SEE's Little Engineers!

Last week began our studies on Robots! The children were thrilled to begin this new unit and everyone has been happily engaged in all of the new activities in the classroom!

The week began with discussions on what an engineer is, what they create/build and how their ideas come to life! Engineers have a process and the children learned that any great idea starts with a problem! Engineer's ask themselves, "How can we solve this problem?" Then comes an idea! The idea is then planned, what does it look like, what is its purpose? After the planning stages are complete, it's onto the building and creating stage. After an engineer finishes their project, they test it out and try to find a way to make it better. 

This past week was all about an intro to engineering, robot parts and lot's a great robot inspiration! The children came up with ideas for creating robots and worked on robot hardware. We read the book, "The Most Magnificent Thing" by Ashley Spires for a little engineering inspiration to get us ready for another week full of robot creating!

What's up Next?
This week the children will begin to plan and build their robots! The teachers have been saving lots of interesting recyclable bits and pieces for the children to use on their robots! We can't wait to share some of the creations at the end of the week!

Upcoming Dates and Reminders:

March 1: March Tuition is due
March 12: Rescheduled Cookie Decorating at Whole Foods!
April 3: April Tuition is due
April 17-21: SEE closed for Spring Break
April 25 & 26: School picture days! Stay tuned for more info!

Pictures from the week:   

What will your robot help you with and what will it look like?

Balancing robots take lots of patience and a very steady hand!

Experimenting with "robot hardware"

Brainstorming and problem solving!

An engineer's process

The children loved this book about not
giving up and doing your best work

This robot was build to play magna tiles!

And this robot was built to help the family around the house!

Stay tuned for more robot studies and adventures!
Have a great week!
Joanna

Valentine's Day: The Friendship Edition!

What a great week we had! It was a short one with the snow day on Monday but we have SNOW!!!!! The kiddos are having so much fun exploring the playground covered in the most beautiful white snow you've ever seen!

The snow brought so much excitement to our outdoor classroom! The children enthusiastically used shovels to move snow around to carve a snow staircase and slide on the hill. The hot wheels tracks also inspired a little engineering out on the playground.  The children created snow hills and moguls for the tracks and had such a blast sending the cars flying down the hill! It was such a pleasure to watch the children plan the steps to create a hilly track for the cars while they all worked together to make their vision come to life. 

Valentine's Day celebrations were pushed back a day to allow more time for the children to finish their valentines for their friends. We wanted to make sure everyone have enough time to leisurely create their special card. On Wednesday and Thursday, the children crawled though the "love tunnel" as they presented their friends with the cards they made. The children also enjoyed a special Valentine's Day snack of fresh blueberries and strawberries and whipped cream, yum!!!

Last week, the children created their friendship train and everyone has been excited to stay on the train by following the classroom friendship rules.  It has been amazing to watch the children helping and supporting one another each day!

What's Up Next?

The teachers couldn't be more excited for the curriculum theme for the next few weeks: Robots!!! The teachers have been busy collecting lots of fun and interesting recyclable items for the children to create their own robot.  We will put on our engineering pants next week and learn the process of real life engineers; it all begins with a plan! Engineers don't jump right to the final project, they think, plan, prepare and then create.

Upcoming Dates and Reminders:

February 20: SEE closed in observance of President's Day
TBA: Cookie Decorating at Whole Foods
March 1: March Tuition is due

Pictures from the week:   

The snow slide the children carved out from
all of the snow we got last weekend!

We all got caught up in the fun of the week that we don't have too many pictures to share. Stay tuned for more next week!
Have a great long weekend everyone!
Joanna

Hop Aboard the Friendship Train!

Valentine's Day is quickly approaching and the class has been talking about friendship. We kicked off the week by asking the children what makes a good friend.  The children know exactly what it means to be a good friend and we had a great group discussion! When we asked how everyone could remember to be a good friend, the children decided to make friendship rules including "share toys" and "help your friends." The Valentine's Day season is off to a great start!

To help everyone remember the friendship rules, the children created friendship bracelets.  The bracelets have very specific colors that represent a different rule:

Red = Use kind words

Blue = Be helpful to others

Green = Take turns and share

Yellow = Use the words please and thank you

Purple = Be a good listener

These bracelets aren't just for the classroom, use them at home as well! They will come in handy with older/younger siblings and will also help us to reinforce these wonderful rules to live by! 

Now, being a good friend doesn't just happen overnight! We all have to work at our relationships, adults too!  We created the friendship train to encourage the children to be a good friend to their peers, teachers and classroom visitors. Everyone starts the day riding on the train.  Because this is preschool, we are all still learning and practicing the rules. If a child comes off of the train (sometimes it is hard to share!), they can quickly get back on the train by doing something nice for a friend.  We have been hearing lots of friendly language around the classroom lately!

