In November and December, we continued our travel to North America and began our studies of Living and Non-Living things, Vertebrates and Invertebrates, Birds and Mammals. We studied the Parts of the Horse and Parts of the Bald Eagle and made books. We also talked about Feelings and have a “Feelings Chart” where children can place their photo on which feeling they are having (happy, sad, excited, angry, etc.) in both Spanish and English. We constructed a Gratitude Tree and children made leaves of what they are thankful for in their lives. We began our Word Study with word families -at, -an, -ap and had fun making up words with these endings. We worked on 1:1 correspondence of our “teens”: 11-20 and on counting and reading numbers from 1-100 (those tricky transitional numbers 29, 30…39, 40…49, 50, etc.).

We took walks to the Lafayette Community Center on Monday mornings and took lots of nature walks, bringing our clipboards, paper and pencils to draw and write what we saw. We finished our Skyhawks program with Coach Donut and started Yoga with Roxanna! We celebrated Kira’s birthday by making a card and singing Happy Birthday! She was so surprised! We practiced our Winter Welcome songs with the Ladybugs and Bumblebees every morning! We made wax votives by melting wax and dipping water balloons and putting flowers around them! They were beautiful as we walked into greet the families singing, “This Little Light of Mine” last Friday afternoon. We hope you enjoyed the program!

In January, we will be traveling to Antarctica and studying Penguins and learning about Arctic and Antarctic animals, Reptiles, Chinese New Year and the 100th Day of School and continuing our Botany studies by learning about roots.

Happy New Year Caterpillar Families!

The holiday months are here! The children have been enjoying themselves. The month of November was fun and full of Gratitude. The children were thankful for so many things. The Gratitude Tree was blooming with the childrens’ personal, “I am thankful” leaves. I hope you had a chance to check it out. This month we covered many subjects. We studied about the United States of America, Animals of the United States, and the Native Americans. In Zoology we learned about Vertebrates and Invertebrates, Parts of the Horse, and Parts of the Turkey. We are located in such an awesome spot. The children actually got to see horses trotting by on the trail and parking lot. We were so excited! In Botany we learned about The Leaf. In Math we continue to count with pine cones and pumpkin seeds. So fun. In language we have introduced grouped initial sounds with objects. Yay!

Our lovely Kayla celebrated a November birthday. Happy Birthday, Kayla!

Time flies when you’re having fun. December is here and so is the chill. The children are devoting themselves to the new material on the shelves. This month we are studying about the coldest place on earth: Antarctica! We are also learning about Penguins and their habitat, Snowflakes and Winter Plants. In Practical Life the children are transferring “ice” from one bowl to another and preparing hot cocoa. Mmmm, delicioso!

We have been practicing with the Ladybugs and Caterpillars everyday for our Winter Welcome!

Roxanna is back for Yoga on Tuesdays. Yay!! Welcome back, Roxanna.

A big Happy Birthday to all the December birthdays. Hunter, Luella, Brady, and Paige!
Thank you to the families for coming in and telling us all about your little ones.

Lastly, the Spanish Class is in full swing! Here is what we been covering. Sonidos Inicíales, Numeros, Colores, Dias de la Semana, Meses del Año, Saludos y Modales.
It is the holidays, and nothing says it’s the holidays more than tamales! The children will enjoy learning this hands on tradition this month. Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año Nuevo!

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year Bumblebee families!

This month the Ladybugs learned about giving to the less fortunate through Nasrin’s donation jar which was a great success. We also learned about being thankful for what we have especially for our families. We celebrated a few birthdays in November and December and the Ladybugs are quickly maturing!

In December we learned about Penguins and our new Practical Life materials. A few of the Ladybugs are learning to put on their own shoes and a good exercise is learning how to string beads. We are always practicing our manners and using our words instead of our bodies to communicate with our friends. We are practicing our songs everyday with our Bumblebee and Caterpillar friends!

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year Caterpillar families!

The biggest news events this month were that Jake joined Caterpillar Classroom full-time!  We welcome him and his family to our classroom.  The second news item is that our play-yard in the back of our school was inspected by our State Licensing Board on October 17th and has been approved!  We have been playing everyday since then on our new equipment.  The children LOVE the climbing structure and the see-saw!  We will be adding new play equipment over the next several weeks so stay tuned. 

