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Dear Parents, I would like to take this opportunity to wish a warm welcome to all of our beautiful families - we feel as if you are all part of our family. I look forward to a long, wonderful journey with you and your child. With great mixed emotions we must say goodbye to Ms. Amanda. She will be joining Oakland Family Services Early On Program. It is an amazing opportunity for her and I am so happy for her~ although we will miss her dearly. I have been interviewing wonderful candidates the past few weeks to find a new Assistant Director and will introduce the new member of our family soon. Amanda hopes her new schedule will allow her to join us during our summer program for some of our outings! It's not good bye just so long! We learn through play. Remember a time when your child was so involved in an activity like watching a bug or drawing a picture that she did not hear you call her to dinner? What appeared to be play was the budding scientist or future artist at work! When we think of the concept of play in this sense, we begin to understand the importance it has in a child’s learning. Play focuses on the pleasure one gets from doing an activity; the end result is not important. Learning by doing builds self-esteem and feelings of accomplishment. The child makes choices, explores interests, acts out roles, tries new skills, makes decisions, and gains independence while playing. Whew! And you just thought she was “messing around.” For four-year-olds “reading” is looking at books and listening to stories. Similarly, “math” is making patterns with beads and sorting cubes. Once all of these early skills are learned, they can be transferred to “academics” at the appropriate time. As children play store or office, they begin to ask for “money” and pads or pencils. As they compose games and make up rules, they learn how to negotiate and compromise. As they act out roles, they make connections about the responsibilities of adult life and appropriate ways of behavior. Through play they are learning in the most meaningful and enjoyable way. Let’s all play a little more! Play is the work of a young child Lunch time in a childcare center is much more than just time to eat! During lunch children engage in social conversations as they talk about their different lunch items, they develop independence and self-help skills by serving and feeding themselves (fine motor skill), and by learning how to pour their own milk and throwing away their trash. Research has shown significant long term benefits on children’s development when sharing meals with family and friends. Parents please be sure to check the menu so that if your child is not fond of certain meals you could pack a lunch for them that day. We don’t want anyone going hungry. Copies of menus are available near the office and are posted on-line as well as, in each classroom. But they are just playing dress up…..Through dramatic play children build their social skills. They learn how to share materials, learn how to play with other children in a group, build communication skills (listening skills), and use their imagination (voice their own ideas). Studies have shown that children with good social skills perform far better in school. Babes’ classrooms have a dramatic play area that is furnished with props such as kitchen accessories, housekeeping items, and dolls. Props may be changed to relate to a certain theme, such as a grocery store or a post office. This center is an important part of a well-rounded curriculum, and children develop many skills as they work here. Social skills develop as children learn to share materials and work cooperatively. Oral language grows when children talk to each other as they play. Vocabularies increase when they play with new materials and learn the meaning of new words. Children are practicing early writing skills when they write grocery lists, telephone messages, and notes to place on the bulletin board in the play kitchen. Fine motor skills needed for writing are strengthened when children use their fingers to fasten buttons and snap on doll clothes. Children feel grown up when they feed the baby, mail a letter, or use the cash register. Dramatic play, whether at school or at home, develops children’s independence as they practice roles, routines, and responsibilities. Plus it is fun! Tip from the Love and Logic® Experts Sad vs. Mad lOVE AND lOGIC Weather changes: Now that the weather is getting colder, please make sure all clothing is clearly marked (hats, coats, boots, shoes, gloves). Many of the children still aren’t able to identify their own coats. Have your child show you how he/she can put on his/her own coat ―pre- school style and encourage him/her to do it at home. We are helping the children become independent when dressing and undressing and would appreciate reinforcement of these skills at home. We try to go out 2 times every day. Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately. (The girls should wear pants or leggings under a skirt or dress, so their legs stay warm.) Scholastic Book Clubs: THANK YOU for your book orders! And, thank you for supporting reading in our program! ☺☺☺ Ms.Theresa will pass out the January Scholastic Book Club catalogs soon. You may also view and purchase from the catalogs online as well. Remember, your purchases help us earn FREE books for our classroom! You may also access the Scholastic Book Clubs Online Ordering from the protected Family Resource Area of the website. Remember, parents are able to set up their own secure accounts for ordering. Just follow the website link before, click on register and fill out the necessary information to create your own user login and password. Once you’ve registered, you will be asked for the Class Code (below) enter the code, and you will be directed to our catalogs. If you have any questions, please