Food!

News and Reminders: We are closed on June 3rd & 4th in observance of Independence Day. Our Summer Solstice Stroll is happening this coming Wednesday, the 21st. We will meet in front of Town Hall then head down to the Rec Path. We will have ice cream at the end! I really hope you can all join us.

Food Program
We have had a fantastic week with our new food program. Lunches have been very successful! The children did so well with new foods. We especially enjoyed talking about what we were eating as a class and working on identifying the different flavors.

These were very popular blueberry kale muffins!

Classroom Updates

Infant I
We have enjoyed some beautiful weather this week with nice, long mornings outside for our older children. Several of them have become very adept at imitating and joining in with infant II children's play. We love to watch how this stretches their social skills and ability to communicate. Our new classroom layout has provided more spaces where "large" (4 or 5) groups of children can gather, often with a teacher, so we are working on ways to navigate shared space but also enjoying that time together. There are so many times throughout the day when our children are simply excited to see each other.

Infant II
Reading books, playdough, and blocks continue to be our favorite activities while playing inside. We were very curious to see how our children would take to the new pfood program. They have had no problems adjusting! It has been really fun trying new foods, talking about them with each other, and having the same thing. We are also enjoying lots of outside time in the lovely weather.

Pretending to take a nap. 

Then we woke up!

Toddlers
We had a very nice week. The highlight this has been how excited the children are about starting group snack and having lunch together. It has really enhanced our feeling of community and eating like a family. We talk about the nutrients in our food, trying new things, and eating healthy, balanced meals. We also talk about serving sizes and making sure our plates have foods from several food groups. Good has been a very big topic in our classroom this week; it has been an exciting time for all of us.

 

           

Preschool I
Even though we had a shorter than normal week at school, the children made up for lost time by playing hard in the sun. Shannon and Jacob took the children outside earlier than normal in the mornings for circle time. The children are doing very well staying focused for longer, more structured circle activities. They are also really enjoying music time - rhythm sticks on Tuesday, shakers and ukelele on Thursday. Jacob took the older children on a longer walk on Wednesday to the Woof Trail. The children are also doing great with their "try bites" of new foods that we have encountered during lunch. We were inspired by the grumpy person in "Green Eggs and Ham".

Preschool II
This week we continued our work of using our words to talk through feelings with our peers, saying "I don't like it when you . . . Can you please . . ." We also spent time noticing if our bodies felt out of control. When they did, we paused our play, put our hand on our heart, and felt our heart beat. We would wait until our heartbeat slowed a bit then talk to our peer, then continue our play. We stretched our imaginations by making magical wands and casting kind spellings with one another. Mnay of us became wizard families going on magical vacations.

PreK
This week we've taken to the trails, wandering off site to various locations. Tuesday we cooled off in the stream by the elementary school. We enjoyed dropping pine needs in on one side of the bridge to count how long it takes to come out the other side. Wednesday we walked to the Woof Trail. There is a very steep hill we love to climb, at the top we haul logs to a giant pile we call the "crusher". Thursday we decided to Vicky's hill. While some children just wanted to run around and roll on the hill, others were fascinated by the tiny creatures they found under the rocks near "spider tunnel". We also celebrated another birthday!