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  This morning J came in with a purpose at the light table. He noticed a big stack of transparent magnetic blocks sitting on the table and his eyes lit up! J began to get to work. He carefully separated out the different shaped pieces- triangles, squares, circles, etc. Once he sorted out the blocks he began construction. He worked quickly and with purpose as he looked around and began putting pieces together.  "A house!" he exclaimed as he put the finishing touches for the roof. He continued to play out a scenario as he built and stacked.  J looked over and noticed that I was sitting at a table near him. He loaded up a basket of magnetic tiles and brought them to me.  "House!" he said indicating he wanted me to build a house too. We built some together.  J was so engaged as he continued to build and play a familiar story in his head. He would crash the blocks, laugh, and then begin to build again. He spent most of his morning just enjoying some at the light tabl...

  Happy Tuesday! This morning the boys really surprised us when they all immediately gravitated towards the light table in the corner of the room. This isn't a permanent piece of furniture in our room so it was even more exciting when the soft glow of the table lit up a corner of the room. The boys all gathered around and began passing around the different stackable pieces.  As the boys separated the stack and handed them to one another, they noticed the light passing through the translucent plastic.  "Yellow!" B shouted.  "Blue! Pink!" J followed.  The boys started naming the colors as they put each piece in and out, up and down, and lining them up across the table. L & A would wander in and out of the play, but were fascinated by the neon colors that would appear through the cups. If one boy dropped a piece, another would pick it up to continue play. When someone didn't have a cup someone made sure they were involved in the play too.  It was great to ...

  Yay! Welcome back! I hope you all had a great spring break and were able to relax a little bit! We kicked off our day with exploring some small plastic bugs. Why do you ask? Well right before break I ordered some caterpillars and an accompanying butterfly garden so we could watch the life of a butterfly right before our eyes. The kit is pretty awesome and includes many different learning materials, but the favorites were the plastic pieces that indicated each part of the life cycle. The boys used these pieces in some floam!  As they looked at each piece and then buried in the floam they began using some of the same language. As you can imagine the butterfly, caterpillar, and egg were by far the most engaging.  At the end of the day we revisited our live caterpillars before settling in to watch "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" to being to connect some of the same ideas. The two pictures before are what they look like about a week ago! The growth these things have made over ...

  We had such a fun filled morning full of music, movement, and musical chairs! While playing early this morning, B and A were requesting different songs to listen and dance to. It was so fun! Not only did they dance until they were exhausted, but they made so many different requests. That gave Ms. Julie an idea... what if we played a simple game of musical chairs?! After asking the kids what songs they wanted to hear, we began our game. It was such a great experience! It was a simple stop and go self regulation game that everyone played. I wish I had video, but of course we were all heavily involved 😊 At the end of the day, we settled into the Dogwood room with some cookies and a short movie. Such a great way to end the last day before spring break. Please be safe and we will see you all on March 29!

  Over the course of the school year we have noticed there are just certain toys in our room that are highly sought after. We don't typically keep the same materials in the room to try and expand play schemes and build on skills. However, the kids never forget those beloved toys that live on a shelf in the back hallway. One toy they have recalled from their memory is the marble tower! I have never seen a group of kids get more excited to watch some marbles drop through holes. Once it is pulled out the kids light up! It has brought some really great language as well as opportunities to model turn taking and excitement. After snack today the boys gathered around the small tower and happily dropped marble after marble onto the tower.  It's great being able to rotate toys in and out of the classroom, but it's also so great when they request toys we haven't seen in awhile. 

  Today I just wanted to to highlight the hard work the district has gone through in order to vaccinate all of the teachers, support staff, and everyone in between. It has been quite a school year full of many different kinds of challenges because of guidelines and protocols and I can speak for everyone when I say receiving a vaccine is a HUGE relief. If anything, it brings a level of comfort I can't quite explain. I am proud to say everyone in the Pine/Dogwood room has either been fully vaccinated or is halfway there!  One step closer 😊

  Today in the collaboratory, the boys enjoyed part of their time playing on an obstacle course the Dogwood class created. A was cracking me up! He would do the whole course, but for some reason was not on board with crossing over the curved piece we deemed the bridge. If you notice in the video below, he approaches it and then decides on a different route. It was hilarious! For whatever reason, A did not feel comfortable walking over it, even with assistance. It was quite curious, but he always had a plan in place. He continued to zig and zag across the course and paying close attention to which blocks he was going to attempt to walk across. It is always enjoyable to sit and observe play, especially by our friends with emerging language. Although they cannot always vocalize what they are doing and thinking, they still have particular plans in place as they play. 

