Pre-Preschool's Last Day of Summer Camp!

Hello Parents!

Today was a very special day, as it was the last day of summer camp!  Next week we will be starting the academic school year through June of 2013.  We are very excited about the new school year and have many fun and exciting activities planned :)

This morning, our class enjoyed a few bowls of some hearty cheerios, bananas and milk.  After breakfast, we found our way back to class, being able to freely choose our activities for the morning.  Dramatic play was a popular area.  Our girls and boys enjoyed taking down and using dishes, food and dinosaurs for teacher-guided free choice!  After the early morning free curriculum choice, the kiddos were able to explore playdough in Ms. Annie and Ms. Kelly’s room!  We have the same kind, but apparently its much more fun to play with playdough in our old room :)  On the large table, new puzzles were available.  The three puzzles included “ABC puzzle”, “Dinosaur puzzle”, and the “Automobile puzzle”.  Wouldn’t you know it, the fire engine was a favorite puzzle piece (which reminds us, please look on your Shutterfly for the field trip to the Firehouse)!

During the last little bit of free activity choice, children went potty, then came back to clean our room up a tad :).  For our Summer Fun Day, we decided to listen to Frogtown, dancing at the song times, then our Lullaby Collection (getting out our blankets and sleeping buddies.  And finally, going on our last buggy for a while!  Next week we will have a full class of friends, some new, some not, and we couldn’t be more excited!

We took lots of pictures on our buggy ride, and had a lot of “going fast” times, since it was our last one :)  The kiddos had an awesome time watching Ms. Kelsey and Mr. Tim sweat from running and pushing the buggy so much! :)

We came back into our room after the buggy ride, found stories from our library, got out beds, blankets and bed sheets, and had a VERY relaxed reading time (most of the young ones were sprawled out on the floor, ready for nap:).  But we were more excited to eat lunch.  We lined up, sang our ABC’s, counted to 20, using the poster on our door, and said our blessing as we marched quietly into the cafeteria.  After ham, turkey, cheese, break and milk were gobbled up, a special treat was handed out for our fruit portion!  Fruit Pizzas!!!  Most of us picked off the strawberries and blueberries, leaving the crust (shortbread) alone :)

Nap is going great.  We are getting a lot of rest for the long break :)

A special note- All six of our girls were dry for their late morning potty trip!  Way to go girls!  And our boys were only damp :)  Good job class!

Kelsey and Tim

What is our favorite part about summer-

(Collected during conversations over the last two weeks, including all summer enrollment kids)

Clara- Seeing horsies

Eli- Sunshine hi-yahs

Erin- Buggy rides

Evie- Baby brothers coming in summers

Gabe- Walking with Mommy

Grace- Drinking lots of water!

Jackson- Basketballs

Jane- Swimming with Daddy

Hailey- Water on my shirt and splashing

Kyler- Outside and throwing balls

Mason- Getting wet and lots of water.

Pre-Preschooler's Day of Water

Hello Everyone!

Today was a very exquisite day :)  Mondays usually are a little difficult to get started, however, this Monday was very different!  We started our Monday with free play in the morning, choosing blocks, dolls, dress-up, cars, magnet board (with letters and numbers) and books.  This was soon after a delicious breakfast of yogurt, granola and milk! 

Ms. Kelsey arrived, which meant potty time!  We took our girls potty first, then followed with a boy trip down the hall.  Our kiddos are one more day closer to being potty trained :) 

After potty, our class helped put fresh water into the sensory table, along with aquatic animals and bowls.  While children explored and learned in the water, Mr. Tim and Ms. Kelsey spoke of animals they had seen that live in the water.  Mr. Tim explained that he was at Seaside this weekend and saw great big seals!  They thought it was very cool that Mr. Tim was able to feed them :)  We discussed how water felt, and whether or not the water was warm (we decided it was:).

Around 10:00AM, we headed outside to enjoy the nice weather, before it ends!  Our other friends were already out by the time we got outside.  But we joined in the fun right away! 

After coming in, we took out beds, along with bed sheets, blankets and pillows.  After setting up beds, our class began reading books, stringing beads and pictures, or relaxed on their beds :)  Ms. Kelsey and Mr. Tim helped friends string beads, until book reading became suddenly popular :)  So, Ms. Kelsey walked over to the teacher area, grabbing a big book from the teacher area.  It was “Brown Bear, Brown Bear”!  They listened and enjoyed.  Then walked to the kitchen for their yummy Beaver Tailgate lunch!  Sorry, I meant just Tailgate lunch :)

As a reminder, school will be closed for teacher in-service day and Labor Day weekend, from Wednesday, August 27, 2012 through Monday, September 4, 2012.

We will reopen on Tuesday, September 5^th, 2012 :)

Have a great day!

What our kiddos had to say about bugs today when we caught some special ones:

Jane- He can go for a boat ride! ( Then found a toy boat to hold him in)

Eli- That's funny!

Grace- Whoa! That bug's too fast!

Kyler- Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle!

Clara- Where'd his head go? (He was an odd sort of bug!)

Erin- Where's his mommy?

Evie- He should make some wings to fly.

Mason- Is he for squishing?

Hailey- He wants to live in the grass please.

Pre-Preschooler's Day of Music

Hi Everyone!

