TerraNichol Academy Of The Arts
August 12th-16th School Blog and News
Welcome
We welcome you to our school family!
We are excited to begin this new school journey with your child/children. We are honored that you have entrusted our program and teaching team with your most precious jewel. We look forward to getting to know our new students and watch our existing students continue to master their developmental skills this school year. Come along with us as a partner in your child's/children's educational journey and help encourage them to begin developing their educational foundation to become a life long learner. The teaching team will encourage all students to explore, engage, investigate, play, research and develop friendships here at TerraNichol Academy of The Arts.
School Tidbits
Helpful Tips
- Always apply organic bug spray and sunblock prior to coming to school. (We have Bugs BeWare for sale in the school store.)
- Wear loose, light-colored, cool school clothes.
- Wear appropriate school shoes for running, scootering, climbing and make sure shoes are closed-toed shoes. Especially young students as they are still gaining their balance, motor planning skills, and working on a steady gait and strengthen their gait/core area.
- All students must use the restroom and washing hands prior to arriving on the playscape. No exceptions.
- Please review the waste-free lunch policy in the parent handbook and the items not to pack in your child's lunch as they are potential choking hazards such as whole grapes, popcorn or hotdogs cut in rounds. If items are packed in the lunch we will send home with a note.
Supportive sneakers work best for young children on the Move!
Great Expectations for your child this school year and What are your hopes and dreams for your child?
We will be making a beautiful chandelier with ribbons for the learning lab environment.
What are your hopes and dreams for your child? Not only for school but for life! Write them down on the ribbons leaving room on one end. The chandelier will be a reminder of your hopes and dreams for your child.
Loose Parts The Reggio Emilia Way
REGGIO EMILIA LOOSE PARTS PROVOCATION
Loose parts is so critical when introducing developmental skills such as math, fine motor, literacy, critical thinking, and developing visual discrimination. Engaging in hands on activities, open ended learning, and investigation.
Yoga Workshop /Benefits of Yoga
Yoga Workshop Time!
Our little "yogies" are enjoying some of our new yoga curriculum songs and poses. The focus is on incorporating physical health and fitness with mental health adding a balance of upbeat poses and music with relaxation techniques. Students' new favorites are "Peace begins with me", "Orange You Grateful", "Yoga Clock", and "I am breathing". These photos demonstrate students engaging in our kindness & Feelings yoga flow, encouraging each and every child to have mental clarity release any negative feelings they may have or build positive friendships along with aiding to be a peaceful kind friend.
Yoga Intention
Kindness and Random Acts of Kindness
Mantra--Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love. Lao Tzu.
Wisdom Words--- The breathwork we practice in yoga teaches us to be present.
World Music Workshop and Music Appreciation
World Music Workshop
Students had their first world music workshop this week. The hit song "Play your instruments" and Foot Notes. Students will experience a variety of instruments from around the globe experimenting with rhythm and beat. Students follow the lead of the Mama Shaker or Drum while playing along with drums, bongos, maracas, tone block, rhythm sticks, triangle, to name a few. Students end the workshop with the chime of the magic singing bowl.
Music Appreciation featured genre is classical music the month of August. We will explore the instruments presented in each classical piece such as Mozart, Bach, and Chopin.
Classical Music Murals
Art Appreciation Featured Artist - The Reggio Emilia Way.
Piet Mondrain inspiration is on the rise during Art Appreciation to create Masterpieces using primary colors on the playscape art studio and the atelier (art studio) inside. The story journey MOUSE PAINT will inspire us on how mice mix primary colors to make new colors. We are also learning colors in Spanish.
Students engaged in reading stories about famous artists while creating in the ateliers.
This is why we believe in Art for Art’s Sake. It is not only of value to learn Art history but also had limitless benefits to students.
• Learns to think creatively, with an open mind
• Learns to observe and describe, analyze and interpret
• Learns to express feelings, with or without words.
• Practices problem-solving skills, critical-thinking skills, dance, music, theater and art-making skills, language and vocabulary of the arts
• Discovers that there is more than one right answer, multiple points of view
• School can be fun – playing can be learning
• Learns to collaborate with other children and with adults
• Arts introduce children to cultures from around the world
• Can blossom and excel in the arts. Even with physical, emotional or learning challenges, can experience success in the arts.
• Arts build confidence. Because there is not just one right way to make art, every child can feel pride in his or her original artistic creations.
