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, glued, printed, decorated and painted 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!

The children enjoyed making and eating grilled cheese "Teddy Bear" sandwiches for snack on Wednesday.  This simple cooking activity was fun, delicious and Scientific in nature as the hot griddle melted the cheese thus demonstrating once again for the children the process of property transformation.

 Our Teddy Bear Picnic was the "social event" of the week as the children made Teddy Bear sandwiches once again and enjoyed together with their stuffed animals in a perfect indoor picnic setting!

Many thanks once again to all of you who contributed to our holiday gift.  Thus far we have purchased two new Balance Scales, five sets of Mega Blocks and a new set of ink pads; with enough credit on the gift card to make additional purchases for the classroom come Spring!

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!