We began the session by singing a few songs we had learned in prior sessions, and Gabriela and Laina enjoyed filling in the lyrics when I paused to allow them the opportunity to do so. This demonstrated their good auditory memory and recall. One of the songs contained some French lyrics in it, and both girls asked if they could replicate the words; they enjoyed alternating doing so. I then brought out a variety of worksheets, a board game and dice and the girls asked if they could learn and play the board game. They used a gummy snack as their game piece - but Laina had a bit of difficulty refraining from nibbling on her gummy snack as it went around the board. The game/activity was called "Racing Downstream" and the girls were instructed of the rules of the game. They were informed that they just move their board piece in accordance with the number they rolled on the dice to see which little fish could swim home first. However, there were lots of hungry critters along the way and some obstacles which prevented an easy finish while proceeding through the stream. The girls needed to follow specific directives (i.e.; Skip a turn/Go ahead 3 spaces/Go back 1 space) to play the game correctly. It proved to be a fun way by which to address and facilitate their number recognition, ability to alternate turns, deal with frustration appropriately and maturely - and the possibility of losing. It further addressed and facilitated number and shape recognition, grouping and counting; letter recognition and reading; visual perception and color recognition; eye-hand coordination and manual dexterity. To cushion the girls' ability to adequately deal with frustration and the possibility of losing, they were reminded that one of them would indeed finish first but that had to do with luck and the number drawn on the dice - and not their ability or skill in the game; both girls assured me they would handle losing with grace and diplomacy (these words were introduced in our discussion and the character traits that go along with them were reviewed through examples demonstrating the ability of a person to deal with others in a sensitive and thoughtful way even if they are discouraged if/when they don't come in first). Laina ended up winning the game - as she got to the finish line first; however Gabriela reminded me that she was not going to cry - and both girls were permitted to eat their gummy bear marker pieces, which they enjoyed immensely. (Laina had already eaten half). The girls then showed me the play dough they had made earlier in the day using corn starch and conditioner. I asked them to repeat the ingredients that were necessary to make the play dough – and to then tell me the sequence of instructions required. Once this was satisfactorily accomplished, we used a variety of objects to make shapes in the play dough and to describe the shapes and textures using adjectives to describe them. The girls were very engaged in this activity and replicated shapes such as circles, triangles, rectangles, hearts, and diamonds. As there was less than 10 minutes left remaining in the session, the girls were asked to assist in cleanup and were then permitted to participate in a fun gross-motor activity with their friends. They enjoyed a dance party, and they used hula hoops to follow directions given to them verbally and to try to count aloud their number of spins. Laina and Gabriela enjoyed the day's activities and will be permitted to play again tomorrow, complete a maze, and paint Easter egg designs, replicating a pattern they will choose, prior to commencing the activity, to consolidate prior learning gains.

Today, the girls were involved in a treasure hunt activity which required them to find hidden eggs in a clearly defined indoor area, but they had to first repeat the beginning sound made by the letter written on the egg - and to say a word that began with that letter before adding it to their basket. 15 eggs were hidden in the room and directional cues given to assist them in locating the treasures. Both girls enjoyed this challenge and responded accordingly to the visual and oral prompts afforded them to direct them to locations in the room, One cue was more difficult as they were instructed to look inside a prop they had taken to lunch, so they had to think about what items they took to the park and look inside it once identified. A little bit of competitive sibling rivalry emerged as Laina amassed a few more eggs than Gabriela and would not relinquish one of their eggs upon request, but all was alleviated when they were told there would be an additional challenge added at the end of the activity. A small treat was to be placed in one of the eggs in each girls' basket, and they were encouraged to think how they might figure out which egg contained the treat. Both girls were given 2-step directives before beginning the challenge and both did as instructed. Then, once the final challenge commenced, Laina began shaking the eggs and quickly found the one that contained the treat. Gabriela did likewise and found her treat in an egg quickly as well. Both girls asked politely if they could eat their treat after the treasure hunt was complete. They were asked to count their eggs and add them together and did so with the provision of some prompts. Then, they were shown some worksheets I had downloaded - and Laina picked one she wanted to do, but as we had all but run out of time for today's session, we agreed to resume the activity tomorrow. It is a fine-motor activity that requires the girls to trace and figure out how to go from a start point to an end point in a maze. Ms. Elise then asked the girls if they would like to try some cupcakes she had made, and both girls said they'd like to try them - and politely thanked her for a delicious treat to end the day.

Gabriela and Laina chose a few of their favorite books to read. After reading "Baby Beluga" we watched the accompanying song by Raffi on the computer and we sang along. This was repeated at the end of class because they enjoyed it so much! I printed out coloring pages for them of baby beluga whales to color while they sang. They also enjoyed "Six Little Ducks" and "Apples and Bananas" with Raffi, which helped them with their vowel sounds. We discussed the seasons and that today is the first day of Spring. We read "Ten Little Ladybugs" by Melanie Gerth and painted ladybug pictures for Spring. We also read "The Very Dizzy Dinosaur" by Jack Tickle. We planned to make Easter eggs in our next class.

Today we worked on and learned our letter sounds. We sang a song and went outside to play and draw with chalk. We wrote the letters and practiced the sounds. Also, we had an Easter egg hunt with Macy and each egg had a letter which the girls needed to say. In addition, we made letters with play dough. In short, we had a great day of learning , playing, and singing our letter sounds.

Laina Gabriela & I practiced the initial routine of singing the letters of the alphabet, months of the year, days of the week, today day and weather.