Well this week has had more music than any other week here at CHA!  This week we not only made tambourines and egg shakers, but the dancing alone could have caused a reading on a seismograph!  Luckily for us, we have two more days of music madness :)

This morning Ms. Katie (Mr. Tim’s) came to visit us again in the morning, and stayed throughout the day!  It sure is nice having some extra hands for activities :)  We started out using our stampers with colorful inkpads.  We used bunny stamps, butterfly stamps, monument stamps, and many more :)  We read a few big stories as well, as a warm up to our own reading and play.  Ms. Kelsey arrived as we were finishing up our free play with dolls, letters, fake food, buckles and colored blocks and waffle blocks. 

We sat down for curriculum, singing the hello everybody song in our big circle.  We had to sing over the “Hello everybody” part, as we have ten kiddos! :)  We danced with egg shakers and “shakers with handles”, as we danced to our favorite dancing songs; then toned it down a bit with our Lullaby Collection.  Kiddos freely ran to grab their blankets and pillows to “sleep and relax” while laying down :)

Finally, it was time to head outside!  We strapped on our shoes, lined up, counted to 10, and marched outside for some extreme sand play (while children were walking in line, they danced and sang to various songs they recently heard)!

Also, please mark the school closure dates on your calendar.  Teacher In-Service days will be August 29^th, 2012 through September 3^rd, 2012.  We will be preparing our class for the upcoming school year, and looking over our VORTS to help us plan for curriculum :)

Mr. Tim will be taking his vacation tomorrow, at 12 (noon), and will return next week on Monday.  A short staycation at home :)

Have a cool afternoon,

Tim and Kelsey

Pre-Preschools Journal "Dancing = Fun"!!!

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

It’s been a fun Tuesday morning!  We have done a lot in such a short amount of time!

In the morning, we had our early morning art, using colored pencils and our choice of paper.  We made a lot of designs and markings that look like specific letters of the alphabet!  (so the kiddos say :)  Yet, some of the marks look just like letter of the alphabet!  Then we danced, jumped and exercised our loud voices!  We are sure to remind our kiddos that loud screams are for outside, while talking quiet is for inside.   During free play, children chose to use waffle blocks to create long: trains, roads, walking places, etc :)  Dinosaurs were another favorite choice, as were scarves and ribbons for dancing!

After taking our boys and girls potty, we continued our dancing marathon!!!  They must have known, because they came ready for dancing today!  We used tambourines (not the ones we made, as they are still drying), bells, shakers and our bodies to make noise and dance with :)  After a good 20 minutes of dancing our feet tired, we thought a god reward would be a… Buggy Ride!  We only have a couple more weeks of buggy ride time before it starts getting to cold to go all the time :(.  However, once our winter clothes are here, we will be ready to go on them once and awhile still (preferably when the sun is shining:).

On our buggy ride we passed a large stone sculpture of a worm, a basketball court, a soccer practice, and a radar checker (check pictures).  We were apparently going 7mph past the sign :) 

Buggy Remarks/Daily Memories-

Clara- "But I WANT to stand up in the stroller!" Yes, we know :)

Erin- When asked what she wanted to do when our buggy ride was over- "More buggy ride please".

Evie- "My baby rides in my buggy?" 

Grace- "Whoa! That was a fast birdie bird!"

Hailey- "I can push the buggy now. I can practice" (We wouldn't have minded some help with those heavy strollers today! :)

Jackson- "Hi Kelsey, Hi Tim, Hi Buggy ride"

Jane- "Faster, faster. No, FASTER!"

Kyler- "That's my car" pointing to car driving past.

Heading back into class, we chose to use more dancing items (and dancing feet:), fruit and vegetables and books to read for our activity while other went potty and got their beds ready!

We hope you all had a great day!

FYI- Mr. Tim will be taking a short vacation starting  this Thursday @ 12 (noon) through Friday (all day) (AUG 23-24).

Have a great day!

Kelsey and Tim

India and Tigers!

In Kindergarten, this morning’s focus was an introduction to India!  We talked about how India has the second largest population, at over 1 billion people!  We found India on the map in Asia, jutting out into the Indian Ocean.  Then we chose our favorite color and colored a map of India!  When I told the students that the capital is New Delhi, they all laughed at the silly name! 

India’s flag is a deep orange, white, and a dark green, with a blue wheel in the middle.  All of my friends thought the wheel looked like a flower!  As in other flags, each color means something.  In India’s flag the orange means courage, the white peace, and the green faith.  The blue means sky or water, and the wheel represents continued progress or growth.  We really enjoy learning about the flags of each country, and what they mean!  We did our best job coloring our own flags of India! 

This afternoon our focus was on tigers.  The tiger is one of the most well known animals in India.  We looked at pictures of many different tigers on the Internet, while going over some interesting tiger facts!  We also had a tiger drawing lesson!  We drew our own tigers following step-by-step directions and a model on the board.  We thought that this was a little tough, but we all did a great job!  All of our tigers turned out to be wonderfully made!  Here are a few samples of our great work!  

Pre-Preschool's Journey to the Fire Station!!!

Hi Everyone!

We had a creative start to our Monday. After a delicious breakfast of yogurt and granola, we moved into the classroom to sit with “Mr. Tim’s Katie” and sculpt with playdough. Some kiddo’s sculpted their homes, their mommies or daddies and there were even a few “doggies”. After all the playdough and tools were put away the kiddos moved on to some free play. Mr. Tim brought out some blocks and tools from the manipulatives section of our classroom and dolls and kitchen supplies from the dramatic play area. All of the kiddos were getting very excited for our field trip to the Lake Oswego Fire Station so we turned on some music and danced too get our all the wiggles and giggles out.

