Utopia Preschool

During group time Teacher Cassie introduced  a new music and movement song by Greg and Steve helping them warm up their bodies. It was a fun way to work on improving balance and coordination as well as listen to directions. The children had so much fun, they asked to do it twice.

Foam shape stickers are simple, but so much for for the children. They use their fine motor skills to peel the paper off the sticker. This can be difficult for tiny hands. While adding these stickers to their artwork and paper planes, the children reviewed the names of each shape.

Yesterday, we brought out the colored blue bottles to trace and draw pictures outside. Our rule with glue is “dot, dot, not a lot!” This helps the children remember to use only what they need when squeezing it onto their paper. Squeezing glue helps refine fine motor skills and strengthens the muscles in the hand. It also encourages attention to detail and focus as they follow the lines they’ve created.

The recent appearance of slugs outside have been catching the children's attention! This morning the children watched a slug slowly move on the ground and shared their observations with one another. Here's what they noticed: "He's walking!", "I see his mouth!" and "It has eyes!" It's always an exciting experience when the slugs start to make their way into our playground!  

Teacher Stephanie and some children were excited to release our new fish friends into the tank. As each one swam out of the bag, we counted and talked about how different they all looked. The children were so excited they started thinking of names to give them.

In the afternoon, some of the children wanted to create a carwash. We talked about the steps. First step is to dig a deep hole. The children dug all the way to the bottom. Next step is to get water. The children talked about filling their buckets up so it was heavy. Then they poured the water in the hole. They worked together to make sure they poured the water into the hole. Then they added their cars. They described their cars as dirty and sandy before the carwash and clean once it went through the carwash. This activity supports their language skills and helped them learn about cause and effect and  opposites. 

Today Teacher Sharon set up a shape recognition game in our PE class. The children matched different shape cards to their corresponding giant shapes around the gym. This activity supports shape recognition as well awareness of space as they travel around each other safely.

Happy Valentine’s Day!!! Today the children had so much fun celebrating the holiday with their special guest! Everyone was busy eating delicious food, decorating magnets and beading keychains! Our party was definitely a success!

We visited grandmas and grandpas of Alma Via, sang Rise and Shine, Skidamarink, Boomdiada and danced to Run Baby Run. After performing for our friends, the children passed out all their Valentine’s Day cards and gifts they’ve been working on this week.

This past Monday, Gabe’s dad came to visit our classroom.  Officer Eric talked to the children about two serious topics. He spoke to them about strangers and what children should and shouldn’t do. He also informed the children about what they should do if they find a weapon. Then all the children had the chance to check out his police vehicle! Everyone received some fun goodies in their cubby. Thank you Officer Eric for visiting our school!

This week we have been working on paper airplanes outside in the afternoon with Teacher Linette! Many of the children have been able to memorize how to fold each part of the paper to make their airplane, or follow step by step with a teacher or a friend. Together they created a chart to document the way the airplanes flew in the air.

It’s important for all of us to know and appreciate the different ways Utopia’s community helpers make our lives better. We had police officer Gabe make tickets for people who were “driving too fast and crashing”, Chloe and Kayla were the mechanics on the job who noticed “the bike was broken” and Robert, our train conductor made his rounds picking up and dropping off passengers. Thank you for taking care of us!

The water table is filled with all sorts of cool things this week! The children were digging for all the hidden treasures including gems, beans and feathers. They worked together and used their language skills to compare their findings. They also used their counting skills to see how many things they found.