We knew this day was coming, but it still came at us at warp speed! The school year flew by with all of the activities, milestones, and excitement and this last week of school was no exception.
Birthday Girls
First we celebrated Claire's birthday. She brought in a book that she chose from the Birthday Book program called "You Are (Not) Small" which the children enjoyed so much as they took turns saying parts of the story that they had memorized. Then, the yummy treats were distributed and the children happily ate them after singing "Happy Birthday" to our birthday girl. What a great time it was!
Next, it was Emma's turn to celebrate her birthday as well. She was eager to use as many stickers as she could to decorate her birthday crown. She shared a book called "A-Ha!" about a clever frog which kept the children entertained. Then we celebrated by enjoying delicious rainbow cupcakes. What fun it was to celebrate our summer birthdays before school let out :)
More Fun During Our Final Week
This week the teachers were sure to try and get to as many activities that the children had been requesting as possible. The children asked to color in their journals, do more paintings, have fun with the overhead projector and have more fun outside. Anna also brought in some photos of her recent cheer dance performance and proudly shared them with her classmates and teachers and even performed a small part of her routine! Another highlight was Michael's big brother picking him up after school this week. He proudly introduced him to the other children and was happy to show him around the classroom.
Another popular request from the children was to have a dance party. Some children asked for relaxing, jazz music while other friends said they wanted to dance to "crazy" music. Whatever the music choices, the children enjoyed their dancing!!!
On our last day of school, the children all gathered as a school in the community room where they enjoyed a sing-along led by Teacher Mayuka. The children sang so beautifully and proudly did the hand motions along with it. We were so proud, not only of our Nursery friends, but of all of the children. The children clearly learned a lot of songs with the talented Teacher Mayuka!
We also had special visitors on the last day of school. First, Teacher Marsha visited the children to say goodbye and let them know how proud she was of them. She told our Nursery friends that, although she will not be working at the ELC next year, she will be sure to stop by and visit. The children replied with hugs!
We also had a visitor who was a year in the making: Baby Logan. As the children have seen a picture of Teacher Julie's son, Logan, on her laptop screen, they began asking early on in the school year when he might come and visit. As time quickly passed, we had realized the last day HAD to be the day. He came into the room and the children took turns sharing toys, cleaning up after him, and doing whatever they could do to entertain him. He even had lunch with the children! Thank you, Nursery friends, for being so kind (and patient) with Baby Logan and for being so hospitable to his papa, Abe.
A Year of Wonder: A Reflection
We've said it so many times but this year has truly been a pleasure. The children colllaborated and coexisted so well. They really took to our Nursery program and blossomed into confident, curious members of our school. To say we are proud of them is an understatement.
Throughout this year, our friends grew in size...
Throughout this year, our friends grew in size...
Learned how to collaborate...
Gained confidence in several areas including making things that might seem hard, speaking in front of others, writing their names, dancing together....
They learned how to take care of each other when they got hurt or cheer each other up by making them laugh or including them...
And they learned that school is a wonderful, safe, fun place to be!
Thank you, thank you, thank you...from the bottom of our hearts for a wonderful year with your child. It's hard to believe this is our last blog entry for this school year. It has been a pleasure documenting the work and voices of your children and watching them grow throughout the year. We look forward to seeing you next school year...please come and say hello when you can!
Thank you,
Julie and Natalie
Thank you,
Julie and Natalie