Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Pod A: Pretend and Large Group P.M.

Today was the last Wednesday for this semester!

Today in pretend the children were acting like animals. They were pretending that they were cats and dogs and were crawling around the classroom. As the children were pretending that they were animals they would make the animal noises that they were. Most of the children were dogs so they were crawling around and barking just like the animal.


Today during large group P.M. all  the children were in the oak classroom and had a special guest Ms. Roemer from Pod B. Ms. Roemer played a guitar and sang songs to the students. When she first started she showed the students the guitar and how to play it. After that she sang a couple songs to the children as she played her guitar. The last song she sang a song and had the children get up and dace to the music.


I would like to thank everybody for a great semester of student teaching! I am honored that I got to student teach in Pod A and to get to know you and your children. Thanks for making it a great semester!

-Ms. Schulkins

Sad to see you go, POD B.

Today was PaJaMa DaY and the last Wednesday of the semester! The children got to enjoy showing off their pajama's with different prints and patterns! 
Not much changed in the classroom this week, as children were still excited in exploring the areas from last week.

As an expansion of the trivets and pinch pots, the children were able to apply colored modge podge to ensure that their accessories stay. They also enjoyed a change of finger paint from the hair gel at the light table.


We would like to thank you all for the opportunity to work with you and your children. This has been a great experience for us and we hope you feel the same. Tomorrow is CDLL T-shirt day and Family Fun Night! We hope to see you all there for our final goodbyes!
















Thanks for a great semester,
Ms. Jenkins
Mrs. Browning
Ms. Slater

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Silly Day in Pod A

Today in Pod A it was silly day and many of the children participated. Some wore shorts on their head and others wore them outside their pants. There were some silly hats and some silly hair do's. The children enjoyed many activities expetially playing in the hallway. Some of the activities included listening to books on tape, typeing and painting on the computer, working with the letters on the light table, and making music to add to a band. The children found fun and creative ideas to come up with neat way to show their sillies off!
Mrs. Szumila.
Jordyn and Summer listen to a silly book on tape.

Carson H., Alex, and Caleb played many silly songs and danced some funny dances.
Alexis painted a silly castle to show her silly side.
Oliver painted a silly bird with many colors.
Kyla made up silly words with many letters.

Silly Day in Pod B

This week at school we have themed days.  Today was silly day at the lab. Children wore funny hats, shirts, different colored socks and some even had silly hair.  Today the children got a pleasant surprise from Miss Roemer.  She brought her guitar to school and played the children some songs that they could sing along and dance to. 

The children listen to Miss Roemer's songs.

The children get up and dance along to the music.

The children use respectful listening while the teacher reads.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Pod A: Sand Art and Tall Buildings

Today was the last Monday before Winter Break starts for the children and they had lots to do in the classroom. In the construction area there was a lot of building happening on a very tall structure. They built it up really high and then built outwards from it, adding more and more blocks to the inside and outside.
 
 At the texture table the children were making sand art. They make designs on paper with glue and then sprinkle sand on top of the glue. Once they pour the extra sand off the paper they have sand art. This was very popular and fun activity for them today!

Looking forward to the rest of the week!
Ms. Payne

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Pod A: Nature Walk and Books

There were lots of activities going on today to end our short week in the classroom.  This morning a small group of kids who were interested in going on a walk went with Ms. Szumila and Ms. Mills around the CMU campus.  On our walk we found pinecones, sculptures, and stopped at a pond.  Before we got to the pond many of them thought we would see fish in the pond but once we got there we found lots of leaves in the water, but no fish.  Pierce saw that many of the tree had no leaves, so we thought of reasons why.  He said "It's Thanksgiving, that's why they don't have leaves."  Rose even pointed out a birds nest in a group of tress for all of us to see.  We even sat at a picnic table to read a book.  After most of us were feeling the cold air we made our way back to the CDLL.


Group picture showing the pinecones we found.


Walking around around the campus.

This week we added drawing into our books about ourself.  Today's question asked what does it mean to be a friend.  Each child was able to draw what they thought it ment to be a friend or what they do with their friends.


Jaedon and Kyla working on their pictures.

Kyassie and Alex looking at Gabby's
picture of what it means to be a friend.


Enjoy the long weekend!!!

-Ms. Szumila     

Monday, November 21, 2011

A Busy Monday Exploring New Things in POD B!

So many changes in POD B for this short week! The children enjoyed exploring all the new textures and activities today.
Black paper and pastel crayons allow the children to explore new color combinations!

Aryn explored the texture of gel with glitter on the light table.

Rachel played with different tools in shaving cream!
We added popcorn kernals to our sensory table!

The children learned what trivets were, and then created their own!



















The children will have one more day to explore this week before our very long weekend! Hopefully the sun will be shining for another beautiful day.

