Hi There,

Though it was a short week, we were certainly productive here in the Primary Studio.  We started Tuesday off with reviews of last week’s lessons, and gradually worked our way into some work cycles throughout the week.  Carrie and I were happy to see how much information our students actually absorbed while utilizing the material, as they each showed determination to handle their work properly and carefully.  Occasionally, we would remind the students of little things such as returning a rug or to straighten a work on a shelf, but we realize that our routine is a lot to take in at first.  And needless to say, everyone forgets sometimes, but we have a lot of students who are great at reminding others if material is neglected and we also encourage our students to lend a helping hand.  Overall, everyone did an excellent job at keeping the room tidy, returning work back to the shelves, and respecting the material.  The kids were overall peaceful and productive during this “free time” to explore on their own.

This week, our focus was not on lessons as we wanted to observe the children in action during the work cycle and see where their needs and challenges were.  However, we did fit in a few lessons, such as flower arranging and how to use the “beginning sounds mugs,” which contain tiny objects for each letter of the alphabet.

Below, Brady was working on a flower arrangement after a lesson taught by Carrie.  In the first image, he is cutting the stems shorter to fit in a vase.  When finished, he put his arrangement on display for others to enjoy during the work cycle.

In the following image, the kids are posing for the camera during a small group lesson on the beginning sounds mugs.  They were shown that they can take a sand paper letter and a mug filled with objects beginning with that letter.  They are shown to practice saying the names of the objects in the mug and taking a moment to trace the sandpaper letter with their fingers, announcing the sound.  Mirrors are also offered so that they can see themselves saying the sound in the mirror.  Our young ones use one mug at a time and as they get older/learn more letter sounds, they may take multiple mugs and mix up the objects to sort them by beginning letter sounds. 

And for fun, we learned some sing-a-longs…I’m terrible at guitar, but the kids don’t judge!

We took plenty of photos this week to give you an idea of what our work cycle looked like.  There are also some circle time images in the mix.  I think that’s a good note to leave on!  Have a great weekend, y’all!  Enjoy.