Decorating Mailboxes
On Monday, we talked about Valentine's day approaching and asked the children if they have been making Valentine's Day cards at home. Many excitedly said "Yes!" When we asked the children where we should put the cards, some friends suggested that we need to make a mailbox so that is exactly what we did. We decorated our mailboxes (paper bags) using markers, stickers, colored tape, doilies and different colored hearts. The teachers were so proud of the children for spending so much time decorating both sides of their bags. We can't wait to put Valentine's Day cards inside them on Friday!
Some friends decided that they would like to make a Valentine's Day card for their mommies and daddies. They first made a heart origami with Teacher Natalie which they stuck onto the front of the card and then decorated the card with different materials. The children worked hard on the cards so we hope you like them!
Some of the children took part in a little Valentine's Day photo booth fun so they could use the picture to put in their card!
Kathryn Claire
On Tuesday, the children were lucky enough to hear a performace by musician Kathryn Claire. We sang and danced with Kathryn Claire and listened to her using different instruments including the guitar, violin and harmonica!
During her performance, Kathryn Claire came around to show us her bow (the stick part of the violin) and told us that part of it was made of horse tail, which surprised the children! A big thank you to the PTA for sponsoring Kathryn Claire's visit!! Our Nursery friends really enjoyed it.
In recent weeks, the teachers have noticed how independent the children have become and how comfortable they are in the classroom with their friends, so the teachers thought that the children were ready to be class helpers. This week, we introduced a job chart with four helpers on it. We have a light helper (who switches the light on and off when it is rest/wake up time), a clean up helper (who warns the children that they have five more minutes to play and then also to warn them that it is clean up time by ringing a bell), a snack helper (who offers the fruit to everybody when it is snack time) and an attendance helper (who gives the attendance sheet to Teacher Shinobu.) Every morning, the children are excited to find out who the helpers for the day are as we pick the names out of a bag. As the children get more used to the job chart, we hope to add more helpers to our chart!
The children and families enjoyed a special treat on Thursday when the taiko drummers came and performed various entertaining songs using an array of instruments to captivate the children. Thank you to all the families who were able to attend. We hope you all enjoyed the experience!
After they were done, the invited parents to come up...we didn't realize the Jeff, Emma's daddy, was such a talented and natural drummer!
We were happy to see some Nursery friends join in on the fun and have a turn pounding the sticks on the taiko drums.
Baking Cookies
To further get into the spirit of Valentine's Day, the children took turns rolling out dough and using cookie cutters shaped like hearts to press down on sugar cookie dough to make cookies. They had been practicing hard all week with similar cutters using play dough so by the time it was time to do the real thing, they did it so easily. Then they got to spread icing and colorful sprinkles on their treats during snack time.
Passing out Valentine cards
Perhaps one of the highlights of the week for the children was passing out their Valentine's Day cards to their classmates. They worked so hard decorating their cards for their friends and were eager to put them in their friends' mailboxes. They took turns finding their friends' pictures in front of their mailboxes and proudly placed each card in the appropriate place. We love how much the children love giving and receiving notes!
Thank you for a wonderful, busy, fun-filled week! Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
-Julie and Natalie
-Julie and Natalie