We don't really know what color they were, how big they were or even if they said anything, but it is always fun to imagine! We did just that this week as we learned so much about dinosaurs! We made dinosaurs with bones (Q-tips), painted with dino feet and even drew our own dinosaurs. We counted, sorted and patterned with dinosaurs. We measured our feet to the LARGE size of a dinosaur footprint. We talked about what paleontologists do and most of us decided that could be a cool job! We researched on the iPad if we had questions that we didn't already know and found out so many interesting facts about those animals that lived so long ago! At the science table, we froze some dinosaurs in a block of ice and we had to be explorers and dig them out! We used several different tools until we found the perfect one! The sensory table was full of brown shredded paper and we went hunting for dinosaurs in the "dirt". Outside, we played and discovered that worms are still out there! We found a few and made sure to bury them deep so they stayed warm for the winter. We had a few super cold days so the Great Room was our fun place to have relay races and get some energy out! We have had a busy week, but not too busy to welcome our class elf for the season...Clark had made his appearance and we could not be more happy!

This week was all about our families! We learned a lot! We talked about who was in our families and who had the biggest family! Not everyone did our chart on the door, but it looks like Abigail has the biggest with so many sisters! We made some pictures of our houses and drew our families in the house. We spelled out family member names like mom, dad, sister, brother. Some of our math games were sorting and patterning with the bear family and "making" a pizza with our favorite toppings. We added some play phones in the drama area again and we heard lots of conversations that may or may have been overheard in real life. Some of the children have "ordered" pizza or take-out, called someone up and told them to get home and our favorite is when they talk on the phone and have lengthy conversations with a friend while they are "cooking" at the stove. They are always listening, so be careful what you say! Our sensory table has been filled with shredded paper and names of family members written on cards. We also added some "people" to play with in the table as well. We have gotten to go outside, but it sure is cold out there! We even got just enough snow to make the tiniest of snowballs. The highlight of the week was our Thanksgiving feast! We all took some time to help shake up our home-made butter for our bread and we happily ate all the good stuff out in the Great Room with the rest of the Center. We are truly grateful this holiday season!

Hello families!

We hope that you had a great week...we sure did! This week was theme week and boy it did not disappoint! We started off this week with our cool sunglasses. The children worked hard at the art table creating their sun! Moving on to Tuesday, we had backwards day and it was fun seeing the children with their clothes backwards especially their jackets! On Wednesday we had crazy hair day...we had mohawks, braids, many pigtails, purple, blue and green hair! Towards the end of the week, we had hat day and Disney day! It was great seeing all the different hats. While we were having fun with dressing to the theme, we worked on name writing, letter recognition and rhyming at the language table. At the math table, we worked on number recognition, sorting and making patterns. With all the fun we had this week with different themes, we did not forget about our letter of the week. This week we learned about the letter Ii. We came up with a small list of words which included: igloo, ice, iguana, indigo and ivy. We hope the children had as much fun as we did...it was great seeing the themes come to life. We hope that everyone has a fun and safe weekend! Enjoy the nice weather....a birdie told me that it was going to s-n-o-w! Stay warm out there.

~Chasity and Tara~

We learned the words "similar" and "different" this week as we looked at some many pictures of people, places and things from all over the world. We saw boys and girls who looked like is, who went to school like us and even dressed like us, but then we saw so many boys and girls who didn't look anything like us. We learned that everyone goes to school, not everyone eats what we eat and not everyone has all the "extras" that we have. We saw different countries landscapes and little tiny towns. It was an eye opening week for some of us! At the art table, we learned about China and made a drum. We saw the colorful fans from Japan and made one for ourselves. We worked on small muscles as we painted and colored. At the language table, we did some investigating and asked questions about countries we had never seen. Some of the children made a list and then we read answers on the iPad. Did you know they see sharks in Australia? Did you ever see what they wear in India? These boys and girls were so curious and we were happy to find answers together! At the math table, we worked on numbers and found some boxes that we have been ordering smallest to biggest or just making structures with. Our drama area was full of different hats and bags and we "shopped" around for a variety of things. Our science area has a pendulum that we have been exploring and finding out how close we can put a small stack of blocks before the swinging pendulum knocks them over. Outside has been a blast since we got more new toys! Look out, we have some tennis players on our hands!

Ghosts, witches, skeletons and zombies have been on the brain! This week has been all about the fabulous holiday of HALLOWEEN!! The children worked on number recognition activities via spiders and candy corn, Halloween roll and cover and sorted pom poms on a colorful spiderweb. At the language table this week, the children worked on letter recognition and matching activities, rhyming words and writing. We worked on our letter of the week which was Gg. As a group, the children came up with words that begin with Gg, practiced writing the letter and sang the Gg song. The children dove into their creative side and made candy corn rip art, used an apple to stamp and create a pumpkin, a monster out of a coffee filter and a Q-tip skeleton hand. We discussed how to be safe during Halloween night when trick o'treating. The children came up with amazing ideas of staying with mom and dad, making sure to look both ways before crossing the street and to not eat the candy until mom and dad check it first! We also enjoyed some Halloween music all week. We hope the children had a fun week with us and we can't wait to see the costumes on Monday! Have a safe and healthy weekend!