With play dough Laina and Gabriela followed the teacher's instructions in the making of the letter F for flor (flower) and P for primavera (spring). Then, they made it into an amazing colorful spring flower.

We made a Spring Bunny which included coloring, painting, gluing, & some imagination!. We then had a little chance to play with them.

Today's session began by reading a book about identifying animals and the sounds they make. I had taken a few library books out of the library, and Laina and Gabriela asked to read the book, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" by Bill Martin Jr. Both girls enjoyed making the sounds of the different animals, and they also acted out a few. They were asked to pay attention to the likenesses and differences in sounds as a means by which to enhance their auditory discriminatory abilities, and then they described illustrations and talked about the actions, matching the animals to sentences which described the animals' physical characteristics (ie; "which animals have two legs/four;..."which may be found in trees/on the ground"..."which has blue feathers?", etc). We then moved on to identifying shapes. Laina and Gabriela named 4 basic shapes and identified them by pointing to objects in the room. They also counted by rote, alternating between the three of us to improve listening and focusing skills. Next, the girls enjoyed learning two songs and helped insert the proper lyrics when and where appropriate. We also replicated a finger-play activity that we learned a few sessions ago and that they enjoyed, and both girls remembered it accurately. The next part of the session involved a hands-on matching exercise. The girls used Lego blocks to build and compare objects with regard to color, form, and size ("put all the red rectangle blocks in the red container"; "how can we try to figure out how to connect the shapes to make a bridge?"). For the remaining 10 minutes of the session, Laina visited her sister, Analise, in the next room while Gabriella used pink paint to create a picture, and stickers, provided by Ms. Judie, with which to embellish the body outline picture of herself and Laina created one in an earlier session. Laina became engaged in this activity at the conclusion of the 120 minute session.

The girls were very surprised to see what our naughty leprechaun had done to the classroom! What a mess he made! To make up for the mess, he left them chocolate gold coins and green light up bracelets!Thankfully, Laina had come up with the idea to make a rainbow and a cloud with a pot at the bottom of it to trick the leprechaun into putting his gold coins in there.
Gabriela and Laina both finished their worksheets quickly this morning. We practiced phonics through sounding out letters and thinking of other words that start with those letters/sounds.
Instead of journals, the girls were able to choose whatever activity they wanted. Laina chose to use the dry erase board to create her own story by drawing pictures and reciting a tale all her own.
Gabriela chose to build with legos. She built a house and worked on her spatial awareness.
Our stories today were, again, chosen by the girls.
Laina chose " Frozen - A Sister More Like Me" and Gabriela chose "Rainbow Fish". Listening to stories helps to grow a child's listening, understanding, speaking and relating skills.
Gabriela and Laina both loved going on another Bear Hunt today and using their new light up bracelets as flashlights! They were very brave as they worked on their gross motor skills.
We added some more words to our word wall today. Rainbow, astronaut, baseball, flower, gold and Peralta. The girls both wrote the word 'cat' on a piece of paper and drew a picture of it to add to our word wall as well (this was their idea).
For snack they enjoyed yummy St Patrick's Day cupcakes. Chocolate for Gabriela and vanilla for Laina. While they ate their snack, we watched an Irish dance group dance. They couldn't believe how quickly the dancers moved their feet and how they didn't get dizzy.
After snack, they explored their creativity by playing with playdough. This also strengthens their fine motor skills. They both made baby snakes and came up with a great story to go with them. Gabriela and Laina practiced writing their names without tracing them on just a straight line and did beautifully!
The girls both enjoyed playing an ABC game on the computer before heading back into our room to play BrainQuest. I always tell them that they're too smart for me! They did a great job answering all sorts of questions. Everything from math, to phonics, to spatial awareness was covered in this game.
We ended our fun morning by singing and dancing to "Tooty Ta". They do a great job of following the directions in this song! Analise even came over and joined in the fun. We had a fun day and the girls did a great job!

In this lesson, we covered reading and rhyming. The girls read along with me as I read a favorite book and I encouraged them to look at each word as they spoke it from memory so that they would associate the letters in the written words with the words they were speaking. I also helped them to look at the pictures to help tell the story and "read" the word that the picture painted. We read several other books out loud and worked on a few language skills with rhyming sounds and making words.

design fundamentals. Using our lines and shapes again today, Laina and Gabriela both did a drawing of a leprechaun. They then added colors with sharpies. Doing these types of drawings helps them to develop their creativity and see how simply using shapes ,they can do a complete picture.

We started the morning by completing some worksheets to practice their letter recognition, beginning sounds and writing practice. Today's journal time was "Draw Me a Story". Both girls came up with their own stories and drew fantastic illustrations to go along with them. Their emergent writing skills are really in full force!
We played a 3-piece matching number puzzle game where the girls had to find the number, then find the piece with the matching number of items on it, then find the piece with the number spelled out. They did a great job with number recognition, counting and sounding out the words.
Our book today was "The Luckiest St. Patrick's Day Ever!" which was about a leprechaun family and how they celebrated St. Patrick's Day. This helps to strengthen their listening, understanding, speaking and relating skills. We also listened to a new song, "I'm a Little Leprechaun". The girls liked imagining what a leprechaun must look like. After our song, we went on a bear hunt to work on their gross motor skills. They really enjoy this one!
Gabriela and Laina fortified their creative expression and fine motor skills by playing with play dough. They made doughnuts and hearts. We ended our morning by playing with duplo blocks with letters on them. They spelled their names and other words. The girls worked hard today!