One of our beginning year activities is painting the children’s hands and getting their hand prints. It’s one of the many ways we welcome them into our class and help them feel connected and part of our Chickadee community.
Some were a little nervous to paint their hands at first, but in
the end they all had a smile on their face. Now the problem is, they want to paint their hands everyday. Sometimes we have to remind them it’s not a hand painting day. 🙂
It has been a joy to watch the children begin to settle into our classroom and our daily routine. We spent much of our first week and will continue the rest of September learning to sit criss-cross applesauce at circle, standing and walking in a line, and working on using our words to interact with our teachers and our friends. The children have done fantastic and are so eager to learn and do.
One of the concerns often voiced by parents is, “how is my child getting along with the other kids ?” and I want to let you know . . . GREAT!!
Developmentally, there are three kinds of play which we often see three year olds engaged in. They are: interactive play, often called co-operative play, (children interacting with one another), parallel play (playing separately, but side by side with a friend) and solo play. All three kinds of play are typical and appropriate. However, one of the learning goals this year is to see all of our Chickadee students transition into and feel comfortable with interactive/co-operative play.
Check out some of these really cool interactions we had the privilege of seeing this week.
Parallel play in the sandbox. |
Helping a friend with a puzzle. |
Playing trains–together but separate |
What kind of soup would you like? |
Do you want it hot or cold? |
Eating with friends. |
Driving a “car” together. |
–Ms. Rachel