Thursday, August 25, 2011

September Newsletter


Now we have more room on the deck play area!
This month we'd like to welcome Sienna to Little Foot Daycare. We look forward to getting to know her and helping her settled in. Our Summer days or coming to a close as we embrace more of a Fall like weather. We continue to look for sunshine and take advantage of those last summer days. We've enjoyed beautiful fragrant flowers and have taken notice to birds and are fascinated as they fly in the sky. This month we look forward to brightening up your walls with more colorful paintings and art work. And maybe some trips to Stow Lake.


Our First Experience with Paint Brush Markers
Important Dates:                                                 
Monday Sept. 5th- Closed for Labor Day
Friday Sept. 23rd- Mateo's Surgery

Small Motor Activities:

The kids have really enjoyed their new found art skills and can't seem to get enough. Not only did the kids get introduced to paint last month but they have also learned how to use stickers and are working with crayons and paint brush markers as well. Camila was a pro at stickers from the very start, she has great eye-hand coordination, and I believe that she prefers using them the most. She has a great time making colors on the paper with the crayons and markers, but doesn't like to get too messy with the paint. Mateo had a tricky time with stickers in the beginning but has made such an improvement, he can use them all by himself now. He loves to have fun with the paint and markers. We are now combining the use of these materials and can't wait to share our art with you.

Large Motor Activities:

Woo hoo for dance parties. The kids love music, from arms in the air to bouncing squats, they love to dance and exercise different moves. Their favorite songs include: If Your Happy and You Know It, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, and Old McDonald. We're learning that toys are not for throwing. We're being reminded that we can throw balls and have such a good time doing it. We play alittle golf, baseball, soccor, and basketball, too.

New Accomplishments:
  • Camila and Mateo can now get themselves on and off the rocking horse, riding car and dinosaur
  • Miss dare devil Camila stands on the chair and dinosaur
  • Mateo cuts two teeth
  • They are both spoon feeding themselve
  • Camila's first words! "Hello", "Hi", "Thank You" and "There you go" all in english!
  • Mateo learns how to blow from his nose and mouth
  • Kimberly teaches herself the alphabet in American Sign Language
    
    Experimenting with the Chairs
    
    We are definetily in the cause and effect stage. Here are some of the things we are working on and how we are handling it:

    Hitting/Grabbing-I verbally tell the offender that it is not ok to hit/grab, I console the victum while telling the offender that it hurt and that it makes him/her cry or that he/she doesn't like that. If the attacks continues I move the child into the other room, tell them it's not ok and walk away. (I hope to discourage this behavior by giving them the idea that we don't want to be around them when they are going to hurt us) The behavior usually stops right away.

    Throwing food off the highchair-I remind them that we eat the food. They usually always say "o, oh" as they throw the food, which tells me that they know what they are doing, and I discourage the behavior by taking them out of the chair saying, "it looks like your done with snack" and then we clean up our mess.

    Fun Facts:
    • Mateo brings toys to Camila when she can't play, like: in the highchair when she is still eating or on the changing table.
    • Camila presents Mateo with play ideas and brings him toys.
    • Mateo tries to hug Camila, whoops, they usually end up on the floor.
    • They share...sometimes.
    • While talking to someone we met on our walk, Camila claps her hands to get my attention and demands that we continue our walk using the sign for "more".




    Thursday, July 14, 2011

    August 2011 Newsletter

    August 2011 Newsletter

    
    Camila playing in the pool.
     I am so pleased to present you with Little Foot's 1st newsletter! This Month we look forward to enjoying some summer fun. We will take advantage of our outdoor play area even if it means putting on a coat, so don't forget your sun hat! We plan to have fun with water play and explore with finger paints.

    Good work to our Little Ones for working so hard on cutting new teeth. Congratulations Camila on your 1st tooth! Congratulations to Mateo on your 1st Molar! All the pain, fever, and rough nights have certainly paid of with your new pearly whites. Don't forget to brush.

    Curriculum:

    Peek-A-Boo! I see you!
    We have really been working on our gross motor skills with our new discovery of walking. We were introduced to a long tunnel to promote spacial awareness and achevment as we get from one end of the tunnel to the other. With all this drizzly weather we have brought the outdoor play in with a slide. We are learning to climb, slide, squeeze through small spaces and take turns.

    
    Mateo giving Camila ger cup to drink from.
     Speaking of taking turns we are getting along so well. We've recently engaged in the early stages of sharing! We can play with the same thing and pass them back and forth to one another happily. Puzzles are so much fun. We discovered how to play in sequence by dumping out all the pieces and trying to get them back to where they should be. We've discovered how helpful we can be by picking up food we've thrown off the high chair and putting away a few toys at clean up time. We're still far from doing the dishes or taking out the trash though, Ha ha ha.




    Special Offer:  Earn 4 hours of free babysitting for every family you recuit to enroll at Kimberly's Little Foot Daycare.