Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Thanks to all of you who showed up for family night tonight!

We had a great turnout and enjoyed seeing everyone.

 

Today was the last day of our Fall semester and like any other day we had a very busy but enjoyable day with the children. In the Pine room some children were playing with the baby dolls and the doctors office. Others were making space ships and flying them around the class.

 

In the Maple room the widgets were a new item added to the room and the children really enjoyed them. The cars and trains were also popular as usual :)

In the Oak room the Castle group finished painting the box. New this week was driving the toy cars through the paint. Also, playing with the glitter play dough was an area of interest.

In the Walnut room the children were still enjoying the fake snow and the water and gel balls.

 

This semester flew by so fast! The student teachers will definitely miss our preschoolers! I hope everyone has a nice and relaxing break. Thanks for everything :)

 

-Mrs. Smith

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Happy Tuesday!!!
Today has been a very busy day! The children were very excited about the fake snow and the water balls in the sensory tables in the Walnut room.
The children loved that you can't see the balls in the water until you put your hands inside the water and can move and feel all the balls in the water.
In the Oak room children were painting with car tires and running their cars in paint and driving the car on their paper to make car tire tracks all over their papers.
In the Maple room children were very excited about the widget blocks and the foam blocks. The children were building castles, houses, and towers throughout the classroom.
In the Pine children were taking the babies to the doctor office to get shots and check ups.
As the children voted to make the box into a castle. All week long we have been working on it to make a door that opens out with string, windows, and other things the children have designed for it and then today the children finished painting the castle red.
Hope Everyone has a great vacation!! The student teachers don't want this experience to end we will miss the children, the staff, and the families!!


Ms. Patterson

Monday December 3, 2012

Happy Monday! This is the last Monday until the new year but the children were still as busy as ever!

In the pine room, the children are still very into the doctor's office. Lots of play with taking care of the babies was going on today. Isaiah hosted a party in the pretend laundry room today. The guests brought food and everyone had a great time.

In the maple room, the children were very busy building. The castle group made great progress! We cut out windows and made a functional drawbridge! The children are so excited about it! We are painting it tomorrow then drawing bricks on it to make it look like a real castle!!

In the oak room, the children had to opportunity to paint with cars! There was also glitter snow in the play-doh. The children used recyclable items at the writing center to make collages.

In the walnut room we has two new sensory items. We had fake snow in one which the children LOVED and also water balls, where you can't see them unless you lift them out of the water. They are so awesome! Puzzles were also a big hit as well as the writing center.

Hope everyone enjoys their last week!
-Hannah Mazzie

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Today was a busy day in the CDLL. In the morning the children explored with "oobleck" in the walnut room. In the afternoon the wet sensory tables contained watercolors that they were able to mix with their hands. The dry sensory tables continued to have corn kernels with funnels and tubes for the children to experiment with.  In the oak room, children continued to cut paper shapes and work with the light table to make music. Many children became excited to help Mrs. Kauppi decorate the kitchen for the winter season.

Wednesday, November 28

It's Wednesday!

Today, the children were busy as usual! In the Walnut room, children used the stencils at the writing center. They also used their hands and rakes to manipulate hair gel at the wet sensory table.

Children in the Oak room enjoyed painting today. They used the paintings introduced at the beginning of the week as their models. The children also made play dough. They measured the ingredients, mixed them together and then added lots of glitter!

Trains and train tracks were popular in the Maple room. Train tracks were found all over the room. Children also built sheds to house animals and other various items.

In the Pine room, the snap blocks were a hit. Children played house and took care of their baby dolls. They also cooked in the kitchen and made visits to the doctor's office.

Ms. Cummings

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

At large group, Mrs. Bristley began to introduce new paintings to the children.  Some children began to explore concepts in these works of art, when creating their own masterpieces. In the maple room, the magnet tile blocks were a huge hit! The children worked together and shared the tiles to build houses, sheds for horses and garages for cars.  In the large motor room, Mrs. Potter led yoga for the children that were interested.  In the oak room, children continued to explore with play dough at the texture table.  The light table was changed from a natural item collage to a music exploration opportunity.  Glasses filled with colored water are available for the children to run their finger along the edge and listen to the sounds that are produced.  Outside, the children enjoyed their time and bundled up! Bikes, wagons and scooters were still available and enjoyed! In the afternoon, children could be heard in the hallway creating their own marching band.

Ms. Gratz

November 26 2012

Today in Pine the children used the writing center and built puzzles. In Maple the recycling center was a huge hit and the children pretended to be camping and sleeping. The children played with a parachute today and enjoyed being back at school. Outside the children were very interested in the snow and how it felt and tasted.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Happy Tuesday!!!
This week was a short week since we have a holiday!!!  Today was a busy day at the writing centers throughout the school. Children were making bracelets, purses, crowns out of construction paper and taping or stapling the paper together to make their bracelets, purses, and crowns.
 Mr. Gilmore came to visit us today at school to play some musical instruments in the large motor room.
  In the Walnut room children were able to explore with popcorn seeds and hair gel in the sensory tables.
In the Oak room children used a recipe to make glitter play-dough and used cookie cutters to cut out play-dough and rolling pins to roll out the play-dough.
 In the Pine room children were playing doctors and taking their baby dolls to the doctor for shots.
In the Maple room the box that we are making into a castle was a big hit the children were making different things to put on the castle. By cutting out shapes, cutting out windows and doors to put on the castle! Hope everyone have a safe and fun weekend!!
Ms. Patterson

Monday November 19, 2012

Happy Monday!

