Since we love feeling different textures in our hands, experiencing oobleck – a.k.a. cornstarch and water – was a must.  It felt hard when we poked it, yet when we picked up a chunk it slipped right through our fingers! Not only could we pull our fingers across leaving lines, we also discovered it made a splash! One friend thought this was so silly when it splattered all over the table, floor and even our faces.

And why should the fun stop just because it was time to go outside? A wall near the sandbox seemed like the perfect place to paint, so we brought out our brushes and got right down to some more messy fun! Even our two year-old friends wanted to join us from the other side of the wall! Not enough paint brushes for everyone? Not a problem!  Friends improvised by using their hands. When we rubbed our cornstarchy hands together, they were silky smooth!

The fun continued the next day when we brought out fly swatters, paint and paper! The yellow and red paint began to mix while we pushed it around with our fly swatters making orange. Awesome! Not quite looking the way we thought our now orange masterpiece should look, we decided to add one more step to the process (literally). We stomped, walked and even ran across the paper leaving a trail of our footprints!

Oh where will our adventures in painting take us next? Stay tuned!

-Ms. Meghan

The Preschool Silly Poem

The wiggle shakes the body on the ball,
The apple joggles,
Godzilla flaps his arms on his body,
Licky, ticky, ticky.
Pickles do puddles on your head,
You dance around the ball and bounce awa,.
A tree is stuck in your shirt,
The cow did a coke-a-dots,
Wiggly wobbly!

For that poem we simply asked for our friends to say the first silly thing that came to them. Everytime we read it, we crack up!

The following poem follows the same format of a poem we read in class. We asked our friends to think up a silly name they would like to be called.

My Name Is

My name is Cow-y fish
My name is Sushi-Horse
My name is Sashi-Head
My name is Santa-Claus
My name is Zebra-Mouse
My name is Mark-the-Head
My name is Like-Cake
My name is Seed-a-Weed-a
My name is Jum-a-Shees-Bounce-Away
My name is Godzilla-Nothing
My name is Jack-and-the-Beanstalk
My name is Tootie-Totti
My name is Shashy-Shashy

Watch out Shel Silverstein…you have some stiff competition!

-Ms. Andrea

The next day one of our friends suggested that we reuse these boards.  “Let’s paint them.”  “Let’s nail them.”  “Let’s saw them.”  So, we did.  We gathered all of the supplies necessary and began a discussion about (first things first) safety.  After introducing safety goggles, nails, hammers, sandpaper, clamps, and saws, everyone was very excited about the opportunity to use real tools.  The best quote during this phase was definitely…”Oh, the blade is just like the caution tape.  It’s yellow, that means caution.”

Ever since the first nail met the board, there has been hammering, sanding, painting and sawing galore.  Our friends have been setting up the tables with cement blocks onto which they clamp their boards.  Next they searched for the board(s) they have been painstakingly working on and got back to work. Some of the boards have 15 nails at all different heights while others have been painted, sawed on every edge and items have been adhered with wood glue.

As the children carefully readjust their wood, put just the right amount of pressure on the saw for it to cut, and hold the nail before lowering the hammer; they  are deep in thought and extremely focused. It is a pleasure to watch them “work” as the class around them is bustling with ongoing movement. The amount of self control it takes to focus on the task at hand during this active time is such an important skill that will help them throughout their lives. So the saying is true, ”All I ever needed to know I learned in Pre-K”…we couldn’t agree more!

In the past few months our toddlers have been enjoying a whole new aspect of learning we’ve introduced into the classroom. Light! Inspired by a recent visit to a Reggio Emilia-inspired school, and with help from Director Kim, we were able to create our very own home-made light table that the children love. We started our light play very simply with colored shapes and translucent stones for sorting and since then, our ideas have grown to include lots of messy fun! As soon as we saw how much our young friends were interested in the light table we tried to incorporate it in new ways, such as adding flashlights to our play time. With this new tool we have heard an explosion of new language from “it’s on” to “it’s sooo bright and pretty” and now this week as the batteries in the flashlights have been running out, “it’s not working” and “the light is not on.”

