Happy Holidays everyone!!!!

Our winter break is only a few short hours away and we have been celebrating all day! Everyone looked so cute and cozy in their totally rad pj’s. It was very chilly and windy this morning so we all hung out in the primary room for a bit. Then we all migrated into the toddler room while others migrated into our room. We were joined by Miya, Ivy, Teo, Ben and Collette. They were all excellent role models for our little guys.

Olive wanted to stay with the older kids so she joined them outside while the rest of our kiddos stayed inside and played in centers. Afterwards Miss Toni brought in a blender and some fruit and made smoothies for everyone for our snack. All of our little guys watched her in AW as she placed all of the ingredients into the blender describing each ingredient as she went. Once the smoothies were ready the kiddos drank them from a cup. Some of our friends needed a little help with this while others like Ancel and Olive handled it like pros! They were such great role models for our younger classmates.

Once we were all done with our smoothies we all watched our school music video! The kiddos loved it. They sat still and watched the entire thing without getting up or anything. It was great! Afterwards, we all headed outside for some play-time. Miss Cate, our awesome sub, stayed outside with our guys while I set out nap mats and got everything ready for lunch.

In the afternoon we will practice unwrapping presents! Then we will look at pictures of polar bears and maybe do some coloring outside. We will also have music time with Miss Jackie who will bring in her guitar and sing songs with us!

I hope everyone has an amazing and safe holiday! I love you all and I can’t wait to see everyone after the holidays!

With all my Love,

<3 Cherokee

I’m baaaaack! As most of you may know I have been out the past 2 days due to a kidney infection. The doctor told me I should take a few days from work so I can fully recover, but I really couldn’t bear to stay away from all of our kiddos for that long; especially with the big break coming up. I’m also feeling a little better anyways.

Aside from that, all is going very well in the pre-tot world. It was a very chilly and windy morning outside today so all of our friends joined us in the pre-tot room. Everyone seemed to really enjoy playing in our room especially with some new toys that Miss Toni had brought in for our class. Some of our friends like Olive, Gage, and Genevieve enjoyed doing some art and making pictures. Other friends like Clara and Ancel enjoyed reading books with me on the carpet. Noah spent some time playing in the block area with Ivy and Paislie; our friends from the toddler room. Wynn jammed out on the new xylophone piano that is in our music center.

After spending quite a bit of time playing in all the centers it was soon time for all other friends to head back to their own classrooms for snack. After everyone was gone we all enjoyed our snack and got ready to head outside for some free-play. Olive, Wynn, Gage, and Noah headed out with Miss Arielle while Genevieve, Clara and Ancel stayed in with me. While inside, Ancel, Genevieve and Clara helped me set up nap-mats and put away some books. They did such an amazing job! Miss Arielle’s group stayed on the deck for a bit and practiced pushing the little push cars. After a short while my group headed out to join Miss Arielle’s group. Ancel played in the sandbox and practiced scooping up sand and pouring it back out. Genevieve found a little green train and carried it around for a little while before giving it to another friend. Clara spent some time playing on the playscape and going down the slide. Wynn and Noah found a Dora doll and took turns holding it. Olive found a hot wheels race car and rolled it down the playscape ramp a few times. Gage spent some time playing with the dirt in the garden.

In the afternoon we will talk about polar bears and show pictures of them. Then we will get ready for Miss Leona who will be coming to sing Spanish songs with us. Afterwards we will all head outside and play with legos and use chalk to make some art.

Tomorrow we will continue to learn about polar bears and practice opening presents. For this activity we will wrap empty boxes and let them rip the paper off.

It has been a great day and seeing everyone’s smiling faces once again. I’ll see you guys tomorrow which is PAJAMA DAY!!!! Don’t forget to wear your favorite pj’s!

<3 Cherokee

Cherokee was not here again today. She had a kidney infection but is doing much better now on antibiotics and will be back tomorrow! Hooray!

Mike from the infant room subbed for her. It was so beautiful outside that we decided to spend our entire morning out there. Gage, Genevieve, and Noah enjoyed playing with some new balls on the playground. Ancel scooped sand in the sandbox, Olive showed off her awesome duck dress, Jackson made animal sounds, and Hunter played on the dome. Wynn impressed everybody with his answer to "who's Wynn?" ("Meeee!")

