September

 Dear Families,

My name is Catie Stone and I am the Lead Teacher of Room 7 - Toni Addington is the Assistant Teacher for Room 7 this year! We are excited to have your child with us!

We are going to send along an Orientation Packet for our classroom this year for you to read through. Later this week, we will be making some introduction videos for our classroom and show you a virtual tour of the room! We will be talking about our room and share things we think you should know before the school year gets underway. As you can imagine, things are going to look a bit different this year, but we have gotten our feet wet (so to speak) over the summer and have found some great routines and strategies that work for our room to ensure the day runs smoothly with our new sanitizing and health procedures.

After you get a chance to look at our videos, let us know if you have any questions! You are welcome to send an email, or we can set up a Zoom call for a few minutes on Monday, August 31st, if that would be easier for you. We want you to feel as comfortable as possible with the way things are going to look this fall.

Over the summer we sent out videos before we began the semester and the children and families loved them - it really helped everyone see how things would look and helped the children know what to expect.

We will be setting up a ClassDojo account for our room which you will be able to message us with and view photos and videos from our classroom on. As you can imagine, our days are sometimes very busy so we aren’t always able to update right away or see messages immediately; however, this is a great way for families to be able to see what happens throughout the day and the children love to use this as a way to reflect on their school day/week. I will invite each family with the email addresses provided to me from the front desk. If you would prefer another, just let me know!

Some of our families inquire about a classroom WishList at the beginning of the year. We have an Amazon account that I will link below. We also always love donations of matchbox cars, dry erase markers, trains, houseplants, restaurant menus, and cardboard tubes! As we get to know the children more and how our classroom is going to work, we will update you as well. Our Amazon link is:

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1IBGOPQTH0PU0?ref_=wl_share


Keep an eye out over the next few days for our videos and let us know if you have any questions. We are very excited to begin the school year and know there are going to be lots of great things in store for us.

Have a wonderful day!

Catie Stone & Toni Addington

Construction Begins

For the past few weeks we have worked with the children on planning for our train diorama.  The children have decided what parts of it will look like and how they will help to contribute.

Last week we began construction.  We got a box and decided what colors to paint it.  The children decided that brown would make sense for the bottom part because the ground has dirt and dirt is brown. On the side of the box inside, the children decided on light blue.  They decided that when they look out of the window they see blue so blue would be a good color for the sides of the inside.

The children also designed trees for the background.  They drew the trees and I was able to make them bigger and smaller by scanning them into the computer.  This helped us to create our forest in the background.

The outside of the box is painted red.  The children held a vote and most of them decided that red was their favorite color, and also the color of lava which they like a lot.  

This week we are going to look more at train stations, think about designing train tracks, and construct a bridge or tunnel for our diorama.  We are very excited to see how the next few weeks bring all of our ideas together!

Creating groups

Often the individual children in our classroom are interested in different types of activities and material explorations. As the school year has progressed, the children are now more confident in the types of lessons and materials we use in the classroom.

In thinking about our future diorama, we wanted to see what type of contribution might interest them the most. Different actions were listed and we talked about how each might contribute to the diorama.   I asked the children what type of activity they liked the most, or knew the most about, because when we start creating I will need some experts to help with different things. The children took a minute to think and then I asked them to come make their choices. We still have some children to speak with but they each seemed confident as they made their choices.

Thinking about Dioramas

Over the past few months the children have been exploring teeny tiny things.  We have done everything from creating with different building materials, to thinking about tiny details as we draw and paint, to finding special tiny things on the playground.  

The interest seems to have continued with the children after winter break from school.  This week we started to brainstorm ways to incorporate the interest and ideas of all the children in a way that combined the ideas we want to continue exploring.

I printed out photos of dioramas for the children to see.  I explained that dioramas are a small way to represent a space.  Typically we make them out of a box and it is a way to use tiny materials in another way.

We looked at 5 photos of scenes that I thought might be of interest to the children.  We looked at a train station, the desert, a winter scene, an ocean, and a neighborhood.  The children each had the opportunity to vote for a scene that interested them.  They took turns putting their name under a photo to cast their vote, and then we looked at the results together.

