were U-shaped magnets and magnetic wands (or to some, “magic” wands) along with items that would stick and items that would not.  They also took the wands around the school and experimented with many objects they use daily.  They made predictions of what would stick and what wouldn’t, and were often surprised by the outcome!  This was a great hands-on “scientific” activity to explore the wonders of magnetism. 

Currently there are a variety of laminated leaves, pinecones, and acorns along with magnifying glasses available at the science center.  The children are enjoying examining these objects with the magnifiers.  This is another great hands-on science activity. 

Also available are cut out three inch apples taped and stacked on the wall.  We are using them to measure the children.  We mark and date “how many apples high” they are.  We will repeat this at the end of the year to show them how much they have grown!  You may want to ask your child “how many apples high are you?” 

Upcoming on science:  scales with apples and pumpkins to weigh.

To begin the year there were plastic teddy bears of different colors and sizes along with matching plates available at the math center.  The children enjoyed sorting and matching the teddy bears by color and size.  Classifying and sorting are important math skills for the children to practice.  The teddy bears also provide a degree of “comfort” for some of the separation anxiety experienced at the beginning of school.  This is also a great language activity,

as some of the children made up stories about the teddy bears! 

Next available was an apple sequencing game.  The children matched different sized apples to pictures on a chart.  They lined them up from smallest to biggest.  Once they are successful, they like to repeat this activity over and over. 

At present there is a farm animal concentration game at math.  This activity promotes the concept of matching, another important math skill.  Some children play this as a concentration game, which promotes memory, while others love to find matches or just name the animals.  The way in which each child uses the game depends on his or her own developmental level.   

Next up will be a “Colorama” bingo game.

The children have been hard at work in the Creativity Room.  The easels are never empty, as there is painting with different colors going on always.  We started out with blue paint, and we have now moved on to yellow and red.  The children have enjoyed finding out that if you mix these two colors it makes orange.  We also had chalk available for them to make pictures on the other side of the easels.  Recently that has changed to leaf rubbings with large crayons.  The children are amazed at what happens when you rub a crayon over the paper with a leaf under it.  

Our sensory table has had many faces.  First, it started out as a sand box with shovels and strainers. The children had a great time playing in that.  It then became a water table with many little boats.  Sorry if they came home wet, but that would explain how much fun they had there!  The table is