Welcome back!

     Happy New Year to everyone! I hope everybody had a peaceful break. The children all seemed happy to be back - I was too! I had missed my friends and was very excited to get started this morning. We went straight to work after morning meeting. I read Sledding by Elizabeth Winthrop. We then chatted a bit about what we did over Winter break. After we discussed what we did, we journaled about it. I heard about a lot of snowball fights and long trips in cars. The children were very excited to share their experiences in the snow with me. We then had fruit break and Music with Kim. So the children didn't have to travel in the blustery cold, Kim came to our room. We welcomed her with our big hugs and listening ears. The children sang several songs that they had to also listen to for directions. They also played rhythm sticks (and did a fabulous job!).
     When Kim left, we got out some fine motor centers. Play-doh, clay, and salt dough is wonderful for building hand strength.  As the child squeezes the clay or play-doh to soften it, the hand muscles get a good workout, and by pinching the clay and making tiny parts like ears and tails to add to their creations, the child is building fine motor skills. Why do we need them to develop fine motor skills? Fine motor skills are the base for writing skills. All of this being said, one center had play-doh. Accompanying the play-doh were rolling pins and play-doh scissors. Another center had "snowballs" (small marshmallows) in a bowl, tweezers, and a small container. The children were to roll out and cut the play-doh while in the play-doh center. While in the "snowball" center, they were to pick up the snowballs one at a time and put them in the snowball bin with the tweezers. They then dumped them all back into their bowl and moved them one by one with their other hand using only the tweezers. Many of them didn't like doing it with their non-dominant hand, but they got the hang of it pretty quick! This activity worked on the Pincer grasp. The pincer grasp is the one needed to hold your pencil(or in their case crayons, markers, etc.) in the correct dynamic tripod position. Huh? That's just a fancy way to say holding a pencil between the thumb and index finger, resting on middle finger. :)


Notes :

• SHEETS: In the commotion of everything going on Dec. 18th, sheets were not sent home. I personally am taking all of the sheets and blankets home with me today and washing them this evening. A couple of you sent in new sheets/blankets for your child to have this week. If so, I sent home the sheet and/or blanket that was left here at school over break with your child today. Thank you and I'm sorry for any confusion this may have caused you last night/this morning as you went to pack your child's bag!
• PLASTIC CAPS: Please continue to send in plastic caps. We're collecting them all year!
• SHOW & SHARE: Show & Share calendars for the month of January have been sent home today. We'll start this year with Charlie, tomorrow.