Little Chalk, and Push Pin Work

Children are given many opportunities to color, write, and create with different media. Writing and holding these writing tools with a certain grasp is learned. Just as child needs to develop a sturdy 'balance' of standing before walking, children need to have a strong wrist to develop a strong writing skill. We can provide them with opportunities to knead dough, use playdough, spray water from a spray bottle to increase this skill. Providing children with opportunities to grasp small things, such as a piece of chalk that is 1 inch to draw on, or using push pins to push into cork board, are just a couple of things that can be done to assist in developing these skills.

Thanks to Shana Krell, occupational therapist, who came in with these new ideas for fun activities to enhance these skills.

Can you help me please??

 
 

Teddy Fox wanted to finish his Haman masks. Jesse had already finished his and graciously agreed to help his friend finish his.
Thanks Jesse, that was kind and helpful.

Meet the 'Mustache' Family

 
 
 
 

We started with masks, but soon the children got creative on their own. Teddy Fox started the group w/ his red mustache and soon there were many followers. Such fun working together and using our imaginations.

Purim Day Song

 

We had fun making masks and groggers and learned a new song that we will be practicing to sing along at at Newbridge Center.

"Purim Day, Purim Day, What a happy holiday.
Wear a mask, wear a crown, dancing all around.
Round go the groggers, rash, rash, rash ( 3x)
On Purim Day!!!

Rohan taught us the same song in Hebrew. We invited the Sunshine boys and girls to come and join us!!

Sharing...easier said than done

We have been talking a lot about friendship and what kindness looks like through the eyes of a three or four year old. The Sunshines easily recognize that checking on someone who is sad, inviting a friend to play or sharing a toy are all great ways to show friendly behavior.

Today we tried working in pairs on a single project. We are building a castle for Queen Esther in Shushan and we need to stack colorfully decorated boxes to make our palace. The children worked in pairs to color their box. At first, figuring out where the box should sit was a challenge. They realized that if they were sharing, it couldn't really sit directly in front of either child. Once placement was established, the children found that they needed to take turns in certain areas and wait patiently to turn/flip the box if their partner was not finished in his/her section.

It was great to hear the beginning of these negotiations and we know that practice will definitely get us closer to perfect!!

Welcome Zachary Bern!

The Sunshine class now has another Zachary (to add to our two Noahs)!! We were very excited to meet Zachary Bern and welcome him into our class. Zachary was very friendly and enjoyed all of our activities today - especially his first opportunity with magnetiles!!

We look forward to spending the rest of the year together!!

Wackiness THREE

Clues for Wacky Wednesday = THREE 1) One was the picture board 2) Something 'wacky' happened in the snack area.. 3) Something 'wacky' in the library What was 'wacky'??? Any ideas ??? Don't know what will happen tomorrow??? = FOUR things...

Working together...Cooperation!

Well stranger things have happen...Snow now on the last day of February? Better late than never I guess? Well, one thing is for sure everyone did not have their winter gear with them today! So we had a friendly game of "Squirrel in the Tree". When the music stops the squirrels have to find a tree to sit in. There are always more squirrels than trees. The squirrels learn to share space(their tree) and cooperate!

Oatmeal with Raisins - A Winter Treat

What could be more delicious than oatmeal with raisins on a cold winter day? Micah stirs while Olivia measures and scoops out the oatmeal. And when it was ready, Eliana and Sonia dig in. Delish!

winter day?

Slip Sliding Away

As the penguins and polar bears slip and slide on the ice, these three children are practicing social skills required to navigate multiple relationships at once. They are making space for one another at the table and on the ice sheet.
With anticipation the entire class gathered around the sensory table as Mary Ann slid the ice sheet into the water. Awesome! Throughout the morning we watched it melt and felt the freezing cold water.

Take Two...The Story of Purim

Lunch Bunch begins with a short meeting...We talk about our day, sometimes we read a book and we also use that time to plan curriculum with the children. Today I told them that the Tuesday Lunch Bunchers had a great time making costumes and then put on a Purim Play. I asked them if they liked that idea? Well, what do you think their response was? That is right...YES!!!!!

They could not wait to get started! First they decided who they wanted to be, then they made a crown or a triangular hat. The excitement/energy in the room was high! After Leo and Ryan made their costume they asked ,"Where is the castle/palace?" I suggested we build one on the stage. They liked that idea a lot. I then asked the children, "What could we make the castle/palace with?" A few of the children said, "The wooden blocks!" So, that is what they did and what a castle it was!

