Milk Experiment!

Today Mrs. Potter's small group experimented with milk, food coloring, and dish soap. Before the experiment, the group talked about their hypothesis by asking the children what they thought would happen when the soap mixed in with the milk and food coloring. "The milk will explode!" exclaimed Alex. His peers agreed: "Yeah, it will all be fast at exploding," added Dominic.

The children started the experiment by pouring milk into a plate.

Next they added drops of food coloring.

The children dipped a cotton swab into dish soap, then placed the cotton swab into the milk. 

The dish soap reacted with the milk, causing the milk and food coloring to disperse. 

It made colorful, unique designs! 

Teaching Strategy #3: Participates cooperatively and constructively in group situations, #24: Uses scientific inquiry skills. 

Have a wonderful summer! 

-Ashley Damm

Last Day of School!

Today was a sad and bittersweet day. Last day of school for the children and the last day of student teaching for all of the student teachers. Even though it was a day full of some final goodbyes, it was also a day well spent with friends and many fun outdoor activities. Children really spent a great deal of time outdoors today playing with one another and engaging in many different things. Kite making was a huge hit and many chose to fly their kites around the outdoor play area. Other children still enjoyed just chasing one another, playing games, and even some meditating. Our small group today even got the chance to take a bike ride through campus to the library and back which was such a workout and so much fun! 

Hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the week and a fun and fabulous Summer!

Teaching Strategies Objectives

#3 Participates cooperatively in group situations

               #2A. Establishes and sustains positive relationships

Ms. Stolpe

Art Studio Fun

Today in the Art studio, the children used their hands to mix colored shaving cream and sand colors together to make prints. The children also made up a skit on the stage with Ms. Cosgrove, did yoga on the circle time rug and made up a story about five little dogs. The Art studio was busy today with the children staying inside due to the rain. The crazy weather we had today also led the children into the indoor movement room at the end of the day to make their own thunderstorm with their hands, instruments and thunder tubes.

Carter K. Fifi, and Helena did yoga together. They looked through many cards and finally decided that this was their favorite and tried it out.

                                                     "Look I'm doing a pose." - Helena

Tony, Pelumi and Kaden worked at the shaving cream and sand station. Tony mixed all the colors together then smashed a piece of paper onto it to see what print he made. Kaden and Pelumi used their hands to make prints and then put a piece of paper of the print they created on the table. Tony said, "You can see all the colors on my paper."

We finished our day making rain noises, and our own thunderstorm in the indoor movement room! It was a lot of fun for the students and the staff. The children listened very well to the instructions and it made our rain storm even better!

                                                                        -Ms. Harrald

Objectives: #3: Participates cooperatively and constructively in group situations, #4 Demonstrates balancing skills, #7: Demonstrates fine motor strength and coordination.

Dino Eggs!

Today in Mr. Jonaitis' small group we went on a hunt to find dinosaur eggs. The eggs were made out of baking soda and the children went around with spray bottles full of vinegar and began spraying!
Inside of the eggs were many different types of dinosaurs, insects, and reptiles. Once an egg was found the children began spraying right away!

Some began to notice how it was taking a long time to find the animal inside. Aidan began to use his hands and break apart the egg, to move things along! 

Finally, by spraying the vinegar or breaking the eggs apart, the children began finding the treasures inside! 

"I got a dinosaur," said Ainsley.

"A pterodactyl," said Danny.

Knowing Tommy's extreme love for dinosaurs some children began calling him to come over to ask the name of each dinosaur inside of their egg!

"Tommy come here, what is this?" Juli asked. 

"Oh, that's a Velociraptor!" Tommy replied. 

Finally there was one egg left Micah found. "I think its going to be a snake inside" he said. Micah began spraying then saw Tommy and Andrew coming over to see. The three of them used teamwork to get the egg open together! 

Ms. Bemis 

Making it Rain!

