Utopia Preschool

The children have been having a great time greeting one another in their Halloween costumes! Although there were a lot of distractions and high energy, they practiced regulating their emotions in order to follow through with our routines and safety rules. As more friends arrived, the children began counting how many similar costumes there were and noting the differences in each. Happy Halloween!!

We introduced a new game to the children today, Halloween Bingo! Each child was given a bingo card and gems to mark off each picture as they were shown to the group! If they covered a whole line they shouted "Bingo!" and got to choose a sticker.  Once they covered the whole card (a blackout)  they shouted "Trick - or - Treat! ".

Walter's mom, Angelina paid our classroom a visit today! Because of the children's interests in going to the doctor, Angelina shared with us what it was like for pets and animals to go to a Veterinary Hospital too! She brought out a skeleton and organ model of a dog to help us visualize what the insides of animals' bodies look like, as well as photos of all the types of animals she takes care of at the hospital. Many of the children shared about the types of pets they have at home, as well the things they have in common when they go to the doctor themselves! Angelina also showed us types of tools she uses at the vet as well such as a stethoscope and a syringe with no needle. Many of the children noticed that these were tools we see at the human doctor too. Thank you so much Angelina for sharing your time and talents with us at Utopia! We learned so much.

For the past few days, the children have been using wooden mallets to hammer golf tees into some pumpkins. The first two pumpkins had very thick skin so it was difficult, but the second set of pumpkins are perfect. The children have been busy pounding tees into the pumpkin. The children predicted what might be inside the pumpkin. Amir said, "seeds" and Shirley said "lots of string!" Some children started to pound small cookie cutter shapes into the pumpkin. This allowed them to get a peek inside the pumkpin. Ryan said, "Look, I see rice!" Shirleys said, "It's string! I was really right!"

This morning, the children visited Alma Via! The children were eager to share Halloween decorations with the 'grandmas and grandpas'. They also prepared two special Halloween songs to sing. To say the least both our children and the folk at Alma Via enjoyed themselves!

Last week Teacher Andrea notice Sophia and Madison pretending to give hair cuts during outside time. Their ideas continued into this morning and before we knew it, there was a large group of boys and girls "cutting" and styling each others hair. Their imaginations were at full force as they used a variety of kitchen utensils as the hairdressers tools (brushes, combs, scissors, etc.) They even figured out how to use pipe cleaners as hair ties and decorative pieces!   

This morning a large group of children visited the Kindergrten class for a special activity. First we sat down & watched a storybook Five Little Pumpkins. Afterwards the children went to sit down at the tables with their siblings or old friends from Utopia to decorate their pumpkins. They used markers, spooky eye stickers, crayons & glitter glue. The preschoolers & kindergarteners exchanged ideas & talked about how they wanted their pumpkin to look. Before returning back to our classroom, the kindergarten class sang Open Shut Them & 1 Little finger.

We noticed that children have loved playing "Group Time" with each other during free play! One of the children chooses to be the teacher, while sitting in the teacher chair. They sit while holding a book out for all the kids to see and read it to the class! The children especially love picking a special helper, and singing the Rise and Shine song, just like the teachers do at Group Time! We noticed how the children pay attention to even the smallest details, phrases, and body language that the teachers do. They are so observant!

This morning the air quality was much better than last week. The children were able to enjoy some outside time. They enoyed riding the bikes, digging holes in the sandbox, stringing beads and going on a bug hunt! A few of the children were so excited about the slugs they caught. Outside time offers children the oppotunity to develop gross motor skills and social skills.

The children have enjoyed scooping and dumping the seeds available in the sensory bin. The children have been working collaboratively, taking turns filling up each others containers. Being within close proximity has also served the children in communicating their need for extra space and materials that another children may be using.

Today was the first time the children were offered Lincoln Logs at school and they took full advantage of it! They were busy building, measuring, sharing and creating  different ways to use the logs! Amir went straight to work and created a house with a roof. Kingston decided to use the logs to write Teacher Andrea's name then created a camp fire! Other children soon joined in and shared their ideas with their classmates!

Because of the poor air quality outside, we utilized our indoor spaces as best we could! In the morning, we played in Caroll Hall where the kids had plenty of space to run around and play with jump ropes. Some of them chose to use playdough, or draw pictures at the table. Later in the afternoon, a small group of children went out in the hallway to work on puzzles while we waited for the other children to wake up from nap. Ms. McDaniel taught our music class from the Block Area as well! We learned how to play three new instruments: the tamborine, the claves, and jingle bells. We also played a scarf game and took turns walking around the circle. We wish all the victims of the North Bay fires strength and peace during this difficult time.