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Toddler Tribune January 2009 Dear Families, Welcome back! We
hope you all had a wonderful winter break. This semester is already off to an
exciting and busy start. Changes in the classroom set-up For awhile now we
have been brainstorming ways to transform our classroom. We wanted to use more
natural materials, especially ones from the outdoors and also to use the
supplies that we have in more unique and stimulating ways. The children were
very intrigued by the change that had happened during the break. They all came
back to school and slowly looked around, taking in all the recent changes. The
first difference that the children noticed was the book area. Ryan quickly
asked “where the books go?” As he continued to walk around the room he quickly
discovered all the books that he left behind were now in the peek-a-boo box. Another
change that the children have really seemed to appreciate is the move of the
dramatic play area. The high chair, stove and table and chairs are now located
outside the peek-a-boo box. Sometimes the children still bring cooking supplies
into the peek-a-boo box where the kitchen used to be. The children seemed
really excited to have the easel in the classroom too. This is just the
beginning of our room transformation. As we obtain more supplies and continue
to think of new ideas we will be working to alter the structure of the room. Classroom Community Binder Have you had a
chance to look through the Toddler Classroom Community binder yet? It’s located
on the low shelf to the left as your walk through the gate into linking space.
Each day a binder page will be posted on the bulletin board to the left of the
Toddler room door and then stored in the community binder the next day. These
pages will highlight a specific moment or activity that takes place each day. The
compiled classroom binder pages will be used as a means of driving our
curriculum. What do you see in the mirror? Using mirrors with
the Toddlers is a recent exploration. Just this week we offered small, thin
mirrors to the children to see how they would react. Emilia and Anders were the
first to approach the mirrors. Anders bent over the table to see his
reflection, while Emilia picked up the mirror and held it to her face. She
started laughing and giggling as she looked in the mirror. Cambyr also bent
over to see her reflection and looked so close that condensation began to form.
Emilia started holding the mirror in a way that she could see more than just
herself. A teacher noticed that she could probably see her face and the ceiling
above. When asked “what do you see in the mirror?” she said “Emilia.” The
teacher asked “what else do you see besides Emilia?” She replied “the sky.” We hope to utilize
mirrors at the easel in the near future. In this way we plan on exploring
diversity with the children. We have already begun to discuss different skin, hair
and eye color by reading books such as “I am different, I am unique” and “My
Many Colored Days.” Balance Balance has been
an ongoing exploration in the Toddler room. Since last semester the children
have shown an interest in balancing on various objects and planes such as the
balance beam in the large room and on the ledge of the sandbox outside. When we
brought logs onto the playground and pumpkins into our classroom, children
quickly used them as balancing mechanisms. We noticed that the children were
taking risks and talking about balancing throughout their days. The children have
begun to use the shelf that’s laid on its back in the classroom as a way to
balance themselves. They watch as their peers slowly maneuver their bodies onto
the shelf while holding on to the ledge and gradually letting go while they
stand up and use their arms to help balance. The children are very pleased with
their accomplishments and comment on what they have done. “Look at me, look at
me!” they’ll say, or “I’m balancing!” We will continue
to watch as the children balance on this shelf as well as other areas in the
classroom and on the playground. We are excited to see where this exploration
will take us. Snow, Snow, Snow Winter is here and
there is plenty of snow on the ground. The children are still getting used to
moving their bodies through the snow with all their winter gear on. The
children love to assist teachers in shoveling a walkway through the playground.
They use their small sand shovels to help move the snow aside. They also really
enjoy snacking on the snow that they find outside! We are curious to see if an
exploration will come about with snow and ice.
Reminders: Parent Teacher
Conferences will be held Tuesday, January 13th and Wednesday,
January 14th. CSDC will be
closed on Monday, January 19th in observation of Martin Luther King
Day. Monday, January 26th-
Chinese New Year. Emily, Sophie’s mom will be joining us this day to teach us
about the Chinese New Year. CSDC will close at
noon on Thursday, March 19th and will be closed on Friday, March 20th
for Teacher Workshop days. Birthdays January 1st
- Happy Birthday Nicole! January 14th
- Happy 3rd Birthday Braden! The Toddler Team |
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