Teddy Bear Week

Teddy Bear Week was filled with activities that engaged and extended all areas of development!  It was steeped with rich literature selections, and fun art activities.  Bear books and songs were read and sung daily at Story Time!  The children also took time to read to their special stuffed animals! 

The children colored, printed, glued and decorated bears.  These daily art activities exercise fine motor skills, and spur creativity!

Our Teddy Bear theme was also reflected in Math, fine motor and gross motor activities throughout the week!

Our Teddy Bear Picnic, a high point of the week, involved making grilled cheese "Teddy Bear" sandwiches.  Fun, Delicious and Scientific, as the hot griddle melts the cheese, thus demonstrating once again for the children the process of transformation.  The picnic itself was a fun and  exciting "social event"! 

Looking Deeper:  Exploration and Learning through Play

This week let's take a closer look at the ongoing social/emotional growth of the children.

As mentioned, the activities of this week's theme incorporated, Literature, Music, Art, Math and Science.  Additionally, Teddy Bear Week provided a great opportunity to once again create an important bridge between home and school!  I suspect that your child was very excited about selecting a special stuffed animal to bring to school each day.  At school the children were quick to show each other their special stuffed animals, build them houses, read to them and delight in including them in a variety of activities that included a picnic, a dance and a parade!  This excitement reflects the social/emotional growth that has been facilitated by your child's school experience.  The children now confidently own both their home and school environments.  Mixing the two empowers them, and brings them great pleasure.  Just wait and see the excitement that is generated in two weeks when they get to wear their pajamas to school!   

Have a fun and restful weekend!

Grocery Store Week II

Grocery Store Week II provided ample opportunities for the children to continue their interactive play and exploration.  

We built upon all of the academic concepts we introduced and explored during our first week, and we provided two concrete experiences that broadened and deepened the children's learning.  On Tuesday, we made Pizza and ate it for snack.  As we prepared the pizza, we talked about the fact that all of the ingredients were purchased at the Grocery Store.  Cooking continues to be a favorite Math and Science activity for the children as they  count, measure and observe property transformations.  Of course, eating is always the most favorite part!

On Wednesday, we once again extended our classroom beyond its four walls as we made a Field Trip to the East Greenbush Price Chopper, where the children had a guided tour of the store and many of its departments.  The Field Trip, while great fun, also provided the children with the opportunity to make important connections between our simulated Grocery Store and an actual store, thus broadening and deepening their experiential base of understanding.  In addition to "eating" their way through the store, the children observed firsthand the workings of a real store.  This field experience proved to be a valuable tool in solidifying the children's conceptual thinking and learning.

Thank you to Hillary, our Price Chopper guide, for providing such a wonderful tour and rich learning experience, and to all of the parents who drove and chaperoned.  We could not have done it without you!

We also want to thank Vera's mom, Shira, for coming in as our first Guest Reader today!  

Looking Deeper:  Exploration and Learning through Play

This week let's take a closer look at the crucial learning connection between "pretend" and "real"!

During the week and a half prior to our field trip, the children played daily in their "pretend" grocery store, while we read and talked about the "real" grocery store each day at Story Time. Our field trip to Price Chopper served as an important "bridge" between pretend and real.  Playing in our pretend grocery store began the learning process that was deepened in the real store.  Learning connections were made, understanding was deepened and concepts reinforced as the children "saw and experienced" in Price Chopper the various departments which we had previously "talked" about in the classroom.  This magical combination of pretend and real is the function of play, and it is the surest vehicle for solidifying learning during the Early Childhood years!

Have a fun and restful weekend!