Introduction
The month of February has gone by quickly. We would like to say good-bye to our friend Lucas and his family. Lucas’s last day of school was on February 9th. He will be attending a new school in their new home town. We wish him and his family the best of luck in their new adventure. They will be greatly missed. We would also like to welcome Cristiano, Delaney and their families to our classroom. They are adjusting great and making new friends!
We have been enjoying the warmer weather and getting outside twice a day, once in the morning and again in the afternoon. We hope this weather continues!
Art Activities
The children have shown a lot of interest in our art/sensory activities. Here are some of the projects we have done this month: Balloon painting, circle bottle art, pom pom painting, string painting, sticker art, shaving cream and foam blocks, water play in large tubs with a variety of containers for the children to practice their pouring and estimating skills, and decorating a large box to create a rocket ship for our space area in dramatic play.
The children participated in a balloon experiment where we placed vinegar in a clear bottle and then placed a balloon filled with baking soda onto the bottle. We then lifted the balloon up so the baking soda could fall into the bottle filled with vinegar. We discovered the baking soda and vinegar bubbled up and created a gas witch caused the balloon to blow up. The children were amazed and wanted to repeat the activity over and over again.
Social/Emotional Development
We would like to thank all the families that were able to attend our family night on Tuesday February 20th. We continue to focus on social emotional development and how important it is for the developing child. We are talking to the children about our center wide expectations which include: We take care of ourselves, take care of each other, and take care of our things. The teachers use this language to help the children in our everyday routines and activities. By doing this the children are making green choices rather than red choices. We continue to stress the use of green choices to help children with their social-emotional growth. It helps our children learn the expected behaviors in our classroom. We give clear and consistent expectations in a positive manner.
Last semester Melissa and I worked on routines within routines to help the children know what to expect and what is expected of them. These visuals were very helpful to run a smooth classroom. Hailey and I continue to follow through with the same routines and visuals with the children and we have also added some. Each morning we get together as a group and have our morning meeting. As a group we go over the question of the day where we are counting the number of children that answered yes and no. We continue to have a bracelet system where the children must choose an area to play in. This helps show which areas are full or where they can enter play with their peers. This helps to manage and control the number of children in each area in the classroom and at the same time allows children to have ownership in their play.
Kindergarten Readiness workshop
We will be providing a Kindergarten readiness workshop at the center on Wednesday, April 10 from 3:30-4:30. If you have a child going to Kindergarten this fall, I would highly recommend attending. This workshop has great information to help prepare you and your child for the big transition. At this workshop you will also receive a kindergarten readiness kit that we receive from a grant through the DeKalb County Community Foundation. This kit has a variety of items, that parents can use with their child to help them prepare for Kindergarten. A sign-up sheet will be posted closer to the event. We will keep you posted!
Second Step
In the next few weeks we will be introducing a new program called Second Step into our morning group times. This program helps children with social emotional development and empathy skills. We will be using posters that have pictures of children and different scenarios that help children problem solve and talk about different feelings they may be experiencing. We also will be introducing impulsive puppy and slow down snail. They are puppets that we will be using to role play different scenarios that have been happening in the classroom. For example: How to join in on play with our peers, how we can use our kind words to ask for something we want from a peer, etc. I have implemented this program for many years and have found it helpful.
If you have any questions about anything please feel free to talk with us. You can also reach us by email:
dmathison@niu.edu
Hmanzano@niu.edu
Diane and Hailey
