Let the Games Begin!

With the summer olympic games right around the corner, the teachers thought it would be a great idea to turn sports week into a week full of olympic games.  We also had a wonderful visit from Coach Brandon from Hero Kids Sports and we could not speak more highly of this program! Brandon was phenomenal!  Thank you Coach Brandon for such a fun sports session!

To kick off SEE's olympic games, the children began the week discussing the symbolism of the olympic rings.  The five rings were originally designed in 1912, first used in the 1914 games and officially debuted at the 1920 games in Belgium.  The five rings symbolized the five inhibited countries of the world: Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania (present day Australia and nearby islands).  The colors are also significant, the symbol has five colored rings on a white background.  Including the background, all six colors can be found among every national flag at the time of design.  The children designed their own olympic rings using their fine motor skills and glue!  

Tuesday was the day Coach Brandon came to visit. He began the session with a quick stretch and warmup before hitting the playground for an exciting obstacle course incorporating soccer, baseball and relay races.  The children sat in the shade while they cheered on their buddies and waited for a turn.

As the week progressed, the children  designed their own flags incorporating the colors red, white and blue.  Lots of fine motor skills were practiced this week in addition to all of those gross motor skills out on the playground! The week was, as Boston would call it, a scorcher, and we made sure to head outside early in the morning and late in the afternoon.  On Thursday, the olympic games were brought indoors.  The children played pool noodle relay races and had a blast racing with their friends.  Although competition is huge during the olympic games, we focused on teamwork and encouragement! 

To wrap up the week, the children designed gold and silver medals for the closing ceremonies. The children brought their muscles this week and really enjoyed challenging their bodies!

What's Next:

Well because my post is unusually late this week, the children already dove into science week! The mad scientists came to our school to mix up some some cool concoctions. Stay tuned for many more experiments, explosions and fun as the week progresses!

Upcoming Dates and Reminders:

August 1: August tuition due

August 15: All updated paperwork is due for the 2016/2017 school year

August 26: Last day of the summer program

August 29-31: SEE closed to prepare for the new school year

September 1: First day of school! Tuition is also due!

September 5: SEE closed in observance of Labor Day

Pictures from the week:

Creating the Olympic Rings!

Proudly carrying the torch!

Navigating the obstacle course with stealth!

Using the iconic olympic rings as inspiration at the easels

Designing our very own flags for the games

Everyone deserved a medal!

Ending the games on a high note!

Congratulations to all of the participants of the 2016 SEE olympic games! You are all winners in my book!

Have a great week!

Joanna

SEE's gone fishin'!

Week 2 of our summer program took us camping in the great outdoors! Well, sort of. We pitched a tent in the classroom, went fishing on the playground, went on a bear hunt, we kept our energy up with homemade trail mix and sang camp songs near the campfire! The children also welcomed a special visit from our friends at the Stone Zoo!

To start the week off, we had lots of conversation about the wildlife we would find on a camping trip.  We also studied animal footprints and how we can figure out which animal made which tracks by looking at the characteristics of each track.  

As the week progressed, the children studied trees and leaves.  While outside, the children explored and created leaf rubbings from the trees in our playground.  We compared the similarities and differences of the many types of leaves we found. 

The visit from the Stone Zoo was quite an educational experience! We all learned many new facts about animals that are found locally.  We got to see 2 different types of antlers, compare feathers from a bald eagle and barn owl, we got to see two types of turtles, quills from a porcupine - did you know each quill is over a foot long?, and we learned about the interesting lifestyle of a chinchilla! It was very interesting to hear the different sounds from the feathers of the bald eagle and the barn owl.  The children were asked if feathers make any noise.  The children quickly said no because feather are as light as air. Well sure enough, when waved through the air, the bald eagle feather made quite the flapping sound and that was just one feather! However, the barn owl feather was completely silent which helps the owl hear the mice scurrying around the barn during the dark night.  Before the zoo educators left, we got to meet Clyde the chinchilla from South America, Manny the Blanding's turtle and Phoenix the box turtle from Massachusetts.  

To wrap up the week, the children made trail mix, created nature bracelets outside and tried out some fly swatter painting!

Up Next:

Sports Week, aka SEE's Summer Olympics! The children will participate in a week's worth of olympic activities including an opening and closing ceremony, team sports and sports themed art! We will are also excited for a visit from the coaches at Hero Sports Kids!

Upcoming Dates and Reminders:

August 1: August tuition due

August 15: All updated paperwork is due for the 2016/2017 school year

August 26: Last day of the summer program

August 29-31: SEE closed to prepare for the new school year

September 1: First day of school! Tuition is also due!

