GERM SQUAD ALERT!!!!

There have been 4 cases of the Stomach Virus going around in the Playroom!

Please check out this article from Fox19: www.fox19.com/Global/story.asp?S=11812284

You could also check out this article: www.wlwt.com/health/10672472/detail.html

The good news is it should only last for 24-48 hours. Lets try our best to stop the germs now! Go team go! :)

FRIDAY!!!!

Today the children made snow men out of foam doe. Josslin had requested this morning to play with snow, Foam doe is the closest to snow we could find :) The kids had a blast!

The children also painted with paint dots, together they created a beautiful picture!

Congrats to Alyssa for going on the potty! What a big Girl!!!!

THURSDAY!

This rainy day is really making us miss our outside time! we still enjoyed watching the rain outside and talking about it. We painted with paint rollers today that had little house prints on them. We sang 'If your Happy and You Know It'. The girls ran around the room singing..."If your happy and you know it say Amen!" It was so cute! The room has really enjoyed listening to the chipmunks Sqeakal C.D. The Construction dramatic play area is still a hit! Please remember to send in Family pictures and pictures of your home if you have one. Thanks!

Wednesday! Jan. 20,2010

Today we have continued our Home Improvement Theme. Ashlyn loves dressing up in the Construction Hat and Vest. Josslin looks adorable when she wears the safety goggles. Alyssa is more interested in books lately, especially the touch and feel books. Kendyl like the magnets so much, we have to pull them out of the room for half the day so she will play with other things. Ashlyn has been walking 4 steps at a time and Kendyl is right behind her! Please send in your family pictures if you haven't already. We would also like to put up pictures of our homes, since we are talking about Houses. We had a great Wednesday!

The Playroom

Friday! Another Snow Day....

The children once again played with snow and had a blast! We also paimted snow pictures today. They used pipecleaners, stamps, and rollers to make different snowflakes. We also talked about Magnets today. The children discovered what things have iron and what things don't. Have a great weekend!

Thursday Snow Day!

We enjoyed looking at the snow outside today and enjoyed plaing with it inside! We fisrt decided to decorate a gingerbread house, but I added too much water so our candy would not stick. There was ising left on the table so when we brought the snpw in it helped very well with clean up. The girls mixed the icing and snow and said it was ice cream, I thought that was verey clever! We also sang 'One Little, Two Little Snowflakes'. WE also read the book 'A Snowy Night'

Getting ready for Turkey day!

Again I am sorry for the delay... as most of you know I have had my plate full and have not had the time to write on the blog.

Update:
Kendyl is crawling all over the place and pulling herself up on everything. She is officially mobile and loving it!

Ashlyn is standing while holding on to objects and it won't be long until she is standing on her own. She will also be having her First Birthday very soon!

Alyssa is our new Ms. Jibber Jabber. She says everything now! She even said her first whole sentence "Bye bye Uncle Wa Wa!" at the end of the day last week. She is also excited that she is going to be a Big Sister!

Natalie is adapting very well to the group. She enjoys having art time with all the big girls at the table, and she is not as curious to what art taste like anymore :)

Josslin is enjoying reading to herself a lot these days. She is excited for the Holidays and has been saying "Happy Thanksgiving!" to everyone. She has also been pretending its Christmas when she plays with her Sister.

Cecelia is excited to be starting Preschool at Sands Montessori the first week of January. She will be attending Monday-Friday 9:15am-12:15pm. She is very excited to meet her new teacher and her new friends.

Eliana as you may know broke her arm, but that has not held her back from enjoying all the activities with her friends in the playroom. Eliana has also done a great job at drop off time with Dad! (No more tears) :)

The children have done a great job working on their Thanksgiving Place mats and Thanksgiving Cards. they are excited to show their Parents! I am sorry that I had to cancel the Thanksgiving dinner for this Tuesday. There wasn't enough notice for all the Parents and I have not been feeling well enough to get anything together.

