Ocean Fun

     Last month we incorporated all things ocean into our curriculum here at SMART START.  Our young learners fully embraced this exciting topic and are now little Oceanographers!  Our focus here at SMART START is to provide your children with the knowledge, skills and tools they will need to become successful learners, creative thinkers and confident in whatever they put their minds to.

                                                    Language arts is a strong focus here at SMART START!  Our bookshelf was filled with ocean literature for this unit of study.  The children thoroughly enjoy circle time, reading books as a group and embracing the opportunity to be active participants and ask questions. SMART START friends are particularly fond of story time in our outdoor classroom. While outside, we introduced our ocean bag of plastic sea creatures. Each child had a turn to reach in the bag and pull out a sea creature to show their peers and learn more about.

Learning and playing in nature has endless benefits such as:

• Further develop memory, concentration and comprehension
• Enhances critical thinking and practical problem solving 
• Improves physical and mental health- reduces stress and anxiety
• Increases motivation, desire to learn and other social and emotional skills

           Our young learners worked independently and together building many ocean puzzles. Puzzles offer much more than simply finding where each piece goes! They are a fun way to improve problem solving, memory, concentration, hand and eye coordination and fine motor skills. Although puzzles require patience and cooperation, self esteem increases upon completion.  

     SMART START puppeteers used their imaginations, puppets, dress up props and music to invent ocean inspired stories and songs with one another. The children love both performing and spectating. Witnessing our students engaging in dramatic play and the confidence it gives them as they perform is entertaining and rewarding for all. 

   Games at SMART START are a perfect way to facilitate group effort, cooperation, sharing and turn taking.  The children play together beautifully and are always willing to help a friend. We introduced three different sensory ocean games all focusing on counting, sorting and color recognition skills. Sensory games are a fun, hands on way to learn! 

     Arts and crafts is a favorite time for our students to put their creative minds to work! We recently started using art caddies filled with different art media for each of the children. This has allowed them to be more independent with product choice, inventive with their project and responsible for their products. They love having their own special art caddy as well as this new addition to our arts and crafts routine. SMART START artists created two ocean masterpieces. Ocean scenes and a cardboard sea creature. Our designers used colored tissue paper, drizzled colored glue, crayons, markers, bonkers, glitter, paint and paint brushes and ocean stamps. All were proud of their vibrant creations and excited to bring them home to show their families!

Click below to see our SMART START Artists!

Click below to see our Ocean Fun video!

SMART START friends thoroughly enjoyed our ocean unit! As always, thank you for your continued support and the opportunity to teach and care for your children.  

💙 Mary and Francesca 💙