August News: Weeks of July 28th and August 4th
Important Key Card Entry Information
Please make sure you have your keycard to enter the building. For security purposes the keycard registers who is entering the building. If you have mislaid your card, please let us know so that we can deactivate it and issue you a new one. There will be a $15 charge for new keycards.
If you do not have your keycard at pick up or drop off, please expect a wait.
Please do not hold the door open for anyone that you do not know.
2025 Holiday Closing Dates
Our 2025 Holiday Closing Dates can be found on our website using the link below.
Peapods
The Peapods have had a few changes these past two weeks. We are so happy to welcome three new friends, but sadly had to say goodbye to three others who are going to enjoy all the new and exciting activities waiting for them in Peapods 2.
We continue to go outside and enjoy the summertime. It’s the best! We have also been practicing with our jar caps and putting them in the big container. It’s not easy but we will keep practicing! One of the books we read was Chicka Chicka 1, 2, 3 by Bill Martin Jr, Michael Sampson, and Lois Ehlert. Have a great weekend!
Peapods II
Peapods 2 has been having a blast this summer! We’ve been enjoying water play and spending lots of time outside. We can’t believe how fast the summer is going by but we’re making sure to enjoy every moment! We enjoyed coloring with dot markers, dressing up, and building with our soft blocks over the past two weeks. Our favorite books were Whale by Maggie Li and Dinosaur Dance! by Sandra Boynton. We can’t wait to see what these next two weeks will bring!
Seedlings
The Seedlings have been having such an awesome summer. We’ve been soaking up the sunshine and spending as much time as we can out on our playground. We just love it out there. When we’re not splashing around during water play, we’re practicing how to climb the big ramp just like the big kids. We get so excited and proud when we make it to the top. Some of our friends are still working on it and that’s okay, too.
Inside the classroom, we’ve been busy building our fine motor skills. We’ve been creating giant murals with all our friends. Ms. Hailey and Ms. Paige are amazing artists and can draw anything we ask for. We do our best to copy their drawings and it’s so much fun. Lately we’ve all been a little sticker obsessed. We love peeling them off all by ourselves, sticking them onto paper, and then decorating our shirts and faces too. Stickers everywhere!
During circle time, we read I Need a Hug by Aaron Blabey, a classroom favorite, and we’ve been singing and dancing to “Animal Boogie.” We love acting out all the animals.
Little Sprouts
The past two weeks have been filled with lots of fun and learning! We explored two exciting themes birds and dinosaurs! Each morning, we kicked off our day with the Good Morning song, practiced the days of the week, reviewed our ABCs, and counted together as a class.
As we learned about birds, we made handprint birds and painted nests using tinfoil. Then we traveled back in time to the age of dinosaurs, where we colored a T-Rex and made dinosaur tracks with paint. We enjoyed story time with Hello, World! Birds by Jill McDonald and Ten Terrible Dinosaurs by Paul Stickland both books were big hits with the class!
Some highlights from the past two weeks included water play, dancing to “Dinosaur Stomp”, flying around the room like birds, and of course our weekly visit from Ms. Lisa! She introduced us to different musical instruments, what they sound like, and led us in singing some of our favorite songs. It’s been a joyful and imaginative couple of weeks, and we can’t wait for more adventures ahead!
Beanstalks
What a fantastic two weeks we’ve had here in Beanstalks. We discussed marine life and the different ways that sea creatures may look or behave. We had so much fun making jellyfish to hang in our classroom. We really enjoyed reading Ocean Life by Jill McDonald and singing “Slippery Fish”. At the end of last week, we were so thrilled to have some new friends join our class!
This week we are learning about Pirates and Mermaids. We loved pretending to be pirates in a storm during water play and have had so much fun singing “Over The Deep Blue Sea”! Our favorite book this week was Are Pirates Polite? by Artemis Roehrig and Corinne Demas. We hope you all have a safe and happy weekend and we’ll see you next week!
Saplings
The Saplings have had lots of fun during the last 2 weeks. We had our very own shark week and learned lots of interesting facts about sharks – we even got to hold a real shark tooth! We painted whale sharks using q-tips which helped developing our fine motor muscles and hand eye coordination and we practiced our numbers when we used play-dough mats to count the correct number of teeth for the shark. Two of our favorite shark books were Clark the Shark by Bruce Hale and There was an Old Mermaid Who swallowed a Shark by Lucille Colandro.
This week the Saplings went on a pirate and mermaid adventure. We made a pirate treasure map using coffee to paint the white paper to make it look like an old map! We practiced our pencil grip when we drew the line from the X to the treasure chest on our maps. We decorated mermaids tails with dot stickers working on developing our fine motor muscles as we peeled the stickers from the sheet. We even got to go on a pirate letter hunt as we searched for the letters that were hidden around the classroom. Our favorite books included How I Became a Pirate by by Melinda Long and How to Catch a Mermaid by Adam Wallace. Everyone enjoyed dancing to the Port Side Pirates song by Barefoot Books.
During the next two weeks the Saplings will be heading back in time to learn all about dinosaurs.
Pre-K 3
Prek3 has had a great time these past few weeks learning about sharks and pirates!
Last week was all about sharks. The children reviewed the alphabet while feeding letters to a shark, sorted sharks by size, and learned the parts of sharks! They also sponge painted and used collage techniques to create beautiful shark pictures. Some of the books we liked were Walter the Whale Shark, by Katrina Crow, Big Shark, Little Shark and the Spooky Cave, by Anna Membrine, and Great White Sharks, by Jen Greene.
This week the children are learning about pirates and mermaids! They have created their own treasure maps, went on an alphabet treasure hunt, reviewed numbers by counting pirate ships, and created their own pirate ship crafts!
Some of our favorite books included Pete the Cat and the Treasure Map, by Kimberly and James Dean, Shiver Me Timbers, by June Sobel, Pirates Love Underpants, by Claire Freedman, and Twenty-six Pirates, by Dave Horowitz.
As always, everyone enjoys Stretch and Grow, water play, music with Miss Lisa, and Friday field trips as the weather permits!
Pre-K 4
In Pre K 4, the children have been having fun with Pirate and Western themed activities. We enjoyed the books Pirates Love Underpants by Clair Freedman and Cowboy Boyd and Mighty Calliope by Lisa Moser.
Some of the ways the children have been working on number and uppercase letter recognition is by making letter matches with cowboy boots and hats, matching letters to find hidden treasures playing number hide and seek and tracing shark numbers. Additionally we have been working on our fine motor skills by using scissors to make cowboy boots by cutting brown paper and stars out and using play dough to make western shapes.
Next week, the children can look forward to a Dinosaur fun filled week including a special visitor!
Summer Camp
Over the past two weeks, our campers have enjoyed a variety of fun and engaging activities!
Last week we kicked off with an exciting trip to Imagine That!, where the kids had a blast exploring the jungle gym and the pirate ship. Back at camp, we stayed active with soccer, tag and hula hoop at the field, swim lessons, and open swim. We also kept the energy up with fun games like balloon paddle tennis and a fast-paced number/color dash!
This week our highlight was a trip to see the Somerset Patriots! Even though the rain changed our plans one day, we made the most of it indoors with a lively game of hot potato and the kids had a blast!
We’ve had a great time so far and can’t wait for more summer fun ahead!