Update from Ms. Mariola's Kindergarten Class

The naughty little monkey from Margret Rey and H.A. Rey's beloved children's stories was our companion all of this week. We read about his adventures playing baseball, making pizza and pancakes and flying a hot air balloon. We baked Banana Muffins, had a fun Water Play Day, and made science experiments with balloons and static electricity.

Next week we have only two more days of Summer Camp. On Monday we will have another Water Play Day and on Tuesday we will celebrate end the fun camp with a Fantastic Carnival. We have planned many fun activities like Face Painting, Bounce House, Ring Toss, Tug of War, Fish Pond and more.

On Wednesday, September 1, we will start Fall Preparation. The school will be closed for all the children until the end of the week. The teachers will be setting up the classrooms and making sure that all of the children who are returning to our school in the Fall, feel welcomed and excited about being here and learning.

Lady Bug Wind Kites Made by Ms. Erin R.'s Class

During Eric Carle week we read “The Grouchy Ladybug.” As an art project we decided to make ladybug wind kites. This was a fun project because it took several days to make, building the excitement. On day one we painted paper plates, one red and one black. On day two we cut out dots and made faces. We then assembled our wind kites. As it happened it was windy outside on the day we assembled the kites. We were able to take them outside and run with them, watching the wind tails fly in the air.

Seed Exploration in Preparatory Kindergarten

One of Eric Carle’s treasured books is “The Tiny Seed.” We read this story during Eric Carle week this summer. We read the story and talked about the journey the seed took. This allowed us to talk about what things seeds need to live and grow. We discussed, water, sun, and food. We also discussed how seeds cannot get too hot, or too cold. Seeds need to be planted in grass not in cement or rocks, and they need to be buried deep enough that birds cannot find them.

We looked at three different types of seeds (corn, squash and peas). We discussed how they look different and how they need the same things. We planted two seeds to watch them grow.

For afternoon snack, in honor of the tiny seed, we made dirt cups. Everyone had so much fun smashing up the oreos and mixing the pudding. Most of all I think everyone enjoyed eating them!

Monkeying Around in Kindergarten

Last week Ms. Sally’s Kindergarten class read a variety of Curious George books. On Friday we had a special Mom come in and help us with some fun monkey masks! We had a great time cutting, gluing and just plain monkeying around!

Buggy in Kindergarten

Ms. Sally Ann’s Kindergarten Class wrapped up their Eric Carle unit by reading The Very Grouchy Ladybug. We thought that the ladybug was very cute even though he was very grouchy, so much so that we made our very own ladybugs. The class did decide to make happy bugs though. You can find this cuties hanging from our ceiling so come and check them out!!

Thank You CHAF!

A huge thank you to the Children's Hour Academy Foundation and parents like you for all of your support! With funds raised from our annual CHAF Auction last May we were able to purchase these three heavy duty tricycles for our outside play area! Thanks again for all of your contributions!

Friday Newsflash 8/19/2011

Friday Newsflash
August 19th, 2011


I. Next Week's Events-
Next week we will be enjoying books written by Margaret and H.A. Rey who wrote the Curious George series. Here are some special items on the agenda!

MONDAY- Monday is another Water Play Day! Be sure to bring your child's swimwear and a towel! Water toys are also welcome. We look forward to getting wet!

TUESDAY- On Tuesday we will be watching a Curious George Movie! Feel free to have your child bring a blanket, pillow or favorite stuffed animal for movie watching!

THURSDAY- Thursday is Opposite Day! Your child can wear their clothing upside down, inside out, our even backwards! We look forward to seeing the opposites you can come up with!

II. CHA Upcoming Closures-
We have some CHA closures coming up soon! Both campuses will be closed for Fall Preparation on Wednesday Aug. 31st, Thursday Sept. 1st, and Friday Sept. 2nd. We will also be closed Monday Sept. 5th in observance of Labor Day!

III. Volunteers Needed for CHA Carnival-
Volunteers are needed for the CHA Carnival on August 30th.. Students will be attending the Carnival in the morning and afternoon. If you are willing to give of your time in the morning, the afternoon, or even the whole day, it would be greatly appreciated. Please contact Ms. Sally Ann at sallyann@childrens-hour.com for more information.

IV. Are You a Current Member of ClubSport?
If you are currently a member of ClubSport Fitness Center we would like you to please contact Susan Stober by emailing her at susan@childrens-hour.com. Susan is currently working with Club Sport to try and get us a corporate discount for all Children's Hour families and staff, but she needs a tally of current members to do so. Thank you very much!

V. Uniform Information-
Do you have your child's uniforms? Uniforms are needed for the Fall in every classroom at the Meridian Campus! This year our uniform colors are white and navy blue. All students can wear white polo shirts with navy blue shorts or pants. Girls can also wear navy blue pleated skirts and jumpers. Navy polo dresses are also acceptable. Some great stores for purchasing uniforms are Old Navy, Burlington Coat Factory, or Sears. Feel free to accessorize your child's wardrobe as you please with tights, sweaters, and even cool socks!

