As we wrapped up this final week before March break we peeked ahead to some exciting events in spring! The two most notable events are the Science Fair on April 25th and the Elementary play on May 9th. Our Science Fair theme is “Inventions.” The students started prepping for this by coming up with one or more problems. Then, they will solve the problem by coming up with a solution (invention). Be on the lookout for an information packet that explains the Science Fair and due dates. Have a great March break!
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We Brought the Gym to Us!
With the below-freezing temperatures this week, we would normally head to the gym for some exercise. But our awesome middle school buddies were preparing for their play in the gym, so we needed to get creative. Ms. Sara came up with the brilliant idea to bring a favorite gym activity to our environment. We are blessed with a large room and can easily move our furniture to make space for big movement materials. We brought two heavy foam blocks and a large crash pad for the children to enjoy a gymnastics jumping station…and enjoy they did!
We also added two boxes to the room for those who wanted to partake in imaginative play. The boxes were mainly used for peek-a-boo, but there were houses, kitchens, and beds as well. It was a pleasure to watch the children turn the boxes into whatever they wished.
Practical Life, sensorial, art, and snack were equally popular on the tiled side of the room. The children were fully engaged in shaving cream art, digging in snow in the sensory bin with spoons and waterproof mittens, slicing their own bananas for snack, and transferring St. Patrick’s Day themed work.
We wish you all a wonderful break, and look forward to seeing you when we return Monday, March 25. Enjoy!
Rainbows and delicious Kumquats!
The main focus this week was based on colors. Recognizing the colors and identifying the color names is an important part of a child’s development. The ability to identify colors is considered a marker and milestone in a child’s cognitive process.
As introductory activities this week, we used a lot of verbal communication and sorting and classifying games and activities. Verbal communication is a great way to teach the children about colors as we give them some vocabulary for starting to describe the world around them. Practicing this exercise daily encourages the children to start sorting and classifying objects around them based on their color attributes. With our youngest we focused on the primary colors and with our oldest we also worked recognizing and identifying secondary colors. As we worked on putting our rainbow puzzle together we took time to search around the classroom for objects that represented the color assigned. Children had a lot of fun thinking, observing, and finding different colored objects in our environment!
Children were very curious about what food we were going to taste this week as they already recognize this activity as a part of our weekly routine. It’s so fun to see the children gathering with great excitement onto the main rug when they see the teacher walking with the food tasting tray. They sit so quietly and so patiently waiting to see the special towel to be removed and reveal the new food to be tasted. There were a couple of conversations between the oldest toddlers speculating that the new food this week was going to be watermelons! To their surprise we enjoyed some tiny but delicious kumquats. Kumquats look like oranges but are the most diminutive member of the citrus family. We had great fun exploring and tasting this fruit! Even Mrs. Wilson and I loved being part of it!
We wish you a great, colorful, and relaxing spring break with your family and a safe trip to all of you who will be traveling!
Keep warm and happy!
Ms. Kayser’s Class: “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!”
You’re off the Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So…get on your way!
-Dr. Seuss
Monday in the classroom, our children got to celebrate the birthday of one of the most renowned children’s book authors, Theodore Seuss Geisel. Dr. Seuss has touched the hearts of many children and parents with his whimsical stories and characters. This week we got to celebrate his life by snuggling up in pajamas with our favorite stuffed animals and reading his books. To pay tribute to one of his most famous stories, the children got to enjoy a delicious breakfast of green scrambled eggs and ham! Despite the strange color, the children ate every bite and even asked for seconds! Thank you to all the parents who came in and provided everything for our special morning. We can’t say it enough, but we are truly blessed!
Personally, our favorite part of the morning was witnessing the confidence in our kindergarten students as they read to their younger friends.. We got to sit back and watch as they sat around the circle and read together. They are confident in their abilities as readers and fearless in picking up any book and tackling the words. The younger students were awestruck as they sat with their kindergarten friends, watching as they perservered through each page. These students have grown so much since the beginning of the year, and they have truly become beautiful role models for our class.
