Thursday, May 29, 2008

Is it Thursday already?

Wow... these 4 day week-ends really go fast. I can't believe it's already Thursday.

Our theme this week was Camping Fun, but we ended up playing outside the last couple of days and I'm also doing some review with some of the children. Seeing what letters, colors, etc., they know so that I can keep on top of everything. This is being done with the younger children right now. Once I get this all done I'll share my findings with you. Let you know how well your child is doing.

During the summer months we'll have Mrs. Jean come 2 days a month instead of just 1. (Music Lady) The children really enjoy her, and since she has the open space we thought we would take advantage of it. We'll probably move outside to give the children more room to move a few times.

June Newsletters will go out this Friday along with a new book for the children. The House that Mack Built. They have been asking me when they get a new book, and the end of the month is here. :)

The book library has been a big hit. The kids love being able to check out books. Remember they can check out a new one as soon as they bring back their other book. I'm keeping the limit to one book per check out to make it easier on parents to not have to keep track of numerous books. I have them use their library card and the older children sign their name in our library check out binder. How fun!

Monday, May 19, 2008

It's Still Creepy Around Here!

This week will continue our theme on "Creepy Crawlers". We had fun last week looking for bugs out in the yard. Mason found the first spider, and Cleo also caught a bug. (How gross!) The kids had a blast looking for bugs, but all they really found were ants.

We had Joe from Plunkett come out and show us a book on different bugs, and several mouse traps. He even showed us a trap he forgot to clean, and when he opened it, the trap had a rubber mouse.... Again how gross.
We also had Mrs. Jean visit us on Friday and the kids had a blast. (Our music lady). We decided during the summer that we would like her to visit us twice, so she will now be coming 2 days a month.

Other notes:
* Book orders will go out today

* Reminder that Child Care is closed this coming Friday and next Monday for Memorial Day week-end.


Thanks Jean

Monday, May 12, 2008

New Week

This is the start of a new week..... I hope everyone had a fantastic Mother's Day! Our theme for this week and next week is "Creepy Crawlers". One of my favorite themes.... (NOT)
The kids love it though, so we do it. Today we read about different bugs, and talked about what was everyone's favorite bug. I like the butterfly. Speaking of butterflies, all of our 5 cocoons have become butterflies. We'll be letting them loose today in the afternoon. They are so pretty and they have been flying around their little house this morning so the children were able to see them. I'll try and get pictures this afternoon when we let them go. I was thinking it might be fun to try tadpoles next.

I also received surveys back from 4 of the families. Thank you. I got some good feedback, and that is always helpful when looking to improve my child care.

Thanks Jean

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Busy Tuesday....

We had a very busy Tuesday morning. We worked on a couple of projects for this week's theme, and I got new music instruments and we had to check those out of course. Talk about a very NOISY morning.

Carpet and floor is of course now in and the main playroom looks fantastic. If you haven't seen it yet, make sure you take a peek inside. Please just remember to remove your shoes.
New shelfing has gone up to accomodiate our new music instruments, and a couple new bulletin boards. We are finishing up on our up-dates, and of course I'm sure we'll be adding something new in the future.

The children had a nice surprise today.... Abby and Riley's mommy brought the kids lunch from Wendy's. They loved the surprise and all ate so good, and they had wonderful manners when thanking Abby and Riley's mommy for lunch. They didn't get down for nap until after 1:00, and they were tired, but it was worth it.
Thank you Melissa. :)

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Week in Review for April 28 - May 1

This week we continued the theme Caterpillar to Butterflies. Our caterpillars have been in their Cocoons since Sunday. Another week and they should be emerging as beautiful butterflies. Our book at Community Circle was "The Very Hungry Caterpillar'. I explained to the children that just like when they wake up from a night of sleeping, and are hungry, the caterpillars emerge from their cocoons very hungry. We thought this particular caterpillar was very hungry, and he sure grew big. We also read the story during small group with an interactive book that I did up. The children had fun looking for the pieces that the caterpillar was eating. I tried to do small group with just Micah and Mason so we could work on their Alphabets, but we had everyone sitting at the table enjoying the story, and Riley standing at the head of the table with me watching. Becky my PEK Coach took a picture and I seen it at our last PEK meeting tonight. I need to get a copy and post it to the blog. It was so cute. :)

In the children's Friday Folders, I send home a newsletter for the month of May. I am going to get back into doing a monthly newsletter. I also send home a survey. please fill out, and return in the envelope I supplied. Dont sign your names. This is for my records to see if there is anything I need or should improve on in my child care. There is also a couple Scholastic book order forms. If your child is interested in ordering a book, let me know. You can order on line. I'll have to find out how my child care gets credit for your order, or we can order as a group. We can discuss your options if you decide to order any books.

Next week our theme is My Mommy. Celebrating our Mothers for Mothers Day. This is one of the children's favorite themes. We all love our mommys so much and we love to celebrate them every day!

Reminder that child care is closed tomorrow May 2, and child care will be closed next Friday May 9th for Provider's Appreciation Day.

Everyone have a fantastic week-end and we will see everyone back Monday in our new playroom with new carpeting and floor.