I went off to Kinder Blossom for an hour (9:30-10:30) and when I returned the tots were playing on the ramp that is outside of our classroom door. They normally love running back behind the building (it's all fenced in) and today Mike and Toni thought it would be an awesome idea to put some bikes back there that they can roll up and down the ramp! Brilliant! They had a blast doing what they used to be told not to do.

After lunch we slept in our even-darker room (thanks to the new black-out blinds) and afterwards we did some art with markers and enjoyed Leona's super fun Spanish class! It's been such a fun day, but we're really looking forward to the return of Cherokee.

In your child's cubby there is a little gift from us to you. :)

            Today was an action-packed day; I apologize for the short blog. Cherokee was out sick so Cate subbed. Toni started off our day with circle time and rearranging our room. While she was working on the room the pre-tots played outside. We came back in for lunch and enjoyed a new setup and routine for washing hands and eating.

            Naptime was very successful. Everybody slept well and woke up in great spirits. We then went onto the deck with some of the kids in the primary class and unwrapped pretend presents. Then we finished our day on the playground.

            Again, I apologize for such a short blog; it’s been a crazy day!

Hello pre-tot families! It has been such a beautiful morning and watching all of our friends playing in the backyard with all the balloons that were left from the potluck yesterday. Speaking of which, we had a fantastic turnout at the potluck; even Walter who use to be in the baby room came as well as our friend Kai who will be joining our class in January.

The weather has been great this morning so we all decided to have snack outside, plus the fact that all of our guys seemed pretty happy being outside. After snack, we all walked around the backyard picking up Christmas bows and placing them in a bucket. Noah and Olive made a great team picking up bows and putting them in the bucket; it was kind of like a game for them. Wynn, Ancel and Gage spent some time playing in the sandbox and picking up handfuls of dried leaves and crushing them in between their hands. Hunter spent some time playing on the big playscape and going down the slide.

Shortly after, we were joined by some of our toddler friends. We all began singing lots of songs which Genevieve started dancing to. Jackson spent his time cuddling next to Miss Dom and getting lots of love. Miss Arielle was inside with some of our primary friends teaching kinder blossom.

It was soon time to head inside for lunch and nap. During lunch we went over the days of the week and sang our “Days of the Week” song. Then we counted the number of days we are up to in December. We also looked outside to see what kind of weather we are having.

In the afternoon we will be talking about reindeer and looking at pictures. Then we will explore wrapping paper and practice wrapping some objects in our room. Later we will read “Hands are not for hitting.” Tomorrow we will talk about tigers and look at pictures.

                Today we had a very special guest teacher…DOM! Cherokee spent the day working on the awesome video that she’ll be premiering at Sunday’s potluck (I hope you all can make it!) so Arielle and Dom were today’s teachers. We started the day off inside since it was sprinkling but eventually made our way outside once it cleared up. The friends who came to school today were Wynn, Ancel, Noah, Hunter, Gage, Olive, and Genevieve.

                Out on the playground we had a HUGE DANCE PARTY! It was awesome! Wynn, Genevieve, Hunter, and Gage did some good old fashioned boogie-ing! Gage was on the ramp, holding onto the ledge and bouncing up and down. Hunter and Genevieve were on the “dance floor” gettin’ down, and Wynn danced around with Arielle. Noah was very interested in a large, empty bubble container. Ancel was all over the place, but mainly on the kangaroo climber. Olive made a new boyfriend (sorry, Ancel) named Kenny, who was our sub in the toddler room today (for Dom.) They spent most of the outside time hanging out.

                During lunch Toni came to visit! It was so fun to have her stop by and talk to us. After lunch we said goodbye to Wynn, who left for Houston for the weekend. We went to sleep and had Dom’s expert help with keeping everybody down as long as possible (she’s a master, and she’s here to help our nap system function the best it can.)

                After nap we plan to do some stamps and jam out again, but this time with Jackie from the toddler room (and her awesome acoustic guitar!) It’s been an action-packed day and a glorious Friday. Have a great weekend! Much love!