Thursday

Today we learned about Paramedics. The children did not understand what Paramedics did as well as they understood the other community workers. They did understand that they were some sort of doctor that made people feel better. Today I made a little mistake by putting way to much blue and red paint on the girl's tray to paint with. Before I knew it everybody was colored it Purple paint! It was on the walls, the tables, and head to toe on Cecelia and Josslin. They had to be put straight in the tub to be cleaned. They had a huge learning experience that Blue and Red make Purple :) We had a great day in the Playroom!

Wednesday

Today was a gloomy day outside, it let us have a quiet and relaxed day. The girls decided to build a fort so I helped them. Kendyl loved it because I put her right in the middle. We put two tunnels on each side for them to crawl through, they had a blast!

Today we learned about Police officers and what there important jobs do. The girls briefly talked about all the other community Workers we learned about this week. They continued to play Doctor and fixed each other up.

Today we colored with markers and used stickers to decorate. We also played with play dough this afternoon. Cecelia and Josslin have been doing a great job working with their geometry patters. Josslin pulled a triangle out of the box and said "Triangle!".

Tuesday

Today we talked about the importance of Firefighters. We discussed what to do if there was a fire. We read a wonderful book that explained to us what we should do. We also talked about how Firefighters may look a little scary when they are in their whole suit, but they are actually very nice and there to help us. Cecelia, Eliana, and Josslin learned how to dial '911' in case of an emergency. They each got a turn to pretend call '911'. everyone enjoyed wearing Firefighter hats and got to take a Firefighter hat home today. Earlier this morning Cecelia and Josslin pretended they were Firefighters putting a fire out with their giant hose ( a long caterpillar stuffed animal) This was a great learning experience for the children. We also walked through a fire drill and pointed out our Fire Detector, this is something everyone should do at home also. during story time we read the book 'The Zoo Train', but the children call it the 'Allie Allie Oh Book'. The children love it and even Kendyl and Ashlyn have been trying to say "Allie Allie Oh..." We created art collages this afternoon, they turned out beautiful!

Monday

We were so lucky to get a visit from Grandma today with Little Red Riding Hood. The children loved sitting and listening to the story.. The doll she used is very fascinating, it is Little Red Riding Hood on one end and the Bad Wolf/Grandma on the other end. the children really enjoyed it!

Today we started our theme on Community Workers. The children learned about Doctors. They all enjoyed playing with the Doctor equipment. They learned the difference between a Pediatrician and a Veterinarian. It was very cute to see the girls pronounce the names. Josslin called the Pediatrician a 'Baby-tissue'. the girls enjoyed coloring with colored pencils today. We had a blast doing our Kids exercising C.D. and Alyssa did a great job following the direction by stomping her feet, jumping up and down, acting like animals. Ashlyn and Kendyl looked at us like we were crazy, but enjoyed it also.

Over the weekend Cecelia and Josslin had the opportunity to go visit a Firehouse. They were able to sit in a real firetruck. They walked through and ambulance. They touched the Firemen suit, hat, and boots, but were to scared to try it on. they were even allowed to walk through the Fire station and see where the firemen eat, sleep, and relax. I encourage your family to visit your local Fire station. there are many open house days for families to come and visit. You can also call your Fire station and ask if you can come visit or when their next open house date is. It is a great experience for all the kids.

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

Thursday!

Today was all about CORN CORN CORN! When I brought out an ear of corn at circle time the girls were clueless of what it was! I asked what they thought it was and Josslin said a Banana. Kendyl and Ashlyn's faces were priceless as they stared at it. All the children felt it, but Ashlyn didn't really want to have anything to do with it. We read a book about the different senses on the Farm. After circle time we removed the husk and silk from the corn. The girls loved this part! We cleaned the corn and made Corn Pudding! For art today we painted with corn. Cecelia and Josslin loved creating art work, while Kendyl, Alyssa, and Ashlyn enjoyed feeling the textures of the corn during the art project. We had a wonderful day in the Playroom!

Wednesday!

