Some exciting things have been happening in our room!  The boys and girls have been very excited for Valentine's Day.  We have been playing with several different Valentine's Day materials in our sensory table, painting, and making Valentine's cards for our families! 

Both AM and PM classes are in the middle of an author study.  We  have been learning all about Ezra Jack Keats-  we have ready many, many books that he's written!  The children often request we read "Peter's Chair" and "Goggles" during our meeting time. We even graphed our favorite book by Ezra Jack Keats- the most favorite is "Goggles"! ​This week we plan on creating artwork similar to Ezra's.  Stay tuned to see how these turn out! ​

  

    

Since the beginning of school, the home living space has been a favorite area to play in the classroom.  The children enjoy cooking, going to work, putting their babies to bed, and doing dishes. To create a more inviting play space, we added a clothes line and some laundry for them to hang up with clothespins!  We also added a special office area so the children can "go to work".  

We asked some of the children what else they would like to have in this space, and some suggested that we make a door.  Miss Laura brought us a very large box to use-but after the children saw this box, their ideas changed!

After some conversations and questions, it was decided that they wanted to build a space ship out of the box instead. Using the ipad, we looked at many pictures of space ships and used it as a guide in creating our own.

Currently, the space ship is still under construction. It sits right next to the home living area, so it serves as another piece to imagining and creating stories!

     

     

The boys and girls in room 112 at the Lab School have been so excited for Halloween!  We've read many stories and sung lots of songs about Fall and Halloween.  The children also had fun exploring different textures and Fall items in the sensory table, such a gourds, pinecones, and leaves.  They also utilized their math skills by measuring a pumpkin using Unifix Cubes and practiced fine motor development by hammering nails and toothpicks into another pumpkin!

 

Our full day and AM children spent the last 2 weeks preparing for going Trick or Treating at Greggory and Appel downtown.  We made our own costumes, and they turned out beautiful!  We shared ideas and brainstormed what we wanted to make.  To name a few, there were super hero capes, a police officer,  a robot monkey, and a shark girl cape.   Thank you to everyone at Greggory and Appel for making this such a memorable experience for our students!  You are awesome!

  

Lots of great things are happening in our room every day!  Some favorite activities have been painting with water colors,  the home living space, playing with play dough, and book making. 

 

The students are interested in many things; especially finding bugs, sticks, flowers, leaves, and rocks outside.  We noticed the students were particularly interested in insects, so we have taken things a step further with this.  The students have been able to inspect insects closely in the "nature box".  We have many interesting nature items in this box, including once- alive cicadas, acorns, buckeyes, pinecones, and leaves.  Some of us visited the library at the Lab School and found books about insects.  The students have learned that some animals actually EAT insects!  We were excited when one of our friends brought in his pet toad from home, and let us feed it a live cricket and a rolie polie bug!

     

     

The children in Lab Room 112 have been busy exploring different materials and developing new friendships.  The housekeeping area in our classroom has been a favorite so far.  Sometimes, it's a restaurant and several children are taking orders from everyone. Other times, it's a house with a mommy or a daddy preparing food for the children. They enjoy taking care of the baby dolls- feeding them, changing them, and putting them to bed.  ​One day, we turned the sensory table into a bathtub with bubbles and washcloths to give the babies a bath! 

We are excited about all of the upcoming things that we will discover this year.

     

We welcomed the spring weather yesterday by playing outside most of the afternoon!  Many children enjoyed blowing bubbles, chasing them, and trying to pop them!  We also made some unique pictures on the concrete with wet chalk.  Everyone is looking forward to more days like this!

In one of our meetings this week,  the students thought of two questions about our bodies: 1) Do our ears have bones? 2) Is my skull stronger than my teeth?  We will continue to find out the answers to these questions.  Many friends have been exploring multiple books on bodies, bones, and how "everything" works.  Lots of students were enthusiastic about observing and playing with a cross section head model, which showed all of the parts inside of our head.  

In our dramatic play area, we have our very own lab coat, masks, and scrubs.  Playing "surgery" is a popular choice every day! Come visit our room if you need a check up!