Oh boy, what a week this has been! On Monday, we welcomed Spring with so much wonder and joy. On our sunny outdoor play space, we spotted some incredibly exciting first signs of spring as a class: tiny crocuses were poking out near our back steps, and some of the tulip bulbs we planted in the fall are beginning to sprout! We've also noticed more birds, patches of green grass, and we shared stories of other signs of spring children have seen outside of school. Although we have thoroughly enjoyed the wonders of winter here at TVHS, we are looking forward to this new season with so much anticipation! The class loved reading some new springtime books this week (The class favorite was "Wake Up, It's Spring!") and learning new songs and rhymes about the start of spring. Here are a couple of the class's favorites from last week's circle time:
Merry Little Snowflakes
Merry little snowflakes
Do their very best
To make a soft white blanket
So the buds and flowers can rest
But when the warm spring sunshine
Says it's here to stay
Those merry little snowflakes
Quickly run away!
This is the Way
This is the way the flowers sleep
Through the winter long
This is the way the flowers grow
When they hear the robin's song
This is the way the snow comes down
Upon a winter day
Until the warm spring sun comes out
And melts it all away!
We also enjoyed a movement/ balance activity where we demonstrated the earth's tilt with our bodies as we circled the sun on our circle time rug, explaining how the earth's tilt affects the seasons we see in this part of the world. After circling the sun for this exercise, we all held hands and learned a fun song called "Sally Go Round the Sun," which we loved hearing the children hum and sing to themselves as they played throughout the week.
Other highlights of this week included:
* Making spring forsythia windsocks and dancing with them outside on a warm & windy first day of spring!
* Painting small pots to begin our spring planting in
* continuing to work on the skill of preparing and cutting our own fresh fruits and vegetables for snack
* creating a bird nest making station near our bird feeders: the children had such fun collecting small twigs, grasses, and leaves, and adding in some bits from the classroom such as cut up yarn and bits of felt roving for the birds to come and gather for their nests
* visiting the library for a super fun "hide and seek" themed story time
* continuing to work on our alphabet display with the children's art and illustrations
* The class setting up a theater with tickets, seating, posters, puppets and actors as they practiced the art of storytelling together! They made up stories of their own spontaneously and practiced telling a few familiar fairy tales as well. We can't wait to continue nurturing this interest in the coming weeks.
* creating spring fairy gardens
We also thoroughly enjoyed catching up with you all on Friday during our spring conferences. Thank you all so much for your time and communication. It was wonderful to reflect with each of you on our school experiences so far this year and to look forward to what is to come. We wish you all a wonderful weekend and look forward to another exciting week ahead!
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