Today in Mrs. Bristley's small group the children were gathered together to discuss what makes rain.  The children answered "the clouds," and "the sky gets very dark."  They were then taken outside to participate in a science experiment.  The children were given a cup with water and shaving cream on top.  They then added "rain" to the "cloud" and watched as the "rain" seeped through the shaving cream to create a rainstorm.  After, the children figured out that they could mix the shaving cream with the "rain" and the shaving cream created a swirl with blue in it.  The children really enjoyed their science experiment and learning about what makes rain!

Teaching Strategies
    7. Demonstrates fine motor strength and coordination
    28. Uses tools and other technology to perform tasks

Mrs. Fagan 

Happy Thursday!! 

Today was the last Thursday of the school year but that did not stop the children from enjoying both inside and outside activities today. The art studio was a popular room and dinosaurs were made. In the afternoon, the sandbox was the popular place to be. The children were using the water from the rain barrels to make a swimming pool in the sandbox. There were a lot of sandy and wet children working together to make the swimming pool. 

"I'm making a dinosaur," Tommy.  

 "Let's use this water for the swimming pool," Andrew 

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! 

Mrs. Fair

TS Gold: Cognitive 11- Demonstrates positive approaches to learning 

We are Explorers!

 Today the children explored! A few children searched for bugs, they explored all around the playground searching for cracks, or holes in hopes of finding bugs to put in the habitat they have created. In the pretend room children explored new ways to "swim in the sea," and what they would need to get all the way across the big sea. The children even went to space, and took their babies too; if thats not exploring then I don't know what is!

 Casey said, "We both found spiders, they're going to the habitat to play together." Danny said, "They don't bite!" Casey said, "I know, thats why they can play in the habitat."

    "I'm taking my baby to space, but first we need helmets. I want to show you the stars." - Jamie

                                               "I'm not going to get a sunburn!" - Aidan

 Isabell said, "This is the sea, its really big." Juli said, "How are we going to get across it?" Makayla said, "Watch me, like this!!"


The children used their imagination, previous experiences and knowledge to come up with the ideas and discussions. It was a lot of fun to hear the children outside talk about their bugs, where they found them and where they would end up. It was also neat to hear children collaborating to come up with ways to cross the big sea! Lastly, Jamie wasn't the only child who went to explore space today, but she was the only one who took a baby to see the stars!

Objectives: Objective 9: Uses language to express thoughts and needs, Objective 14: Uses symbols and images to represent something not present, Objective 27: Demonstrates knowledge of the Earth's environment. 

                                                                       -Ms. Harrald

Gymnastics Fun!

Today the children took a field trip over to the CMU gymnastics gym. The children first got to watch some of the team members do flips and cool tricks. Afterwards, the children went around to different stations and got to be a gymnast for the day.

 There was an obstacle course each child got to complete multiple times. At the end they were able to kick a ball and a stack of blocks and watch them fall.

 Each child had the opportunity to go down the slide and run back up to the top!

 They swung like monkeys from the bar.

 And jumped on super bouncy trampolines into a foam pit.

Some braved the balance beam

And they finished on the long tumble track trampoline.

The children exercised and gained gross motor abilities during their experience in the gym. Some got to do new skills they have never done before. It was fun for the team members and the kids. The children were exhausted by the time we got back to the CDLL. I hope each child shares their experiences with you tonight. I had a great day sharing a sport I love to do with the kids!

Ms. Moraw

Teaching Gold Strategies Objective 6: Demonstrates gross-motor manipulative skills

Exploring Indoor Activities!

Today was a hot and muggy day. Many of the children were using their morning work time to stay inside and explore some new items that had been brought into the classrooms these past few weeks along with visiting items that have been in the classrooms throughout the school year!

 "Look the balls rolling down" -Jamie

 "These are in a race" -Evan

 "I'm going to hammer this nail" -Leah

This afternoon all of the children got the opportunity to work inside because of the rain. Many of the children seemed very excited to work with familiar items that they have not visited for a while and they were also excited to find new items in the classroom to work with!

 "I'm making a tower" -Kate

 "Watch it roll down!" -Cooper

Have a great week and Happy Monday!

Ms. Simlik

Teaching Strategy: Cognitive 11de. Demonstrates positive approaches to leaning, shows flexibility and inventiveness in thinking