Week of September 21-25, 2015!

Happy Friday! The days are getting cooler and we are beginning to see more and more jackets come to school! The autumn season is upon us! Here is what we were up to this week:

We are wrapping up our "getting to know you" unit and beginning to transition into conversations on the changing seasons.  We also worked on completing all of the children's portfolios!  They will be all ready for Curriculum Night on October 28th.  We just love watching the children's progress over the years! It is always so fascinating to take a moment to look back to when each child first began school.  It is such an amazing transformation and I am so excited we can be a part of the children's learning foundation! *Sigh* I love my job!

Here's a word from our Preschool Teacher and Music and Movement Specialist, Mary Beth:

"During Music and Movement this week, I brought my name drum to share with the children.  We discovered our names have counts, which in music are called beats.  There were two, three and even four beat names!  We then turned those beats into name dances.  It was a great way for the children to learn each other names while engaging in a fun game."

And a word from our Preschool Teacher, Mrs. M:

"This week we investigated GERMS.  Our group discussed ways we can prevent germs from spreading in our classroom.  Our story about spreading germs was, "Blow Your Nose, Big Bad Wolf" by Steve Smallman.  In the story, the three little pigs houses are blown away when the Big Bad Wolf sneezes, spreading his germs to the little pigs who at the end of the story develop a cold too.  

To visually show germs to the children, we conducted an experiment using bread and an ultraviolet light.   Two pieces of bread were licked.  One piece was placed in a ziplock bag marked germs.  The other piece of bread was placed under the ultraviolet light for several minutes and then placed in a separate ziplock bag.   Stay tuned next week to learn which piece of bread grew more germs!"

And lastly, a word from Ms. Heather, our Pre-K Teacher:

"Last week, the pre-k children began autumn discussions during curriculum time.  We discussed topics such as, "what is different about outside," and "what does a fall tree look like?" Our explorations continued as the children created fall trees from a variety of classroom materials.  We talked about the shape of the trunk and the colors of the leaves before diving right in to the art materials.  A goal for the pre-k group is to expand on their drawing skills and incorporate more details and colors in their artwork. 

This week brought on more fall explorations with apples.  We read one of the children's favorite books, "Ten Apples Up On Top!" by Dr. Seuss.  To continue practicing drawing skills, the children were asked to draw themselves with many apples balancing up on top of their heads! We cannot wait to show you their art work during Curriculum Night!"

Important Dates and Reminders:

October 1: October tuition is due
October 9: SEE closing at 4:30pm

October 12: SEE will be closed for Columbus Day

October 28: Curriculum Night @ SEE (check your email for the Evite)

November 2: November tuition is due

November 11: SEE will be closed for Veteran's Day

November 25: SEE will close at 3:00pm

November 26-27: SEE will be closed for Thanksgiving break

(More pictures coming next week! It's hard to find pictures without those cute, smiling faces in them!) 

Have a great weekend everyone!

Joanna

Week of September 14-18, 2015!

Happy Friday! Our weeks are getting better and better! Here's what we were up to this week:

The children continued learning about themselves and their buddies! We incorporated some math skills by graphing the children's eye color.  We used the words "more" and "less" to describe the graph results.  Take a look at the picture below to see the beginning stages of our graph!  

Mrs. M, our science guru, introduced the children to a new science experiment.  She poured milk on a tray, dotted some food coloring in the milk and asked the children what would happen if she put some drops of soap on the tray.  Many of the children quickly raised their hands and gave answers such as, "I think it's going to mix together," and "It's going to make the colors disappear!"  As Mrs. M placed the first drop of soap on the tray, the colors quickly moved away from the soap drop. The children loved it! So it turns out, the soap reacts with the oil (fat) in the milk and creates a chemical reaction.  So cool!

Throughout the week, we continued to acclimate the children to our classroom routine.  Small group curriculum time is now in full swing and the preschool group has been learning a lot about colors! Some activities included a fingerprint color blending activity and a color scavenger hunt.  The children were given blue and yellow paint and discovered that, when "blended" together, those two colors make green.  And the color scavenger hunt was a success as the children explored the classroom looking for items of various colors.  

The Pre-K group has been busy drawing pictures of their houses using several different colors to add in details.  They have also been  talking a lot about the autumn season and all of the environmental changes we notice outside. 