• Arts build community. Schools with a variety of differences can celebrate the arts as one community especially our school because we are located in the artist district of Englewood.
The Benefits of Creative Dance in Early Childhood
"Dance provides opportunities for children to create movements as an expression of idea or thought thereby expanding their imagination and ideation of their body in space" By engaging in pretend play within a controlled environment, children are able to experiment with concepts like emotional expression, interpersonal relationships, and personal space without the consequences of real-world life. Not only do they enjoy the freedom of moving through space, they learn how to deal with situations that will be encountered outside the learning lab walls.
For these reasons and many more, TerraNichol Academy Of The Arts supports structured creative play in our Movement Literacy programs, which engage the imaginations of our students and provide the benefits of pretend play and creative imagery, while still teaching proper technique and terminology. Our program and enrichment classes provide imaginative contexts, evocative imagery, and creative movement patterns to keep children working hard and having fun.
Zumba Workshop!
What is Zumba Kids? Zumba Kids features the famous Zumba Fitness music, rhythms, and beats along with Zumba choreography broken into kid-friendly routines. Giving children an outlet to jump, dance, shake and swing their hips, it’s the perfect recipe for fitness fun. Zumba Kids also adds age-appropriate games and activities, helping children gain coordination, self-confidence, overcome fears, learn about teamwork, and much more.
Zumba for Kids Benefits
It’s a well-known fact that fitness is an essential part of children’s health. Zumba, which literally means “moving quickly and having fun” is the perfect way to incorporate exercise into kids’ lives in a fun, easy way with multiple personal and social benefits.
Additional benefits of Zumba Kids include:
- Easy-to-follow moves
- Improves fitness
- Improves coordination
- Great family fun
- Increases self-confidence
- Boosts self-esteem
- Elevates mood
- Encourages teamwork
- Builds leadership skills
- Improves memory
- Develops creativity and imagination
Children’s Zumba Fitness
Kids love the party feel of children’s Zumba Fitness, where everyone can join in, follow the simplified routines, and enjoy the captivating Latin American, Hip Hop, Reggaeton, and other modern beats. Encouraging kids to move and shake freely, Zumba Kids fitness programs are creative and varied, taking out the monotony and boredom of repetitive movements and adding dynamic dance moves instead.
Zumba Workshops
Motto “feeling fearless on the dance floor,”
A learning environment lab with out walls.
Why go outside?
- It builds confidence. The way that kids play in nature has a lot less structure than most types of indoor play. ...
- It promotes creativity and imagination. ...
- It teaches responsibility. ...
- It provides different stimulation. ...
- It gets kids moving. ...
- It makes them think. ...
- It reduces stress and fatigue.
Emergent writing and Literacy
Young children move through a series of stages as they are learning to write. The stages reflect a child's growing knowledge of the conventions of literacy, including letters, sounds and spacing of words within sentences. Almost every interaction in a child's world is preparing them to become a reader and writer. The indicators of hallmarks within stages are described below.
It's important to remember that there will be variations in the way kids move through writing stages; it may not happen in the same way or at the same time and the lines between the stages can be blurry. Many models of writing development and word study label stages with their own terms using various descriptors. The descriptions below are designed to communicate common writing characteristics.
Scribbling/drawing
Most children begin their writing career by scribbling and drawing. Grasping the crayon or pencil with a full fist, a young scribbling child is exploring with space and form. He is creating a permanent record of his ideas and thoughts. These first scribbles can be proud accomplishments! Thick markers, crayons, and unlined paper are good writer's tools for this stage.
Letter-like forms and shapes
At this stage of writing development, children begin to display their understanding that writers use symbols to convey their meaning. Writing begins to include shapes (circles, squares) and other figures. A writer in this stage will often write something and ask, "What does this say?" There's little orientation of forms and shapes to space (i.e., they appear in random places within the writing or drawing). Tubs of markers, crayons, and paper remain good writer's tools.
Letters!
As a child's writing continues to develop, they will begin to use random letters. Most children begin with consonants, especially those in the author's name. Pieces of writing are usually strings of upper-case consonants, without attention to spaces between words or directionality. At the beginning of this stage, there remains a lack of sound-to-symbol correspondence between the words they are trying to write and the letters they use. Later efforts may include letters for the salient sounds in words and include the author's own name. Different types of paper, including memo pads, envelopes, lined paper, and some smaller pens and pencils are good writer's tools at this stage. Tubs of foam letters and letter magnets are also handy.
