Hanging with Almond

 We love Watercolor no matter the occasion in the Almond room. Something I thought could be fun would be asking the kiddos which animal is their favorite and cutting out the silhouette of it. The kiddos got to use watercolor on a piece of paper and completely fill it with vibrant color. Once it dried, we brought their papers and the silhouettes to the atelier and let the kiddos pick out which animal they wanted and glued them to their papers. One friend finished their paper and said "Look, it's a shadow!" making everyone smile in the room.  Indiana Learning Foundations: CA3.2: Demonstrate creative expression through visual art production and presentation,  APL3.1: Demonstrate development of sustained attention and persistence,  APL1.2: Demonstrate interest and curiosity as a learner

 Thursday in the Atelier was filled with fun art! One of the activities was salad spinner art! The kiddos got to pick two colors of paint to put inside the salad spinner with their paper. Once closed inside they grabbed the handle and spun spun spun! While spinning it, Ms. Hannah asked the kiddos to go as fast as they could so it would spread everywhere! Once the art was pulled out, they were told to think of an animal that looked like their new painting! We had orca whales, tigers, lions and even an octopus! We had a few creepy crawly spiders too. (skin starts crawling immediately)  Indiana Learning Foundations: PHG2.2: Demonstrate development of body awareness and physical activity, PHG3.1: Demonstrate development of fine and gross motor coordination, CA3.2: Demonstrate creative expression through visual art production and presentation

 On Monday morning we did what we do best, we woke up. It's always a slow start for anyone after a fun weekend and in the Almond room, we find it best to start the week hanging out and laughing together. During free play I was able to sit and play magnets with my best friends and as we were fixing a tower that was accidentally smashed, Miss Hannah got an idea. What if we made a zoo wash? "What's a zoo wash?"  "Sort of like a car wash, but where the zookeepers take the animals to get cleaned!" "Well, this animal looks a little stinky, here put it in the zoo wash."  Feeding off of a Monday free play, Ms. Hannah set up a wash bay on the tables Monday and Tuesday! It turns out, the animals snuck out of the zoo again and got into paint! They needed a great big scrub two days in a row! Water and Soap are such a fun way to get the day started.  Indiana Learning Foundations:  ELA 1.3 Demonstrate ability to engage in conversations,  ELA 1.2 Demonstrate Expr...

 An icebreaker is always the way to go during circle time to set up the next best experience for the children in the classroom. This week's question, "What's your favorite animal at the zoo?" The only surprising animal was a unicorn! Silly kiddos! After circle time we ventured off to do our large group activity at the tables. The kiddos grabbed their toy animal and placed it on the table, they then found the matching colors and got to work! Some friends drew their tigers' stripes, some friends drew the lion's mane, and one friend traced their animal! Their creative minds reach new heights every day and I'll never be tired of saying it!  Indiana Learning Foundations: M5.2 Understand measurement through description and comparison, SC1.2: Demonstrate awareness of the physical properties of objects, APL1.2: Demonstrate interest and curiosity as a learner, APL3.1: Demonstrate development of sustained attention and persistence

 This week in Almond we've been focusing on working together and sometimes the best way to do that is working on something that isn't easy for one but a little stronger in another. We used floor puzzles as our large group activity this week and split into smaller groups of three for three different puzzles. They twisted pieces, flipped them and sometimes threw them. It was so sweet to see them comfort each other when frustrated and express to each other when they needed help and thought of ways to make it work.  Sometimes our kiddos need each other in ways that they don't need an adult. I have often noticed they like to help each other when a teacher is busy or because as a friend often says "I'm bigger so I can help too" They are the most loving group and a family in every sense of the word. How lucky are we that we get to love them and watch them grow 💓 Indiana Learning Foundations:  ELA 1.3 Demonstrate ability to engage in conversations,  ELA 1.2 Demonstra...

One of the best things about the summer are the weekends or weekdays at the zoo. There's so much to see and do with the kiddos and learning more about animals and ways to protect them and identify them help keep the animals (and us) safe!  One of the activities in the Almond room this week was The Great Animal Escape. Miss Stacy and I hid the parents and baby animals around the room and sat out blocks on the train table and had the kids meet us on the carpet. We told the kiddos that the zookeepers had just let us know that the animals had escaped and broken their enclosures, and they needed our help to rebuild and find them all! Our friends gathered around the train table and each got to work on an enclosure to fix. Once done they went searching for the animals and then placed them back in the cages safely. They did such a good job they each got to be promoted to zookeepers!  The Almond Zoo is still hanging out on our train table and is visited daily by our wonderful zookeeper...