Dear Families,
Despite the short week and the smaller classes, there could not have been more enthusiasm in the Bear’s classroom each day.
The children have begun to request specific books to be read at circle time. One of the recent favorites is called A Bad Case of Stripes, by David Shannon. In this story, Camilla Cream breaks out in stripes from head to toe. After trying many remedies, the stripes disappear only when Camilla eats her favorite food, lima beans, despite the fact that all of her friends tease her for that choice. Because the children have shown such an interest in this story, we based our day around the book. After each child made a picture with stripes (complemented by dried beans) and worked cooperatively with everyone else to create a large colorful collage of stripes and beans, they got to devour a special snack of, you guessed it, lima beans! Every child tried them, and all but one loved them! We have reinforced to the children that it is important to do what they think is right, even if their friends do not agree. We also encouraged many of them to try a new food, and every child did.
Tuesday’s highlight was of course playing in the snow. Because the children love this activity so much, we do request that each child comes to school properly prepared for the playground. This includes not only hats and mittens, but boots and snow pants as well. For children who stay at school for the afternoon, we are also requesting that you send in a second pair of gloves or mittens in case the first pair is wet when the children go outside for a second time.
On Wednesday, by request, the children had a chance to play with shaving cream. They remembered that the last time we did this we sprinkled dry JELLO on the top. This not only colored the cream, but made it smell like strawberry. Once again, strawberry JELLO was sprinkled, but this time we also sprinkled the mixture with cinnamon. The room smelled delicious! Playing with the foam gave the children a wonderful sensory experience. They felt the soft mixture between their fingers, which is very soothing. It also gave them a chance to experiment with “writing” the letters in their names, or drawing shapes on the table. These can be easily erased, and new designs can be made. When the children were finished they had just as much fun cleaning the table as they did playing with the foam.
To those who will be going away next week, we wish you safe travels. To Ella and Dylan, we wish you a Happy 4th birthday.
Have a wonderful week off, and we will see you in 2011!
Morah Rhona and Morah Jessica
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