Short week

I don't know if it was the weather on Monday or if these kids are just ready for spring to arrive, but they sure had a lot of energy! It's always interesting this time of year, the kids start to get really comfortable with each other and because they are that much older they start to have some emotions that are new to them. The main emotion I see coming through in the morning classes right now is jealousy. It seems to happen more with the boys than with the girls. When a friend they have been playing with for most of the year starts to play with different friends, the fists tend to come out and a hitting match ensues. This is not uncommon with this age group... so don't fret if your child has been lashing out. (He/she is not the only one!) We have been talking about it a little bit in class, trying to help the kiddos understand their feelings instead of lashing out with fists. It's a hard thing to grasp and often times when asked "why did you hit her?" or "Why are you hurting your friends?" they can't answer, because they truly don't know. We will continue to talk about it in class, along with other emotions that may come up as we near the end of the school year.

Monday we talked about Mardi Gras and specifically Fat Tuesday. We referenced the movie The Princess and the Frog, because it's set in New Orleans and features Mardi Gras celebrations and parade. The kids had a lot of fun decorating masks with feathers, sequins and tissue paper. They were most excited about putting them on, they kept asking over and over, "can we put them on when we're done?" I just love their enthusiasm!

Wednesday, our focus was St. Patrick's day. We made a Pot 'o gold for craft. If only they were full of real gold! :) We read a story about Clever Tom. Ask your kids if Tom succeeded in tricking the Leprechaun into giving up his gold. Answer: No, Clever Tom got tricked by the Leprechaun. It was a cute story and the kids enjoyed guessing whether or not Tom was being tricked.

Announcements:

No School Friday or all of next week for spring break - have a great break!

Please remember to take your child to the bathroom before class. We've had a lot of kiddos who need to use the restroom during class. We will gladly take them, but it makes it difficult when half the class has to go at once. Thanks for your help!

Please continue to wash hands before entering the classroom.

Funtime this week

Another busy week at Funtime. We continued our community helpers unit and learned about different people & things who help our community.

Here are some pictures from last week and our visit from Leah Neff, dental assistant at Peak Family Dental.

On Monday we talked about safety and transportation. We made a stoplight for craft and talked about what each color meant. We also talked about crossing the street and how sometimes there is a person called a crossing guard. I was really impressed that the kids new what each color on the stop light meant, remind me to never drive with them in my car.... I don't always slow down for the yellow... ;-)
The pre-K class worked on number recognition and handwriting by writing the number 1 and the number 7.

Wednesday, the 9 am class had a visit from a very special guest! Luke's dad came and told us all about his job working for Fedex. We learned a lot about what he does and the package delivery business. His truck was big enough that we were all able to get into it and each of us got a turn to sit in the drivers seat and honk the horn. Ask your child: "what is the strangest thing Mr. Dan has ever delivered?" Answer: a piece of a whale jaw!  "what did Fedex do to help with the oil spill?" Answer: re-locate hundreds of baby sea turtles. Also, ask about his special watch. He wears a special watch that unlocks the doors to his truck - the kids were pretty amazed by this. Thank you Mr. Dan for coming to our class and teaching us about your job!

For craft, all the classes (except pre-k, we ran out of time) made a mail carrier's bag. The kids had fun putting the envelope inside and pretending to deliver the mail. The pre-k class practiced writing upper case and lower case Aa. They are all getting so good at writing their names, holding their pencils correctly and forming their letters. I am super proud of them!

Here are some pictures of Mr. Dan and the kids.

Mr. Dan and Kaylin scanning a letter into the computer

Mr. Dan unlocking the door with his watch

All the kids in the back of the truck

Friday - gym day! This is the last week of Recreational basket ball, so next week, we should be able to do something more elaborate in the gym. But for now, the bleachers are out and in the afternoon, the guys from the sports dept. come and set out the chairs and score keeper, so we can't have any big equipment out. Today, we put all different sizes of balls out and the kids had a blast running, rolling and kicking.  The pre-k kids practiced the letter Dd today.

Look at all the fun we've been having playing Dr.'s and Nurses and Vets!

Have a great weekend!

New Session

A big welcome to all the new Funtime kids!

We are working on a community helpers unit, that will continue until spring break. Last week, our focus was on Dentistry.

Wednesday we painted a yellow tooth (yuck) with white paint. Our paintbrush for this fun craft was a toothbrush. The goal was to cover the entire yellow or plaque cover tooth with white paint. The kids had fun making sure there was no more plaque on their tooth.

On Friday, we had a visit from a dental assistant, Leah, who taught us all how to properly brush. She talked about making sure we get rid of all the sugar bugs hiding in our mouth. She also taught us that kids have 20 teeth and adults have 32 (unless you are missing your wisdom teeth). The kids enjoyed watching her brush the big teeth with the big toothbrush. She gave us all a toothbrush to help us with those naughty sugar bugs!! Thanks Ms. Leah!
Each class did get some time in the gym to run off some energy and play with balls.