Our studies have kept us in North America studying the Bald Eagle and learning all the parts of these amazing birds (talons, beak, body, etc.).  We will be working on a life-size eagle drawing and hanging it up to get an idea of how large of a bird they are in real-life.  We had a presentation on Seasons and introduced our Science curriculum with talking about Living and Non-Living things, a lively discussion which included a talk about cars (they move, need water, solar cars need light, etc.) and leaves on the ground, flowers in a vase, etc.

We are working on our Original Artworks masterpieces which will be a surprise to each family and going home this week.  In Language children are practicing their sound-letter correspondence and learning to blend these sounds and read words like cat, hat, cup, pin, pot, etc., in addition to practicing our reading and handwriting.  In Math, we have worked on our teen numbers (11-19) as well as Odd & Even numbers, looking for patterns!  

In November, we will study Vertebrates and Non-vertebrate animals, Classification of Vertebrates, Mammals, Trees and Leaves and Gratitude and Giving Thanks.

Fall is here! The children are enjoying the new season, the falling and collecting of leaves and our new play area!

There has been so much activity this month. Our conferences came and went. It was a pleasure seeing and speaking to you all about your little ones. Picture Day was all smiles. Also, we had a practice Earthquake Drill. The children practiced “Drop, Cover and Hold.” Skyhawks and Kinder Dance classes are a hit. The children love both. Lucas had a birthday this month. Happy Birthday, buddy.

Please don’t forget to join us on Sunday, October 28, 2018 @ 3-5:30 for the Halloween Carnival. Please come in your costumes. Fun for all.

This month we started our Spanish Classes.
¡Hola y Bienvenidos!

In Practical Life the children are loving working on their fine motor skills. Tweezing spiders from one bowl to another and pumpkin sorting are some of their favorite jobs.

In Sensorial we have moved on to mixing the primary colors of red and yellow to get….. yes, you are right! Orange!

In Art we continue working on fine motor skills and our creativity. We have introduced paper cutting, watercoloring, and jack o’lantern coloring.

In Botany we are covering Parts of the Tree and Parts of the Pumpkin.

In Zoology we are studying all different kinds of Mammals like whales, bats, and us!

In Geography we are studying North America. We are talking about these 3 countries: Canada, United States, and Mexíco. We are also studying the animals of North America.

We are continuing learning and practicing Initial Sounds in Language and numeral counting in Math.

Lastly, our song of the month is “5 little Pumpkins Sitting On A Gate.”

Next Month, we are continuing our study of the Parts of the Tree and Leaf, lots of leaf art and talking about Gratitude and giving Thanks.

This month we celebrated Georgie’s second birthday! Happy Birthday Georgie!!

Our studies this month included learning about different animals in each continent and this is leading us to learn about animals with backbones or vertebrate animals (birds and mammals). In our studies of North America, we are learning about the different landmarks, the Statue of Liberty, White House, Hoover Dam, Mount Rushmore, etc. The children love this work as there are miniatures of each landmark and a matching card for them to match.

We are practicing our new letter sound “J”. The children are learning to count 1-10 in different languages and our older Ladybugs are practicing their 1:1 counting (object to symbol) by using the Spindle Boxes (5 spindles have to go to the section with the number 5, for example). We are also learning the life cycle of a pumpkin, doing lots of painting and stamping and working on our Original Artworks masterpieces which will be a surprise to each family!

We had our first Earthquake Safety Practice and the children did great practicing Drop, Cover and Hold. We love the new play equipment in the Courtyard and our new Play-yard in the back of the school!

In November we will be working on Halloween and Leaf art work as well as studying Trees and Leaves, talking about being thankful and Thanksgiving works.

The Ladybugs have been busy getting to know one another, making new friendships and finding their way with the classroom routines and rules. Our returning Ladybugs have been very helpful with the new Ladybugs, showing them how we sit in circle time, where we line up, how the outside materials work and being wonderful role models!

We are learning about Grace and Courtesy, saying “please” and “thank-you” and playing with friends. We are having fun in KinderDance, learning how to use our words and sharing.

We will be learning about Fall and the Seasons and about the continents, including learning the Continents Song, as well as learning our alphabet, counting and doing lots of art projects!

The new school year has begun and the hive is a buzzz! The Bumblebees have started the year excitingly. Greeting old friends and new ones. Getting to know each other. Working and playing together. We are learning our routine and the classroom rules. #Safety first. It’s our number one rule. We also celebrated our first birthday of the year! Happy Birthday, Theo! Thank you for celebrating your special day with us.

