Mrs.Wilson: Busy Little Birds

Posted on by Cynthia Wilson

This week was full of exciting activities for the children!

We began the week by working on a special auction item for Springfest. Each child had the opportunity to create a unique clay slab. Using a special ball, they rolled an imprint design into the clay, then traced their hand around the pattern. That’s all we can reveal for now—the final piece is a surprise! We hope to see you all at Springfest to share the big reveal. Sara and I are really looking forward to seeing everyone there.

The children were also introduced to our bird sound lesson. In this activity, they match bird figurines to photos, then use color-coded buttons to hear each bird’s call. They’re learning about common backyard birds like the Robin, Cardinal, Indigo Bunting, Warbler, Woodpecker, Oriole, and Blue Jay. The sounds are a big hit—they’re especially fascinated by them! While we were outside, we were even lucky enough to spot a hawk in the tree, calling out to us.

Another exciting moment this week was discovering that our sunflower seeds had sprouted over the weekend! The children were thrilled to see how quickly the seedlings popped through the soil and how tall they had grown in just a few days. We’re all hoping for consistent warm weather soon so we can transplant them outside.

We had a very special guest this week—Roscoe’s big sister, who joined us in sharing an alphabet sound book with the class. The children were in awe, sitting so peacefully and attentively as she read and sang through the alphabet. What made it even more special was that she also used sign language to show each letter as she went along. The most heartwarming part? This entire visit was her idea—she coordinated it all herself because she was so excited to do something meaningful for the children. It was such a beautiful and inspiring moment for everyone!

Happy Birthday to our friend! Thanks for sharing your favorite book and cupcakes with us!!

Food Tasting: The children had the chance to explore and taste zucchini! First, they sampled it raw and seemed to enjoy its fresh, crunchy texture. Next, they tried it cooked—sautéed with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. Thumbs up for zucchini!

Love and Light,

Cynthia Wilson

Ms. Mollie: Chilly Spring Days!

Posted on by Mollie Smith

 

With the chilly temperatures this week, we enjoyed the process of creating art together! Mrs. Reed, our in-house artist and art teacher, helped our classroom create a modern piece of art for our school’s auction item! Each child explored and chose colors that they wanted to include in our project. They got to smear the paint down to create a colorful background. When it was finished, the children were very happy because they could look and see who made swivels, swirls, and big lines.

As always, we worked hard between creating works of art and, of course, our favorite baking. Our zucchini bread was back by popular demand!

With Full Hearts,

Ms. Mollie, Ms. Lizette and Ms. Anabel

Mrs. Hood: The Magic of Color Mixing!

Posted on by Andrea Hood

This week, we continued our exploration of the colors of the rainbow, diving into the magical world of color mixing! Our focus was on the color orange, and the children were amazed to discover that combining red and yellow creates this warm, cheerful hue. At the easel, they observed this transformation firsthand, blending the colors and watching different shades of orange emerge on their paper. It was a joyful experience filled with curiosity and creativity!

To extend this learning, we tied our color studies into nutrition by recognizing fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, and dairy foods by their colors. During snack and lunchtime, the children were excited to share the colors of the rainbow they found in their food containers. This activity not only reinforces color recognition but also highlights the importance of a balanced diet. You can try this at home by encouraging your child to identify the colors on their plate and talk about the benefits of eating a variety of colorful foods!

In addition to colors, the children have been fascinated by zoo animals! We’ve talked about the difference between pets and wild animals, and some of the class favorites include the lion, elephant, zebra, cheetah, and giraffe. The children have enjoyed learning about their habitats, characteristics, and unique features.

As we soak up the last cool days before spring is in full bloom, we’ve been spending extra time outdoors exploring nature. Watching them run, jump, and observe the changing environment has been a delight, and we look forward to fully embracing the beauty of springtime in the coming weeks!

This week, our food-tasting lesson introduced the children to plantains. The children were definitely intrigued by this fruit, which looks like a banana but tastes quite different. They sampled both soft and chip-style plantains, discovering a new flavor that many of them enjoyed.

To wrap up our week, we engaged in a magical Sensorial art project using food coloring, cotton swabs, dish soap, and milk. The children watched in awe as the dish soap reacted with the fat in the milk, causing the food coloring to swirl and dance. Their expressions of wonder were priceless! To preserve this moment, we placed watercolor paper onto the surface, capturing beautiful and unique prints of their milk art.

Thank you for sharing in our adventures… we can’t wait for more fun ahead!

Mrs. Hood and Ms. Patty

Mrs. Wilson: Little Meteorologist, Ornithologist and Botanist

Posted on by Cynthia Wilson

April is a month filled with opportunities to learn about Spring! The children will explore various aspects of this season, focusing on weather, birds, and seeds. This week, we began discussing the weather. Throughout the month, I’ll be inviting a child to be the “Meteorologist of the Day.” They’ll observe the weather outside and describe what they see. Afterward, the child will visit the weather board to find and share the matching weather symbol with their peers. We’ll practice saying the phrase, “The weather is __________.”

In addition to learning about the weather, the children will also discover the backyard birds native to our area. We’ll listen to the different bird calls and work on identifying the names of various birds.

We’ve also started planting sunflower seeds! Each child filled a small starter pot with soil and carefully chose a seed to plant. These pots are now in an indoor greenhouse, where the children can check on them daily to see if any seeds have sprouted. We’re all excited to see if we can grow 12 magnificent sunflowers by the start of the next school year!