VI. School Supplies-
The start of a new school year means purchasing new school supplies! School supply lists have been distributed by all teachers. Be sure to ask your child's teacher if you need an extra copy of the list to take with you back to school shopping! Please have all school supplies ready and brought in by the first day of school. Thanks for your consideration!

VII. Follow Us on the Web-
Summer is coming to an end soon! To revisit all of our Summer Fun events and projects, check out the CHA blog! Scroll down to the bottom of the blog page to see previous posts that you may have missed.

CHA Blog www.chaconnection.blogspot.com
Facebook www.facebook.com/thechildrenshouracademy
Twitter www.twitter.com/thechildrenshr

VIII. Menu-

Monday- Ranch Chicken Salad, Tortilla Chips, Pears
Tuesday- Muffuletta Sandwich, Potato Salad, Applesauce
Wednesday- Vegetable Soup with Barley, Parmesan Cheese, Peaches
Thursday- Canadian Bacon and Pineapple Pizza, Salad, Mandarin Oranges
Friday- Baked Chicken, Baked Beans, Bread and Butter, Fruit Cocktail

Caterpillar Names in Ms. Sally Jo's Pre-K

This week was all about the beloved children's author Eric Carle. On Monday we read his most famous book The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We loved watching the caterpillar get bigger as he ate his way through all kinds of food, and we were in awe when he finally turned into a butterfly! To celebrate we made our very own caterpillars using the letters in our names!

Transitional Kindergarten's Hermit Crab Habitat

This week our featured author was Eric Carle who has written and illustrated many great Children's books. The kids and I read the book "A House for a Hermit Crab" and spoke about the habitat a Hermit crab lives in. Each child decorated their own Hermit Crab and the next day we worked with Ms. Erin's class to make the crab habitat out of sand, ripped paper and glue. Check it out!

This Week in Kindergarten.....by Ms. Mariola

This week we've celebrated books by Eric Carle. I never get tired reading them. It seemed that the children felt the same way about them. Reading about caterpillars, hermit crabs, ladybugs and spiders inspired us to do many fun activities. We baked sugar cookies that we shaped into caterpillars, made ocean pictures using colored salt water, planted seeds and made awesome 3D spiders. We were also very lucky to have had wonderful weather and we were able to have a water play day and ride our bikes. If you are interested here is a recipe for the Salt Water Art:

Salt Water Paintings -
Mix one-fourth cup of warm water with six teaspoons of salt and 3 drops of food coloring in a small container. Mix well. Have students paint ocean pictures with the mixture on white paper. Let dry. The water evaporates but the colored salt remains, creating beautiful pictures.This is a good chance to discuss evaporation with students. What evaporates and what doesn't?

Crabby in Kindergarten

Ms. Sally Ann’s Kindergarten Class read House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle yesterday. We loved Hermit and his shell house so much that we thought that we would make our own pictures of Hermit! We made Hermit’s shell out of some beautiful painted paper plates and then glued real sand to our papers for Hermit to crawl on. If you are at the Meridian Campus make sure you come down and check them out for yourself!!

Character Exploration: James and the Giant Peach

This week the students in my class (Ms. Erin's Transitional K) explored the descriptive characters in the story, James and the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl. As many of you may know, Roald Dahl's characters exhibit illusive attributes. After reading the story, the students and I decided we wanted to creatively represent the characters from the book. I took fingerprints and thumb prints from each student and we created them into bug characters. After we made the bugs, we attached them to a decorated mobile. The students had a wonderful time engaging in the project. I hope you like the mobiles as much as thes tudents and I did. Please Enjoy:)

Willy Wonka Week! By Ms. Erin's Pre-K

This week’s book was Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Of course we had some fun with the theme. We made giant lollipops, finger-painted with chocolate syrup and had a costume party on Friday. Two friends from Erin R’s class won costume prizes. One for best homemade costume, the other for most colorful! It was a great week full of sugar, fantasies and fun!


Class lollipops...if only we could eat them.


It got a little messy, good thing we could lick up the mess.


Best homemade costume!


Most colorful costume!

Kindergarten Update from Ms. Mariola's Class

The best fantasy books take us on adventures, through fantastic worlds
full of magical creatures and endless possibilities. This week we
'traveled' through different places in stories written by Roald Dahl.

We explored theater, drama, fantasy and dreams. Even though everybody
dreams, children ranging from ages four to seven are more prone to
frightening dreams. No wonder they were fascinated by that topic. We
talked about happy and scary dreams. We put our dreams and other thoughts in
"Dream Jars" that we made in class.
This week, we also explored Native American Indian's Dream catcher myth;
each child even made and took one home.

Today we had a Crazy Costume party. Children came up with the most fun and
amazing costumes. Boys and girls danced, played games and won prizes.
That was a great way to end the week.

Chocolate Anyone??

This week in Ms. Sally Ann’s Kindergarten we are reading the story Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We decided that we love chocolate as much as Charlie and Willy Wonka so we thought it would be fun to finger paint with chocolate syrup! As a finishing touch we splashed some delicious and colorful sprinkles on top. These creation are almost good enough to eat!!