This week we will continue our community helpers unit. We will be talking about mail carriers.
If you know of any community helpers who would be willing to come in and talk to our classes, please let me know.

Reminders:
Please continue to wash hands with soap and water before coming to class.
Please help your child go to the bathroom before class.
No school Friday March 11
Spring break March 14-18

Last week & new session

Wow, the last 6 weeks have just flown by! We start a new session on Wednesday 2/23 and our classes are overflowing! We will have Mr. Drake with us for the 2 morning classes and for now, Ms. Emily has moved over to the Northside and EPIC to get some experience teaching different classes. We may see her again before this school year is over.

I'm a little behind with my update - I didn't forget about you guys, the weekend just flew by and I didn't get a chance to write about what we did last week. So, here is a quick summary of our week.

On Monday we had a great time exchanging Valentines and feasting on yummy treats! The kids had a lot of fun giving out their valentines and then talking about it with their Funtime friends. Telling each other about which valentines they picked and how this one had a tattoo and this one had a funny cat, etc. It was really cute and they were really into it. A big Thank you from all of the teachers for our wonderful and thoughtful gifts! We all appreciate all of you so much - thank you!!

Wednesday we focused on Presidents day, since there is no school today. We talked about Abraham Lincoln, it was kind of ironic, because it was 2/16 and he was the 16th President... mostly we talked about his early life and how he came to be President. We also talked a little bit about slavery, what it was and how Abe was against it and eventually abolished it in this country. Of course I didn't use words like abolished... but discussed it in much simpler terms. For craft we made a log cabin out of Popsicle sticks and glued a drawing of Abe's face on it.
The pre-k class worked on the letter T and a review of the letters they have learned up to this point. They have learned to write all the ones that begin with a straight line from the top to the bottom or sky to the ground (this is what I call the top and bottom lines) and have another straight vertical line in them. (ie: L, I) They work so hard when it's writing time and are very determined - I'm so proud of them!

Friday was gym day! We had a lot of fun playing with all the balls in the gym. I always really enjoy running and playing with the kids in the gym. But I've found that on the days we have free play in they gym, like when we have the balls out, I have to stand and watch, because when I am playing, I'm not able to see everything that is going on. It's very different when we are playing a game like "what time is it Mr. Shark", I actually get to play on those days. I still get to play with the kids when I am standing watch, but it's limited to throwing and kicking the balls. It's fun to watch and see what kinds of things they come up with when given free reign. They are so much more creative than I am when it comes to making up games to play with each other!

Housekeeping and reminders:

Don't forget to wash your child's hand and have them go potty before class.

The new session begins 2/23, for those of you who are taking a break, we will miss you!!  I talked to a few of you who will be back in April and we look forward to seeing you then.

Our theme for the next 3 weeks will be: Community Helpers
This week we will focus on Dentistry and on Friday we will have a visit from a dental hygienist in the 2 morning classes and possibly the afternoon class as well.

Enjoy the rest of your day and I look forward to seeing everybody on Wednesday!

Reminders & Fun stuff

Wow - what a gorgeous weekend! I hope you all are outside enjoying this beautiful Colorado weather!

A few quick reminders before I get into all the Fun things we did this week.

1. For those of you who drive on Horsetooth East of Timberline to get to the YAC - the road is closed at the railroad tracks beginning Monday and I believe it will be closed through the 17th. So plan on taking an alternative route

2. Pre-k class, don't forget to bring your Valentine's mailboxes in tomorrow.

3. All classes - don't forget to bring your Valentine's and other goodies (if you signed up to bring something) to class tomorrow for our celebration.

4. Friday 2/18 is the last day of this 6 week session. The next session begins 2/23 (Wed.) Be sure to sign up for the next session. Registration is open for all sessions of Funtime through May.

5. Ms. Amy update: Amy is recovering from her foot surgery and will be back at Funtime Monday 2/14. Yeah! I know the kids have missed her, they have all been asking about her. I am looking forward to her return!

6. Thers is no school on Monday 2/21 in honor of President's Day.


Now for the fun Stuff!

We had a busy week in Funtime working on Valentines and preparing for the celebration on Monday 2/14. I hope you all liked the 'Hug' the kids made for you on Monday. They were very excited to make a valentine for their parents and present them to you. Some kiddos were very secretive and wouldn't let their parents see it until Valentines Day. Too cute!

Wednesday the kids used stickers to decorate bags to put their valentines in. They had fun peeling and sticking all kinds of different stickers on the bags. I can't wait for them to put their valentines in them tomorrow.