We had a great day! We read the story 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar', then we all created a Caterpillar on a leaf. When it was time to glue out Caterpillars on our leaves I said to Alyssa "Okay press down", she then took both of her hands and pressed down on her Caterpillar! Kendyl did a great job at creating her Caterpillar with the Paint dots she is getting the hang of the motion you have to do when you use the Paint Dots. Cecelia and Josslin enjoyed us sing 'Five Little Monkeys' today. They decided to climb up on the slide and act like Monkeys. We got the Bean Bag out and everyone took turns jumping off the slide on to the Bean Bag. We hope Ashlyn is feeling better, we missed her today :(

Tuesday!

I hope everybody had a wonderful Labor Day Weekend! I am glad to see everyone did their homework! I love how all the Piggys turned out different. Today we started talking about the names of baby animals such as Piglets, Lambs, Calf, Ducklings etc. I was so proud that Cecelia has learned all of them already! Josslin did a great job on the potty this weekend. She is officially in Big Girl Panties! She is getting so big! Today during art we painted with Cotton Tails :). Alyssa sis a great job dipping the Cotton Tails in white paint then dabbing them across her paper! Ashlyn enjoyed taking a walk today. The weather was beautiful outside with a nice breeze. The sensory table was filled with wild seeds last week and we left it out for the animals to enjoy, and boy that have! Every time we look out our window it looks like a Wild Kingdom! We have all enjoyed watching the different animals that come into the yard.

TGIF!

We had a wonderful Friday! We countinued talking about Farm Animals today. We talked about the different senses that are on the Farm. We enjoyed looking out of the window at watching all the animals eating the food we left outside yesturday. Today Cecelia and Josslin made Piggys. Alyssa, Kendyl, and Ashlyn will be making Piggys this weekend. I can't wait to see them next week! Have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend! Wish us luck Josslin should be in Big Girl Panties come Monday!

Thursday!

Today we were visited by Kendyl and her Mommy, on her Mommy's day off! We sang 'Old Mcdonald', the girls have a wonderful snort for the Piggy! We talked about how horses eat hay and we painted our own hay by using Pipe Cleaners and orange paint. We speant some time outside enjoying the fresh air. The girls enjoyed playing in the sensory table, it was filled with wild bird seed. We talked about the different things inside the seed: corn, peanuts, sunflower seeds. We enjoyed the Princess Pig book again today, it is a really cute story about a Pig that thinks she is a Princess.

Wednesday!

Its sad to say there will be no more Wacky Water Wednesday :( Its getting to chilly outside to get wet. So instead of Wacky Water Day, we went to the Playground. It was a nice walk up to the school and back. Walter was able to join us too! Before we went for a walk we read a few books about Farms. We also painted with paint rollers today. Everyone enjoyed painting with different colors and patterns! I thought I would make today's blog special by putting in a movie, this is just a glips of the movie I am putting together. Hope you enjoy! We had such a blast today!

Tuesday!

What a beautiful cool breeze today! The girls enjoyed spending some fresh air time outside. Kendyl walked around in the walker. Ashlyn took a ride in the pink car. Cecelia and Josslin played basketball with their Daddy and the basketball hoop. Everyone had their Lunch outside today which was a special treat. We read the book 'Princess Pig' and the book 'Farm Senses', to go along with our Farm theme this month. The girls also enjoyed talking about the Calendar today. We learned a new song today called 'Days of the Week'. The song goes to the tune of the 'Adams Family Theme Song'.

Days of the week (snap, snap) Days of the week (snap, snap)

Days of the week, days of the week, days of the week

There's Sunday and there's Monday

There's Tuesday and there's Wednesday

There's Thursday and there's Friday

And then there's Saturday!

Days of the week (snap, snap) Days of the week (snap, snap)

Days of the week, days of the week, days of the week

This is a song we will be singing everyday during Calendar Time. Its a fun song that you can enjoy with your children at home too. Ashlyn, Cecelia, and Josslin painted with the Paint Dots today. It was there first time painting with them and they had a blast. Kendyl was taking her nap during art today so she will be doing her art project this afternoon. We would also like to give a HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to WENDY (Ashlyn's Mommy)!

