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News, Spotlight and Sunset Rock

NEK Childcare Conference
Friday's teacher in-service day allowed for us to make our second annual trip as a staff to the NEK Childcare Conference in St. Johnsbury. We spent the day in different workshops with topics ranging from conflict management and de-escalation techniques, to understanding adoption and permanence, and how to better care for ourselves and avoid "burnout." As we've said in the past, these professional development opportunities are a vital component in helping us build a strong program, and we are thankful for the time to continue our learning, evaluate our practice and connect with other educators across the state. 

Spotlight on "211" a.k.a Help Me Grow Vermont
Dialing 211 can help you find resources and answers to your questions regarding children's behavior and development...

The Help Me Grow line is hosted by the United Ways of Vermont 2-1-1 program, there, trained Vermont Child Development Specialists staff the phones and provide assistance to connect parents, families and caregivers to resources and services in their community. The whole process is confidential and free. You can reach specialists between 9am and 6pm Monday through Friday; after hours you can leave a message and expect a return call. For more on the variety of information offered by this organization, check them out at vermont211.org.

Classroom Happenings
All teachers wanted to remind families to be sure your child is equipped for warmer weather by sending in sunscreen, a sun hat, a warm-weather change of clothes, a light jacket, outdoor sneakers, and water bottle (for students in upstairs classrooms). Tuffos and rain boots should remain at school for the soggy days. Thank you!

Infant I: The trampoline has become the "social hangout spot" for the children outdoors. Once children notice their peers spending time in this area, the others follow and usually bring a toy along with them. Speaking of the trampoline, it has been something the children are working hard to climb up onto in addition to the logs and rocks. The rocks ae currently presenting the biggest challenge. Indoors, we're observing new milestones being reached: the babies are beginning to sit up on their own, and are using new muscles to move forwards and backwards. 

Infant II: Time outside was the highlight of the week. The older children really enjoyed heading "out back" and checking out some of the new garden tools (rakes and hoes). We continue our focus on kindness and gentleness. This is both with each other and with our classroom materials. We are being consistent with our daily routines of cleaning as we go, bringing dishes to the sink and being sure our boots come off before entering the classroom (which of course we can put on and take off by ourselves!) These routines are very important for the children as they help them to feel safe, secure and comfortable throughout the day. 

Toddler I: This week the class had many investigations regarding caterpillars and butterflies. This has been an interest of theirs and following their lead, we spent the week finding out more about them. We read a few informational texts on the subject and learned new vocabulary words in the process: cocoon and chrysalis. The children were fascinated by the complexity of the books as well as the detail shown in them. 

They asked good questions and started relating what they saw to their own experiences as they built some new understandings. Another interesting "off shoot" from this topic was thinking about and explaining the passage of time to the children; the caterpillar spends time in the chrysalis as it changes. We also crafted our own caterpillar and butterfly models which are now displayed on the wall. Other "wildlife" that we watched this week included the school bunnies and busy ants which appeared in several places outside. Socially we are helping one another in getting dressed and ready for time outside, and talking about appropriate things we can do to express frustration. 

Toddler II: This week read Planting a Rainbow by Lois Elhert. It sparked conversations about rainbows and flowers. We talked about planting flowers next week and starting work on different rainbow projects. In fact, we made a rainbow out of our own artwork and it's now hanging on the wall in our classroom.
We talked a lot about colors and matching. We also talked about grouping certain colors together like pink and red and light and dark blue. It was definitely an eye opening experience trying to match up colors using different mediums, chalk, paint, crayon, and marker. We connected these conversations about color to our own homes and what color they are inside and out. We would love if families could bring in a photo of their home to share with the class. We continue to discuss treating our materials respectfully, especially the materials outside. The children, in all the classrooms, worked hard to use the new rakes and hoes for their intended purpose.
Also we are placing emphasis on keeping our language appropriate and respectful. For instance, "potty talk" belongs in the bathroom and isn't used to insult or put down other people.

Pre-K: We had a phenomenal trip to Sunset Rock, check out all the pictures below. We met Brenna, a naturalist from the Stowe Land Trust who led us up the hill helping us to both observe and identify along the way. Once at the top, she had three stations for us to visit. It was both very educational and great fun. We look forward to meeting back up with Brenna again next month. We were a bit confused about the lack of construction near the post office. After our run in with the friendly foreman, we were fully expecting sidewalk demolition...we will keep you posted. We instead kept busy with a visit to the SES playground and secret garden. There, we found chives, which reminded some of the children that we used chives in last summer's pickle making. We started making plans to repeat that activity. 

Pre-K Trip to Sunset Rock














Thanks for Reading
-Sam

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