Hi All,
This week we are working on using our cooperative muscles in the block
area. We worked in large groups and small, building walls, and then
knocking them down. Some children began building alone and then
connected their buildings with bridges and tunnels. We talked about
everyone helping to put the blocks away before moving on to big room
play. Most everyone helped sort the blocks when it was time to clean
up. We sorted into three groups: soft colorful, big wooden, and small
wooden blocks. Additionally, the small wooden blocks have about 15
subgroups. That’s a bunch of sorting.
Blocks teach math skills galore: sorting, shape, size, weight, length,
height, balance, symmetry, and patterns, to name a few.
We asked people to tell us about their buildings. Responses:
underwater sea machine, a house, a fire station, a couch, rainbows, a
pie, “We’re building a ship, we’re building a ship!”, water, pizza for
the ship, a tall tower, a museum, and a bedroom.
During yoga with Frank, while half the class posed, the others drew
with markers. We practiced taking the caps off and listening for the
snap to make sure the markers wouldn’t dry out, also a decent fine
motor exercise.
We saw children doing crunches and sitting quietly with Frank.
We played Duck, Duck, Goose again and had fun running and laughing,
around and around. We also played Simon Says. He said to tippy toe
into the big room, crawl, slither, hop, gallop, and run.
We read When I Feel Angry, When Sophie Gets Angry, and A is For Angry,
Animal Feelings From A to Z. We talked about what to do when we feel
angry, one person said they look in their jewelry box and another said
they turn on the tv. We shook up a bottle filled with water and
sparkles to compare to our feelings swirling inside of us. We have
been continuing this conversation about what makes us feel angry and
things that help us to feel better.
Next week, we will begin talking about our families, more than we already do.
Have a restful weekend,
Therese