Out in out Outdoor Classroom, the children have been loving the ramps! The children really enjoyed working together to build, create and play with the ramps! Ramp play incorporates engineering (designing a structure), physics (creating a structure to move objects) and technology (using a structure to move the balls in new ways)! We just love how play can open doors for such meaningful learning!

In addition to all of the fun we've been having, Mary Beth is back to providing Music and Movement class! The Friday group got to enjoy her class today and we look forward to introducing music and movement to the Thursday group next week!

What's Next?
As we continue to learn all about our new friends, we can't wait to hear that everyone's favorite things are! Ramp play will continue with the question, "I wonder what will happen if we play ramps on the hill outside?" 

Important Dates and Reminders:

October 1: October tuition is due
October 9: SEE closing at 4:30pm

October 12: SEE will be closed for Columbus Day

October 28: Curriculum Night @ SEE 6-7:30pm - more info             

                    coming soon!

November 2: November tuition is due

November 11: SEE will be closed for Veteran's Day

November 25: SEE will close at 3:00pm

November 26-27: SEE will be closed for Thanksgiving break

Check out some pictures from this week:

Blending colors to make a new color

Experiment Step 1: Pour milk and add food coloring

Experiment Step 2: Carefully add soap drops

Experiment Step 3: Watch the colors move away from the soap

Ramp Investigations!

Loving the results of their hard work!

Eye color bar graph in progress

Preschool Group's color scavenger hunt!
I hope everyone enjoys the lovely weekend that is upon us!
Joanna

Week of September 7-11, 2015!

Another successful week! The children are settling so nicely into the new classroom routines. Now all we need is the weather to cool down (just a little!) and the rain to go away and we will be all set!

This week we began our new curriculum unit, "All About Me." Our investigations focused on the children in our school community.  We discussed what characteristics we have that are the same and which characteristics are different.  

We introduced this topic by first comparing the children.  The children observed that we are all the same because we all have skin, hair, eyes, etc.  This also lead to discussions on how we are different, red hair vs. brown hair, boy vs. girl, enjoys playing with dolls vs. enjoys playing with trains, etc.  

After our initial discussions, the children were invited to the table to draw their eyes.  Each child looked into the mirror and drew their interpretation of what their eyes look like.  The colors varied from blue, to brown, to black and grey.  The eye drawings are proudly hanging in our classroom and represent how we are the same and also how we are different.

By the end of week, we transitioned in a mirror activity.  The children were again invited to the table and they observed themselves in the mirror.  There were lots of materials available to the children.  They recreated their face using different types of yarn, a rainbow of colored crayons, scissors and glue.  We can't wait to see all of the different faces up on our bulletin board!

What's up next:

We will continue to observe and draw different parts of our faces and continue with the mirror activity.  We will hold a group discussion about "The Best Part of Me" to hear about the things the children love most about themselves. In addition, we will use different classroom objects to measure the children's height and use a scale to measure weight! 

We will also welcome back Mary Beth and begin music and movement class with her on Thursday (the music and movement day will change each week so every child has an opportunity to participate in Mary Beth's class!).

Important Dates and Reminders:

October 1: October tuition is due

October 12: SEE will be closed for Columbus Day

October 28: Curriculum Night @ SEE 6-7:30pm - more info             

                    coming soon!

November 2: November tuition is due

November 11: SEE will be closed for Veteran's Day

November 25: SEE will close at 3:00pm

November 26-27: SEE will be closed for Thanksgiving break

Check out a few of the pics from this week:

 Observational drawing of the eyes in progress

The final product and a language sample.  The teachers try to record language samples from the children throughout the day!

Another mirror activity, love the purple hair!

Some of the completed eye drawings! We can also use this activity to incorporate counting by twos!

Another great week has come and gone! We are so lucky to have such great kiddos and such great families too! Have a great weekend and we'll see you on Monday!
Joanna

The First Week of School!

Welcome back everyone! What a great week we've had with our returning friends and new friends! We are getting to know one another and some really great friendships are already starting to form.  

