Moving Through March in the 3's!

Good afternoon families! Lots of learning happening this week in the 3's Class. The children have been working very hard at practicing social skills in the classroom . They are using their words to ask for a turn or to tell a friend they are still playing with something. They are working on waiting patiently for their turn with a toy or activity. They are playing cooperatively in a small or larger group. They are using toys and materials appropriately. They are beginning to label their own and their peers' emotions. We are very proud of them. Great job boys and girls!

This week at MORNING MEETING, we read Five Little Monkeys Jumping On the Bed. This is another book with repetitive text and a predictable story. Some of the children already knew the words and were excited to sing along with me. They had fun counting the monkeys on each page. They are getting very good at counting! We also did some dancing to A Very Simple Dance (an oldie from Sesame Street) and We are the Dinosaurs Marching (a class favorite).

We also had another visit from Mrs. T. The kiddos loved singing and dancing and trying to find a sneaky leprechaun!

What's NEW at CENTERS?

Art: On Thursday the children used paint brushes and watercolors to paint a picture of a bed. On Friday, they used glue bottles to glue paper monkeys on the beds. Some beds had two monkeys, some beds had ten monkeys!

Easel: We had some more practice strengthening the muscles in their hands and fingers this week. They used crayon rocks to color pictures of monkeys jumping on a bed. Crayon rocks are small round-ish crayons that force the children to use a three-finger grasp. This is very tiring for them, but working on this strength will be important later on when they are ready to start writing. Again, if your child is not one to gravitate to art activities, they are getting lots of fine motor opportunities at other centers, such as playdough, block area, math table toys and puzzles.

Discovery Center: gears playset

Math Table: The children played with interlocking puzzle pieces with different colors and designs on them. They matched the pieces by color/pattern, counted the pieces in their "strip" and compared "strips" to see which was longer and shorter. Lots of learning going on with some simple puzzle pieces!

Next week we will switch out materials at the pretend center, sensory table, block area and writing table as well.

Lastly, we were able to go outside and play on the playground! Check out some recess smiles in the pictures. Some of your kiddos were moving so fast it was difficult to get a photo of them!

We hope you all have a wonderful weekend. We look forward to seeing your little ones next Thursday, March 17th!

Your teachers,

Brenda Daday & Christina Renoni