A Window into Our Classroom: November 2025
With Thanksgiving approaching and Fall Break just around the corner, the children have been talking a lot about families, food, and the things they are thankful for. We spent time sharing gratitude for our families, our classmates, our teachers, and the many moments we experience together in the classroom.
Memorable Highlights
TRANSPORTATION-PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES!
As we continue to follow the children’s natural interests we landed in the transportation zone over the past few weeks. Exploring transportation helps children notice how things move, how fast or slow they go, and how different forces (like pushing, pulling, or gravity) affect motion. As they experiment with ramps, cars, and tracks, they make connections to real life situations, practice problem solving, and develop their understanding of cause and effect, all while building coordination, creativity, and social skills through collaborative play. Plus it’s just so much fun!
The children engaged in a variety of transportation themed art experiences throughout the month. We painted with cars, painted on cars, made car collages, and even built little paper-plate buggies.
We also spent time making roads, garages, and parking lots using road tape, blocks, Magna-Tiles, and our brand-new racetrack. The Flamingos practiced writing words like “car,” “road,” and “jet,” along with their own names. And of course… we enjoyed plenty of car stickers!
Everyone’s favorite project was the driver’s licenses! The Flamingos wrote their names, ages and decorated them, while the bunnies just focused on drawing on their driver’s license and making it unique to them.
To further explore the purpose of a driver’s licensed, we discussed discussed how it allows grown ups to drive a car and we have to earn it by practicing driving a real car. We even got to looked at Teacher Jocelyn’s license as an example. We took photos of each child and mounted, laminated & put them on lanyards so each child had their very own driver’s license. Each one proudly wore their license around First Friends (although disappointed to learn that they were only valid at First Friends!).
We also experimented with flight, making paper airplanes and parachutes and testing how they worked in the air. A favorite spontaneous activity was making the the classroom’s walking ramp into an airplane and flying to exciting places like Sylvie’s House and Mexico!
On one special day, we repurposed several large boxes, and all of the small “baby bed” boxes, glued on train wheels, and made a large train for our friends and a small train for the babies and stuffies. Everyone got tickets and we sat in our trains while Teacher Cerena drove us to Disneyland per their request.
What the Children Said ABOUT TRANSPORTATION
“Trains make you go”-Kiran
“They takes us places”-Arthur
“Yellow is slow slow slow!” - Dylan
“I have my Driver’s License so that means I can rock out”-Porter
“I can drive a car now”-Sloane
“Cars make us go”-Freya
STEM Learning (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)
Over the past several weeks, the children have been deeply engaged in a variety of science activities. Many of these explorations are simple to try at home, so we’ve included the ingredients in case you’re looking for ideas during the upcoming holiday breaks.
Magical Mystery Painting! We began with the classic white crayon drawing & watercolor over and then dialed up the excitement with mystery pictures and words (the Flamingo’s names) painted with baking soda and water on white paper, then painted over them with a mixture of turmeric and hand sanitizer to see them show their secret messages in bright red and yellow!
Ooblick! A preschool staple, this simple mixture of corn starch and water creates a unique sensory experience which is neither a solid nor a liquid - while also somehow being both? For you science nerds out there, it’s referred to as a “non-newtonian fluid.” For extra fun, add a lil color!
Lava Lamps! During Halloween week we all helped teacher Jocelyn put vegetable oil, water, (and a lil color) and we noticed that they did not mix together. Then we each added a tiny piece of an (aspirin-free) alka seltzer and watched our mixture bubble like a classic lava lamp!
Volcanoes! Always a classic, we love finding fun new ways to make volcanoes with baking soda, vinegar (and a lil color). We’ve used old playdough to make volcanoes and the kids love making them over and over again. During Halloween week, we made mini pumpkins into pumpkin volcanos and observed what happened when we mixed the two ingredients together.
Slime! We make this all the time both with, and for the kids. Some batches will be slimier than others and for fun you can add glitter, sequins, small play items, and of course, a little color. Recipe - 1 cup white glue, 1 1/2 – 2 Tablespoons contact saline solution, more as needed, 1 Tablespoon baking soda
Example of Child-Led Learning in the Classroom
During one of our art projects this month, the children were painting leaves and at a table nearby a small group was exploring ramps and cars. Dylan wandered over to the watercolor table with a car in hand and asked, “Can I paint the cars?” Teacher Jenny’s first (internal) instinct was to say “no” (thinking “it’ll make a mess!”, “we won't have enough cars for the ramps!”), but then thought “ There’s actually no reason to say “no”. Let’s see what happens if we explore this inquiry and allow for experimentation!”
Dylan began painting his car, and soon Jude, Kiran, Winter, and Sequoia joined him. Before long, all of the Bunnies were carefully painting cars with such intention and detail. When each car was finished, the children placed it aside on the “done tray” and chose their next car to paint. We all agreed we should set up a car wash with the painted cars during outside time later!
