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Week of May 7 – 11, 2012
for the Threes in Room 204
Dear Parents:
We began our week by talking about the creatures
that live under the seas in tropical waters. We looked at our big world
atlas and pointed out the tropical regions and the very cold areas near
Earth’s poles. Bright Stanley and the Cave Monster and Smiley
Shark are two wonderful books that the children enjoyed so much. We
have noticed that our friends like books full of suspense and
consequently we try to find such books. Bright Stanley and the Cave
Monster is about a fish and his three friends who go on an adventure
in exploring a cave. As they embark on their exciting adventure, they
see the beautiful ocean bottom as well as odd looking plants and strange
shadowy shapes and they suspect that there is a scary monster waiting
for them. Several of the children pointed out that Stanley’s shiny
scales are like the ones in Rainbow Fish. They would go to the
bookshelf and place the books side by side to compare. Smiley Shark
is about a friendly shark who loves to smile but all the sea creatures
are afraid of his big, sharp and toothy grin but he just wants to play.
One day the sea creatures are caught in a fisherman’s net and they cry
out for Smiley Shark’s help. When we asked the children, “What will
Smiley Shark do?” they told us that he would use his teeth to cut the
net or that he would use his tail to loosen the net. It turns out that
he jumps out of the water and smiles at the fisherman who is so
frightened that he lets go of the net and the sea creatures are freed.
The illustrations in both books are very colorful.
In our Manipulatives Center, we have added three
table trays each filled with 5 cups of sand. We showed the children how
to carefully carry it and how to make images on the sand. Carrying the
tray requires a lot of balance since it is heavy and it also helps with
gross motor development. We’ve seen the children make the initials of
their names and cute images.
The children have worked very hard on the
Surprise Workshops. The workshops have enabled our friends to make
a gift for a special someone. The activities help to provide eye-hand
coordination and fine motor development, language development and foster
creativity. For our Fishy Snack Fun, we provided the children
with a plate that had a craft stick, tuna, mayonnaise and Ritz
crackers. We asked the children, “Who likes to eat chicken?” and then
invited them to mix the chicken from the sea with the mayonnaise and
then to spread it on the crackers. When they were almost done, we told
them that the chicken from the sea has another name, tuna. It’s Ms.
Kristi’s favorite childhood snack.
Our highlight of the week has been Water Play
Days. During our regular scheduled playground time, the playground
has been transformed into a water park. There are sprinklers, water
tables, shaving cream and a slide with a waterfall. The platform to the
playground equipment has small drainage holes and we place the hose with
a small stream of water on it to create the waterfall. For safety, we
place a foam mat at the end of the slide. The children in their wet
bathing suits slide down and as they near the end of the slide, they go
past the waterfall. They went on it over and over again. After water
play, we had a picnic on the porch and once lunch was over, we had
Sensory Play on the porch. Some of our friends did not have towels and
we are proud to say that several friends offered to share their towels
(only as a picnic blanket) without us suggesting it. We asked the
children to tell us what they liked about water play and we took
dictation on the big board. This is what some of them said: getting
wet in my bathing suit; getting wet by the slide and the hose; going
down the slide and getting rained on; getting wet on the slide and
everything I like; I liked the slide and I liked when it rained on me.;
the sprinkler.
Please note that Extreme Water Days will be
on Wednesday, May 16th and Thursday, May 17th.
The last Water Play Day will be on Friday, May 18th.
Wishing all our wonderful Moms a lovely Mother’s
Day,
Ms. Carol and Ms. Kristi
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