Week 3 in Enrichment!

Good afternoon!

We had a great week this week, which included lots of new things. This includes having our first fire drill! Mrs. Lay sounded the alarm for about 2 seconds, and the children all did a great job stopping what they were doing and listening for directions. While a few children were a little nervous beforehand they did well getting outside as quickly and as calmly as possible.

If anyone is missing a dark grey mask, please let me know. We found a clean one on a table at lunch, but none of the children could identify it as theirs.

This is a reminder that if your child has a runny nose or a cough please keep them home. I know all too well that this is also allergy season, which can make things tricky. But if your child doesn't have a history of allergies and documentation from a doctor, please play it safe. Having been away from large groups for a while has affected our immune systems, which means colds will spread like wildfire. Thank you for your help in keeping everyone as healthy as possible.

This week we read The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister, and Only One You by Linda Kranz. The Rainbow Fish taught us about a fish who was the most beautiful fish in the sea, but wasn't kind to the other fish because of it. He learned that giving away his shiny scales made him feel happy because sharing made others happy as well. Only One You is about a Mama and Papa fish passing down some "wisdom" (new vocabulary word!) to Adri about how to be yourself in the big ocean. In the end we learn that "There's only one you in this great big world, make it a better place" The vibrant pictures were wonderful to look at, and the positive message is something we all need to be reminded of every once in a while.

What's NEW in centers this week?

Discovery table- The children got to shake up and explore sensory bottles that were filled with colored water and oil, gel and marbles, and water with stars.

Writing- White boards, markers, blank faces allowed the students to draw faces with different emotions, and talk about why we feel these different emotions.

Math table- There were leaf and apple erasers hiding in Theraputty! This great game of hide and seek worked out their hand and finger muscles, and got us sorting the erasers!

Easel- Your little artists were hard at work using watercolors to paint fish. There are still some at school that weren't dry enough to go into backpacks today, but they'll be sent home next week.

Art table- This week we had a multi day project. We used markers to color coffee filters, then used our strong finger muscles to spray water on them! Once they were dry, laminated, and had an "Only One You" fish face put on them the children decorated them with stickers and we hung them in the windows of our classroom!

We also did quite a bit of dancing, and played outside in the drizzle that popped up today!

Next week we'll be talking about families, and how each one is different. Please send in a picture of your family (whatever that means to your child) so that we can use them for a piece of art to display in our classroom!

Thank you for all your support so far this year! We feel very lucky to have the group that we do!

Have a happy and safe weekend!

Christina Renoni and Brenda Daday