We’ve had a wonderful start to our year in the Silver Room! Over the past few weeks, our class has been getting to know each other and discovering how we learn and play. Our wish is for all students to feel connected to and understood by their teachers and peers. Through our daily routines and activities, children find many opportunities to forge relationships and foster their sense of belonging.

Some of our favorite activities so far are sensory exploration, gross motor time, and making group art. Some materials we’re loving include colorful wooden blocks, Stabilo pencils, magnetic builders, and vehicles.

We’d love to take you on a tour of Silver Room moments that highlight the ways we’re building our class family!

Play is the hallmark of early childhood development; it allows children to express themselves and make sense of the world around them. During these first weeks, children have created imaginary worlds with our dolls and kitchen, molded play-doh into sculptures, explored our sensory table, and built structures with magna-tiles and legos. We love watching students use play to communicate, take risks, take turns, explore their interests, and bond with peers.

We love to sing, dance, chase, and jump! We’ve been busy exploring our gross motor spaces, playing active games, and spending time with our movement specialist Kyleigh, and our music teacher, Megan. During movement, the children take imaginary train and airplane rides, dance to a drum, and toss colorful scarves in the air. Moving and singing together offer children opportunities to connect and express themselves. In addition to our Hello and Goodbye songs, we’ve been singing throughout our day. Some favorite songs include Slippery Fish, Kookaburra, Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes, The Popcorn Song, and The Dinosaur Song. We’ll send some recordings in an upcoming post!

We love sculpting pottery with Greenwich House’s own Dave Gibson. With “Pottery Dave,” as we fondly call him, students are learning to shape the clay and use coils, strengthening their fine motor skills.

Jahidah, our wonderful curriculum specialist, engages students with natural materials such as seeds, flowers, twigs, and leaves. These experiences are multisensory learning opportunities.

Each specialist brings so much creativity and richness to our class with their playfulness and expertise.