Morning Meeting:

Amy read a book to the children which they loved, called 'Into the Castle'. It was about a good monster, so the kids talked about their feelings about the book (for example, how would they feel if they were in a castle all by themselves). Amy then made up a welcome song where each child got to pop up like popcorn when their name was called. After that they read half of a book about recycling. When that was done Amy put on a silly CD that gives directions to act out different animals. The children were given scarves to dance with and use as props. There is a part of the song that tells them to freeze, and they have to listen for the next animal to be called. They really loved this and responded well.

Snack Time:

We had pretzels today, which the children always enjoy. They have a great time making letters, numbers, and shapes by eating the pretzels just a little at a time.

Outside Play:

We tried to go outside but it didn't last long. In about five min. all the kids came inside saying “my hands are cold!” At the end of the day Dalila took Elijah, Willow, Pearson, and Kieran out on the front lawn to play some noisey play. Lila decided to open the pumpkins on our porch for the kids to explore. She cut them open and they scooped out the seeds and guts. The children pretended that the pumpkin was a monster- who was dead.

Project Work:

Since we were introduced to recycling this morning we came into the studio to create labels for our new recycling bins. We searched through magazines to find images of paper, plastic, glass, and metal objects. This was a good activity for evaluating how much each child could recognize the different between the three materials.

Rest Time/ Focused Work:

Amy started out reading a book to Kieran, Willow, and Elijah, called 'The Outside Inn'. Elijah read the title, and they started in. It was a book about insects which Amy picked out in honor of Elijah's interests. Eli told us all about the story of when he ate crickets at the CMOM on insect day. Then Amy pulled out a chart on large paper which she made. Each column on the chart had one of the recyclable materials labeled at the top. Amy went through each of the images that were cut out during studio and let the students identify which kind of material is in the picture, and so tape it in the appropriate column. They also practiced math and writing skills on the dry erase board. Elijah did some impressive addition and spelling at this time. Amy was helping Kieran to draw his own letters when Pearson joined the group. When all was said and done they sat down to read some more books. They asked for the tinker toys afterward, and so that's how we ended focus time- making motorcycles and robots.

Free Play:

This morning Elijah and Willow built a huge room out of the cardboard blocks as Lily sat in the middle the entire time. Maya played with a huge amount of playdoh, which was funny to see. Pearson wanted to play a dinosaur reading/number recognition game (its kind of like a puzzle) so he and Lindsey went to the quiet room to play. Half way through Willow joined us- this was wonderful practice at sequences for her.