Pod A: Pretend

It was another busy day in Pod A. The children continued with wire and pottery appointments. There was also bend and stretch in the morning and rough and tumble in the afternoon. Some of the children went down to the kitchen in the morning with Mrs. Kauppi to learn about the food groups. In the afternoon at small group the children continued to talk about their families.

Today the pretend area was very busy. There was a big bad wolf and bear that were coming after the children. They decided that in order to get away from the big bad wolf and the bear they had to get on a plane and take a very long ride to Mexico. However, the big bad wolf and bear got on the plane, but the children still got away from them. Some children were also acting as dogs and other children were there caregivers. They gave their dogs food and made them beds. 

The baby dolls are still popular with the children. The children dressed the babies and put them in a stroller or a car seat and packed a bag with snacks. They took their babies to the movie to see Beauty and The Beast. 

Have a good rest of the week!

- Miss. Minotas

Teaching Strategy: Creative Development, 4. Children show how they feel, what they think, and what they are learning through dramatic play.

Devin, Jordyn, and Aisha on the plane trying to escape the big bad wolf and bear.

Tyler, Jordyn, Devin, and Danielle being dogs and their caregivers.

Maggie, Samantha, and Gabby seeing Beauty and The Beast with their babies.

Pod B Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012

Today we continued to work with the new centers that were introduced to us this week.  Wire appointments continued and we had multiple students who loved to be involved with Ms. Weller and the wire tools.  The pottery wheel had a new instructor, who introduced new ways of creating masterpieces with the children.  We brought out new paint today that was in the texture of foam.  The children enjoyed using their hands and many tools to spread the paint around, and mix up the colors.  Some art pieces came out of this experiment, and this gave the children a new way of creating pictures.

While outside the children had a blast playing monster tag!  They knew how to stay safe in the areas where it looked icy, and they were respectful to each other when it was their turn to tag other children.

We talked a lot about families today in small group.  Some of the small groups drew pictures of their family, talked about how to be safe with their family, and talked about the similarities within all of the families that were present in the picture frames.  The children are very excited to get going on our school community flags, which will progress this upcoming week.

Have a great rest of the week and weekend!

-Miss Braley

Teaching Strategies: Social Emotional 3, Cognitive 11, Physical 7.

Pod A on Tuesday 1/24/12

Today was full of many exciting things in the Classrooms!

To start off, the students continued their clay appointments with Mrs. Bristley and the guest helper with the pottery wheel. During small group time, each group discussed who is in their families and drew pictures of them. Each small group will be decorating a flag with their favorite things to represent their group. They brainstormed different things they would like to put on the flags and will be putting them together really soon!

The hallway is a very popular place these days. There is a new Grocery store as well as a post office in the hallway for them to explore. With the post office, they are practicing wrapping presents and are able to put stamps on them and go through the process of mailing. At the grocery store, there is food to put in grocery bags and a cash register to pay for their grocery items.They are really enjoying the new activities in the hallway!

Have a great rest of the week!

~Laura Morris~



Michigan Standard of Quality: Social and Emotional Development 1:5 = Recognize and have positive feelings about their own gender, family, culture and language.

POD B: Tuesday 1/24/12

Today in POD B we had many student interested in putting on “shows” for each other on the new stage.  They enjoyed dressing up together in the pretend clothes and organizing who was going to sing when.  They would hold microphones and take turns signing songs.  Justin Beiber songs were very popular and the favorite to be sung. 

 We also had many students over in the construction area today participating in making different habitats.  They are building the habitats with the blocks and then adding farm, jungle, and forest animals to them. 

The students have also been exploring new things in discovery.  At the wet sensory table we have added blue die to the water and added measuring cups with different size holes at the bottom into the water.  The children have been taking turns going over there and studying why the water is draining and why it is draining at different levels.  Some are beginning to understand what is happening while other are still exploring and learning.  We are continuing on with our wire appointments, which seem to be a big hit!  We are looking forward to fun remainder of the week! J

POD A: Welcome Back!

Our first Monday back was a big day for the children in Pod A. In the morning we enjoyed appointments with Mrs. Bristley and Mr. Jonaitis. Students from the art department on campus came and assisted Mrs. Bristly with teaching the children how to make pottery on the pottery wheel and Mr. Jonaitis showed the children how to work with different types of wire. The children also enjoyed a nature walk today around campus. They were very interested to see that the pond located by the Park Library was frozen, yet there was water still on top! Another thing that the children really enjoyed today was the introduction of the new basketball court that was set up in the large motor room. The children learned how to pass the ball to one another and a lot of hard work was made towards making baskets on their first day! We are all looking forward to all of the fun things to come this week!

-Ms. Latkofsky

 Teaching Strategies: Large Motor skills and coordination

First Monday Back!!

Today we had many things going on! We had rough and tumble play in the afternoon and bend and stretch in the morning. This morning Ms. Weller came into Pod B and worked on wire appointments showing the children how to cut and bend the wire to a desired spot. This afternoon Mrs. Bristley came into our room and told us how to use a pottery wheel. We were told how to hold our hands to make the hole in the middle and how to hold our hands to make the sides of the dish move up to make it longer. We also learned how to turn the pottery wheel on and off with the pedal on the floor. Mason and Mya really enjoyed learning how to make pottery and can not wait to be able to try it on their own!

Teaching strategies: Demonstrates fine motor strength and coordination.

Pod B: Last Day of the Semester!

Today was our last day of the semester and we went out with a bang!  It was beautiful sunny day, which made it fun to run and play outside.  A few students had fun decorating the cake for our Family Night Celebration this morning and got to do some potting of morning glories, pumpkins, and hubbard's squash this afternoon.  Hopefully, those freshly planted seeds will see some growth by the time the children come back in January!

As usual, construction was busy today.  There imaginative play with the animals as well as the creative construction of train tracks.

It's been great getting to know your children during the semester.  This has been a great experience for us to grow and learn along with the children.  We will miss seeing them every week and we are sad we won't be here next semester to see them grow.  We wish you all the best and hope that the rest of their year here brings new and fruitful experiences.

Thanks for giving us the opportunity to grow with your children these past few months.
Have a wonderful break!

Alexandra Betker
Emily Fischer
Tiffany Roemer
Nicole Schipper