Hello 2s/3s families. The spring semester is in full swing, and I feel like my transition was seamless. I owe all of this to April, Pam and the returning student workers. The classroom runs like a well-oiled machine (as much as it’s possible to do so with a room full of 2–3-year-olds). I am convinced that this is because of the solid rapport they built with families as well as maintaining a developmentally appropriate classroom routine. It has been nice for Pam to pop in and say hello to the children on occasion. They are always ecstatic to see her, and I think seeing the kids fills her bucket too. Thank you all for welcoming me as well. It feels great to be a part of this team.
Family Partnerships
Family partnerships can mean many things but at the most basic level it’s about communication. At morning drop offs, April or I will usually ask basic questions about your child’s evening and morning. Knowing this information helps us meet your child’s needs accordingly which helps “set them up for success.” At pick-up times we try to let you know any details about your child’s day that may affect their evening. Sometimes a funny story about your child’s day may be enough to make you smile and have a good evening. Keeping communication is essential to your child’s school experience.
April and I want to thank you for your participation in our pilot program of “The Traveling Toy Bag.” Our goal for the bags was to give the children a little bit of school at home. We put our heads together to find simple yet engaging activities you can do at home that are like the things we do and read in the classroom. Thank you for providing the pictures and anecdotes of your experience. We hope you have had a chance to see our “Family Partnership” display in the hallway.
Thank you for bringing in the variety of recycled materials that served as drums for the children to explore. The children in the classroom genuinely enjoy music and movement and we thought the drums would extend this. We use the drums during free play and at group times. During group times, we read a couple of different drum books and had the children “drum” during the story. We read a couple of pages and take a pause to beat our drums! Another thing we did as a group was pattern and count while hitting our drums. This simple activity helps build children’s listening skills. During one group time, we gave the children the opportunity to trade drums with a friend. Sharing is a challenging skill for this age, but trading is much more fun! We learned that simple drumming in the classroom has many benefits including building on math and social/emotional skills. We will keep the drums in our closet to bring out for future activities.
Routines
Routines are an essential part of our classroom management. Routines are predictable and provide children with a sense of safety and security. Safety and security are the most basic needs of all humans. When a child feels safe and knows what to expect from their environment, they thrive. This is why we maintain a classroom schedule and follow a similar routine daily. I have provided a link from the Zero to Three organization that speaks to the significance of creating routines. If you have any questions about creating routines at home, please let April and I know how we can help.
https://www.zerotothree.org/resource/creating-routines-for-love-and-learning/
2s/3s-2 Classroom Info-
In addition to our regular student workers, we have 4 HDFS lab students in our classroom. Destiny (also one of our student workers), Nicole, Evelyn, and Taylor will spend a couple hours a week implementing a variety of activities in the classroom. We welcome them as part of our classroom team and look forward to watching them build relationships with the children.
Big thanks to the McCarthy Family for donating a box of hats and mittens to our classroom. We all know how easily those things disappear with children this age, so we are thankful to have extras!
Until next time,
Nadine, April and the 2s/3s-2 team.
