Hello, Pre-Tot Families!

Today we decided to continue learning about food by doing some “baking” in one of our favorite places, the sandbox! Each child was given a bowl with some sand in it and Miss Ashley added water to the sand in each bowl. The children took sticks and shovels and used them to mix the sand and water together. They added more sand, asked for more water, and worked hard at mixing together the ingredients for their cakes. When their cakes were ready to bake they placed them in the oven, turned the oven on and set a timer. When they heard a “ding, ding, ding” they took their cakes out of the oven and let us have a taste. It was a lot of fun to watch their imaginations come alive as they showed us their cakes (or muffins) and had us try them. We could also tell that many of them have been watching their parents cook at home, because they knew just what to do to turn on an oven and set a timer.

Shortly after we finished our baking the toddler and primary classes came outside to show us the volcano that they made. We all watched intently as it erupted over and over again!

Have a great evening!

<3 Magdalen

Happy Tuesday yall!

We had a wonderful watermelon-picking Tuesday! We've recently discovered a whole bunch of watermelons growing in the garden. Well today we decided to pick one and cut it up. For circle time we talked all about watermelons. “What color are they? What texture is it? Is it heavy or light?” Our friends all took turns carrying the watermelon and passing it to their friends.

Miss Amelia came to visit us today for yoga. I made sure to promt everyone and get them very excited for her arrival. When she walked in the door everyone was so excited to see her; no sad faces at all! Hooray, no more stranger anxiety! Haha. Everyone did such a good job with Tick, tock, little yoga clock and the namaste song. They were so enthusiastic to show how they could rub their feet together and pass the bell wand to their friends.

For snack we decided to cut open our watermelon. To our surprise it was white inside! Hmmm, that's kind of strange; all water and no melon. Oh well... the kids still enjoyed it. Mmmm juicy crisp water flavor. They were each given a plastic knife to cut up their own melons like big kids. They enjoyed cutting pieces off of it and then eating them.

I just want to remind everyone that I will be going out of town for 1 and a half to two weeks for vacation. Miss Magdalen and Miss Cherokee will be subbing for me while I am gone. I will miss you all so so much. Have an awesome time while I am away!

Hugs and kisses
sandy

Good evening!
We started our Monday morning welcoming our friends to school from the weekend in the backyard! Kai found the wheelbarrow with mud in it & decided to paint the playscape! While Genevieve found a tomato in our Sprout Garden! 
Miles and Tula chased bubbles around then hung on the dome! They're getting SO biggggg! All of our friends were wanting to stand on the dome, with a little help from teachers....they are so brave! 
During circle time, we picked out "pretend" foods from our kitchen basket and reviewed them, sang a vegetable song:
*tune of Twinkle, Twinkle*
Carrots, Peas and Broccoli,
Vegetables are good to eat! 
Some for snack and in our lunch,
Veggie sticks are good to munch!
Carrots, Peas and Broccoli,
Vegetables are good for me!
and also, "who stole the cookies from the cookie jar"
After lunch and nap, Miss Abby came to do Yoga!!! We sang our friend's favorite songs and Miss Abby read an ABC animal book with synchronizing poses. : ))
JoJo enjoyed stacking blocks and knocking them down, while Miles sat in the basket!
Thanks to Sandy and Magdalen, the Pre-tot room has a lot of fun additions to it : )) We have a whole set of new curtains that do an excellent job at keeping the room cool...and a big leaf that has potential to become a cozy reading nook. 
Genevieve & Tula have been big helpers around the classroom lately, handing out waters during snack and also making sure everyone's milk makes it to the banister! It's so sweet. 

Hugs, 
Ashley 

Happy Friday yall!

Today was VERY exciting! Thanks to our AHmazing pre-tot families' donations, we were able to purchase the perfect kitchen set for our friends and debut it today!!!!
During the morning, we had our always-fun outside time where Genevieve and Tula chased each other, Kai looked through the telescope, and Miles found some seashells. 
We enjoyed snack, then introduced our friends to their tiny cocina! Their reaction was so sweet! 
Almost shocked!.. like "whaaaaaat!" & it's been business since. Turkeys and waffles, apples, mustard, whisks, and tea parties! Thank you Mom's & Dad's!!!! They are SO happy! 
Hunter & Kai have been really interested in the I Spy book...finding every object with tons of confidence!! Love it! 
Splash day was a lot of fun, too! Genevieve passed out cups to her friends, while Tula and Kai sat in a couple of chairs for a minute. And you guessed it...Miles was relaxing in the pool, directly under the trinkle of the waterfall!! : ))

Good Evening, Families!

