Learning through Everyday Activities

Explore these simple everyday activities with your children to reinforce their learning.

Report Cards

Report cards are going home in Friday Folders today. Please keep the report card at home and return the signed envelope to your child's teacher.

You might notice that different areas were assessed this marking period. It's also important that as your child develops, the objectives and expectation grow with him or her. This might appear as a regression on your child's learning; for example, from E (exceeding) to M (meeting). However, it simply means that the expectations have changed. Please reach out to your child's teacher if you have any questions about your child's progress.

This week, we have introduced “Pets and Vets” theme to our dramatic play center! The students are learning the various roles that take place as a veterinarian, veterinarian assistant, and patients. The students are also learning medical vocabulary terms related to the theme such as stethoscope, thermometer, syringe, and x-rays and how each item is used.

On Wednesday, we read “The Proudest Blue” by Ibtihaj Muhammad. In this story, a young girl named Faizah shares her admiration for her big sister, Asiya who wears a hijab. A hijab is beautiful and represents strength! In this story, some children do not understand the meaning behind Asiya’s hijab. They make fun of her, calling her hijab a table cloth. The children’s hurtful words bring sadness to Asiya and Faizah, but their mother reminds them that hijabs are beautiful like the ocean and the sky. After reading this story, our class engaged in large group discussion. We all agreed that hijabs are beautiful, and how hurtful it must have been for Asiya when other children were unkind. This book is an excellent example of how our differences is what makes us all SPECIAL and BEAUTIFUL in our own way!

We concluded our "Ice Cream Shop" theme this week with a sensory experience in small groups. We first had a discussion about our 5 senses. Then we made "Science" ice cream. The children helped to measure and mix the ingredients of cornstarch and water until we had the right consistency to make it look and feel like melted ice cream. One group then added cocoa powder to their mixture while the other group added vanilla extract to theirs. These additions now made the mixture smell like ice cream! Finally, we had a discussion about how even though all of the ingredients were safe to try, it would not taste like ice cream because we left out some key ingredients like milk and sugar. We discussed our observations and used descriptive words and drawings to record our findings, which we posted in the Science center. We left the "melted ice cream" containers on the Science table for the rest of the week so the children had extra time to enjoy playing with it and engage in further discussions.