September 5: SEE closed in observance of Labor Day

Pictures from the week:

Camping in the block area with books and flashlights

Fishing on the playground!

Mixing up some trail mix!

Quietly saying hi to Phoenix the box turtle

Clyde the chinchilla!

Nature bracelet power! Beautiful!

Fly swatter painting! It's not a camping trip without a few flies!

Learning about animal tracks

I hope every enjoyed this absolutely beautiful summer weekend!

See you all tomorrow!

Joanna

Squid vs. Octopus

This week kicked off the start of our summer program.  This year the teachers worked very hard to create a weekly themed summer program.  The themes include some of the teacher's all time favorite curriculum units as well the the children's most loved units from previous years. This week was Ocean Week and boy did we all have such a great time exploring the squid and octopus! 

We are so lucky to have local resources that provided us with a real octopus and a real squid... no longer alive, which the children were first to point out! Our school is all about hands on learning and it doesn't get more hands on than this! The children had a blast feeling the octopus' squishy skin and the suckers still had their suction.  Did you know that the octopus doesn't just use their suckers for movement and holding onto objects but also for tasting? So cool! The children also learned the vocabulary words "locomotion" and "jet propulsion" which is the word used to explain how an octopus can move out of the way of danger very quickly.  

In addition to touching an octopus and squid, the children made the most beautiful octopus prints using watercolors.  Some will be displayed on the bulletin board next week and the rest will be placed in the children's portfolios.  To wrap up Ocean Week, the children practiced their counting and cutting skills to create an octopus or squid.  These cute creatures will be finding their way to your home shortly!

AND the New England Aquarium's new exhibit is currently featuring the Giant Pacific Octopus! This exhibit looks amazing and would be a great extension activity for the kiddos.  This is definitely worth looking into! Here is the link for more info: Giant Pacific Octopus Exhibit

Also, the week before our summer break, the grandfather of one of our students volunteered to come to school and make ice cream for the class! Now, this wasn't just any ordinary ice cream, it was made with liquid nitrogen! So cool! And it was the best ice cream I have ever tasted! Thank you, Mr. Levine, for coming to our school to make ice cream with us and to show us an exploding banana! We hope to see you again soon!

Lastly, a huge THANK YOU to all of the families who voted for us this year in Wicked Local's Readers Choice Awards! Not only did we win #1 Preschool in Burlington, we also won silver place in our region of 8 other towns! We are so grateful for all of the wonderful teachers, families and kiddos that make our school #1.  

Up Next:

Camping week! Breakout the tent, flashlights and fishing poles! SEE is going camping! The classroom is ready for a week full of camping explorations and a special visit from our friends at the Stone Zoo and their animals!

Upcoming Dates and Reminders:

August 1: August tuition due

August 15: All updated paperwork is due for the 2016/2017 school year

August 26: Last day of the summer program

August 29-31: SEE closed to prepare for the new school year

September 1: First day of school! Tuition is also due!

September 5: SEE closed in observance of Labor Day

Pictures from the week:

Liquid nitrogen ice cream in the making! The children loved watching the liquid turn to a gas.

The final product! I think it was the first time in 5 years the classroom was silent! Everyone gobbled it down and, of course, asked for more!

Mr. Levine, aka Pop, getting ready to make a banana explode! 

Similar to boiling, the liquid nitrogen was so cold that it mimicked how water would boil at a high temperatures, however, the water was extremely cold, not hot! 

Loving water play! Nothing beats summer in New England!

The octopus! Lot's of hands on learning this week!

The children were invited to draw what they observed.  The bulletin board will be filled with drawings and octopus prints next week! Come check it out!

Octopus printing!

The watercolors worked perfectly and made such a beautiful print.

To wrap up the week, the children practiced their cutting,
fine motor and counting skills making an octopus or squid.

I hope everyone enjoyed ocean week! We sure did!
Camping week is up next! Have a great weekend!

Joanna

The End of the School Year - A time to reflect and a time to celebrate!

This post comes after so much time away from the blog! We have all been very busy preparing for the end of another wonderful school and also gearing up for our new and improved summer program.  The summer program is well underway at this point and man is it nice to step outside and feel the warm sun on our skin! This, in my opinion, is the best time of year!

Just like in the title of this post, the end of the school year is a time to reflect on all of the growth, learning, friendships, triumphs and fun this school year has brought us.  We made so many new friends and this will be a year we will remember for a very long time!

As we reflect, we also celebrate every child who was with us this year.  I am so proud of each child's accomplishments, not only academically, but also their life accomplishments. Learning respect  and compassion for others, overcoming challenges and obstacles, never letting the tough time get you down, learning to go with the flow and always remembering to have fun! 

