INTRODUCTION
Hello Toddler 2 Families!
I cannot believe the September has ended! We spent the first few weeks of the semester getting to know the all the children and building relationships with them as well as their families. The children are have been adjusting to the toddler schedule and they have been learning our daily routine in the classroom. They are also starting to create relationships with their peers as well as with our student workers.
GROSS MOTOR
The children have been loving our outside time! They have been interested in running around and chasing their teachers and friends. We have been practicing walking, climbing and kicking with our younger toddlers. On the other hand, the older toddlers have been working on their balance as well as their gross-motor manipulative skills. They have been demonstrating their abilities to throw, kick and carry different sizes of balls.
FINE MOTOR
For the past month, we have been focusing on fostering the children’s abilities to use their small muscles. This is essential in their development as they will be using their hands, fingers and arms. We have been doing art activities to promote their fine motor skills. We have been painting with different tools like sponge brushes and even cars to incorporate their interest in vehicles. Additionally, we have done water play a few times. This has helped the children practice their hand-eye coordination as they scoop and pour the water.
SENSORY EXPLORATION
As we got know the children, we have noticed many of them liked doing sensory activities. Aside from water play, we also introduced Mr. Bubbles to integrate their interest towards seeking sensory experiences. In addition, we have also utilized contact paper to spark this interest. Using the sticky surface of the contact paper, the children have been putting materials like buttons and sticks on it. Outside the children have also shown a real interest in the sand box.
THANK YOU
Thank you to everyone who joined us during family night! We also want to thank those who donated books to our classroom! We are excited to read the new stories to the children.
Have a great month!
-Ana and Christia
REMINDERS:
- With the weather changing, please bring a coat for your child and leave it in their cubbies.
- We are needing new family pictures! Please send them to abarragan1@niu.edu or cprovido1@niu.edu