We are learning so many things in all the areas of the classroom. In Practical Life we are practicing gross and fine motor skills, through, whole hand transferring, pouring, and, spooning. We are also practicing rolling a rug, pushing our chairs, and, sitting at circle. The children are doing so well.

In Art we are exploring different media: crayons, colored pencils, paper, scissors, glue, and play-do. We are making apple trees, the bee cycle and coloring apples.

In Sensorial we are working on discrimination of size. Biggest to smallest and thickest to thinnest using The Pink Cube and The Brown Prism. We also introduced The Primary Colors: blue, red, and, yellow.

In Botany we are studying plants and apples.

In Zoology we are studying animals and bees. We have covered Living and Non-Living, Plants and Animals, Parts of the Apple, and the Bee cycle.

In Geography we are covering the 7 Continents, Air/Land/ Water, Animals of the World and singing the Continents Song!

In Language we are learning our Initial Sounds, the alphabet, vocabulary and puzzles.

In Math we are learning 1:1 correspondence to 10. We are reviewing the Teens (11-19) and Hundred Board (1-100).

We will keep you posted on our upcoming studies.

The Caterpillar classroom started our new school year with eight students! We began our year studying the parts of the Caterpillar, making Caterpillar art and reading lots of books about Caterpillars! We reviewed all the routines and classroom rules and got our classroom jobs (pencil sharpener, shelf checker, calendar, etc.). In Language, we studied/reviewed rhyming words, beginning sounds and blending sounds to read. In Math, we studied/reviewed counting to 100, 1:1 correspondence to 10 and above and writing our numbers. We began our study of North America, talking about the animals and making animal books, coloring maps and landmarks. We are now studying apples, their varieties, parts of the apple and will be doing apple tasting.

Upcoming studies include Autumn and Seasons, Living and Non-Living things, Plants and Animals, and Air, Land and Water, including our Language, Math, Practical Life, and Sensorial curriculum.

This month we celebrated birthdays: Avery, Luki, Willie, Otto, and Elliot! We also had Hat Day, Pajama Day and Beach Day! We said good-byes to children heading to Kindergarten and beyond and welcomed some “soon-to-be” Ladybugs to Bumblebee!

This blog post we shine the light on our weekly yoga practice with Roxanna! She has written a post about what the children are practicing in this session.

Light Shine Yoga

Hi parents! It’s an honor and pleasure to be with your children and teach them yoga; I love seeing their progress each week as they develop their strength, concentration and balance. For this 10 week series, we are working on a Warrior sequence, which includes conversations about how a warrior develops inner strength and focus to stay grounded and present to all of life’s invitations and challenges. Our sequence includes a particularly beautiful posture called “Humble Warrior” which the kids practice with particular reverence. It is absolutely heart opening to see these kiddos bowing down in humble warrior.

Speaking of heart opening, we have been practicing a particular pranayam* and mudra** lately. It is called “Heart Breath” and we start the class this way along with our usual Namaste. In Heart Breath, each child is invited to sit comfortably, place their hands on their heart and close their eyes. We take a deep inhale and on the exhale, send love to our hearts and bodies. For the second round, I invite each child to think of somebody they love (e.g. their mom or dad, a sibling, a grandparent, etc.) and take a deep inhale. On that exhale, I ask the children to imagine sending love to that special person. For the third and final heart breath, I ask the children to imagine something/someone (e.g. relative, friend, animal, tree, earth) that might appreciate some extra love and on that third inhale/exhale, they send love to wherever they chose. It has been incredibly sweet to hear the impromptu sharings of the kids telling me who or what they chose to send love to.

I invite you to try this Heart Breath practice at home with your children. It’s a wonderful way to come to stillness, be in the present moment and it can relieve tension and stress. Yoga is a wonderful thing to incorporate at any age, and it’s such a gift to be introduced to yoga and meditation as a child, because they are all such natural yogis! Maria Montessori was a big proponent of children using their bodies: “Movement, or physical activity, is an essential factor in intellectual growth, which depends upon the impressions received from outside. Through movement we come in contact with external reality, and it is through these contacts that we eventually acquire even abstract ideas.”

Namaste,

Roxanna

*pranayama – breath control
**mudra – hand position