Dear Sprout Families,
Well, that pesky groundhog predicted another
six weeks of winter and boy was he right! Be
sure your children’s cubbies are still filled
with warm clothing. We will be watching
diligently for Spring to arrive!
It was so much fun learning about and
exploring shoes this month. At Circle time
we read New Shoes, Red Shoes by Susan
Rollings, and Pete the Cat Rocking in my
School Shoes by Eric Litwin. We sang One,
Two, Buckle My Shoe, and This is the way
we put on our shoes.
For art we colored, painted, and glued
various different colored shoes and boots.
We glued hearts on paper and colored some
other hearts for Valentine’s Day. They loved
talking about the heart pouch they made to
hold their Valentine’s treats and were so
excited to take them home. The next day we
heard alot about the treats and cars they
found inside!
At Circle time we piled our shoes in the
middle of the floor and took turns finding
which shoes were ares and sitting down to try
to put them back on (which is going really
well). While putting on our shoes we
discussed who wore boots, whose shoes had
laces or velcro, and the different colors of
shoes. We counted how many friends wore
boots and how many wore tennis shoes. The
children had the opportunity to use our
practice shoes with laces.. They put their fine
motor skills to the test threading the laces in
and out of the eyelet holes and trying to tie
them.. It was so much fun!
The Sprouts have also been enjoying the
snow. Putting on their snow boots to go
outside was a big highlight. While outside we
discovered that it was a little more tricky
running in boots but it was still so much fun.
Here are a few things the Sprouts enjoyed
during our Shoe Study:
Fletcher liked to point out he was wearing
boots while reading our books at Circle time.
Lillian would take out the shoe puzzle every
day to work on it and by the end of the month
she was able to put it together by herself.
Grey loved doing art. He would sit there
forever coloring and gluing. I think coloring
with markers was his favorite.
Nell really enjoyed working with the buckle
boards and trying to lace up the shoes..
Jackson really enjoyed his first month here
getting to know his new friends, doing art,
playing in the snow and exploring the
classroom.
Landon thought it was so much fun sliding
his heel across the floor to take off his shoes
before nap. He would say, “I did it!”
Townes had fun helping his friends find their
shoes after coming in from outside playing in
the snow.
Caleb’s favorite part of the day was definitely
singing songs and reading stories.
Poppy liked to point out that the bear in a
raincoat had boots on its feet each time she
would play with it.
In March we will be studying everything
“Blocks.” The link between block play and
cold development is undeniable. Block play
offers a creative, open-minded and valuable
play experience for everyone. It provides
children the freedom to explore, take apart,
and put back together any block based
creation they can imagine. Block play is
inclusive. It opens new opportunities
regardless of whether your child plays alone
with a friend, or in a small group.
Block play helps children learn to take turns
and share materials, develop new friendships,
become self-reliant, increase attention span,
cooperate with others and develop
self-esteem.
We will explore the many different kinds of
blocks and how we can use our imaginations
with them. We’ll ask questions like “How
can I build with
these blocks?” “What happens when I stack
the blocks so high?”
Some things you can do at home to help
foster
their imagination with building is finding
things
that you can use as blocks, such as empty egg
cartons, tissue boxes, anything you can stack
and build with. Using legos and duplos you
can build
a city or maybe a zoo and add some animals
or people and cars to go with it. Let your
child lead you in the direction their
imagination takes them.
We would like to welcome Jackson to the
Sprout Room. He started at the beginning of
February and stepped right in like he has
been here all year.
If you have any questions or concerns don’t
hesitate to reach out to us at any time. Teresa,
Amy, Julie