After a brief dance session we moved on to today’s curriculum. Ms. Kelsey had all the students sit at the table with smocks on to paint paper plates that will later be transformed into homemade tambourines. We used orange, green and blue paint to decorate them. After we put our paint and paint brushes away we moved the carpeted area to build with blocks and play with our stuffed animals until it was time to leave for field trip.

At 9:50 am we put on our shoes and socks and prepared for our walk to the Jean Road Fire Station. All of the children were extra careful on our short walk to the fire station, special thanks to Mrs. Anna, Jackson’s mom, Mrs. Claire, Erin’s mom and Mrs. Cheryl, Evie’s mom who helped us by holding the hands of kiddos who were not using our class’s yellow rope on our walk. Upon arrival at our destination we met our gracious hosts the firemen! We got to learn about the fire trucks and learned that there is a difference between a fire “truck” and a fire “engine”. A few brave kiddo’s sat in the driver’s seat of the fire truck and had their picture taken. Then, the firemen talked about their uniforms, which they told the kiddos may appear scary, but they are just so the firefighters don’t get hurt.  They put on their hats, masks, oxygen tanks, suits and boots to show the kiddos just what they wear!  Overall, it was a blast!  We said goodbye to our firefighters and the fire station, got a few group pictures, and then headed back for lunch!

After snack, we may be able to go outside!  It will be a treat for the kiddos, since last week we had to stay inside to avoid the dreadful heat!

Have a great day!

Katie, Kelsey and Tim

Making Schultuten in Kindergarten

This week in Kindergarten we learned about Germany!  One very special German tradition is the Schultute or "school sack".  This is not really a sack, as much as it is a decorative cone, typically made of cardboard and tissue paper!  The tradition is that students get some special goodies in their schultute from their teacher on the first day of school.  This makes going back to school even more exciting!  This week we worked on making our own schultute.  When they were finished, I secretly slipped in a few pieces of candy for each child to take home!  These were beautiful, and everyone was so excited to take them home and share about the tradition with their parents!

Pre-Preschools Daily Journal: Buggy Ride Fun!

Happy Friday!

Today is the Family BBQ at Jean Rd. Campus for family and friends!!!  We are very excited to see everyone for some hot food, freezing cold drinks and socializing!  The BBQ starts at 6:30PM in the playground!  Please email Patty, Gina, Tim or Kelsey if you have any questions.  See you soon!

This will be a short email, as there are a lot of preparations needed for our BBQ!

This morning, we started out with a fun art activity: Creating Cup Faces!  Children chose one marker to color and decorate their cup, then chose two googly eyes to add, creating  a face!  We have a few pictures of them creating the cups on Shutterfly.  Be sure to check them out!   We also practiced our writing skills.

Later on, we went on a buggy ride! This is always a class favorite, it’s so exciting every person we meet on the way gets to hear the great news. On our walk we saw a beautiful rainbow, what a treat especially in this hot weather.  Then we saw another unusual treat, a garage sale. We were all glad to get back to school in time to beat the heat.  To end our excellent trip, we ran our buggy through a sprinkler!  No one objected :)

We came back to our class, finished potty, and read stories on our shelf.  We went to lunch, and had some very good-tasting chicken (rosemary).  Then, we had a surprise event!  We went outside for water play!!!  By the time the kiddos went down for nap, they were beat! :) 

The rest of our afternoon is looking pretty entertaining, we hope to see everyone tonight at the BBQ!

Mr. Tim, Ms. Kelsey & Ms. McKenzie

Pre-Preschool's Journal: It's Game Time!!!

Hello All!

Today went by fast!  We had a lot to do today, and tons of time to do it!

Our morning art projects were a hit today, using our old dot markers we had to take a break from due to an issue concerning coloring clothing! :)  However, our kiddos have grown much, and barely need a smock for them now!  Only Hailey, Grace and Jane participated in the art project, as it was early in the morning.  After our free art, we created and constructed with blocks, in which cars and “moms and dads” drove and walked through them freely! :)  Right next-door, dramatic play went on…and on…and on!  It was very fun to see our kiddos so engaged in their play with all their friends :)  Across the room was a quiet time for reading and book exploration.

After potty, the class got ready for curriculum, sitting on their bottoms in a circle on the carpet.  Today’s game was “Toss and Tell”.  Mr. Tim and Ms. McKenzie explained the game (only the person with a bean bag may talk).  We began to play, asking each child “What is your favorite toy”, leaving an open-ended answer available, allowing them to choose a toy in class, home or made up!  Here’s what we came up with:

Mason- “A moon with a big door”

Jane- “…”… “I don’t know” :)

Grace- “…”… I don’t know either :)

Hailey- “A balloon!”

Evie- “Drums!”

Kyler- “…”, “Hmmm”

Erin- “My dolly”

Next, everyone got a beanbag at once!  You haven’t heard chatter until you’ve heard this! :)  

For our final game, “Count and Hop”, we used our Tinkerbelle rug to use for counting numbers and standing on :)  We took a few turns counting to ten (sometimes 20), then prepared to go outside!

We put on our swim clothes, strapped on our shoes, applied sunscreen and headed out the door!

Outside was a water-wonder land!  We dominated the pool, with our giggles and playfulness, which seemed to catch on real quick :)  Outside, we also wore some of the water starfish at hats during water play! :) That’s when it went by the fastest! :)

Coming in, changing clothes, we sang the ABC’s, ocean songs, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and a special Beaver song Mr. Tim showed them :)

Before lunch and nap, it was reading time on our beds.  We listened to “The Water is Wide” on repeat for some quiet background noise.  We read books about the ABC’s, potty, mommies and daddies going on trips, and so much more!

