Jingle All the Way

December 12, 2015 by admin

Things were buzzing this week inside and out. Running, running, running was the name of the game. As soon as we got in the fence everyone was off and away, expending all of that excited energy. We even took some extra trips outside in the mornings when it was just too much to contain. The children once again enjoyed wrestling with Sue outside, and Friday afternoon we absolutely had to have a tickle battle. The children also made up a game they called “bumper cars,” where they would push on each other with their hands. They really loved this rough and tumble game, which we supervised closely to provide safety guidance. Research has demonstrated how valuable this type of play is for building self-regulation, social skills, empathy, physical control, self-confidence, and for overall physical and mental health. Monday morning the children were excited to visit the library with Tammy while we had our monthly play date. They had fun with all of the big vehicles, legos, train table, etc. For Monday art we painted “white” pictures on gray paper, inspired by the gorgeous frosty mornings that left the trees white and sparkling. The art table was very busy throughout the week as children painted with Q-tips, made their jingle bell shakers and Peace Round pictures for the winter performance, and wrote thank you notes to Officer Lyon (finally!) and Dr. Tarkleson. They also continued tracing pictures at the light table and many children have been creating books, adding illustrations and stories. Once again our circle times were dedicated to practicing for the winter performance and reading stories. For Friday science we once again explored water, this time as a solid. Everyone was excited to feel the cold ice and make some observations about melting. We found that salt melted holes in a chunk of ice and that ice cubes float in water, with only a little sticking out above the surface. We also compared which melted faster – an ice cube surrounded by water or an ice cube surrounded by air. The ice in the water melted a lot faster! At the end of recess we decided to take a walk across the meadow behind school, as we had noticed a large orange “thing” across the field. We guessed that it was either a big pumpkin or a ball, so we went to check it out. It was indeed a pumpkin and we wondered how it got there. Did it grow? Did someone bring it? We noticed that it had no stem, and it was still solid, so it seemed likely that it did not grow there. Some stories your children may have heard this week: