Utopia Preschool

The children have been increasingly using their imaginations to represent what they are familiar with in reality. Today in the sandbox, the children worked together to dig holes, fill them up with water, and submerge toy animals into the water. When asked what they were creating, the children stated that they were making “an animal pool, where they could swim and get clean and fresh!” Furthermore, the children continue to be more and more imaginative in their detailed artwork. During outside time, Jaxon created a kite and said, “This is me!” right before we flew it around in circles. Later on at nap time, Kennedy drew different figures and pointed out a few of them as “Ellie, Briana, and Isabella...because they’re my best friends.” Briana used various colored markers to draw “a clown to scare my Tatay (her grandpa) because he’s scared of creepy clowns!” The way the children use their imaginations to represent so many different things shows their development in understanding and making ...

During small group Teacher Andrea narrated a story written by Kennedy. As the story was being told, Kennedy used the puppets she made and brought their characters to life entertaining her friends and teachers. Puppets encourage the imagination and creativity as well as hearing unspoken emotions through this kind of play and in a group setting increases participation level.

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.