"Chilly Days!!"

Dear Families, Friends and Blog-Followers,

This week, we have brought the snow indoors, and kept our young friends very busy with new and interesting activities, much to their delight -- today, (Friday), -- Kelly supplied the children with large spray bottles filled with water and food coloring, and, what fun they had, with the, once white, snow, in the sensory table!!

On Wednesday, (Little Christmas), we continued to celebrate the New Year with an additional supply of props, marched around our classroom, made-up related songs and attempted to make resolutions -- all was going well -- very loud -- but well -- then Liz said "I'm gonna jump like a bunny all year long!!" -- and all semblance of seriousness turned back into silliness, (as it, most often, should . . . ) :)

Miss Downing introduced us all to "Rose's Garden", the newest book by Peter Reynolds, (via laptop), the concept of hibernation and wintertime, (brown bears versus polar bears), music and movement, (predominantly related to the letter "c"), and, made a stellar presentation on the art of tooth-brushing, (we now have a dental office, in the classroom, complete with "state of the art" scheduling equipment -- special thanks to Alana and Kirsten for sharing their very own laptops!!)

In tandem with toothbrushing, which we began today, both the Butterflies and Puppies have had a ball donning gloves and brushing our giant set of teeth, fondly referred to as "Choppers", with an enormous toothbrush coated with shaving cream and toothpaste -- the children have created some interesting pieces of art with said materials, as well.

Mrs. Dolham, among many other things, has begun "charting", with the kids, talking about light versus dark, and, I must say, is a model dental patient, as well -- go Liz!!

This week, I focused on reading books by Jan Brett, such as "The Mitten" and "The Hat", and, today, read about "Splat the Cat", by Rob Scotton, which everyone seemed to enjoy -- next week, I plan to read stories about our animal friends in the Arctic.

Gross motor practice has been at an all time high, taking place on the "hopscotch rug" -- such as riding wheeled vehicles, balancing on the curvy and bumpy beam, and performing gymnastics stunts and climbing through the tunnel.

Our young friends continue to enjoy all of the learning centers, a great many art activities, including making embellished cards for Mary Ellen Devlin, (to congratulate her on retirement), lacing and stringing colorful beads, playing themed games, reading lots of seasonal books, and so much more.

Please enjoy the weekend, and, look for the Scholastic book order forms, as well as, "daily reports", in your mailboxes, on Monday!!

Love Miss Peacock XOXO