  I apologize for the lack of pictures today, sometimes it is a bit hard to get photos of all the cool things these guys do day to day! We spent our morning in different areas of the room. Each boy played in some water, practiced their aim with balls on a target, and got to get some giggles out with all kinds of cause and effect toys. Because we couldn't play outside due to the heavy rain we faced early this morning, we got some energy out in the gym. We ended the day with a quick walk right outside of school to breathe in some of that fresh rainy air.  We ended on a positive note this Thursday and are looking forward to continue our words of the week: want, I, and what? next week!  Have a great weekend!

  Today we enjoyed our outside time out on the slide and in the rock box. The boys are so motivated by so much of the play outside that it's the perfect opportunity to capitalize on using lots of language and gross motor movement. Enjoy this video of some of the things the kids engaged with today! 

  It was a beautiful morning out in the sand. The boys spent a majority of the first half of our time outside digging, pouring, sifting, and making some sand structures. It wasn't until the end of our time outside that the boys started engaging with the big wooden blocks out on the concrete pad.  B noticed T sitting ever so comfortably in a push cart used to transport blocks over the playscape. B had an idea in mind! He walked over, grabbed the handle to the cart and began to pull. T jolted forward and backward then found his balance in the two were off! It was so hysterical to watch the two engage in some conversation every few inches and then B start to pull again. These unprompted moments are what we live for! 

  Welcome to a new week in the Pine room! This morning we started off playing in some soapy water. The boys had a variety of different toys to practice dumping and pouring, making bubbles from the dish soap, and interact with one another. The boys, at first a bit confused, would first test out the temperature of the water. Once they realized it was warm, they dove right in.  L & J loved being able to splash and makes lots of bubbles where as A & B were much more content "washing" the animals floating around in the water. Although some of our friends got a little wet, the warm sun helped dry some of their clothes out. We are so thankful for the sun! 

  This week one of the choices our morning friends had was to play in some kinetic sand. We LOVE this sand because of how moldable it is as well as how easy it is to clean up 😉 The play at the sand varies between each child. While some like fill up the small cups and dump them out, others bury small toys and try to find them. Today some of our friends decided to put some new loose materials into the sand. They made designs,buried them, and made small holes to create some interesting looking patterns. Since changing up our activities and attempting to extend the amount of time the kids play in each area we have seen an increase in play skills and persistence!  Have a great weekend!

  After a busy morning of sand, playdoh, wind tunnel, and some bubbles in the classroom we headed outside. Most of the boys were quite interested in spending their time swinging on the swing! This was such a great opportunity to practice some good core words: go, more, and want! It was such a peaceful time as the boys soaked up the sunshine, greeted each other with warm smiles and giggles, and enjoyed some good hard play! Enjoy this video of A showing us just how to use our good core words to communicate and meet some needs 😊

  Over the last two weeks the boys have been experimenting with all kinds of different materials to put into the wind tunnel. It wasn't until today that they noticed that the wind was doing the same thing the tunnel did in our room! While playing out at the sculpture park, the kids were engrossed in the fact that the wind was blowing everything around them. B watched as leaves and dried petals from flowers were blowing in every direction while L enjoyed the bubbles surrounding him and gently floating away. So cool to connect our classroom learning with the outside world! 

  Today at snack we celebrated our friend L and his 4th birthday! It was a great day to dive into some delicious donuts before we set off on a little walk around the neighborhood. Our morning was filled with some of L's favorite activities including the wind tunnel, playdoh, and lots of play! These boys LOVED eating these donuts after snack. I apologize in advance to any family that has a hard time getting their child to eat some lunch this afternoon, because we filled those little bellies up!