Week of February 1st in the 3's

Good afternoon 3’s families,

Lots of new stuff happening this week! Just a reminder that on Friday, February 12th we will celebrate Valentine’s Day. Your child can wear festive colors and bring in Valentines for his/her friends. We will also be decorating cookies. If you would like your child to participate in exchanging Valentines, please send them in by Thursday the 11th. Thank you!!

This week at CIRCLE TIME,

· We read a social story about Valentine’s Day. I sometimes create social stories using words and pictures to tell students what to expect during a new situation or event. I have attached a version of the story to the email in case you want to see what it looks like.

· We started talking about our first school rule: I take care of my friends and teachers. We played a game to help us understand what it means to “take care” and to be KIND. We sorted pictures of kind and unkind actions into 2 categories and talked about how these actions make friends and teachers feel. The children did a GREAT job with this activity. See the photo below.

What’s new in CENTERS this week?

Art: Students used glue bottles and collage materials to make a Valentine’s wreath. They came out beautiful! The children are very proud of their artwork and love seeing it hanging in the classroom. We will send the wreaths home next Friday so you can enjoy them too! They also stamped white paper bags which will be used next week to collect their Valentines.

Playdough Bins: Different colored playdough, heart cutters, mini erasers, squeezers, scissors and rollers.

Sensory Bins: Thank you again for generously donating kinetic sand to our classroom. Each student has their own bin with sand, heart container, gems, and cup. They are LOVING the sand!

Discovery Bins: Fine motor practice this week: they used tongs to put pom-poms inside little heart boxes.

Yellow Bins: More puzzles this week. They are doing a great job finding the matching pieces.

Blocks Bins: Little plastic animals have been added to the wooden blocks.

Red Bins: A very cool car ramp has been added to this center. The kiddos loved zooming their cars down the ramps. Lots of opportunities to practice sharing and turn-taking.

Pretend Center: The baby dolls are back! We also brought back the food and dishes. The children took very good care of their babies this week and made lots of yummy food.

We hope you have a wonderful weekend. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out. Can’t wait to see the kiddos next Thursday!

Your teachers,

Brenda Daday & Christina Renoni