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! 

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!