May

Week of May 28-31

Creating our Banner

One end of year tradition that we have at ACP is having all of the classes create a banner full of memories from the school year. The children all think of their favorite thing that they have done at school this year - whether that be something that was offered each day, such as painting, or something that was a special occasion, like our Pinata Party or Winter Solstice celebrations. We write down their memories on the banner and the children each get to draw a picture representing their memory.

The banners will be on display at our end of year celebration picnic on the last day of school!

Birthday Assembly

This week our birthday assembly was a little different - we've already celebrated our May birthdays, so we got to celebrate our June and July birthdays!

Happy (early) summer birthday to Caroline, Hudson, Maddie, Riley, and Matthew.

This Week's Visitors

We had such a great time having so many parent visitors this week! Thank you to everyone who came in this year for reading, cooking, crafts, and more. The children have really enjoyed seeing so many of their family members and friends come into their classroom!

Mystery Reader

On Tuesday, Jacqueline's dad, Michael, came to read to our group. He read Mitford at the Fashion Zoo by Donald Robertson. Thanks for reading to us!

Smoothies

On Wednesday, Wyatt's mom, Jess, came to teach us how to make smoothies! We talked about the different types of fruit that we put in, and then Jess blended them all up and we watched them create a beautiful pink drink. Yum!

Learning about the Mets

On Thursday, Imogene's mom, Emily, visited to talk to us about her job, working for the Mets! Emily is an in-game host, so she entertains the crowd by playing games and doing contests on the big screen during breaks. She read us Good Night Mets, showed us a real baseball and jersey, and talked about the team mascot Mr. Met.

Making Play Dough

To celebrate the end of the school year, we are packing the last few days in with some of our favorite work time activities. On Tuesday, Rachel worked with the children to make play dough!

More Snaps From This Week

Making "robot glasses"

To show our love for music class this year, we surprised Mr. John with a letter and drawings!

Enjoying the beautiful weather with a picnic snack

Playing an exciting game of "duck, duck, goose!"

Week of May 20-24

Hello Butterflies!

On Friday we noticed wiggling within the chrysalis during our morning arrival. A few minutes later, orange wings emerged from their chrysalis right before our very eyes! It was a very special moment a few children got to observe. By this week, we had all of our butterflies flying around their habitat. The children represented them through observational drawings and voiced their thoughts.

"How do you think the caterpillars turned into butterflies in their chrysalis?"

"They wanted to fly."

"They were sleeping at night."

"They ate all the food so they turned into butterflies."

Goodbye Butterflies!

We released our butterflies on Wednesday in the garden. The butterflies seemed very happy to go out into the real world and we were all happy to celebrate their growth. Have a good life butterflies!

One butterfly even gave Jeanine a farewell kiss!

Exhibit Day

Thank you to all of our grown ups for coming to our Half Day Nursery group's exhibit! We were so excited to display work that the children have been invested in this school year. In Reggio Emilia, this would be referred to as "making learning visible." The event offered the children and teachers the chance to reflect on the knowledge, theories, and questions that emerged throughout our investigations, independent work, as well as studio explorations.

Updating Our Self Portraits

Our Last Game Day of the School Year

Game day was outdoors on Wednesday and a beautiful day it was! Children that participated played games like life size Jenga, Bean bag target, soccer drills, and a variety of board games. Thank you to all of our parents who volunteered to play with us throughout our school year.

Week of May 13-17

"Please Come to our Exhibit"

Our yearly exhibit is coming up! This is a special day where family members come to school and get to see all of the hard work your children have done this year. We created an invitation and the children drew pictures of their favorite things that they have done at school this year, which is only a fraction of what you will see at our exhibit.

When is it? Next Thursday, May 23rd, at 9:30 am.

Parent Show

We had so much fun watching all of the parents who were in the Parent Show on Wednesday! They put on an incredible performance of the story Giraffes Can't Dance"by Giles Andreae. Congratulations to all parents who participated, the children and teachers alike loved the show!

Check out some of the great reactions of the children:

Mystery Readers

Rachel's group was surprised by Maddie's grandma on Tuesday, who came in to read two stories: Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes and We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen.

On Thursday, Rachel's group was surprised again by Riley and Matthew's "Morai" who came in to read The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt.

Thanks for reading to us!

Appreciating Nature

This week, we spent some time appreciating nature in the West Yard. We gave the children a challenge of looking around the yard and finding natural objects that look like caterpillars or butterflies. Some of the objects found were sticks, leaves, and pine cones. While looking around the yard, we also appreciated other aspects of nature, such as watching a bird through binoculars, finding a home for some worms, and observing an oil beetle.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

With the transformation of our caterpillars underway, we thought it was a good time to read The Very Hungry Caterpillar to our groups. After reading the story, the children were able to use the felt story board to retell the story. We love using the felt board with the children as it gives them a way to tell the story on their own and is a precursor for learning to read.

Week of May 6-May 9

Happy 50th Anniversary to A Child's Place School!

What an amazing morning it was with so many alumni and family to celebrate this special milestone for ACP.

We celebrated with delicious cake!

We had projects from past alumni classes and photo albums from all the wonderful memories created at ACP.

Zach had many helpful hands to help bury the time capsule we filled with memorable messages, pictures, and artifacts important to the children. It will be uncovered in 10 years!

It was so wonderful to see so many ACP children...past, present and future!

"The Caterpillars Are Getting Longer."

What remarkable changes we observed taking place in the caterpillar's habitat from last week to this week. We continued to create observational drawings to record the children's ideas and write their thoughts, theories, and predictions. Like The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, our caterpillars grew bigger and fatter.

"They're big."

Children from the entire Half Day Nursery had a mixed work time on Monday to observe and represent the growing caterpillars.

They got taller."

"The caterpillars have spikes because they like to scratch."

"I see cobwebs."

Two Days Later....What Do You See?

On Thursday, we observed the caterpillars take on a new form, enclosed in their chrysalis. The children looked closely, made theories, and drew their observations.

"They are sleeping."

"Maybe they are hiding."

"Why are they hanging like that?"

"They are not in the jar anymore."

Happy Birthday Belle!

Celebrating May Birthdays! It can't be complete without a special flower lei and birthday chips for all.

Glazing Our Flower Pots

Building a New Mud Kitchen

The children worked so hard alongside Billie to add soil to our new mud kitchen in the west yard. We also have a working water spout made out of recycled materials.