Here's what we were up to:

Once the children were settled in the classroom and they kissed their families goodbye, each child, new and seasoned, began to explore/re-explore the classroom.  The children quickly noticed that some furniture was moved around and some learning areas where in new places.  This is always exciting for the children as it always feels like a brand new classroom. Moving learning centers to new places in the classroom always brings a fresh start and a new perspective the the children's play.  We have already noticed the baby dolls being played with so much more now that they are near the kitchen and "home" area.  And the children are loving the corn meal in the sensory table. Every year it's a hit! 

As the next few weeks progress and the children learn the classroom routines, we will begin to introduce the children to lots of new classroom materials, different types of art experiences, group games and small group activities (aka curriculum time).  There is so much to look forward to and we are so excited to share our classroom with so many new friends!

What's up next:

We are very excited to bring out the portfolios once again! Every year in September, we interview each child.  This is a great way for us to get to know each child better, begin to build rapport and keep track of developmental milestones. The portfolios are always presented in a fun, easy going manner. Each child is asked a few questions (including what they want to be when they grow up and a few of their favorite things), asked to identify colors, basic drawing skills and basic cutting skills.  The teachers praise all work! For our new students, this initial portfolio presentation serves as a baseline for monitoring each child's developmental milestones.  For our Pre-K students, it shows, on average, 3 years of growth and development. It is such a wonderful tool for the classroom and the best part is, families are presented with their child's portfolio right before their Kindergarten transition as a keepsake of their preschool years.  It's a beautiful way to save such great memories from such an important period of growth in your child's life.

Quick Note:

As the school year progresses, the blog with be filled with more details on our curriculum topics, classroom activities, home extension suggestions and, most importantly, all of the fun we have! Don't forget to "like" us on Facebook to know exactly when the blog is posted each Friday.  I will send out the occasional email reminder but Facebook is the best way to keep track of it all!

Important Dates and Reminders:

September 7: SEE will be closed for Labor Day

October 1: October tuition is due

October 12: SEE will be closed for Columbus Day

October 28: Curriculum Night @ SEE 6-7:30pm - more info             

                    coming soon!

November 2: November tuition is due

November 11: SEE will be closed for Veteran's Day

November 25: SEE will close at 3:00pm

November 26-27: SEE will be closed for Thanksgiving

Check out a few of the pics from this week:
(As a reminder, I do not share pictures of the children's faces on our public blog.  All classroom pictures can be viewed on a private Shutterfly account - coming soon!)

Exploring with shapes and paint

    And a few sneak peeks at our first day of school picture board:

I hope everyone had a great first week at preschool! We sure did!  Have a great long weekend and we'll see you on Tuesday!

Joanna

Dinosaur Month!

Happy Friday! It's been a while since I've posted about our exciting studies! July was dinosaur month and here is what we were up to:

The dinosaurs surely came a marching! The children learned all about the Jurassic and Triassic periods in time.  There were many dinosaurs that roamed the earth including herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores.  The children leaned that plant eaters can be very large, they used all four legs, had very long necks to eat from the tree tops and had flat teeth for grinding.  The meat eaters usually only used two legs to help them run super fast.  Many of the children's art activities have already gone home and here is a little more explanation about what we did...  We investigated dinosaur scales while making scale prints with bubble wrap and fossil bone replicas of a T-Rex using Q-tips.  We also talked about Amber as a preserving substance.  The children had the opportunity to look through a magnifying glass to see an accent bug inside a real piece of Amber.  After the explorations, the children created their very own Amber specimen.  So cool!  Other activities included volcano eruptions, dino tracings with crayons, paper plate brontosaurus' and creating bone and trace fossils in clay.  

The stories we shared with the children included, "How the Dinosaur got to the Museum" by Jessie Hartland, "Dinosaur Farm" by Frann Preston-Gannon and "Oh Say Can You Say Di-No-Saur?" by Bonnie Worth, just to name a few!

By the end of the month, the children could easily discriminate between herbivores and carnivores just by observing their distinguishing features! 

Here's What's Coming Up Next!
August is Ocean Animal Month! The children will be exploring the various types of ocean mammals including seals, sea lions and otters and we'll toss in a reptile for good measure... sea turtles too!  The next blog post will post during the last week of August.  The weekly blog posts will resume in September!

