Spraying

We were anticipating a wet week here in the Triangle, and a bit excited about that, but alas it was a tease and we barely got any rain during school. Ah well. It was a great week regardless and some day soon we'll get a good rainy day again (am I from the Pacific Northwest or what?!).

Monday was K's FD (first day) and she was honored with the first strokes of color on the canvas (or sheet ). We had an absolute blast taking turns adding color and watching the white background transform and change over and over. In the end, the result was quite beautiful, but the process was pure fun and sweetness.
Using a squeeze bottle helps to build hand strength in preschoolers, assisting in developing pencil grasp skills. Tuesday we cut shapes from foam sticker sheets to create stamps. That cutting and peeling is tricky for small hands but again is great for that fine motor strength/skill building.
Some children will learn the "proper" pencil grasp at a very young age, while others take a bit more time to develop that skill. A proper grasp, in my best understanding, is all about making writing comfortable and less exhausting for your hand muscles. The "correct" grasp, or the one that's most comfortable/efficient on your hand's muscles and joints, is called a tripod grasp. Another common, less efficient grasp (which has always been my go to), is called the quadrupod grasp. I do notice that my hand will tire out after a while of writing or drawing, and then I'll switch to the tripod grasp, which is not preferred or familiar, but I'm still able to use it to write quite legibly.
One OT says this about focusing too heavily on grasp, rather than strength/skill building, before children are ready:

As educational demands [at a young age] increase to ridiculous levels, children are finding themselves forced into writing tasks and grasping skills that they just aren’t ready for. They are scolded when those three little fingers are joined by others in a desperate search for stability that hasn’t developed yet. If a child doesn’t have the foundational skills for a proper grasp, they are going to start doing some funky things to try to compensate.

I'll begin paying closer attention to everyone's pencil grasp in the coming weeks and utilizing some strategies to build the foundational strength/skills as well as pulling in some tools, if needed.

Another highlight early this week was the warmth that allowed us to bring the chicks outside for a while. This was the most fun the children have had with the chicks because they got to be very interactive with them, hanging out and just spending some time with them. Make sure you watch the two videos in this week's album because watching the chicks bathe themselves is hilarious and made us giddy.

Midweek we did a full morning outing to the Woodcroft fields and playground. There was fairy village play time, soccer ball play and some good time observing a big machine doing work on the culverts along the trails.

Thursday A taught his friends the monkey breath during our circle time. Later we baked some banana, walnut and chocolate chip muffins. Bananas were mashed and added, eggs were cracked and whisked, walnuts were chopped, and other ingredients were measured and added. The oven vented delicious smells on us while we ate lunch, and the kids all agreed the muffins came out delish.

Friday we field-tripped to Solite Park, which turned out to be a blast with the bike mounds. We went on a 'bear hunt' during the morning circle, and it transformed and continued as we ran up and down the mounds and then through the trails in the woods. A few friends were a bit scared of the book when I first read it last week (if you don't know it--there's a big build up on the bear hunt and then a cave, where a big bear scares them off and chases them all the way to their home). Hearing about the concerns, we shifted the perspective with the book, talking about why a bear might get angry and chase humans (fear), as well as whether the story was real or pretend.

Enjoy the weekend time with your loved ones and we will see you next week when it's supposed to reach again into the 80s, so the chicks can come out to play!

--Teacher Maddi