April Newsletter
2017 - 2018 Academic Year
"We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children."
4th Annual Spring Family Festival
We will have a bounce house, face painting, lots of games, photo booth, and a special shaded play area for our infants and todfants. In lieu of small prizes at each game booth, upon leaving the festival the children will receive a goodie bag!
We will be raffling off the themed baskets from the items that were donated by our families. The raffle tickets can be purchased all next week in the front office, as well as at the festival. They are selling for $1 per picket or 6 for $5. The following themed baskets are being raffled:
Office Baskets
· Spring Cleaning
· Young Living Essential Oils & Accessories
· One week free tuition for one child in program
Classroom Baskets
· Cricket Cottage- Date Night
· Ladybug Cottage- Crockpot Basket
· Caterpillar Cottage- Backyard Bonanza
· Butterfly Cottage- Beach Bum
· Bumblebee Cottage- Love to Shop Gift Cards
· Dragonfly Cottage- Love to Eat Gift Cards
Donation sheets are located in each cottage as well as the office. If you would like to donate an item or happen to know of any businesses that would like to donate towards any of the baskets please let us know. The more items we collect, the more valuable the baskets will be! Last year the baskets were amazing and we're anticipating that they will be even better this year!
The festival will be super fun and family friendly. We hope that you will come and hang out with us and other cottage families! Feel free to invite your friends and family as well. The more the merrier!
Saturday, Apr 14, 2018, 09:30 AM
602 McIntosh Road, Sarasota, FL, United States
RSVPs are enabled for this event.
Earth Day Celebrations!
On Friday, April 20th we will celebrate Earth Day at The Cottages. Throughout the school, children will celebrate Earth Day through gardening activities, art activities, music & movement activities, stories and more.
Professional Day - School Closed
The Cottages will be closed on Friday, April 13th for a Professional Day. We will be working on preparing for the Spring Family Festival on Saturday, April 14th. We will reopen on Monday, April 16th at 6:30am.
Spring Portraits
Say Cheeeeeeese! On April 17th and 18th, Precious Little People Portraits will be at The Cottages for Spring Portraits. Be sure to check out the picture day sheet in your child’s classroom to see which day your child will be getting their picture taken. The Parent Info Board in front of the school will have the backgrounds posted that the photographers will be using.
National Super Hero Day
The Cottages will be celebrating National Superhero Day again this year on Friday, April 27th. National Superhero Day is observed annually on April 28th and is a day to honor superheroes, both real and fictional. The children had a super fun time celebrating last year and came up with some really creative costumes and super powers of their own.
Superman, Captain America, Wonder Woman, and Spiderman are just some of the superheroes whose names we recognize. Even though they are fictional, these superheroes are great role models for our children. They serve and protect while fighting evil.
Our real-life superheroes may not have super powers or wear capes, but they are also great role models who serve and protect while fighting evil. Military personnel, police officers and firefighters are just a few of the heroes who protect us on a daily basis.
Mr. Jason is part of a superhero network where he and others dress up as superheroes and visit children's hospitals. He will be making a surprise appearance as Spiderman and is in contact with other superheroes to see if they can also make a special appearance at The Cottages.
Please be sure to dress your child up in superhero attire on the 27th. Children are welcome to wear fictional, real life, or their own made up superhero attire.
Teacher Appreciation Week
Speaking of superheroes, Teacher Appreciation Week is scheduled for the week of April 30th-May 4th. We feel so incredibly blessed to have our very own superhero teaching team at The Cottages! They truly go above and beyond to ensure our kids have the best care and education. Please join us in celebrating our teachers for all their hard work and dedication. TCMLC teachers are the BEST!!!
