Touch! We use our hands to touch and feel things. There are many different types of textures, such as rough, smooth, bumpy, soft and hard. Some things we touch are different temperatures.
We used sand to create a rough texture for our art. Some used a spoon to transfer the sand others pinched with their fingers and some poured the sand!
We read Ten Red Apples and then played a counting game with felt circles, our pretend apples. Each child took a turn to roll a dice, identified the amount and removed the same number of felt circles and we said, "the sheep at 4 red apples." Each child chose what ate the apples!
We use our noses to smell. There are strong, mild, sweet or stinky smells. We like certain smells and dislike others. We smelled spices and vinegar. Some of the kids like the smell of vinegar!
We discussed how some flower smell good and then I provided the kids with paper cup, scented markers, scissors glue and paper. They created their own flowers! ​

We see with our eyes. Our eyes are different colors. We made a graph with our eye colors today. Eyes can move up, down, and side-to-side. We use our eyes for looking, spying and watching. We looked for hidden pictures today. They selected a card and hunt for the matching picture or letter.
Today we made art inspired by Piet Mondrian. We looked at a work of art from Piet Mondrian. His art is full of shapes and specific colors. We discussed the shapes and colors that were used.
We also read the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? 

How do your bones feel under your skin? An x-ray is photo of hard things inside soft things. Our body has hard bones covered with soft skin. The kiddos viewed the x-ray photos and we used chalk and crayons to create various effects and expand their understanding of bones. The children were invited to create their own X-ray using a pre cut skeleton.
Arms move in different ways. We can shrug our shoulders, bend our elbows and ties our wrists. Oour arms have bones that can break. We use arms to carry pull and pick up things. We can also use them to hug!
We used play dough and tangrams to build designs. This was a fun independent play that created a lot of discussion! The kids built people, bridges, dinosaurs and robots.
We created our own x-ray's. We painted hands white, placed hand prints on white paper, scraped black paint across the paper and the hand prints magically appeared!
We also worked on patterns with buttons.​

We talked about our heads this week, so of course we discussed the skull and brains. We used spaghetti noodles for the brain and the hard-plastic bowls represented the skull. ​

This month is All About Me!  We made self portraits.  The children were shown an example of a self portrait, we discussed all the details.  Then they tried to draw all of their features, including a nose, eyes, ears and mouth.
The kids were given a paper bag, assorted colors of paper, markers, glue, scissors, sticker eyes and were encouraged to create a family puppet.  Some chose to make themselves others chose their parents!​

We have been easing into our daily routine this week. I feel structure is extremely important for children.  While we have our typical daily routine I fully understand the need for flexibility! 
Routines give children a sense of security and stability.  They also help children feel safe and secure in their environment. Toddlers gain an understanding of everyday events and procedures and learn what is expected of them as routines make their environment more predictable.  

​We work on our names daily! One of the best places to start when it comes to teaching children how to recognize letters and to read is to begin with their name. Every young child is interested in their own name, names are meaningful and personal! They will naturally begin to recognize their friends names as well over time. We read name books daily; each child has their own name book. Their names are posted all over; in the classroom, in the bathroom, cups, folders and cubbies.
The name plates your child comes home with weekly may seem very simple and repetitious but they are learning so much more than their name. We work on shapes, colors, letter recognition, scissor skills and patterns. The younger kids match up the shape with the letter written on the name plate. The older kids put their name together without prompts. The older kids will also either trace their name or write themselves.

The kids are back!  I am ready for another fantastic year.