A Flamingo!

Kailyn has a deep affinity for animals, and at the playdough table, she often talks about reindeer and flamingos. This day she sculpted the playdough into a T shape, on top of a heart. Then she bent one arm of the T down. "It's a flamingo!" she declared. "See? That's its one leg, and there is its head bending over!"
Kailyn's representational thinking is evident as she executes her ideas in different forms.

"One of Three"

The teachers attended a continuing education workshop on math and young children, and fell in love with the book One of Three by Angela Johnson, thinking of how much Kailyn would love it! It reminded us of her and her two sisters who are so important to her.

Turtle Stories

"One day I was trying again and again and again. And then Julian was turning into something like a donosaur, not a bear any more. Matthew was just standing there, waiting for a person to go by. And then a bus was coming and the peoples got on and then the monster got on and then come letters. And then came Carol, a monster. And then him eat him up! And the guinea pigs was still staying there. The monster didn't see the guinea pigs cause they were hiding in their igloo. And then there came a lot of bears, and the monster didn't find the Little Frogs. And then Robby and Maggie and Davie and Carol and Matthew and David and Breezy were both hiding, and me! And then the monster went away. And then they went back, and then came the hunters. "

Hop Scotch!

Kailyn loves Movement with Missy, and gamely tries just about every activity. Today, Missy had two hopscotch courses, and Kailyn stepped up to take her turn. Declaring, "I do two feet!," she hopped from number to number. As she develops further, she will be able to balance on one foot, and even jump from one number to the next on one foot!
Kailyn is developing her strength, balance, and coordination through a variety of activities.

Get on Board!

Davie and Maggie had built boats out of big blocks. They were using the long blocks for oars and keeping look out with cameras and binoculars.
"Something is sinking in the water!" Davie declared.
Naomi hopped on Davie's boat.
"I don't see anything around here," Maggie said, rowing with the oar.
Juls kept watch from atop the climber, "I'll keep an eye on things!"
"I'm in a canoe. No, actually," Maggie decided, "I'm in a kayak."
"I'm in a kayak," said Davie.
"Wow. This is hard work," said Maggie rowing. "How do you do it in a real kayak?"
Tamara mimed the motion, and the two girls picked it up, paddling kayak style.
"This is hard work!" they agreed.

Juls and Naomi joined boat brigade, bringing along the classroom Summer Adventure Books.
Naomi picked up a board, singing, "Paddle, paddle, paddle..."
Kailyn came over, and invited Matthew, "Come on Matthew! Get your book!"
They sat side by side and read their Summer Adventure Books.

Kailyn enjoys joining in with her friends' adventurous game. In this situation, she and Matthew had been working together elsewhere, and she was able to bring him along into the game!

Initiating Play

Kailyn came over to a teacher, saying, "Katie's not hearing me."
"Okay, I'll go with you."
They approached Katie.
"Katie," Kailyn said softly. Katie didn't hear her.
"Katie?" she repeated, a little louder.
"Yes?" Katie said.
"I play with you?"
"We're playing sharks," Katie declared.
"I play with you?" she asked again.
Katie just looked at her.
"I play with you?" she repeated.
"You want to play sharks?" Katie figured out what she wanted.
"Yes!" Kailyn declared.
"Sure!" Katie said.
Katie and Kailyn are figuring out how to initate play. Katie's initial statement of "We're playing sharks" was actually an invitation of sorts, but they needed to talk about it a little more before they both understood that they could play together.

Train Adventures

Many different children have been working for several days on building a train. On this day, the train was constructed, and unfortunately, it seemed to run on batteries, which was just the first of many misfortunes to befall the train.
Maggie and Naomi were bringing blocks over to the train, and putting them in the a box. “More batteries!” they declared, filling the box.
“Oh no!” Our batteries died,” Robby declared, from atop the engineer's seat. “Look at the ground. The batteries died.”
Juls starting picking them up and putting them into the box.
“We were stuck in mud,” Juls explained. “We couldn’t move.”
“They were perfect, then they stopped being perfect,” Robby added.
Kailyn helped pick up the batteries.
“OK,” Naomi said, handing out calculators. She held the calculator up to her mouth like a walkie talkie. “Ok. We need to get out of the mud.” She walked over to the block area and then returned. “Now we are out of the mud.”
Robby banged a Boom Whacker on a box, making a rhythmic booming sound. “Oh no! Elephants are coming near our train!”
“Its ok. We’ll just put fire on them,” Juls said.
“No, they will just drink it up,” Robby said.
Atop the climber, Matthew sang, “In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight.” 

Kailyn is figuring out how to enter cooperative play with her friends. She is frequently drawn to their play, and finds ways to join in. In this example, she spent a long time building along-side her friends as they engaged in lively play.

Kailyn Watches "I Love My Hair!"

I was so moved after Carol's post on Kailyn's blog of the the new Sesame Street video entitled, "I Love My Hair." It was indicative of such a high level of sensitivity and respect for my daughter's experience. You see, one day, Kailyn came home and said that she wanted her hair down - she did not want curly hair. I was devastated, and yet, I wanted to help her in her exploration of her feelings. It became extremely important for Kailyn to be saturated with the many images that were reflective of her beautiful, dynamic, dark, curly fabulous hair! On Saturday morning, after I shed tears of joy and watched on my own before anyone woke up, I smiled as Kailyn sleepily walked down the steps. I invited her to watch something special. As she did, I recorded...

Kailyn Watches "I Love My Hair!" from Crissy Caceres on Vimeo.

