November Comes and November Goes

November Comes 
And November Goes
With the last red berries
And the first white snows.

With night coming early,
And dawn coming late,
And ice in the bucket 
And frost on the gate.

The fire burns,
And the kettles sing,
And the earth sinks to rest
Until next spring.

-Clyde Watson

News and Reminders: If you use cloth diapers, we have installed a diaper sprayer in the bathroom in the infant II classroom. Please feel free to use it if you need to before heading home.

The 2nd Annual Stowe Lantern Parade will be Friday, December 1st at 4:30 pm. It will begin at the Stowe Elementary School and head up to Main Street. There will be snacks and time to play in the SES gym after the parade. Beginning at 5:00, Helen Day Art Center will have the Festival of Trees and Lights. Finally, at 7:00 pm Stowe Theatre Guild is putting on a production of "Every Christmas Story Ever Told... and Then Some!" (this is mostly for older children). Here's the link to Stowe Vibrancy  website for more details about the event and the schedule. 


The colder weather is finally here. It is so important that the children come to school well dressed each day. Wearing base layers of wool makes such a difference. Please consider dressing your child in layers as the weather gets colder. Sending them to school already wearing the wool layers makes getting dressed to go outside much easier. We also strongly encourage you to pack wool socks that we can put on when we head outside. No one likes cold feet. It is especially difficult for children who can't verbalize when something is cold. We want to make sure we take every step to make sure they have the right layers on.

Here is a link to Ella's Wool, a wonderful company that makes great options for young children. We are an affiliate program of Ella's Wool, so if you use the specific link provided it becomes a fundraiser for MVS.

Another company is Mountain Warehouse which is a bit more affordable. Unfortunately, they only have size 2 and up but the layers are great.

Classroom Updates

Infant I
We had a calm and peaceful week. Everyone seemed to settle into routes and rhythms, an though things with infants are always somewhat fluid, our days and activities fell into more clearly defined patterns. We spent some exploratory time around and on top of our light table. Despite all of the scarves and slotted cardboard provided, the favorite object to use on the light table was a small blue plastic cup with holes in the bottom. The children tapped it on the table and turned it around in their hands over the light. We are also making progress becoming mobile in our snowsuits as we grow accustomed to the cold weather. And our two oldest children go so much closer to walking this week, each in her own way... stay tuned!

Infant II
We are getting really good at getting bundled up to go outside but are working maneuvering our bodies around in all our gear especially when we fall down. It was exciting to see ice on our playground and jump in icy muddy puddles. This week we worked on colors and shapes using big colored buttons for different sensory and fine motor activities. We have been enjoying new tastes and flavors at lunch. We really enjoyed the vegetable soup! Please make sure to clearly label your children's outdoor clothing.

Toddlers
We had a nice week adjusting to the cooler weather and daylight savings. We are working on getting dressed in our winter layers independently and keeping on the layers while playing outside. The right outdoor gear helps tremendously, thank you for sending in everything. We were challenged and excited by the new position of the slide and worked hard to climb up one side, swing our legs over, and then slide down. At the end the children really enjoyed jumping off!

Preschool I
It SNOWED... and we were delighted. It feels like winter has truly begun this week and we can happily report that the children are ready. Each day, they seem a bit more competent in dressing themselves for the cold temperatures. Highlights include observing the ice own our playground, making tracks in the snow, and rolling down the hill. Mornings inside have been busy as the children are interested in building large fish tanks, sometimes growing across the room. We may expand this into learning different types of fish, especially as many of us continue to reference Lake Champlain and various animals we discussed with Elizabeth last week. We are also developing this interest through a pretend hike during circle time accompanied by singing "A-hiking we will go, a-hiking we will go" Next week: a fresh batch of play dough. Stay tuned!

Preschool II
We were so excited about the snow! We went to the Elementary School with prek and stopped on the way to roll down a snowy hill. We were thrilled to be able to catch snowflakes on our tongues. On Monday we went to Campfire Forest with some of preschool I and enjoyed collecting worms and picking berries to leave out for the birds. Some other things we have been excited about this week are finding ice in the tires. playing with some shiny new cake pans and sending ourselves (as well as a variety of other items) down the slides. As usual, we love playing in the sandbox and making cake and ice cream for one another. We are planning on building snowmen and sledding when we get more snow.

PreK
We spent time at the Woof trail this week where we climbed up on top of trees that had fallen in the recent windstorm. We were amazed at how long they were and tried to imagine what it would be like to be so tall. We were also interested in the uproot root system and the large holes left behind. We also spent time counting the rings where trees had been cut to clear the trail to find out how old they were. We've also enjoyed the books we picked up at the library. We have been dendrochronologist and dendrologists as well as learning about other types of scientists.

In the kitchen..

We had pizza for the first time this week! It was very popular. We started with whole wheat english muffins, tomato and spinach sauce, and topped them off with parmesan and mozzarella cheese. We had several sous chefs from prek to help put it all together.