Monday!

We have had a wonderful Monday morning! The girls have been enjoying the new changes to the room. Alyssa has gone down the slide at least 100 times today! Ashlyn loves pulling herself up on everything and playing in the Kitchen. This month we are starting to talk about Farm Animals. We read the book 'The Big Red Barn'. We also sang 'Old McDonald'. Alyssa jumped in on the"eeeeeeiiieeeiiiooo" and "moo moo" (the rest of the time she just kept going down the slide :) ) Kendyl listened to every word in the book and loved the song. Kendyl's favorite animal in the song was the Piggy. As soon as we started snorting she was cracking up laughing! Ashlyn has found a new interest in playing with the baby dolls. Ashlyn hugs and kisses the baby dolls and feeds them. Ashlyn and Alyssa were so tired after lunch today they crashed out in their seats! This should be a great month and Monthly Newsletter will be out tomorrow or Wednesday.

Thursday!

The playroom missed Ashlyn today :( hope she is feeling better. We did a little rearranging in the room today and it felt like all new toys to everyone. Alyssa is playing with the blocks more. Cecelia sat on the couch and read books. Kendyl loved on Curious George today, it was too cute because he is a little bigger than her! Josslin read books and every one's favorite book was a handmade booked called 'In Ms. Polly's Playroom I like To...' The kids loved seeing their pictures in the book doing the different activities. They asked me to read the book 4 times! We are getting ready to start talking about Farm Animals next week which should be alot of fun!

Wacky Water Wednesday!

The girls had a blast during Wacky Water Wednesday! Kendyl played with the blow up Fish toy. She loves sitting next to Ashlyn while playing in the water. Cecelia and Josslin's Grandma stopped by today and brought many water toys. all the girls loved playing with new things! Inside the Playroom the girls played alot of Dress Up today! Kendyl was full of making Raspberries today with her mouth. The kids thought it was hilarious! Josslin was the story teller today, she sat next to Ashlyn and Kendyl and read them books. Cecelia has been talking about how water makes things grow. She popured her water at snack on her crackers and said "It's going to make them grow big!" :) At least she is getting the idea. Ashlyn has been very talkative, when she woke up from nap she sat in a circle with her friends and jabbered up a storm. Today was a great day in the Playroom!

Tuesday!

Today was a beautiful day outside so we took a walk to Mt.Washington Elementary Playground. Cecelia loved climbing all over the climber and going down the 'Bid Kid' slides, while Ashlyn, Josslin, and Kendyl loved swinging in the swings! This morning we have been talking about China. We read a book about all the colors and what they meant in China. We also talked about Chop Sticks and what they were used for. The girls enjoyed playing with them and Cecelia and Josslin even used them at Lunch today! We had a wonderful day and tomorrow we will be having Wacky Water Wednesday!

Monday!

We are excited to start a new week! It seems like every Monday morning the babies come back and have learned something new! Kendyl is starting to want to sit up by herself. Ashlyn is pulling herself up on things, she loves to stand and hold onto the soft block for support. She stood up for a long time today! She felt and looked like a Big Girl! Wow! she is getting so big! Cecelia and Josslin did Goldfish Art today. They glued fish on to a blue paper that represented the ocean. They enjoyed eating some and gluing some. Ashlyn painted a pretty picture using purple pain, she was very excited! Alyssa climbed up on everything today, the chair, the children's couch, the walker, we are really working hard to get an indoor climber in the playroom soon :) Kendyl kept to herself today. She turned around in the bouncer today and gazed out the window all morning. She was very happy and content. The children are loving some of the new books in the playroom, we will be reading a new book every day starting tomorrow.

Thursday! Pineapple Day!

