Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Library Books and Kiwi Packs

Kiwi packs and Library books:
We check out library books on Wednesday/Thursday every week! Those books will be sent home in your child's kiwi pack. The book and pack should be returned on Wednesday or Thursday of the following week. You may return it earlier but, they will not go back home until Library Day. 


A little added note about the journals:

You only need to do one page of the journal each week...of course you are always welcome to do more but, it is only required that you do one page! We have been impressed with the number of journals that not only came back, but came back completely finished!


Tooty-Ta!


Sunday, September 28, 2014

How Do You Know It Is Fall?

While cleaning up around our yard today, we found that the squirrels were "hiding" butternuts for winter! They found the best location possible...IN the butternut tree! :)




Every little nook and cranny in the tree had at least one butternut tucked away for winter! Those clever squirrels! 

Crossing the Midline - worth revisiting

Crossing the midline is a very important skill for kids to master. Your midline divides your body in half down the middle left to right, across your middle separating top and bottom and along your side separating front and back. By crossing the midline, your brain is learning to communicate between the hemispheres.  When children are unable to cross the midline, they don't develop a dominant hand and will have troubles reading, writing and cooridination.  

With the introduction of iPads and tablets into our society, we are noticing a HUGE decline in the small muscle control in young children. They are able to make a swiping motion but are unable to hold a pencil or crayon, use scissors, use spoon or fork effectively, etc. We have also found that kids are having a really tough time sitting without support. At circle time, kids are expected to sit criss cross applesauce or legs straight out without supporting their body with their hands behind them. Many children are experiencing a great difficulty in sitting this way for more than a minute or two. 
This come from sitting in chairs or on the couch for extended periods of time. Please encourage your child to sit independently on the floor...read a book, play a game or color!

Here are some activities that will help your child more fully develop crossing their midline.

Right Brain/Left Brain Teasers-

a. Pop bubbles with only one hand (they will have to reach across their body to pop the bubbles floating on the opposite side).
b. Reach for bean bags, balls, stuffed animals, or other objects across midline, then throwing at a target.
c. Draw large figure eights (the infinity sign or an 8 turned on its side) on paper, on the floor with a finger, in the air with a finger, or drive a matchbox car around a figure eight pattern.
d. Let the child play with sand, scooping sand from one side of the body and putting it into a bucket on the opposite side of the body without switching hands.
e. Let the child pretend to drive a car with a ball in his/her hands to use as a steering wheel and encourage the crossing of his/her arms as he/she turns the ‘steering wheel’ Or…In order to make this similar in style to most of the others—Pretend to drive a car with a ball in both hands to use as a steering wheel and cross both arms while turning the “steering wheel”.
f. Play flashlight tag. In a dimmed room, lie on your backs and have the child follow your flashlight beam projected on the wall with his own flashlight.
g. Touch the opposite elbow and knee.
h. Cross one foot over the other while walking sideways.
i. Do “grapevine” walks.
j. Knee Slap Walk- Walk around raising each knee while touching/slapping it with the opposite hand (or elbow). Change it to a skip while touching the opposite knee as it comes up.
k. Windmills-Stand with feet spread apart and arms extended out to the sides. Bend over at waist and tap right hand to left foot. Stand back up and then bend and tap left hand to right foot.
l. Point your left finger out and put your right thumb up. Switch them, and switch, and switch, and switch…
m. Hold your nose, then cross the other hand over and grab your opposite ear. Slap your thighs and switch your hands…switch, slap, switch, slap…
n. Write your name in the air while rotating your foot in a circle clockwise.
o. Wash the car and make sure the arms cross midline while scrubbing.
From North Shore Pediatric Therapy Site.

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Recycling Man!

We had a fun visitor the other day! Recycling Man! aka: Roger the custodian
Recycling Man visited all of the classrooms to remind us of the importance of recycling! This is something that is made somewhat challenging in the Parkers area due to no curb-side pick-up. If we look at the bigger picture, and the future of our the earth for our children, it is totally worth it! PLEASE recycle!  Every little bit helps!
**It is not easy to get three year olds to all look at the camera and smile at the same time! :)**
*Also note that not all of our friends wanted to be in the picture :)*

Fire Truck visit!

We were lucky enough to join the Discovery Preschool when a fire truck visited the school! The kids were really excited to see it! Some of their words to describe the truck: big, red, loud, shiny, new, fun, neat! Such a great learning opportunity!


Fun at School!

Fun with friends! 

We LOVE Pete the Cat!

Yumm!!

Learning our colors!

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Preschool Fun!

Science Fun! 
Mrs. Harstad brought in a HUGE mushroom! We drew pictures of it and looked at it using magnifying glasses! We learned that it was Heavy, Squishy, Smooth, and Smelly!




We LOVE books! Especially books about Pete the  Cat! 




* A special note to the Monday/Wednesday group: We missed our library time on Wednesday so you will not have a library book this week. We apologize! :)



Thursday, September 4, 2014

ECFE Begins!

ECFE will begin on Monday September 8, 2014
Please come to the class that you registered for. We have several families registered and sessions are filling up quickly!

Monday Night 6:00-7:30
Wednesday Afternoon 1:30-3:00
Friday Morning 9:00-10:30

I look forward to seeing you all there!

Priority for filling spots will be given to families who have pre-registered.

Welcome to Adventure Preschool!!

Wow! I can't believe how fast the summer went! We have started another fun year at Adventure Preschool for 3's!  We have explored the classroom and played on the brand new playground equipment!! Here are a couple of pictures from our first day of preschool!
















I can't wait until next week!