Utopia Preschool

Today we hosted a celebration to honor the fathers who care for our incredible young people! We had a photo booth, crown-making station, and frame decorating set up for the children to participate with their dads. The children also made an All About My Dad and a clay handprint sculpture as gifts to take home. Thank you Dads (and all caregivers) for the love, care, and time you spend raising your little ones. We hope you have a relaxing father's day! 

Our field trip to the Bay Area Discovery Museum was a success! We got to see multiple interactive exhibits, spend time with our friends, and take a school bus for the first time. Thank you to all the parents and chaperones who made this trip possible. 

Our interest in bugs have evolved into the children turning INTO bugs! Last week, the children began creating their own bug costumes including antennae, legs, shells, and wings! They used recycled materials, construction paper, markers, hole punchers, and string. The children carefully drew out the shape that they wanted, then cut out their extra body parts for their costume. Then they saved it to wear each day as they pretended to be bugs. Some of their bug costumes included grasshopper, ant, beetle, butterfly, dragonfly, pincher bug, and rolypoly. This supports their fine motor skills and independence as they cut, draw, and tape their costumes.  Kate's Fly Costume Ynez's Butterfly Lorelai's Butterfly Kate's Pincher Bug and Roly Poly Mikey's Antennaes To enhance the children's experience and to really feel like small bugs, we turned our Dramatic Play Area into a Bug World! This included giant flowers, grass, and predators like birds and snakes to hide from. The...

Our puppies did an INCREDIBLE job performing in the Spring Musical, 101 Dalmatians! They practiced all month long and it paid off. Thank you to all the families and guests who participated and made it such an exciting event for our students. We are so proud of them! 

To finish our ice cream parlor project, we made Jello Pudding Pops with the children! Teacher Linette found a tasty recipe and included the children in measuring, mixing, and pouring the batter into molds. After freezing, we enjoyed our pudding pops on a sunny day! We have included the recipe below. Pudding Pops Recipe (From the Jello Pudding Box!):

The children have been showing an ongoing interest in castles. To build upon these interests, we asked the children what they know about castles: Franco - There's a King and Queen. Ynez - They have bricks. Aaron - They are giant! Emily - It has arms (towers). Charlie - At the top, they are pointy. Kate - They have moats. Those are castles surrounded by water. Junior - They are really tall. Chloe - The dragon goes around the castle where the princess is. The Knight has to stop the dragon breathing fire. Colin - There's cannons. Trixie - Princesses live in there. Lorelai - You can put them next to each other. Donovan - They have bridges. They have gates and flags.  After gathering the children's ideas, we asked them to draw up plans of castles they would like to make using paper and markers. We also gave them visual prompts of real castles to point out more details for their buildings. Then they started to build using Magnetiles, wooden blocks, and Legos. They saved their bui...