February 2022: The Many Ways to Say I Love You
February is a time to celebrate Love!
We love our family, our friends, our community, and our animals!
There are many ways to say, “I love you!” You can show your love in many more ways, than just saying so. This month was inspired by Mr. Roger’s song, “Many Ways to Say I Love You”. Children explored all the different ways they can show someone they love them. Some examples the children came up with: helping, sharing, making something, cleaning up, hugs and kisses.
Also this month, children were able to challenge themselves with more advanced games, water pouring activities, and loose parts. Loose parts are natural materials that encourages open-ended play. There is no “right” way. Each individual creation and scenario is meaningful and beneficial. These types of activities create opportunities for children to expand their skills.
The mud kitchen was a popular play area this month among the children, even in the cold! Studies have shown that there is microscopic bacteria in mud that increases serotonin levels in our brains.
Caring For Animals:
Taking care of animals is empowering and can contribute to self-confidence…
Last month we brainstormed how to take care of our own bodies. This month we built off that by discussing how to take care of animals. Children get very excited about this great responsibility.
We care for our chickens at school daily, this month we also got to learn about taking care of other animals. The children were very aware of all the needs of pets. Beyond food and water, animals need companionship, comfort, and a variety of care. In the early winter we took in a misplaced mouse. The children have enjoyed waiting for it to come out of its burrow to get a drink of water and say hi! We will be releasing the mouse back into its natural habitat this spring.
Children compared different types of animals and which animals can be pets, and which animals are meant to live in the wild. We even helped care for some wild animals! The children put together a healthy mix of oats and nuts to give to the ducks who live nearby.
Animal Visitors:
These experiences are memories children may hold onto for their entire lives.…
Children were able to share about pets in their personal lives. Some pets that were shared were dogs, a cat, and a beta fish! Many children showed us pictures of their pets and we discussed “What kind of pet would you choose if you could get one?”
Meeting a new animal can make you feel nervous. We helped the children understand by teaching them how to approach pets and recognize when they need some space. All of out pet visitors were friendly and fun!
We had a very special animal visitor, an animal with a job! Zoey the dog who works for Powder Mountain Ski Patrol and local Search and Rescue came and taught the children about how some animals have important jobs, even saving lives! The children enjoyed giving Zoey a treat and asking her owner many questions.
Learning about animals:
…a place of wonder where children can think beyond their current knowledge and experiences…
What a broad topic, animals! We really spend the entire school year learning about animals, but this month we put our scientific focus on them. Specifically, baby animals, life cycle of a frog, homes and habitats, and sea life. We all enjoyed playing with the large variety of animal toys we have at school, including animal dress up and puppets!
The children played a matching game where they matched baby animals to their grown up animal. We learned the many different names of baby animals and how some babies look like their grown up, but others do not. Also… baby animals are SO cute!
Life cycle of a frog is an interesting topic to learn about because it is such a unique transformation. We created a frog pond water activity for the children to have a sensory exploration, very fun activity!
The topic of animal habitats and homes goes along with animals as pets or in the wild. The children used the school’s Play Frames to create burrows, tunnels, and nests. The children matched animals to their natural habitats, this activity stretched their minds since they have never experienced many of these habitats in real life.
“Intelligence is what you use when you don’t know what to do.” ~Jean Piaget
Sea life is also a place of wonder where children can think beyond their current knowledge and experiences. There is so much to learn about sea life. We enjoyed inspecting all of Miss Jenny’s sea shells she has collected learning the words “similarities and differences”.
Love Day Celebration:
"When we love a person, we accept him or her exactly as is: the lovely with the unlovely, the strong along with the fearful, the true mixed in with the façade, and of course, the only way we can do it is by accepting ourselves that way."
~ Mr. Rogers
The children got to get a lot of scissor practice in this month by cutting out heart decorations for our classroom. Cutting curved lines is an advanced cutting skill. A mentor teacher of Miss Demi’s once said, “We may have a future surgeon in this classroom, let’s make sure they know how to use these tools!” The children excitedly got to tape their hearts all over our upstairs classroom in preparation for our Love Day Celebration!
Teachers hid heart notes with ways to say “I love you” on them. The children worked together to hunt for the hearts in our outdoor space. When they would drop one into the basket, they would happily skip away to find another! Our Love Hunt was a fun way to get our bodies moving and love energies spreading!
On this February holiday, all children look forward to decorating an individualized bag to hold their gifts from their classmates. We used paint stamps and stickers to provide many of these children with their first memory of this heartfelt holiday.
Each child got a turn to pass out their Love Day card to everyone of their classmates. This time was full of excited smiles, “thank you’s”, and the warm glow of what it feels like to give.
The children were surprised with a special snack for this special day. “There’s the surprising way to say I love you…” Ice cream cone parfaits topped with sprinkles and heart shapes strawberries was a pleasing way to enjoy a mostly healthy snack
Art Exploration:
The children have opportunities daily to choose from different mediums of open-ended process art…
Children started their second art experience with ceramics. Children designed clay slabs that can be hung for decoration. We used natural materials like dry pasta and wooden sticks to originate beautiful designs in their slab. So much learning happens during process art, not only does it build cognitive development and coordination, it enhances social and emotional maturation. This is a long term project, the slabs need to be dried, fired, glazed, then fired again. We will be revisiting this project a couple more times this school year.
The children have opportunities daily to choose from different mediums of open-ended process art. This month we did some “How To Draw...” art. This is step-by-step drawing the children did with the guidance of their teachers. This practice establishes planning skills and visual perception. Each child picked an animal to draw and then paint.
As mentioned, scissor cutting practice was available to the children all month. The children also got to explore with water color paints. The children are becoming proficient at remembering each type of paint and how it is used. The teachers are so proud of the children’s listening skills and ability to follow directions so we can continue doing all of these fun activities. These actions show the teachers they are loved! There are MANY ways to say, “I love you!!”
