New Friends

Theme:  Welcome to school!
We participated in a variety of games, songs, & books to introduce school rules and one another.
Our rules are simple:  stay in the classroom, use quiet voices, use looking eyes, have listening ears, be helping hands, and sit on pockets.  Being a "helping hand" involves keeping our hands to ourselves and being willing to help clean up and cheer up sad friends.

Choosing Time:  Duplo Blocks, Puzzles, Play Kitchen, Cars, Dinosaurs, Doll-House, & Ponies
 Every year it is interesting to see what manipulatives the children like the most.  So far this year it is the cars :)  I truly believe that play time is essential in building a good foundation for creativity and becoming socially savvy. Already new friendships are budding.  It is exciting to see!

Show & Tell:  I completely forgot!  I'm so sorry.  Please send the same show & tell on Monday.  We will try again.  Sometimes we get so busy...I'm sorry.

Games:

1. Who's Hiding Under the Blanket?
2. Search for Busy Bee Names

Birthday:  Happy Birthday to Carmyn.  We loved dancing to our birthday song & eating oreos!

Art:

1. Free Color--This was an assessment without anyone feeling judged.  I simply wanted to see who could write their names & what the children are capable of drawing.  We will continue to work on skills to develop writing and drawing.
2. Squash Painting Monsters--These were created after reading about monsters who went to school. I had a squash expiring on my counter that served as a great stamp :)  We will explore many ways to paint throughout the year.

Snacks:  Snack time is a great opportunity to practice manners and hygiene.  We wash our hands, sing a snack song, say a little blessing, and express gratitude for the child who brings the snack.  We also use polite words such as please, thank you, no thank you, and yes please.  I encourage all the children try new foods and then simply discard anything they don't care for without commenting on it.  Our snacks this week consisted of graham crackers, Oreos, bananas, and goldfish crackers.

Music & Movement:

1. Snack Song
2. Please & Thank You
3. The Hokey-Pokey
4. ABC Song

Recess:  We were able to spend a few minutes outside to play. We will take advantage of the good weather when we can.