Painting in TASK

Today in TASK, we decided we wanted to be painters. The kids had a lot of fun using watercolors to make beautiful pictures. We hung them up in the classroom for everyone to see. We believe it is really important to let kids use their imaginations and paint whatever they like. This month I have been noticing a lot of hearts. We also have patterns and family portraits. I love seeing all of the different things they create. 

If you would like to learn more about why we think art is important click here

Bake Sale!!

Monday was MLK day and the T.A.S.K kids were out of school, so that means they got to play with their friends all day. Last week, we were talking about raising money for charity and what we could do to help the community. They decided that it would be fun to have a bake sale and a lemonade stand. They all created a sign and were given a job for the day. 

Some of the jobs included: 

• Banker (keeping up with the money)
• Advertising (This person asked parents and teachers if they would like anything)
• Making the lemonade
• Pouring the lemonade
• Giving out the cookies

We set the stand up in the enrichment room, and we got a lot of business. The kids really enjoyed it and learned a lot about working together. 

The kids wanted to make regular and pink lemonade. They got to measure out the cups and add the water. 

Their favorite part was stirring.

We had brownies, cookies, rice crispy treats, and lemonade. 

They had a hard time not eating all the goodies before we sold them. 

If you want to learn more about why we love our community click here

Graph the Leaves!

This week in our TASK program, we have a fun seasonal activity lined up for the kids!  We are going on a leaf hunt!  After our nature walk, we are going to graph the leaves as we ask questions about the leaves to the students.  When we are done graphing our leaves, we will make a leaf collage!  It is sure to be a lot of FALL fun and we can't wait to show you our final product!

If you would like to learn more about why we love fall fun, click here!

Self Portraits

What a fun idea!  We asked our TASK students to make an illustration on how they see themselves.  We saw some very impressive and interesting portraits!     

Children’s drawings are their earliest attempts at writing and an important phase in their overall development. It is a phase when they represent what they have experienced with their senses when drawing in dry or wet sand, with water on a dry wall or on paper. It is not easy to use stubby and clumsy little fingers (2-4years) to say what they mean, and that is why a scribble can be a fire engine, a bat or scramble eggs. Converting thoughts onto paper is a skill that takes years to develop and goes hand in hand with ‘reading’ their own pictures by looking at their works of art and reconstructing their own thoughts and feelings before saying it out aloud.

If you would like to learn more about why we value creativity, click here!

Imagination Station!

This week our theme is Imagination Station, and it has been a TON of fun! Lots of really great things have been happening in T.A.S.K. So far, we've imagined that we were at a restaurant in Italy - we had four-star chefs, a full dining room with the highest quality spaghetti and meatballs, and a wait staff that was perfection. We've also imagined that our block center was a farm, with lots of animals, barns, and horse stalls. 

Today Miss Danie brought in a big tub of Magic Nuudles! These are super cool. With just a little bit of water, we can mold them into whatever sculpture we want! It was so much fun to turn this....

into this with just a little water and a whole lot of imagination!!!

It was pretty interesting to figure out exactly how much water we needed to make the Magic Nuudles stick to each other, and how much water was TOO much water. Then we set them on the table to dry.

If you want to know why we think imagination is so important, click here!

Lego and sand sensory play!

This week, we are doing all things Lego!! Our T.A.S.K. kids have been SO excited for this theme. It gives us a chance to build some of the coolest creations! 

A couple weeks ago, we got a bin of kinetic sand. It's special sand that can be molded and all the kids really love it. Today, we wondered how hard it would be to build something out of Legos AND kinetic sand. It was pretty cool!

Sensory play is important for a few reasons. 

1. Research shows that sensory play builds nerve connections in the brain’s pathways, which lead to the child’s ability to complete more complex learning tasks.
2. Sensory play supports language development, cognitive growth, fine and gross motor skills, problem solving skills, and social interaction.
3. This type of play aids in developing and enhancing memory
4. Sensory play is great for calming an anxious or frustrated child
5. This helps children learn sensory attributes (hot, cold, sticky, dry).

If you would like to learn more about why we think sensory play is so important, click here!

Getting Our Gross Motor on at Liberty Park!

RAIN RAIN GO AWAY! 

 It is too bad our Group B missed out on going to Liberty Park today, but group A sure did have a blast yesterday!  Although it was a very hot day, they still got a chance to get their wiggles out!  The TASK students love a playground and the more challenging the better!  This park had a zip line and all!

Gross motor skills are important to enable children to perform every day functions, such as walking, running, skipping, as well as playground skills (e.g. climbing) and sporting skills (e.g. catching, throwing and hitting a ball with a bat). These are crucial for everyday self care skills like dressing (where you need to be able to stand on one leg to put your leg into a pant leg without falling over).

Gross motor abilities also have an influence on other everyday functions. For example, a child's ability to maintain table top posture (upper body support) will affect their ability to participate in fine motor skills (e.g. writing, drawing and cutting) and sitting upright to attend to class instruction, which then impacts on their academic learning. Gross motor skills impact on your endurance to cope with a full day of school (siting upright at a desk, moving between classrooms, carrying your heavy school bag).

If you would like to find out more about why we value play, click here!