2025-26 Smart Start Week 16

This week, we jumped right back into our rhythm of learning through play as we explored the letter J in meaningful and joyful ways.

Our Jurassic Park Imagination Station sparked big thinking and even bigger creativity. Friends worked together to design and build different types of dinosaur enclosures, carefully considering what their dinosaurs might need. These ideas carried over into journaling as friends imagined what life would be like if they had a dinosaur of their own—capturing ideas through drawings, with teachers writing their words.

Letter J week also gave us the perfect reason to dress for our DREAM JOBS. Friends proudly shared their hopes and dreams during short video interviews and reflected on them in their journals. It was wonderful to hear their voices as they imagined their future selves.

We continued our ongoing recycled art collaboration, using junk materials to create something new together. Some friends were inspired to repurpose those same materials into individual art pieces, showing creativity, problem-solving, and ownership of their ideas.

Throughout the week, we practiced name and letter recognition in a variety of hands-on ways—building, tracing, writing, and playing—meeting each friend right where they are.

Movement was a big part of our learning too. In the Wiggle Room, friends explored different ways to jump and began learning about Brain Dance, helping us connect movement, coordination, and awareness of our bodies.

Of course, no Letter J week would be complete without a little taste exploration! We made suckers using Jolly Ranchers, tried jackfruit—a new food for many—and compared jelly and jam on toast, noticing differences in texture, taste, and appearance.

Letter J brought so many joyful moments of curiosity, imagination, movement, and connection. We are excited to keep jumping forward together as our learning continues to grow.

See you soon,

The Smart Start team