Concept: Identifying Money
Shape: Star
Letter(s): Q, R, S
Number(s):
Ages(1-2): 7
Ages (3-4): 13, 14
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March 4th
Dr. Seuss
Pre-K Parade
March 10th
D
on't forget to move your clocks ahead
one hour!
March 15th
March 17th
Welcome spring!
March 22nd
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March is here and we are looking forward to the arrival of spring, as well as a month full of special events, holidays, and activities.
We say goodbye to our shortest month of February, and hopefully the last of the winter weather. Some memorable events in February were our Chinese New Year Parade. The children enjoyed a feast of Chicken Lo Mein, Pork Fried Rice and fortune cookies. The parade was complete with Chinese music, along with dancing dragons, lions, and of course pigs.
We also had an amazing transportation parade! Every class represented a different form of transportation from the traditional to the creative. We had everything from school buses, sports cars, an ice cream truck, a fire engine, skateboards, and princess carriage!
On Monday March 4, we will celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday. Dr. Seuss, is the name that author Theodor Seuss Geisel made up. He loved children and was dedicated to encouraging a love of reading. Through books filled with silly rhymes, silly characters and lots of humor, he kept their interest for a long time. We know that when children enjoy a book they will want to hear the story again and again. We encourage everyone to pick up a favorite book, find a comfortable spot and read to your child every day.
During the second week of March, we will learn about Community Helpers. We welcome parents, guardians, and grandparents to come in and tell us about their jobs as we learn about Community Helpers. Children love to have "jobs" and are helpers at school and at home. This helps to develop a sense of pride and responsibility, as well as a positive self esteem.
We will celebrate Music and Dance Appreciation during the third week of March. The week will end with our St. Patrick's Day parade and dancing on Friday March 15th. Preschoolers love to sing, make music, and move to the beat. They feel competent when they learn a new song, powerful when they pound a drum or shake a tambourine, and proud when they invent a new dance. As children explore and enjoy music, they can develop skills in other learning areas at the same time. Teachers and families can relate music to subjects as diverse as math, science, literacy, and social studies.
At the end of the month, we will have our Annual Little CTK Shops. Each class will pretend to be a special store in our CTK Community Mall and "sell" different products that they made. Each class will then get an opportunity to shop with their "money" and decorated brown bags. The children enjoyed this activity so much last year, and we hope to have continued success this year. Our future chefs, bakers, florists, and talented entrepreneurs are beginning right here at CTK!
Our Annual Spring Festival/Open House and Easter Egg Hunt will kick off on Saturday, March 30, from 1:00pm - 3:00pm. All are welcome to attend.
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- Please remember to make sure your child's cubby contains weather-appropriate clothing. In addition, please remember to label all coats and clothing. We also appreciate all of our parents continuing to bring in diapers and a box of wipes twice each month on the 1st and the 15th.
- When calling the facility, please keep in mind that calls should be ideally made between 12-2pm while the children are napping.
- Should you need to do a drop off on a day you are not scheduled to come in, you must fill out a Drop Off form, and depending upon the availability, you will be charged your hourly rate. Please keep in mind that we do not switch days.
- We ask that you do not allow your child(ren) to run ahead of you when entering and leaving the facility, it is a safety issue. Especially when exiting the building, children should never open the security door.
- Strollers that are left in our storage area must be closed.
We thank you for your cooperation with these matters.
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Science with the Kitties
The Kitties have so much fun with science!
It's amazing how many textures the Kitties see and feel each day. We have the children explore different objects in the classroom to help explore their sense of touch and increase vocabulary. We go to the building blocks and say, "hard." We touch the bristle blocks which we say are "sharp." We feel the "soft" touch of stuffed animals. The Kitties really like to squish their hands in paint, when we're painting! We have also been discussing different temperatures. We explain that we feel cold outside so we need jackets but, when we get our lunch it's warm! So much to learn, discover and FEEL in the Kitties room!
Science with the Monkeys
During the month of February the Monkey's learned about transportation. We conversed that we can be transported from one place to another by using cars, trains, planes and boats. The children really enjoyed learning about the boats as we discussed that boats float on top of the water. After our discussion on transportation, the Monkeys did a "Sink/Float" experimented in the Art room, during water play. Miss Diane asked the children a question "Which objects do you think will float on top of the water?" Each child, one by one, got to place an item into the water and observe what happened. The children saw that while some items, like the toy cars sink, the toy boats floated. This was a great hands- on experiment and the children were able to visually see how boats float. As a result, when Miss Diane later asked the Monkeys to name transportation vehicles that sink and float, the children were able to correctly list and categorize many vehicles into the two groups.
