We certainly had a crazy and creative “C” week!  Hi-lights of Community Helper Day included puppets to play with and a variety of new dramatic play areas including a construction site, a pizza parlor, an ice cream stand, a post office, and a doctor’s office.  It is fun to watch children make these areas come alive through creative play.  A small group even today spontaneously set out chairs and made microphones out of magnetic sticks and balls and took turns singing “on stage” for their audience!  They set out chairs in a second formation and took an imaginary road trip in their car.  Children figure out the world around them through imaginative play, and it is wonderful to see that activity come alive in my classroom each day.  We talked about the virtue of hard work and everyone pitching in to help out while reading a familiar fable, “The Grasshopper and the Ants”.  We practiced teamwork  by passing a cardboard circle from friend to friend using only clothespins.  Pinching the clothespins doubles here as a great way to improve fine motor muscles in the fingers for writing.  Each child was also interviewed and asked to draw what they want to be when they grow up.  Start saving up now for Super Hero College!

We experienced a circus at school as our journey continued. We talked about the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes at the circus and participated in our very own circus in the Lower School gym.  Each child took turns tiptoeing across the high wire (balance beam), rolling across the mat, roaring like a lion, jumping through the ring of fire, bouncing balls, and raising the big top (parachute).  We counted out cotton candy balls, popped popcorn, and enjoyed a wonderful ice cream clown treat, which was our edible art project.  We visited “Harold’s Circus” in literature and played a peanut counting game in math.

Cookie Day incorporated math skills while students measured their own baggies of dry ingredients to bake cookies at home.  I hope you enjoyed the special treat and the togetherness of time with your child.  We had fun playing “Who Took the Cookie From the Cookie Jar” and found out what would happen “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie”.  In science, we excavated chocolate chips from cookies then counted them and hypothesized about what would happen if we dropped a cookie into a cup of water.  Poor little cookies actually did drown.

The focus of Canada day was getting to know our neighbor to the north by its location on the map.  We watched a demonstration on the Smart Board to learn how sap is tapped from a tree and boiled into maple syrup.  We cooked a yummy batch of pancakes and tasted pure maple syrup.  A special thanks to Sasha and her family for providing what we needed for this wonderful breakfast, fruit included!  We practiced graphing and patterning colored maple leaves in math and read some fun children’s books including “If You Give a Pig a Pancake”, “Pancakes, Pancakes”, and “Curious George Makes a Pancake”.  With fall just around the corner, it was a perfect day to have some maple leaf fun!

Next week, we will discuss letter “D”.  We will learn about dinosaurs, dental health, and experience Holland’s Dutch  culture.  We will learn about two great Dutch artists Vincent Van Gogh and Piet Mondrian.

Special recognition and thanks goes out to all snack helpers from this past week.  Andrea’s carrots and yogurt, Matthew’s breadsticks, Skyler’s ice cream, Luciano’s birthday cupcakes, and Sasha’s maple syrup, pancakes, and fruit were enjoyed by all.  Thanks to the Nowak family for being our mystery reader this week.  Next week’s helpers are Conner, Tessa, Olivia, Teddy, and Graham for snack and the Cesario family for mystery reader.  Email me if you have any questions.

The children have been happy about coming to school and participating in all of the hands-on fun and learning experiences.  We do talk each day about our own space and about keeping our hands and feet in this space and not on others.  This has especially been chronic while walking in line and waiting for activities to begin.  Please help me by providing a gentle reminder before dropping your child off each day.  My environment offers hands-on learning while keeping hands-off our friends.  Thank you for your cooperation.

We have a new student, Griffin Ellis, starting school on Monday.  Please help welcome him to JrKinder.  We had another visitor today, Gregory Davis.  Please help welcome Gregory, as he may join our learning group in the near future, too.

Enjoy the beautiful weekend with your family!

Your Partner in Learning,

Kelly Golich