Hello Yellow Duck Families,
These past weeks we’ve spent time together as a large group practicing the fine art of conversation. Actually, the fine art of polite conversation. We placed an object (a toy hammer), that would provoke a story or comment from each child, inside a small gift bag. Then, we asked the children to take a turn peeking inside but not sharing what the object was. We made it all the way around the circle without anyone saying a word! Afterwards we passed the hammer around the circle and each child could tell something they knew about hammers. Everyone waited for their turn and everybody who wanted to share was able to do so respectfully. We heard:
“You can use it to pound in a screw.” (Don’t laugh, I’ve done it. Don’t tell me husband 😊)
“It has a handle.”
“You can hurt yourself with this part .” (The claw)
It was a beautiful site to behold. We will continue to practice having polite conversations both in large and small groups until the end of the year. It will be fun to watch how much they grow in this area.
Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.” - Emily Post
PUMPKINS! - Many thanks to those who brought in a pumpkin this past week 🎃. We made observations about the outside of a pumpkin such as its color, stem, and that it had lines on it. We made predictions about what we thought might be on the inside and all of them were correct. We also experienced how the democratic voting process works when everyone had an opportunity to vote on how to carve one of our pumpkins. The happy face won and no one was too disappointed when their choice wasn’t picked. There is that pivoting and flexibility in real time!
This week we have rolled out our whiteboard easel in our circle time area for some vertical writing practice. The children have access to dry-erase markers and have done a great job of making sure the caps are put back on. We’ve had some beautiful art and some letters! Writing or playing vertically improves a variety of different skills. It improves pencil grasp, shoulder/elbow stability, bilateral coordination, posture, hand/eye coordination, and the ability to naturally cross the midline. So much packed into this type of play! Here are some easy ideas for playing vertically at home:
Play with shaving cream on an easel or mirror Hang paper on the wall and put stickers on the paper Play with magnets on the refrigerator Coloring on all surfaces of a box, inside and out Squirting/wiping/squeegee-ing windows “Painting” a fence with water
Drawing a house
We worked on the letter L this week! How many things start with L in your house?
PHOTOS - Here is the link to view your child’s photos from Wednesday: https://davidgellatly.smugmug.com/SCHOOLS-2024. The password is pizza. There isn’t a bad picture in the bunch! We have such beautiful Ducks.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27TH - The Chapel Hill Fire Department will visit us next Tuesday and talk about fire safety and we may even get a close up look at their truck. This is all dependent on if they have no emergencies of course!
TRUNK OR TREAT will take place at the church office parking lot on Sunday, Oct 27 beginning at 4:00. Bring your little ones by to enjoy a treat!
OCTOBER 31 - We hope you can join us for our Halloween Costume Parade around Southern Village (inside if raining). Please send your child to school in their costume and drop them off at the classroom at the regular time. The Ducks will meet parents and special grown-ups outside in front of the church at 9:25 a.m. and start our parade with the Blue Whales class. Families are welcome to dress up too. Please help your child change out of their costume after the parade. If you are OK with them wearing their costume all day that is fine too, but we will be our normal messy selves and play outside that day.
Bundle up baby, it’s getting colder out there! Enjoy this beautiful weekend.
Peace,
Ms. Shelly & Ms. Carina