Sweet September in Enrichment!

Hi everyone!

We had a wonderful week in Enrichment! The children are having fun getting to know each other, as are Mrs. Taylor and I!

If you didn't already hear about it from your child, I wanted to let you all know about the Sticker Puzzle we introduced this week! It's grid filled with letters, with each letter corresponding to a different color sticker, which will create a picture when it's all filled in. When a child shows kindness to a friend, or helps to pick up toys after center time, or whatever we're working on that day/week/month they'll be given a set of two or three stickers to put up on our puzzle. As you can see below, it's a BIG puzzle, so it's going to take some time to put it all together, but that's why we love the teamwork aspect of this! This week we gave the children letter A stickers. This will help to reinforce letter recognition, fine motor skills, teamwork, and pride in their accomplishments. We're so proud of all they've done already! We can't wait to see the end result!

Our book this week was Home Is Where the Birds Sing by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Katie Harnett. This book shows us that every family looks different and lives in a different home, but that the feeling of home is the same. It's a place to come in from the rain, to rest, to feel love, and feel like you belong. We discovered today that there was at least one bird on each page! Some were outside on trees or bushes, and some were on posters on the wall or on a book. This is why we typically read the same book all three days in Enrichment. As I'm sure you know, kids love to read the same books over and over. The books we choose for our classroom have many things to discover and discuss with each read through. It's a lot of fun, and a great way to use and explore their curiosity!

NEW in Centers this week...

Art table- We have quite the artists in our class! Mrs. Taylor and I now know that we need to prepare SEVERAL art projects a week to keep these artists engaged! It's wonderful and we love it! This week each child decorated a cutout of a house to hang on our Enrichment Family Tree, along with the pictures they brought in. I apologize for not taking a picture of our tree, but I will be sure to include one in next week's email. We also used scissors and glue for the first time in the classroom! The children colored, cut, and glued members of their family into an empty house. Some added pets, and even "workers on the roof"!

Easel- The children drew a picture of their family inside a house.

Math table- Animal sorting, which most often turns into playing with the animals!

Discovery table- Sound block matching game. Shaking the blocks helped us to hear different sounds (bells, sand, wooden cube, etc..) and match them with the other block that sounded the same.

These things in addition to the blocks, sensory table, playdough and writing table made for a great week!

I hope everyone has a wonderful rest of your week and weekend! We look forward to seeing you on Monday!

Warmly,

Christina Renoni and Ashlee Taylor