Mrs. Lopes: Amazing Africa

Posted on by Amanda Lopes

Each time we study a new continent, we first find it on the globe, then we locate the continent on the world map, and lastly, we study the individual continent using the specific continent maps. Currently, the children are learning about the continent of Africa. We learn about the geography, culture, weather, animals, and people of Africa.

We are learning lots of fun and fascinating facts about the continent of Africa.

  • Africa is the second largest continent, with 54 countries.
  • The longest river in the world, the Nile, is located in Africa.
  • Over one thousand languages are spoken by the people in Africa.
  • The Sahara, the world’s largest desert, is located here.
  • The highest mountain in Africa is Mount Kilimanjaro. It is so tall that glaciers can be found at its summit even though the mountain is near the equator.
  • Africa is the most centrally located continent in the world. Both the prime meridian and the equator cut across it.
  • The world’s tallest animal, the giraffe, and the largest land animal, the African elephant, are found in Africa.

Wishing you a week filled with peace and love.

Amanda & Hema

Mrs. Sargeant: A Peek at the Week

Posted on by Christine Sargeant

The children enjoyed the sunshine and warmer weather this week. They ended last week tasting lemons, and this week, they gave plantains a try. We discussed the differences between plantains and bananas. Plantains tend to be larger, with thicker skin. They are also a bit starchy, whereas bananas are sweeter. We had the opportunity to taste mangu, which is a Dominican dish consisting of cooked, mashed plantains. We’ll end the week trying plantain chips. 

Stay healthy, and enjoy the first weekend of March! 

Ms. Marissa: All You Need Is Love

Posted on by Marissa Frisk

While last week was a short week, it was a busy one! We had Simone and Madison’s moms in to celebrate with us by making crafts for Valentine’s Day. The children exchanged valentines, and overall, it was a very exciting week!

This past Thursday, we celebrated the 100th day of school with the kindergarteners. From the very first day of school, kindergarteners have been learning to count by 1s, 5s, and 10s to 100. They spent the afternoon going to different stations that revolved around 100. They drew pictures of what they would like when they were 100, what they would buy with $100, and what they wished they had a hundred of, made a 100 headband, and then played a game called Race to 100. They even did 100 exercises and learned how hard it was to sit quietly for 100 seconds. The highlight was bringing home a delicious 100th-day-of-school snack. As always, thank you for the behind-the-scenes help from all of our parent volunteers to make these memories possible.

Saturday, March 2nd, is National Read Across America Day. This is a day to celebrate our favorite activity—reading!!!!!!! This special day was established by the National Education Association (NEA) in 1998 to help get kids excited about reading. The day occurs each year on the birthday of children’s book author Dr. Seuss; on Tuesday, March 5th, the children can wear their pajamas to school and bring their favorite book and a stuffed animal in to share. It’s always a fun day for all.

Mrs. Doyle: All You Need Is Love!

Posted on by Michelle Handibode

 

While last week was a short week, it was a busy one. Last week, the children exchanged Valentines with each other and had the opportunity to decorate a cookie to take home. We asked the children what love means. Their answers are sure to bring a smile to your face. In similar posts that we’ve done in the past, we always say the world would do well to listen to these children. It rings true with this post as well.

This past Thursday, we celebrated the 100th day of school. From the very first day of school, the kindergarten children have been learning to count by 1s, 5s, and 10s to 100. They spent the afternoon going to different stations that revolved around 100. They drew pictures of what they would like when they were 100, what they would buy with $100, and what they wished they had a hundred of, made a 100 headband, and then played a game called Race to 100. They even did 100 exercises and learned how hard it was to sit quietly for 100 seconds. The highlight was bringing home a delicious 100th-day-of-school snack. As always, thank you for the behind-the-scenes help from all of our parent volunteers to make these memories possible.

