April 30, 2018
Hello!
Here is some info for you about today, this week, and this month! Thanks for reading and have a great night!
Anine : )
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May Calendar
May should be a fun month! This week in particular we plan to:
Set up our big long Science table in the garage
Re-visit our “Seeds & Plants” topic,
Our “Praying Mantis” topic, and
Our “Caterpillars & Butterflies” topic
We plan to start talking about “Dirt & Worms”
We plan to have some extra time outdoors
We hope to fit a cooking project in one day, too
FYI I will wait until approximately Friday before I print/distribute our May calendar.
FYI “Bike & Scooter Day” Thursday, May 24th
As a special way to have some fun together on our last day before summer break, each of the kids is invited to bring a labeled Big Wheel, scooter, or tiny bicycle with training wheels, and a labeled bike helmet to use here the morning of May 24th. Grandma Bente and I will help the kids have some fun that morning riding in the backyard, on the sidewalk out front, and depending how confident/safe each friend is on their wheels, we may go for a “walk/ride” in the neighborhood (very close by) as well.
If your child is not normally scheduled to be here on Thursdays, you are invited to drop them off for a visit for a couple of hours that morning. (You and I can talk and arrange the time.) Since Grandma Bente and I will both be here, that will keep us in proper teacher/child ratio while every friend enjoys some fun together.
Happy Birthday, Congratulations
Happy Birthday to our friend’s Mommy, who had a birthday this past Friday. We hope you had a wonderful day!
Congratulations to our friend and her family on the birth of her baby brother in March!
Congratulations to our friend and her family on the birth of her baby brother in April!
Observer from our Local Community College
This afternoon a student - and our neighbor from down the street - stopped by from 3:30 to 4:15 to observe the kids and their activities as part of a class assignment. We’ve known this student and her family for years, she works as a nanny when she is not in school, and she has spent many summers volunteering as a camp counselor for a local church camp. The kids were excited about her visit!
Monday Activities
Science Table: This morning seven friends worked together to start setting up all the items on our big, long “Science” table in the garage. We used books, puzzles, life cycle models, and other fun items to set up a little area out there related to seeds and plants, an area having to do with praying mantises, an area related to caterpillars and butterflies, an area about tadpoles and frogs, and an area about ladybugs. I’ve been hoping to set an aquarium up out there this week with tadpoles, fish and snails, too, but because of the cooler spring temps it sounds like the fish stores won’t have tadpoles for another couple of weeks. I will keep checking. It would be a lot of fun to get some real tadpoles here for the kids to observe!
Puzzles: This morning the kids teamed up and worked on four different puzzles, all having to do with The Very Hungry Caterpillar. They liked that!
Construction: This morning the kids shared a big container full of Duplos and a big bag full of “Waffle Blocks” and did some building together.
Outdoor:
Deck… On the deck today, the kids had fun throwing and kicking balls and enjoyed the nice temperatures!
New Sand Containers… In the backyard today, the kids were excited to discover three new “sand boxes” (large flowerpots, actually). Each flowerpot was filled about 2/3 of the way with sand and then had fun items stirred in, too. One had multi-colored aquarium rocks mixed in with the sand. One had small plastic Easter eggs mixed in, and the third one was full of small shells that looked a lot like clam shells. Each shell had an alphabet letter written on the inside with Sharpie marker. Each sand container has three digging tools with it – a tiny sifter, rake and shovel set.
Monday Favorite Activities
Some of the things the kids said they really liked today were playing Batman, playing in the backyard in the Cozy Coupe Car, playing Ball, playing in the backyard, swinging, playing in the sand, and the Science table.
Monday Meals
Breakfast was blueberry waffles, fresh raspberries, and milk. Lunch was quesadillas (Mission-brand “street” taco flour tortillas, butter, Kraft Mild Cheddar), steamed edamame, black beans, steamed corn, honeydew melon, and milk. Snack was Wheat Thins crackers, Original Cheerios, animal crackers, Colby cheese slices, cantaloupe, apple juice and milk.