This moment is a beautiful example of the learning that blossoms in a child-led, inquiry based environment. By simply saying “yes” and moving past our grown up instinct for control the children engaged in so much important learning: fine motor control through careful brushwork, explored color mixing and creativity, strengthened focus and persistence, and engaged in rich social collaboration as they shared materials and ideas. Sometimes the most meaningful learning happens when we step back and let their curiosity guide the way.
OUTDOOR EXPLORATIONS
As the rain returns, it has quickly become part of our outdoor fun! Our rain suits have offered a wonderful opportunity for the children to practice self-sufficiency and independence. Many friends are becoming confident in putting on and taking off their own suits, and those who have mastered the routine are eager to help their classmates. This peer to peer support not only strengthens the community, but also boosts each child’s confidence, competence, and developing self-esteem.
We’ve also leaned into the wet weather to explore big, messy sensory projects outdoors. Many of our friends thrive with tactile experiences, and the yard has been the perfect place to dig, mix, pour, squish, and discover what happens when different textures come together. These explorations foster creativity, curiosity, and collaborative problem solving…plus, they’re simply joyful.
Another highlight this month has been the children’s growing interest in the monkey bars. It has been incredible to watch their progress as they learn to maneuver their bodies, take healthy risks, and build key gross motor skills. We’ve used sand timers and counting to support turn-taking and patience, and this has also helped children develop their spatial awareness-understanding where their bodies are and how to move safely around others who are climbing, swinging, or, quite literally, “monkeying around.”
Both groups have been deeply engaged in process art with chalk: mixing chalk with water on the ground and in bowls to create “fairy dust” inspired by Sloane and Eisley and “moon sprinkles” inspired by Dutch. This month we went through an entire box of chalk and were amazed at the creations and imaginative play that the children created with this simple material.
In the sand box, Freya began experimenting with buckets and pots as makeshift drums, which quickly encouraged her other friends to join in and create a lively outdoor drumming circle. This type of play excites us because rhythm work strengthens the body brain connection. As children drum, they coordinate both sides of their body, organize their movements, and develop an internal sense of timing. These experiences lay the foundation for later skills like language, reading, and self-regulation.
And of course, no outdoor time is complete without a few dance parties. Children have loved taking turns choosing songs and moving their bodies freely, celebrating rhythm, expression, and shared joy.
This month, we’ve truly seen our class living up to our name—First Friends—as more and more children are playing together, helping one another, and building a warm, connected community.
Cooking ProjectS This Month
Apple Crisp
This month we observed many children pretending to cook apple pies and pumpkin pies using the homemade cinnamon play-dough we made, so on Thursday we made apple crisps to get ready for Thanksgiving!
The organically grown Granny Smith apples were donated by farmer Karl Wada, at Dogtown Farms in Bolinas! The children enjoyed chopping up the apples into small pieces, and then during nap time, we baked them with the crispy oat topping.
They all sat together and enjoyed their treat topped with freshly whipped cream for our Friendship Thanksgiving! Such a sweet way to celebrate sharing and love for each other.
Social & Emotional Learning
GRATITUDE
This month we spent time exploring what it means to be grateful. We talked about the things in our life that we love and the things we would say “thank you” to. At the start of the month, we had each child reply to this prompt and their initial answers are featured on our gallery wall.
As we continued to discuss gratitude, we began to construct our Gratitude Tree. Teacher Ana brought in a large branch from her neighborhood that the children painted as a group. Each child was invited to paint maple leaves with Fall colors and share something they were grateful for or something that they loved. We wrote their messages on their leaves and hung them on our Gratitude Tree in the mudroom. The final result is something really special, and so many children chose to make multiple leaves over the course of the last couple weeks. Here are the messages from the Gratitude Tree; we are grateful for:
“My baba and dada.” - Sloane
“My daddy.” - Mikolai
“Mommy!” - Sylvie
“For mommy.” - Lucia
“My books.” - Sloane
“My mommy, daddy, and Kaiyas.” - Mikolai
“My mom.” - Brooks
“My mom and dad.” - Kiran
“Mama.” - Lucia
“For playing with my friends. Arthur and Eisley.” - Sloane
“I’m grateful for my mom and dad. And me.” - Dylan
“Mommy and my brother.” - Mikolai
“I’m grateful for my mama cause she’s my second favorite.” - Sam
“I love my mama and my daddy too. And I love myself.” - Jude
“For playing Spidey with Sloane and Arthur.” - Eisley
“My street. Camino de Herrera.” - Porter
“I love my mommy.” - Kiran
“Vivi.” - Lucia
“Pink bunny.” - Sylvie
“Pink bunny again.” - Sylvie
“PINK BUNNY AGAIN!” - Sylvie
“My incredible and kind students” - Teacher Ana
“I’m grateful for my sister.” - Arthur
“Mama O.” - Sequoia
“My little sister.” - Eisley
“Cheetahs.” - Lucia
“I’m grateful for my mom and my daddy and my car.” - Dylan
“Mommy.” - Arthur
“My mom and dad.” - Tommy
“My family.” - Eisley
“Mama T.” - Sequoia
“I’m grateful for Sesame Street.” - Dylan
“Ita!” - Freya
“I think my boppi.” - Arthur
The mudroom has been transformed into an Autumn dream of gratitude with the help of your very thoughtful and loving children! If you have time, please check out our Gratitude Tree and gallery wall.