Saturday, March 2nd, is National Read Across America Day. This is a day to celebrate our favorite activity—reading!!!!!!! This special day was established by the National Education Association (NEA) in 1998 to help get kids excited about reading. The day occurs each year on the birthday of children’s book author Dr. Seuss; on Friday, March 1st, the children can wear their pajamas to school and bring their favorite book and a stuffed animal in to share. It’s always a fun day for all. We will be enjoying some green eggs and ham for a snack. Please note that the other Primary classrooms will be celebrating this day the following week. Children who do not typically attend school on Friday are welcome to join us for the day.

Love Is……….

  • Ainsley–      Love is being kind to everyone.
  • Arya–            Love is building block towers with my Grandma.
  • Bodie–          Love is when someone is kind to you, and it makes you feel nice.
  • Ella–              Love is reading books with Mommy and Daddy
  • EmmaJo–    Love is caring for other people.
  • Hadley–        Love is giving hugs to my Mommy and Daddy.
  • Hannah–       Love is when my brother is nice to me.
  • Harper–       Love is when you feel happy inside.
  • Isla–              Love is being nice to people and making them happy.
  • Jacob–          Love is playing the game ‘traffic’ with Alex.
  • Jonathan–   Love is folding the laundry with Mommy and fixing the car with Daddy.
  • Joseph–        Love is watching Paw Patrol with Mommy and Daddy.
  • Leo–               Love is when someone is sad, and you give them a hug.
  • Maayan–      Love is building a pillow house with my sister.
  • Melina–        Love is cleaning the house with my Mommy.
  • Oliver–         Love is walking on the trail with my family.
  • River–           Love is when I give ice cream to my mom to cheer her up.
  • Ryan–            Love is playing ‘unicorns’ with my sister.
  • Saanvi–         Love is skiing and snowboarding with your family.
  • Tommy–       Love is watching ‘Transformers” with my family.
  • Zara–             Love is giving my family lots of hugs and kisses.
  • Zion–              Love is doing puzzles with Mommy and Daddy.

Wishing you all a week filled with peace and love.

Michelle & Maria

Mrs. Sargeant: A Peek at the Week

Posted on by Christine Sargeant

Last week wound up being a shorter week than we expected due to the snow. The toddlers enjoyed a delightful Valentine’s Day celebration filled with joy and camaraderie. They enthusiastically joined forces to create a “friendship fruit salad,” pooling their efforts to open containers, meticulously wash, and expertly prepare the array of fruits. Along with their fruit salad, they enjoyed raspberry muffins and sipped cranberry juice. They exchanged valentines and were thrilled to take home their specially decorated bags filled with goodies -spreading smiles all around.

We explored the themes of kindness and friendship, emphasizing the importance of helping others. Within our classroom, these values are demonstrated vividly as the children willingly assist each other in opening water bottles, offer to carry a friend’s lunch or drink to their designated spot, help one another hang their coats, and retrieve slippers from their cubbies.

Our food-tasting experience extended through this week and included both avocados and guacamole. The avocado was more popular than the guacamole. 

The toddlers have been exploring Arctic animals and engaging in hands-on experiments with ice and water. They’ve been actively observing how water interacts with ice, noting how it causes the ice to melt and drawing connections between the two states of matter.

See you next week! Christine & Lizette

Mrs. Lopes: All You Need is Love

Posted on by Amanda Lopes

While last week was a short week, it was a busy one. Last week, the children exchanged Valentine’s with each other, and Parker’s mom, Lauren, helped each child make a Valentine person to take home. We asked the children what love means. Their answers are sure to bring a smile to your face. In similar posts that we’ve done in the past, we always say the world would do well to listen to these children. It rings true with this post as well.

This past Thursday, we celebrated the 100th day of school. From the very first day of school, kindergarteners have been learning to count by 1s, 5s, and 10s to 100. They spent the afternoon going to different stations that revolved around 100. They drew pictures of what they would like when they were 100, what they would buy with $100, and what they wished they had a hundred of, made a 100 headband, and then played a game called Race to 100. They even did 100 exercises and learned how hard it was to sit quietly for 100 seconds. The highlight was bringing home a delicious 100th-day-of-school snack. As always, thank you for the behind-the-scenes help from all of our parent volunteers to make these memories possible.

