April 2012

The children have really been enjoying their developing friendships and stretching their imaginations.   We’ve been playing with rhyming words, watching for signs of spring and exploring our five senses.  The children really enjoy sharing their ideas at circle time and practicing writing and drawing.   They have all grown so much since the beginning of the school year!

April is a short month, but we have a lot going on!  We will be having special person’s night on Wednesday & Thursday, April 4^th & 5^th from 6:30-7:30pm.  These evenings allow each student to bring in one special person who doesn’t otherwise have the chance to visit TCNS.   Children can bring a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle or other special adult friend.  We’ll have a special project, circle time and snack.  Children really enjoy showing their special people around. 

Next year’s registration forms were in cubbies the last week.  Please return your registration forms before the April break.   Let me know if you have any questions about registration.   Scholastic book orders are also due April 6^th.

Spring break is April 9-13!  There will be no school that week.  Hopefully the weather will be beautiful and we can all get outside and enjoy the spring!  There will also be no class on Friday, April 20^th because our teachers will be attending an early childhood conference and workshops in Buffalo.  We hope to bring back a ton of new ideas to our classrooms. 

Our next parent meeting will be Tuesday, April 24^th from 6:30-7:30.  We’ll go over the results of the parent survey and share information from the conference we’re attending on April 2oth.  We’ll be taking a fieldtrip to the dentist on April 24^th with the TTh class.  It’s a nice walk and we still get to spend most of the day at school. 

April Activities:  this month we’ll be talking a lot about eggs and baby animals.  We’ll start the month by reading Ed’s Egg, by David Bedford.  This is a sweet story about a baby chicken who’s afraid of leaving his egg.  We’ll talk about eggs, which animals lay eggs, and do eggshell experiments.  We’ll do a paper mosaic egg collage and eggshell art.  After spring break we’ll read Ruby in Her Own Time by Jonathon Emmett.  This is a wonderful book about being little and growing up.  We’ll make a paper bag duck and handprint ducks, plus make our own duck nests with eggs.  Our final book of April will be Green eyes by Ann Birnbaum.  We will do a spring tree collage, paper plate cat, snip paper and work with pastels.

Terrific Two’s:  April will bring many exciting changes outside and inside. Spring is happily here and we are exploring all the changes around us and within our children. We start the month with Minerva Louise & the Colorful Eggs by: Janet Morgan Stoeke. We will be dyeing eggs and making many spring decorations for our classroom. We will have fun learning about what animals live on the farm with Old Mac Donald. Expect to see and hear many farm animals coming home. We will end the month with The Cow Who Clucked by: Denise Fleming where the cow on the farm has lost his moo.

Five little duckies went swimming one day, over the pond and far away

Mama duck said, “Quack, quack, quack!” 

But only four little duckies came back.

Four little duckies went swimming one day….

Three little duckies….

Two little duckies…

One little ducky went swimming one day, over the pond and far away

Daddy duck said, “QUACK, QUACK, QUACK!” 

And all five little duckies came swimming right back.