Hello! Today has been such an amazing Thursday! It was a chilly 39 degrees this morning so we stayed inside again during arrivals. It’s been so comfy starting out our day in the classroom. Our pre-tot friends who were at school today were Noah, Clara, Gage, Olive, Genevieve, and Ancel. We miss Sophie, who’s in Boston, Jackson, who only comes Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and Hunter, our only Monday, Wednesday, Friday friend.

                We played a lot, however, something was very different – the primary class was with us! They only had three girls in the class today – Colette (Ancel’s sister,) Leina, and Paige. They played with us and helped us out and were awesome friends to spend the morning with. We talked about owls and did lots of “hoo hoo”-ing.

We all had snack together and then went to the deck (it had warmed up by then) and made SNOW using baking soda and water. We made it in a sensory table and it was so much fun! Joey and Jasper from the toddler room joined the primary class at that point so the deck became extra fun!

                Here are the activities our friends individually engaged in today. Noah wore a necklace around the classroom and out on the deck he threw a ball back and forth with Jasper (they think alike when it comes to balls!) Ancel was very into a sponge and also making snow. Clara also had a blast with the sponge and the snow (she’s also been doing the downward dog pose all day!) Wynn looked at lots of books and played with a toy dinosaur, one of his current favorite toys in the classroom. Genevieve rocked out on the drums and then pushed bikes around on the deck. Olive rode bikes and was the first pre-tot to venture into the snow activity (she really dug it!) Gage wore the very special beaded purple necklace (the one Noah was wearing) and rocked out with the snow.

                After playing on the deck our friends were very hungry so we sat down for lunch. As other teachers and classes walked through our room from the playground (as we ate) we received many compliments on how calm and collected everybody was. Great job pre-tots! They have been displaying such amazing table manners (we’re still working on staying in a chair until completely done eating, though, especially if there’s still food being chewed. Otherwise, very well done, guys!)

                We put up black-out blinds in our room (Toni went shopping today and gave them to us) for nap and WOW, what a difference they made in the length of time our friends slept! Yay! It’s been tough having the brightest classroom in the school (we have seven windows!) We made the room nice and dark and cozy today and are so happy with the results. Yay for good naps! We’ve also developed a system of putting the 1:00 wakers down last so that they sleep later and allow their friends to rest longer. Tomorrow we will start yet another new system of having a teacher from the infant room in here from 11:30 to 1:30 to provide an extra set of hands for patting backs and keeping them asleep longer (in other words, all throughout nap we will have two people in here instead of just one.) We are so excited about these very positive changes!

                After a very restful nap we awoke to stickers! Hooray! Then our great friend, Leona, came to do Spanish class with us. It’s been such a great Thursday and we’re looking forward to an amazingly awesome and very musical Friday!

Hello pre-tot families! It has been a really cold morning and everyone was nice and bundled up. Normally we would start our day outside in the backyard; however, it was really chilly this morning so we decided to keep our friends inside where it’s warm. My friends Hunter, Genevieve, Jackson, Olive, and Wynn all showed up in the classroom this morning. Hunter spent some time on the rocking horse we have in our classroom. Jackson and Genevieve were gazing out the window and looking at a big target truck drive by. Olive wanted to sit with me and read a book; we read “Quiero Un Beso: I Want A Kiss.”

Afterwards, we all had snack. During snack we sang our Days of the Week song and counted the number of days. Then we looked outside to see what the weather was like; even though it was cold it was very bright and sunny outside. Genevieve even repeated the word “Sunny” after I had said it.

Once we finished our snack we all put our jackets and coats on and headed outside for some outdoor fun. While outside all of our kiddos got a chance to play with the legos at the lego table. This activity was great because it gave me the opportunity to show our friends how we share and take turns. I was very impressed at how they were all taking turns and sharing; especially when Wynn saw that Noah was sad because he wanted the Eeyore lego and gave it to him. Almost brought tears to my eyes.

Then Miss Dom came out with a book titled “How do Dinosaurs say Happy Chanukah?” Genevieve, Wynn, Ancel, and Jackson all enjoyed the book and listened to Miss Dom as she read the whole thing. Olive and Genevieve also spent some time playing in the sandbox and practiced pouring sand into small containers. Then Miss Jackie started a little train line and had all the kiddos link hands together and walk around the playground. Olive held Rhys’s and Miya’s hand and I held Noah’s hand.

