Water week and Branham Park field trip!

Hello Purple Room families,

During our "water week," friends got engaged in working with activities involving water and learning the different properties of water. It wasn't just about swimsuits and splashing outside this time (although we did that too), but exploring different ways that water affects materials and how it feels in different contexts.

The science of oobleck (water + corn starch)...






Water, oil, and food color experiment...learning about density!






Making music through pipes under water...



Watercolor dripping using droppers...







Enjoying water pools and water play outside...









Learning about evaporation and absorption and putting the learning to practice by painting with water, watching it darken the paper, and then disappear through evaporation...







Learning about reversibility (freezing and melting) through fun with ice cubes...




Learning about frozen foods brought in by a friend to share...



Branham Park Field Trip!

No words needed, the pictures will speak a thousand words! Enjoy!

On our walk we talked about roads, rules, litter, trees, safety, and read lots of signs and symbols that we came across...




















It was indeed one of the most fantastic trips on our list! Friends still keep asking about going there again...we all had a blast!

All our friends were so interested in learning all about the sand and beach and oceans. This will surely be weaved into our curriculum!

Keep seeing y'all around,

Hugs,
Teacher Rashida

Spirit week...

Hello Purple Room Families,

The spirit week is always an awaited one where friends love to face each day with a positive attitude and participation! This week we indulged in different activities related to the day's theme and children enjoyed working on those...

FUNNY GLASSES AND HATS DAY...
Some children chose to wear their favorites ones while some children thought out of the box and creatively made these at home with their families...
















































JERSEY DAY...
This day children got involved in talking and sharing about different sports and teams that they knew...they were wearing Jerseys and cheering for their best loved teams. The topic of the upcoming Olympics was discussed and children got engaged in creating the Olympic Rings!!!




































They also worked on making LANTERNS...












Some friends played stick hockey where the paint brushes was their stick and they made goal posts out of Legos!












Friends also finger painted baseballs and made a stick-like pattern from what they knew the baseballs look like...




































CRAZY HAIR DAY....












Friends got involved in discussions about different kinds, color, length, and even people with no hair. They were learning all about the similarities and differences that exist in our diverse world. They also compared each other's hair :)
We talked about the hair salon and things like haircuts, lollipops :), hygiene of washing hair, using hair gels, and hair accessories came up.
They further worked to collage crazy hair out of different materials...
























Sensory using HAIR GEL...
Friends filled in ziplock bags with the cool, aromatic, soft feeling hair gel.












Then they added their choice of food color to the hair gel solution and saw the fancy mix that was the result!











Some friends also added our most popular art material - glitter!!!























Then they enjoyed squishing the bags and watching the formation of streaks and new colors...
























MIX MATCH DAY..
The K family matched their outfits with superhero capes...









We talked about the mix match concept of how its embedded in our daily lives...for example, playing the matching game... wearing mix or match dresses...and how sometimes two opposite things can compliment each other, for example a yellow banana sitting next to a red rose flower.

Mix match magnetic dolls where they either matched their tops and bottom or mixed them to add humor...











Creating mix match dresses for people dolls..


























Mix match of colors...





Mix match of colors using an overheard projector..







Working on matching the dinosaur flashcards...






DISNEY DAY...
We introduced children to Walt Disney and shared the factual history behind the scenes. Each one of them got a turn to share about Disney related talk during circle time...some spoke about the Disney world, while some spoke about their favorites shows, movies, and characters.

We saw a short clip on the old Mickey Mouse and the new one and did some compare and contrast. Later friends designed their own Mickey Mouse puppets...



























The imaginary trip to Disneyland brought an end to our spirit week's tour. We enjoyed every bit of every day with the same enthusiasm and energy!

Keep seeing you around!

Hugs,
Teacher Rashida

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