It just so happened that as we said goodbye and good luck to the pre-k children, our butterflies were also released.  What a perfect time to acknowledge the great unknown that lies ahead of all of us! Although the unknown can be scary for some, we all hope your preschool experiences have prepared you to take risks, be strong and always be confident.  

Our end of the year performance was also a huge success! The children performed one of their favorite classroom stories, "Click, Clack, Moo...Cows That Type" By Doreen Cronin and Illustrated by Betsy Lewin.  The show went off without a hitch and the children were amazing performers! Good job everyone! 

Please remember to add your pictures to our Shutterfly account and send me your video clips via Google Drive.  We have a few families looking for a video of the performance. 

On to the summer!

There is still time to sign up for our summer program! The following are our weekly themes:

Week #2: Camping Week with a special visit from the Stone Zoo and their animals!

Week #3: Sports Week with a special visit from the coaches at Hero Sports Kids

Week #4: Science Week with a special visit from the scientists at Mad Science of Greater Boston

Week #5: Farm Week with a special visit from the farmers at Wright Locke farm and their farm animals

Week #6: Dino Week with lots of explorations including a paleontologist dino rock dig  

Week #7: Ocean Adventures Week including a pirate/princess theme and lots of imaginative sea adventures!

Don't forget to sign up for Fun Lunch Fridays! Email us for more info!

Upcoming Dates and Reminders:

August 1: August tuition due

August 15: All paperwork is due for the 2016/2017 school year

August 26: Last day of the summer program

August 29-31: SEE closed to prepare for the new school year

September 1: First day of School! And tuition is due

September 5: SEE closed in observance of Labor Day

Pictures from the last few weeks:

The beginning of the set design for the children's performance Click, Clack, Moo performance

The portfolios ready for the pre-k children's families.  These books hold lots of memories from the past 2-3 years!

Costumes ready for the performance!

No party is complete without a Photo Booth!

The hand sign for "Butterfly"

Observing the butterflies!
(Do you see Molly off to the left also observing the butterflies??) 

Taking our butterflies out for a "walk"

Be free butterflies! We wish you well on your journey!

We also wish our pre-k kiddos the best of luck on their journey! Congratulations to the class of 2029!

Stay tuned for a summer blog post coming soon!
Joanna

Exploring Metamorphosis!

Spring is finally here! The weather was beautiful this week and we spent a lot of time outside enjoying the warmer weather and the sun! This week was especially busy because we had not one, but two picture days and I just have to give a shout out to Hayward Photography that did an outstanding job with the kiddos! I cannot wait to see the pictures when they arrive in a few weeks!

Our pond life curriculum continued with an introduction to the frog and a glimpse at their interesting life cycle.  The children were introduced to the very scientific word, "metamorphosis" and we discussed their fascinating journey from egg (aka "frogspawn" which the children loved to say!) to tadpole to froglet to frog!  In addition, the children learned about a frog's body parts, sequenced the frog metamorphosis using replicas of the stages and we read lots of frog book including factual books and silly books like the "Froggy" series by Jonathan London and the "Frog and Toad" series by Arnold Lobel.  

On Friday, we talked about the many different types of frogs and compared the differences and similarities between frogs and toads.  The children liked the glass frog and the goliath frog the best! The glass frog is neat because his belly is translucent and you can see right through to all of his innards! The goliath frog is cool because it is the largest frog in the world that can grow to be over a foot long and a whopping 7 pounds! That's a big frog! 

We are looking for your help!
If you are out in the woods this weekend and come across any frog eggs or tadpoles, scoop some up for your preschool teachers! We are keeping our eyes open too but haven't had any luck lately.  The reason why we did not simply order tadpoles through the internet is because we would not be able to release them back into our local ponds.  It is not ethical to release "internet frogs" into local ponds because more times then not these online companies do not send tadpoles that are native to our area.  If they are released back into our ponds, their presence can disrupt the delicate ecosystem.  Keep in mind, if we do find native tadpoles or eggs, we have to remember to release them back into the same pond we found them. If you encounter any tadpole sightings, you can also email me and I'll go scoop them up for the classroom :)

Important Dates and Reminders:

May 21: May gathering at the Stone Zoo, check Evite for more info
May 30: SEE closed for Memorial Day!
June 1: June tuition is due
June 11: June gathering at Wright-Locke Farm in Winchester
June 23-24: End-of-the-year school performance, save the date! More info to come soon!
July 4-8: SEE closed for summer recess
July 11: SEE summer program begins!

Check out some pictures from this week!

The tomatoes are coming! Let's hope our grass follows in our tomato's footsteps!

