Greetings Sweet Pea Families!
We returned from our Thanksgiving holiday with hearts filled with the joy of sharing good times with family and friends. The children were eager to jump back into their familiar routines and get busy. We are enjoying our ever-growing bond as a classroom community while winter swiftly approaches...seasonal lessons and art projects abound!
Currently, we are building our snow gear routine into the transition from circle time to outside activities: first snow pants, boots, jacket, hat, and then mittens! In the toddler room, we believe that care is the curriculum. We truly enjoy working through the process of dressing and undressing with each individual child. It is so wonderful watching each child’s potential unfold before us. We love helping children do it themselves! Little by little, the children are remembering the sequence and gaining independence in the process. Now to keep those mittens on once we get out there...Thank you for providing warm clothing that is labeled and easy for your child to get on independently.
Congratulations to all of our friends who have taken the plunge into potty training (or will very soon)! The front end of the learning curve involves a lot of laundry, but the benefit is LOTS of practice changing clothes! It’s a big step toward independence and there’s no turning back. For those of you who have not taken the plunge yet, the holidays are a great time for your child to spend some time becoming familiar with wearing underwear. We are happy to assist in this process. We would love to work with your child to learn to use the bathroom and start wearing underwear before or after the winter break.
At circle time, we have been reading the book entitled Before We Eat, which talks about the origins of our food. We have had many lively discussions about where milk and vegetables come from. The children have been fascinated to learn about how many people work hard so they can have food in their lunchboxes.
Another book we have been reading and discussing is called Good People Everywhere. The book highlights the beautiful and caring people of the world. It is inspiring all of us to grow into grateful and giving people. It is good to know that there are people all over the world doing good things for the planet, and we can do good things too.
We have also been learning about ways we can help the world. The children have been active in helping sort the recycling in the barn, turning off the lights when we go outside, feeding the fish, using both sides of the paper during art projects, and throwing garbage in the rubbish bin. We talk about conserving water when we wash our hands and brush our teeth. When we turn the water off while washing our hands, we save up to 18 glasses of water!
We wish you all a very happy holiday season!
All the best,
Sweet Pea Team
Ms. Emily, Ms. Kat, and Ms. Christina
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