Illnesses
Your child’s health is of utmost concern to us. If you suspect that your child is not well, please keep him home out of consideration for the other children in the program. Should your child become ill at school, you or your emergency contact person will be notified. Children must remain at home the following day to assure that no other symptoms develop. Children also must be kept at home should they show signs of the following symptoms:
· A temperature of 101 degrees or above
· Diarrhea
· Vomiting
· Respiratory symptoms- difficulty or rapid breathing or severe and persistent coughing
· Eye, ear or nasal (yellow/green) discharge
· A rash- undiagnosed or contagious
· A sore throat
· Mouth sores with open lesions
· Appearance/Behavior- Child looks or acts differently- tired, pale, lacking appetite, confused, irritable and difficult to awaken
If your child exhibits any of these symptoms at school we will contact you or your emergency contact person to pick the child up immediately. We do not have the staff or the facility to care for sick children for an extended period of time, and we realize that you do not want your child to be at school when he is not feeling well. It is imperative that children be picked up within one hour of your being contacted.
Children must be symptom free for a minimum of 24 hours before returning to school. Children who have been running a fever must be fever free for 24 hours without medication before returning to school. The center may require a physician’s statement before re-admittance following any illness or symptom.
A child may be return to school the day after being sent home for exhibiting signs of illness when a physician has certified in writing (note must be given to director upon return to school) the symptoms are not associated with an infectious agent, or they are no longer a threat to the health of the other children at the center.
If your child has been exposed to or contracts a contagious/communicable disease, he must be kept at home and the school should be notified as soon as a diagnosis is made so we can contact other parents and sanitize. Conditions categorized as “contagious” are strep throat, pin worms, ring worm, viral infections, infected ears and/or glands, measles, mumps, chicken pox, scabies, scarlet fever, head lice, conjunctivitis, hand-foot-and-mouth disease, etc.
Mark Your Calendars
4/13 - TCMLC Closed for a Professional Day
4/14 - Spring Family Festival, 9:30am - 12pm
4/17 & 4/18 - Spring Portraits
4/20 - Earth Day Celebrations
4/27 - National Superhero Day at The Cottages
4/27 - Arbor Day
4/30-5/4 - Teacher Appreciation Week
April Birthdays!
” May the sun’s rays shine brightest on you today with the wind at your heals. Happy Birthday.”
- 4/6- Ms. Cat
- 4/15 - Ally V.
- 4/18- Anna P.
- 4/23 - Charlie S.
- 4/24- Easton T.
- 4/26 - Darren G.
- 4/26- Kennedy L.
Happy Birthday to our friends born in April!
Cricket Cottage News
Welcome Spring!
We will be welcoming Spring this month in the Cricket Cottage! We will be introducing Spring colors and new animals such as ducks, lambs, and bunnies. We will be singing “Five Little Ducks” and “Old MacDonald Had a Farm”. This will help introduce the children to animals and the sounds they make. We will also be having egg play to help develop our friends’ gross motor skills. We will be asking for donations of plastic eggs and plastic ducks for water and motor play.
Welcome and Farewell
This month we would like to welcome Samuel Kison and Loren Deatherage. Samuel has a big sister Finnley in the Butterfly Cottage and his parents are Amanda and Rob. Loren has a big brother Lucas in the Dragonfly Cottage and her parents are Kerri and Justin. We also said farewell to Marcela and Anna who graduated to the Ladybug Cottage. We sure will miss them but we know they will be very successful in the next classroom.
Sensory Exploration
We will be introducing water play to our friends this month. For our younger friends, we will be putting some water on a highchair tray and letting them splash and play. For our older friends, we will be putting some plastic ducks in water and letting them explore the ducks while having some water time fun.
Kiss the Cook Pear-Potato Purée
Adding pear to sweet potato creates a pleasing, sweet/savory flavor combination. If your baby isn’t fond of sweet potatoes, adding a touch of pear purée just might do the trick.
1 tbsp. sweet potato
1 tbsp. sweet pear purée
Combine the two purées and serve warm or chilled.
(Recipe from The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet, Pear Purée p. 29, Potato Purée p.34)
Ladybug Cottage News
March Review
The month of March was all about transportation. Our children were so eager to show their love for cars, trucks, and airplanes. Whether it is the vehicles driving by, seen in a book, or heard flying over our heads. Most of all, the children loved the car wash activity!