Sequencing the metamorphosis of a frog in the science center!

Remember our class pet, Molly?
She is an amphibian just like a frog.  However, molly breathes through her gills and a frog has lungs.  Also, Molly (an Axolotl) and frogs both go through a very similar metamorphosis!
So cool!

Investigating the parts of a frog


Play practice begins next week! We are so excited for our third annual end-of-the-year performance!

Have a great weekend!
Joanna

New Month = New Curriculum Topic!

Welcome May! We have patiently awaited your arrival!  Except that it feels more like April... 

Staying optimistic, we explored the world of pond life with the children this week.  We began the week asking, What is a pond, what lives in a pond and how can we protect ponds?  The children learned about the different wildlife found at a pond, the type of water in a pond, how a pond if different from the ocean and the importance of plants in the pond. (There was no way I could have used the word "pond" less times in that paragraph, I tried!)

As the week progressed, we had a group discussion on understanding what exactly a pond ecosystem is.  This discussion started with the question, what helps animals survive? The children all said that animals need to eat.  Which is in fact the basics of learning about an ecosystem! We read the book, "Pond Circle" by Betsy Franco which introduced the children to how an ecosystem works.  It's a fun book if you come across it in your travels! To understand the idea of the book, there was a coyote that stalked the raccoon that stole the owl eggs from the owl that dived for the skunk that caught the snake that swallowed the frog that gobbled the beetle that ate the nymph that nibbled the algae.  Which pretty much sums up how an ecosystem works! The illustrations were beautifully done as well!  

Some activities around the classroom included practiced tracing skills by tracing the lines of a turtle shell, the children played a game with the parachute trying to keep the frog eggs from rolling away, the children wrapped up their mother's day gifts and the pre-k students wrote the sight words for our pond unit including the words cat tails, lilypad, turtle, duck, etc!

If you have a day available during the next few weeks, the Museum of Science in Boston is hosting a temporary frog exhibit, definitely check it out! MOS Frog Exhibit Click Here

Lastly, play practice for our end of the year performance will begin mid month as we prepare to wrap up another wonderful school year! The blog will be pretty quiet beginning mid-May through June as we don't want to give too much away!

Important Dates and Reminders:

May 11-12: Picture Day! Info on the fliers that went home
May 21: May gathering at the Stone Zoo, check Evite for more info
June 1: June tuition is due
June 23-24: End-of-the-year school performance, more info to come!

Check out some pictures from this week!

The children also created wish flags for our veggie garden, what a busy week it was!

Another wish flag in the making! The flags are proudly hanging in our outdoor classroom.

Tracing skills are a great tool to have for kindergarten!

Don't let the frog eggs fall off the parachute!

A few of our sight words for our pond life unit!

And to all of our SEE mommies, we think you're the bomb! Enjoy your seed bombs! May they bring you lots of pretty flowers :)

Have a wonderful Mother's Day Weekend!
Joanna

Mercer Mayer Week!

Mercer Mayer week wrapped up our famous authors month.  Just like Eric Carle, Mercer Mayer is also an Author/Illustrator. You may remember him from his book series featuring "Little Critter." Mercer Mayer began his career creating wordless picture books and many of his story books are based on his own life experiences.  The children gave words to the wordless book, "Frog, Where Are You?" and the story was just adorable.  I will try to post some words from the story next week!

We also read several Little Critter books this week and each child had the opportunity to create their own critter.  Many of the critters have already gone to their new homes. If your home does not have a critter, it will shortly! 

Can you believe tomorrow is May 1st?? I cannot believe how time is flying! During the first few weeks of May we will be introducing the children to our new curriculum topic, pond life.  The children will learn about the wildlife that lives in a pond ecosystem.  We will spend some time studying the life cycle of a frog including the metamorphosis stage from tadpole to frog.  We hope to find some tadpoles for our classroom as we study these fascinating creatures!  Also, if you have a day available during the next few weeks, the Museum of Science in Boston is hosting a temporary frog exhibit, definitely check it out! MOS Frog Exhibit Click Here

Play practice for the end of the year performance will also begin mid month as we prepare to wrap up another wonderful school year! The blog will be pretty quiet beginning mid-May through June as we don't want to give too much away!

Important Dates and Reminders:

May 2: May tuition is due

May 11-12: Picture Day! Info on the fliers that went home
May 21: May gathering at the Stone Zoo, Check Evite for more info
June 23-24: End-of-the-year school performance, more info to come!

Check out some pictures from this week!

Two completed Critters

Another silly Critter!

The making of a Critter

A little side project the children have been working on,
I don't want to spoil the surprise!

Happy beautiful Saturday! Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Joanna