Not only is the light grabbing their attention and keeping them at a station longer than they normally would be, but it is also promoting experimentation on their part. One of their favorite things to do with the flashlights is to move them close to the wall and then move them away to watch the light “grow.” Also when we covered the flashlights with colored cellophane, one of our youngest friends really enjoyed laying the flashlight down on the table and watching how the colored light dispersed over the surface.

Watching the children experiment with light and color took us to our next step, finger painting on the light table. We covered the windows in black paper, turned off the lights, and voila, a completely new art experience. They all sat moving their paint brushes around blocking the light from shining through with the black paint. One friend soon realized that if he moved his finger through the paint, the light would shine through again! This discovery was just as exciting for us as teachers as it was for him.

Our most recent observation was when a friend started moving the tiny plastic animals we have in the classroom to the windowsill. He was lining them all up and noticed the shadows from the sun. He began slowly tilting them side to side watching the shadows move… which will surely inspire our next encounter with light!

-Ms. Amanda & Ms. Cora

Chef Kim Kim, Alphabet Academy is very happy that you have joined our team!  Tell us a little about what brought you to Alphabet.

Well we first found Alphabet because I was looking for child care for my child. Truth be told, my husband wasn’t totally on board at first, but I knew my daughter was ready for more. I had driven by Alphabet Academy a few times because it’s close to our home. I had already checked out five other places before Alphabet. They just didn’t feel good enough. But when I walked into Alphabet Academy, it felt different. It was really love at first sight!

Recently, Amy pulled me aside and told me she had an opportunity to start providing organic meals at Alphabet Academy.  She told me that she had always noticed and admired the homemade meals I sent to school for Samantha.  I was shocked she asked me but inside I felt honored that she thought of me.  I sat on it for several weeks and then she approached me again.  When she approached me a third time I said, “Yes, I am interested!”  We discussed the details over coffee and the rest is history!

I’m really curious about your passion for food. When did you know you wanted to be a chef?

A long time ago, I was in a fine arts program but somewhere along the way I fell in love with culinary arts and never went back.  From my experience working at a café where everything was made from scratch, I learned all about making fresh, delicious sandwiches and some really amazing soups. I also learned to bake. (Can you believe I didn’t know how to bake a thing back then?!)  At one point I thought I might open my own café. While I was studying at the Connecticut Culinary Institute in Farmington, I took a job at a bakery where the owner took me under her wing. Before I knew it, I was working full time and that’s where I blossomed. I started baking and designing wedding cakes and other fine pastries. From there I moved on to Take the Cake in Guilford, where I worked for the last 10 years.  I enjoyed a tremendous amount of creative freedom there.

When Amy told me that she was committed to a menu with all natural, organic ingredients I was so excited!  I knew I could do something with that.  I love to feed people.  Kids are a tough crowd but I’m actually excited by this challenge. Seeing them try something they’re not sure about but then realize they like it, wow, it’s a great feeling!  I’m excited to be cooking for kids, to expand their palettes.

This is a big question, so take a deep breath.  Tell us, what’s your vision for Alphabet Academy’s newly initiated food program?  What do you hope to accomplish?

I have a lot of plans!

Amy has been so supportive.  I want to develop a menu that allows children to eat well and healthy.  I believe you have to teach these lessons young and that good habits start with the food we offer our children.

I hope to develop a cooking program for parents and their kids… like pasta-making nights, or cupcake parties.  I really want to inspire families to cook together.  Cooking is not only fun, it’s special time spent together as a family.

I hope to invite our preschoolers and pre-kindergarteners to cook with me in the kitchen at school.  I want to teach them skills I know they can do and inspire them to want to help mommy and daddy at home.