Have a great Thursday, see you all tomorrow!

DON’T FORGET ABOUT OUR JEAN RD FAMILY BBQ OUTSIDE THE SCHOOL AT 6:30PM!!!

Tim and McKenzie

Pre-Preschool "Feeling Charades" in the pool!

Hi Everyone!

Mr. Tim and Ms. McKenzie set up the classroom with colored blocks, colored connectors, stick people (with markers), colorful bears (big and small that “hopped all over paper”), counting cookies, balls and music in the morning for our early birds!  When children were finished eating their food, they came into a wonderland of fun!

During free time the kiddos traveled back and forth between rooms, exploring certain toys that they found interesting!  :)  Eventually we had to hand them back over, as it was time to clean up to go outside for water play!  The clean-up was fast, but the 10 kids we took potty was a little time-consuming but absolutely joyful because of all the smiles and giggles they were giving off :)

Finally it was outside time!  We have anticipated the swimming pool for a long time now and finally were able to play in it!  We got our clothes on for water play, and marched out to see what all the fun talk was about.  To our surprise, it was awesome! We played in the water for nearly an hour, which lay under the shade to avoid sunburn.  We asked the children if teachers looked happy or sad about being outside with the pool on.  They agreed the teachers looked very happy for their children (and tired)! :)  So, after awhile swimming in the pool, with the whale, dolphin, tree, slide and starfish, which were used for hats :), we turned the water down and let the kiddos air dry a bit.  We still ended up having to change all of their clothes!

After water play, we came in for some fun reading time while beds were being put out.

We hope you enjoyed email, and wish you a happy day!

Tim and McKenzie

Tuesday's Journal/Music Together & Hot Potato Day!

Hi Everyone!

Ms. Kelsey was not feeling well today, so Ms. McKenzie joined us for class today, with the help of our younger friend, Ms. Alex!  

The kiddos had a great time this morning learning with number and letters on the magnetic board, while others used dress up and pretend play in our dramatic play area :)  We had mathematicians and bookworms in one corner, and fairies, dinosaurs and lions in the other!  Eventually all of the kiddos joined forces however to discover and play with our plexi-glass colored blocks!  Oh what fun we had, telling our friends and teachers what color the room was “now”! :)  We also continued to color our stick people with markers!

Then, for our curriculum, we took a step back and learned about a game called “hot potato”.  We discussed how sometimes food is too hot to eat, and how we can cool it off.  We came up with blowing on the potato, and tossing it back and forth with our hands would be some great ways to cool it off.  However, the best ways to cool it off would be to hand it to another friend!  We had lots of fun learning our new game, and may have discovered a new way to instantly cool potatoes!

Before lunch and nap, we sat down for Music Together with Mr. Craig!  We sang songs including “Two little Blackbirds” and “Ten Little Fingers”.  It was our newest classmate Kyler’s first Music Together with our classroom!  He had a lot of fun, and we had a blast showing him what we do as a class, and how to have so much fun!

Have great rest of the day!

Tim and McKenzie

German Week in Kindergarten!

What's happening in Kindergarten?  Well, today was the beginning of German week!  This week we will discover facts about the sights, sounds, food, geography, and history of Germany!  We are very excited!  Did you know that Germany borders nine other countries?  Did you know that Germany has more than 300 different types of bread?  We will be learning these things and more this week!

Today’s focus was on geography and an introduction to Germany!  We started out by talking about Germany’s location.  We found it in Europe next to countries we know like Poland and Switzerland.  We learned that the capital of Germany is Berlin, which is also the largest city!  We read a little autobiography about a girl who lives in Berlin, and she told us many interesting facts about her town and country!  For instance that many students join clubs such as soccer clubs, tennis clubs, swim club, and even stamp-collecting clubs!  These clubs sound like so much fun!

We learned that the flag of Germany is black, red, and yellow.  We made our own flags by coloring the bottom and top of our paper yellow and black with markers and then using a bingo dauber for the red in the middle!  Using different mediums made these look fantastic!

Some of us reviewed our counting from 1-10 in German that we learned during the school year, and for some of us it was brand new!  We reviewed our counting during circle time, and at the end of the day with a special poem! 

We can't wait for tomorrow!

~Ms. Sally Jo

Pre-Preschool's Daily Journal "What's Missing?!"

Hi Everyone!

We apologize for the terrible photo quality in the daily pictures.  On top of the pictures be low quality due to movement of the kiddos, the iPhone is also beat-up and worn out!  Soon, we will be taking our pictures via the nice camera, but may only upload them once a week due to setup time for uploading photos :)  Enjoy…

This morning, we started with our oldest boy, as well as our youngest!  The youngest went straight to our music this morning!  While our oldest sat down to make Popsicle stick men with markers.  Also, throughout the day, every kiddo got a chance to create art their own Popsicle stick man/woman :)  After breakfast with Ms. Gina and Mr. Juan, the children freely came back to their classroom to join in free play, while also taking turns making their popsicle men/women.  We used markers, allowing each child to put their marker caps back on after each use.  How sweet it is to get older (for the little ones:).  After engaging in music, listening to the Triangle collection, dramatic play (using dishes and food freely), reading a new selection of stories in the library, and making popsicle stick people, and having Ms. Kelsey at 9, it was time to clean-up as a class, and sit down to find out our curriculum for the day! 