The Unicorn and Sunshine children joined us and helped set up the chairs around the stage. After a few announcements the show started. I was the narrator and Mordechai, Lilly K was Queen Vashti, Ryan was Haman, Eli S and Sarah were Queen Esther, Avram, Jake, Max and Leo were King Ahashverus. The show was really something to see and at the end of the performance, everyone took a bow! Purim is such a fun holiday!

The Haifa Orchestra

This picture looks like the children are playing with K-Nex. They are playing with the toys and they aren't. Together the children got the K-Nex off the shelf and made several sets of drums. We had an impromptu orchestra in our class today made up mostly of drums. Who knew that K-New make perfect drum sticks? These children sang, danced and played the drums for a long time during free choice. We put on a CD of Jammin' Josh and then the children played the drums to go with his music. It got pretty loud at times. Could you hear it at your house? These children are creative in their use of toys to further their interests and we love to watch it happen.
Sauci and Alison

Purim 'tricks'

Just for fun... One of our favorite books is 'Wacky Wedneesday'. In this book on every page there is a 'funny' illustration with some thing that is 'wacky'. You may want to ask your children what some of these things are??? In the spirit of Purim fun, we have changed or made something 'wacky' in the classroom. One of the jobs in the classroom is the 'calendar' person. Everyday someone is selected to let us know what day it is. Their name is written on the calendar board. The children look to see whose job it is. That person writes the number on the calendar. On Monday, the name was written a little differently. It was definitely a 'wacky' way to write it. On Tuesday, we changed TWO things in the classroom and made it wacky in honor of Purim Fun. Again, you may want to ask your children? They noticed that the number of wacky things had increased by '1' so they asked that we keep increasing. So today it will be THREE things that are changed. I wonder what wackiness they will discover today??

Deep Breathing

Children in our classroom have a very busy day, filled with activity and movement. We are always looking for ways to help children develop tools they can call upon to help organize themselves during their day. We have begun incorporating a sensory diet into our day. A sensory diet includes opportunities for children to take a break from the busy pace of the classroom by utilizing some different techniques to calm the body and the mind. One of the ways we take a break is to utilize some deep breathing techniques that Julia has taught us. We close our eyes (if we choose) and breath in through our nose and out through our mouths while playing peaceful, relaxing music. This helps us to calm and organize our bodies. We all enjoy these breaks very much, and find ourselves more engaged and focused when returning to our play. Can you see some of us have closed our eyes?After a relaxing break, we were ready to hear the Story of Purim, which we all enjoyed!

Let's put on a Purim Play!

Eliza and Hannah joined us for Lunch Bunch today! The entire group asked if we could put on a play. I suggested we make costumes for the play. Then Rachel chimed in with, "Let's put on a Purim play!" Everyone liked that idea! I asked the children "What character do you want to be?" Hannah, Alana, Molly, and Avery wanted to be Queen Esther. Rachel wanted to be Haman and Eliza asked if she and her American Girl doll Julie could be the audience. So I had to be Mordechai, Haman and King Ahashuerus(nothing I could not handle).

We made the costumes, picked out some music and signed in for the big show! What a show it was! We all had so much fun! The day just flew right by!

Hooray for Purim!

Once again the children listened to the story of Purim. They sat on the blue rug listening with their mouths wide open, as we told the Purim story while using finger puppets for props.

When the story was over we invited the children to come over two at a time, to the Art Center. In partners/buddies they worked on one stick puppet together. When the stick puppets dry we will all have the opportunity to play with them (Esther, King Ahashuerus, Haman, cousin Mordechai) in our palace/castle in the city of Shushan.

One teacher stayed with the two children long enough to help them work smoothly together with each other. The teacher modeled the kind of behavior we wanted to see.
We gave them the language by scripting some of the dialoge that works when working with a partner.

A Busy Morning

The Rainbows were very busy today after their week off. We made groggers using small water bottles and beans. Very carefully, we scooped up the beans with a small cup and then poured them through a paper cone into the water bottles. It was definitely hard work but we all really enjoyed scooping, pouring, and then shaking our groggers. Thank you to Ilan and his family for donating the beans. We also played with gak and enjoyed cutting it with plastic knives, which some of the kids pretended were real. Doing a Purim puzzle was fun too!