Small Friends School News: We're off to the beach in the YC

We plunged into the deep blue sea this week in the younger class! The kids had a great time making ocean art, learning about the different shapes and textures of shells, reading ocean books, and playing with pirates in the texture table and sea creatures in the water tub. What fun!

On Tuesday, we began an ocean water color and collage project. The kids made beautiful underwater ocean scenes in colors of blue, green, and purple. Then they sprinkled on epsom salts to create a textured look.

Our second project on Tuesday was a "What's Missing?" game. We had ocean themed items on a tray and the children practiced remembering all of them. Our parent helper covered the tray and took one item away, and the kids guessed what was missing. This was great way to work on strengthening those memory muscles.

We finished up our ocean scene on Thursday adding colorful sand, sparkly seaweed, fish, and shells. These turned out beautifully!

We took a closer look at many different types of seashells on Thursday. The children took turns categorizing them as big or small and smooth or spiny.

Argh, matey! Pirates invaded our texture table!

And the water tub turned into an ocean!

We had kinetic sand, seashells, and tiny sea creatures at the light table.

Baby Mabel loves her snuggle time!

Squishy playdough is so much fun.

This group loves to create! They had so much fun with ocean themed stencils, stamps, and fish.

We had some unique shapes to create with at the building table this week.

The kids had fun playing with the underwater scene on our flannel board.

Here is a look at your children playing around the room. They love to build with blocks and to paint at the easel.

At circle time, we read several fun books. A couple of our favorites were The Ocean Bathtub and a Max and Ruby book called Max's Chocolate Chick.

The children are so excited to meet the baby chicks! We learned how the chicks are developing and how quickly they grow.

The children started presenting their completed houses this week, and their baby pictures are adorable! They are doing such a great job telling the class about their homes and families. This is also a great opportunity for the group to practice listening and being patient for their turn. We can't wait to continue learning more next week!

On Thursday we had a special circle time concert with one of our wonderful parents! The kids loved singing along to "Baby Shark", "Old McDonald had a Farm" and other favorites! Our budding musicians also had the chance to strum the guitar.