Today we focused on cleaning--cleaning up our playroom, cleaning our hands, and cleaning our table. We gave each child a small sponge which we used to "clean" our space at the table. Next we gave each child a paper plate and they got to pick which colors of paint they wanted to use. The children used the sponges to paint their plates. They swirled, dabbed and wiped the paint around. Jackson even turned his sponge over to the rough side and used it to make trails of tiny lines. When we finished up our art project some of our friends helped wipe the table down.

We had another great splash day. Our friends have been very interested in pouring. We filled cups up with water and watered the plants. Kai and Genevieve enjoyed unstacking paper cups and lining them up. Miles caught water in a big blue container and then dumped it out. Tula poured water from one cup to another and then poured it into a big bucket. Our friends are all really enjoying the summer!

<3 Magdalen 

Happy Tuesday yall!

We had a really good day today here in the pre-tot room. In the morning we dug in the sandbox and buried our feet and had the kids dig to find them. They loved it! They laughed and giggled as they dug furiously to find them.

During circle time we read, “Everyone Poops” and “The Potty Book”. There has been so much talk about potty going around the room, and these books really highlight the potty vocab. This week we are talking about practical life and during circle time we talked about taking care of people and things. We said how it was important to take care of our plants in our classroom and around the school and then went around watering plants in our room. Our kiddos are becoming so independent and resourceful, and it's important that we really nurture this new development in them.

In the afternoon we had yoga with Amelia. Amelia is still rather new, so our kids are warming up to her, but we had a really good yoga day. We did our usual routine and Amelia brought out the butterfly for the butterfly song. She passed it around and everyone gave the butterfly kisses. It was very sweet.

We want to focus on brushing our teeth on Friday, so if you could please bring a toothbrush for the day that would be excellent.

Xoxo
Sandy

Good evening!

Today, we focused a lot of our attention on completing tasks all by ourselves! This being said, we didn't do much, because this takes time and patience, but we had a wonderful day nonetheless! 
Our friends were able to wash their hands all by themselves...even squirt the soap out onto their hands!
Put their pants on after diaper changes. 
Take off and put on their shoes.
I also had help from Genevieve with setting up the nap mats! 
Here are some really sweet pictures : ))

Hugs, 
Ashley 

Hello Families!

Today started off with another fun dance party, during which some of our friends decided to try their hands at hula hooping! Tula spun around and twirled a hula hoop--she was very graceful! Jackson and Genevieve swayed with their hula hoops and stood them up and walked through the middle. Tula and Genevieve played together a lot today--they swung on the dome, and pulled the parachute around the playground. Julia helped them with the parachute and then found a bouncy ball to lie down on. 

Kai had a great time in the sandbox--he cooked some food for me and he practiced taking his shoes off and putting them back on again. He can almost put them on all by himself! 

The children have had a blast this week learning about clothes! Today during circle time Jackson named almost every item of clothing that we could think of.

I have included some pictures from Wednesday when we took turns dressing some wooden dolls with magnetic clothing. We also had a great time with play dough!

Have a wonderful weekend!

<3 Magdalen

Hello Pre-Tot Families!

Today was so fun! We only had 4 of our older friends in class today, so it gave us a lot of time to really focus on some "harder" tasks throughout the day, like putting our clothes on by ourselves and taking turns. 
Outside, Genevieve climbed the Kangaroo climber while Jackson checked out the "BIG sunflowers!!!" how sweet : )
Then, Genevieve took the boys around the backyard by their hands...we were saying "chooooo choooooo, chug a chug a chug..."
During class, some of our friends requested to play with the Play-doh, while others enjoyed doing puzzles and dressing up in the play room. It's so great to see their independence shining through & their personal interests in certain activities. 
Jackson liked when I helped him flatten his Play-doh so he could make patterns with the fork. & he was really sweet about sharing the tools with Genevieve. : )
Tula enjoyed playing dress up with our clothes and reading the class books!
After nap time with the Toddlers, Genevieve and Tula liked watching the cars on the highway while enjoying their milk!
In the afternoon, we had a fun, wet time during Splash day! Our focus outside was the CAR WASH! 
Our friends had sponges and wash cloths to soak in the suds and bubbles, to clean our dirty, toy cars....they did great!!!

Hugs, 
Ashley