With the older friends, our Flamingos, we tried to take their understanding one step further. We started by bringing a mirror into circle time. Teacher Mo had each child look into the mirror and describe something that they loved about themselves. Day one of this practice mostly revolved around the children’s clothes:
“I love my shirt because it has a smiley face” - Tommy
“I love my tie dye shirt because it’s tie dye” - Porter
“I love my shirt because it has yellow stripes” - Arthur
“I love my shoes because they have Paw Patrol” - Sloane
“I love my dress because it has all my favorite colors” - Eisely
“I love my rainbow stripes on my arms” - Sammy
“I love my stripey shirt - mommy got my shirt and jacket and super boots” - Dutch
As we continued this practice over the course of a few days, we pushed the Flamingos one step further and asked them to describe something they loved about themselves that was on their body or face, and why they loved that feature. Here is what they had to say:
“I love my tongue because it’s brown” - Sloane
“I love my teeth because they can bite” - Tommy
“I love my face because it can sing silly songs” - Eisley
“I like my eyes because they can see” - Porter
“I love my hair because it’s blonde” - Freya
“I love my hands because they can count and grab” - Sammy
“I love my eyes cause they’re blue” - Dutch
“I like my cheeks, they help me to smile” - Eisely
“I love my Moana dress because I can twirl in it” - Kiran
“I love my eyes because they can blink” - Sammy
“I like my crocies - they help me walk and keep my feet warm” - Arthur
“I love my eyes because they can see” - Tommy
“I love my teeth because they help me find food” - Sloane
Then, we shifted the conversation to our external world. We explained that “we have talked a lot about the things we like about ourselves; now what do we like about our world, our home, and our school? What are the things that we would want to say thank you to?” As we evolved our conversation into gratitude, here are some of the things that the children said they were grateful for:
“I love my couch because it’s so comfy and I get to watch shows” - Arthur
“I’m grateful for my nicest mommy I’ve ever seen. She’s my second favorite; I’m the first favorite” - Sammy
“I like my scary Halloween decorations because they’re scary” - Porter
“I’m grateful for my mom and dad because they always give me treats” - Tommy
“My grown ups because they’re very nice and give me waffles” - Dutch
“My sister, and my dada, and mama’” - Eisley
“My baba and dada because they are nice to me. And my neighbors because they give me presents on Halloween” - Sloane
“I’m grateful for numbers” - Porter
“For my Ita because she lets me go to the ice cream shop with her” - Freya
We loved exploring gratitude with the children this month, and plan to continue practicing this concept throughout the holiday season.
GIVING - FIRST FRIENDS FOOD DRIVE
In addition to exploring the meaning of gratitude, we also introduced the idea of giving and how we can help people who are not as fortunate as we are. The children painted boxes to hold the donations for the Marin Foster Care Association. While painting boxes, we overheard some lovely quotes that showed an understanding of what we were doing and why:
“We’re painting a box to put food in to give to people who run out of food.” - Tommy
“I want it to be beautiful!” - Porter
“Cause some people don’t have a lot of food.” - Eisley
“We have the most cans”-Sammy
“I have these string beans at home”-Arthur
On our first day of the food drive, the Flamingos counted and graphed how many bags, cans, boxes, and jars of food we had. It was a great opportunity to practice early numeracy and visual representations of numbers. Because we used a pictograph format, we would have needed yards of paper to track the incredible amount of donations we received.
The children then used their strong muscles to help us pack up the boxes with all of the goods! The children worked together to take the cans, bags, and boxes off of the shelves and pack them in our decorated boxes. They even went so far as to work together to move the boxes from our classroom to our mudroom! This type of intentional collaborative play allows for problem solving, sharing ideas, and a good dose of gross motor movement and proprioceptive input which is important for regulation!
Truly, we are so thankful to our room parents Katie, Melissa, and Cat for organizing our involvement in the food drive this year, and to all of the families and teachers for your generosity. We will definitely be making an impact in our community!
Books We Loved
Pete the Cat - Cool Shoes (Sky’s mom read)
A Dress with Pockets by Lily Murray
Good Night Good Night Construction Site
Want to play trucks?
Cars galore
Little blue truck
Stop, train, stop!
Songs we Sang
Come On Under My Umbrella
Kindness song
Freight Train
Down by the bay with rhymes using their names
Jump Into the Circle
Wheels on the Bus
Birthdays We Celebrated
Miko-3 years old
We would like to end this month of gratitute by letting you all know how much gratitude we have for all of the First Friends families and children. We feel very grateful for getting to care for your children and see and partner with each of you every day. Thank you for helping to make First Friends such a special and warm place!
Warmly,
Your First Friends Teachers