Afterwards, we all headed in for lunch and nap time. After nap we will be making tissue paper art using glue and small square pieces of tissue paper. Then we will get ready for Miss Leona who will be coming to teach us Spanish at 3 o’clock. We will also be having our snack at that time. Then we will end our day back outside for some more free-play.

See you guys tomorrow.

<3 Cherokee

            Today we had seven kiddos (Ancel, Noah, Wynn, Olive, Clara, Genevieve and Jackson.) Cate subbed for Cherokee in the morning so Cherokee could film other classes for the music video she’s creating. We stayed inside this morning because it was 34 degrees outside. We enjoyed playing in the classroom for a change. It was surprisingly comfy and fun being inside all morning. During snack we did calendar and weather report, and afterwards we continued playing in the classroom.

            As we hung out, Ancel proudly wore the beaded necklace. Clara rocked out on instruments. Wynn enjoyed some light reading and eventually ended up in Cate’s lap as she read to him. Noah rolled a car around. Olive chilled in a chair at the table. Genevieve played the xylophone. Jackson gazed out the window for over ten minutes (he’s very observant.)

            Later on, Ancel and Clara looked at the family posters on the wall and pointed to all the dogs they saw and said, “doggie, doggie!” Olive did some crayon art. Noah wore the necklace that Ancel was previously wearing. Wynn serenaded us with the saxophone. Jackson had fun playing with the wooden shape box. Genevieve visited the sensory board.

            During playtime we took a break to do circle time. We talked about penguins and did the hand sign, which is kind of funny (we giggled at it.) We also sang Old MacDonald and read a book that involved reviewing animal sounds (our pre-tots are champs at them!)

            After nap we tried to get around to glueing tissue paper but were not able to pull it off, so we’ll try again tomorrow. We did get to go outside since it warmed up. Is the cold weather here to stay now.

***I got a smartphone finally! (This is Arielle.) I was so excited today to take pictures with it but now i'm having trouble figuring out how to upload them to the computer. I'll keep working on it! Hopefully soon there will be photos, but if not, I'm sorry. We might have to continue using Cherokee's camera since it's reliable.

Happy Friday everyone! Today we started our morning off by jamming out to some Yo Gabba Gabba and having a school wide dance party! Almost all of our little guys joined in on the fun; even little Genevieve was getting down. Hunter enjoyed the music so much that she shaking her whole body while holding on to a bar on the dome. Sophie was part of the action too and joined the toddler mosh pit! I captured a lot of the footage on tape and hopefully I’ll get to use some of it in our music video!

Miss Toni joined us shortly after and introduced a game where the kiddos jump through different sized hula hoops one-by-one. Some of our guys like Gage and Olive seemed to really enjoy this game and some of our older friends from the toddler and primary rooms helped them go through the hoops.

Noah really likes to say the word bubble. I was changing his diaper and all he would say was “bubble, bubble, bubble,” it was too funny!

After our little dance party outside we all headed in for snack. During snack we sang our “Days of the Week” song and then counted the number of days. Then we looked at the weather chart as well as outside the window to see what type of weather we are having. After snack we had our circle time in which we all sang the “Hello” song. Then we brought our friend Fish, who is a beta fish that lives in a fish bowl in the toddler room, to the center of our carpet for everyone to see. I also showed a picture of a reef fish and did the sign for fish. Ancel, Olive and Wynn did a great job of imitating the sign for fish which is basically moving your hand like a fish swimming.

After circle time, half of our class went out to the backyard with Miss Lizzie, who was filling in for Arielle while she was doing Kinder Blossom. The other half stayed inside with me and did made pasta art. They all practiced placing the dry pasta onto the spot where I had placed the glue. Some wanted to eat the pasta, but once they saw that it didn’t taste as good as cooked pasta they spat it out.

After nap, the other half of the class that didn’t get to do the pasta project in the morning will be able to do it in the afternoon with Miss Arielle, while I take the other half out to the deck.

Next week the animals that we will be learning about are penguins and owls. We will also be doing some artwork that involves gluing, painting, peeling stickers, and stamping.

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend, and we’ll see you on Monday!

<3 Cherokee