Last week we...

I guess I'm always running a bit behind- can anyone else relate?
Last week we talked about our first, middle, and last names. We wrote them on place cards that we use for circle time as well as over the tracings of our bodies on the cement outside.
We talked about our hands. We counted our fingers and named them all. We sang Where is Thumbkin with the names of each finger. We talked about the things we liked to do with our hands. We traced our hands and decorated them with "jewels".
We talked about sign language and I showed the children the sign language alphabet. We have been practicing the letter A and F in sign along with singing the sound. We learned this is another important way people use their hands.
We used our hands to squeeze soap suds out of sponges. We could feel, smell, and see in this activity. Multi sensory activities are best for children.
We have been using our new outdoor hockey sticks and ball scoops as many of our friends are transitioning from parallel play to cooperative play. They try so hard to pass the ball back and forth- it makes me laugh.
We explored our sense of touch by looking at items in a spa set that I won in a raffle and never used. We felt the rolling massager, bumpy hand massager, rough pumice stone, smooth ribbon that was wrapped around it, bristles on the brush, and ridges on the luffa sponge. We liked to use these things gently on our friends backs and hands.
We did some roller painting with brown paint outside.
We played with cooked noodles in the sensory bin.

I'm Back!

We are in full swing now! These past two weeks we have really been trying to settle into a schedule that works for all of us. all of the children have been doing great during our daily group time. I have introduced the calender and weather chart as well as name tags for them to sit on during our group time. Last week we did a taste and smell test using different foods and spices as well as soap. Popcorn and marshmallows were the favorite things for all of the children to smell band taste. We went around the circle and told our friends our favorite things to taste.
Quinn says his favorite taste is his fingers and Dylan said breakfast.
We also looked at parts of an apple and made apple prints with paint outside. We made the letter a with our hands in sign language and also made the sound. We made apple honey challah bread for Rosh Hashana.
I am trying to make the backyard an outdoor class room with plenty of large and small motor, fine motor, and dramatic play/ building activities. The children have enjoyed painting, blocks, spider webs, squirt bottles, balls, and climbing. Last week Ryan climbed into the tree house and saw the neighbors cat catch a bird and eat it. I skipped watching that but could not pull them away. Bode likes to carry our basket of cars in and out to play with wherever he goes.
I found a used puppet theatre and put it under the structure and tree outside. We set up chairs and watched our friends put on a show for us. West told us a story about a giraffe names tree man and sang wheels on the bus during his performance and Sophia sang itsy bitsy spider with the spider puppet. She was also a very good audience member and sat through everyone's performance.
Along with the puppet theatre I found a bunch of toy tools that the kids have been fixing up the "fire house" structure with- the wee woo house as Brady calls it.
We have also been talking and reading books about feelings.
We have been having a great time with our friend Adriana who helps us at the park and during lunch. We do outdoor circle times on these days and run and run and run in the grassy field at Boyle park. We also like to explore on and around a huge tree that has been uprooted.