I hope to share my own kid-tested and kid-approved recipes with Alphabet Academy families.  I also welcome any recipes families want to share with me!  (hint, hint)

When I became a parent, I did a lot of reading about eating well and feeding babies.  I started by making my own baby food, which is so easy as it turns out.  I would love to provide homemade baby food to the infants at Alphabet Academy (and who knows, maybe develop our own baby food line!)

Expanding a child’s palette is possibly one of the most difficult challenges many parents face, especially in our fast-food, microwaveable, heat and serve culture.  What advice do you have for parents that want their child to eat a wider variety of foods?

First thing, don’t give up!  Just because they didn’t eat it once, doesn’t mean they’ll never eat it again.

I encourage parents to show their kids how much they themselves enjoy a variety of foods.  Itís like follow the leader.  Kids feed off our cues as parents.  If you don’t like it, your child is probably not going to like it.  I didn’t like cauliflower for the longest time, but I was reading how nutritious it is.  So I stopped and thought, “How can I prepare this differently so maybe I could like it?”  And voila – cauliflower mashed potatoes!  Now I eat cauliflower, and so does Samantha!  My husband has been a great sport, too.  Between you and me, he’s not a big fan of vegetables. But ask Samantha, and I don’t think she would say that about her daddy.  My husband and I have committed to eating healthier because of Samantha, including eating our vegetables.  And you know what, we’re still learning everyday.  It’s not only good for her, it’s good for our health, too!

The other thing is, I think kids like to eat with their eyes.  I think it’s important to remember this when putting a meal together.  Have fun and make meals colorful!

While we’re on the topic, I have to share this story with you.  Just this week, a mom from Alphabet stopped me and said, “You know Kim, my child never ate carrots or cucumbers at home.  And you know what happened?  The other night my child asked for carrots at home after eating them at school!”  True story.  I can’t tell you how good that feels!  THAT is why I took the job.  Listen, I know how hard it is to trust other people when it comes to feeding my own daughter.  It feels wonderful when parents show their appreciation for the care and thought that goes into the meals Iím preparing for their child.  I really cherish their trust.

OK, now’s the part where we beg for a few kitchen secrets.  Tell us, what are your favorite sneaky foods you add in when the kids aren’t looking?  And why is this OK?

Well, I already gave away my cauliflower secret!  But another I use a lot is wheat germ in muffins and in yogurt.  Like a lot of kids my daughter loves carbs, so to balance her diet I often give her smoothies for dessert as a dose of vegetables and fruit.  One of her favorites is a strawberry smoothie. I add steamed broccoli to it and she sips the whole thing up, never noticing the broccoli.  I don’t feel badly at all that she doesn’t notice the broccoli!  She loves it and she’s drinking something that’s great for her!

Listen, I’m not going to sneak foods into her smoothies for the rest of her life!  So I don’t just sneak food, but I also give it to her in different forms so that over time, she becomes accustomed to eating the real food.  That’s the goal – to give children the tools they need to make healthy choices.  I knew I could make a difference when I saw left over french fries, hot dog slices and loads of ketchup in a child’s lunch box recently.  Kids eat what they’re used to eating.  Why not get them used to eating healthy food?

Now, name your best dish every kid is sure to eat.  Ready, go!

Breakfast: My blueberry pancakes are the best!

Morning Snack: Morning glory muffins

Lunch: Cauliflower mac and cheese and steamed broccoli.  It’s really good, trust me.

Afternoon Snack: Pitas and guacamole

Alrighty, before we finish up we want to know a little about you outside the kitchen. Name 3 things about yourself that’s not related to food or cooking!

I don’t give up easily.  I’m stubborn, but in a good way.

I’m a people pleaser.  I love to make people feel good.

The last thing, hmmm?  OK, here’s two things.  I speak Korean and I’m a closet artist. Even though I haven’t done it a long while, I love to paint. Someday!

Chef Kim Kim, it’s been a real pleasure sitting down with you today.  This is such an exciting step we’re all taking together!  I know we’re in great hands with you in the kitchen.  Your passion and commitment to healthy eating is not only inspiring, it’s reassuring.

