I think all of us are a little confused and cautiously enjoying this unseasonably warm weather, but we at Harbor City know just what to do with it: take advantage! We were planning to talk a lot about weather this week, but aside from how warm it is and why that is odd for the month of March, we’ve only been able to say one thing all week; sunny, sunny, sunny! Every day this week, we’ve spent as much time outside as possible. Without the extra time it takes to put our coats on, we’ve managed to get outside a full 15 minutes earlier than we typically do. The Tugboats seem to be obsessed with soccer lately, so we’ve taken advantage of that interest in the afternoons as a way to avoid the crowds at the playground. We love to head to a large grassy area with the cones and a few small balls and just run and kick to our hearts’ content!
We also enjoyed our outside time with a project contributed by one of our parent helpers this week. Marcela, Sofia’s mom, brought a large cardboard playhouse for us to build on the playground! The kiddos loved “helping” the grown-ups assemble the structure and even though our paint markers proved to be too messy for us to decorate, they still loved exploring the space. I think there is something inherently fun about introducing a new element to a common routine. We visit the playground daily, but adding a strange new structure seemed to turn it into a whole new space!
Another exciting element of W week has been our classroom visitors, worms in the sensory bin! The small sensory table has been full of soil this week, as well as some carrot peels and egg shells to feed our wiggly friends. The children have been using plastic spoons to gently scoop the worms, then placing them in clear plastic cups or their hands for closer examination. It’s been a great exercise to help them slow their bodies and use extreme caution with such small, delicate creatures. None of the children has been afraid or nervous about the worms either! Some children are disinterested, but most of them love to dig deep in the soil and get dirty! After this week, we’ll add them to our plot in the Bremen St. Community Garden to help nourish and care for the soil in which our new plants will grow.
My favorite W project this week was Thursday’s watermelon project. Each child was given one half of a paper plate and used pink and green paint to bring their watermelons to life. We talked about the white and black seeds we see in watermelons that we eat. The white seeds are usually okay to eat, but we spit out the black ones! Each child also had a card with his or her name printed on it. They counted the letters in their own names, then counted out the corresponding number of seeds. The wet paint acted as a glue, so we stuck the seeds on and voila! Each child had a unique and individual watermelon!
