Valentine's Day Festivities

Card Exchange and Friendship Fruit Salad

VALENTINE CARD EXCHANGE (Preschool only):

Preschoolers will exchange Valentine cards on Wednesday, February 14. Teachers will set up special bags in the classroom that the children made for Valentine cards.  Please have your child (or help them) write their name on each card before school.  Be sure to leave the “to:” portion blank as the children will be delivering their own Valentines. (Clever as they all are, reading the names of all of their classmates is tough!) Please bring one for each classmate.  There are 19 children in North Preschool and 21 children in South Preschool.

FRIENDSHIP FRUIT SALAD (Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers):

On Valentine’s Day, we will also celebrate the friendships we have made this year at PFM. Please send your child to school with a piece of fruit on Monday, February 12 or Tuesday, February 13, so that we have fruit to make our salad on Valentine’s Day. The teachers will have a place for the fruit to be displayed in your child’s classroom.  They will have a learning circle where they discuss the types of fruit brought in, who brought it, what colors and shapes they are, and whether or not they need to be peeled, among other interesting things.  The children (with the help of their teachers) will then cut up the fruit, and put them all together in a big bowl that the whole class will then share for snack that day.  They will also discuss what it means to be a good friend on this day.  

How to Support Children who are Picky Eaters

It is often hard to understand what prompts a child to favor one food over another or to stop liking a certain food altogether.  As a parent, I am sure it is frustrating to cook a meal that your child refuses to eat it, while they demand something else be made for them ("NO! I want chicken nuggets!").  Children can develop interesting behaviors to foods and aversions to eating altogether.  It is said that picky eating habits are more likely to develop when parents punish, bribe or reward their children's eating behaviors. But what should you do as a parent instead when this is all you can think of in the moment?!  The following articles will hopefully help shed some light on how to handle your picky eater at home so that you have less battles at the dinner table.  Good luck to you all, and happy eating!

Additional Resources:

10 Tips for Helping Picky Eaters

Managing Picky Eaters without Disrupting the Family

North Preschool Newsletter January

Happy New Year!

Brrr! Do you feel that chill in the air? It is winter!

We will explore the winter theme with a zoological focus on Penguins. The kiddos always love learning about animals and I think that Penguins will be no different!

On our zoology shelf we will have materials to teach the different parts of a penguin, different kinds of penguins, where penguins live and their life cycle.

At circle time we will learn penguin songs, have a waddle race and play, "Penguin, Penguin where's your egg?".

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“Children are human beings to whom respect is due, superior to us by reason of their innocence and of the greater possibilities of their future.”

— Maria Montessori

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Sound of the Week:

                                     January 2-6 : Bb

                                    January 8-12: Tt

                                    January 15- 19: Rr

                                   January 22- 26: Cc

                                   January 29- 31: Dd

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Dates to remember:

We are closed on January 15th in remembrance of Martin Luther King

I will be out of town January 17th- 24th and Keja will be stepping in for me.

Afternoon Preschool Newsletter January

Happy New Year!

Throughout December we continued to work on our collage portraits! We discussed accessories and how they can aid in expressing our individual personalities. The first one we added is a natural one---hair! Using yarn, we observed how each of us is unique and can choose to express our characters through hair style choices via length, color, and texture.

 

For January...

we will take a break from this project for the first week, allowing us to create a winter scene for our upcoming dramatic play area. After it is completed, we will continue to work on our collage self-portraits, adding fabric and buttons for our clothing choice. As always, you’re all welcome to check out our progress from 4-5pm at the art table in North Preschool.

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South Preschool Newsletter January

Happy New Year all!

Happy New Year all!

I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing break filled with family, food, and lots of love!

This month in our classroom we will be learning about the Arctic and Antarctic! We will learn about ways to get around on the ice, what type of clothes you would need, and what kinds of plants and animals live there.

In the zoology area we will talk about hibernation versus migration and adaptation, and in the science area

In the practical life area of the classroom we will be introduced to polishing…with the leaves of our plants looking so shiny from all of our leaf polishing practice, we are ready to move on to wood and metal polishing using all natural polishes and cotton balls! We will polish things all around the classroom to make our environment sparkle!

In the math area of the classroom we will explore temperature with some cool ‘glaciers’ and thermometers. We will also learn about the clock- we will learn about the parts of a clock, the numbers on the clock and how to tell what hour it is. We will even be creating our own clocks to explore with and take home!

 

Dates to remember this month:

Tuesday January 2nd: First day back to school

Monday January 15th: PFM closed for MLK Day

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“Only poets feel the fascination of a tiny rivulet of water trickling over the pebbles as it is felt by the child, who grows enthusiastic over it, laughs, and wants to stop and touch it with his hand as if to caress it. ”

— Maria Montessori

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Birthdays and transitions this month…

• We will celebrate Kellan’s birthday this month on January 9th

• We will welcome a new friend Finn to our class who is moving to Seattle from Bainbridge Island!

Sounds this month: Our sounds have been put in order by the AMS sound groups- the easiest to pronounce and write to the hardest:

January 2nd-5th: Cc

January 8th-12th: Rr

January 16th-19th: Pp

January 22nd-26th: Ii

January 29th- February 2nd: Ww

Gentle reminders…

• Please check your child’s folder daily and take their work home.

• Thank you for labeling all your child’s belongings- even mittens and socks!

• Please do be sure your child has all of the necessary belongings in their cubby for the cold weather, rain, even snow!

How to bring some Montessori into your home this month...

Have your child help around the house with polishing…

o Wood polishing: mix a tiny amount of olive oil with the juice from half a lemon in a spray bottle and have your child spray wooden surfaces and wipe with a clean washcloth.

o Mirror and metal polishing: place a small amount of white toothpaste into a small bowl and use a small wet cloth or napkin to cover the mirror or metal surface. Allow to dry and then wipe clean with a dry washcloth.

Toddler Newsletter January

Happy New Year!

 With temperatures continuing to drop, the toddler room will be taking a trip to the arctic! We will be taking a look at types of arctic animals and arctic environments

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“If help and salvation are to come, they can only come from the children, for the children are the makers of men.”

— Maria Montessori

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plan by week...

Week 1 : Arctic Mystery Bag

Week 2 : Snowy Playdough

Week 3 : Snowball Sweeping

Week 4 : Ice water pouring