Today’s curriculum was a cognitive game called “Find the Missing Piece to the Puzzle”.  At the table, Mr. Tim and Ms. Kelsey asked children to think and guess what each puzzle consisted of (there were two puzzles).  The first puzzle had an apple, a bird, a leaf and a sun.  After long viewing and discussion of each piece, the puzzle was turned around, and one piece was taken from the puzzle.  The kiddos worked together to discover which puzzle pieces were missing!  They found out which one had to “come back” every time!  Mr. Tim tried to be tricky and hide two pieces of the puzzle.   However, through the superb teaching and instruction of Ms. Kelsey and Mr. Tim, and excellent teaching at home, the kiddos prevailed and figured out the puzzle mystery!  We repeated the same game with our “Space” puzzle!  We found missing pieces, which included Earth, the Big Dipper, a Comet, Stars, the Moon and Saturn!  It took us a bit to get the Big Dipper and Comet, but we feel that was from uncommon discussion about them :).  After our game, we sat down to put on our shoes for outside!

While outside, we explored mowing the grass, gravity (sliding down boats and small cars on the metal slide), hydrating, sun bathing, and sand play!  Our kiddos are becoming much more involved and interested in one particular activity, as they are sitting and playing longer at one play area for MUCH longer :)  For the second time now, we have practiced our “Yellow Rope Walk” with only five of our kiddos today.   On this walk, we hold onto yellow handles, and go down the side road, where there is no traffic.  The kiddos know to never let go of the yellow handle, or we would have to go back to school right away.  For 15 minutes, we explored the streets!  We climbed up a small hill, said hello to our friends on the other side of the gate, discovered a street drain, heard a dog bark, saw a yellow truck and stumbled upon a large white tent!  It was a lot for fifteen minutes!  We went back to the playground, getting ready for potty and lunch :)

After nap, it may be warm enough for water play! 

A reminder, if you would like to order CHA gear, there is a form in your cubby to fill out!  We have some very nice stuff at our school!  Be sure to represent it!  Also, for every parent purchasing CHA gear, Mr. Tim will wear the terrible colors of puke green and cowardly yellow (AKA Oregon gear) :)  We can come up with something to wear for Ms. Kelsey! :)

Have a great day!

Tim and Kelsey

Daily Memories,

What we did this weekend. daily memories

Erin- Mommy and Daddy hats.

Eli- Hi-yahs, big hi-yahs.

Jane- Read stories with brothers.

Clara- Tyler took a bath and Clara took a bath.

Hailey- Daddy's music.

Kyler- Bird.

Mason- Lucas played, We were fast.

Grace- Daddy had me uppy. Way high.

Evie- Had lots of food. Breakfast and dinner.

Pre-Preschool's Friday Daily Journal

Hello Parents!

(Daily Memories in the body of the email)

Today was a very special Friday!  As we had a new friend visit us for the day!  Our new friend Kyler (who is in Ms. Melissa and Ms. Rebecca’s class) spent the day getting familiar with toys, routines, etc.  We had a blast getting to know our new friend!  Our kiddos were more than happy to show Kyler the in’s and out’s of our class :)

This morning, playdough was used to create fish, starfish (which we used cookie cutters for) and any other animals they thought lived in the ocean!  Eli created two separate goldfish cut out today, telling teachers that one was a goldfish, and the other was just a fish :)  Jane pointed out that one if Eli’s fish looked just like her fish at home!  Along with morning playdough, there were large lego-blocks on the carpet for construction learning (demolition specifically:), specific dishes and food in dramatic play, musical instruments and reading. 

Around 9:00AM, when most of our kiddos arrived, we put our toys away to make room for music!  We listened to our class favorite “Allee Galoo Gallee” a dozen times, then, via Gabe’s request, we listened to more songs in the Triangle collection.  While still dancing to our music, using our instruments, some friends wanted to read stories.  Ms. Grace brought her favorite potty book to Ms. Kelsey, asking her to read it :)  This marks the 100^th time this week that we have read it!  We are sure you are all familiar with repetition at home :)  Erin joined in the action, by bringing the book “Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive the Bus!” for Ms Kelsey to read next :). 

After one more song, we slowly sat down to hear our teacher book story from Ms. Kelsey.  We discussed more about ocean animals and what they like to eat and drink, as well as if they like to play!  We discussed that dolphins and seal are very popular animals for playing!  We talked about how seals and dolphins swim by each other, racing and exploring the ocean together.  We had some in disbelief :)

Next, we walked over to the table, sitting and waiting patiently for our curriculum to start.  Ms. Tim and Ms. Kelsey sat down with the kiddos, discussing how Mr. Tim found these seashells in the ocean!  They were memorized at Mr. Tim’s story, but were more interested in getting their hand on those seashells!  So, to start things off, Ms. Hailey asked if she could choose a seashell to hold.  So, after handing a seashell to Hailey, we handed one to Kyler (who chose the largest sea shell in the bunch:), then asked them to pass the seashell down to the next friend, so they would have room to hold another seashell.  Eventually, everyone got a turn to hold almost every shell.  Before ending our curriculum, Ms. Kelsey explained how some shells are homes for animals that live in the ocean (then showed a shell of a hermit crab as an example).  Finally, it was time to let the “dogs out” :)  (You will understand this pun in a minute :)

We sat down to put on our shoes, which we are getting better at everyday!  After putting on our shoes, it was time to get some fresh air!  We marched out into the side yard, then marched some more to the playground gate.  While outside, we drank lots of water, then had another special activity for the kiddos.  We brought 9 zip-lock bags outside, with each kiddos name on them.  All 9 of our 2-year olds chose one shell to bring home today (they will be in your mailboxes:).  Choosing between such fun and interesting shells was difficult, but accomplished!