April
We love Mother Nature! This month we will enjoy having a variety of natural materials to explore in our classroom environment. Art projects will also be incorporated using recycled and natural materials. We will also take advantage of the beautiful spring weather by going on lots buggy rides. We will breathe in the fresh air and soak up all the wonderful sights and sounds of mother nature.
Natural and Recycled Materials
In celebration of our providing planet, we will be exploring nature and collecting natural and recycled materials for art projects. Some examples of items that we may collect are palms, grass, and leaves. We will also explore different ways to use recycled materials throughout the classroom. We are welcoming donations if you have any of the items listed below.
- Bubble Wrap
- Plastic containers with lids
- Paper towel rolls
- Small boxes
Inspirational Quote
Advice from a Tree
Stand tall and proud
Go out on a limb
Remember your roots
Drink plenty of water
Be content with your natural beauty
Enjoy the view
Language
To promote language and future vocabulary, you will see the teachers using a technique called "sportscasting". Listed below is a link we encourage you to investigate with more information pertaining to this technique.
Caterpillar Cottage News
March in Review
The children love looking for bugs and other insects on the playground. The month of March was filled with insect inquiry. To build on our caterpillar’s interests while supporting learning, we drew ladybugs and bumblebees with color recognition as the focus. We hosted loose part insect replica play. We went on a bug safari outdoors and read lots of creepy crawly themed books.
Earth Day
In honor of the best planet in our solar system, we will be reading the Lorax and planting seeds in recycled containers of your choosing. Please bring in one in for your child with their name on it!
“Plant a new Truffula. Treat it with care.
Give it clean water. And feed it fresh air.
Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack.
Then the Lorax
and all of his friends
may come back.”
― Dr. Seuss, The Lorax
Colors
Spring is full of colors. This month in the classroom we will be focusing on color recognition. Mix it up is a fun book about what happens when you mix colors together. We will be using this book as a tool to support this month’s theme. Children will get to explore cause and effect by mixing up primary colors and viewing the outcome. We will be making rainbow sensory bottles as well as using other materials to extend our theme in all areas of development.
Reminders:
Please and thank you!
· Label all drinking cups
· Check your child’s folder
Donations
We will be posting an April donation list sign up sheet for items we will use for activities this month but here’s a list. We cannot thank you enough for your contributions and support!
· 2 bags of dried black beans
· 2 bags of dried lima beans
· Food coloring
· Fresh colorful flowers
Butterfly Cottage News
March Recap
During the month of March we celebrated Dr. Seuss and St. Patrick's Day! It is always so much fun having special events at school! We made erupting green eggs that our Butterflies loved. We also got to make a delicious snack of rainbow fruit loops and marshmallows to work on our fine motor threading skills. We also "cooked" yogurt bark as a class. Our Butterflies loved doing these cooking and science experiments last month!
April
April showers bring May flowers! With Spring beginning and Earth Day to celebrate, we will be spending more time out in the garden and taking nature walks. We will also be "cleaning up our campus" by picking up any trash that we may see. We've got some awesome experiments planned such as see through eggs and growing a seed in a mason jar. Water play and painting with natural items we find around the school will also be added to our April plans this month.
Writing
While feeding our curious minds as well as help our fine motor skills the Butterflies have been practicing how to write our first names! We have been tracing the letters using white board markers and are really enjoying this! We will continue to encourage this eagerness of writing during this month.
Last Names
Our Butterflies blew us away with how awesome they are at spelling their first names and for April our geniuses will be exposed to writing their last name. If you see letters out and about we encourage you to speak to your child about them and point them out if they are letters in their name.
April Cooking
Our Butterflies love to cook! We are planning on making dirt cups to eat in honor of a fun activity for Earth Day. Below please find the instructions on how to make these at home.
Ingredients:
· Chocolate Pudding
· Oreo Cookies (crushed)
· Gummy Worms
· Optional – add green dyed shredded coconut on top.
