Hello Families!
It has been a busy week this week, the children have been preparing for the Spring Concert on Thursday, May 31st. This special event is held at the Novi Civic Center from 6:00-7:00 pm. Please let your child’s teachers know if they WILL NOT be participating. The toddler classroom will not be participating.The children have also been preparing special “gifts” for moms for Mother’s Day which is Sunday, May 12th.
You still have time to enroll in both our Summer Camp Program and the Fall 2019 school year! We are excited about the summer camp projects we are planning and we are looking forward to another great school year!
Please mark your calendar for Monday, May 27th. This is Memorial Day and the center will be closed. The Spring Concert is Thursday, May 30 and Parent/Teacher Conferences are Friday, May 31st. The center is closed on this day.
This week in the Toddler Classroom the theme was Mother’s Day. The childen created handprint flowers. They enjoyed hearing, “In the Garden” and “Farmer Cat”. They also enjoyed the days they were able to be outside running, jumping and chasing each other. The children continue to work on juicing. They loved the taste of the fresh orange juice. They also worked with playdough and pasta (tube shaped) This activity encouarages children to manipulate and mould materials and it builds up their fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination. This is the purest sense of exploratory learning. The teachers presented several farm animal sounds to the children, oink, quack and moo. These sounds are simple for children to learn because they connect different senses including touch and sight. It is a language building block that prepare a child to speak, read, and write and it’s fun and engaging. Please label all your child’s containers, personal belongings and extra clothes. Please also include an ice pack in their lunch bag to keep food cool, this is a State of Michigan licensing rule. Thank you! Ms Evelyn will be on vacation starting Monday, May 6 and returning Monday, May 20. Substitutes that the children know will be working for Ms Evelyn each morning.
In the Pine Room this week the children finished their work with the continent of Australia. Starting in May the continent to be studied is Antartica. We viewed a video on Antartica and learned about how cold it is and that it is all ice. We began talking about pengins and read a book about penguins. The children have been practicing their dance for the the Spring Concert. There is a new addition to the classroom, Ms Dee refers to them as “her babies”, there are caterpillars in the classroom and the children will be observing them over the next several weeks as they turn into butterflies. The children watched a video on the life cycle of the butterfly, it was amazing watching and hearing the children discuss what they saw, a lot of “wow” and “ooh”s! We would like to thank Ms Jones for getting them for us. In our food preparation area the children have been doing orange juicing (this is a fine motor skill) and they get to drink the juice! Some of the children are working with the rough and smooth board while others are studying the globle and naming the continents. PLEASE remember that we are a nut free center, we are noticing that some children have nuts in their lunches. We are sending them home unopened, please be aware that we have a child in our classroom that has a nut allergy. Have a great weekend-The Pine Room Staff
In the Maple Room the children were shown how to prepare a sandwich out of cream cheese and crackers for the practical life snack. We are reviewing our planets, Mercury was discussed in detail. Antartica is the continent for the month of May. Penguins were introduced as part of the study, the children viewed a video on Antartica. The older children are being encouraged to read and everyone is working at their respective levels.
In the Cedar Room there was a recall discussion on Australia and a new discussion about Antartica. We reviewed the classroom ground rules and the children listened to , “Ms Nelson is Missing” and “Excuse Me”. The children have enjoyed preparing a special Mother’s Day gift! The older children are reviewing their studies on math and language while the younger children are studying according to their level.