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;

Snow!!!

Sometimes, all it takes is a look out the window to push our curriculum in a new direction.

This is what was outside our window this morning:


The snow outside was reflected all across the classroom today;

Penguins and disposable diaper stuffing "snow" in the sensory table...

Salt and glitter "snow" with matchbox cars in trays on one table...

Paper and scissor snowflake crafting on another...

...and snowsuits and mittens in the dress up area so we can practice dressing for the next real snowfall!!!

Abiyoyo

We are seeing a new theme emerge in the Frog room. Lately the Frogs have been fascinated with stories. Especially this Pete Seeger story;

We have been reading the book Abiyoyo and it's companion, Abiyoyo Returns every day. To expand on the idea of storytelling, we have also been adding in a few new 'folk tales' about things that we've seen around Nonotuck...Like yesterday's circle time story about the squirrel that Michelle (Frog Room co-teacher) saw sitting on top of the dumpster eating a paper towel;

Once Upon a time, about an hour ago when I was on my break,

I was walking out to my car when I heard a sound coming fromthe dumpster. I looked, but I couldn't see anything. Then I heard it again- scritch, scritch, scritch... I peeked behind the dumpster, and then I saw it! Two big black eyes, one fluffy, curly tail, lots of fuzzy grey fur, two teeny-weenie claws- Right there, behind the dumpster was the biggest, roundest squirrel I have ever seen! The squirrel jumped on top of the dumpster and I noticed that it was eating something. "Hey, squirrel!" I said.

The squirrel stopped eating and looked right at me.

"Is that a paper towel?"

It was a paper towel!

"Hey, squirrel!'

He looked right at me again.

"Don't eat paper towels!"

the squirrel thought about it for a minute...then went right back to eating the paper towel.

(you get bonus storyteller points if you act out the part with the squirrel eating the towel...)

Really, everything can be a story- it's all in how you tell it!

If you are a Frog parent, ask your child if they can tell you the story of the squirrel and the paper towel. It would be an interesting experiment to see 1.)How much of the story the Frogs remember, and 2.) How it evolves with each re-telling.
Next time we'll tell you the Nonotuck folk tale about the Raccoon With The Teeny-Tiny Spoon...
*Edited to add the whole story about the squirrel, 12-2-08 4:37pm.

Fall Mural

We are almost done with our fall mural. We have been working on different pieces of it over the last few weeks.
First, we painted construction paper Maple and Oak leaf shapes with orange, red, yellow and brown tempera.
Then we used sponge brushes and hands to paint with different shades of brown...


Then we put a large piece of paper on the floor with wide brushes and different shades of blue...

Finally, we glued the brown painted paper to the bottom of the blue sheet, added a bumpy, cardboard tree, and glued our painted leaves all over...

Here's what it looks like so far. We may call it finished and add it to our hallway gallery, or we may add some more components. Birds? Squirrels? Pumpkins? Birds and squirrels eating pumpkins, (as discussed during a recent, lively lunchtable conversation between the kids where everyone shared what happened to their Jack-O-Lanterns post halloween...)? Hmmmmm...Keep your eyes out to see what happens!

October

Hi there!

Even though this is our first post, we've been taking pictures for this curriculum blog since early October. In the interest of catching everyone up, here they are;

As you can see, we were thinking about bringing the colors and textures of the changing season indoors.

As October progressed, we began to prepare for our annual field trip to the pumpkin patch;

As October came to a close, we geared up for halloween! We added costume pieces to the dress up area and began working on a pumpkin Pinata for our celebration!

Luckily, we managed to make our pinata sturdy, yet breakable- not as easy as you would think! The kids enjoyed eating Pirate Booty and Raisins that fell out of the pumpkin for snack time.

We will continue to incorperate Autumn as a theme throughout the rest of the season. We are already seeing the kids interests go in different directions, so stay tuned to see where we wind up next!