Update

Dear Parents and Families,
I would like to apologize for the delay of postings on the blog spot. These past two weeks have not been typical weeks. We have had new visitors, absence of the regular children, and illness that went around to everybody. I would like to thank all the parent's for your cooperation during this week with the girl's and myself being sick. Keeping sick kids away from healthy kids is the best way for us to stop the spread of germs.
We had a wonderful field trip last week to Parky's Farm. It was wonderful to see how many children actually got the chance to go. The rain even worked in our favor because we had practically the whole place to ourselves. The children had the play barn to play in, the played music instruments, went down slides, played in the ball pits, and practically climbed every which way there was possible. Outside of the play barn we visited the animals. We saw goat, sheep, and the largest pig/hog I have ever seen! He was clean and pink and he weighed 400 pounds! Inside the animal barn the children saw a pony, baby calf's, chickens, and even got in a pen with baby goat and feed them! The children gathered around and helped make Apple Cider, they were amazed! Afterwards a nice lady at the park let the children pet a bunny rabbit. :) Alyssa and Natalie loved chasing the chickens :) We had a great time at the park, we enjoyed a nice lunch at McDonald's afterwards. I encourage all the families to go back to Parky's Farm on a day with no rain, it is a great experience for the whole family!
This month the children have really enjoyed learning all about Farm Animals. I have really enjoyed watching the children's knowledge grow about farm animals and seeing all the Farm homework come back from the weekend.
There has been a lot of preparing for the changes in October and we are all excited! The children are read and so am I! I will do my best to explain my methods of teaching as I am teaching your child. For example today we have started working on letter recognition. The children will never be forced to memorize a flash card or to write out a worksheet on letters. You may ask "Well how will they learn?". Children are being forced to memorize letters at a early age, but have no understanding or concept of the letter outside of the flash card or worksheet. Your question may be answered with, we use hands on experiences and involvement in all activities to teach the children. Today the children talked about the letter 'A', we drew the letter on the white board, we created the letter out of pipe cleaners, and we shaped the letter out of play dough. We talked about what words and whose names begin with 'A'. What is so wonderful about this method of teaching is that children of all ages can be involved in the lesson. Cecelia may be able to do a worksheet, but no other child is able to sit down and fill out a worksheet, and I don't think many children find enjoyment in memorizing flashcards. This method allows even Kendyl to be involved in creating the letter in at least two different ways. Alyssa and even Kendyl helped make the sounds the letter makes. Kendyl smiled the whole time she knew what she was dong when everybody was saying "Ahhh, is for 'A'" and she was able to participate. I hope everyone can see the wonderful methods that this Reggio-Emilia approach uses and the benefits it has for your child. Feel free to research it or ask more questions.
As you may know the month of October we will be talking about Community Workers. WE encourage all the parents to bring something in for the dramatic play area. Kendy;'s Mom has brought in Deposit slips and bank account record books. Cecelia and Josslin's uncle brought in items from the Fire House for EMT week. Please ask around to friends and family if they have items from their place of employment for the children to learn about.
Make sure you know about the important dates of October:
October 23, Friday Parent's Night Out!
October 24, Saturday Family Trip to Burger's Farm 3:30pm
October 30, Friday Harvest Party 5:00pm-6:30pm