Category: Room 1

Room 1 Stone Soup Days

Happy Thanksgiving! We are so grateful for each Room 1 family. We pray you have a blessed and wonderful holiday with your love ones. God bless!

“Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” -Psalm 107:8-9

Apple Pumpkin Days on the Patio

To celebrate Apple Pumpkin Days we enjoyed some festive, fall activities on the Older Pod Patio with Ms. Kristen!

Our friends in Rooms 1, 2 and 3 dissected a pumpkin at the sensory table and made Pumpkin Seed Soup with the pulp, seeds, water and cinnamon.

We used hammers and golf tees at the Pumpkin Pounding station!

We tasted red, yellow, and green apples; then we graphed our favorite!

The Farmer’s Market dramatic play was very busy. Our friends enjoyed picking apples, stocking the market, and cooking/baking with the produce.

“That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.” Psalm 1:3

Messy Masterpieces

Art is a wonderful way to allow preschoolers to express themselves freely. It’s a playful, enjoyable activity that brings joy and a sense of accomplishment. Art encourages problem-solving as children figure out how to make their ideas come to life which supports cognitive development. Sensory-rich activities engage a child’s senses and promote sensory development. Art allows children to explore, experiment, and have a great time while doing so.

Mondrian Inspired Art on the Patio

This week, on the older pod patio with Ms. Kristen, we took a look at some work from the Dutch artist, Piet Mondrian. His art inspired conversations about lines, shapes and colors as we created our own works of art using similar elements from his expressionism pieces. Our friends in Rooms 1 and 2 , worked to bring all these elements together in a fun and collaborative piece with an emphasis on lines—the basis for all geometric shapes and our shape focus for the month of September.

Flying into a New School Year

We are flying into a new school year with some fun on The Patio with Ms. Kristen! Our airport dramatic play has been a popular area for friends in Rooms 1, 2, and 3. Our little ones have been so busy stamping passports, loading up luggage, repairing the engines, fueling up, and flying the plane! While we play, we are learning to take turns/share space and materials, acquiring new language, and building on our knowledge of the world around us. Check out some highlights from our playtime together on The Older Pod Patio!

Snail’s Pace Race on the Patio

This past month our friends played a life-size version of the children’s board game, Snail’s Pace Race on the Patio with Ms. Kristen.

Why are “games” and “play” such a vital part of early childhood education? Nothing answers that question better than seeing the range of skills being developed in such fun and practical ways as this.

While we play we are developing social emotional skills–engaging in cooperative play, delegating roles, taking turns, regulating our own emotions, developing self-confidence and laying the groundwork for character development and sportsmanship. This fun and engaging game also increases our attention span as we pay attention to each role of the color cube. One-to-one correspondence is one of the most challenging early math foundations and this is a way to reinforce the concept visually and pragmatically.

Trader Joe’s on the Patio

Older Pod has been enjoying a Trader Joe’s dramatic play area on The Patio with Ms. Kristen!

As we play, we learn to share space, take turns with materials, delegate roles, and collaborate with our peers. Dramatic play is vital in the development of creativity through the use of imagination. Most evidently, this particular dramatic play is helping us develop communication skills and teamwork. We are also gaining knowledge of the world around us— learning fruits and vegetables, increasing phonological awareness through print, practicing exchanging money for goods, assigning numerical values to things, and counting.

Check out our friends hard at work!

THANK YOU to the many families who contributed recycled goods and THANK YOU to our favorite local grocery store—Trader Joe’s!