Adventures in April in the 3's

Good afternoon 3’s families,

Another fun week at school! We began our spring assessments this week. It is amazing to see how much the children have grown. We use the assessments to show their progress and to see what we need to work on moving forward. Please remember that children at this age especially, learn and develop at different paces. One of our favorite early childhood quotes is, “Every child is gifted, they just unwrap their packages at different times.” We provide lots of opportunities for them to practice and encourage them to challenge themselves. But try not to be too concerned about whether or not your child knows their letters or is able to cut with scissors. They will get there in their own time!

This week at CIRCLE TIME,

· We read Pete the Cat: I love my white shoes! by Eric Litwin and James Dean. In this story, Pete the Cat is walking along and steps in giant puddles of strawberries, blueberries, mud and water. After he steps in each puddle, the children guessed what color it would turn his shoes: red, blue, brown and back to white again.

· We danced and used rhythm sticks during music and movement.

In CENTERS this week, we repeated all of the activities because they only had one day last week.

Playdough Bins: The kiddos are doing a great job cutting the playdough with scissors and using their muscles to use the squeezers.

Sensory Bins: Plastic grass, eggs, and fluffy chicks.

Art: The children used watercolors to paint shoes. They had a choice of sneakers, fancy shoes, or rainboots. Pete the Cat’s shoes were either red, blue, brown or white. Since we used watercolor paints, the boys and girls painted them LOTS of colors. They came out beautiful!

Discovery Bins: More Potato Heads!

Yellow Bins: Shape matching/sorting this week with nesting shape puzzles.

Green Bins: Giant waffle blocks

Red Bins: Wooden school buses and wooden people

Pretend Center: They have been having a lot of fun in the Flower Shop. Lots of beautiful bouquets being made!

Have a great weekend, and we look forward to seeing the kiddos next Thursday!

Your teachers,

Brenda Daday & Christina Renoni