We finished just in time before Mr. Craig’s dog came out with Mr. Craig for a special surprise (funny pun, yes?).  Our class, and the OTC chased the dog the entire time she was visiting!  It was a very fun and special time for our class :).  They were not happy that she had to leave with Mr. Craig after awhile though, but felt better once they were able to give it waves and loves goodbye :)  We finished up our seashell bagging, before we engaged in some serious parallel play!  Our class is a VERY close group.  So close, it often seems that were one child is, every child is! :)  Evie led the group today in a chasing game, which included going up the stairs, down the slide, then across the playground again.  Kyler chose to watch and observe, before attempting to join in the game! 

It was a very good Friday to end the week on!  We hope you all have a great weekend!  Be sure to ask your kiddos about the ocean!  They are pretty excited about it :)

Tim and Kelsey

MTC Daily Journal 8-7-12

Happy Tuesday Middle Toddler Families!

Brenna, Kayla, Marlo, Lauren, Kyler, Theo, Ben and Nathan make up our busy toddler class today!  We were all here in time for breakfast this morning and sat right down to enjoy a big breakfast of yogurt and granola.  What a deliciously sticky way to start our day!  After cleaning up we made our way back to the Early Toddler Classroom with Ms. Jamie and Ms. Melissa.  We enjoyed visiting our old classroom and were happy to revisit all of our old toys and discover new ones as well.

When it was time for diapers and curriculum, we moved into our own classroom.  Ms. Rebecca was out for a little while this morning but we were happy to have Ms. Ashley Rose for the morning.  We started out with a little free play around the classroom while we received fresh diapers and waited for music time.  Marlo climbed up to the top of the stairs and hollered to get everyone’s attention.  We are very aware of our accomplishments and want everyone else to be as well!  Ben, Brenna and Kyler sat on the car rug and worked diligently at putting together train track pieces.  Kyler made two big hills and watched as his train went down fast.  Brenna made a track with four train tracks and Ben connected six pieces together.  Theo sat in the book area and read a book quietly to himself as he lay back against the cozy mats.  Lauren gathered all her babies and placed blankets over them while Nathan and Kayla put on hats and then smiled at themselves as they looked in the mirror.

We were all so happy to see Teacher Craig come into the room for music time!  We quickly gathered on the rug in a circle (of sorts anyway!) and started patting our legs.  Today’s favorites included “Ladybug”, “Dance with Me” and “Two Little Blackbirds”.  We also loved playing along with our instruments!

After music time and a quick milk and water break, we gathered at the sensory table.  We are continuing our beach theme all week.  Today we found sea animals in the sensory table as we explored and splashed in the water.  We sang slippery fish as we played in the water.  We found a fish, an octopus, a turtle, a dolphin, a squid and several boats!  Lauren, Brenna and Kayla spent their time splishing and splashing while Nathan and Ben grabbed animals and helped them swim across the water. Theo grabbed a boat and made a fog horn sound as he pushed it across the top of the water.  When we asked Kyler if he wanted to come over to play in the water he said, “I’m riding bikes!” as he made his way around the classroom on one of the wooden riding toys.

Soon it was time clean up and head in for lunch.  We enjoyed bean ad cheese burritos today with corn and applesauce.  Yum!  With full tummies, we headed back into the classroom to settle down for some much needed sleep. 

This afternoon we will enjoy trail mix for snack and then we hope to get outside to enjoy some fresh air.  We will continue learning about the ocean as we take our new sea animals outside to play.

Have a wonderful afternoon and evening!

Melissa and Rebecca

MTC 8-6-2012

Happy Monday!

It was nice to wake up to slightly cooler temperatures today.  It is still pretty warm out there, rest assured that we always have water available for our toddlers and put an extra emphasis on fluids on these warm and sunny days.

We started off our morning with a delicious breakfast of cheerios with bananas and milk.  We changed the morning routine around a little bit.  Ms. Gina and Juan will be in the cafeteria in the morning to help serve breakfast while the teachers will stay in the rooms to greet children as soon as they are done eating.  We will still be eating breakfast from 7:30-8:30am.  We will then work on curriculum and outside time after all of the teachers have arrived at 9:00am.  We are hoping that this will give the children a smooth transition in the morning. 

Marlo, Theo, Kyler, Brenna, Kayla, Lauren, MacKenzie and Rose make up our busy toddler classroom today.  When all of our friends had arrived and had a chance to eat breakfast, we gathered back in our classroom for a little curriculum time.  We are learning all about the ocean this week!  Today we made oceans in a bottle.  This was a fun and interesting project to work on with our toddlers.  WE made to bottles.  When we asked if our friends were ready to create an ocean in a bottle, Kyler said enthusiastically “Oh yes”.  Rose said “Rose wants to put in sand” with a sweet smile on her face.  Kayla and Lauren leaned their faces close to the table to inspect the small sea shells.  They both pointed to the sea shells and then to the water bottles.  We all took a turn putting a handful of sand into the bottles.  Next we poured in some water and oil.  Theo pulled his head close as his friends poured their water into the bottled and laughed as he watched it fall inside.  When it was time to put the shells inside, Marlo grabbed shells one by one and dropped them in.  MacKenzie grabbed a big handful and put them in all at one time!  Brenna wanted to try tasting them but finally decided it was more fun to put them into the water.  We then took turns mixing them up and watching the waves inside. 