Instructions:
In a clear cup, layer the chocolate pudding, gummy worms, crushed oreo cookies, and green dyed shredded coconut. Voila!
Reminder
· Please only provide one stuffed animal for naptime. We ask for no toys please.
· We also enjoy reading books from home! If your child brings a book to share or a stuffed animal for nap, please make sure it gets put away in your child's cubby before they go outside to the playground.
Bumblebee Cottage News
March Recap
It was a pleasure meeting with family members during our parent/teacher conferences! We are elated with how much growth and development has occurred in this past school year alone. There has been a noticeable interest in building structures among our not-so-little Bees! Therefore, we have opened up the Block Center to allow for unlimited exploration of construction. It’s such a popular theme that we will be extending the next inquiry into both
April and May!
Construction Inquiry
The Bumblebees will continue their exploration of their world, both near and far, as we delve into architecture! Capitalizing on their love of building increasingly intricate structures, this may be the most exciting inquiry to-date. We are only too pleased to support their passions while using this wonderful opportunity to further mathematical, scientific, literacy, and art all within the realm of architecture. A different part of the world will be featured weekly as we seek to further inspire and cultivate critical thinking skills with structures from both the United States, to different countries, far and wide.
Letter of the Week
We have come round full circle, back to the beginning of the alphabet! We will be picking back up with a review of the letters B, C, and D. This time spent in review will allow us to revisit the alphabet. Letters from the children’s names are being identified within their print-rich environment, while word-tracing and copying will continue to be an ongoing theme within our classroom.
Fine Arts: Artists of the Month/Week
We started off slowly at the beginning of the year with a focus on one artist and their style each month. Now, with architecture from different parts of the world being introduced each week, our focus on an “artist of the month” will naturally shift to a new artist being presented each week. We will be kicking off our construction inquiry with a close-to-home emphasis on The Ringlings’ Ca’ d’Zan! Parents are encouraged to visit this beautiful site and the paths surrounding it with their children. Admission to walk the lovely grounds is free, so be sure to take advantage of the weather and stop by the David F. Bolger Playspace, too! For more info on the Ca' d'Zan, click on the link below.
Donations: Architecture & Construction
Again, thanks to your generous donations, the Bees’ were provided with a deeper understanding and rich experiences of plants and flowers, both land and aquatic. We further invite parents to provide anything that will allow the class a similar approach towards in inquiry into architecture and construction. Anything from books to cardboard, both small tubes to large-appliance boxes are welcomed. This will further enhance our next months’ inquiry and aid in providing endless possibilities as they explore and innovate in construction and design.
Dragonfly Cottage News
March
March Inquiry was one of our favorites. We had so much fun learning about birds and how they live . A visit from our feathered friend Sofia The Hen will always be one of our top memories of last month (Thanks again Randi and Harper!). We have all been so creative in our art lately and it's so lovely to watch . We all write beautiful stories to match our growing detailed illustrations. Our Flowers bloomed and we were so excited and happy.
April
Our April Inquiry will be all about the ocean . We will tie in the importance of keeping our beaches clean and why recycling is important. We live in a beautiful area and need to know how to respect it. We will also incorporate small group teaching circles to help review skills in all areas. We are excited to see where this month's inquiry takes us!
Earth Day Party!
We need to celebrate Mother Earth everyday but we can still have a little party in her honor. We will have a special snack and incorporate upcycle learning activities.
Just some friendly reminders
· Please don't forget to take home your child's blankets on Friday and return on Monday. We are running low on extras.
· Please check your child's cubby weekly and clean out any clothes that may not fit . The dragonflies are growing and need warm weather changes of clothes.
· Please apply sunscreen before our school day.
· Our morning meeting circle is where we need to practice our graduation songs so please have your child to school by 9 am.
Thank you!
Graduation 2018
Save the date! Graduation is scheduled for Friday, June 1st at 5:30pm. It will be held across the street in the Church of Motion Sanctuary. Please be sure to keep an eye out for more information.