And they're off...

Halloween Parade on Monday
We'll be heading out on our Halloween parade on Monday morning leaving from the MVS parking lot at 10. Parents and families are welcome to join us from the start or meet us along the route as we travel up Depot St. We will change in and out of costumes at school, so if your child will be wearing a costume, pack it with their regular school bag that morning. 

2nd Annual Stick Season Social 

Join us for an afternoon of outdoor fun, food, music, and community to celebrate the season! Saturday, November 5th , 2 – 5 pm, Rain date: Sunday, November 6th. See you there!

• Touch a Truck & Bounce House
• Homemade Chili Cook-Off 
• Music & Dancing
• Raffle: Win Four Seasons-Boston getaway & Ski Package, including children ’s all-season ski rental 
• NEW MVS Gear 
• Suggested Donation: $20 per family includes food & activities

Classroom Happenings

Infant I: This week the children spent time finger painting. They worked with primary colors, but also mixed colors to make both purple and green. This art time was a wonderful way for the children to express themselves creatively and have a messy and sensory experience as well. As the weather has shifted, the children are growing more accustomed to wearing different clothing and moving while wearing heavier, bulkier articles. We would like to encourage families to use their children's notebooks to communicate with teachers; this can be anything from how the child's evening was, to what they did over the weekend. This can also be a place for questions about the children's care. A few families are using these notebooks regularly, but all are most welcome to do this, we love being in touch about your children, so have at it!

Infant II: Indoors we have been spending a lot of time with crayons and doing a fair bit of painting too. We are seeing this both independently and in small groups as well. Holding crayons and paint brushes is a a great way to practice our fine motor skills; as is working to manipulate each to make marks on the paper. We have also been finding new ways to climb on our play structure. The children have been using the soft shapes to aid their climbing and challenge themselves in new ways. One popular way to use the climber has been to go up and over the sides. Outdoors we've focused on keeping outdoor gear on when playing in the colder weather. We are having conversations about how and why we must keep our bodies warm, and when and where we can take clothing off. 

Toddler Room: We've enjoyed the first signs of winter this week and loved seeing and talking about the snow. We are adjusting to getting dressed and wearing our warm gear again, especially our mittens. We have been thinking and talking about ways to keep our bodies calm during moments of frustration. We are supporting the children in talking to one another and taking deep breaths. We have been preparing for our parade on Monday by having conversations with the children about walking safely with adults on the parade route. Note that on Monday we will have an early morning snack at 8:30, then change into costumes at 9:30 for a 10 am departure. See you there!

Preschool 1: All good things must come to an end, and after 4 weeks of music study, we will move on next week to explore a few new interests the children seem to be leading us towards: camping, or perhaps hockey. We will likely continue to explore a few more musical concepts informally, using circle time to do so. This week we began working with rhythm sticks. We have very strict guidelines about how to use these instruments, and the children are really honoring that structure with their listening and self control. It's really impressive. We've learned three patterns this week and will add more complexity as we go along. On Tuesday and Wednesday our early morning time outside lead us to careful observations of the snowflakes. Tuesday's flakes were beautiful, nearly perfect star shapes, think Snowflake Bentley...while Wednesday's flakes were like little BB pellets. The children had lots of questions about this and how they could be so different. Our walks continue to get longer, and take us to new places. Watching children play hockey this week on our playground led us to check out the Stowe Arena on Thursday where we were able to catch the NAHA girls practicing, and see a Zamboni clean the ice. (After the 2 photos is a short video, hit play!)

Preschool 2: We strayed a little from puzzles, and were very busy with dramatic play. We had tremendous exploration of family roles and dynamics. During circle we have been working hard on having group discussions, including waiting our turn to talk, listening to one another and avoiding interrupting. We will continue to work on these skills. The children have been very excited for Halloween and are practicing what to say when "trick or treating."

Pre-K: Spooky books, spooky boxes and, Pumpkin Soup! We have been listening to this story on CD and it has quickly become one of our favorites. According to Cat, Squirrel and Duck, all you need is some sliced pumpkin, some water and a pipkin of salt to make pumpkin soup, although we may look up some recipes just be sure before actually making ours. We finally cut into "Patrice" our pumpkin. The children report that inside it was "cold, squishy and slimy." We were amazed to find that she only held 1 cup full of seeds. We are going to investigate how many seeds the smaller pumpkins in our room have inside.

Also Seen at MVS

Thanks for Reading
-Sam