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The Washington Star ⭐
January 31, 2024
The Importance of Messy Play By Dr. Erica Lam
Each of our senses are important to explore during childhood development. Did you know there are 8 senses: Smell, touch, taste, sight, sound, proprioception, vestibular, and interoception. Sensory play and exploration help children develop an understanding of their bodies and the world around them. Sensory play builds important neural pathways in the brain and the more they engage those pathways, the stronger the pathways become. This is important because our brains have a lot to process and pathways that are used less frequently are pruned in a developing brain to make way for more preferred synaptic connections. According to a literature review published in the Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (2009), “a wide range of sensory and motor experiences can produce long-lasting plastic changes in the brain…these early experiences have a powerful effect on brain organization both during development and in adulthood.”
Messy play is defined by the Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center as “the open-ended exploration of materials and their properties.” Messy play can include wet materials (paint, glue, slime), dry materials (sand, dirt, rice), and in-between materials (clay, Play-Doh, cooked pasta). With supervision, the benefits of messy play are endless. Messy play provides children with the opportunity to try new things and learn to take calculated risks. It builds self-confidence and self-regulation.
Messy play can be chaotic and after a long day, it can be exhausting for the caregiver and child to clean up. Experts recommend planning and setting up the activity can increase success and enjoyment for the child and the caregiver. The setup can be as simple as gathering paint and heading into the shower/tub to paint with their finger, sponge, or brushes on the walls of the shower! Talk about an easy cleanup!
No sensory experience should be forced on a child but offered in a safe and familiar place (especially if it's a new experience). Offering multiple ways to engage with a material can help bridge the gap between avoiding and exploring. For example, if you have shaving cream on the table you can provide a paint brush or spoon until the child is ready to use their hands.
Check out this publication from the Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center for more information on sensory play.
https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/publication/designing-messy-play-infants-toddlers
References:
Kolb B, Gibb R. Brain plasticity and behaviour in the developing brain. J Can Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2011 Nov;20(4):265-76. PMID: 22114608; PMCID: PMC3222570.
US Department of Health and Human Services. (2022, December 30). Designing messy play for infants and toddlers. ECLKC. https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/publication/designing-messy-play-infants-toddlers
🏀 Spotlight on Physical Education! 🏃
This month we are highlighting how lucky we are that we get to have Mr. Rogers and Mr. Munoz for PE class each week! During early childhood, participating in active play not only allows for physical activity, but it also provides an opportunity for bonding between children and creates opportunities to learn to communicate more effectively. In PE, our students learn fundamental sport skills, such as throwing and kicking, as well as other gross motor skills like balancing and jumping. Our children use their locomotor skills and learn stability...but most of all they have FUN! Thank you, Mr. Rogers & Mr. Munoz!
Check out some of the sports/physical activity classes in our area that have programs specifically designed for our young learners! You could also look into karate classes and open play times at various indoor play centers in the area.
Miss Shayna's Room! 💭
This month in speech we have been learning all about winter! We read the book "There Was A Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow", "made" hot cocoa and searched for winter animals in the "snow". We worked on sequencing skills, story recall, answering WH questions, describing and more!
Miss Lina's Class! 🖍️
Miss Lina's students used their creativity and fine motor skills to design their own clothes during tabletop time today! Using different materials also gives us exposure to a variety of different textures and also allows us to practice identifying and labeling our colors and shapes!
Ms. Katie's Busy Classroom! 🐝
Ms. Katie's class is growing quickly and welcomed two more students this month. We have been busy learning about clothing, letters, numbers, shapes and colors. We loved reading "Pete the Cat and his 4 Groovy buttons" by Eric Litwin and making our own coats to hang on the wall in the hallway. We also read the story "The Mitten" by Jan Brett and glued the animals that were in the mitten onto our own paper mittens.
Ms. M's Class! 📚
During this week in Ms. M's class, students learned about different sizes of clothes and how to compare objects. Last week's letter of the week was "P" and students practiced forming this letter in all different ways.
WELCOME BACK, MISS EMMA!! 🎉
This month we welcomed back Miss Emma from maternity leave! And although she was sad to leave her precious new baby of course, she was so happy to return to her Washington Family! We are SO happy to have her back!
In these pictures the students are enjoying the ice pop party that they earned for being kind classmates. They designed their own socks as part of the clothing study and learned how to wash and dry clothes at the water table. They also worked on their math skills by playing a feather racing game.
🌎 Bringing the Curriculum to Life! 🏫
This week, in alignment with our curriculum's Clothing Unit, teachers have arranged for special guests to present to our students on the special types of clothes that they wear to work! First up, was 👨🚒Fireman Lelinho 🚒.Our students were so interested in all of the equipment firemen wear on their uniforms, especially the mask and the flashlights! We can't believe how heavy his clothes were and how fast they have to get dressed in an emergency.🧯
On Tuesday, January 30th, we had a visit from an X-Ray technician 🦴, Mrs. Bravo-Conte! It was super cool to see all of the special gear she has to wear to do her job and she even brought real-life X-Rays for us to see and touch! What a great experience! Thank you to the Edwards Family for arranging these two visits for us!
On Wednesday, January 31st, we had a visit from Mother/Baby Nurse Mrs. Galvez 👩⚕️👶 and Police Officer Tyburski 👮♂️🚓!! We learned that when babies are crying it might mean that they are hungry or need a diaper change. Mrs. Galvez also showed us how diapers magically changes color when it gets wet and how to swaddle babies! She even left us some blankets so we could practice in our classrooms!
It was really cool to see Officer Tyburski's uniform, too! He showed us his handcuffs and we got to ask him about catching bad guys! He also brought us some goodies to have fun with after!! We are so thankful for how you protect us!
PTO Corner
The PTO is working on some exciting things for our school including a Valentine's Day fundraiser this month and a Parents' Night Out in March! Click here to complete the order form for the fundraiser. Orders are due by February 2nd.
Please join us for our next meeting on Monday, February 5th at 6:30pm in Ms. Laura's classroom.
Ariana Rodriguez - President
Imma Sproviero - Treasurer
Brielle Barnes - Secretary
Join Us!
Upcoming Dates
❤️February is American Heart Month! ❤️
February 1st: Kindergarten registration begins! (No need to re-register students who are already enrolled in preschool.)
February 2nd: National Heart Day- wear red for Nurse Laura and Mr. Rogers' heart-health related activities!
February 12th: Parent Partnership Night 6:00-7:00pm at the MSHS.
February 15th: Washington School's 4th Annual Fashion Show will be in the gym at 10:30am
February 16th & 18th: President's Day Weekend/Schools Closed
February 21st: BOE Meeting @ 7:00pm
March 2nd-6th: Read Across America Week
March: Preschool Field Trip to Imagine That! (info coming home soon)
Resources:
Check out our district's SEPAG site (Special Education Parents Advisory Group)! Contact information of SEPAG members can be found there, as well as information on various community resources and links.