Kailyn's Orange

At lunch today, Kailyn asked several times for help peeling her orange, but help was not immediately available. She did not become frustrated and, initially, announced, "I save this for snack?" Her teacher agreed that she could do that, but Kailyn continued to stare at her orange - clearly not wanting to give up on it. Again, she approached her teacher (who was tending to a child not feeling well) and asked, "You push in on this part?" Her teacher told her that that would be a way to peel it. Kailyn went and sat down, still studying her orange. Slowly, Kailyn began to work on her orange and, began to peel it. Although it took her quite some time, she was clearly proud of her accomplishment.
Kailyn is beginning to show an ever-increasing ability to withstand frustration, to focus on difficult or challenging tasks, and trouble shoot problems.

Say My Name

"Noni! Noni!" Kailyn called.
"My name is not Nomi," Naomi said. "It's Naomi!"
Kailyn looked puzzled.
Naomi repeated, and Carol helped break it down into syllables.
"Na-o-mi," Carol said.
"Na-o-mi!" Kailyn repeated. "Na-o-mi."

Kailyn is working on her articulation, and her friends are helping her. As she continues to mature, her articulation will become more clear.

Turtle Stories

"Pet Store. I didn't have anything. And then my sister said, "I want a pet shop." I was with my dragon fly. It was a petshop with my teddy bear and with my sister. I gave it to my sister. He was saying, "Thank you!" He was having lots of toys. He was putting into their... I was getting something else. I was getting all on my something that I like. We were getting one little thingy. Like a teddy bear, like an orange teddy bear, like my sister and I likes it.
There were letters of the computer with a turtle on it.
My mommy burn myself. She was making something. It was burning on the stove. He hit her foot on the tree.
I got a scarecrow. It was like a girl. Cause my mommy want one like that. Cause she was getting one. So my mommy...so everyone's getting some."

Kailyn's Hair

Show this to Kailyn

Sharing a House

Davie had built a huge magna-tile house for her animal, working with car to balance the sides. 
"Can I play with you?" Noah asked.
"Sure," Davie said, "I think I made it big enough for lots of kids."
"I play too?" asked Kailyn.
"Sure, you just put your pet in there," Davie said.
Kailyn put here teddy bear next to the flamingo laying in the magna-tile castle. Davie and Kailyn continued playing for a long time, making "presents" out of the magna-tiles, and exchanging them.
David noticed their play. "What are you making out of those squares?" he asked.
"A home for the animals," Davie explained.
"Yeah, we making a house," Kailyn added.
David carefully walked around the building to get some cars. He brought some cars over to the building.
"It's not for cars," Kailyn explained. "It's for animals."
"But I want to use my cars," David protested.

"I'm done," Kailyn decided.
David and Davie decided to build a garage attached to the house, so that the cars had a place too.

Kailyn is building her repetoire of play skills: she uses her words to enter play, sustains play themes, and uses her imagination to enhance their play.

Counting Bears

Kailyn quickly noticed the new sorting bears on the table. She sorted them by color, red, blue, yellow and green. Her teacher asked, "How many red ones are there?"
Kailyn counted the big red bears, touching each one, "1, 2, 3!"
"How many big and little red bears are there?"
"1, 2, 3, 4...3, 5, 6."

Kailyn enjoys sorting objects and can do so by multiple categories (color, size). She is developing her understanding of one-to-one correspondence, the concept that one object corresponds to one number. As she continues to strengthen this skill, she will be able to touch each object as she counts, keeping track of what has been counted.

Flubber Science

Kailyn was working with a tray of flubber. She used a metal fork to scrap the surface. She worked with intent, watching the effect of the fork as she scraped it across the entire surface. Then she took the rolling pin and began flattening it. She took a small circle and began twisting it on the top of the flubber. She explained, "I turn and turn and turn."
Tamara asked, "Does it go all the way down to the tray?"
"No it just is twisty," Kailyn explained.

Flubber provides endless opportunities for exploring the physical properties of a very compelling material. Kailyn spent more than 20 minutes exploring the ways she could manipulate it, using tools in inventive ways, and experimenting with cause and effect.

Turtle Stories

"It starts about flamingos. They are hop. They jump on the beach. They hop to cave. They learn numbers. One little person likes a flamingo. They count their numbers. They like the spots of a puzzle. They sit down of a wen. They like elephants, but they are scared of them. They running really fast. They like the flowers of they mommas. They like the peoples of the blocks. They eat some food. They like some animals, and persons. They like the hand lotion stuff. And they like the 'puters too. "

Caught in the Net

Kailyn is developing her strength and coordination through vigorous play. On this day, we had walked to the Lower School Playground. Sometimes tentative in new situations, Kailyn clearly wanted to climb up the round net, but other children were playing at the top. She grabbed her teacher's hand and brought her over to the net, saying, "I do it too?" Her teacher nodded and encouraged her, and soon Kailyn was scrambling up the net, beaming. "I caught in the net!" she exclaimed, joining the children's game.

Kailyn's large motor strength and coordiation will continue to develop as she builds her confidence to try new things.

Exploring Flubber

We made Flubber on Tuesday, and the next day the children were so excited to play with it.
Kailyn said, "I'm making a cat." She pushed a large piece into a long oval. Then she methodically pulled little pieces off, attaching them to along the bottom of oval.

The next day, she returned to her work, saying, "I make animals." She turned to her teacher and asked, "You make a reindeer?" She again worked to push the flubber out into a broad flat shape, working against the tendency of the flubber to contract upon itself.

Kailyn was captivated by the feel of the flubber, and she worked with great focus exploring the ways she could manipulate it, even returning to the themes of her exploration the next day.

Turtle Stories

"A unicorn happened in the cave. There was bears in it. There was a car blocking the unicorn’s way. The bear came out. And then the bear saw the unicorn. There was a big black penguin and someone came to use it and the bear saw the unicorn. One day there was a number staying there. A pink number was staying there."