Ms. Slater

Thursday, November 17, 2011

POD A: Picnic Lunch

Today Pod A had a picnic lunch in a conference room of the fourth floor in the EHS building. The children had their lunches on sheets and were able to see the beautiful view of campus out of the floor to ceiling windows in the conference room. Many of the children were very excited to be so high up in the building, and were able to see their playground and other areas around their school from another perspective. After eating, there were many different activities available for the children to engage in, such as: floor puzzles, reading books and adding drawings to a community mural. - Ms. Buckley


"I'm drawing my momma and my poppa"- Neva

"I drawed my sister"- Sam


"I can see our outside from here!"- Carson H.
"I need some help doing my puzzle" - Rose

Pod B: Last Picnic Lunch of the Semester


Today the children at the CDLL had their last picnic lunch of the semester.  It was as cold as it has been outside today, and we even saw some snow flurries.  Because it was too cold to eat outside, we decided to eat our picnic lunch in the foyer of the Music Building.  


View of the group eating their lunch

Mason, saying that his sandwich,
"Tastes like crunch."

Ms. Schipper reading the group a
book after lunch


The walk back to the CDLL was safe as well as a learning opportunity.  The children remembered the landmarks that identified the places they were supposed to turn, and stopped safely and attentively at the crosswalk.

Walking back to the CDLL

In other news, the children had finished their watercolor appointments and were able to explore watercolor more through their own creativity.  The puppets in the pretend area saw an increase in use, and the clay table had a lot of children getting creative as well.  We short have a short, but super sweet week coming up and we will make the most of it!  Everyone have a great weekend and stay warm!

-Ms. Betker

POD A Wednesday: Water Color and Cooking Appointments!


Jaedon: "I'm building a flying drag race car"
This week in Pod A has been a great one with the children getting to go to the Museum on Monday and having guest cheerleaders on Tuesday and Wednesday we continued the great week with water color appointments were the children learned how to paint using water colors and how to be the boss of their paint brushes. This week the children have also been doing cooking appointments with Mrs. Kappie were they have had the opportunity to cook eggs in a few different ways. New this week in the classroom in the pretend area is strollers for the children to push their babies around in also we have added Mobilo blocks to the construction area where the children can build any type of vehicle or building they desire.

Water color appointments with Ms. Schulkins


Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Cheer for Tuesday!

Hello Families!

Today was a very eventful and exciting day in Pod B. The children started the morning off with a visit from the Mount Pleasant High School competitive cheer team. The team showed the children some of their cheers, did flips and jumps, and even taught the children a little cheer. Many of the kids seemed to really enjoy watching the cheerleaders, and later incorporated cheering into their play and activity in the classroom.
The children also continued to learn about water color and being the boss of their brush, through water color appointments. They also continued to cook with eggs, and this morning some children made deviled eggs. Not only was it exciting inside, but tt was a beautiful day outside, and the kids got a lot of fresh air outside.

-Ms. Fischer

Monday, November 14, 2011

POD A: Museum Field Trip

Today we went on a walk through campus to visit The Museum of Culture and Natural History. When we arrived the children sat down to start the visit off with a puppet show! They learned about beavers, owls, and geese! Then the class split into two groups, one group went on a tour while the other learned about different wildlife animals and how they feel to pet. The tour taught them about the different animals that live in Michigan. They really enjoyed getting to "say hi" to the big bear!

The puppet show: Baby goose with Mr. Duck who was helping baby goose find his mom.

Here the kids to pet different wild life animals. Experiencing the different  types of fur for different animals was a lot of fun! The learned that some animals like the porcupine has rough and pokey fur and others like the bear have very soft fur.
 
-Kayleigh Payne

Monday November 14, 2011

November 14, 2011

Today in Pod B we had appointments with Ms. Jenkins and Mrs. Browning for watercolor. The children were able to learn how to use a watercolor brush.  They were able to paint anything that they wanted on their watercolor paper.  There was also cooking with Mrs. Kappie making scrambled eggs.  The children cracked their own eggs and scrambled them up and then were able to taste test to see how they did. At the end of the day Ms. Slater was planting pumpkin, marigolds, and squash to put in the classroom so the children can watch the seeds grow into plants.

Kayla Browning

Sunday, November 13, 2011



On Thursday November 10th Mrs. Potter's husband and a friend came in to play some unique instraments for the CDLL. This was a neat way to some up our week of music. They brought in a Bass Violin and Vibra Phones and played unique somes. Some of the songs were Fog, Sprinkle, and Chimes. The children could either sit on carpet squares or dance in the back. Most of the children choose to dance and enjoyed showing their appreciation for the music. It was a fun Dancing time
Becca Payne

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Pod A: Music and Discovery

Today in Pod A we had some music students from Central come in and do large group in the morning with our students. The music students came in and taught our students a song to sing about Halloween and we clapped and made a beat when we sang the songs.

Some students were in the discovery area today building with the magnetic tiles. The children were enjoying building and were making houses out of the tiles.

 Oliver:"I'm gonna make a lot of houses."
Carson: "I can make these into squares."

-Ms. Schulkins

A Wednesday In The Life of Pod B!

We were happy to see the sun shining this afternoon as we went outside for our second trip today. Did any of the kids guess who our special guests were today? Dan Steele and his music students came in and gave us quite the performance!


The favorite activity of the children today was jumping in the mud on our trips outside!


I wonder what tomorrow will bring!!

Ms. Slater