“Australia is just so full of surprises.”- Bill Bryson
Australia
From our teeny Tods, to wobblers to the jumping beans in Preschool, everyone explored Australia and the highly sought after Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Children learned the greatest Coral reef in the world needs help, its marine life is slowly dying.
Did you know?
In particular, Australia, because of its ancient geography, soil profile and distinctive weather patterns, is more adversely affected by climate variability than some other continents. – Peter Garrett
Reading a book with ms Wendy and learning to sit up
Continuing our study of Australian animals; sorting colored pom poms in a flamingo tray, engaging in pincer grip and hand eye coordination development.
Exploring a Sea theme sensory bin with Toddlers at our Inman Sq location, with magnetic fish and fishing poles. A great way to use our Practical Life skills! The children practiced their scooping techniques with the pink nets too.
Squishing and feeling this wondrous “pool” for a sensory experience
Exploring aboriginal writing symbols in a sand tray- a Montessori way to learn the skill of creative Story telling, coordination, writing practice and so much more.
At Rock and Roll we use authentic and meaningful ways to allow children to experience the cultural unit of study, using real items and artifacts, true visuals and communication with the people of the said culture. We were so lucky that Jennifer, from our parent community, was able to visit each school to show what the children felt, was a bag of treasures!
Jennifer taking to Preschool about Australia
After learning about the dangers facing the Coral reef children re-created their own while discussing what they would want to see. They also got to watch Finding Nemo, a classic!
Creating their own rendition of the Sydney Opera house while learning about geometric shapes
Music
5 Benefits of singing: It reduces stress, anxiety and depression, It brings people together, It exercises your lungs, It improves your poster, It makes you happier 🙂 Did you or your child sing this weekend?
Moving our legs with Eli, our favorite guitar player. Children and even the staff listen to him strumming like the bagpiper being heard in a distance!
Exploration during Music class, and individualized extended music.
Infancy
Our youngest infant L started her solids (YAY!) and the rest of the team enjoyed sitting together as a group for lunch. Teachers love to interact with the babies during feeding time helping them bring the spoon to their mouth and using sign language to encourage eating. The older infants are learning how to say more and please as well as all done.
O has started pulling up in his crib Horray! Although nap time has been a struggle we were all very excited about this milestone especially him!
Thanks to F and his dad we have started a new tradition in our infant room called “look alike with mom and dad.” Here you see one of our lovely son and dad pair sporting their maroon shirts together. “You guys look great!”
Toddler exploration
Toddlers spent much of their circle time focusing on interactive group activities, each friend learned about give and take of participation. Our class favorite book this month was Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister, it helped to teach about the different colors and sizes of the fishes as well as individuality. This book is best known for its morals about the value of being an individual and for the distinctive shiny foil scales of Rainbow Fish.
Exploring an ocean themed sensory bin, learning about animals underwater.
Spring Tea
Each school held their much awaited annual Spring Tea even this June and children had a ball serving their families and adults with some “tea” and cookies. Teachers and parents were incredibly proud of their tiny humans carefully carrying trays and tea pots, practicing their grace and courtesy and waiting on them, they even signed “What a wonderful world” at one of the schools which brought most adults to happy tears! A great big thank you to Phil and everyone for joining and helping make this even so special every time.
“Yes, that’s it! Said the Hatter with a Sigh, it’s always tea time.” – Lewis Carroll
But first! I will practice for the tea at School.
Performing songs from Australia and signing “What a wonderful world” with Gaby and Phil. We loved that graduated Preschoolers joined and excitedly performed with the current children too!
There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.
-Henry James
Connecting outside and inside the classroom
Every Friday at Broadway, Preschoolers work together to clean their room as best as they can for each other and the better of the environment.
Inman Sq and Lechmere students are PEN PALS! Ms Jess from Inman shared this idea with Fatima and now we get to practice writing, drawing, sharing our thoughts and getting to know each other every time we exchange our letters. Children were excited with glee to see what their penpals had created for them
In Preschool we have been learning about Space, but this can be an abstract and extensive topic for young children to grasp, it is important to give them background knowledge and context first, before teaching them what we already know. They first learned about the “History of Space” through discoveries and contributions made by important astronomers, then learned to identify the planets and cosmic science. The best part of it all was exploring space with our very own Virtual reality headset and getting to see what earth looks like from outer space! We even made it to the science museum to deepen our understanding.
Exploring at the Museum of Science
Looking at Planet Earth
Teachers were also encouraged to explore and research best ways to use the VR headsets- special thanks to Elaine’s mom at our Central SQ location for tips of great apps!
AJ
Lily
“It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.”
– Carl Sagan
Using the moveable alphabets on Language day to “sound out” works- this leads to inventive spelling which is a normal step in language development in PreK- Kindergarten.
Our aim this month was to understand why we study language- learning new words allows children to learn new concepts, communicate with others, express themselves, and if the adult allows it discover the nuances of language!
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