The chilly weather has arrived. Our classroom tends to be warm, but be sure to have jackets every day for the playground. We did some summer remembering this week with our sensory table filled with sand and shells. The children thrive on sensory experiences and loved using the large shells as shovels to scoop up the sand. There were also plastic spoons and little tiny cups to fill. Filling the cups with the spoons is a workout for eye-hand coordination and for the small muscles in their hands. On Tuesday they made a ‘beach’ scene, using glue, shells, and a homemade shaker (hot cup and lid with holes punched) to cover it with sand.

Next month we will begin our weekly music class with Mrs. Noriko Wada. They are getting ready in our classroom as we have had a head start learning the first musical concepts she will introduce. Your children now know that forte (f )means beautifully loud, and piano (p) means soft. Ask your child how to sing forte and how to sing piano.

In our class, most of the projects that require glue are made with a glue brush and a dish of glue. The children learn to manipulate the brush, how much glue to put on it and use their strength to spread the glue on the surface. A project such as that done on Thursday (collage art) is a great way to master these skills. On Friday, the children made paintings by painting watercolor over doilies to see the picture on the paper after lifting the doily. They are beautiful on our bulletin board.