We talked about which diorama idea had the most votes, which had the least amount of votes, and what they thought that meant.  Everyone concluded that the train station looked the most interesting and had the most votes, so that will be the scene we will start with.  In the days and weeks ahead, we will begin the planning and constructing process.

I'm excited because this idea really seems to combine the interest area of trains, with the ideas of constructing and drawing tiny details to add so that all of the children will be able to contribute to the process. It will be neat to see how the plans unfold! 

Idea web

We started to web our ideas for our exploration of tiny things.  We have been recording the explorations done in the classroom, and are getting a good visual of where we could go from here.  Our idea of "Tiny Things" has transcended content areas and is something that continues to very much be a point of interest to the children in the classroom. 

Tiny Things

Over the past few weeks we have noticed that the children in our classroom have become very interested in tiny things.  We had a parent bring in small Legos for the children to use and we noticed the interest begin to spread after that. 

With the Legos, we started by having the children just use them to construct.  We did introduce 3-D models to them, specifically an Eiffel Tower made from metal.  The interest in tiny things has carried over to small types of building materials, small animals, and small "pretend play" objects.

We brought in tiny puzzle pieces for the children to construct with - they aren't actually puzzle pieces but small construction materials that look like puzzles and can fit into each other.  The children have been very excited and have used them to create objects like lightning bolts, robots, and tracks.  

Our plan is to read the book, Tiny Perfect Things by M.H. Clark.  The book is about going on a walk through a neighborhood and noticing small details in nature and everyday life.  I am curious as to how the book will inspire the children.  Our plan is to read the book a few times in the classroom so the children are familiar with it and can use it as a resource if needed. 

September 2019

Dear Families,

Welcome to a new school year!  We are so excited to be working with you and your child this year and look forward to a very busy beginning of the school year.

My name is Catie Stone and I will be the lead teacher in the classroom this school year.  I have my Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education from U of M-Dearborn and my Master’s Degree in Special Education from U of M-Dearborn as well!  Go Blue!  I have been working at the ECEC as a lead teacher for 11 years but have worked as a student staff member here as well – and I even went to preschool here as a child!

My name is Toni Addington, I will be the Teacher Assistant in the classroom this school year. I graduated from Grand Rapids Community College with my Associate’s degree, with plans to go back to school. Currently, this is my 2^nd year here at the ECEC, however this is my 13^th year teaching.

As I am sure you are aware, we do have some significant allergies in our classroom this school year.  Please make sure you are not sending peanut butter or peanuts in your child’s lunch – you can use Sun Butter or Almond Butter as alternatives.  We are also not permitting food at drop off time or for birthday/holiday celebrations.  Alternative suggestions are listed in the Parent Handbook.

One of the big questions parents are wondering at the beginning of the school year is drop off routine.  We want the children to come into the room, wash hands with soap and water, put away their backpack, find their lunch label and put their lunch away, and then sign in as their families sign in.  This consistent routine was very effective last year and helping your child through this process each morning builds consistency and helps the children get comfortable quickly in the classroom.  It is amazing how practicing to write their names each morning with their families has built fine motor skills over the school year.  We were blown away last year with how quickly the children caught on to the routine and began to read and write their names!

Some of the families have already expressed interest in knowing if there is anything needed in the classroom for the beginning of the year.  We can always use Matchbox cars, books, small houseplants, dry erase markers, small trains and tracks, large woven baskets, and Clorox wipes!

Thursday, September 19^th is our fall Curriculum Night!  You are invited from 5-6pm (open house style) to the classroom to see some of the things the children have been doing the first few weeks of school!  We will be demonstrating how different goals and objectives spanning content areas are incorporated into play throughout our school day.

Friday, October 11^th is a professional development day for teachers so there is no school for children on this day.

Saturday, October 12^th the ECEC is doing a meet up at Plymouth Orchards from 12-3pm.  This is a great chance to meet up with families from our program, see animals, go on tractor rides, and pick a pumpkin!  Parking is free and tractor rides are a few dollars, but fun is endless!  Many of the classroom teachers will be stopping by as well.  Bring your whole family!

Just a reminder to dress in layers for unpredictable Michigan weather!  We will be spending as much time outside as possible – especially with beautiful fall temperatures. 

Please know if you ever need anything or have any questions to let us know.  We look forward to a great year.

Catie Stone & Toni Addington