Even though it is a short week this week, we are still busy bees!

This morning we had special guests come in and teach us a few things about music! They were music students from CMU and taught us a song, how to keep a beat, and how to change the beat. The children had fun and I think all of the music students did too.

In the pine room, the children are still loving the doctors office. They are playing all the roles and its awesome to hear what they have observed in their experiences with the doctors themselves.

In the maple room, the children were busy with making long trains, building sheds, and contributing and playing with the big structure on the risers.

In the oak room, the children were making purses!! The children would fold paper in half and either staple it or tape it then attach ribbon or more paper for handle. They also loved playing with the glitter play-doh and adding the glitter glue to their collages.

In the walnut room, the children really enjoyed putting the corn through the tubes and feeling through hair gel in the sensory tables.

In the large motor room, the children had the choice to dance today! They had so much fun and it was a big hit!

Hope everyone has a great long weekend :)

-Hannah Mazzie

November 15, 2012

November 15, 2012

In the walnut room, children enjoyed building shoots for marbles to slide through.  This was introduced a few weeks ago and continues to be an interest for more children as time goes on. 

In the large motor room, Mr. Joniatis and the children worked to make paths on the floor with masking tape.  The children discussed different ways to place the tape arrows to direct each other. 

This week the wet sensory table was filled with hair gel.  The children enjoyed feeling the gooey hair gel on their hands and faces.  They used scrapers and spatulas to manipulate the materials in the tables and on themselves.

- Ms. Gratz

Wednesday November 14th 2012

Today we went on our field trip to the rainforest museum on campus! The children had a lot of fun! We walked to and from the CDLL. We had a lot of parent support as well!
Ms. Schaller

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

In the light corner, children continued to explore the use of light and shadow with new puppets.  Some children even used craft sticks to make their own puppets to share in the corner. 

The doctor's office in the Pine room, sparked an interest in how to care for the dolls.  The children explored the use of shots, gloves, stethoscopes and lab coats.

Outside, children continued spray art using watercolors in spray bottles to create designs on a white sheet.  The children observed that some colors came out better than others.  Additionally, some children went on a special trip to Merrill Residential Restaurant across the street from the CDLL.  They were able to tour the kitchen and the behind the counter in order to see what cooks do in a kitchen! 

-  Ms. Gratz

Monday November 12, 2012

Happy Monday to everyone!

The children were very busy today with lots of new things to explore and learn about.

In the Walnut/Discovery room we added hair gel in the wet sensory tables. The children enjoyed feeling the hair gel with their hands and using the spatulas to spread it around in the table.

 

 

In the Oak/Art classroom the children are really interested in the play dough. We switched it up a little this week and added some glitter to it. The children really enjoyed helping to make the play dough and adding the glitter :)

 

 

 

In the Pine/Pretend classroom we added a new area. The Doctors office with a waiting area. The children enjoyed taking turns playing secretary and doctor. A lot of our baby dolls were sick today and needed some extra care!

 

 

In the Maple/Construction classroom trains are always an interest. Here a few children worked together to make a huge train track for their trains.

 

 

 

Even though it was really cold outside we were happy to be able to go out and enjoy ourselves. Some of the children made bird houses out of bread on the art cart. A few of the children decided to make a bridge with their bodies over the slide while they took turns going under it.

 

 

-Mrs. Smith

 

Thursday November 8th, 2012

Happy Thursday!!!!

Today was a busy day at the C.D.L.L.  In the maple room children were very interested in the hammer and nails at the wood working. The children wear goggles for safety as the pound nails into the wood pieces using real hammers and nails. In the maple the box that the children voted on Tuesday the children were making doors, and windows out of paper and cutting the things they made out to tape to the box where they want a door or a window or triangles on the top of the box to make the top of the castle have triangles on it.
The children also very so excited to see in the Pine room that the fire station is gone and we turned it into a doctors office and the waiting room. The children were taking their babies to the doctors office. The children placed their babies on the table that had a mat on it so they could examine the babies and see why they were sick.
In the Oak room children playing with orange scented play dough. The children were using cookie cutters to cut out the play-dough and had pins to roll our their play-dough. There is ribbon that children can use at the collage table to make a picture with different items like buttons, ribbon and markers to create their own pictures.
In the Walnut room children were hammering plastic golf teas into pumpkins at the sensory tables with plastic hammers. There is also bird seed the children played with by putting bird seed in the cups and funnels and letting the bird seed fall through the holes in the funnels.

Outside the children hung more bird feeders on the trees that the made out pine cones that had  bird seed sticking to the pine cones. Also children were playing with the stilts outside walking around using stilts saying,"Look I am taller!"
There are bristle blocks at the table/floor toys that the children have been making houses, castles, and different things out of them same with the magnetic blocks the children have been making tall castles, and houses.
Have a great weekend!!
Ms. Patterson