We have got the Christmas spirit here at Harbor City School and we can’t contain it!  While Peter and I both come from backgrounds of teaching multicultural holiday celebrations, we find ourselves in a community in which each family celebrates Christmas, and boy do they love to celebrate!  In fairness, the Tugboats have been singing “Jingle Bells” since the week before Halloween, so once we got through Thanksgiving, we finally agreed to join them in their caroling.  We’ve been listening to holiday music at Snack Time, singing Christmas songs at Circle Time, and creating all manner of holiday art projects.

Today’s parent teacher was Grady’s mom, Erin, and she brought us a fabulous holiday project idea:  Harbor City School ornaments!  Erin collected the materials for each child to have one hanging photo frame and one tugboat and to paint those items with glittering versions of the HCS colors.  What a treat!  The children were so excited to see the ever-recognizable tugboat in ornament form; I think they feel a strong sense of ownership over the image and I can’t say I blame them.  While one table painted their frames blue, the other table painted their tugboats red, and then they switched.  They did a lovely job sharing paint cups and waiting their turns to switch tables.  Once they are dry and assembled, we’ll send the ornaments home next week.  Thanks for the great idea, Erin!

The non-nappers are currently awake and making decorations for our holiday party, which will be tomorrow at 4 PM.  Don’t forget your pajamas, everyone!  And don’t be surprised if you don’t recognize the classroom tomorrow afternoon; we’re turning it into a winter wonderland, with or without any help from Mother Nature!

It’s been another whirlwind Wednesday, which is just the way we like it here at Harbor City School.  “Busy” often equals “fun,” and that was certainly the case today!  We were excited to have Antonella’s dad, John, join us–and during J-Week, no less!  John is always popular during dramatic play and playground time, but today he was especially helpful in carving out a new role for the parent teacher:  Lunch Bunch reader.  While the full-day children get ready for rest time, John found a comfy space on the bench with the children who would be leaving at 1:00 so that they could read stories together until their parents arrived.  It was a huge success!

During project time, we decided to get a little messy with our letter decoration.  We typically use stickers or stamps that relate to the letter of the week, but had a tough time generating J ideas.  When I realized how many jars of jam we had in the refrigerator, I had a brilliant but potentially dangerous idea:  Jam Js!  It’s always a treat for us to be able to give the children experiences you’d rather they not have at home–and we can see why!  We gave each child a try to contain the mess, as well as smocks and some assistance securing their rolled-up sleeves.  We then scooped a spoonful of jam onto their Js and let them have a ball!  As usually happens, we saw a variety of interest level in the activity.  Some children really relished the idea of playing with food and making a big, sticky mess!  Others disliked the texture and feeling of the jam on their fingers, so they didn’t do much spreading or “painting.”  Despite these differences, I think everyone discovered a new-found appreciation for the amount of clean-up we do after snack and lunch!  What a mess!

We continued our exploration of the letter J with a fun snack time activity suggested by our parent teacher today, Sharon.  Sharon and her daughter Alden brought in several tangerines, lemons, limes, and a grapefruit, along with a juicer, and we made our own juice for snack!  Because many of those fruits taste sour or bitter on their own, we mixed them to create a delicious fruity drink!  Each child took a turn selecting a fruit, then twisting it on top of the juicer.  With a little help from the grown-ups, we had enough juice for everyone to taste our concoction and it was a big hit!

In addition, Kristy designed a math project in which each child used a muffin tin to sort a large pile of jelly beans.  Each cup of the muffin tin had a designated number and color indicating how much of each type of jelly bean went into the cups.  Each child’s muffin tin had different numbers and colors, so they worked independently, but shared the large trays of jelly beans at their tables.  This activity was perfect for our group of Tugboats because it posed both successes and challenges for everyone, regardless of their level of comfort with the task.  Some children were ready to count each color of jelly bean and match it to their assigned numbers while others were more comfortable matching the colors, but needed more one on one assistance with the counting.  Everyone took the opportunity to practice and strengthen their one-to-one correspondence and number sense.  They also practiced their fine motor skills by grasping and pinching at their desired jelly beans.

While most of the Tugboats are comfortable counting both independently and as a group, it’s typical for children at this age to struggle to associate the numbers that they speak with the printed numbers they see and then a collection of items that equal the number.  Activities like this one help them to strengthen those associations.  A firm grasp of number sense is the foundation needed for children to understand and master addition and subtraction in their early elementary years.  We are well on our way!

Santa came to Harbor City School a little early this year in the form of one of my friends and former classmates, Barrett Roberts!  Barrett took his position as head coach of Wheaton’s Swimming and Diving program around the same time that we opened Harbor City School, and he asked about any ways in which his team could help us in our start-up phase.  We talked about our needs and decided that a supply drive would be the most helpful for us, as well as the most fun for his team.  Barrett has always been an amazingly supportive friend, but he really outdid himself this time!  He arrived this morning with 3 large bins filled with art materials, office supplies, and new toys!

After we explored the new materials, we decided to break into our new stampers and poster paints to make our Wheaton friends a thank you sign!  It’s still drying, so I’ll have photos of the finished product later:

The generous gift from the Wheaton Swimming and Diving team includes many items our classroom was lacking, including jump ropes and several musical instruments.  They also stocked us up on many art supplies that we use up and have to replace, like paints, crayons, markers, collage materials, and over 150 paint brushes!  I truly am overwhelmed by this support from students at my alma mater.  The words “thank you” do not fully express my gratitude.  I’d call that a wonderful alumni connection!

Today’s parent teacher was Aviva’s dad, Edson, and what a treat it was to have him in the classroom!  We all know from playing with Aviva that she is an expert at Dramatic Play.  She has endless ideas about different restaurants we can start, ways to raise our classroom baby dolls, and many other imaginary worlds into which we can enter with her.  Edson is just as creative as Aviva at pretending!  For almost all of free play this morning, he had an entire gaggle of children surrounding him, pulling more and more imaginary details from his brain.  They had such a great time and got so much wonderful inspiration from playing with Aviva and Edson together!

Project time, however, was when the real creative sparks flew.  As many of you know, Edson is a very talented photographer.  He graciously took our school photos for us in October (email carissa at harbor city kids dot org for information on how to access these photos!) and amazingly captured the sweetest details in each of their personalities.  Today, he put the children behind the camera!  Edson brought his camera and tripod to the classroom and taught the kiddos about still life photography.  He explained that still life involves arranging and taking photos of objects that are not alive.  From there, he set up the tripod and used floor tape to section off the frame of the photos.  As a group, the children collected 3 of their favorite toys from around the classroom and then individually took turns arranging and photographing their toys.  What a hit!  Edson volunteered to print each child’s photo so they can keep their first professional photo forever!

During our photography project, I was so impressed with how well the children cooperated with one another.  We collected our favorite toys as a group, and I anticipated some squabbling over favorites, but there was none!  They shared the materials so nicely together.  They safely moved around the classroom, never running or shoving, and patiently waited for their turns to take their photos.  As they waited, they attentively and quietly observed their peers as they took their turns.  We’ve seen the children function very effectively as a group before, but I am always impressed and proud of them when I see reminders of it.  They really take their classroom community seriously.  Apparently, they also take creative expression seriously as well!