Saturday, March 2nd, is National Read Across America Day. This is a day to celebrate our favorite activity—reading!!!!!!! This special day was established by the National Education Association (NEA) in 1998 to help get kids excited about reading. The day occurs each year on the birthday of children’s book author Dr. Seuss; on Tuesday, March 5th, the children can wear their pajamas to school and bring their favorite book and a stuffed animal in to share. It’s always a fun day for all.

Love Is……….

  • Nicolas- Love is when my Mommy buys me new shoes.
  • Elanour- Love is when my dog kisses my face.
  • Casey- Love is when Daddy makes forts with me.
  • Brisa- Love is when my Mommy sleeps in my bed.
  • Ben- Love is when my Mommy and Daddy play with me.
  • Daniel- Love is when Mommy hugs me.
  • Arjuna- Love is when Daddy comes home from work, and we all play video games together.
  • Evie- Love is when Mommy and Daddy give me hugs.
  • Arian- Love is my Mommy because she makes me happy.
  • Amelia- Love is when Mommy kisses me.
  • Ryder- Love is eating chocolate from my Valentine’s Day.
  • Kimberlin- Love is when my Mommy and Daddy hug and kiss me.
  • Levi- Love is when Mommy hugs me.
  • Elizabeth- Love is sleeping with my big Olaf.
  • Fiona- Love is snuggling with my lovey Lamby.
  • Harlan- Love is being comfy under a blanket.
  • Kian- Love is sleeping in my world bed because it’s so cozy.
  • Annie- Love is when Mommy cooks me scrambled eggs and chocolate pancakes.
  • David- Love is sleeping in my tall, cozy bed.
  • Noelle- Love is when I snuggle in my blankie.
  • Parker- I love it when I snuggle with my cat.

Wishing you a week filled with peace and love,

Amanda & Hema

Mrs. Sargeant: A Peek at the Week

Posted on by Christine Sargeant

A large part of our work with toddlers is to lay the foundation for developing emotional intelligence—the ability to recognize, understand, manage, and express emotions. Cultivating emotional intelligence in toddlers is crucial for their social and emotional well-being.

Teaching children to identify and name emotions is the first step in teaching children about their own emotions and the emotions of others. Being able to identify and name their feelings can help children to feel heard and understood. Introducing toddlers to a diverse range of emotions through books, stories, and discussions will develop their emotional vocabulary. Since toddlers often mimic the actions and attitudes of the adults around them, demonstrating healthy ways to express and manage emotions is crucial – such as taking deep breaths to calm down when feeling frustrated. One of our favorite books this month was In My Heart: A Book of Feelings by Jo Witek. We have read it numerous times, and it has inspired discussions about times when we’ve felt a variety of different emotions. The children especially enjoy hearing the anecdotes that I share with them about times when I have felt brave, happy, sad, etc. 

For this week’s food-tasting experience, we tried beets. The children seemed very fond of exploring the whole beet and were quite eager to taste this vibrant root vegetable. Some studies have shown that children need to be exposed to a new food at least a dozen times before they make a final decision about truly liking it or not, so perhaps consider adding beets to your menu this week – maybe topped with crumbled goat cheese!

The children decorated their Valentine’s Day bags this week, and we’ve been reading Valentine’s books that celebrate friendship. We’re looking forward to exchanging cards next week. 

Wishing you all an enjoyable weekend. 

Christine and Lizette

Mrs. Doyle: The Science of Suds

Posted on by Michelle Handibode

On Wednesday, the CT Science Center visited our school to present “The Science of Suds.” This traveling program allowed the children to explore the captivating, colorful science of soap and water. The children explored the mysteries of bubble shapes and were able to see what happens when you make bubbles with different gases. We had fun learning if it was possible to put your hand through a bubble without popping and trying to see if we could put things inside a bubble. We learned how to hold a bubble in our hands and then tried to see if we could put a student inside a bubble.

This presentation was perfectly timed to enhance our unit on the three different states of matter: solids, liquids, and gases.

Wishing you a week filled with peace and love.

Michelle & Maria