Hello Toddler 2 families! We are excited to finally have another way to touch base with you about what is going on in the classroom! In this news letter, you can find information about what we are doing throughout the day and week as well as different goals we are working on and other fun activities.
One big goal we have been working on with all the children is independence and self-help skills. Some of these skills include tasks such as washing hands, taking shoes off and on, putting on outdoor winter gear, self serving food, cleaning up, going to the bathroom and so much more. In order to start the independence, we have been helping the children accomplish these tasks by modeling and using the hand- over-hand technique. The hand-over-hand technique involves placing ones hand over the individual to help them complete a movement or task. When we are using the hand- over-hand assistance, the adult or teacher is controlling the movements of the child’s hand. Many of our two year old’s and older one year old’s have steered away from the hand-over-hand technique and showing more interest in wanting to accomplish these tasks on their own. These self-help skills provide development in different areas such as physcial development, fine motor, cognitive, receptive language, personal-social and much more.
Every day we have to implement some type of art in the classroom. Here in the toddler room, we focus a lot on process art rather than product art. Process art is art that is child-directed, choice-driven, and celebrates the experience of discovery. In process art, the final product is always unique and the focus lies in the creation of the work, not the outcome. Some art activities that we do in the classroom are dot art, finger painting, stickers, crayons, markers, chalk, and much more. If you come into the classroom, you can see many of the children’s artwork displayed throughout the classroom. Not only is art a way to express yourself, but it also helps the children with their fine motor skills. They are learning on how to properly grasp a crayon or marker. This also helps with their hand-eye coordination.
Something new in the classroom is our class pet Bubbles. He is a male beta fish that we recently got. By adding Bubbles into the class, the children have been able to help care for him by helping feed him daily, clean out his tank, and just give him the love and attention that he needs. We do have a young class, so not all the children will understand the concept of having a fish, but some of the older ones are starting to learn about caring and empathy skills. They are gaining these skills by learning about the fish and the daily tasks that are needed to maintain the fish and his home.
Birthdays
Three of our friends had birthdays this month! We got to celebrate by singing “Happy Birthday” and they got to use the birthday plate!
Reminders:
With the weather changing, all of the snow and ice will be melting meaning our playground will be a very muddy outdoor space. Just because there is mud on the playground, doesn’t mean we will be staying inside. We will still be going outside to utilize the playground and explore all that nature gives us, including MUD! With this being said, please make sure you are sending your child to school in clothes that are ok to get dirty in and also make sure to bring extra clothes just incase we need to change. With the cold weather and muddy environment we will still utilize boots and snow pants, so please keep those items here until we give them to you to send home.
Dates to Remember:
March 9-13—Spring Break
April 13-17—WOYC
April 15th—Non-Practicum Family Night
April 9th—Angela Conference Day
April 23rd—Alex Conference Day
April 27-May 1—Book Fair
