Preschoolers and Morality

As of tomorrow, all of the children in the Frog room will be at least two years and nine months old. This is quite a milestone, since according to the Massachusetts Department of Early Care and Education, children who are 2.9 are officially considered "preschoolers".
Based on what we've observed with the children in our care, this is not an arbitrary decision. We see many differences between children who are in their second year and children who are on the verge of their third. Perhaps the biggest reason that EEC considers 2.9 to be the age where one could reasonably expect a child to function safely in a larger class group is that three year olds are beginning to monitor their own social behavior based on their internal sense of empathy and an emerging moral code.
The emergence of a sense of morality and the exploration of moral rules vs. social rules is a huge part of the third year of life. We see the Frogs testing out social rules and piecing together the moral reasoning behind those social rules over and over again during the second part of our school year. It certainly makes for some fireworks, but it also means that we get to witness children making their own decisions about how they are going to interact with one another based on their own sense of what's right and wrong. This is incredibly rewarding.
What a happy coincidence that a story about this very topic aired on NPR this Morning. If you're interested, you can listen to it here.

A Bushel and a Peck

Every Thursday, Sarah (a parent of a child in the Possum room) joins us for music time. Sarah always brings along a nice little stack of storybooks that are based on popular songs. For the last few times, the Frogs have been especially interested in her rendition of A Bushel and a Peck by Frank Loesser, illustrated by Rosemary Wells.
Today, as were were putting the group down for nap, we heard several children singing it quietly to themselves.

Apparently, it is very popular with the three year old set...

Chicken Preview

We've been talking with the Frogs about some of our upcoming curriculum plans. The one that seems to have generated the most excitement is incubating and hatching fertile chicken eggs. We've tried to explain that baby chickens like warmer weather, so we'll have to wait for spring to come before we can get started. Of course, It's hard to wait for something that is so cool!

Thank goodness for YouTube! This is what we watched during circle time today;

The kids were astounded! The best part was when the entire group went "Awwwww!!!!" once the baby chick finally made it out.

Our eggs should be ready to incubate in about three weeks. We can't wait!

Worms!!!!!

They're here!!!!
Can you see them now????


How about now???

We are sooooo excited that our worms have arrived. So far, they really like Oranges and Carrots. Blueberries? not so much....
Apparently, worms are picky eaters, just like three-year olds!

February Themes

We are starting to see a number of new themes emerge in the Frog room. So many, in fact, that it's a little tricky keeping up with them all!

Two themes that we have seen in February's past are the kids a.) being hungry all the time, and b.) exploring the whole concept of friendship. They may seem unrelated, but it would be safe to say that these phenomena are both related to growth spurts- physically and emotionally! We are adjusting our curriculum to address these trends. We are incorporating more cooking and baking projects into our week in order to accommodate and excite these hungry children. As for the whole friendship thing, we teachers are enjoying stepping back and watching the children negotiate their relationships with each other. You can read more about the Frogs and their exploration of friendship in this month’s Nonotuck newsletter…

We have also noticed an increased interest in words and letters, especially the letters in the children’s names. We have been playing a lot of circle time games that focus on the first letters and sounds in the Frog’s names. We have also added a number of books, puzzles, and pictures that feature our alphabet.
Speaking of language and literacy, the Frogs have been learning a number of simple signs. During circle time, we have adapted the “Ratlin’ Bog” song to use a number of signs for different animals. Today when we sang/signed the song, we didn’t speak the words for the signs we were using. The Frogs successfully filled in every single one!
In other Frog news, the snow has made several attempts to melt a bit, and the temperatures seem to be making an effort to stay above freezing. This means more enjoyable outdoor time for the Frogs. We took our first walk of the year the other day, thanks to the newly clear sidewalks. The Frogs noticed a number of early signs of spring, including birdsong, puddles, mud patches, and even a few buds on the trees! Our compost worms should be arriving in the next week or so, meaning the kids will have a chance to share their lunchbox leftovers with the neighbors in our indoor worm box!

Sensory Table Retrospective

Catching Up...

Happy New Year!

Phew! The Frogs came back from winter break and hit the ground running! It's been hard find a moment to reflect on what we are seeing...

Winter is really here. The dusting of snow we were so excited about last time is now a good thick blanket all over the playground. Winter usually means that the kids get less exposure to a variety of sensory experiences when they are outdoors (snow pants + mittens + hoods + hats + scarves = warm kids, plus tactile, visual and auditory interference!) We are trying to step up our game in the sensory table to make up for what the kids are missing outside;


We have moved our now empty worm compost box indoors. We are hoping to re-stock it with worms soon so the Frogs can observe the whole process of vermicomposting, as well as enjoy some up close time with soil and crawly things- despite the snow outside!

We are also trying to add a little variety to the Frog day by exploring different environments inside our school building. In addition to our wonderful, wonderful community room, we have been spending time in the Possum classroom (when the Possums aren't using it), and the Art studio.

One of the projects that really caught the children's attention in the art studio was stringing penne pasta tubes to make necklaces and bracelets. Ever since then, we have been putting out more stringing activities to let the Frogs really practice their creativity and their fine motor skills.

We have started work on a new seasonal mural, using lots of whites, greys, light purples and light blues. We will continue to look out the window for inspiration as to what to add next.

the Frogs are still very interested in story telling and books. Abiyoyo is still a favorite, but we are noticing that there are a few more favorite books being added to the "read that again!" rotation. So far, The Mitten, and Annie and the Wild Animals- both by Jan Brett- are very popular. We are also beginning to hear some storytelling from the Frogs. We were treated to a lot of fantastic (literally!) "What I Did During My Winter Vacation" stories!

With so many different things going on, we are watching and waiting to see if any overarching curriculum themes emerge. For now, everyone is happy, intellectually engaged and having a good time, which is exactly what we're going for!

P.S. We finally figured out what to add to the fall mural....

(this image was created using this tutorial on turning photos into coloring book pages using photoshop. We've added the link to the sidebar as well...)

The Frogs spent a morning customizing their very own raccoons-with-spoons, then pasting them onto the mural. Some are flying, some are climbing the tree, all are holding out their spoons and begging for more stinky muffin batter!
Cute, or creepy? you decide;