let me know. www.scholastic.com/parentordering Class Code: JNJ8X * Be sure to pick-up your Hollywood Market savings card at the front desk. Every time you shop at Hollywood Market have them swipe the card and we earn points for educational supplies. It's a great way to support our center. *Save Campbell's soup labels and other Campbell's product labels year round and deposit them in the receptacle by the front door. Be sure to check out Rochester Hills Babes in Toyland on FACE BOOK. I have created a page that displays all of the photos from each month in a photo album. I have too many great pictures to put on this newsletter so I thought that this would be a great way for you to see a lot of the wonderful activities. Grandparents and friends can check them out too. I hope you enjoy. Remember my door is always open for any thoughts or concerns you may have! Looking forward to an exciting month! I truly appreciate the support I receive from each family we serve and our community partners! My door is always open for any thoughts and concerns you may have. Ms. Sue Graf |
| Nursery News: Dear Parents, Ryan Mitchell, welcome to the Nursery! Ryan is Sam’s little brother, and we are so glad that he joined us! This month we will be celebrating Valentine’s Day with a party, and exchanging cards! To work on Learning about emotions and communication, we will be making ‘happy’ and ‘sad’ faces in the mirror, and focusing on ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ in sign language. Sign language is a great tool to help with communication and language before they learn to speak in words. We are also going to concentrate on gross motor development by rolling and crawling on the flower mat. By rolling, pulling up and sitting, they develop core muscles for balance. Our Valentine’s party is going to be on February 14th. A list of the children’s class mates will be provided for Valentine’s cards. Also, please check the sign up sheet on the door to bring in something for the party. We will be decorating boxes for our valentine cards. If you could bring in an empty Kleenex box for your child, that would be helpful. Children use sounds, gestures and actions to express moods and needs. They imitate who they see and hear. You can help your child develop language and communication by talking to them, imitating their gestures, and listening and paying attention to their responses. Help your child understand by using words to express what they are feeling, like happy, sad or angry. Toddler Update: Happy Valentine’s Day from the Toddler Room! During the month of February, we are going to pay extra attention to other people’s feelings as well as our own. By building a foundation of empathy, it creates a sense of being aware of others, and how they are different from you. It can also help create tolerance for others. The Toddlers have been increasing their verbal skills. Therefore they are beginning to understand how to use their communication skills to get their message across. As toddlers now, they will use sounds, gestures, simple words and body language to communicate their needs. As they are also beginning to develop the ‘art’ of having conversation with others, they will need to have simple conversations. We, as parents and teachers, can support language development and communication by imitating sounds/gestures that your toddler makes and give them a chance to respond. Talking to your toddlers and explaining what is going on around can also develop new words to their vocabulary. Please bring in weather appropriate outerwear, boots, hats, mittens and snow pants. It can get pretty cold on the playground, especially in the mornings. We will be making Valentine holders to put our Valentines in. Please bring in a child size shoe box or a tissue box by February 8th. Tips for Active Listening Active listening is a part of the foundation for problem solving. When it is used by itself, it fills the void in each one of us that longs to be heard, understood and accepted. Active listening uses both verbal and nonverbal communication skills. When it is used with infants and toddlers, it can be a guessing game since their verbal communication is still developing. We, as caregivers, have to discover what their desires are through their expressions and body language. “Active listening is the process of interpreting the feelings behind the child’s words, reflecting them back, and waiting for confirmation by the child. The teacher/parent gives a name to the child’s feelings and accepts all feelings as valid.” (Reynolds, E.1990, 110. “Guiding Young Children”. Mansfield Publishing Company. Mountain View. CA) -One must be open and approachable to the children. -Infants and toddlers communicate nonverbally. It is up to us to interpret their needs and validate their feelings. -All feelings are important, and must be validated. -Parent/teacher paraphrases what the child is trying to communicate. That way the child knows we understand what is going on and that we care about their feelings. -Names are given to feelings. -One uses a gentle tone and is empathetic. -One encourages problem solving. Sincerely, Nursery & Toddler Staff |
