Sproutlings Newsletter: Week of January 4
- Sproutlings is closed on Monday, January 18 in observance of Martin Luther King Day. For a printable list of all closures, please visit our website under “calendar.”
- At Sproutlings, we believe in celebrating the little joys in childhood and always have enjoyed observing different traditions, holidays, and birthdays together as a community. COVID has taken so much from us and we want to ensure we are still giving our children the experience of these simple joys. However, we need to ensure we are doing it safely and in compliance with state regulations.
- Birthdays can be celebrated in the classrooms but families must bring in pre-packaged, sealed nut-free treats. Some favorites are packs of Little Bites muffins, individual packs of mini-oreos, or sealed boxes of store bought mini-cupcakes. Teachers will make sure these are distributed with gloves and in compliance with all state regulations.
- Please notify the teachers at least 24 hours in advance if you will be bringing in a treat for the class so that teachers can notify parents ahead of time.
- Baked goods from home and non-sealed treats for class distribution are not allowed at this time.
- New Jersey strongly discourages all non-essential interstate travel at this time. Please be sure you are following the most updated travel restrictions. https://covid19.
nj.gov/faqs/nj-information/ travel-and-transportation/are- there-travel-restrictions-to- or-from-new-jersey - As always, please provide documentation whenever your child receives a vaccination. New Universal Health Records are due at your child’s annual physical each year. If you need a copy, please email Kerry at sproutlings.info@gmail.com
Peapods
Happy New Year from the Peapod room! We have had such a special week. We were busy building with our soft blocks. It’s always fun to see how high we can build our towers. We are also pulling ourselves up to reach new and exciting things. Some of us are getting used to tummy time. It isn’t always easy but with practice we will be able to crawl around with our friends. Ms Lu read our book of the week Snow Bunny Tales by Rosemary Wells. Ms Melissa helped us sing our song of the week “Five Little Snowmen.”
Seedlings
The Seedlings had a wonderful time this week and we were glad to be back at school with our friends. We enjoyed time outside and had fun standing on top on the mushrooms then jumping off of them. We also went down the slide together while holding hands and we thought it was the silliest thing.
The Seedlings love to be creative with their dot art markers. They also had a blast mixing two different colors and seeing what happens! During Circle Time, we read Happy Hippo Angry Duck by Sandra Boynton and we sang “The Wheels On The Bus.”
Little Sprouts
Happy New Year to our Little Sprouts family! This has been a great week welcoming some new friends as well as adjusting back from break. Our favorite song this week was “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” and many of us mastered our dance moves while practicing our gross motor skills! We also enjoyed our New Years craft that we made for our parents. Using the Mega Blocks, we practiced identifying colors as we stacked the blocks. We were surprised by the environmental changes to our room! The teachers moved around some of our centers over the break and we had fun exploring our new space this week.
Beanstalks
This week was full of winter fun in Beanstalks! This week we started learning about winter animals. We had a fun group discussion during Circle Time about what everyone’s favorite winter animal was. We made a class chart according to everyone’s answer! We had a lot of answers like polar bears, penguins, snowy owls, and a walrus. In addition, we also made a big polar bear diagram in which everyone shared the facts they knew about polar bears. We had a lot to say!
Everyone was able to make their very own snowy owl and they are now decorating our classroom! We also did a fun penguin math activity in which we practiced our colors and numbers. During story time, we read a couple winter favorites such as The Mitten, Little Owl’s Snow, and Hoot and Peep. It was a great first week back after a nice long break and we can’t wait for another fun-filled week next week! Have a wonderful weekend!
Saplings
Happy New Year! In PreK-3 we are so excited for this new year and everything we’re going to learn. This week we learned about animals that hibernate! The kids learned that bears and many more animals sleep long hours during the cold winter. Did you know that some animals adapt and migrate in the winter? As a class we also discussed what animals need to do to survive in the winter.
Our favorite stories we read this week were Hibernation Station by Michelle Meadows Don’t Wake Up the Bear by Marjorie Dennis Murray and Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson. We continued working on our handwriting skills. This week we learned how to hold a pencil correctly and how to make vertical and horizontal lines! Some of our friends made sleeping bear faces while others made a sleepy bear cave. We helped the sleeping bear find its cave by identifying letters! We had a blast this week in Pre K 3!
PreK 4
This week we investigated snowflakes in Pre K 4. We discussed and observed the stages of a snowflake while learning about a snowflakes life cycle. The class was able to strengthen their fine motor skills while cutting out snowflakes
Our letters of the week were W and X. The children practiced them with Handwriting Without Tears roll-a-dough and stamp and screen. They were also able to sound out words to create a word web.
The children were able to practice their math skills while doing a number match activity and then a number order activity. Two of the books we enjoyed this week were The Lonely Snowflake by Patrick S. Stemp and Snowy The Snowflake by Jonathan Tucker.