Toddler Room 2

June News

June is all about our wonderfully brave and highly skilled Community Workers. We will discuss the jobs of each professional worker, where they work, their tools and vehicles, and make a card and gift to show our thanks for all they do. Then the children will make a uniform of one of their favorite Community Helpers. In math, we’ll use cards and counters for counting vehicles and review the beginning sounds for the letters, “h” - “k.”

May Recap

What a “Whale” of a time we had learning to recognize and compare different whales! The children used interactive work where they pretended to feed a large Baleen whale, that uses plates instead of teeth to capture krill and shrimp. They learned to identify which whales were Baleen and which had teeth. Using a comb to resemble the plates of a whale’s mouth, they filtered miniature marshmallows (krill) from water. We studied the continent of South America with its culture and music while making our own maracas! Reading, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, was perfect for the children to see the similarities to the Life Cycle of the Butterfly by matching similar pictures to realistic figurines of a larva, chrysalis and butterfly. 

April Recap

April was time for Spring flowers and more fun in the sun!  Our theme was Islands and Volcanoes, and we learned that some volcanoes erupt and some are dormant. They are in an area called The Pacific Ring of Fire. We made our own volcanic environment and erupted the volcano together in class. We studied some wildlife that live in Australia like the Koala Bears, Platypus and the Kangaroo. Then we made a group art of the Kangaroo Island where you can see numerous kangaroos hopping all over the island. If you take a walk, there, you can see Koala bears, too!

March Recap

Dinosaurs have been the most popular of all our monthly themes so far! We learned that they became extinct many millions of years ago and when they got trapped in the mud, they left impressions of themselves as proof of their existence. The children didn’t have any trouble making fossils of their own pressing Dinosaur figurines into the clay. We studied the beginning sounds for letters: “w” - “z” and played a game called, “I SPY” where we found objects to match colored flash cards as well as naming each color. Science was interesting using a microscope with “slides” of bacteria and viruses to view under the microscope. We even added a “bacterium” in a Petri dish and pretending to refrigerate it to watch cultures grow! Some of the children reminded others not to cough or sneeze in their hand because, “that spreads germs”. 

February Recap

At PCMA, we love February with its celebration of friendship and love for everyone as we learn about Culture and Diversity and that we may not look the same but we are all unique! We enjoyed our Valentines Day classroom party and finished celebrating the Chinese New Year! We were so excited to take home our beautifully crafted red and gold paper snakes for the Chinese year of the SNAKE! Our teacher recited the old Chinese fable, “The Big Race,” where it explains why you will never find a cat on a Chinese zodiac and why cats don’t like “mice.” Black History Month taught about those who made special contributions to our society and the world like Mae J. as the first Black woman astronaut and our first Black President, Barack Obama. The children began identifying the past presidents, their names and where to find them on Mount Rushmore, and statues in other memorials. We got to hear the story of George Washington and the Cherry Tree! We celebrated President’s Day and learned a new song, “You’re a Grand Old Flag.”

January Recap

January was filled with learning all about Snow and Cold. Reinforcing this subject area, our toddlers were outside folding in all the ingredients to make our own white “Snow!” 

It didn’t take long for our children to throw it up in the air and one child helped join everyone in singing, “Jingle Bells!” The class also made an ice and snow Antarctica environment with icebergs for seals, penguins, and whales. We discussed where the animals go to stay warm and that turtles go through brumation from October- April. Each child then made their own box turtle, too! 



We all listened to the story of The Mitten while using interactive pieces to tell the story themselves. Each child got to make their very own mitten! In language, we practiced the sound for the letter’s “o”, “p”, “q”, and “r”. In math, we used wooden pins called skittles to introduce fractions for whole, halves, and thirds. As we sliced our strawberries at snack time, we sliced them into fractions and then ate them all up. We talked about the historical figure, Martin Luther King and celebrated the Chinese Lunar New Year with the year of the snake. 

December Recap

The lower temperatures in December certainly helped to get us into the holiday spirits! We learned that there are celebrations in other parts of the world, besides our continent of North America where we celebrate Santa Claus who rides in a sleigh pulled by reindeer bringing gifts to good little boys and girls. And a visit from Santa! On Dec 5 it’s “Christmas Eve” in Europe, specifically The Netherlands. Sinterklaas resembles our St. Nick and rides a white steed to deliver goodies to good boys and girls. Our toddlers celebrated by stuffing a large sock with carrots and left them outside over night to feed the white steed. On Dec 6, “Christmas Day,” the children stepped outside to find signs of Sinterklaas’ horse who left bits and pieces of carrots scattered on the grass and hoof prints made on the sidewalk. The children would soon enjoy tasty goodies and treats with their own individual initials! Other cultures celebrate Kwanza, and our class used an interactive Kinara to pretend to light colored candles, and beat a very authentic African drum! And lastly, we celebrated Hanukkah with its unique interactive Menorah candles and spun the Dreidels as we sang its song! All along, we would point out the areas of celebration on our Continent Globe. 