The Pre-K kids worked on writing circles and half circles. This is  in preparation for learning to write the letters that use circles and half circles. We also worked on letter and number recognition. This week we will begin learning address and phone numbers and continue to work on writing our letters, names and letter/number recognition.

Next week we will have our Valentine's Day Celebration and then our focus will be President's Day.

Have a great Sunday! See you all tomorrow.

Ms. Lisa

Oh Baby it's cold outside!

We made it through a really, really cold week! Although, it was pretty cozy in the Funtime room. Thanks to those of you who braved the cold and brought your kiddos on Wednesday even though PSD cancelled school.

This is a long post, so if you read nothing else, please scroll down to the bottom and read "A few house keeping items"

This week we had 2 different themes, on Monday, we focused on Ground hog day. The kids were really cute, asking all kinds of questions about the ground hog; why he came out of his hole, why did his shadow scare him, what was his name.... I answered these questions as best I could and we talked about the most famous ground hog, Pucksatawny Phil. The kids thought this was a silly name for a ground hog and I had to agree, so we brainstormed some other names for ground hogs - these kiddos are so creative!
For craft we made a ground hog puppet out of pom, poms and Popsicle sticks. Yes, I promise they were ground hogs, I know some of them were white and some were a golden color, but use your imaginations... we had to use the supplies we had. The kids had a lot of fun making the ground hog puppets and the older 2 classes even made theirs talk to each other, talking about how it was cold and 'did you see your shadow, because I didn't see mine.' I just love to listen to where their imaginations take them! The good news is, the ground hog did not see his shadow, so that means an early spring... I'll believe it when I see it!

On Wednesday, a cold, cold Wednesday, we talked about Chinese New Year. Thursday was the first day of Chinese New Year, the year of the Rabbit. We made Chinese Dragon puppets. The kids enjoyed hearing about this holiday celebrated in China, as well as in Chinese/American homes around the United States. A few kiddos had their own tales of New Year's Eve, so we talked a little bit about the differences. Not only is it a different date, it's a similar, but different kind of celebration. We also talked about how each year in China is dedicated to a different animal and each animal signifies something new. The Rabbit, or Hare as he is referred to in Chinese mythology, is the emblem of longevity and is said to derive his essence from the Moon.
2011 will be a placid year compared with last year, the year of the Tiger - a much welcomed and needed change. We had a few guests in our class today, Ms. Amy brought her kids and James' sister Hannah stayed to help out and play. They were so helpful and a joy to have in class! Thanks you guys for sharing part or all of you day with us, I truly enjoyed it!




our guest reader Hannah





The pre-k class worked extremely hard on writing the letter Ll, we did 4 different worksheets and they all tried their best on each one. Some of you have asked what you can do at home to help prepare your child for Kindergarten, working on name writing and letter and number recognition is a great place to start. If your child has this down, then begin working on learning/memorizing address and phone number.


Gym day was perfect for running off some steam after those frigid days earlier in the week. We got out big balls, little balls and some in-between balls and let the kiddos run and play to their hearts content. They were sweaty and tired by the time we were done with them! :-)

A few house keeping items:

Please continue to wash your child's hands and have them use the restroom before class.

Pre-K (12:30) class valentine mailboxes are due on Monday 2/14. I have a few extra shoe boxes if anybody needs one. You can bring them to class whenever they are complete, you don't have to wait until Valentines Day.
Pre-K class, please help your child write the name of each class member in the To: portion of their valentines and their name in the From: portion. If you need the class list again, please email me and I will send it to you.

The other 2 classes will be decorating valentine bags during class and only need to have their names written in the From: portion of their valentines.

My week was thrown off a little bit by the 'snow' days, so I did not post a Valentine's Day party sign-up sheet, I will do that on Monday.

Ms. Amy is having surgery on her foot on Monday, so we will have a variety of helpers in class this week. Mr.Drake, Ms. Emily and Ms. Jenn (the Curious 2's teacher). Please discuss this with your child if you feel they might be uncomfortable with this change.
Wishing you a speedy recovery Amy!

Have a great Sunday - stay warm and safe!

Lisa

Fun Pictures from the Afternoon class

Woo Wee is it COLD outside!! Here are some cute (and even one cozy) pictures from the afternoon class.
(Thanks to Shelley Moore - Max's mom for taking them)



Group hug - the kids in the afternoon class all came up one by one to give me a hug. It now happens everyday! They are just little sweet hearts and I will take all the hugs I can get!




The kids would work together to build a castle and then as soon as Shelley snapped the photo, they would destroy it.




So proud of their accomplishments... or are they just grinning so big, because they know they will destroy it as soon as picture is taken? - you decide!

Stay warm!

Lisa