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!

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

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

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. :)

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.

Theme for Next Week~

Next week's theme will continue to be Caterpillar's to Butterflies. I didn't sent the children home last Friday with Friday Folder's because all they're artwork that they did last week is hanging up. We have some very pretty butterflys flying around the playroom.... From the ceiling in the kitchen, on the door into the playroom.....

All items will go home on Thursday of this week, because I'm off on Friday. I'm looking forward to another fun, filled week....

BTW... Our 5 caterpillars are getting ready to make their cocoon's. They're all hanging from the top of the cup. (Check out the picture).

Saturday's Mail~

I was surprised when going through Saturday's mail that I had 3 thank you cards. All were from our visitors on Thursday. Below are what I received. :)

The McKnight Foundation - Kate Wolford, President

Dear Jean,
Thanks so much for welcoming our group into your home and child cre center. It was great to hear about your experience with PEK and to see the impact you are having in the lives of the children under your care. Thanks & best wishes. Kate Wolford

Jean,
Thank you so much for letting the McKnight people come out to visit. The amount of preparation and thought you put into the visit was truly amazing. It's so important for our funders to see PEK in action at a family child care. It demonstrates what a unique project this is, how HARD you've worked, how successful you are, and how ready the kids are for kindergarten! Your enthusiasm and skills as an educator really got to have the spot light that you deserve! Thank You Becky

Dear Jean,
FANTASTIC! The McKnight Foundation folks thoroughly enjoyed their visit to your child care home. Your enthusiasm and clear evidence of PEK in operation were wonderful to see. Thank youso much for allowing us to come and for the extra work it took to prepare for us. Sincerely Ann

Needless to say I was very happy receiving this thank you's and it shows me that what I do is so very important... Remember... Your children are the "Treasures" of your heart and I have so much fun every day playing and working with them. :)

Our Visitors Today

This morning we had our visitors from the McKnight Foundation visit. We had 4 visitors plus my PEK Coach Allison. They spend 30 minutes getting a tour of my child care, meeting the children, watching small group and asking questions about how the PEK Program has changed my child care.

The kids were FANTASTIC. I did small group with Devin, Morgan, Kayla and Cleo. We read our small book "Life Cycle of a Butterfly". We also had small life cycle pieces of a butterfly, and we matched the pieces with the words. The children then picked a word to write in their book.

I have to say that I think the visitors were impressed with our child care and the children that have benefited from the PEK Program. I know that this program has made many changes in my child care, with the start of working towards my CDA. May marks the last meeting I will have with the PEK Program, but I will be keeping what I have learned in use though my child care. My Next step is going to start this coming Sat., when I attend an orientation on MN Quality Ratng Sytem. This is a new progam sponsored by Resources for Child Caring that will rate family child care homes. I am striving for a 4 star rating. :)
I'll of course keep you informed of how things are going for this.
Also a special thanks to the parents that gave me some feed back for the PEK Program. I printed it up and gave a copy to each visitor today. They were happy to see the comments.
Thanks again.... It was a good day. :)

Say Hello to My Little Friends. :)

As you can see Devin is taking a peek at our caterpillar friends this morning. They are starting to get big. I honestly thought I killed them this morning, when I left them sitting on the freezer out in the back entrance. I wanted all the parents to see our new friends, and the top of the freezer was cold, and I think the caterpillars got cold. I moved them back into the playroom, and I have seen movement after a while, so I think they are ok.

Today at Circle Time we read Katy Caterpillar and the Counting book. (Katie loves to count!) We also did a sun catcher butterfly, and those will go home at the end of a butterfly theme next week. We have them currently hanging in the daycare kitchen. Very colorful.

Kids are having an "EXCELLENT" day, and they are hoping that our new cars arrive today. We will be going outside in the afternoon after naptime.

Just a quick reminder that with the nicer weather, please dress the children in clothes you don't mind getting dirty.

Last Week... :)

Last week we had a busy week. We got to make worms in dirt and eat them, we spent alot of time both in the morning and afternoon playing outside. and we got our new caterpillars in the mail on Thursday. Yes, real caterpillars. 5 of them. They looked so small when we got them, but boy are they really growing. Once they make cocoons we'll move them into their new home and wait for them to become butterflies. Once that happens we'll let them loose outside. This week our theme is Caterpillar to Butterfly, so they came at a perfect time.

Really??? Eating Worms in Dirt????

Our theme this week has been seeds, and today as promised after circle time, we made "worms in dirt". The kids thought I was talking about real worms and dirt. Do they not know me by now? I won't touch anything that wiggles or crawls unless it's a baby! They had a fun time smashing their oreo cookies (top soil), and I know I caught a couple of them trying to taste them. Evan was very upset when he was handed a baggie to work on. How could he eat that cookie if it was in a zip locked baggie? Kids are currently napping after spending the morning outside after our "project", and they will get their yummy treat for snack this afternoon. :)

Monday - April 14th

Today was a very busy morning. Children were full of energy but they settled down with the promise of going outside during naptime and snack. They need to burn off some energy, and after a long winter, who can blame them. (Knock on wood for no more snow). :)

Today we read The Little Seed by Eric Carle. We learned how a seed can go many places that the wind blows it, and that it needs soil to grow. We talked about what a plant needs to grow, and I let the kids in on a little secret.... We're going to eat worms in dirt on Thursday. You'll have to ask the kids about that. We discussed that before nap when I read a couple stories to them. Yummy......

During small group this morning we read A Sprouting Bean and we got a bucket of water with several items to see what would float and what would sink. That was fun. We're going to try it again tomorrow with other objects, so I'll try and get some pictures.

Right now it is all quiet at "Treasures" because the children are sleeping, but when they wake up, it will be snack and outside.It's a beautiful day!

Week in Review - April 11

April 11, 2008

Dear Parents,

This week our theme was Water and Spring time. We read the book Mouse's First Spring and we learned what things come around in the spring time. New flowers, baby birds, etc. We learned this week that even though it is Spring Time, it doesn't always look like Spring outside. We got to play outside all afternoon on Wednesday and on Thursday we had a rainy, snowy day. That's weather here in Minnesota.

Our theme next week will be Seeds. This should be a fun theme, and hopefully we will get to play in the dirt one day next week. I think everyone can agree we are ready for real Spring.

During circle time on Friday , Cleo read the book - Mouse's First Spring" to the children. Each day at circle time we read one book, and stick to that book all week. I am going to start having a child read the book to the children each Friday. It was fun to hear Cleo's interpretation of the story, and the children enjoyed having her read the story to them.

Friday we had Mrs. Jean join us for music time. The children had a blast, and everyone sat nice and participated.

Jean