Remember to "Spring Forward"
on April 2nd.

Spring is really here!  Please check your child's bag of clothing
and exchange for lighter and most likely bigger clothes. 
We will be outside on a daily basis and ask you to
please dress your child appropriately. 
Proper shoes are very important for the safety of the children
and gym shoes are the best.

Spring Fling...

It's time to think about Spring things...
things like walking in the woods,
buying seed packets and getting the bikes ready,
clean out a closet, give the dog a bath,
look for bird nests, fly a kite,
look at the stars and find a satellite.

THE WEEK OF THE YOUNG CHILD
April 2-7.

The Week of the Young Child is a time to recognize that children's opportunities are our responsibilities, and to recommit ourselves to ensuring that each and every child experiences the type of early environment--at home, at child care, at school, and in the community--that will promote their early learning.

Today  we know more than ever before about the importance of children's
earliest years in shaping their learning and development. Yet, never before
have the needs of young children and their families been more pressing.
The Week of the Young Child is a time to recognize that children's opportunities
are our responsibilities, and to recommit ourselves to ensuring that each and
every child experiences the type of early environment--at home, at child care,
at school, and in the community--that will promote their early learning.

Simply put, learning styles are different approaches or ways of learning. There are three predominate learning styles.

Visual learners
Children and adults who learn visually think in images or pictures.  Their minds are like video cameras that are always recording. To recall an event, visual learners simply “play back” images recorded earlier. They love to read, look at pictures and watch others, as well as write, draw, and organize things.  Visual learners usually do well in the classroom and should be given the opportunity to draw or write down the points they are learning.
 

Auditory Learners
Children who sing or talk to themselves are often auditory learners.  They learn best by hearing and listening.  They possess the ability to catch subtle nuances in words, tone, inflection and overall meaning.  They love participating in discussions, but are easily distracted by other noises, conversations or music.  Discussion groups create the most conducive learning opportunities for auditory learners.  They usually need to talk through situations to reach solutions.  We need to be sensitive to their need for interaction and verbal repetition.
 

Kinesthetic Learners
A kinesthetic child or adult will learn best through touch and experience.  Memory is linked to bodily interaction. Kinesthetic learners often excel in activities such as building, sports, drama, or dance, but may have difficulty in the classroom because most material is geared toward auditory and visual learners. We need to let these children explore, play, perform and create so they will be successful learners. They may find it hard to sit still for long periods and may become distracted by their need for activity and exploration. Art such as painting, coloring and markers gives children an opportunity to express their thoughts, feelings and perceptions.

We are all a mix of these learning styles but we usually have a dominant style.  If we make an effort to communicate using all three learning styles, we are sure to reach our little learners.

As parents and educators we need to ask “how is this child smart?” not how smart is this child?

Tied into learning styles is the theory of Multiple Intelligence.  Developed by Howard Gardner, Multiple Intelligences are seven different ways to demonstrate intellectual ability. That’s for another day. 

  Happy Easter and Happy Passover! 

EARTH DAY
April 22, 2006

Do something nice for the planet by teaching your child the definition of the word recycle.
RECYCLE:  to treat or process in order to use again.
-Webster's Dictionary
Also learn to recognize the recycle symbol and try to find it
on all sorts of products. Give the word and symbol meaning by
recycling newspaper into wrapping paper and grocery bags into trash can liners.

The Eggs Are Coming....April 19^th.

The Junior Kindergarten and Kindergarten classes
are involved in the Incubation Embryology project sponsored by the University of Illinois Cooperative Extension Service and 4H. 
With patience and observation our young embryologists will witness an “eggstraordinary” event—the emergence of newly hatched eggs. Our due date is April 25th. Be sure to ask your child about embryology, incubate, candling and how we are preparing for the chicks. 
Hats off to our wonderful teachers
for providing this wonderful learning experience for our children.

WHAT'S HAPPENING...

Our Teddy Bears, the two's ...
made the rainbow on our bulletin board. It was created using the children's handprints.
Tissue paper shamrocks were added later in celebration of St. Patrick's Day.
During Wind Week, the children used water color paints and coffee filters to make parachutes.
Plastic bags were painted and stuffed with paper towels to create these beautiful hot air balloons.
The children blew into straws to move the paint around and create these interesting works of art.
Collage materials were used to decorate our beautiful windsocks.
During Dental Health week, the children used toothbrushes to clean these yellow teeth.
After talking about foods that make our teeth happy and sad,
the children used magazine clippings of healthy food to decorate their smiling teeth.
We have started brushing the children's teeth twice a day.
The children used marshmallows to make these funny looking teeth monsters.
The children used toothbrushes and bright paint to decorate their giant toothbrushes.
The children used textured gloves and blue paint to create the painted pictures

The Bunny Bunch, the threes ...
during Rainbow Week talked about how rainbows are formed
and what colors are in a rainbow.  We made rainbows with our handprints.
We also sorted fruit loops and created rainbows.  We learned which colors
we need to mix together to create new colors.  During St. Patrick's Week
we created St. Patrick's Day decorations. We made shamrock collages,
glitter paint shamrocks and a leprechaun trap.  On St. Patrick's Day
we arrived at school to find leprechaun footprints all over our classroom.
 

Our 4's, our Junior Kindergarten ...
made pictures with oil paint. We folded them in half and then pulled them apart.
 The children enjoyed telling what they thought there picture was.
Show your pearly whites.  After a special visit from the dentist
for Dental Health Month our 4's drew a self-portrait of their smiles. 
In honor of Spring we made some flowers to hang in our room. 
During Feelings Week we cut out pictures from magazines
and charted all of the different facial expressions. 
The Junior Kindergarten began planting for Spring. We planted "Shasta Dazies."
We talked about all the parts of the flower and what it takes to grow.

Our 5's, our Kindergartener's...
talked about what pets need, where they live
and what we need to do to take care of them during Pet Week. 
We each made our own fish bowl. During Dinosaur Week
we talked about different kinds of fossils. 
We made impression fossils using shells, toy dinosaurs and dinosaur bones. 
On St. Patrick's Day we made blarney rocks for good luck.
 

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