For a short week, it has certainly been a busy one!  We began our study of the letter S by decorating capital-Ss with star-shaped stickers.  Each child was given a large S with various colored dots on it.  Using shiny star stickers, we asked them to match the color of the sticker to the color of a dot.  Once they had covered each dot with a star, we gave them sparkly silver stars to decorate even further.  What a hit!  About half of the students were able to match the colors with little or no assistance from a grown-up.  Those that did need a little extra help quickly caught on and were able to match their stars and dots independently by the end of the project.  Many of the children also had an easy time peeling the small stickers from the sheet, a task which challenged most of them just a few short months ago.  While we were thrilled with the fine motor development that we usually aim for with our weekly letter decorations, we were even more excited to see how the Tugboats used this as a learning opportunity in other domains as well.  One student whose primary language is not English took the chance to practice saying her colors in English!  She would hold up a sticker and look to her neighbor and ask, “Orange?”  Her neighbor would reply, “Yep, that’s orange!” and they would continue on about their project.  In addition to the language development, the helping student had an opportunity to mentor and teach to a friend, one of my favorite benefits of a mixed-age classroom.

On Wednesday, we enjoyed our weekly music class with Jessica.  The weather was too glorious to pass up, so we had some extra playground time that cut our music class a little short, but we all needed the fresh air and sunshine!  We came inside with renewed energy to play instruments and sing along to some of our favorite songs.  The children who’ve been to music class before were eager to share what they’ve learned with two friends who don’t typically come to school on Wednesdays.  They loved showing off the words to “Driving In My Car,” which is always a favorite!

Today we revisited the letter S with a super silly project that Liz, Isa’s mom, shared with us: spiral snakes!  The children each got a piece of paper with a spiral line drawn upon it, ending in the center with a snake’s head.  They colored their snakes with markers and crayons, emulating the stripes that many snakes sport, then practiced their scissor use by cutting along the line.  With 3 grown-ups in the room, we were able to accommodate the younger preschoolers who needed a little bit of assistance with their scissors, while many of the children confidently cut their own snakes.  Once they were finished, they held them up to see their slithering serpents bounce around the room!