Dates to Remember:
August 14th: All updated paperwork is due
August 17th: September Tuition is due
August 26th: Last day of School!
August 27-31st: SEE is closed to prepare of the new school year
September 1st: All programs resume! Happy First Day of School!
September 7th: Labor Day - SEE is closed for the day
October 1st: October Tuition is due

Check out some pictures:

Creating a Body Fossil

An example of a body fossil and a trace fossil

The children named this "Dino Sticky Mud"

Measuring dinosaur foot prints

Creating an Amber specimen

Another Amber specimen in progress!

I hope everyone is having a great summer! I know we are! 

Look for our next post in a few weeks!  

Have a wonderful weekend!

Joanna

End of the School Year and Hello Summer!

Hello Everyone!!! It has been too long since I've shared all the fun we are having with you! As promised, this post will be about our end of the year performance and the start of our super fun summer session beginning with dinosaur studies!

The Performance:
We had two positively wonderful performances for families on June 25th and 26th.  The children worked so hard practicing their lines every day for four and a half weeks.  The dedication to their characters was exceptional and I could really see it during each of the performances.  Every year, the children amaze me and I always feel so proud watching each and every child on stage.  I don't have too many pictures to share here on the blog but I will be uploading them to Shutterfly soon.  I also encourage all of the families of our school to share your pictures and videos of the performance day with us via email, google drive or any other media sharing application that works for you!

Dinosaurs Galore!
This month is all about dinosaurs! More specifically, the difference between carnivores, herbivores and omnivores, how big these creatures actually were, the job of a paleontologist and so much more! As you can imagine we have lots of dino digs going on!  Did you also know that the word dinosaur means "terrible lizard"?  We recently asked the children what dinosaur they would be and what they would eat and the answers were priceless! Here are a few of the responses:
"I would be a meat eater and I would eat pepperoni"
"I would be a plant eater and I would eat Doritos!"
"I would be a gruffalo and I would eat flies and ants"

The children also became paleontologists at the sensory table and have gone on multiple dino digs looking for fossils.  Our explorations also lead to constructing dinosaur skeletons using q-tips, meat eater/plant eater sorting and a few volcano eruptions!  The children learned about the words lava and magma and the difference between the two.  Check out the pictures below!

Important Dates to Remember:
August 1: August tuition is due
August 14: All new school year paperwork is due
August 17: September tuition is due
August 26: Last day for all programs
August 27-31: School closed for new school year prep
September 1: All programs resume!

What's up next:
Dinosaur studies continue with sorting dinos by their habitats (land, water, air) and the children will learn more about the job of a Paleontologist. 

Check out the pics!

Art in the sandbox

Outdoor art is always an exciting experience

Fossil printing in play dough

Small world dinosaur play

Creating skeletons with q-tips

Roarrrrrr!

Carefully uncovering fossils in the sensory table

Creating the volcano

Erupting the volcano!

I hope you enjoyed this post! We'll be back next week!
Have a great weekend!
Joanna

Week of June 1-5, 2015!

Happy Friday, SEE families! The Rainbow Fish play preparations are in full swing!  As I mentioned last week, the blog may be a little sparse for the next few weeks.  We want to keep our play a surprise! So besides all of the rehearsals, scenery construction and costume design, there is not too much to report on. A bummer, I know! But trust me, it will be well worth it!

Did everyone get a chance to visit our Little Free Library?? If you haven't, swing by before or after pick-up/drop off and browse the books.  Don't forget to leave one of your previously loved books too! Let's make this the best Little Free Library around! And don't forget, our LFL is also for adults and teenagers, we want to offer books for everyone in our community.  I hope to find a cute little stool to put out there one of these days to help the kiddos out when they are choosing a book.  If you have a cute little wooden stool, we'd love to use it!  If you are interested in finding out more information on Little Free Libraries, please visit their website, littlefreelibrary.org.  Happy Reading!

News and Important Dates: 

- Our end of the year performance will take place on June 25th and 26th at 10am in The Real School of Music.  Invitations have gone home, please return your RSVP slip at your earliest convenience   

- SEE will be closed from June 29th - July 3rd for summer break.  We will be back in action on July 6th.  Outdoor water play will also begin on this date!

Lastly, because we will pretty much be consumed with lots and lots of play rehearsals, scenery construction and costume design, I plan to sign off of our blog for the next two weeks.  I look forward to posting a huge post talking all about the play process during our summer break! Yay!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Joanna