After our big project we decided it was time to head outside to run and play.  Kyler, Brenna, Kayla and MacKenzie made their way straight to the sandbox.  Kyler and MacKenzie grabbed shovels to dig while Brenna and Kayla were happy to sit in the sand and feel it run through their fingers as they grabbed big handfuls.  Lauren and Theo sat inside the tunnels and smiled as friends and teachers came over to peek in to say hello.  Rose found a small car to ride across the bark chips.  She said “Rose is driving”.  Marlo walked over to see the babies and smiled and waved at little Tyler as he sat close to the fence. 

Soon it was time to head in for lunch.  We made a quick stop in our classroom for a drink of water and a diaper check.  Then we made our way back to the lunchroom to find chairs.  We enjoyed a wonderful lunch of chicken pasta salad and pears.  We topped it all off with a little milk and then made our way back to our room to find our mats for nap time.

This afternoon we will bring out the mega blocks and work on building towers.  Then we will dance with scarves.  If it isn’t too hot out, we will head out to enjoy a little water play.  Tomorrow we will be searching for sea animals in our sensory table!

Have a wonderful afternoon and evening!

Melissa and Rebecca

MTC Daily Journal 8-3-12

Happy Friday Middle Toddler Families!

Kyler, Nathan, Marlo, Rose, Ben, Theo and Lauren make up our busy toddler class this Friday.  We started off our day with a sticky and wonderful breakfast of pancakes and applesauce.  We topped it all off with a little bit of milk and then made our way out to the play ground to enjoy the cool fresh air this morning. 

We started off with a little free play time.  We found cars, trucks, lawn mowers and cars to push.  We all came over to try out the small slide underneath the trees.  This was a great opportunity to practice sharing and taking turns.  We climbed up the stairs and made our way down the slide one by one (with a little help from our teachers). 

Since it might be hot enough outside later to keep us inside, we decided to enjoy our curriculum time out in the fresh air today.  Today we continued our theme, “I sense something”, as we talked about how we hear with our ears.  We listened as we sang a song together.  Then Ms. Rebecca brought out her guitar and we had the opportunity to hear her play.  Then we all had the opportunity to do a little strumming of our own!  Ben, Lauren, and Kyler  jumped right in to try it out while Nathan and Theo sat back and watched with interest as kids from all of the classrooms took turns playing.  Rose sat right nest to Rebecca to watch and listen while Marlo bounced around to the music saying “Dance”. 

After a little curriculum time we opened the sandbox so our friends could dig, pour and feel the rough grainy sand in their fingers.  Rose and Kyler grabbed shovels and scooped up sand then poured it back out, watching it fall back to the ground.  Ben grabbed handfuls and enjoyed the way it felt as he covered his legs with sand.  Nathan and Theo filled buckets and used them to move the sand from one side of the sand box to the other.  Lauren and Marlo came over to enjoy the sandbox in between time spent climbing and sliding.  We have very busy girls!

Soon it was time to head in for a little free play time and lunch.  We played with the bumpy balls and the babies before heading into the lunchroom.  We are getting quite good at rolling the balls back and forth with each other.  It is wonderful to see the cooperative play continually developing in our classroom.  After a wonderful lunch of BBQ chicken and rosemary potatoes (definitely a classroom favorite!), we made our way back to the classroom for rest time. 

This afternoon we will continue working on our shoebox guitars and talking about sound.  We will listen as we make music with our instruments and then turn on a cd to listen to as we dance, jump and run together in the classroom.  If it isn’t too warm outside we will head out for water play.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Melissa and Rebecca

The Reptile Man at The Children's Hour Academy

Friday, August 03, 2012, 10 AM to 11 AM

Back by popular demand, the Reptile Man will visit The Children's Hour Academy today, August 3rd at 10 am!  Richard is a herpetologist who brings unique insights, observations and humor to his exciting live reptile shows.  He works with reptiles in a wide range of sizes-from small snakes and lizards to the majestic 12 foot King Cobra.  These dynamic predators capture hearts of both young and old.

MTC Daily Journal 8-2-12

Happy Thursday Middle Toddler Families!

Lauren, Kyler, Nathan, Ben, Theo, MacKenzie and Rose all made it to school in time for a delicious breakfast of Cheerios and bananas this morning.  We all ate a big breakfast which gave us a great start to the day.  After cleaning our faces and hands, we grabbed our jackets to head outside to the playground.

It was a little chilly this morning but we were happy to be outside.  Nathan, Ben and MacKenzie all climbed onto the ship structure right away.  MacKenzie and Ben leaned out the windows to smile and wave at the friends running by while Nathan turned the steering wheel and looked through the telescope.  Kyler and Theo sat down under the tree.  Kyler grinned and said “Melissa, I’m just sitting here” and Theo said “I’m hanging out with Kyler”.  Lauren raced Claire down small slide.  Rose found a shovel and made big piles of bark chips all around her on the ground. 

After coming in for a quick milk break, we made our way back outside for curriculum time.  Today we talked about our sense of smell.  We made scent cups with different smells for the kids to sniff.  We combined all 4 of the toddler classes together so that we could experience many different smells.  We had a great variety; cinnamon, allspice, vanilla, vinegar, lemon, lime, onion, and several different perfumes!  We talked about how we smell with our noses and practiced sniffing.  Then we passed around the cups and bowls and everyone had a chance to smell them. 

After curriculum time we decided to head out on a buggy ride to explore the neighborhood.  We love to get out and see new and different things.  We smiled and waved at people as they worked in their yards.  We are quite charming as we make our way around the neighborhood!  We saw two dogs, a cat, a boat and Mr. Tim’s class. 

