Utopia Preschool

Happy Halloween everyone! We enjoyed our trick or treating and costume parade today. So many fun costumes!

Today we offered a new opportunity at the Writing table! The teachers taped large sheets of paper underneath the table and invited the children to lay down on mats and pillows to draw! Allowing the children to draw in this position can help support core muscle development and simply invite children who do not normally prefer to come sit and draw at the table. Sometimes asking children to sit on a chair for a period of time may not be stimulating enough for their bodies, and welcoming a different position may allow a child to feel more stimuilated and able to focus! 

Today was our field trip to Lemos Farm! We put on our big blue shirts and headed out with our teachers and parent chaperones. We got to ride the ponies, the train, jump in a bounce house, but most of the children said the bus ride there was their favorite part! Thank you so much to all of the parents who helped us on this exciting day! 

Today the children were very busy exploring, making discoveries while using old and new materials in the classroom. Teacher Lori had a table where the children decorated their pumpkins with glitter glue, pipe cleaners, a variety of foam shapes, and pumpkin seeds. At the water table, Colin poured water into a strainer over a toy to clean him because he was dirty. Lars connected two sets of train cars, lined them up side by side to make sure they were the same length by counting each set. At group time, Violet, Grayson and Lars put on a puppet show for their friends as Teacher Andrea narrated a story about sharing toys.

We’ve been exploring trains in the block area. The children have been setting up and creating their own tracks, then using the trains to chug along the track. Today the children were extra careful about sharing their trains and asking each other for trains and tracks they wanted to share. They collaborated with one another and worked very hard on their track.

Robert’s mom, Anna, donated a new tube for our outside area! The children are able to strengthen their gross motor skills as they crawl through the tube over and over again. They are also practicing taking turns as they wait to go in. 

The children have been interested in playing with cameras! Today they learned how to turn cameras On/Off, how to snap a photograph, and practiced how to properly hold cameras. Some children reminded their friends about the safety strap, and explained how wearing it on your wrist can help prevent you from dropping it!

While drawing and crafting art projects, the children enjoy commenting on what they are doing during the process. Sam stated, “I want to put tape. Para hindi masira,” which is Tagalog for “so it doesn’t break.” When they’ve completed their artwork, they often show and tell their friends and teachers what they’ve created. Jaxon went up to Teacher Jamie and held up the Halloween decoration he finished making and exclaimed, “Look!” with a big smile on his face. Afterwards, posting their creations in the classroom builds up their sense of pride and confidence in themselves.

At Group Time today, each child brought over their own puppet and took turns sharing out loud how their puppet was feeling. This supports expressive language and social emotional development as they use their puppet to become aware of their own feelings. “Hippo is feeling sad because he misses his mom.” -Grayson   “Hoo Hoo. Owl is happy because of friends!” -Violet

 A lot of the children have been discussing their Halloween costumes and all the decorations they have up in their house. This week the children have been busy making their own decorations. By cutting, drawing and peeling stickers, they are strengthen their fine motor skills.

Some of the children have been really interested in creating clocks! Today Emery and Matteo were at the art table during outside time concentrating on all the steps required for the process. Using paper and markers, they drew circles, lined the inside of the circles with dots, then drew the hands of the clocks. After cutting out their clock creations with scissors, they proudly taped them on the shed outside.