Busy Fingers, Sleeping Fingers

Important Dates

Monday, September 22nd: First Lunch Bunch and a 1:00 pick up in the classroom

Quote of the Week

“I’ve been waiting for this guy!”  -- Overheard from an enthusiastic and supportive Blue Whale referring to another Blue Whale about to tell us about his Tell Us Tuesday interesting item

What a busy week of school.  It has been a joy building our school family and continuing to get to know each of our Blue Whales.  The Blue Whales are kind caring friends and developing wonderful friendships.  I hear a lot of talk around the snack tables about making plans for playdates and moms calling each other.  Your children are excited about their new friendships too. 

We sang Where is Thumbkin and practiced finger isolation.  And that led us to our discussion about busy fingers and sleeping fingers.  Thumb, pointer and tall man are the busy fingers and ring man and pinky are the sleeping fingers.  Each child received a cotton ball for ring man and pinky to sleep on while the rest of their fingers stay busy.   This is helping your child develop a tripod grasp which will help them manipulate many things including toys, tweezers, glue and writing utensils.  We read books about a mouse and a squirrel that we had to take through an adventure in each book using our busy fingers. 

Our friends worked on prewriting activities by tearing paper and making paper plate self-portraits.  Each Blue Whale looked in the mirror trying to match paper strips to their skin color, eye color, lip color, hair color and any other important attributes.  They are hanging up in the hall and each one is so unique with added details that were important to each child.     

One of the most important jobs in the Blue Whale classroom is to keep you and your friends safe, we are all Safekeepers.  Each Blue Whale told their friends and teachers they would keep them safe and added their names to the Safekeeper Box.  They were so supportive of each other and clapping for each of their friends as they added their names to our box.

We had our first Music & Movement class with Ms. Vicki on Wednesday.  The Blue Whales sang, danced and played musical instruments. The first Chapel was on Thursday with Pastor Lee.  The children really enjoyed listening to a story in the beautiful Sanctuary and getting the opportunity to ask Pastor Lee individual questions after Chapel. 

We had Guess & Tell and Sienna did a great job with three clues about her photo of an item and calling on friends to guess the item.  The Blue Whales were able to guess Sienna’s item because of her great clues.  Sienna and her family surprised the Blue Whales by bringing in Sienna’s actual pet snake.  Sienna told us all about her snake, Flower, and let everyone have a turn to pet the snake.  There were lots of proud Blue Whales who were near the snake and who touched the snake.  One of our affirmations is I am Brave and we sure were that day.  It was wonderful to see how much the snake and Sienna love each other. 

On Monday we will have our first Lunch Bunch.  Please label your child’s snack separate from their lunch.  Please remember to pack a nut and sesame free lunch and snack. Please include any needed utensils, napkin and water bottle.

Lunch will be every Monday and Wednesday and pick up will be in the classroom at 1:00 pm. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we will continue with pick up on the playground at 12:00 pm. 

We are enjoying creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading and playing with our Blue Whale friends.   Hope everyone has a nice weekend. 

School Family

Important Information

Wednesday, September 17th: First Music Class with Ms. Vicki Thursday, September 18th: First Chapel with Pastor Lee Monday, September 22nd: First Lunch Bunch and a 1:00 pick up

Quote of the Week

“If he is nice to me, I will let him be my security guard.” — The challenge was accepted and he was a kind and stellar security guard.

Classroom News

We had another successful week of school.  We have quickly become a school family.  Ms. Beth and I are enjoying building relationships with each of your children and learning about all our wonderful students.  The Blue Whales are kind friends and enjoy playing with each other and are developing lovely friendships.  The Blue Whales are working hard on using their words, listening to their friend’s words and keeping their hands and feet to themselves. We have such lovely and happy children that we will be in a harmonious classroom routine in no time. 

Each Blue Whale had their first job this week and they did a great job.  When they arrive on Monday they can check out their new job for the week. 

Our first Tell Us Tuesday was a success. The Blue Whales were so excited to share about their item or tell the class something important to them.

We had our first Guess & Tell and Wren did a great job with three clues about her item and calling on friends to guess the item.  The Blue Whales were able to guess Wren’s item because of her great clues.

We read some engaging books this week. We talked about our emotions and what it is like to feel more than one emotion at a time. Everyone contributed to our discussions.  We also read a book about scribbles and a flamingo who ate some colorful food.

The Blue Whales helped decorate the classroom with hand made sparkly whales and brought home their own color emotions monsters and pet rocks.

We will always have play dough out for the children. This simple activity helps build their fine motor skills and sparks their creativity. Another activity we have in the classroom this week is Magna Tiles on the light table. The Magna Tiles encourage teamwork, improve focus, boost motor skills and teach shapes.

Ms. Beth and I are so appreciative of our supportive parents with your kind words and items for our classroom. Thanks so much for being a part of our school family.

We are enjoying creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading and playing with our Blue Whale friends.   Hope everyone has a nice weekend. 

Thankful for a Wonderful Week!

Our visitation days and first day of school went so well!  We enjoyed getting to know your sweet Blue Whales.  They were so excited to see old friends and welcoming to new friends.  We heard kind words and saw lots of sharing and cooperative play among friends.  It has been a wonderful start to a new school year.  Next week we will continue to discuss classroom routines, emotions, rules, our schedule, prayers and singing classroom songs.  Classroom jobs will start on Monday and your child will have a new job each week. 

Ms. Beth and I have chosen some wonderful books to read and discuss with the children during story time.  We feel truly blessed to be able to spend our days with such a wonderful group of children.  And thank you to all our amazing families for your support, kind words and fulfilling some of our classroom needs so quickly. 

Thank you for signing up to provide play dough for the class.  I was amazed how quickly the slots were filled. I appreciate your support. We need enough play dough, either homemade or store bought, for 15 children. 

I have included the QR Code for our Blue Whale Wish List.  This QR Code will also be hung up outside the classroom.  I will keep it updated throughout the year with needs and wants for the Blue Whale class.  Thank you for your consideration.

I have updated the class photo album link with photos from both visitation days and our first day of school. 

We are looking forward to creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading and playing together.  Have a great weekend!