Toddler Newsletter 8-25-10
August 25, 2010
Dear Parents,
Our friends have been busy these past few weeks meeting new friends, learning about our Montessori classroom and enjoying the playground. This is the schedule we’ve adapted:
7:30 – 8:00 Arrive at school
8:00 – 8:30 Spanish Group with Ms. Mary Tues., Wed., & Thur
Spanish Group with Ms. Emilia Monday & Friday
8:30 – 9:00 Playground
9:00 – 9:30 Group
9:30 – 10:15 Work Cycle
10:15 – 10:30 Playground
10:30 – 11:00 Lunchtime
11:00 – 11:30 Clean up our lunch and get ready for nap
11:30 – 1:30 Nap
1:30 – 2:00 Clean-up nap stuff, potty/diaper, snack
2:00 – 2:30 Playground
2:30 – 3:00 Clean-up and get things together for home
3:00 – 3:30 End of day group, dismissal
This schedule may change due to weather, special events, or the mood of the children! J
We always ask every child if they want to potty during the morning diapering, lunch diapering and after nap diapering. We ask all of our older toddlers who are 3 or almost 3 to potty about every fifteen to thirty minutes. We change diapers three times a day 9:30, 11:00, and at 1:30. We also do a check before they go home, at about 2:30. Of course, if your child needs diapering we will do so accordingly.
If you noticed, our group time lasts for thirty minutes! Our friends love group! Our group time consists of the following and will, for the most part, be the same all year:
First, we sing our “Good Morning, How are you?” song.
Then we review our class rules:
Use your inside/outside voices. Hands are not for pushing, hitting, or pulling hair, but they are for hugs. Feet are for running outside. Teeth are for eating food – not biting friends. Only teachers open & shut the door.
Then I go over the proper way to use our works. The first step is to get a work rug. Carry it with both hands, unroll it, then pick out a work. Always carry work with two hands. At group, children are shown how to be gentle & careful with our works – we cannot throw or bang them together! Once done with work, children put it back on the shelf where the picture is. The last step it to roll up the work rug and put it away. If seated at a table, first “ Stand up, then chair up.”
Then the work goes back to the shelf where it belongs.
After giving the children a lesson on the proper way to do work, we then read a book called Thank You. It’s a very short book about saying thank you. We then sing four to five songs. These could be the “Days of the Week”, “ Itsy Bitsy Spider,” “The More We Get Together,” “ Bringing Home my Baby Bumblebee” and, of course, “ Old MacDonald!” We will also use puppets during group time and the felt story boards. The last thing we do in group is have the children put their mat away themselves. They wait until their name is called to put their mat away “nice and neat!” They have been doing so well with learning to wait their turn!
This week, we started the geometric shapes, cube & sphere. Almost all of our friends from last year remembered them and some of our new friends already know them! By Thursday, we had added the cone & the cylinder.
We would love for you to work on these things at home with your child! Learning to wait their turn is a huge lesson for toddlers, as we are sure you already know! Another important lesson is learning to put our work and other items back where they belong. You and your family could also look for cubes, cylinders, cones, and spheres at your house! We would love to hear about anything your child is starting to do differently at home because of Plum Tree!
Please remember to always label EVERYTHING, because it may not come back home otherwise. J
Thank you for a great start to the school year!
Toddler Teachers,
Ms. Whitney, Ms. Tina, Ms. Krista, Ms. Kaitlin, Ms. Jana, & Ms. Emilia
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