Hello Toddler 1 Families!
As we begin our center closure to practice social distancing, please know that we all miss your child and families so much! Please do not hesitate to check in with us during this time if you need anything or if there is anything we can help you with. If we do not have an answer, we may be able to find someone that does have the answer for you. We hope that you are all staying healthy and safe during this time and we look forward to the day that we all return to the CDFC!
In an effort to stay in contact with you throughout our closure, we will be sending you activities each week that you can do with your child at home. Also, our practicum students will be sending activities to us, specific to their primaries, that we will then forward to you via email that you can do with your child as well. Feel free to share with us via email any pictures or videos of your child doing these activities, or any activities you may be doing with them at home. Did I mention we miss the children?!
Daily Schedule
Some of you may be wondering what our daily schedule looks like in the classroom. You may want to adapt to it in your home, or follow along with some of it to keep the children in the routine of school, even though we aren’t at school. When we are able to go back to school, this may make the transition easier for the children. This not required by any means, it’s just provided if you would like to use it.
When children are dropped off in the morning, we have free play in the classroom. At about 8:50 a.m., we do a group time with the children and then have breakfast.
Breakfast is served at 9:00 a.m. in our classroom. It is considered an ‘open’ (the children have the option to sit down) meal, but we encourage the children to sit down for the meal. It is after breakfast that we begin diaper changes for the classroom. While diapers are being changed, children are having free play in the classroom as well.
Once we are done with diapers, depending on the weather, we dress and go outside. Our outside activities can vary. If the playground is really muddy or really wet, we go for a walk. When our playground isn’t extremely muddy or wet, we play on our playground. On days we aren’t able to go outside due to the weather, we go for walks in the hallways of the center, have dance parties in our classroom, or open up the climber and let the children play on that. It is harder in the morning if we aren’t able to go outside because our designated time to play in the Large Motor Room is in the afternoon.
Lunch is served from 11:30-12:00 p.m. We end lunch around 12:00 p.m. By the time the children bring their dishes to the sink or put their leftover food in the garbage (if they choose to, this isn’t required, but we’re working on this for their independence and self-care skills), it is about 12:15-12:20 p.m. that we begin nap time.
At nap time, we turn the lights off and close the classroom blinds, have relaxing music playing, and we let the children choose a book to read before going to sleep. There really isn’t any specific music that we play. We use YouTube and search ‘relaxing music’ and choose whatever looks/sounds good. If the children aren’t awake by 2:30 p.m., this is when we start to wake them. When they wake up from their naps, we change their diapers again.
Once diapers are finished, depending on when they are finished, we may do a group time before afternoon snack. We serve afternoon snack no later than 3:00 p.m. Again, we allow 30 minutes to eat, ending at 3:30 p.m., or 30 minutes from whenever we started. If we didn’t do group time before snack, we usually do it after snack.
After afternoon snack, if weather doesn’t permit us to go outside, we go to the Large Motor Room. Our scheduled time is 3:30-4:00 p.m. If we are able to go outside, we allow the children to have free play in the classroom, and do the end of the day diapers. With the time change, we are able to be outside until the end of the day since it is now light enough to be out that long. When going outside in the afternoon, we are outside no later than 4:30 p.m.
For group times, we typically do songs, read books, use our felt board, or fingerplays. Diapers are changed every 2 hours per DCFS regulations, unless it is needed earlier (ex. if the child’s diaper is extremely wet or they have a BM).
Giving the children choices is a great way to give them their choice of ways to do the task you are requesting. We give the children two choices and let them choose between the two. For example, if they aren’t wanting to go to the bathroom, we ask them if they want to fly to the potty, or if they want to crawl to the potty. This doesn’t have to be just for going to the potty. We think of various ways to make the things we are asking of them more ‘fun’ for them to do.
Children learn best through play and exploration. A way that we extend their play in the classroom is building off their interests using the emergent curriculum, but also asking the children open ended questions. Open ended questions are questions that we ask the children that make them stop and think of a response, rather than just a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response. Below is a list of examples of the two different types of questions.
Open Ended Questions Closed Ended Questions
- Where is the car driving to? 1. Is the car driving to the store?
- How are you feeling today? 2. Are you happy?
- Why is the baby crying? 3. Is the baby hungry?
Activities
We listen to a lot of songs in our classroom and have frequent dance parties. Children often request specific songs. You may be hearing these requests at home, but aren’t sure what your child is requesting. Here is a list of songs that we frequently listen to and participate in. They can be found on YouTube and the artists have been included as well.
Listen and Move (The Kiboomers) Animal Freeze Dance (The Kiboomers)
Freeze Dance (The Kiboomers) Baby Shark (Pinkfong!)
Walking in the Jungle (Super Simple Songs) We’re Going on a Lion Hunt (The Kiboomers)
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt (The Kiboomers or FriscoF7)
Through these songs, children’s physical development is being shown through gross and fine motor play. A good majority of these songs are action songs. They involve movement from the children that they use their whole body for, or some may just use their hands. Children are able to work on their language development through receptive communication when they are hearing what the song is saying to do, and they respond appropriately. Cognitively, they are showcasing their creative expression through dance and how they move their bodies.
Art has always been one of my favorite activities to do with the children. Yes, it can be messy, but what we always say is, mess is best! If you have a concern of your child getting dirty or messy, throw an old t-shirt, maybe even one of yours, on them and let them begin their art activity. When engaging in art activities, children are using their creative skills, fine motor skills, and sometimes, science can also be incorporated in art that is done with your children. They may notice that when mixing two colors, a new color may form.
Colored Ice Cubes
What you will need: ice cube tray or any small container, water, food coloring or liquid watercolor, Popsicle sticks or small spoons, paper (white preferably, but any color will do)
How to:
- Fill your ice cube tray or small containers with water. A cup filled with about an inch of water would work as well.
- Add food coloring or liquid watercolor to the water in the ice cube tray or small container
- If you are using food coloring, it usually takes a lot of it to make the ice cube vibrant once frozen and visible on paper.
- If you have Popsicle sticks, stick those in the water, if not, using spoons or anything else that can freeze into the water and the children can hold later will work.
- Place containers of colored water into freezer and wait until they are frozen
- Once frozen, take out of freezer and let your child (or children) paint with these on paper
- It helps if the ice cubes are slightly thawed
When preparing this activity, let the children be involved. They can help fill the container of your choice with water, help squeeze the food coloring or liquid watercolor into the container, they can even help you carry the container to the freezer. If they are wanting to do the activity right away and waiting for the water to freeze begins to frustrate them, let them paint with the water! If you have any small syringes or eye droppers, or even paint brushes at home, they can dip these in the water with added color and paint on their paper. It doesn’t have to be frozen. Adapting to any activity will help alleviate any frustrations that may arise.
Again, we hope that these activities we will be sending you will help at home and give the children some things to do while learning at the same time. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us if you need anything or have any questions. We are here for you, we are still the teachers of your child, and we still care deeply for each of you. We miss you all and hope to see you soon!
Stay healthy and be safe,
Krysten, Ecila, Eisa, and Tena
Toddler 1
