Busy hands...focused minds.

We had a very busy and focused week.

Andy stopped by again and we sang "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" with partner movments. Morning group provides children the opportunity to get settled in and connect with friends before setting out to work.

Calea practices her teen numbers and numerals.

Open snack allows children to listen to their bodies and notice when they're hungry. Noni counts how many grapes per serving of snack today.

Carter, Simon, and Daniel work together to complete the truck puzzle.

Lucy learned to use the addition strip board this week.

Paper weaving...

Hmm...so many pieces in the trinomial cube! No problem for Gav. He knows how to organize his pieces and match the cubes and rectangular prisms by size and color.

Formula for the cube (a+b)³

a + b + c
x a + b + c
a² + ab + ac
ab + b² + bc
ac + bc + c²
a² +2ab +2ac +b² +2bc +c²
x a + b + c
a³ +2a²b+2a²c +ab²+2abc +ac²
______a²b +2ab²+2abc +b³ +2b²c +bc²
+a²c +2abc +2ac² + b²c +2bc² +c³
a³+3a²b+3a²c +3ab²+6abc +3ac²+b3 +3b²c +3bc² +c3

(Gavin is going to ace algebra!)

Watch as Gavin completes this material all by himself. He is now showing this material to his friends.

Petie is matching frogs

Lilly is focusing on her beading

Ella using her fine motor skills as well as her large motor skills for the shape lacing cards

Elle is dressing her baby

Virginia is slicing her own banana for snack

Maya is scooping and measuring flour

Bea measured a teaspoon of flour

Halloween and Fall fun!

Halloween!



orange soapy water fun with orange sponges to squeeze

orange water to scoop, pour, and funnel

squishing and rolling orange balls of playdough

0range easel painting

What did you do at school today?

When you ask your child this question what do they say? Sometimes it's hard for young children to recall their days. Be specific with the questions you ask. "Did you go outside?" "What songs did you sing at group?" "Did you paint or draw today?" "Which sounds did you practice today?"

Here are some photos to spark some conversation with your children.

Lucy is learning about squared numbers and skip counting. Here she practices six squared.

Calea uses the Addition Strip Board to add. This material has a built in control of error. If you look along the top, all the answers are there. However, that doesn't stop Calea from taking her time and counting each number out loud to find her answers. Then she checks.

The face of concentration.

Caring for the classroom environment is not just a job for teachers. All the friends enjoy chipping in and doing their part. Here they are folding the towels we use to dry our hands.

Gross motor writing engages the mind AND the body.

Alice is working on a book of the metal inset shapes.

The final product: a quatrefoil.

Daniel read 6 Bob Books in one morning work period!

Gavin has been using the red rods in all sorts of ways. On this day he made them into a snowflake.

Connor turned them into a maze. Adding a spoon and a bead makes walking this maze a little more challenging.

Gavin and Connor work together to turn the red rods into stairs.

And yet another creative mind....Katie came up with the idea to use the Brown Stairs AND the Red Rods together. She noticed that while the red rods get longer, the brown stairs get taller.

Sneak a Peek at our Halloween

Most schools don't celebrate this timeless holiday. At Namaste, we can't help ourselves. The children have been talking about their costumes since July.

Carrie and Calea made this slimy gooey GAK. It's very simple and worth trying at home on the next snowday!!

Jordy paints a Jack-o-latern sponge stamp.



We made pumpkin pancakes with local pumpkin puree!
Gavin is ready to start plating them to serve to friends!

Perfect flip, Leo!

This was from the inside of our pumpkin. We're collecting the seeds for roasting!

The toddlers prepare for the annual march of the preschoolers in costume!

Once we finished showing off our costumes we sang our favorite Halloween song, 5 Little Pumpkins.

" 5 Little pumpkins sitting on gate.

The first one said, 'Oh my! It's getting late.'

The Second one said, 'There are witches in the air!'

The Third one said, 'But we don't care!'

The fourth one said 'Let's run and run and run!'

The fifth one said, 'I'm ready for some fun!'

Oooooooo went the wind.

Out (clap) went the lights.

And the 5 little pumpkins rolled out of sight."

Princesses, elephants, and monkeys! Oh my!

Having a ball in fall!

Our friend Andy came to morning group and sang a few songs. If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!

Gavin still thinks tracing leaves is fun...because it is!

Counting in sequential order...

...counting just for fun!

Everyone's an artist at Namaste! Look how carefully Jordy adds detail to her painting.

Drawing with a dry erase marker on our pumpkin allows everyone to have a turn making silly or scary faces!

Bat nomenclature cards--we are learning the parts of the bat. First we match the pictures then we match the words.

Finally, we make a book of our own!

Color, cut, and a glue a bat. Leo made his with a striped pattern!

Lower Elementary students at hard at work...

Sewing stuffed pumpkins works fine motor skills, eye hand coordination, practicing following multi-step instructions, patience and concentration...plus it's just fun.

 The job of daily zoologist rotates. This student must care for all of the animals in our room. So far we have four zebra finches, a chinchilla, and tropical fish. We are looking forward to welcoming pets from the other animal kingdoms soon....insects, amphibians, reptiles, and perhaps a crustacean.

 Working hard on an article for our classroom newsletter.

Four digit multiplication is fun with the stamp game.

 Time for a quick snack, some oatmeal and honey. Yum.

 Working on building sentences with nouns and verbs. Even silly sentences have parts of speech.

 Doing some creative writing in the quiet area. Inspired by our chinchilla Salsa these students are writing a story about the Adventure of Salsa and Chips: Two Mammals on the Move

 Illustrations for a book about pumpkins.

 Getting a lesson on doing advanced Math with the stamp game, a very versatile math material.

 Inspired by a book about classical mazes, these students are designing their own.

 More pumpkin sewing.

 Creating a 3-D paper model of a volcano.

 Practicing handwriting.

 Making a clove covered lemon ornament. Smells so good!

Having a healthy snack with a friend is a nice way to take a break from a morning of hard work.