TRANSITION NEWS Dear Parents, February is the month we will be exploring feelings. We will be reading lots of books about feelings, using little mirrors for ‘happy’, ‘sad’, ‘excited’, ‘surprised’, etc looks. February is also Dental health month and we will be exploring several avenues of dental hygiene. In addition, we will also be doing a few activities for President’s Day on February 20th. Valentine’s Day party is on the 14th. We are going to be exchanging cards. You are welcome to bring in cards/treat bags for each child in the class.(Please ask the teacher for the exact number). Don’t forget to sign up to bring in treats for the party. We really appreciate all the help for our little class parties. It means so much to us and the children! Please don’t forget snow pants, boots, hats and mittens for your little ones We will also need a full outfit to keep here in case theirs get wet or dirty. Small shoe boxes need to be brought in by Feb 8th for our valentine project. The children will have fun decorating them to make beautiful Valentine holders. We, as teachers of young children, use High Scope’s six steps for conflict resolution process. It encourages children early on to resolve differences without any hurtful actions. To summarize the procedure – approach calmly, using gentle touch, remain neutral, acknowledge the child’s feelings. Gather information by simply asking “What’s the problem?” Restate the problem-“So the problem is…”.Encourage the children to think of a solution but offer options if they are unable. Ask for solutions and pick one together. “What can we do to solve this problem?” Be prepared to give follow-up support. Acknowledge children’s accomplishments, e.g. “You solved the problem!”- staying close in case anyone is not happy with the solution and if the process needs repeating. Major social learning areas: 1. Taking care of one’s own needs 2. Expressing feelings in words 3. Building relationships with children and adults 4. Creating and experiencing collaborative play dealing with social conflict. Sincerely, Transition Staff |
IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER: Dates to Remember: Classroom Valentines Parties Feb 14th • Vision screening for Pre-k students has been scheduled for March 6th Pediatric Dentistry will be conducting a program for our students on March 13th at 9:00 am BE SURE TO CHECK FOR: RECALL ALERTS |
PRE-SCHOOL NEWS Dear Parents, This month is the month we express our feelings to loved ones, so, in honor of that, we are going to express ourselves with art work! Lately we have been exploring primary colors at the easel. In February, we’re going to extend what we have learned about colors and relate them to our emotions. We will be painting to different types of music, lighting, at different paces and with different paces in mind. We will also play games that involve the awareness of our emotions and center pretend play around how we are feeling. Children will be encouraged to play out scenarios for the sake of discussing how we can be more mindful of others’ feelings. Please bring in a shoebox for your child to decorate for Valentine’s Day. We will be exchanging valentines on the day of our party, so feel free to bring in cards to distribute to the children. The week of Valentine’s Day, we will explore the postal service. We will be using our sorting skills to sort mail. We will count letters, stamps and other postal items. We will open our own postal office! Creative expression is very important for young children to explore freely. In class, I have been encouraging my students to explore different types of artistic media. Please know that the process of artwork is more important that the product. Therefore, your child may not bring in an art project every day, or even for several days. The artwork we work on is often an awkward shape, needs to dry out or takes up too much room, like one big project made out of a giant cardboard box. Pictures may be taken of these types of art projects to document progress. This type of artwork will lead to more recognizable and creative projects as they grow older. Sincerely, Ms. Bri and Ms. Laurie |
PRE-K NEWS Dear Parents: Color: Pink Shape: Heart Letters: N and O Number: 6 This month, we will be learning that everyone has different feeling. We will be doing songs and games to develop this awareness. We will continue to do the Take-Home Jar and graph the items that are brought in to the class. Buster Bow Wow has already started his visits home on the weekends. The children are excited and cannot wait their turn! Directions on how to take care of him and what to do are in the bag. We will continue letter and number recognition with Zoo Phonics and Writing without Tears. The children are already starting to sound out simple words. James’s birthday is on the 13th. We wish him a very happy birthday! Valentine’s Day Party – 14th Sign up sheets will be posted soon. We will be passing out Valentines at our party. Have your child fill them out at home. We need about 16. I will send out a class list if you choose to write their friend’ s names on them, or have your child do it. You may also bring in candy or an extra treat to pass out if you wish. Please bring in a shoe box, tissue box, or even a cereal box covered in paper (red, white, pink). We will be decorating them at school to make Valentine holders. Before your child ever sees a word on the page, he or she will hear thousands of words-spoken words. Every spoken word is a series of sounds. Say the word “football”. Now say it again, slowly. Take it apart. Stress each little sound, from the ‘f’ sound at the beginning to the ‘l’ sound at the end. “Football” has six sounds in it. A child who can tell the sounds apart is on the way to becoming a reader. Friends (draw little faces on your fingers) Five good friends went out to play. It was a bright and sunny day, One good friend said, "I can't stay." Then there were four friends left to play. Four good friends went out to play. It was a bright and sunny day, One good friend said, "I can't stay." Then there were three friends left to play. Three good friends went out to play. It was a bright and sunny day. One good friend said, "I can't stay." Then there were two friends left to play. Two good friends went out to play. It was a bright and sunny day. One good friend said, "I can't stay." Then there was one friend left to play. One good friend went out to play. It was a bright and sunny day. One good friend said, "I can't stay." Then there were no friends left to play. Sincerely, Ms. Theresa |
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