Week 9 in Mixed Age

Hi everyone!

We had a great week in school! A new month means lots of new things in the classroom. And you know they're excited about things when there's a waiting list for multiple centers during center time! Fun times!

November in Enrichment is all about friendship and being thankful. Which is why we have started a Thankful Tree! We started this by talking about what it means to be thankful (Something that makes us happy, and we would be sad if it went away) We write one thing a day on a leaf and add it to our tree. The students are coming up with their own ideas of things they are thankful for. The first three have warmed my heart! Brothers and Sisters, Mommys and Daddys, and Pets. We truly have an amazing group of kids in our class, of which I am thankful for!

This week we had a change in our book routine. Typically we read the same book all three days, building each time on something different in the book. A few examples are, Monday we might talk about the rhymes, Tuesday we'll focus on the numbers, Wednesday we'll focus on the characters facial expressions, depending on what they notice or need work on. This week we read Will You Be My Friend? by Eric Carle on Monday, and on Tuesday we read Can I Join Your Club? by John Kelly. Later in the day on Tuesday the children VOTED(!!!) for which one they liked best, then I read the winner again on Wednesday. They did a great job respecting each other's choices, and letting each other make his or her own decision without coercion.

New things in our centers are...

Pretend Center- Tool bench, tools, and building supplies

Red Bins- Magnatiles

Yellow Bins- Magnetic discovery bottles with magnetic wands. I heard a "It's MAGIC!" while someone was playing with these :-)

Blue Bins- Peg boards and rubber bands (to strengthen those fine motor muscles!)

Sensory bins- Bird seed and animals

Playdough- Pink (which they voted on) playdough with colorful feathers, googly eyes, and pumpkin and acorn plastic gems

Art- The children painted "friends" for a friendship chain in the windows of the classroom

I hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend!

Warmly,

Christina Renoni