News and Updates!

We've been getting messy in room 102! Last week, the four year old class experimented with corn starch and water. Each child got a cup of water to add to the large cookie sheet covered with corn starch. When we added water, we mixed with our hands. The children were surprised that sometimes the mixture seemed "hard" or "like playdough" while sometimes it seemed "squishy" or "like water". If you want to try this at home, we'd suggest starting with about a cup or so of cornstarch in a contained area, such as a cookie sheet or a pie pan. Let your child add water, a small cup at a time, until the consistency is a little bit thinner than a playdough. This mixture does not keep well like playdough does, but because the cornstarch thickens the mixture, you can always add more if it seems thin. Not only is this a great sensory material that can be used to strengthen the muscles in small hands as they play, but this is a great way to get your child talking about texture, weight, liquids, and solids.

The three year olds have been busy with colors. We began by reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, and had different colored counting bears at the workbench for counting and sorting by color. We even made our own "class book" using the Brown Bear theme. This book will help us learn the names of our friends and will stay on the bookshelf so that every child has a chance to look at it. This week, we'll be reading White Rabbit's Color Book and mixing colors using water color paints, paints at the easel, and liquid watercolors in shaving cream. Each of these activities have given the children a chance to experiment with color in different ways, using their senses as well as working on holding paint brushes. The three year old class has also been singing "Hey Good Buddy" which is a song that helps the children learn which sign belongs to each child, and helps them learn the names of new friends as well.  Ask your child to sing the song for you!

Reminder - The four year old class will be taking their first field trip this Friday, September 26th, to the Beanstalk Garden. We'll be leaving Village first thing Friday morning, and will be returning before the 11:30am pick up. If you'd like to know more about the Beanstalk Garden, please go here! We appreciate you all being on time Friday morning, so we can get started on our adventure. Also, please be sure to dress your child for Friday's weather, and know that we'll probably be walking, so comfortable shoes would be great.