to our outdoor classroom! We are so grateful for all you do for us! 

And check out the awesome Jasper Johns recreation of "Map" (Missouri in progress):

And our new sign-in system:

Have a lovely weekend! 

Joanna

Week of March 2-6, 2015!

Happy Friday indeed!  Another busy week has come and gone!  Here'e what we've been up to:

It's March Map Madness! We are learning all about maps, directions, countries and the good ol' USA!   We began our week mapping our family on a family tree. We read the book, "My Map Book" by Sara Fanelli and discussed how almost anything can be mapped.  We also read "Who's in a Family" by Robert Skutch and the children wrote their names on a tree and discovered how their family members are connected.  

As the week went on, we introduced the children to American artist, Jasper Johns.  Jasper was born in 1930 and currently resides in the northeast.  He is best known for his painting titled, "Flag." In staying with the map theme, the children studied his painting titled, "Map" (1961), a unique paining of the USA.  As a group, we discussed the colors he used and how his artwork was "messy" not neat and precise.  Jasper said that paint drips are a bold feature in his painting of "Map."  He is quoted to say, "In ordinary life, drips usually imply a mistake, or sloppy indifference... There are no accidents in my work, it sometimes happens that sometimes the unexpected occurs.  The paint may run but then I have a choice to paint it again or not.  If I don't, then the appearance of the element in the painting is no accident." I love it! Very wise words! Why does art have to be perfect?  The children each chose a state to paint.  We used a technique of dragging the paint drips on the paper to create a similar look to Jasper Johns' work on "Map." We tired different materials and found that a large popsicle stick is the best way to drag the paint.  Children who needed a little assistance with their paint dragging were given a modified popsicle tool to work with (see the pics below).  Once all of the states are completed, they will be pieced together and hung on our bulletin board.  Definitely stop in to check it out next week and we will also be sure to post a final picture on the blog.

What happening next: We will continue our map studies while learning about a compass and direction.  Our Jasper Johns recreation will be completed and we will hopefully be able to finally play outside again!  We will continuing to practice writing and will introduced basic patterns throughout the week.  

An extra special thank you goes out to the families who participated in our fundraiser to benefit our playground! We raised almost $500 and would love to hear your suggestions on how you think we can improve our outdoor classroom!  We cannot wait until the warm weather is upon us! 

And don't forget! You are all invited to help us shovel out the playground this Sunday, March 8th beginning at 11am!  It's BYOS (bring your own shovel)! Please park in our lot and walk through the school.  Our front door will be unlocked, just meet us outside! Please see the Evite for more details.  

Lastly, our March gathering will be at the Barefoot Book Store in Concord, MA on Saturday, March 21st at 1pm.  The cost is $5/child and will include a story time and craft.  If you are not familiar with Barefoot Books, they are amazing and an all time favorite of our teachers and students!  Please RSVP via Evite.

Friendly Reminders:

 - Butter Braid orders will be in on Tuesday, March 10th.  We will begin passing them out to families during the 12:00pm pick-up.  Please make arrangements to pick up your order before 5:30pm on Tuesday. The product arrives frozen and is recommended to stay frozen.  We will have a cooler to keep the items frozen up to 12 hours, there is no rush to pick up your order, but please make sure you plan to stop by.

- If all goes smoothly with our playground dig out this Sunday, the children will be back in the routine of playing outside!  Please look for an email from me on Sunday to confirm that we will begin outdoor play again and for more details.  This means snow pants, water proof mittens, waterproof boots and hats! 


- Picture Day will be on Thursday, March 19th and Friday, March 20th. Fliers are now going home.  Please fill out the form and return to us as soon as possible.  Please email me with any questions!

Have a great weekend!

Paint pulling on Idaho!

Modified paint pulling on Colorado!

Come back next week to see the final map!

Week of February 23-27, 2015!

Could this have been our first full week of school in the past 7 weeks?! Yikes! We are just thrilled that next week is March! Here is what we have been up to this week:

This week was all about water and ice! Since the snow in our outdoor classroom is still about 5 feet deep, we decided to bring the snow inside!  To start the week off, we gathered the children and held a group discussion on water and ice.  "What does it feel like?" "What does it look like?" and "What is the same/different?" Those were just some of the questions we asked the children.  The children shared observations such as the ice feels, slippery, smooth, cold and hard and the snow felt soft.  Another discussion later in the week showed the children why an ice cube is a cube shape.  We used the word "mold" to describe how the cube takes its shape.

As the week progressed, the children participated in many activities involving freezing, melting, painting on and painting with snow and ice!  The teachers froze colored ice cubes that the children created pictures with, including a "tsunami" and "a cave."  The sensory table was filled to the top with white fluffy snow and the children built tiny snowmen and practiced their fine motor skills using eye droppers to color the snow with beautiful colors.  In our secondary sensory table, we experimented with Jelly Beadz.  The children observed that when the Jelly Beadz (teeny tiny colored pebbles) were added to a bin of water, they "grew" into a larger, squishy, translucent "sphere." It was a pretty cool sensory experiment! Check out the pictures below! 

Because our week isn't complete without an experiment, Mrs. M had a really cool experiment for the children this week. Mrs. M first filled a bowl with water, dropped an ice cube in and the children observed it floating to the surface.  She then asked the children, "Can you lift an ice cube into the air using nothing but a piece of string?" Very trusting of Mrs. M's experiment, the children guessed yes, it could happen!  We began a discussion about the freezing and melting point of water.  It turns out, salt causes a chemical reaction that results in the instant melting of ice.  So, Mrs. M sprinkled some on the floating ice cube.  She then took a wet piece of string and gently placed it on the salt sitting on the ice cube.  The melting ice and the salt created a glue and she lifted the cube into the air! Who knew?!

In keeping with the water theme, Mary Beth asked the children how many drops of water could fit on the face of a penny! We tried it and we challenge you to try it at home! The answer will surprise you! 

Coming up next: March will be Map Month! The children will be exploring all different types of maps and learning what it means to map something!  A map doesn't necessarily mean a picture of countries, states and roads.  Stay tuned for more exciting details on our month of map explorations!

Friendly reminders:

- Our Butter Braid fundraiser is due TODAY (Friday, February 27th).  If you did not submit your payment and forms and are interested in ordering, please email me!

- Scholastic Book Club orders are also due today.  If you did not bring your order to school, it's not too late! Orders can also be submitted online.  The next order will be submitted at the end of March.

- Picture Day is coming! Please plan for Thursday, March 19th and Friday March 20th.  Forms with your child's specific picture day will begin to go home shortly.  If your child is at school on Thursdays and Fridays, his/her picture day will most likely be Thursday.  

- March tuition is due on Monday, March 2nd.

Take a look at all of the fun we had with water and ice:

Painting with ice cubes!

Exploring snow and melting

Water Beadz! Luckily no one tried to eat them!

Painting snow with eye droppers, doubles as fine motor practice!

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!