Dogwood is Staying Busy!
The Mitten by Jan Brett
With this change in weather, we've been singing new songs ("Bundled Up from Head to Toe") and reading chillier books! "The Mitten" is always a favorite, and we brought this story off the page by acting it out at circle time. Children took turns being the different animals, stuffing themselves into the "mitten" and popping out with one great sneeze!
We decorated felt mittens by cutting out different shapes from scrap fabric - it was so tricky to cut the felt but the Dogwoods persevered! Each child made one mitten and contributed to a great big snowy sky pictured below!
Building Literacy
We have been working on name recognition in a few different ways in the classroom. The Dogwoods decorated these special name cards, which they may use to save their work, but also find their seat during snack time! It is a fun game to find your name and figure out who you are sitting with today. Not only is this helpful in promoting literacy, but fostering new social connections! During lunchtime, however, the kids get to pick their own spots.
We are also tracing names! The Dogwoods can really recognize so many of their peers' names and are now working on writing not only their own names but others' too!
There are so many ways to build literacy - one of our current works involves sorting objects by category, in this case: vehicles, foods, and animals. Categorizing gives children a way to group their thoughts, process information, and describe items. Next might be, which doesn't belong?
Where Are We?
We are starting a new unit about place and community! We started off by making a list of things we see on our walk to the park during circle time. The Dogwoods had a lot of great observations! Then, we created a map incorporating all those things (dog poop included!)
Now it is hanging proudly on our wall, and we will keep adding to it with photos and other media!
Some Special New Additions to the Classroom...
A new accompaniment to work time, this steel tongue drum fills the classroom with warm tones similar to chimes. As we increase our familiarity with this instrument, we will start to play songs by following along with number stickers!
The constructive triangle is a classic Montessori material from the sensorial shelf, introducing early geometry. We brought it out earlier this week and everyone has been eager to build triangles and experiment with other shape making!
