Well, the hustle and bustle of parent conferences has subsided and I have only a few more to finish up (you know who you are.. let’s make a plan). I always find myself wishing for a few extra days to find out just one more thing about your child at that time before progress reports are done.. suddenly wondering if that one child has made a jump from “not yet” to “just beginning”. The time seems to speed up the way it does when your gas tank is on empty.

What I adore about this time of year, is that I can see, in real time, all of the work that each child has done, and all of the progress that has been made while we spend our days together. It’s such an amazing part of my job!

I attended Bernie Sanders’s meeting on Early Childhood Education/Child Care this weekends. I am grateful to live in a place where people in high places are as concerned about the welfare of our youngest citizens as much as I am. I encourage you all to take a look at the brochure I’ve posted outside of the classroom and to get involved so that each and every child in out state can have affordable, quality childcare available.

I received an email from another Warren School family today. Their child has outgrown this adorable play kitchen and it’s available for a family who can love it and play with it!! Please let Liz Raddock know (lizfirstraddock@aol.com) if your child would like to have this adorable play set.

I hope you have had a wonderful vacation.. and that your child is well and ready to return to school. There was so much illness during the last two weeks of school and we all look forward to seeing our whole classroom community reunited in this week of return!!

I’ve been spending a good portion of this break preparing for parent/teacher conferences and have been so pleased as I have thought about each child, individually, and am delighted in the progress that everyone has made since the fall.

This morning, I received an email from my professional learning group. It included a link to a lovely YouTube piece on the importance of play in the lives of young children. I thought you might enjoy and learn from it as I did.

See you soon!!

I stumbled upon a marvelous “new” sensory medium during the holidays and brought a tin to school. The children have been exploring Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty (color changing, no less) at the tiny table. It’s much like the old Silly Putty you remember from your childhood, but better.  Lots of it comes in the tin, it is available in many colors (even magnetic!) and the children are making all sorts of discoveries. It bounces, stretches and snaps. It is a great stress releaser, too (maybe that’s why Tea Time went off without a hitch, this morning)

Elyiss and Brendan explore the properties of Thinking Putty

Cadence made a teacup and Noah made a bowl

Liza rolled the putty and made it pink

We had a lovely first “Tea Time” today. All week, Julie and I have been taking the class’s “energy temperature” and wondered if this group of very antsy kids would find a way to relax today. And they did! As a matter of fact, later in the day, during KPAS, I heard saw two children struggling with a toy and one said to the other (rather than continuing to pull on the toy and say “I had it first!”) “You can have it. Please tell me when you’re done”.

Wow.

Wow.

Julie and I have felt, for years, that Tea Time is magical, but that sealed it for me! Hooray for tea! (and thank you to The Groove Tea Project for sending a surprise bag of delicious Apple Pie Tea for our first party)

Fran and some cooks made tuna sandwiches for tea time. Yesterday, the kids worked with Jen to make chocolate-dipped 'Nilla Wafers

The tea table after it was beautifully set by members of the class

Quiet conversation was enjoyed by all

Cadence sweetened her Apple Pie tea

A few days ago Julie set up an art activity that was quite popular with many of the children throughout the morning. Julie created a thin, watercolor-like paint with the bits of pigment that always remain in the easel paint jars when they no linger have enough paint in them to use at the easel. She provided eye droppers and short pieces of drinking straws. The children used the droppers to put drops of paint on their paper and then used the straws to blow the paint around, creating lines and blobs of intense color. At first, this seems quite simple, but much work and planning went into the creation of the resulting paintings. The kids used their small hand and finger muscles (the very same ones they use when writing with a pencil) to squeeze the bulb of the eye-dropper, dip it in the paint, and stop squeezing in order to allow the paint to be drawn up into the cylinder. They then reversed the process to get the paint on to their papers. That’s a lot of planning! And a lot of fine motor control! The straws added another opportunity for control as each child manipulated his/her straw around the paper (which was taped to the table) in order to move the paint. A soft puff of air might not move the paint, while a hard blow often made the blob of paint travel right off the paper.

We started the year having sand in the sand table (a marvelous kind known as Jurrasic Sand.. it’s incredibly smooth, dust-free and a lovely orange color); in December, we put pine needles in to the table and the children explored both the feel and scent of them as they played. This morning, we made Oobleck.. a mixture of corn starch and water. The children who worked in the sensory table remembered using the substance last year in Lyndley’s class. They squeezed it and then relaxed their hands, allowing the mixture to flow smoothly from their fingers. It’s such an interesting substance and can be made, easily at home. If you do make some, just remember to leave the container open when it’s not in use. Allow the mixture to dry out and you can reconstitute it with water another day.

Brendan and Cada explore the Oobleck

Cadence watches as the Oobleck drips from her fingers

In case you’re not aware, I post each day’s snack on the Daily Journal outside of our door. We have gotten such a lovely variety and I know many of the kids just aren’t breakfast eaters, so the filling, healthful snacks you have been providing really help us all to have a good day! If your child balks at breakfast at home, one of Claire’s breakfast is a great option. She serves waffles, eggs, toast, cereal, juice, etc.. many of the kids love coming in from the cold of morning recess and enjoying a meal with friends in the cafeteria.

I just came across this article about breakfast cereals and thought you might be interested. I guess I’ll use them for dessert instead of breakfast! (I’m not much of a cereal eater in the morning, anyway).

My eye was drawn to a headline about children’s food preferences and this was the article I found. I thought you  might have some thoughts or, at the least, it might help explain your “picky” eater (or not so picky eater) and help you help him/her eat a more balanced diet.

During lunch time (at KPAS) I work with each child, personally, to help him/her choose a variety of foods from the buffet. Claire is often amazed (and certainly pleased) that very little of the trays of P3s and P4s ends up in the “pig bucket”. Sometimes it’s even hard for a very picky eater to accept something new on his or her tray, so we work on that for a while.  I have found that food temperature plats a part in some children’s tastes.. a food that is too hot or too cool is unpalatable. Luckily, our trusty classroom microwave oven is available!

We “cook” something almost every week in P4 (and will do even more, beginning next month). Cooking offers opportunities for supporting learning in math (counting, quantitative reasoning, measuring); social studies (sharing taking turns, waiting, helping);  fine motor development (scooping, leveling, stirring, shaking);  language (explaining, requesting); and cognitive (recalling, explaining, solving problems) areas. We often cook on Fridays because Fran’s presence allows Julie and me to be more available throughout the room and Fran loves to cook with kids! The class has made applesauce, butter, potato latkes, and cookie reindeer, to name a few things.

We start by preparing things that use only a single ingredient and focus on the process. As the year progresses, we’ll tackle more complicated, multi-ingredient recipes.

This past week, the class made orange juice.

Almost everyone signed up on the Morning Message to help and everyone had a small glass of juice to enjoy at snack time. The kids tried out a few ways of getting the juice out of the oranges and into the pitcher. I brought in some manual citrus reamers (which didn’t work so well) and an electric juicer (which worked well until it overheated) and then they turned to kid power (problem solving).

Does anyone have a non-citrus juicer we can borrow for a future cooking experience?

Do you have a special recipe you enjoy making with your child at home and would be willing to come in and make with the kids at school? We’d love to have an expert!! Let me know and we can set up a day that works for you!