It is hard to believe that spring break is already upon us, but we wish you a safe and fun filled few weeks!
Ms. Kayser and Ms. Alli
Mrs. Carroll’s Class: We Do Like Them Sam I Am!
Grab your green eggs and ham and get ready to play, because we are celebrating Dr. Seuss Day!
Each year, schools, libraries, and other organizations prepare for Dr. Seuss’s Birthday on March 2. Millions of teachers and students Read Across America with their friends, family, and peers as a celebration of one of our favorite children’s authors, Theodore Seuss Geisel, better known to the world as Dr. Seuss. It is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate Seuss’s birthday and advocate his goal of promoting and motivating reading.
Our Seusstastic celebration included wearing pajamas to school and bringing in prized stuffed animals to read to and snuggle with. We read several Dr. Seuss books including Green Eggs and Ham and then actually sampled the colorful treat for a snack. We do like them, Sam I Am. We will eat them once again! Thank you Kate Boka, Carol Juel, and Lisa Manca for joining the fun and helping with the crafts.
Please remember that “You’re never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child!”-Dr. Seuss
Happy reading,
Cindy & Sharleen
Mrs. Doyle’s Class: “Think and wonder, wonder and think.”-Dr. Seuss
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr. Seuss
On Tuesday, we had fun celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday. Schools and libraries across the United States enjoy taking part in a nationwide reading celebration called Read Across America. This fun tradition is an exciting way to bring together children and books and is celebrated on Dr. Seuss’s birthday, March 2nd.
Here are few fun facts about Dr. Seuss:
- Dr. Seuss’ real name was Theodore Seuss Geisel.
- He has written and illustrated 45 children’s books.
- The book Green Eggs and Ham is made up of 50 sight words. Dr. Seuss’s editor bet him that he could not write a book using fewer words than The Cat in the Hat which had 225 words. Clearly, Dr. Seuss won that bet!
Here at FWM, the children enjoyed wearing their pajamas to school and bringing in a favorite stuffed animal. We read Green Eggs and Ham and then actually got to experience eating those two foods for snack. Thank you to Christi Orlowski and Maria Deligiannis for providing us with the great snack and helping with the crafts. We asked the children what their favorite Dr. Seuss book was and it was exciting to see their knowledge and love for his work. It was a close vote between Green Eggs and Ham and How The Grinch Stole Christmas.
We wish you much peace, happiness and time to read over our upcoming break…(I hesitate to say spring break!)
Michelle & Sonja
Mrs. Thomas: All Things Green!
With St. Patrick’s Day approaching, we have a lovely green theme in our environment. Most practical life works are shades of green and/or on green trays. The children are sifting through green sand and gold glitter to find foam shamrocks, posting golden coins into a green canister, using whisks to make green bubbles in the sensory bin, and “cutting” green and yellow fruits and vegetables. Their food tasting was even green…spinach!
Due to the icy conditions of our playground, we have spent our outdoor time in the gym. This week, the children used scooters to move about the space. The scooters are about two inches off the ground and have a square base for the children to sit or lay on. It was a lot of fun to watch the children wheel themselves about using their arms, hands, legs, and feet…we saw a lot of tongues hanging out during this workout! These were very popular and we are looking forward to bringing them out again the next time we are in the gym.
Upper Elementary: Birthdays and Sandwiches
We kicked off the week on Monday with a birthday breakfast to celebrate the February birthdays. The students look forward to celebrating and it brings everyone together to get our week started on a positive note. In music class the students practiced some songs from Seussical The Musical, Jr. They are beginning to think about roles and what part they hope to acquire in the play. On Thursday the students made 390 sandwiches that were delivered to the St. Vincent DePaul Shelter in Waterbury. We were pleased to see that three students volunteered to assist with the delivery.