Science with the Pandas
The Pandas explored the theme of light in many centers this month. In the Science Center, the Pandas discovered how flashlights operate. The Pandas took apart pieces of the flash light and put them back together. We learned that some light required batteries and electricity and other forms of light are natural. At center time, we used these flashlights to create shadows of many different shapes and objects such as animal figures.
To investigate how natural light is important, the Pandas learned about which animals are diurnal (animals that come out during the day) and which are nocturnal (animals that come out during the night). The teachers assisted the students in creating a chart to sort and each child placed the animals in their appropriate categories. By doing this, we learned that many living things depend on light to live, including; animals, plants and even people. The Pandas enjoyed making these conclusions after their discoveries!
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Math with the Angels
Whether it is through music, flashcards or books the Angels truly love to learn! One thing in particular that the Angels really enjoy doing is counting and doing math. The Angels are always counting and practicing their math skills. This past month the Angels practiced their math skills in a fun and exciting way. We placed all of the multi-colored bean bags in the center of the table, and the Angels sorted the bean bags according to their color. Another fun way the Angels sorted the bean bags was by shape. As the Angels sorted the bean bags according to color and shape they practiced counting as well. The Angels had a blast while doing this activity, and it truly did make learning fun!
Math with the Bumblebees
The Bumblebees practice math concepts in various ways each day. We count how many friends are in school each day, and the numbers on the calendar. At circle time, we also review our shapes.
The beginning of last month was all about Valentine's Day for the Bumblebees! With the shape of the month being a heart and the number of the month being the number 6, Miss Karolina found a fun way to incorporate the two into a math lesson. Each child received a cut out of the number 6. They each took turns using a heart shaped stamp to stamp their number. They had to count aloud up to 6 then pass the stamp to a friend. This activity encouraged them to share and helped them count up to 6 all on their own!
Math with the Bears
This month's theme, "Light" was explored throughout all the centers in the classroom. The children learned about natural light and artificial light with some fun and interactive SMART Board activities. At meeting time, the children learned about silhouettes. The children learned words like: straight, up, across and around, to describe various silhouettes of people, animals and shapes. The children then went to the math center and searched for a smaller representation to match each silhouette. As the children were searching the classroom, I encouraged them to find all the matches. The children had a great time searching all over the classroom to find the matching silhouettes.
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Art with the Bunnies
The Bunnies always have fun painting and making art projects!
To celebrate Valentine's Day, the Bunnies made Bumblebees, with their footprint, that flies around a heart, saying, "Bee my Valentine." We put glue in the shape of a heart and each child shook red glitter on top. They loved shaking the glitter and saying, "shake, shake,shake." While doing this project, the Bunnies were also encourage to say: yellow, bee, red, and heart. The Bunnies love art time so much, we had to create another project that they all worked on as a group while one child at a time made their bumblebees. We made a giant heart, taped it down to the table and let the kids color with markers or crayons, whichever they chose. It was messy and fun, and they loved it.
Art with the Lions
The Lions love doing art projects so when our focus is art for the month, we get extra excited! One of the focuses for February was the color silver, so what better craft to do then make a robot. We decided to make this art project an open-ended craft, which means we give the children all the pieces and let their imaginations free. We started by reading a book called, "Robot in Love" and another one called, "PJ Masks Robot." The children got different ideas for their robots, and bonus they are just fun books to read. Then each child was given two large silver pieces, four smaller pieces, and a bowl of shape pieces, big and small and in all different colors. Next it was time to let their imagination lose, once they placed all the pieces together the way they wanted Miss Jessica and Miss Melissa went over to each one and helped with the glue. When the robots were all finished the children got to look and compare the differences in each other's robot and then they sat and played with them like they were real robots, we know it's a great project when the kids turn them into toys.
Art with the Dolphins
As a class we read the book, "Substitute Groundhog" by Pat Miller. This book is about how Groundhog Day is coming up, but this year Groundhog is not feeling too well. Groundhog must find a substitute to take his place for the big day. It is important for people to see the Groundhog's shadow to know what the weather forecast will be! After reading the book "Substitute Groundhog," we created our own shadow art. As a class we made Pipe Cleaner Art Shadows. Students created designs with pipe cleaners by twisting and bending them all different ways. The pipe cleaners were then hung on a blank wall. A light was shone on the pipe cleaners and a shadow was cast. Students were then asked to describe the shadow of their pipe cleaners. The children all had a great time.
