Last days of ECFE and May 1st Potluck

On the last day of ECFE we have typically had Ice cream.  We would like to invite you to bring your favorite topping to share!  The following is the list of “last days”.  Please note when yours is.  We will also have an evaluation to fill out.  I will attach it to this email .  If you would like to print it out and fill it out at home and bring it back, that would be great!  We really do appreciate the input from these evaluations! 

Friday – April 13

Monday – April 16

Wednesday – April 18

Tuesday – April 24

Due to make up days for various reasons, the days are kind of spread out.  We will do our best to remind you!

Also, May 1^st we will be having a potluck at city park.  Please bring a dish to share. 

EGGS!

 What to do with all of these plastic eggs?  If your home is like ours, after this beautiful spring holiday, we are inundated with plastic eggs!  What do we do with all of these eggs?  I have some great ideas on what to do with them!  Come to ECFE to learn a few uses...I will post pictures of our week as well as the ideas!  Math Ideas:  write a number on an egg, have children count out that many of something (pompoms, beans, candy) and put them in the egg.  Write a numeral on one half of an egg and the corresponding number of dots on the other half.  take them apart and hide them in rice, sand, water etc. Have kids match up the numeral to the dots.  Alphabet Eggs:  write a capital letter on one half and a lower case letter on the other half, hide in rice, sand, water or just put in a basket and have your child match the uppercase letter to the lowercase letter.   Put a dozen eggs in an egg carton.  In each egg put a piece of paper with a number or letter on it.  Choose an egg, open it up and write the letter or number that is on the paper. 

Creative Expression

Creative expression comes in many forms; art, music, writing, weaving, and is a very important part of childhood.  Whether your child is creating masterpieces on the front side walk or drawing pictures or coloring in a coloring book, it is important that we support them in there creative expression. Allow your child to express using the colors that they choose.  That could mean a purple sky, green sun, orange tree and yellow grass.  Their end product doesn't need to look like the example.  That is what makes it uniquely theirs. 

 
Creative expression is found in simple toys like Mr. Potato Head.  It's okay to put the ears on top and the mouth where the eyes typically go.  They are expressing themselves in a creative way!
 
When your child sees you being creative, they will learn to express their creativity as well. 

It isn't about the end product...it's about the journey they took to get there!

 And sometimes, we just need to be silly and express ourselves that way!
Reading and telling stories, playing with your child, helping support your child and just giving them time to be themselves and enjoy what they are doing!

The work of a 4 year old!  They can do amazing things if we give them the chance!

Sharing creativity together!

Goofy Schedule!

These next couple of weeks are going to be kind of crazy due to the make-up days that we need to have!  Please check the March-April dates that were posted on the blog earlier.  If you have any questions, please feel free to email me!  We have plans in motion for our BIG WHEELS event!  If you are willing to hang up posters or if you know of some one with some BIG WHEELS, we have fliers for you!  If you have any questions about the event, please feel free to email anyone in the Eearly Childhood Center or call at 338-4079 ext 335.
Country Bumpkins 4-H will be selling hotdogs and chips again this year! 
You will need to bring a t-shirt, bag, pillowcase...something to decorate.  We will have everything else to decorate your item.

Coupon Book Sales

In order for our group to get additional funds from the fundraiser, we need to sell at the store for two hours.  Ramona signed up for Thursday April 5 from 10am - 12. By doing this, last year we were able to get about $500 additional to what we raised.  It is so worth the two hours.  Ramona so far is the only one who will be selling.  If you are willing to volunteer and hour or two to help earn money for ECFE you can either call Ramona or just show up to Herbergers at 10am.  Books and everything will be there.  All you need to do is show up!  We totally understand the busy schedules that everyone has and we are very grateful that Ramona is willing to go and work for those two hours!  The more people we have there, the more books we can sell, the more money we can earn, the more BIG things we can do!  We are looking at having some FUN events next fall...these sales will help with that!
Thanks for all of the support in this!  We have taken in $175 so far in book sales and donations to the program!  THANK YOU!

One more year!

I have made the decision that I will remain on as the ECFE child educator next school year.  There are many factors in this decision and I am happy that I won't have to say goodbye quite yet! :)

April Lesson Plans

Weaving is a fun way to introduce several concepts including OVER and UNDER, UP and DOWN PATTERNS, CREATIVE EXPRESSION, FINE MOTOR skills and many more.  You will have the opportunity to explore the art and math of weaving this week!  If you made a loom at building night, please bring it along as well as anything you have made to share!  I love to see what little hands can make! (Or big hands - I noticed a couple of dads really getting into it! :)  I will have several of my looms to explore. 

Weaving April 2012	Description
Activity 1	1.   Make a dragonfly using sticks and yarn Fine motor skills, math concepts – patterns, cultural - weaving
Activity 2	1.   Weave a paper-plate basket Fine motor skills, patterning, weaving, creative expression
Activity 3	Woven or Knit 1.   Use a magnifying stool to determine if your clothes are woven or knit Science, prediction, noticing patterns, observations
Circle Time	1.   Tooty Ta 2.   Welcome Song – Jambo 3.   Share what you may have made on your loom. 4. We will do some weaving where we are the warp!
Snack	Parent Supplies
Science Time	Over-under games