Time For The Big Work to Begin

I hope that those of you that were able to tend the auction had fun and picked up some good items. I hope that you were able to take a look at the photo books that I made for each class. They were fun to make although it was difficult to choose which pictures to use. We have several camera hogs and an equal amount of camera shy children. I tried very hard to catch everyone smiling.

We are down to the last two months of school. We are continuing to work on toilet training with the children. We are also asking the children to complete a "big"work before building with blocks,playing babies, or painting. A big work is something like using he spindles for counting and corresponding the spindles to the number, letter recognition, putting objects in size order and pouring works. This is what the older children do and we are trying to prepare them for next year. We are also trying to have the children line up before we go downstairs or in from the playground. While these are small things, they are requiring self control of the children.

We will be doing more activities outside as the weather breaks. The playground equipment will be scrubbed down. We will be clearing a path so our hikes will have a very clear path. We may even do some outdoor gardening. We will be adding a lady bug garden to our classroom in the near future.

Up and Over

Just when we are all hoping that we will be packing the coats up we are teaching the kids the up and over technique to put their coats on. We have been trying this out on the line one child at a time. The kids cheer each other on. It is fun to see how proud they are as they put on their own coat. We will continue doing this until everyone is able to put their own coat on.

We are continuing to work on potty training. Debi and I are taking small groups to the bathroom during our day. Many of the children are at least trying out the toilet and at least that is progress. We will also begin talking about brushing our teeth. One of our students fathers is a dentist and will be sending toothbrushes for everyone. Last year the kids really liked brushing their teeth in the small sink in front of the mirror. I expect the kids this year will enjoy this too.



Don't forget that our auction is March 18th. We hope to you there!

Packing Snow!

We really enjoyed the warm up on the weather. We ran I. The snow and threw snow balls at Ms. Debi. The kids really had fun going down the slide and landing in the soft snow. Spending time in the fresh air and a bit of sunshine made focusing on work easier. We intoduced the color green to the groups. The kids are enjoying working with verde.

We will begin to encourage the children to make their own play dough this week. We will have a bowl set out for the kids ro use to combine all of the ingredients in themselves to make the dough. There are always kids who make play dough every day and others who never touch it. it I'll be interesting to see if anyone surprises us.

Our auction is less a month away! We hope to see you to bid on our class project and a day of baking for your child and four friends with Ms. Debi and me!!!

Don't forget registration fornnext year is soon. To ensure your childs spot get here early on registration day! Thisnisnalso when you sign up for summer camp we hope to have a great group of children this summer!

Valentines Party

Wow were the kids wound up this week. The cold weather needs to end or we are going to loose our noodles. The kids went directly to the back door to go outside e everyday. I hope that the weather warms up and we can get back to our routine. The energy level in our classroom was higher then normal.

We started taking the children to the bathroom to check things out. A few of the children sat on the toilet and a few even used it. Please try to remember to dress your child so using the toilet is easy. I am sure that we both would love for your child to be potty trained before the end of the school year.

The kids really seemed to enjoy the party. We started the day with some dancing and singing and then everyone made a pizza. While the pizzas were baking the kids explored some of the new work that we put out. When the pizza was ready we passed out the shakes and turned on Clifford's Valentine for the kids to watch for a bit. We invited the older siblings to join us for a snack. The kids really seemed to enjoy having the older kids in our classroom. We finished our day with a book. The kids really loved carrying their shoe boxes filled with goodies. A good time was had by all.

Snow day

Wow it was kind of like a spring break. It seems like it has been a long time since we were at school. If you were "snack" person last week and did not bring the English muffins, pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese please bring it this weeks as it is for our party on Thursday this week we we ill be making pizza.

If you can please use a brown paper bag to cover a shoe box so your child can make a valentine mail box for our party.

We are working on our auction item. We are making a book featuring your children that will be up for bidding on March 18th. Ms Debi and I will be taking lots of pictures to ensure everyone has a cameo in our book.

I hope that you were able to enjoy the snow with your children. We will be breaking out the sled this week if it is warm enough out side. I hope that the playground is passable at this point.

We are looking forward to our party this week. Pajama's are encouraged but not required on Thursday.

Nancy

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving



Ryan making pie



Ava using the mixer



Noah mixing the pie while Ava tells him how


We have had a couple of busy weeks.  We made pumpkin pie, painted our hands to make turkeys and used lots of glue and feathers to make more turkeys.  The kids really like projects. The boys were not too interested in making pie at first.  I did mention that they would be able to use the mixer.  Some were interested.  Then when it was turned on everyone came to see what was making all of the noise.  I told the kids it was a power tool for the kitchen.  Thant seemed to make everyone want a turn. 
 When ever I talk about a project we are doing for the week the kids hurry to the craft area so they can get working.   We always invite all the children to make the project but no one has to make one.  So if you did not receive one of the items listed it was most likely  a work that your child did not want to do. 

On Tuesday before our Thanksgiving break we set up our holiday tree.  The children are invited to decorate the tree.  We take the decorations off after each class so the next group can decorate it for themselves.   Be sure to look out for some fun holiday projects coming home.  

We have been having trouble finding a book that will hold the interest of the kids during circle time at the end of the day.  We have tried Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Clifford books, No David and we are unable to keep most of the kids sitting.  We are going to ask you to bring a book when it is your child's week to bring snack.  That way at least one child will be interested in the story.  That child maybe able to get his or her friends to sit and listen to their book. 

Have a great week! 

Making the Most of the Weather

Wow can you believe how lucky we were to have 70 degrees in November? The Toddlers certainly took full advantage of the weather. We enjoyed many hikes in the woods, gathering acorns, tomatoes, and leaves. The children really enjoyed having leaf fights. I think that they enjoyed covering me with leaves the most. It was really fun for all of us. Being able to burn off some energy allowed everyone to focus on their work.

The children enjoyed making turkey's with feathers and turkey hand prints too. The kids really enjoyed painting their hands. I thinks some of them were amazed that I was encouraging them to paint their hands. Others were not too sure and were very happy to rush to the sink to wash the paint off. Charlie put his thoughts on this very clearly "You are not painting my hand no matter what". Needless to say as of today Charlie will not be taking home a hand print turkey at least yet.....

This week we will be doing our first cooking project. We are attempting to make pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving. So we will be measuring, mixing, pouring and cleaning this week. I hope the children enjoy baking as much as Debi and I do.

We are still in need of plastic jars. Any size will do! We are making snow globes so a jar with a twist on top of any size would be wonderful!!

Have a great week!