We celebrated a friend’s birthday this week with delicious cupcakes! Happy birthday to our friend!

Food Tasting: This week, the children explored asparagus. They seem to enjoy the uncooked version better than the cooked one.

Love and Light,

Cynthia and Sara

Ms. Mollie: Hello, April! 🌦☂️🌷

Posted on by Mollie Smith

Our week has been a great opportunity to view the changes in weather; the children love singing our  “What is the Weather” song to describe the weather each day. We continue to talk about what makes spring, spring! We planted some seed starts this week- flowers, of course! The children have a very keen eye for growing plants and for the new types of birds showing up at our feeder. They are very excited that we have a cardinal now.

The highlight of the week that the children enjoyed most was definitely making chocolate zucchini bread! When I asked the children if they liked zucchini, they all said, ” Ewww.” So I switched up our game plan, and we “hid” it in our bread! The children followed the baking sequence beautifully; they now know what to do with minimal help. They enjoyed each step, especially the sharing and eating!

With full hearts,

Ms. Mollie. Ms. Lizette and Ms. Anabelle

Mrs. Wilson: Welcome Spring

Posted on by Cynthia Wilson

My favorite time of the school year is the return from spring break. The children return with a new refreshing energy and appreciation for their Fraser Woods family. You can see how much they missed each other and how much they have grown developmentally. The children have been having some wonderful serve-and-return conversations with each other, telling stories to their peers or seeking each other out for help versus asking the teachers. It has been so endearing to see and hear their interactions with each other.

This week, the children have been finishing up exploring the safari animals and St. Patrick’s Day materials. We also celebrated one of our friends’ birthdays. As we gradually transition into spring, the children have been discovering signs of the season outside. They have found acorns starting to grow roots, noticed sprouts, and even spotted two little crocuses blooming in our garden.

Food Tasting: This week, we tasted sweet potatoes, which were a big hit with most of the children.

Love and Light,

Cynthia and Sara

Read the March 8 blog post here. 

Mrs. Hood: Colorful Wonders 🌈

Posted on by Andrea Hood

Colors are everywhere, and recognizing them is an important milestone in a child’s cognitive development. Beyond just naming colors, children use them to sort, categorize, compare, and organize, which are key skills for early math and communication development. While colors are always part of our classroom experience through materials, books, songs, and activities, this week, we took a deeper dive into the magical world of colors, focusing on the colors of the rainbow!

We kicked things off with a fascinating walking rainbow experiment. Using cups of water, paper towels, and red, blue, and yellow food coloring, the children watched in amazement as the water traveled through the paper towels, mixing to create new colors like orange, green, and purple. Through this experiment, we explored capillary action, the same process that helps water travel from a plant’s roots to its leaves. The children were captivated by the transformation, with plenty of “Wows!” and giggles as they checked on the progress throughout the week. For our older toddlers who have already mastered primary, secondary, and tertiary colors, we also introduced the concept of different shades and tones, adding an extra layer of discovery to our rainbow exploration.

Our color celebrations continued with a vibrant introduction to the Indian festival of Holi! Holi marks the arrival of spring and is known as the festival of colors, symbolizing joy, love, and new beginnings. We read the beautifully illustrated book Festival of Colors by Kabir and Surishtha Sehgal, which helped the children understand the meaning and traditions of this special celebration. Then, the real fun began! We took to the field for our very own Holi celebration, where the children joyfully threw colorful powder into the air—and at each other! Laughter, excitement, and bursts of color filled the space. It was truly a sight to behold!

A huge thank you to Keerti Murari for introducing this beautiful cultural tradition to our class and for providing the colorful powder that made our celebration so special. And a big shout-out to Shannon Turkett for her generous donations that helped make our Holi festivities extra fun! We are so grateful for your support!

We also had the joy of celebrating a special birthday in our class this week! Our little friend proudly walked around the sun while we all sang and celebrated her special day. Afterward, we shared a delicious treat together, making it a simple yet joyful moment for everyone.

To top off our colorful week, we explored pineapple as our featured food tasting of the week. The children enjoyed observing, touching, and tasting this yummy fruit.

From science and culture to celebrations and food, this week was a perfect blend of hands-on learning and joyful experiences.

Enjoy the pictures of your happy children,

Mrs. Hood and Ms. Patty

Read the March 8 blog post here.

Ms. Mollie: Finally, SPRING!

Posted on by Mollie Smith

Finally, Spring!!! This week, it’s been such a joy welcoming the children back after the long break. The children were eager to return to different works throughout the classroom. We have enjoyed each sunny day, playing, walking, digging, climbing, and running as fast as we can! The children this week have been embracing and exploring all of the different qualities of spring. We have been exploring different types of eggs and who might grow in them!

We have the beauty of the Fraser Woods campus to explore many different types of spring flowers. The miniature daffodils growing outside of our classroom have been a highlight in our week, the beautiful yellow and as one student said “they smells good ones”. One of the most treasured photos from this week is of the children exploring the daffodils, passing them to each other, exploring, observing, and touching the petals with a sense of wonder and gentleness.

With Full Hearts,

Ms. Mollie, Ms. Lizette and Ms. Anabel

Read the March 8 blog post here.