Updates/Reminders

  • No School Friday, 1/12 and Monday, 1/15
  • Please send your child with rain gear (rain boots/waterproof shoes, rain jacket, or rain suit) the day after a rainy day because there are often still lots of fun puddles to play in 🙂
  • Please sign-up for Caterpillar class volunteer opportunities here
  • If you ever have something to tell us that you think will impact your child’s day at school i.e. didn’t sleep well, has a parenting adult out of town, friend/relative visiting, you can write it on the clipboard outside the door titled “We want teachers to know…” This helps so that all teachers can be in the know 🙂
  • Midwinter Break- No School 2/19-23; camp available with sign-up- must be 2 years 7 months and toileting independently to attend

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Welcome back and Happy New Year! Over the past 2 short weeks we have been preparing for some Caterpillar friends to move to new classrooms and to welcome new Caterpillar friends. We’ve celebrated 2 birthdays and been exploring all things snow and ice.

Japanese New Year

In honor of Japanese New Year, which is now celebrated in line with the Gregorian calendar, we have been learning about the different foods used to celebrate, especially mochi! After watching how mochi is traditionally made with an usu (a large stone mortar) and a kine (a wooden hammer-like pestle), we got to make pretend mochi with playdough. We really enjoyed “knocking” or pounding the mochi. Other Japanese New Years activities included playing with pretend Osechi Ryori, matching mochi making tools and ingredients, and making collage kagami mochi.

Snow & Ice

Through book and icy activities, we have been observing ice and what happens to it when it get warm or wet. Some favorite read aloud the past two weeks have been: Walking in a Winter Wonderland, The Snowy Day, Winter Dance, Mushroom in the Rain, and Over in the Artic Where the Cool Waters Run. Art activities have included painting ice with tempera paint and watercolor paint, stamping snowflakes, using snowflake stickers to decorate Peter in a snowy day, and building snowflakes on the light table. Songs have included “Walking in a Winter Wonderland” and “Over in the Arctic.” We’ve also started “Arctic Yoga” with poses or asanas borrowed from yoga and renamed as Arctic animals. After we practice our asana, we thank ourselves, our friends, the land and Ohlone people, and the yogis who created yoga.

Sonny & Ollin’s Birthdays

Sonny and Ollin both turned 3 during the first week of January so we celebrated with moon pops with mandarin orange centers. We used their favorite colors to make paintings and looked at how much they have changed since they were born. For Sonny’s birthday we danced to “Everything is Awesome” from the Lego Movie and for Ollin’s we danced to “Volcano” by Jimmy Buffet.

See You Soon, Caterpillar Friends

This past week some of our Caterpillar friends have been visiting Magnolia and Cedar classrooms a they get ready to “migrate” there permanently. It is bittersweet to see our friends Alex, Henley, Ollin, and Sonny transition on to their new classrooms. We are grateful that we’ll still get to see them on the yard during Outside Time and wave “hello” whenever we see them. Thank you so much Alex, Henley, Ollin, Sonny and all your families for being a part of the very first Caterpillar class ever! You will always be a Caterpillar and Caterpillar families in our hearts <3

 

Welcome New Caterpillar Friends

After the long weekend in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we will be welcoming 3 new Caterpillar friends to the class: Esra, Felix, and Valentina. Please be sure to say “hello” and introduce yourself to their families: Emily & John (Esra), Elisabeth & Colin (Felix), and Paulina & Bernie (Valentina). We are excited to see you all so soon!

 

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