A simple, joyful day!

Wow, I can’t believe I haven’t blogged since November! It makes sense though, because with the holidays and all of my “to-do’s,” the children and the running of the school come first!

As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, two huge concerns of mine are the diminishing of children’s hand strength/fine motor skills and imaginative skills. I seen a huge decline in both since I started teaching almost 34 (yikes!) years ago!

Last Monday we read The Hat by Jan Brett. Today, the children walked into the classroom in the morning to see a “clothesline” complete with hanging winter clothes, clothespins, and some stuffed animals.

Manipulating a clothespin is one of the first skills necessary before using scissors and develops the muscles needed for handwriting. Holding a piece of clothing in the non-dominant hand against the string, pressing hard enough to open the clothespin with the dominant hand and connecting the two is a surprisingly difficult skill. Eye-hand coordination, hand strength, it’s all there! I mentioned to our “Helping Mom” yesterday how surprised I was that so many children were able to do it (based on past years) then I realized… I guess all the fine motor work we do is paying off!

Also available yesterday was white, sparkly play dough our three-day group made on Friday. We have a vast array of play dough tools: scissors, “knives,” rollers and extruders. (I just love hearing a three year old say, “Please pass the extruder!”)

We’ve been talking about Jan Brett and her work. Yesterday, I gave the children a choice. We could read The Gingerbread Baby or The Three Little Dassies. The children used their name sticks to vote for which book we would read. Three children voted for The Dassies, and 13 for The Gingerbread Baby! (We read the Dassies later in smaller groups for those who really wanted to hear it!)

During “children’s choice*,” I set out a laminated gingerbread baby and pan by the kitchen, to see if anyone was interested. Our playhouse is covered to look like gingerbread.

At one point I heard “growling” from the gingerbread house! I peered over the top to see a child “devouring” fruits and vegetables! I was informed that it was a “haunted gingerbread house,” and he was a monster! (“A veggie eating monster?” “YES!”)

Every child in the above picture is not only working on pre-writing skills and developing hand strength, they are stimulating their brains and absorbing information about the world around them and how it works. It’s never “just” play!

Next post: Yesterday’s outside adventures!

* I’ve simplified the day’s schedule by labeling parts of it “children’s choice” and “teacher’s choice.” During children’s choice, they get to choose their activity… during “teacher’s choice,” I get to choose the activity! It’s simple, but it seems to help them understand transitions and the different parts of the day!