May Moments in Enricment!

Hi all!

What a great week we had in Enrichment! Lots of new things to report, so I'll get right to it!

First, we have some new students in our class... they crawl, live in a jar for now, and are growing quickly! We welcomed some caterpillars into our class! The children got to observe them with magnifying glasses, and make some drawings of them in new sketchbooks. We get to watch them get bigger, make their chrysalises, and then patiently wait for them to turn into butterflies. It's a fairly quick and exciting process to watch, and we're glad we get to share it with the children.

Our book this week was Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey. This is a long book, so we used our super-duper bookmark. We read a little of the book each morning, finishing today. The kids answered questions about what they remembered from the days before to refresh their memories and know where we left off. This is a great skill that they handled beautifully! I won't give you the synopsis (because you probably already know it), but I will tell you that the kids were VERY excited to know that it took place in Boston "which is in Massachusetts" which got lots of "MASSACHUSETTS?!?! THAT'S WHERE I LIVE!!" It's so much fun to watch them make those kinds of connections!

What's NEW in centers this week?

Art- Butterfly magnets

Easel- B is for bee dot marker pages

Math- Number locks and keys and numbered vehicle parking lots

Pretend- We started the week with babies, and ended with a Farmer's Market

Discovery- The children observed, and drew their observations of the water cycle. A bag of blue water was taped up at the table for them to observe, but also a similar bag was taped to the window so that they could see the differences, and watch the changes. This is also where the caterpillars will be living for the next few weeks.

Blocks- My little ponies, magnatiles, monster trucks, and the makings for ramps

Writing- While there were a few different pre-printed options for them to practice their skills, the children's wonderful imaginations took them in a whole new direction. They pretended there were missing things in the classroom and they wrote out clues about where to find them. Spontaneous, child lead writing practice for the win!

At this point in the year the children are very comfortable with each other, and have taken to sharing books and puzzles during free time. It's wonderful to see them sharing and enjoying these things together.

I hope you all have a safe and healthy rest of your week and weekend!

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

Warmly,

Christina Renoni and Brenda Daday