News and Reminders: We are closed on Monday and Tuesday, July 3rd & 4th, in observance of Independence Day.
We want to congratulate our infant teacher, Megan. She officially finished her Master's Degree this week in Early Childhood Education from Champlain College. Way to go, Megan!
The older children have started working on building bug homes and bird feeders. We are planning on building a "bug hotel" using some pallets. If you have materials to add or would like to help us stack the pallets and put it together please talk to Jen or Nancy about materials we need.
The children put together a new teepee this week. They carried the large sticks and helped to put them in place. Here are some photos documenting our progress and teamwork.
Classroom Updates
Infant I
A few of our children were on vacation for the first half of the week, so the rest of us enjoyed lots of small group time with many opportunities for teachers to observe peer interactions and provide support where needed. We also did some painting with fingers and sponges, which our older children loved, as well as some exploration of the play area. When our friends returned on Thursday, everyone was so excited to see them, and they showed it with big grins and waves.
Infant II
Many of our friends have been on vacation this week and we have been able to enjoy many small group activities. At the beginning of the week, we swapped most of our books for a new set of fun engaging stories. Later in the week we braved painting with sensory balls - which turned into full body painting. Throughout the week we have delighted in finding all our outside toys filled with rain water each day. Our tuffos have been no match for all the water play. We also have many students showing more interest in the potty and all of the kids have enjoyed celebrating when one uses it successfully!
Toddlers
We had a nice week of soaking up the sunshine and relishing the rain. Everyone is happy rain or shine, as long as we are playing outside. We are working hard on being self-sufficient and independent. We are trying our hardest at putting our shoes on by ourselves, getting dressed independently, and using the bathroom. We have a few children that have officially transitioned to underwear, congratulations to you! This week while on the playground, many children noticed several large birds talking to each other, chirping and flying to low branches. The children got very excited by all of the action and observed very closely. We also spent time focused on our language skills, especially using words to express our emotions and needs as well to talk with one another.
Preschool I
Jacob prepared the next installment of our "All the World" mural, so now we have Hope & Peace and Love & Trust. We have also been learning some new versions of "Baa Baa Black Sheep", including "Cluck, cluck, red hen, have you any eggs?", and "Buzz, buzz, busy bee, is your honey sweet?" We have also read the book, "Are you my Mother?" several times outside in the sunshine on the playground. The children have begun to be more independently positive about lunch, saying "I'm going to tell my Mom and Dad that I ate my whole lunch!" or, "Look, I cleared my plate!" all without a teacher prompting or encouraging. Often we are hearing "Let's try this together". The highlight of this week was a long-awaited walk down to the Stowe Elementary School playground with all ten children. As soon as we all arrived at the playground, older children from other summer programs turned up to play as well. The students from our class used their words to ask the other children for help with the swings and even shared a brief tire swing ride, all very closely supervised by Shannon, Jacob, and the other camp counselors, of course. The children loved revisiting the giant slides and the "bumblebee ride". We are hoping that we can make the jurney to the playground a weekly event. Parents- we are changing over from "lunch notes" to keeping individual journals for each child, similar to the ones they had when they were younger. We will keep the notes the same as they have been, taking turns writing a brief daily update for each child, but insetead of sending home the note, a small notebook will stay in the basket of each child's cubby. We would love it if you decide to bring the notebooks home and write entires with your child for us to read. Please feel free to ask us questions when we return from the extended holiday weekend.
Preschool II
What a tiny class we had this week! We had about half of our class this week at school while the other half was traveling and visiting extended family. It was nice and quiet. We spent time reading books, walking to the Woof Trail, and playing with the prek class. At the Woof Trail, we spent time building fairy houses and pretending to fly. While at school, we spent a lot of time playing in the mud and water. We also helped carry the GIANT sticks across the playground to build our new teepee. It took a lot of teamwork and listening to one another. On Friday morning we were responsible for making Fruit Salad for the younger classrooms. We paid close attention to cutting the fruit into smaller pieces, to make sure it was safe for the younger children.
PreK
Some of the highlights of our week included a walk to Camp Fire Forest where a tree had fallen into the middle of our playspace! We also began work on our new teepee structure out back. All the rain ahs created a myriad of awesome play experiences. On Friday PreK had a great time fathering water and pouring it down the hill to make rivers and a pond. Our collaborative play skills have been very dynamic these days. The children have been wrokign together to create elaborate plans and coordinated efforts to engineer structures and experiences. It is all done with intense planning, communication, and a real long term vision. It is exciting to watch.
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