NOVEMBER   2009

Themes—Caring for Pets;  Caring for our Families
Text Box: MWF Classes Text Box: CLASSROOM GOALS & CONCEPTS Learn what pets need to be healthy. Learn how our family takes care of us. Learn how we are the same and how we are different. Learn how to identify emotions. Learn how to pay attention to verbal and non-verbal communication. Text Box: FEATURED AREA: IMAGINATIVE PLAY What are children learning as they play in our Farmers’ Market, Pet Store & Veterinarian’s Office, or housekeeping area? They take on roles they have seen in the real world & learn to make sense of their world. They practice the skill of recalling experiences & elaborating with their own creativity. They develop vocabulary skills as they use various props. They develop negotiating skills as they learn to work with other “players”. Text Box: It has been a joy work with your children in Music and Creative Movement, for your children are so creative and inventive! In Music and Creative Movement your children have recited Mother Goose Rhymes, danced, played instruments, engaged in make believe, and so much more! Their creativity shined as they pretended to be mail carriers delivering packages filled with everything from sturdy trucks to delicate butterflies during our Community Helpers theme. And during our Farm and Harvest theme, your children pretended to be barnyard animals moving through meadows, climbing mountains, and crossing wet logs to safely make it home to their barn! Music and Creative Movement is a wonderful tool to use to develop the many components of child development. Through music and movement children learn about their bodies, gain sensory awareness, have a positive outlet for their energy, work on self control, develop their listening skills, have access to the arts, problem solve, and have a safe and supportive environment to develop their sense of self! It has been a tremendous amount of fun being a part of that process! I look forward to this month's Pets theme, where the children will have the opportunity to pretend to be a pet in a pet parade! -Teacher Augusta Text Box: PLEASE BRING TO SCHOOL: A photo, computer or hand drawn picture of your pet or the pet you wish you had—during the week of 11/3 & 5, please. A photo of your family—you can include extended family members—during the week of 11/17 & 19, please.