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Music with the Snugglie II
In February, we said goodbye to some old friends as they move up to the Puppy room, but we also said hello to some new friends!
This month, the babies of Snugglies II have been bonding with one another by joining together during music time!
Music is such a big part of our day in the Snugglies II room. During circle time in the morning this month we focused on the song, "I Love You." During the song we practiced blowing a kiss! We also enjoyed listening to lullabies at nap time and EduMusic with Mr. Kenny
. We sing our songs, clap our hands, and smile throughout our whole music session! We look forward to spending more time with Mr. Kenny and learning more new songs.
"I love you, You love me.
We're a happy family.
With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you.
Won't you say you love me too."
Music with the Sunflowers
Music is presented in your child's everyday life. The children absolutely love our music teacher Mr. Kenny. He makes learning music so exciting and fun for all of the children. They have great fun tapping their rhythm sticks and shaking their instruments to the beat of the music. The Sunflowers are starting to learn their new song for the spring show as well! We also have a wonderful time playing in the Music and Movement Room throughout the week. The children get to play the piano and xylophone, which are projected onto the floor using the Beam projector. They also play with hand held instruments such as tambourines and maracas! In addition to these times, music is also played throughout the day to enlighten your child and help them learn new vocabulary words, days of the week, numbers, and more. It is simply fun for everyone!
Music With the Ducks
This month students are learning about "Light." For music we learned a song about shadows. It's called, "My Shadow Likes To Move" by Jean Warren. We sing the song to the beat of "If Your Happy and You Know It." The song goes like this:
Oh my shadow likes to move, just like I do.
Oh my shadow likes to move, just like I do.
Whatever that I do, my shadow does it, too.
Oh my shadow likes to move, just like I do.
While singing the song students pair up and copy each other's movements like a shadow would. While exploring shadows we turned out the lights and took flashlights to make shadows. While making shadows we sang the song.
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Technology Tots &
Athletes in Training
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Gym time with Puppies
The Puppies are always having a blast in the gym. It's a time for some active movement, especially during the cold months when we cannot go out! They are learning new ways to play with each other, from playing catch, to rolling balls to one another, riding on the boat together and waiting their turns on the roller coaster cars. Even the babies who are new to Puppies are interacting and having a great time. The Puppies also enjoy moving to the music from the radio and us singing aloud. Two of their favorite songs to sing and dance to are, "If You're Happy and You Know It" and "Ring Around the Rosie." The children can always count on having lots of fun when in the gym.
Gym with the Chipmunks
The Chipmunks have so much fun during their Gym time. We do different activities like going up and down on the steps, rocking back and forth on the boat, riding the roller coaster, and jumping over and running through the cones.
What the Chipmunks like most, however, is riding in the cars. Since they like this so much, we have our own "Indy 500" car racing. Two children at a time go into a car. They are told to drive their cars from one end of the gym to the other, turn around and come back. The first one back is the winner. Miss Nancy says, "On your mark, get set, go!" and off they go, going as fast as their little feet can take them. Their classmates yell and clap, cheering them on to victory. In doing this activity, the children learn how to take turns, root for each other, to do and give their best effort, and just have fun. We know they enjoy doing this activity because this is what they want to do first whenever we go to the Gym.
Gym and Tech with the Turtles
For this month's theme, the Turtles have been learning all about light. Luckily for us, an important part of learning about light is also learning about shadows. Not only did we learn about a groundhog that sees his shadow, but since we go to the gym and playground often, we have been able to observe our own shadows. We have learned that the sun is our primary source of light; without the sun, we would not see our shadows when we go into the playground. In the playground we made different animals out of our shadows and even tried to catch our shadows (which we did not succeed).
We used light from our projector and the projector screen itself, to make our own shadows using our bodies and other various items from around the classroom. We were lucky enough to use a light box which was useful for allowing us to see the shadows of objects that we put into it. We were also able to make cool designs with it. We have learned that light is a very important thing to have in our lives because without it, plants would not grow, neither would some types of food and most importantly, we would not be able to see ahead of us. We are thankful to have light!
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On March 20th Spring will officially be here!
