As we continue sharing ways that we can be kind and helpful, the Ladybugs added hearts to the tree on our bulletin board. Each heart tells the story of a way that our friends have shown love for each other this week. From sharing toys, giving turns, helping to cheer up a sad or hurt friend, assisting a friend with clean up or zipping their coat…our Ladybugs know how to show love ❤️
We prepared for Valentine’s Day by decorating our mail”bags” that we will use to collect our cards next week. Everyone added letter hearts to make their name and then used stamps & stickers to make their bags unique and beautiful!
The children have been learning about the letters in their names in many other ways in our classroom recently. Since everyone rose to the challenge of recognizing their name even after they all turned into the same shape dots, we decided that it’s time to focus on each individual letter in their names and the sounds that they make. This week we’ve tried building names using letter beads and playdough cookie cutters. We also sang our hello song by spelling names instead of saying them.
The children’s names and those of their friends & family are special and give the alphabet meaning to a three year old!! Once they can recognize their written name, children usually begin to rote spell their name (often without yet actually being able to recognize & name those individual letters in print). We move on to breaking down the names into each letter & it’s sound and then work on the skill of using those letters in the correct order to build those names and other words. Some of our Ladybugs are even writing their names independently already! Everyone learns at their own pace, and we try to support each of them where they are in that journey.
We found many other uses for hearts this week, too! We found conversation hearts in our sensory table and graphed them on a chart. And we did a science experiment using 3 liquids- water, soda and vinegar- to see how the conversation hearts would react in each one. We had fun watching the bubbles in the soda carry the hearts up and then pop to make them fall. They were dancing!!!
Which is a perfect lead in to the finale of our week- our Valentine Dance!!!! We are so grateful to the parents who helped make the dance happen this year. It was beautiful and a total blast! We might be a little biased, but we think our Ladybugs were the cutest out there on the dance floor!
That wasn’t the only special event this week, though. We had a very special visit from Griffin’s dad, Coach Pat. He came to teach us about his job as a football coach. We learned some moves, got to hear how loud the coaches whistle really is, and all did a special Ladybug cheer at the end!
Thank you to all of our parent visitors for volunteering to come in and share with the class a little bit about your jobs. The kids are loving it!! If anyone else (especially in the T/Th class since we only have 1 scheduled for them) would like to visit, just let us know!!
And we had THREE birthdays this week!!! Happy Birthday to Miss Kelsi, half Birthday to Reese, and early Birthday to Bo!! How exciting 🧁
Next week promises to be a busy one, too, with Pancakes & Pajamas on Monday & Tuesday and our Valentine’s celebrations on Tuesday & Wednesday!!! Don’t forget to wear your cozy pjs to school and bring Valentine cards for your friends.
School will be closed for Winter Break on February 19th & 20th.
One last little reminder- PLEASE help us keep all of our friends safe by making sure that lunches & snacks are nut & sesame free! We’ve caught a few items in the past month that needed to be sent back home. Thanks!
That’s all for this week. I hope you enjoyed some time outside with your little Ladybug on this beautiful day!
Miss Sue, Miss Jenn, & Miss Kelsi