The practical life area of our classroom is Montessori- inspired and usually bustling with activity! Its’ purpose is to provide a space for children to enhance their sense of order, functional independence, self-confidence, and responsibility. A big reason children are inspired by these activities is because they are attracted to tools and materials that adults […]
Hello, Mariposa families! As we’ve settled into the first month of school, a shared interest in bugs and insects has emerged within the group. Children began noting ladybugs and spiders on the schoolyard, and there was great excitement among some of the children when they discovered and identified a ladybug larva. In response, Christin and […]
Welcome Butterflies! Note about Blogs: A blog with be posted about every two weeks and will spotlight something special happening in the classroom. This first blog will highlight our daily schedule. Going forward, spotlights might include topics like: science in preschool, Montessori math, or sound studies. I hope you enjoy this first spotlight! Greeting Mariposa […]
Ocean Zones To finish out the school year, we are diving into the ocean and all its’ wonder. We started with making maps of the ocean zones. Then, we began looking at ocean life starting from the trenches and are working our way up. The children were fascinated by the bioluminescent creatures and enjoyed studying […]
Ornithology in Preschool In Mariposa, we finished our bird unit with a focus on local birds, nests, and habitats. For sharing day, Rebecca brought in an egg she’d found in her yard that she assumed fell from a nest. The children looked through several books to solve the mystery of what kind of bird it […]
Walking Field trips Something I have learned, in my years of teaching five years olds, is that they love novelty, especially in the Spring! We have been leaning into that with our recent Thursday walking field trip excursions. Our first walk was bird watching and playground fun at Ohlone park. On our journey there, the […]
Unicorn Sculpture We love collaborative projects in Mariposa! Over the past few weeks, we have been constructing a unicorn from recycled materials. We started by covering a laundry detergent container with newsprint and then made it colorful by covering it with bleeding tissue paper. The horn was wrapped with a string and painted a shimmery […]
After closing up our dinosaur unit, I asked the children what they might be interested in learning about next. They unanimously voted on studying magical creatures. Although I had never done this unit before, I decided to follow their lead and get curious about what they were so drawn to about this theme. We made […]
Love Letters The past few weeks the children have had several opportunities to write letters to their peers. There is a special work on the shelf and Julianne brought in supplies for making valentine’s for friends and families. We took a quick trip to the mailbox around the corner to mail love notes to parents […]
Dancing Dragon with Julianne Lunar New Year Projects The Mariposa children spent the few weeks leading up to our Lunar New Year parade making lanterns, dragon puppets, and a large dancing dragon. We read about acted out the zodiac animals and characters of each year. They were thrilled to find out the animal associated with […]
