This week is Election Week and our Coping Skill is conveniently about grounding ourselves. Read on to find out why this is so important and how you can practice it at home. We are welcoming November with beautiful brown things all over the classroom, check them out next time you are in! With our feet solidly under us, we played hard in the classroom on our own and with each other.
Our Story Time book this week is Sometimes I Like to Curl Up in a Ball. This book doesn’t appear to be at our local library, but you’re welcome to borrow one of our copies from preschool if you’re interested. This book describes and illustrates movements like curling up into a ball, jumping hard, shouting as loud as possible (once lol), standing still as a tree…each of which is an opportunity for children to express themselves.
G Week Activities
Here are some G things for the week you can look for in photos, conversations and backpacks!
Face drawing: since we didn’t have markers available during F Week due to our costume wearing, we finished our journal work today by drawing faces. Using markers ensures that a child’s marks will actually show up (often when children are making eyes or noses, they intuitively press the writing utensil on to the paper. If it is a crayon it will simply not show up!
Voting: every day this week children will get a chance to vote for something. This is an opportunity to express our preferences while standing strong in our choice regardless of outcome. “No matter if I am the only one who votes for it, I like it. I chose it. I stand by it.” There is space given to grieve and wonder when others don’t vote the way we did. In the end, the vote stays and we get what we get and we can be upset. Teachers are here to be supportive in honoring each child’s position while holding boundaries of how that distress is expressed.
May it be so in the adult world as well.
Green Grass cutting: children practice the skill of cutting and stopping in this week’s Alphabet Project. There are many skills needed with cutting and this project taps into them all!
Standing Swing: children are taking turns on our standing swing…it’s definitely a new experience compared to the sitting swings we’ve had so far this year.
Goodbye Goat: as a nod to 2021, Goodbye Goat is back! This stuffed animal became a mascot of sorts during Online Preschool…he would get on my shoulder when Circle Time or Zoom School was about to come to an end. He was very excited about all the grass created today!
Gary the Grassy G: Gary is getting green this week with more paper grass snips. Different than our Alphabet Project, the grass for Gary needs to be cut all the way into individual snips. The scissor skills are improving daily!
Turkey Rob: Way back about 14 years ago a former teacher, Mr Rob, made us a turkey with holes for feathers. They can get plucked out and put back in anytime!
Brown things: in honor of November, we have brown Tiny Things, brown kinetic sand with brown wooden tools, brown scoops and bowls in the Tub Table, new books about bears, goats, turkeys and leaves.
Also, Grandma Bonnie is back and the children were so excited!
Here are 3 questions to learn more about our day:
What did you get to take home from the playground today?
A gourd! If you haven’t retrieved it from your child’s backpack, do so! Some are getting quite soft from all the rain and we don’t want you to end up with a rotten backpack gourd.
What did you eat for snack today?
In the morning we had Grapes, Granola bars and Goldfish from Charlie. In the afternoon we had GoGurt yogurt tubes and turkey feathers from Annie (You can say, “What? You ate turkey feathers?” No…they were just veggie straws in a cup with a turkey face drawn on). Thank you, Annie and Charlie!
Do you prefer your shoes on or off ?
This was the Voting Question for the Day. At our preschool children are allowed to take shoes on and off so this was easy to honor. We had SHOES ON and SHOES OFF columns:
Coping Skill of the Week
This week we are exploring “Feeling my feet” as an act of mindfulness and grounding. Taking a moment to simply notice our feet, what they are in contact with, if and how they want to move is beneficial. These actions bring us into the present moment and can increase a sense of safety.
This week’s Coping Skill activity you can do with your child:
What is your favorite thing to feel with your feet? Offer a variety of textures that can be stepped or rubbed on feet: big rocks, tiny rocks, grass, dirt, pillows, smooth floor, blankets, a pan of water. You can also offer a foot rub with lotion or during bath time with soap.
Pro tip: remember to do all of this for yourself too!
newcreationpreschool.com 