Paint!

This week we have been exploring paint. We started out with a group finger painting on Monday. They loved smearing the paint around the poster board and squishing it between their fingers.









Tuesday, we tied bells to sponge brushes and painted to music. We started out with some more mellow tunes, then put on some more upbeat music. It was fascinating to watch how the change in the tempo of the music changed the energy of the painting.









On Wednesday, what started out as painting with our feet became a full body painting experience. We put rolls of paper on the floor and let them walk through globs of paint. Soon, they were sliding around in the paint, sitting in it, and painting themselves. S started rubbing orange paint on his stomach and saying, “Scrub tummy!” H sat and squished paint between her toes. Even our newest walker bravely stepped through the paint!














We used frozen water colors on Thursday. We started out just painting on paper that was taped on the light table. As the colors melted, they dripped on the paper. After a while, we turned on the light table to add another element to the experience. Seeing the light shine through the water colors was really neat.











Thanks for sharing your artists with us!

Love,
Green Room

Family Involvement Volunteer Hours

Dear Creative Minds Families,

Welcome to a new school year! This blog post is to let you know of an important addition to our parent handbook this year—family involvement volunteer hours. (You also got a letter in your parent pocket with the same information.) Starting this year, we are asking each family to contribute eight hours per year. Many of you have already been volunteering from time to time, and we are so grateful for your help! We’ve found it to be a tremendous win-win whenever families have the opportunity to get more involved in our program. The children are proud of their parents’ contributions, the teachers appreciate the fresh perspectives and diverse talents you bring to the classroom, and our families feel more connected to each other and to the school. By adding this opportunity and expectation for everyone, our goal is to help every family find a meaningful way to engage with our school so we can all benefit from each other’s gifts and talents.

So how will this work? What do I need to do?

We are asking each family (regardless of how many children you have enrolled here) to contribute eight hours per year. That’s just a couple hours per quarter, and there will be a wide variety of ways you can contribute to our program, either here on campus or remotely. See our website at www.creativemindscdc.org/family-involvement/ for the most current project list at any given time. If there’s something else you’d like to contribute that isn’t on the list, we’re always open to ideas! Here are just a few samples from the list:

* Read a special book to the class and lead an art or sensory project related to it.

* Help with playground beautification or help build playground equipment.

* Help with housekeeping tasks: change broken blinds, replace light bulbs, etc.

* Make felt/flannel board stories to go with some of our favorite books.

* Serve on planning committees for recruitment/interviews or facility design

But I’m seriously SO busy!

We realize that many of our families are working full-time and don’t have a lot of extra time to commit. This is why we are asking only eight hours per year, and why we have a mix of short and long projects and some that you can do from home on your own time. Also, anyone from your family can contribute. Parents, step-parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, adult siblings—anyone who would like to share their talents is welcome.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call us at (408) 445-0101 or email Richa or Jennifer. We thank you for your understanding, and for partnering with us as we continue to grow and thrive together!

Thanks,

Richa Kapur

Director

Creative Minds CDC

Cars

We have had a lot of interest in cars lately. Teacher Katie made a tape road on the floor for the children to drive their cars on and it's been a big hit. We've been enjoying reading books about cars. My Truck is Stuck, Little Blue Truck, and Roadwork have been some of the favorite books lately. We have also been incorporating cars into our art and sensory activities. This month we have painted with cars and had a "wheels on the bus" themed sensory bin.

Under construction...


Ready...Set....


Go!



Painting with cars?! What better way to combine two of our favorite things! They really enjoyed rolling the cars through the paint and watching the different tire tracks appear on the paper.












The "wheels on the bus" sensory bin has been a big hit! The children have been enjoying exploring the rice, pasta wheels, tracks, cars and, of course, buses in the bin. They especially enjoy singing the song as they play!


Feeling and scooping....








Lets ride in the bus!


Is there room for one more?

Pretend play with accessories!

Our babies and toddlers have been fascinated with parents' and teachers' sunglasses, so Teacher Jennifer bought some that are safe for the kids to explore. What fun!

At first, we used all five senses to explore the new toys. What do they look like from all sides? How do they taste?

They tried to put their own sunglasses on, but that took a lot of practice! Getting them right-side-up and over the ears and on the eyes takes quite a lot of coordination. Teachers helped sometimes...






What is going on? I can see different colors through glasses.







How fun!












How does the classroom look with the glasses on vs. off?




Let's try some other accessories! Trying on dress up shoes and slippers...






These basic daily living play activities seem very simple, but self-help skills are a great way to build independence, self-esteem, fine and gross motor coordination, sensory awareness, and more. When we do it together, it also builds language and social skills. The possibilities are endless!



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Flour, sifters, mirrors...

Green Room friends had fun with flour, mirrors and sifters.

























Who would have thought flour can turn into snow or fairy dust? Oh.....to be a child again! What a wonderful sensory experience to have soft snow fall down from the sky and land on your skin.

How fun is it to get a print of your hand as it sits on the mirror and fairy dust covers it from above? Imaginary play is endless and priceless! Have a wonderful week everyone!

Teacher Rosemary




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Miss Ila visits...

Miss Ila from the San Jose Public Library comes to do story time in our classroom once a month :)





We always enjoy Miss Ila's visits!






She and her bear friend sing with us.






Then Miss Ila reads us a story:)




Thank you for your visit, Miss Ila! We appreciate you!

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Sink of float

CREATIVE Water play!

Today my friends had lots of sensory fun exploring new objects in the blue water bin, testing out what sinks and what floats. From silver cardboard bowls, squishy sea life toys, to styrofoam shapes and rubber ducks; the choices and combinations were endless.




















Scooping up water beads





Making water play a full body experience...












We had so much fun! Thanks to Teacher Rosemary for setting up another amazing activity for us!

Sand in a box!

SAND FOAM IN GREEN ROOM TODAY!
Our friends had lots of fun in "Green Room" today!
It's hard to go wrong when you mix wonderful soft sand with silky, cool shaving cream that smells good too! The slimy, grainy texture makes this combination a wonderful sensory activity for little ones...(and big ones too...) Those little hands were busy at work slopping the sand foam all about! I added some fun shells, etc. to the sand foam for some imaginary play. FUN! FUN! FUN!













































Add shells and purple paint...














This feels different....














Lets hop into the box rather than sitting outside.































It gets wet with shaving cream





























Should I hide the shell?














So fun to hold it and squish it...














Maybe I will just use my thumb so that I don't get dirty



Our friends played with some home made "Gak"..one of my all time favorites. I've sprinkled the Gak with beautiful little jewels to add to their sensory experience.





















































































Enjoy!


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