Thank you, too, Ms. Kimberly!  I feel so lucky to be doing what I love.

Charlie, Teddy, Osito, Steve. Those are just a few of the names that preschool’s teddy bear has had since September. The home/school connection is an integral part of our preschool curriculum and what better way of fostering it than with a traveling bear? Since the start of the new school year our teddy bear (along with the Teddy Journal) has gone home for the weekend with a different preschool friend and participated in all of that family’s activities. We asked the parents to sit down at the end of the weekend with their child to document their experiences and provide a photo or drawing to go along with the journal entry.

Oh boy, did the parents deliver! Every Monday our friends eagerly await circle time so they can share their teddy bear weekend along with the many photos provided by the parents. (Thanks parents, your involvement has made this our most successful collaborative project to date!)

Some of teddy’s fabulous adventures have included:

- Apple and pumpkin picking
- Seeing a movie
- Grocery shopping
- Seeing a lacrosse game
- Hike to Sleeping Giant
- Many birthday parties
- Trip to New Jersey
- Outdoors in the snow
- Yoga
- Out for pizza
- To the Apple store and the Yale Bookstore
- Peabody Museum
- To Kidcity
- Visiting Uncle Bill
- The Maritime Aquarium
- Jumping on a trampoline
- Bowling
- Visit the doctor
- Ice skating

Although Teddy visited many places, he also spent a great deal of time at home with his families. Siblings also seemed to enjoy Teddy as much as our friends.

Our journal is on display in our classroom and friends look through it daily, proudly sharing their stories, families and photos. Thank you preschool families!

-Ms. Andrea

The truth is that yes, filling the sensory table with rainbow spaghetti does come with some mess, but the benefits and learning that happens far outweigh the price of the sweeping and scrubbing that comes afterward.

In our sensory table, the toddlers are developing fine motor control by practicing scooping and pouring.  They are developing language skills by listening to us describe the textures they feel and the actions they use in their play.  Lately, we’ve even heard them attempt to label things themselves!  They are learning about science and math by experimenting with cause and effect and sorting by color and shape.  It has been really nice to see them sharing and working together to fill up and dump out the bowls.  Recently they have been very eager to trade items and make sure everybody has one, a sight that is not only lovely to witness but an important step toward connecting with others.  Perhaps most importantly, they are learning about self-control by resisting the urge to cover themselves and each other in flour!

The toddlers at Alphabet Academy are capable of much more than one may think, and we see this every day in something as simple as a sensory table.  Exposing them to such a wide range of materials and experiences results in a deeper level of play.  In turn, this translates into the toddlers not putting things in their mouth anymore and consciously choosing to keep everything contained.  So for us, their teachers, the clean up is well worth the look on their faces when they first set eyes on the lights we added to our sensory table and say, “The lights are soooooo pretty!” or when they touch oobleck* for the very first time.  It is just the tip of the iceberg because some very important learning is happening there.

*oobleck is a wonderful concoction of water and corn starch, taken from Dr. Seuss’ book Bartholomew and the Oobleck

This past December the parent of one of our Israeli  families joined our pre-k class for a project to highlight their holiday ritual of lighting the Menorah for Hanukkah. Noa, whose daughter was in the pre-k class (they have just moved- we miss you Neta!), led the class through a beautiful lesson about the significance of the menorah followed by a fun session of of candle-making. As you can see below, the candles wouldn’t fit into any menorah that we have ever seen but the concept was grasped and the children had a ball dipping, dipping, dipping.

The Year of the Dragon

As January rolled in, we looked forward to celebrating the Chinese New Year, especially as this is the year of the dragon! Our preschool and pre-k classes participated in many different activities to commemorate this festive holiday.

We started out by discussing the the holiday in depth and our friends were interested to learn that the holiday lasts for 15 days. Our friend Nina  brought in some home-made dumplings to try. Many of the children had never tried them before and loved them!

