Mud Season

 It’s mud season in pre-k, and boy have we been having some fun! Thanks for bearing with the dirty boots, snow pants, and bodies as your kids revel in the sensory joy of squishy, gooey, icky mud. We’ve been making mud pies, habitats for forest creatures, fuel for airplanes, cement, and even using it to paint. 

As the weather slowly starts to warm, we’ll go back to our fall routine of eating snack outside. Please continue to send warm clothing to school with your kiddos, even if you think it’s going to be a nice day - we’re out for such a long time, and our woods are very shady and stay pretty cool year round. 

We’ve continued our work with a social skills curriculum called the Incredible Flexible You. This week our focus has been on thinking with your eyes. The concept is a simple  but powerful one encouraging children to use their eyes as a thinking tool. By using our eyes to make observations in social situations, we can make good guesses about other people’s thoughts, feelings, and plans. With practice, this concept will ultimately help children pay attention in a group, stop and think before they join play, stop before they interrupt, or make good choices as they enter into any new situation. 

Time to start 

TICK CHECKS!

They’re back, and it’s time to start doing a daily check on your child. Don’t forget those hard-to-check places!

There's been some strong interest in small worlds outside in the woods. This is a house for a tiny pussy willow. 

Working together to rake a pile.

We made tortillas over the fire last Friday.

A fabulous parent came in to make "seed paper" with us - homemade paper with seeds embedded, plant the whole thing in the garden!

making seed paper

some dedicated work trying to find a salamander

The ground in the woods is thawed, and the mud is plentiful!

Some group play on the "airplane"

painting with mud

We played a game to help us "think with our eyes," showing others what dress up clothes they want to put on using just their eyes. 

the end result

such fun mud play...

washing off the mud by rolling in the grass

a mud warrior!

and some came back into the classroom with us as well!