Hello Magnolia Families, 

Here in mid October, we’re really in the swing of things and the children have truly adapted to the routines and flow of our day! From language to art, family visits to music, we’ve been busy busy in Magnolia. Enjoy the glimpse into our work and play! 

A Few Reminders:

• Wednesday October 23rd is Photo Day! Details to come in the ECC Bulletin
• Thursday October 24th is our Pumpkin Painting Party! Thank you Jessi, Racquel, Jules and Ann for bringing in small pumpkins! Teachers will make sure to have extra on hand as well. Thanks for folks bringing snacks and to those who can stay and paint with us! Teachers will have tables setup with paint, brushes and and aprons. Our party will begin after our morning circle at 9:15a and end around 10:15a. Thanks for joining in on the fun!
• Conferences are held on Friday October 25th and Friday November 1st. Thanks to everyone who has signed up for a time slot on ParentSquare- we look forward to sharing what’s new lately for your child in Magnolia 🙂
• Looking for a missing sock? Shoutout to our wonderful Magnolia children for keeping such great track of their belongings! Every once and a while, if a child leaves socks or other items behind we bring them to the front gate where there’s a basket of “lost” items. That way, if you pickup after the classroom is closed you can check there! Teachers do a sweep each afternoon for shoes, stuffies, socks etc. 
• Sharing is every Thursday. Teachers will place your child’s brown paper sharing bag each wednesday in their tote bag! We’ve been truly enjoying the fantastic shares and have observed excitement and lots of participation 🙂 
• Teacher Emily will be supporting Caterpillar Classroom next Monday and Tuesday. Our wonderful subs will be stepping in to cover- but i’ll still be available for morning check-ins, email and i’ll be seeing my Magnolia friends during outside time 🙂

Oobleck

What happens when you mix two simple ingredients together: water and cornstarch? You get Oobleck! Oobleck is a fascinating scientific marvel. From the web: “non-Newtonian fluid that behaves like both a solid and a liquid, depending on how much pressure is applied” Wow! Check out the fun we had experimenting with it’s qualities!

Stepping Stones and Balance Beams

Movement and “risky” play are SO important for your child’s gross motor skill development! When we refer to “risky” play, we mean that we encourage the children to engage in physically complex/challenging/reasonably risky play that supports their planning, focus and confidence building. For example, a low balance beam is a great way for children to engage in risky play. If your child falls down, they aren’t far from the ground. Our newest addition to Magnolia is a set of Stepelstein Stepping Stones! We’ve loved combining these with a balance beam to create a challenging but fun obstacle course.

jac the jackrabbit and cat the caterpillar

Last week we met itl’s friend jac the jackrabbit. We enjoyed tracing the letter j, creating puppets, making jello jigglers, noticing all the friends that names begin with j….and so much more! This week we met cat the caterpillar and are already off to exploring all things letter “c.” Our interest in pumpkins is growing and teachers were delighted to share that in spanish, pumpkin is “calabaza!” Perfecto!

The Zones of Regulation

The Zones of Regulation is a set of tools that we use in Magnolia to talk about, convey, or simply show with a paper strip how we are feeling. From the Zones of Regulation website:

The Zones is a systematic, cognitive behavioral approach used to teach self-regulation by categorizing all the different ways we feel and states of alertness we experience into four concrete colored zones.  The Zones framework provides strategies to teach students to become more aware of and independent in controlling their emotions and impulses, manage their sensory needs, and improve their ability to problem solve conflicts.

With physical tools such as a Zones of Regulation poster, feelings cards, and feeling strips, we have found that they are very helpful in guiding children to manage their feelings in safe and supported ways.  At home, these tools may be very helpful and will also provide some consistency between home and school. Here are descriptions from the website about the four zones.

The Red Zone is used to describe extremely heightened states of alertness and intense emotions.  A person may be elated or experiencing anger, rage, devastation, or terror when in the Red Zone. 

The Yellow Zone is also used to describe a heightened state of alertness and elevated emotions, however one has more control when they are in the Yellow Zone.  A person may be experiencing stress, frustration, anxiety, excitement, silliness, the wiggles, or nervousness when in the Yellow Zone.

The Green Zone is used to describe a calm state of alertness. A person may be described as happy, focused, content, or ready to learn when in the Green Zone.  This is the zone where optimal learning occurs.

The Blue Zone is used to describe low states of alertness and down feelings such as when one feels sad, tired, sick, or bored.

Stay tuned to see how we explore all of the zones in our social emotional curriculum!

Around Magnolia

Thank you to Valentina’s mama for joining us for Family Friday last week! Paulina shared songs and activities about the names of colors in spanish. This week, Arthur’s parents join us to create seed bombs that the children can plant themselves! It’s been a busy week for birthdays too- we celebrated Lara’s birthday as well as Arthur’s! Thank you Julianne for joining us for Art: Here’s her fabulous doc that gives you more insight and photos from our time with her this week!

We also welcomed music teacher Aaron this week and he brought drums and played the accordian! We can’t wait to make music with him this year 🙂

♥Magnolia Teachers