Art was a big component for this holiday celebration. Both classes created dragons for a parade- although each has its own distinct qualities. Our other masterpieces of art were created with gold glitter, red paper, yellow string, and Chinese characters.

In preschool, after creating Chinese-inspired name art with gold tissue paper and red and black paint, we studied dragon art and then worked on creating our own drawings using colored pencils.

A big than you to Nina’s family who brought in some of their own personal collection of Chinese New Year decorations.

At the beginning of December our preschool class, in anticipation of the holiday season, took an imaginary trip to the North Pole on the Polar Express.

Our preschoolers came prepared in their pajamas, ready to travel. As our friends arrived to school they enjoyed our themed stations: a train track set up like the North Pole, hot chocolate, water color painting, and a mini marshmallow counting station. Digging through hot cocoa powder was (surprise) a favorite sensory experience…and it was also the most delicious smelling station too!

When all of our friends had arrived at the “station” we began reading the much beloved story, following along with the story’s elements. As the little boy boarded the Polar Express, we boarded our greek theater train equipped with train tickets. We then sipped hot chocolate as our trip took us through the dark forest, up the mountains and came to an end at the North Pole.

Just like the boy in the story, every preschooler received a bell, which you can only hear ring if you truly believe!

-Ms. Andrea & Ms. Karin

Our preparations for the feast began last week as we investigated the story behind Thanksgiving. After discussing what Thanksgiving means to us; family, food, walks, love, etc., we read a few books that told us about the Pilgrims wanting to leave England. The children learned that the king of England was not allowing them to make their own choices, so we talked about how that would make us feel if we couldn’t make meaningful choices of our own. Everyone agreed that we should travel to a place where we were free to make these important choices, just like the Pilgrims. Together we built the Mayflower, packed things we would need to survive in a new world, signed the ship’s log and boarded.

On our journey we felt some of the same things the Pilgrims experienced. Such as…

“It’s hot”, “It’s crowded”, “They slept on the ship too”, “We can’t eat anymore because we need food for the nighttime too”, “Don’t make crumbs, we’ll get bugs”, “We can go fishing”, “I caught 13 fish”,  ”We can’t drink that water, it’s saltwater”, “It’s yucky”, “They sang songs, they also played games”, “Stop coughing, everyone is going to get sick.”

As each of these quotes were said by one of our friends, we discussed how it affected the Pilgrims voyage. And then it happened…we had three friends jump ship because they forgot to bring something or wanted to throw away their trash.  These were the few that did not make it to the new world. Finally as a friend climbed up to the crows nest, we heard “Land-Ho!”

Upon our arrival we decided to use the wood from the Mayflower to construct our first house in the new world (outside in the playground).  The children worked really hard carrying everything we needed over to our new playhouse (which we lovingly call, “The House That John Built.”) They built walls, beds, and made some shelves for our belongings. The process was very tiring and we decided that the Pilgrims had a rough life.

The next day we “planted” some of the bean seeds that we had brought with us from England.  We also read another book that detailed the life of a Pilgrim and the Wamponoag Indians called Giving Thanks by Kate Waters.

Fast forward to yesterday.  At meeting we discussed what a Thanksgiving feast entails.

1. Cleaning your room/house in preparation for your guests arrival (classroom)
2. Organizing
3. Cleaning the cubbies
4. Being nice
5. Saying goodbye

So we set in motion and the kids were really into helping prepare for the arrival of our guests. They cleaned the chairs, tables, window sills, and shelves.  They moved the tables, chairs, books, and science center. Next we covered the tables, added some decorations, and then went outside to greet our guests. It was really nice to see everyone working so hard and as a team.

During the feast many of the children took a step out of their comfort zone and tasted some new foods.  (BIG SMILE) Afterward they reported that they enjoyed many of these foods and hope to have them again.

The turkeys everyone constructed out of a toilet roll and burlap looked great and we hope they will adorn your tables for many Thanksgivings to come.

Enjoy your holiday!

Ms. Mireille, Ms. Michelle, Ms. Kim