Today the girls loved cut up the Pineapple! Their faces were priceless when I started cutting it up. Cecelia, Josslin, and Alyssa enjoyed eating it for a snack. Kendyl loved taking a few licks! Ashlyn loved feeling the wet texture of the pineapple. It was so exciting! Ashlyn collected books today and then put them in a box, she was on a mission and it was adorable to watch! Kendyl is starting to respond to the girl's when they are all yelling and playing around. Cecelia and Josslin usually start it off, then Alyssa, then Ashlyn, then Kendyl no matter what she is doing (even if she is drinking a bottle will pull her bottle out) she will yell to the top of her lungs then go right back to what she was doing. Sometimes it catches everyone off guard, but it is really funny! Alyssa is saying and singing everything! I love hearing her sing "Clean Up Clean Up" and today she actually cleaned up the blocks while she sang it! Cecelia and Josslin enjoyed writing in their journals today about the Pineapple. We had a great day!

Wednesday! Look who is crawling!

Ashlyn is no longer scooting, but crawling! I love watching her go from playing with the babies to pullling instruments off the shelf in about 10 sec.! She loves discovering everything in the room. Cecelia, Josslin, and Alyssa tried Apple Butter today for the first time and loved it! The playroom has two new music C.D.s and Alyssa is loving them! Her favorite song is the 'Monkey Song', it tells you the dance moves to do to make you look like a monkey. Alyssa does the exact moves the song tells her to do! In the picture above Alyssa is doing the dance. Kendyl is trying so hard to clap her hands. every time she sees someone clap she will try to clap. Today Josslin had some time with her Aunt Maddie. Cecelia drew a beautiful picture with markers. We had a wonderful day!

Tuesday!

The children are still enjoying the discovery of the Pineapple! We read the 'Flip Flop Bop' book. The girl's are really learning what rhyming is from the book. The book also talks about how the rain goes... Drip Drip Drop. Since it rained today the girl's loved this part! The girl's love having the pool in the playroom. They talk about how they are swimming all the time. If they aren't swimming they are imagining it is a boat and yell when the fishes come, even Kendyl yells! :) Everyone has been growing so fast these past few weeks. Alyssa can now say my name! That makes me smile! We had a great day in the Playroom!

Monday!

Wonderful day in the playroom! Today we explored a Pineapple! the children loved touching the different textures on the Pineapple. Ashlyn didn't really like the poky parts on the bottom of the pineapple, but loved feeling the leaves. Giving children the chances to explore objects that they normally don't get a chance to explore improves their cognitive development. We will have the Pineapple in the room until Thursday, then we will be opening it up to see what is inside! Alyssa loves playing in the blow up pool in the playroom. Cecelia and Josslin kept turning it over, acting like it was a shell. Ashlyn is crawl/scooting everywhere! She tries pulling herself up on everything. I think her favorite thing now is when she wants something she can get it (or try to) herself. Cecelia and Josslin wrote in their journals today. Cecelia wrote about a man and his dog, that played in the man's house. Josslin said she just wrote every one's name. Kendyl enjoyed sitting in the middle of the group for story time today. She is getting really good at moving her hands. This morning Kendyl and Alyssa were playing the Xylophones together. Kendyl was actually using the stick to get the instrument. We had a wonderful day.

TGIF! This week has gone by fast!

We have had so much fun this week! We really have enjoyed Maya spending time with us these past few weeks, but unfortunately today was her last day :( We really hope she comes again to visit us soon. Today we played with the hats that go to the book 'Do you have a hat?'' All the children loved playing with the hats. Alyssa liked holding the feathered Princess crown. Josslin wore the Cowgirl hat and rode the horse. She also wore the Country hat and said she was a Queen (we were kind of confused by this, but she can be whatever she wants to be) Cecelia and Maya took turns wearing the other Princess crown and the Magic Hat, the girls pretended there was a Rabbit in the Magic Hat. Ashlyn loved the hats that were soft the Red Snow Hat. Kendyl loved watching everyone wear the different hats and she wore the purple Rapunzel Hat. The youngest ones loved playing with the Johnny Appleseed hat, a cooking pot! We read the story 'Where is Dave?'. The Characters in the story are dinosaurs. After the story Cecelia, Maya, and Josslin decorated their own Dinosaurs. We have had a great week! Please let us know if you are planning to attend next Saturday's Family Zoo Day. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!