Good Afternoon!

**Please make sure that your child has their winter snow attire (snow pants, boots, winter coat, gloves, hat) here this week. Thank you.

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We read, ‘But No Elephants’ (a childhood favorite of mine!) in K/PREK1 group today. After we finished reading the book, I introduced a new activity into group that we will be using on a consistent basis. Each child got a bracelet that had the same five colored beads on it. Kids asked, “What do we do with these?!”, which prompted our conversation about the poster on the chalkboard and the book that we just read.

I asked Lucy to find her white bead. After she identified it, we referred to the chart and I told her the white bead represents characters in the story. She started listing all of the characters that we learned about.

We continued on with each color and talked about ‘beginning’, ‘middle’, and ‘end’ of the story and how we identify each part.

Together, we were able to retell the story in detail.

K.RL.2.2: With support, retell familiar stories, poems, and nursey rhymes, including key details.

K.1.4: Identify and order events that take place in a sequence. (2006 standard)

Miss Kim had each PREK2 friend pick out a toy which they used to help tell a fiction story. Miss Kim started by creating the first sentence. Ruby used her bear to come up with the next sentence. At the end, PREK2 group had a story that they wrote!

There was nothing better this morning than being able to head outside. We walked (okay..ran) outside and the sun hit us right on the face. We moved throughout the yard with our friends, happy to get fresh air.

Several of our friends have a small fascination with beads so today, we used them in a different way. Children came to the table to see playdough and long, wooden sticks on trays. Our fine motor skills were hard at work as we took the beads on put them on the wooden stick, one by one.

Before we headed outside, we were in a fine motor zone. Fine motor activities aren’t just limited to paper and pencil.

Fine motor activities are any activity that require use of small muscles in the hands.

For example, as Penny was transferring water color from one jar to another with a syringe, she was using small muscles in her hand.

LEGO’s are a challenging fine motor activity because it requires controlled hand muscles. Grady and Maxwell used small LEGO pieces to build their tower this morning and noted how challenging it was to connect the pieces together.

https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/families/help-your-child-build-fine-motor-skills

“Children are like snowflakes. They are pure. They are beautiful. They are unique and they each sore at their own pace. Don’t try to compare them.”

-The Pinterested Parent

Breakfast– Kashi Blueberry Clusters and fresh oranges.

Lunch– Shredded cheese OR hummus on whole wheat tortillas, fresh apples, and fresh carrots.

PM snack– Cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese and banana.

Wee Sprout– Fresh carrots/broccoli/cauliflower.

Have a terrific evening.

-Mindy

Link to pictures: WF 2/19