Lastly, to prepare for our Valentine's Day celebrations (moved to Wednesday and Thursday of this week because of the snow days) the children have been busy making a friend a very special card. Each child picked a classmate's name out of a bag and created a valentine for that friend. Inside of the card, each child wrote a special note to that friend.  Since the children didn't necessarily choose their best friend, this was a little tricky for some. The children were encouraged to play with and get to know their buddy before writing something nice inside of the card. It has been an absolute pleasure to see everyone branching out of their peer groups to enjoy the company of others!

What's Up Next?

It's the week of love and friendship! The children will continue creating their valentine cards for friends and we will exchange our cards on Wednesday and Thursday, February 15th and 16th.  The children will also enjoy a special Valentine's Day snack!

Voting Ends this Wednesday at 5pm!!
It's that time again to vote for your favorite local businesses (including your favorite preschool!).  We were voted Burlington's favorite preschool for 2016 and we would love to be your favorite again this year! Click here to vote! Don't forget, for your votes to count, you must nominate at least 10 businesses before hitting the submit button.  You can nominate us under "Local Services" and scroll down to "Daycare/Preschool." Voting ends on Wednesday so don't delay. And remember to share this with your friends, family and neighbors! Thank you for supporting our small, local preschool!

Upcoming Dates and Reminders:

February 15: Last day to vote for your favorite preschool (Click here)!
February 20: SEE closed in observance of President's Day
TBA: Cookie Decorating at Whole Foods
March 1: March Tuition is due

Pictures from the week:   

Friendship bracelets!

Our friendship train!

I hope everyone enjoyed the surprise long weekend! We are looking forward to seeing everyone back at school!
Joanna

"There was a shadow in Jake and the Neverland Pirates!"

We celebrated Groundhog Day this past week with light and shadow studies.  We began the week with discussions on shadows. Our conversation began by asking the children what they know about shadows.  Many of the kiddos were right on track with their knowledge.  One of our youngest children added to the conversation by telling us that there are shadows in Jake and the Neverland Pirates TV show. Which is completely accurate! This time of year is always so much fun because everyone is more confident to raise their hand and add to the conversation!

The conversation led into the introduction of the words transparent, translucent and opaque.  All three words descried how light travels through objects.  A quick review: transparent means that light easily travels through an object (such as  glass), translucent means that light still travels through but appears blurry (such as fabric) and opaque means that light cannot travel through (such as light being blocked by a person) which creates shadows! 

The children had many opportunities to use flashlights to create shadows in the classroom. The children also created shadow drawings with animal figurines, traced their friends' shadows outside with chalk and had a shadow dance party!  

On Wednesday and Thursday, the children voted for whether or not the groundhog would see his shadow.  The votes were about even and we even got to watch the groundhog live! It turns out the bright sunny day created a groundhog shadow meaning six more weeks of winter! Which is good news for the preschoolers who are patiently waiting for some snow to play in! 

Lastly, new month = new Artist of the Month! The children were introduced to Qi Baishi, a Chinese painter who was honored for his whimsical and playful watercolor paintings of birds, monkeys, shrimp, fish and cherry blossoms! Inspired by his work, the children used a blow painting technique to create cherry blossom branches and used their fingers or q-tips to make small flower blossoms. The result was nothing short of beautiful! Stop in and see the children's artwork up on the bulletin board! 

What's Up Next?

On to Valentine's Day! The children will be discussing friendship and what it means to be a good friend. The children will also begin to create their valentine's for friends.  Valentine's Day celebrations will be on Tuesday and Wednesday, February 14th and 15th!

Vote for Us!
It's that time again to vote for your favorite local businesses (including your favorite preschool!).  We were voted Burlington's favorite preschool for 2016 and we would love to be your favorite again this year! Click here to vote! Don't forget, for your votes to count, you must nominate at least 10 businesses before hitting the submit button.  You can nominate us under "Local Services" and scroll down to "Daycare/Preschool." Voting ends on February 15th so don't delay. And remember to share this with your friends, family and neighbors! Thank you for supporting our small, local preschool!

Upcoming Dates and Reminders:

February 12: Cookie decorating at Whole Foods - Woburn, please RSVP via Evite!
February 20: SEE closed in observance of President's Day
March 1: March Tuition is due

Pictures from the week:   

Tracing Animal Shadows

So much fun with the spotlight! 

Using a blow painting technique to create branches

Adding some pretty blossoms!

The end result! Come on in and check it out!

As always, thanks for reading our blog! Don't forget to use the link above to vote for us as your favorite preschool!

Go Pats!!!
Joanna