November Recap

November was such a special month where the children experienced strong brisk winds that swirled the leaves around their feet. Each child this month handed their teacher leaves they found, specifically the leaves changing color: some green, but yellow, in part, and some brown, dry and curled inward. We brought each inside to add to our leaf science work to enjoy viewing under a magnifier. When we sliced open gourds in class a child’s voice raised in excitement pointing to , “The Parts of the Pumpkin,” on the wall noticing the relationship of pulp and seeds in both the gourds and the pumpkin! In Geography, the class used paper figures of Pilgrims and Indigenous people to reenact the landing of the Mayflower to a new world at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts. They got to touch a “Plymouth Rock” and identify where it happened on an interactive map of 1620. The letter sounds for November were, “i,” “j,” and “k,” with objects like iguana, jaguar, and kangaroo. Circle Time was fun; we practiced walking quickly, flapping our wings and the familiar, “Gobble, Gobble!” as we pretended to be the farmer.  Along with the book, “To Fill a Bucket,” we showed kindness to each other with hugs as we took turns passing a bucket with a red heart. As we near Thanksgiving, the children continue to practice their manners at the table, carving a make-believe Turkey and learning to set the table. 

October Recap

October was a month filled with Halloween fun in preparation for our Halloween classroom party! Our children decorated our classroom by making bats with the use of a “one finger” technique. It was fun to watch as it quickly moved to a “full hand” technique! And spider webs, too, by rolling a ball in white paint in a tray over black paper. Our children learned about bats and that they hang upside down in caves as well as how Spiders spin sticky webs to catch their food. We learned the sounds of so many letters like “e”, “f,” “g” and “h.” We traced the letters and practiced writing them with a sensorial bag of colored liquid, which introduced forming strokes and circular motions. In math we incorporated Fire Safety Awareness with photos of firemen, their trucks and placed them in the colored corresponding trays marked 0 - 4. Our toddlers are doing so great learning that 0 means there is nothing and learning fractions with the use of wooden solids with sections that are manipulated and form a Whole One. In geography, we studied North America and reinforced its location on the continental globe, indicated in orange. Matching photos of its plant life and terrain gave an extension of what can be found there. Also, as we sang the continent song, we pointed out each of the 7 continents in their own respective colors. I’m so proud of all our toddlers’ attention to these relationships as they begin to unfold.

September Recap

We were all so excited to be back at school and able to explore our classroom! Goodness, how we’ve grown since the first day we started at PCMA! Our Language has been developing so quickly with singing songs together like, “The Wheels on the Bus” and learning to take turns with morning greetings in Circle as we wait our turn to sing, dance, and clap our hands. The children decorated a large school bus and pasted facial features of eyes, nose and mouth to make their own unique face for our All About Me theme. We even had fun pressing faces into the mirror to see ourselves… “Up Close!” We practiced tracing letters a - d and making each sound. In Science we learned the Parts of the Apple, the Carrot, and even tasted honey from the Honeybee. Our calendar serves many purposes: Science (Weather Outside), Language (Singing Days of the Week), and Math (Rote Counting of Days)! Practical Life is care for environment (Watering Plants), Washing Baby as well as the practice of 3 -Finger Grasp for Spooning, Tongs, and other works. 

Summer 2024 Recap

Our T2 Class had so much fun this summer! We played in the water every chance we could. We enjoyed blowing bubbles, splashing in the pool, and used paint brushes to swirl and mix water soluble paint mixed with bubbles. The treat of choice in the sun were our homemade popsicles that tasted great as they helped us stay cool at play. We had so many interesting weeks of themes, too! One was Down on the Farm, with sorting work of which objects are on a farm and which objects are found in a city? There was a Volcano theme where our toddlers helped to make cake batter and homemade frosting to spread on our individual volcano cakes. They were so yummy and there wasn’t a chance they would erupt because they were gobbled up so quick! As a science experiment, when we had enough of the popsicles, we’d set them in the sun and watch how the sun sets them on the ground to watch how the sun changed them into liquid before our eyes! Our Camping theme was unique to pretend to be sleeping under the stars and listening to the sounds of the animals at night and some sounds of our own. Our teacher even made stars to shine on the ceiling and we enjoyed a marshmallow that we roasted over a pretend fire! Since we can’t afford the airfare to Paris for the Olympic Games, we made our own obstacle course and at the end of the race, we all got a Gold Medal we made to wear around our necks and a very special torch with the flames in the shape of our own handprints!