~Chasity and Tara~

This has been a fun-filled week all about numbers and the letter 'Ff'! We have been busy finding numbers in and out of the classroom. We had "homework" this week too! We talked about the numbers on the outside of our house (or mailbox) and learned that that was called our address. We were to go home and ask our grown-up to stop in the driveway so we could find the numbers outside. Many of the children did! We also wrote them on cards in the classroom and will revisit them and a grown-up's phone number too! Our art activities have been all about numbers and we also painted with feathers to go with our 'Ff' theme! Our sensory bin is filled with buttons! We are having fun filling up small cups of buttons and then counting how many we fit in the cup. Our science area has been magnetic pieces and magnetic numbers! The creativity has been amazing! Our math table has been busy with a variety of activities, concentrating on numbers 0-10 for now. We didn't get much outside time due to the rain, but as always, we look forward to getting out! Our favorite area is the patio to check in on the construction work across the street!

Humpty Dumpty, Hickory Dickory Dock....that's correct that this week was all about Nursery Rhymes. We started off our week with making a list of which ones we knew which included the two mentioned above along with Jack and Jill and some Hey Diddle Diddle. The children worked on letter recognition acitivies as well as rhyming words throughout the week. We worked on number recognition, counting and weighing activities at the math table. The children stepped into their creative side and made water drip art, painted with a spoon, made a clock and put Hunpty back together with band-aids. The children made parachutes out of a cup, cupcake liner and string for our annual egg drop! This week we also learned the letter Ee. We have a list of Ee words on the chalkboard by group if you are interested in the words our friends came up with. Also, Miss Chasity would like to thank all of you for helping her celebrate her 30th birthday! She wouldn't want to spend it any other way! We hope that the children had fun this week with rhyming! We wish you all a fun and warm weekend!

~Chasity and Tara~

This week was all community helpers AND fire safety! We have been busy with guessing jobs, deciding if we want those jobs and talking about what our own parents and families do for their jobs! We had some visitors come in and share what they do for a living. We always love a visit from someone! For some art activities, we worked our small muscles in our fingers to open band-aids while we talked about a doctor's job. We also made a traffic light and talked about a police man and a crossing guard's job as well. We made a no-mess painting project by putting paint in a bag and using our finger tip to move the paint around. Our math activities have been all about numbers, and counting. We will finish off the week with a path game, getting the garbage truck to the dump! Our block area has been full of Matchbox cars! We got out the community rug and drove the cars around the town, checking out the businesses and pretending to be community helpers. Outside, we discovered the construction workers across the street have decided to do some work! We opened the patio gates and got to watch some action a few days. Each day, we fit in some time to practice STOP, DROP and ROLL and talked about escape plans and what to do if there is a fire. We also learned about the letter 'Dd' and made a list of several words that begin with the letter.

This week was all about the pirates! The children learned many different terms such as booty (we had to explain to them that means treasure!). This week the children worked on number recognition and created patterns with gems at the math table. At the language table, the children worked on letter recognition activities and played pirate BINGO! At the art table, the children created pirate ships, a flag which we learned is called a jolly roger and created a work of art using food colored salt and glue. We had an experiment all week where we took some coins...you know because pirates love their treasure and put coins in water, soap and water, vinegar and rubbing alcohol to see which cleans the coins the most. Our friends have noticed that the coins in the rubbing alcohol are looking shiny...we can't wait to see how clean they are at the end of the week! The children also learned about the letter Cc. They listened to the Cc story, we wrote Cc words on the chalkboard and practiced writing the letter on whiteboards. We had a fun week and hope that everyone has a fun weekend. Be safe and stay warm!

-Chasity and Tara-

What a wonderful way to start the first day of Autumn then with cool crisp air. We were beginning to think that fall was never going to come. This week the children learned about the lovely season of fall. At group we discussed different things such as how do we know when fall is here. The children had amazing answers such as when the leaves change colors, when the leaves begin to fall off the trees and when it gets a little cooler out. Outside, the children have been curious about the leaves and made some observations of how the leaves are changing. One friend picked up a leaf and noticed that half was green while the other half was turning a beautiful dark red. Our friends are very observant this year! We worked on our number recognition and counting at math, letter recognition and name writing at the language table and dove into our creative sides making leaf man, leaf rubbings and an apple from a paper plate. With the excitement of fall around us, we also began working on the letter Bb, We wrote a list of Bb words on our chalkboard in the back of the room, we read a Bb book and sang a song and wrote the letter Bb at the language table. Each week, we will continue to work on a letter of the alphabet. Oh, if you haven't gotten a chance yet to check out the construction across the street...please do so! While out on the patio, we have been allowing the friends to check out what the workers have been doing...so far just getting dirt and spreading it out on the ground, but the children seem to enjoy it! We hope that everyone has a fun and safe weekend!

In the words of Miss Chasity...GO BROWNS!

~Tara and Chasity~