Happy New Year, families! We hope you had a wonderful holiday break and you got some relaxation and meaningful time with your families! We are thankful for all of you and for the joy your wonderful children bring to our lives! What an honor it is to see them growing and blooming right before our eyes! We want to thank you also for your generosity through your gifts and encouraging words! Ms. Maria and I love partnering with you through this adventure!

Your children transitioned peacefully after the break and they arrived eager and ready to explore the environment and all the new works on the shelves. We were also  given the privilege to receive a new member and his family into our toddler community this week and we couldn’t be happier.

As we have officially entered the winter season we will be focusing on bringing it into the environment and enjoying different aspects of it.  Water and its different stages will be a main object for conversations and sensorial experiences during this month. 

In the language area we introduced an object to picture matching work, focused on arctic animals. Children learned to recognize a harp seal, an arctic fox, a killer whale, a walrus, a husky, a caribou, a beluga whale, and a polar bear. In addition to this, children enjoyed exploring the solidification of water in the form of snow and creating a habitat for some of the animals introduced. 

At the end of the week children were exposed to creating art using ice cube painting, and oh boy! Most of the students really seemed to enjoy and immerse themselves in this sensorial experience.  

Also, this week children learned a new song in Spanish called: “Copo de nieve” by Super Simple Español. We used our beloved scarves to represent the snow falling from the sky and also practice some body parts in Spanish such as: cabeza (head), nariz(nose), mano (hand). As time goes on we will continue adding and practicing more body parts in Spanish.  We recommend you to add this song to your playlist and sing it with your little one. 

For food tasting children explored broccoli, and even though this vegetable didn’t receive a standing ovation, we can say that 99% of the class tried it and most of them really liked it. 

We are so happy to be back and can’t wait for all the fun we’ll have this month. 

As a gentle reminder, please bring winter outdoor gear for your child in a labeled reusable bag. This includes, snow pants, waterproof mittens with mitten clips, snow boots, winter hat, and jacket. 

Warmly, 

Mrs. Hood and Ms. Maria

And just like that, our first trimester comes to an end, filled with great moments and stories to tell. COVID has changed many things for us this year, but will never change the love and connection we have with each one of your children! Our environment is full of love, smiles, curiosity and great fun because of them! We feel honored to be able to see each of your little ones unfolding so beautifully. 

We thank you SO much for your support and trust. We love partnering with you in this adventure!

May the holiday season fill your home with joy, your heart with love, and your life with laughter.

May 2021 be a great year for all of us!

Enjoy a peek from our Pajama Holiday celebration!

Stay safe and see you next year! 🙂

Mrs. Hood and Ms. Maria

Rhythm is helpful in all sorts of ways. The pattern recognition inherent in rhythm can help your children to be better observers and better learners (also better athletes). Like any motor skill, rhythm needs to be cultivated and developed. It just so happens the exercises that help develop rhythm can also help with language fluency and reading, two other key life skills for young children to develop.

In our environment, music is a daily activity. Whole body movement songs, finger-plays, and instrument times are always part of our morning routine. This week, we had fun adding holiday songs and rocking to the sound of Jingle Bells, Candle Chase, We Wish You a Merry Christmas and of course, Feliz Navidad by Jose Feliciano. 

In our practical life, we introduced and modeled how the children can independently put their own jackets on. The smiles on the children’s faces is so great to witness as they try what we call the “fliparoo”. We encourage you to add this routine at home as well, so this skill becomes perfected and boosts your child’s confidence. 

For food tasting, children tried sweet potatoes! It’s always so much fun to see their faces when I demonstrate eating the new food item. They just can’t wait to try it themselves! They walk as fast as they can to their tables to open their containers sent from home and try the food themselves. It’s so fun! Sweet potatoes were very well received by most of your children. 

Lastly, we want to take a minute to thank, from the bottom of our hearts, each parent that donated books for our classroom! Books are very special treasures and we appreciate them SO much! 

Have a wonderful weekend, 

Mrs. Hood and Ms. Maria

Winter holidays are used in our environment as a fun way to keep children engaged, encourage joy of learning, and help us to introduce the passage of time and seasons. Since they bring a sense of light and joyfulness to the long, dark winter months and create a sense of community, we welcome them wholeheartedly. 

In addition to other materials, some of the favorite holiday works in our environment have been placing little ornaments onto the Christmas tree, placing candles on the Menorah, spooning jingle bells and colorful ornaments, tweezing pretend presents, and flipping pretend latkes in the pan. 

Another highlight of this week was the introduction of a beloved work by all the children: a baby doll. Her name is Rosie. Through this work, children practice grace and courtesy, gentleness, and a lot of patience, since everybody wants to take care of the baby. Children enjoy this work so much! Some of them cuddle Rosie with such care while others seem to quietly enjoy observing her and pointing to and naming some parts of her body. 

Also, as children have shown readiness to safely practice climbing up and down the stairs independently, we presented the climber in our movement area. Aside from being a basic life skill, this exercise helps them build leg muscles, strengthens their balance and coordination, and boosts spatial awareness. 

For food tasting, the children tried a fun seasonal fruit, papaya! As always, children were very attentive to this activity and were eager to taste this fruit! I am happy to report that papaya was approved by 70% of the  class! 🙂 I encourage you all to continue exposing your toddlers to this wonderful fruit. For even more sweetness, I recommend you to add a Hawaiian papaya to your grocery list! Yum!

Warm regards, 

Mrs. Hood and Ms. Maria