Soon it was time to head in for a little free play time and lunch.  We played with the wooden puzzles and the hats before heading into the lunchroom.  Pictures will be posted tonight of our fun with hats this week!  After a wonderful lunch of burritos and oranges, we made our way back to the classroom for rest time.

This afternoon we will be rediscovering our mystery sensory boxes from yesterday.  We will feel scratchy sand paper, soft cotton balls and light and soft feathers.  Then we head outside for even more sensory fun with the water table and the sandbox!

Have a wonderful afternoon and evening!

Melissa and Rebecca

Pre-Preschool's Thursday DailyJournal

Hello All!

Ms. Kelsey isn’t feeling well today, and is at home getting some rest.  We already have every kiddo asking where she is :)  Mr. Tim tells them that she isn’t feeling good, and has to stay home until she feels better.  A lot of love coming from the Pre-preschool classroom! :)  And we had fantastic help today!  Although our friend is only 13 years old, she is a wonderful girl, which the kids absolutely adore.  Ms. Alex wanted to join us for our walk, and story time earlier today.  The kiddos couldn’t have been happier :)

In our class, this is what went on (beginning to end as accurate and in order as possible:).   It helps if you view the pictures first :) :

    Jane and Grace high fiving in the morning, getting the day started right :)

    All five of our kiddos (Jane, Grace, Mason, Hailey and Evie) playing soccer with the big blue bouncy ball in the grass

    The entire school getting excited for all the teachers combined smelling containers

o   Cinnamon, all spice, vinegar, rosemary, vanilla,  lemon, lime, onion, and a few others

    The kiddos sitting on the blue blanket and the OSU blanket, waiting so patiently to take turns smelling the containers!

    Heading to the side yard for our first real walk with the yellow strap with handles

o   Jane wanted to see the tractor, but made sure we didn’t get to close

o   Evie was unofficially in charge of everyone’s safety, by making sure EVERYONE (including teachers) was holding a yellow strap handle

o   Grace found Ms. Alex (the mermaid) in the clay mosaics at the elementary school, and Mr. Craig (the young-looking guitarist)! :)

o   Mason found that his shirt resembled the large crane we saw at the school!  All the girls were very interested in Mr. Mason’s shirt.

o   Hailey did not want to leave the pool we visited and watched as it was being filled with fresh water.  But, the idea of lunch won us all over!

    Ms. Alex reading two big stories to us (The little mouse, the big hungry bear, and the red ripe strawberry & Brown Bear, Brown Bear)

    Eating some delicious tacos!!!

    Having a peaceful nap

    Mr. Tim coming to a close in his email

Have great day :)

Tim and Alex

Pre-Preschool Wednesday Daily Journal

Hello Parents!

 We had just one main curriculum goal today, which was to have fun in the soap and water sensory table bin!  But the unexpected curriculum and learning we had been just as fun! You’ll see what we mean if you keep reading!

This morning was full of help from our classroom!  After manipulating some playdoh, we had our breakfast, then made our way out to the playground for early morning gross motor activity.  But, a couple of our kiddos insisted that Jane’s brothers are to be helped out the door onto the playground!  So, Jane took one of her brothers, while Mr. Tim took the other, both by the hand.  She and Eli and continued to help her brothers battle through the tough times of being a toddler, and having to work so hard to reach their objective! :)  Next, Clara came through the door with her patchwork elephant Elmer!  It was a big hit in the class! :) Evie and Gabe came next, wanting to go potty after Gabe gobbled down the rest of his breakfast!  So, we went potty and got an unexpected visit from a very unexpected guess- a slug!!!  Mr. Eli, came up to his teachers, telling them he has something on his foot.  The teachers couldn’t make out what he stepped in, until they saw the big yellow slug on the ground!  It was great for a curriculum topic regarding slug defensive ooze, but a pain to clean up! :)  Teachers grabbed the slug, and showed the kiddos what the slug looked like before putting it back in the side yard (grassy side yard). 

Mason came into action, immediately trying to inform teachers of what other children were doing, even if they were walking! :)  Mason told Ms. Kelsey that Eli was under her legs, so Ms. Kelsey asked Mason what she should do.  Mason said “move you body”.  And as she moved her body, Eli followed under her legs, until Mason met Eli halfway, having a laughing fest right beneath Ms. Kelsey’s nose!  After awhile, it was time to head inside for curriculum!

Today was soap and water day!!!  Grace helped Mr. Tim fill up the water tubs (with dashes of real soap and bubble liquid) and put them in the bin!  Hailey then came over to help figure out what should go in the bin.  We all decided that fish, turtles and other animals don’t live in soap water, but ours are pretend and wouldn’t mind the soap today :)

We got ready for nap, by putting out beds and pulling out story time books (we are trying to implement (slowly) more story time sessions, as the children are becoming much more attune to the length and meaning of stories, keeping their interest that much longer:).  We had a fun and long story time before we headed for potty!  Mr. Tim and Ms. Kelsey were discussing how fun it is to think of how much younger they really were, and how fast they are all growing!

Have a great mid-week, we will see you soon,

Kelsey and Tim

P.S Sorry for the blurry photos.  We take a lot, and its hard to get a great picture when they are moving so much!  

P.S.S Be sure to check out our blog page (CHA Connection) to check out the schools classess, updates and other news too.  Its also a place to blog about something that may have happened on the weekend, or even a simple photo!  We love to see it!