Toddler Room

Wednesday we had a visit from Officer Corrina Behnke, Portland Police Department's Youth Services Officer. She spent time in our classroom talking about the importance of staying with parents while out doing errands (i.e. grocery store, hardware store) and also suggested that your children are getting old enough where they should be able to identify Mom and Dad by first name. Officer Corrina presented specific scenarios that didn't warrant a 911 call including fighting with a sibling or having a parent say, "It's clean up time!" Although she wasn't in full uniform it was nice to have an officer spend time at the JCA and be available for children to ask questions and communicate with her in a non-emergency setting. 

 

Nursery Room

We really worked our large motor muscles on the playground this week while trudging through the deep, new snow. Friends also enjoyed pulling one another in sleds and using the shovels to dig out some of the equipment or make tunnels! 

A new song was learned this week, the JCA Orchestra. Friends were each given an instrument (maracas, drum, or a triangle) and played their instruments when they heard their part in the song. We loved using the instruments and hope to incorporate them more into our large group time. 

Part of our conversation with healthy bodies has been physical activity. We have talked about how exercising our bodies is good for us and so is challenging ourselves. This led us to an obstacle course where friends balanced across a beam, jumped into hoops, stepped or hopped over beams placed at different heights and finally tossed a basketball into the hoop to complete the course! It was hard to wait our turns, but everyone did a great job working their muscles! 

 

Pre-K Room

For large group this week we continued to focus on -- you guessed it -- team work. We're beginning to see some serious growth in this department. Giving children frequent opportunities to practice collaboration, turn-taking, and negotiation helps them to build their prosocial skills. At this point in the year, all children really are valued as part of the team. Working regularly outside of their sometimes insular friend groups also helps them to develop respect for non-favored peers and the ability to work in a meaningful way with different personality types. Some of our activities this week included letter hunts, alphabet challenges, large format puzzles, and team lego building. 

 

Song of the Week

One little, two little, three little snowflakes,
Four little, five little, six little snowflakes,
Seven little, eight little, nine little snowflakes,

Ten little snowflakes on my tongue! (stick tongue out)

One little, two little, three little snowflakes,

Four little, five little, six little snowflakes,
Seven little, eight little, nine little snowflakes,

Ten little snowflakes on my hat! (pat head)

One little, two little, three little snowflakes,

Four little, five little, six little snowflakes,
Seven little, eight little, nine little snowflakes,

Ten little snowflakes on my mittens! (wiggle hands)

One little, two little, three little snowflakes,

Four little, five little, six little snowflakes,
Seven little, eight little, nine little snowflakes,

Ten little snowflakes on my boots! (point to feet)