Utopia Preschool

Today was filled with lots of laughter, smiles and treats. The children had so much fun coming to school seeing their friends and teachers dressed up in their Halloween costumes. We visited Alma Via  with parents, received lots of goodies and saw STM kids in their costumes.

The children have been working on making beds for our baby dolls. Today, some of the children made sure to take care of the baby dolls and stuffed animals, while taking care of each other! The children made a giant bed to sleep in while their babies slept too.

Today I observed a pair of children in the Starfish Group playing together with Mobilos. I listened to them converse as they problem solved and shared with one another: Ollie: Can you help me? Aiden: Yes. (Aiden shows him how to attach one of the wheels) Ollie: Thank you! It’s a transformer! Optimus Prime! Aiden: He’s so big! Ollie: We need another wheel here. So it can be longer.  Aiden: Here’s one!  Ollie shows Aiden where to put the wheel and holds it for him as they attach it together. When they finished, they show another friend and teacher what they made.

Happy Monday! Today the children played inside of Caroll Hall during their regular outside time due to the unhealthy air quality from the fires. To help keep their bodies moving, Teacher Mary led the children in a game where they decided various ways to travel in a large space! Robbie: Walk Leia: Skipping Teacher Mary: Bear crawls Elliott: Jumping!

The children have been busy learning about spiders in the science area! This week they were really interested in creating spiders using pipe cleaners and adding them to the “webs” they’ve previously created!

This afternoon, the children transformed one of our playhouses into a haunted house. They worked together in gathering leaves, drew spooky pictures,  & decorated the exterior as well as the interior of the house. They shared ideas on how to make it even more spooky and told each other what a good job they did.

We had a great time on our field trip to Lemos Farm! The children enjoyed riding the bus, the Lemos Farm train, a hayride, a pony ride and the jumpy house. Before we left, all the children chose a pumpkin to take home. It was a fun day!

This week we are strengthening fine motor skills by using mallets and pegs to make holes in our pumpkins! The children took turns with the mallets and shared pegs with one another at the table. During play, we hypothesized what was inside the pumpkin. What do you think is inside the pumpkin?  Zack: Maybe pumpkins pipe cleaners... or Christmas stuff! Oliver: I think it’s presents. Or candy! Jaxson: Treats! Aiden: I think there’s noodles! Cause I see there’s lines inside! Noe: Pumpkin pie. 

Happy Monday! The children were so busy washing the sandbox cars and trucks in the sensory table today! They also used new cleaning brushes with handles! These brushes helped the children hold a grip and clean the particles out! Afterwards, they put the wet toys out in the sun to dry.

This week at the writing table we have been encouraging the children to write and draw with some new pens. We have wiggly pens that shake while the kids write, creating a whole new experience. Theo said  “It’s shaker.” Paige said “It’s wiggling a lot!” We also have flashlight pens that light up at the tip. These new materials have been bringing lots of children to the writing table. It supports fine motor skill development and supports emergent writing.

Today at PE we listened to music in the gym while traveling with hula hoops! When Teacher Sharon stopped the music, the children were instructed to put their bodies inside of the hoop, while looking at a visual prompt on the screen. This challenged the children to use their listening skills as well as their eyes to follow directions.

Today Theo’s parents visited the classroom and provided a spider web making activity! The children really enjoyed making different spiders and stringing their webs!

At small group time, the children passed a ball around while listening to the Hot Potato Song. When the music stopped Teacher Cassie asked questions such as “How do you feel today?”, “What did you have for breakfast?”, “What is your favorite food?”  and “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Alanna answered “Happy.” Samuel answered “Cheerios and granola.” Daniel said his favorite food is  “Broccoli” and Gabe said he wants to be a “ Race car driver, Firefighter and a Zookeeper.”