Teacher Kristina is the new lead teacher in the Blue Room. We are so glad for her to be a part of our Creative Minds family! Teacher Kristina graduated from California State University Sacramento with a Bachelor of Arts in Child Development, concentration in Early Development Care and Education. Thanks to all the children and parents for welcoming her into Blue Room. The kids have already taught her some of their favorite songs, including Little Bunny Foo Foo and the Hamster Dance.
Physics in Action
Marble runs have still been a great hit. The children have taken to building their own marble runs, one of which is gracing our outdoor area now. Teacher Aimee had great fun with the glue gun. It was interesting to hear conversations regarding which way to arrange it to make the balls go faster, and if you move this then what happens... great conversations about physics without having the vocabulary yet.
If anyone has more tubes or gutters that a ping pong ball can fit through, please feel free to bring them in!
Art Everywhere
Our outside art area has developed beautifully in the past couple weeks. They started with decorating the tree stumps with a lot of concentration, contemplation , moving around, reflection and discussions.
I also heard a long discussion about how white and blue makes light blue....transformation! What a joy it is to see young children gain the ability to make changes happen in their world, even in something as small as a tree stump or a paint color.
They also have worked at decorating the tree branches with stretchy bands, pom poms, pipe cleaners, CDs and homemade bows and chains.
Some of them even sang to the branches:)
It is all about the process, not the end result, so kids are decorating and cleaning and starting their decorations again...yay for our process-oriented teachers!!
Afternoon Pre-K
Our afternoon Pre-K time with Teacher Karen will continue this year. As before, 4 days a week, Teacher Karen takes the Pre-K-age kids from both rooms and works with them in Blue Room. Younger kids from Blue Room get a chance to visit Purple Room and visit Trixie the Mouse :)
Pre-K skill building is focused around kindergarten readiness skills including holding a pencil correctly, putting one hand on the paper to help anchor paper and body while writing, color, shape and letter recognition. These skills happen throughout the day too, but are in a more focused "booster shot" during this afternoon session. It is designed to help smooth the transition from a Reggio preschool experience to an academic kindergarten, while always maintaining our focus on developmentally appropriate activities.
Thank you, Aimee!
I also want to take this opportunity to thank Teacher Aimee for leading the classroom with such grace with Thaovy and Romina after Jane left, and now handing off the reins to Teacher Kristina. Thank you Aimee for keeping the Blue Room going with positive spirit! (Aimee will still be around as our mentor teacher and a support in Purple Room's time of transition.)