This means that we will be spending more time outdoors. Please check your child's cubby and replace any clothes that are either too small or are not weather appropriate. Children should wear sneakers with rubber soles, as this allows them to run, climb and play with less chance of slipping and falling.
Please note the following:
- St. Patrick's day is coming up! If you would like to send in your child with any snacks or sweets for their classroom party, remember that we are nut-free school and do no serve any items containing tree nuts, or foods that have come in contact with any tree nuts.
- If your child has an allergy and takes medication for it and/or has asthma, a medication administration form must be filled our by your pediatrician. You can obtain one from the nurses office or print one off our website.
- For all other medications, a doctors note must be provided along with the medication in it's original box.
- We are mandated by the department of health to keep records of physicals and immunizations. Please make sure your child annual physical and current immunization record is submitted in a timely manner. Your child may not attend Day Care/Pre-school without the appropriate updates and forms submitted.
Happy Spring and Saint Patrick's Day!
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Angels
While the Angels were drinking their juice boxes during the Valentine's Day Party, Eliza turned around to her friends and said, "My mommy bought these," and giggled. Not too long after, the whole table was giggling along with Eliza.
Bears
During playground time all the children were so excited to go outside and play. To continue the lessons about light the children talked about shadows. All the kids had a great time posing in different ways, so they can see how the light makes a shadow on the ground. Mackenzie and Zoe L and Zoe. K. were making some good shadows. Mackenzie said, "Ms. Kerin do you want to make some shadows with us." I said, ""Sure!" The girls were making different positions and wanted me to mimic them. Then Zoe K. said, "Ms. Kerin, can you bend your leg like a unicorn?" Then Zoe l. said, "Can you move like a LOL doll?" All the girls started to laugh and continue to make shadows. As the children were going back in the building, they said, "I can't wait to come out tomorrow to make more shadows using natural light."
Bumblebees
During snack time Miss Karolina joined the children at the table and began to eat a yogurt. Evelyn leans over to look inside the yogurt container and says, "Ohhhh ice cream!"
Bunnies
One day, at the beginning of nap time, Niles decided to go up to every child that was lying down, rub their back once and say, "Nice baby." Once he was done, he went to his own bed and fell asleep.
Chipmunks
At Circle time we were talking about the weather and what kind of clothes we wear to school in the winter. The children each took turns naming what they wear. I asked them if they remember what I wear on my ears (earmuffs). Christopher said, "Miss. Nancy you wear gloves on your ears!"
Dolphins
After reading, "Round Trip" by Ann Jonas, Miss Theresa asked Darko, "Did you like that the pictures in the book were just in black and white? Would you like if our world was just black and white with no other colors?" Darko said, "I did not like that the book had no colors. It was hard to see what the picture was with no colors. I like all the colors our world has. My favorite color is yellow and gold."
Ducks
While making shadows, Jamie and Alan combined shadows to make one larger shadow. This inspired the rest of the class to combine their shadows to make bigger shadows as well. Jamie said, "Me and Alan are going to make a giraffe, but we need a head." Patryk ran to get the giraffe figure we have in the block center and held it up for them to make a giraffe.
Kitties
Whenever it's time to go to a specialty room, Ms. Ami and Ms. Katie tell the Kitties, "It's time to line up." If Brian sees that a friend isn't lined up, he signals the "come on" sign with his hand, to show his friends it's time to go!
Lions
While the children were having snack we started talking about going food shopping and where we went. Matthew said, "I go to BJs Whitestone in Whitestone" and a lot of the kids said they went to BJs as well. Madison turned around and said, "Hey I go to a BJs too, but its baby BJs for Lindsay."
Monkeys
Miss Sara asked Ayla one morning during breakfast, what did you do this weekend? Ayla said, "I went to Shake Shack with daddy and Starbucks with my mommy."
Pandas
During circle time the class was discussing shadows. The students were talking about seeing their own shadows on sunny days. Mia C. told Julia Z. that she saw her shadow at the park, but when she tried to run after it, it "kept running faster." Ms. Krystal then explained that shadows form their shape depending on what direction the light or sun is shining from!
Sunflowers
Ellinor only comes in once a week. When she walked in with her mom and grandmother, she excitedly yells, "I'm back at school!" and immediately runs to her friends!
Turtles
During a birthday party in our classroom, Miss Samantha was asking everyone what they would like to drink. Ariella came up and ever-so-politely said, "Apple juice, would be fine, if you could."
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