NURSERY RHYMES - MARCH 2012

THREE'S AM

Happy winter to all! Welcome back to a new year in Room Two. The children enjoyed the fall season. We watched as the leaves turned beautiful shades of red, yellow, and gold and then fell from the trees. Our class tree followed the same pattern. Apples were replaced by beautiful leaves the children painted with water color which have since fallen and sent home.
We learned about pumpkins, life on a farm, and celebrated Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, the First Day of Winter, Christmas, and Kwanza. The children enjoyed eating potatoes latkes, cookies and fruits but most of all they enjoyed singing the songs related to each of these holidays. The holiday season was a very exciting time for all of us.
The farm unit was enjoyed by all the children. Playing with the different barns was a big hit. They spent a good amount of time each day classifying farm animal families. They were very creative at the art table when decorating the animals for our bulletin board.
During the early part of January we explored a unit about dinosaurs. It was truly enjoyed by every child. Making the large eggs was a fun and messy project. Most of the children enjoyed getting their hands into the mixture of water and flour to Paper Mache a balloon. Another messy but yet fun activity was making dinosaur tracks. During these activities the children wore a foot print of a baby T-Rex under their shoe and stepped into a tray of paint. Then, as we listen to the song “We Are the Dinosaurs” by Laurie Burkner they marched on an area covered with butcher paper. This particular unit helped the children practice one to one correspondence, sorting, counting, and making patterns.
Towards the end of January we celebrated Chinese New Year. We cooked vegetable stir fry, practiced eating with chop sticks and dressed up in Kimonos. We collaged a box for the head of our dragon and had a parade around the school. Our dramatic play area had offered the children plenty of opportunities to cooperate with each other, to be creative, and most of all to be able to understand the importance of waiting for their turn. Princesses and Kings, paleontologists and doctors have all been part of our dramatic play.
At the beginning of February we started a unit about vegetables. We planted garlic in regular soil and also in sand and left some without soil. We discovered that garlic likes both sandy and fluffy soil. We also learned where carrots grow and acted out the Carrot Seed. Then, we moved on to potatoes. For the most part of March we will cook with potatoes, keep learning about vegetables and will start a unit about transportation. Then we will observe the changes that occur in spring and learn from them. We will plant potatoes and hopefully will be able to eat some in May or June.
The children have formed friendships and are getting along very well. Since our last newsletter we have welcomed two new friends into our community of learners, Thomas and Fetun. We also have said good bye to three friends: Julie, Emmanuel and Ana Maria. We currently have fifteen children in our class. They are starting to use language to express their feelings with one another.
They enjoy visiting the writing table as well as the art table. Some are starting to write their names and almost everyone can recognize them as well. The weather chart is a very popular activity during circle time. A different child check the weather daily and tells the class what the weather is like and counts how many sunny, rainy, cloudy, windy or snowy we have so far for the month.
We would like to thank the parents and grandparents that have signed in to come into our classroom for our parent of the day program. The children enjoy spending time with a visitor please sign in even if you can only spend an hour or less.
We also would like to thank all the parents for your generous holiday gifts.
We are looking forward to spending a morning at the farm in the coming months.

Maria, Alma, and Nicole