MAY
Invent, Imagine, Innovate, Fan Favorite, Art Show, I Can Think My Own Thoughts
Global Gull: Científico, Robot, Pregunta, Construir, Inventor
May is a month full of curiosity, confidence, and growth for our Robins! Over the next four weeks, children will engage in exciting learning experiences that support the use of new vocabulary, strengthen large‑motor skills like kicking and jumping, and build a growing sense of responsibility. Through hands‑on exploration, children will practice recognizing and naming shapes while showing enthusiasm and interest in learning. These playful and meaningful experiences help our Robins grow as confident, capable learners.
Learners will expand their vocabulary through activities such as Lead Me There, Flashlight Friends, and What’s in My Bucket?. These experiences encourage children to use descriptive language while communicating, helping them visualize ideas, understand that messages can be shared in different ways, and build flexible thinking and memory. Through playful conversation, children practice using new vocabulary such as synonyms, adjectives, and prepositions in meaningful, everyday contexts.
Our Robins will continue developing their gross‑motor skills through active, engaging games. In Hop Along, children hop and jump between floor spots, using their leg muscles, core strength, and arms to move their bodies with control. Games like Duck, Duck, Goose encourage children to start, stop, and move quickly, helping build coordination, balance, and confidence in their growing bodies.
Children build a sense of responsibility by successfully completing small, meaningful tasks. In Pack It Up, Robins gather the items they need to bring home, deciding what belongs in their bags and checking with a teacher when they are unsure. Tasks like Hang It Up encourage children to take care of their belongings by hanging up jackets and bags using hooks or hangers, helping them stay organized and feel proud of their independence.
Activities like Wire Shapes and Trace the Shadow support children as they recognize, explore, and work with shapes in hands‑on ways. Bending wire to form basic shapes, using Nest Play shape resources and classroom manipulatives, helps deepen children’s understanding of shape features. As children trace shadows cast by objects, they begin to see how shapes come together to form images, strengthening memory and early spatial awareness through active exploration.
Children are invited to explore and investigate through engaging activities that spark curiosity and a love of learning. Experiences like Kinetic Sand Play give children time to ask questions, experiment, and enjoy discovery at their own pace. In Painting with Nature Items, children collect materials, make choices, and explore the different shapes and patterns nature can create on paper. These repeatable, open‑ended activities keep learning meaningful and fun, while teachers observe each child’s interests and continue to plan experiences that build on their curiosity.
Teachers will provide stimulating activities and share stories that connect to our enhancement theme, “In the Garden.” Through storytelling of these well-loved stories, children will begin to predict, remember, and connect print and language!
As part of our Nest Play Curriculum, our Robins continue building early literacy skills through our Take the LEAP program. LEAP highlights active, hands‑on learning to support letter recognition through Letter Loon and name recognition through Who Am I?. In Letter Loon, children will review the letters G, O, U, L, F, and B. During Who Am I?, we begin our third‑quarter focus by stringing letters together to form names through engaging games, songs, and hands‑on activities.
In this unit, our Robins will be exposed and introduced to our Spanish Core Words, such as ‘play,’ ‘sleep,’ ‘bathroom,’ and ‘all done,’ and our monthly words that accompany our theme of ‘Community Helpers’ in Spanish. Children will learn the Spanish words for ‘soil’ (suela), ‘butterfly’ (mariposa), ‘seed’ (semilla), ‘flower’ (flor), ‘worm’ (gusano), and ‘gardening’ (jardinería). Teachers will use these Spanish words in day-to-day interactions, conversations, songs, and storytelling with our young children to further increase exposure and awareness and to offer a form of communication and language learning. Teachers will provide exposure and repetition through various opportunities for our young children to practice and further explore their newly discovered language!
In our Paints and Pianos program, our Robins will experience a range of feelings as they listen to well-known musicians: The Beatles, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Ray Charles. They will move, shake shakers, and wave scarves as their bodies and brains connect during these magical musical moments. Through these artists, children will hear beautiful harmonies, fun nonsense words of Scatting, the pure emotion of the Blues, and the stories told as these songs unfold. Our Education Coordinators will provide language describing the sounds of instruments and feelings while Robins become familiar with musical legends.
In Fit Buddies, our Robins will practice balance and hand-eye coordination while walking. Using a plastic egg and spoon, they will attempt to keep the egg on the spoon as they move. This challenge strengthens their core, arms, hands, wrists, and grip. Our Education Coordinators will provide encouragement and support while emotions of joy, laughter, and maybe a little frustration occur when the egg falls off. Robins will move around the room to match egg color to bucket color while keeping the egg balanced. To end each class, we will practice yoga and meditation poses to help children feel connected to themselves and focus on their overall mind and body wellness!
In The Art of Living, children learn how to care for the world around them. Exploring our garden beds, clearing old vegetation, and preparing spaces for new plants helps children begin to understand the passage of time and the importance of caring for living things. By watching for items that do not belong outdoors and could affect plants or wildlife, children take early steps toward environmental stewardship. Through teacher modeling and shared experiences, children learn, “I can help care for the world around me,” building independence and pride both in the classroom and beyond.