Letters and spaces
As beginning writers practice their craft, they are learning many concepts about print. When a child points to individual words on a page when reading, and works to match their speech to a printed word, a concept of the word is developing. This awareness of the purpose and existence of spaces separating words and that spoken words match to printed words is known as a concept of word. Often called the watershed event of kindergarten, adults watch young writers insert these important spaces in their own work. Guided either by an index finger in-between each word or by lines drawn by the teacher, children demonstrate one-to-one correspondence with words.
At this stage, children write with beginning and ending sounds. They also may begin to spell some high-frequency words correctly. Vowels may be inserted into words. As students transition to more conventional writers, they will begin to write words the way they sound. Punctuation begins as writers experiment with forming sentences.
Conventional writing and spelling
At this stage, children spell most words correctly, with a reliance on phonics knowledge to spell longer words. Writers use punctuation marks correctly and use capital and lower case letters in the correct places. Writing for different purposes becomes more important. First and second-grade students often write signs for their bedroom doors or a letter to a friend. Storybook language, "Once upon a time," and "happily ever after," become a part of writing samples as the child joins the league of writers with a storytelling purpose. As students progress through the writing stages, various pieces become more automatic and fluent. Handwriting becomes easier, as does the spelling of a majority of words.
At all stages, it's important to honor the writing efforts of your young child. Find opportunities to have your child share their work with others. Display efforts on the wall or on the refrigerator. Ask your child to read his work at the dinner table or by sitting in a special author's chair.
Dinosaur Life!
Researchers have looked into the kids-love-dinos connection and have come up with several theories about the appeal.
First, they suggest, dinosaurs are big and powerful—but they’re also extinct. So kids can admire the animals without worrying about bumping into a hungry one in the park, zoo, or around the house.
Also, the dinos kids encounter are all safely one step removed from reality: they’re on videos and in books, they show up as small toys, and so on. Even a realistic reproduction in a museum is stuck in a stationary setting for all time.
Finally, there’s a feel-good factor. Dinos offer a learning opportunity—and a chance for little kids to show off their stuff. It’s pretty cool to know more about something than all the adults in their life!#dinosaursarelife
Locating the Parent Handbook on the school website.
Go to the school website: www.terranichol.com
Click on: resources
Click on the down bar: Parent documents
Sign up to become a member and save parent handbook on your desktop.
Tip: Its best to view the website on a desktop to download the parent handbook not your cell phone.
We only have 6 parents as members so far. Stay informed, use your parent resources book, and view all school policies and procedures to participate in the program. In your parent contract, all parents signed that they have read and understood the parent handbook and will follow the policies and procedures.
Parent Cooperative Volunteer Hours and School Supplies
Each school year the program is a success in part for all of our amazing volunteers. As the saying goes, "It takes a village", and with all of our projects, enrichments, enhanced curriculum, and new ideas we need every member of the village. Participating in the Cooperative program is the responsibility of our families at TerraNichol Academy. The Parent Volunteer Book is located in our Rock Room by the daily check-in computer. Please begin signing up for your Volunteer hours this week!
Parents are required 12 Volunteer Hours per school year.
SCHOOL SUPPLIES
A reminder that all school supplies are due after labor day weekend. Please be sure that you have labeled all of your child's supplies before bringing to school. In addition please be sure that your child's lunchbox, utensils, cloth napkin, cloth mat, and drinking thermos are labeled.
Boost The Kids Immune System
Visit Fusion Therapy to boost your child's immune system for the school year.
See link below! Salt Life :)
Benefits of Dry Salt Therapy for Children
As our world has become increasingly polluted, there has been a rapid escalation in respiratory problems for both adults and children. Asthma is the most chronic disease in childhood. In the U.S., it is estimated that nearly five million children have asthma, and those numbers are on rising. Asthma is a leading cause of emergency room visits, hospitalization and missed school days for children.
Children are more prone to breathing problems because their respiratory system does not fully develop until the age of nine. The narrowness of nasal passageways in children and their higher risk of picking up viruses contribute to the frequency and severity of colds/flu and other respiratory conditions. In addition, their lungs have difficulty filtering out large pollution particles.
However, clinical studies show that children respond remarkably quickly to salt room treatments. Whether your child is suffering from allergies, an ear infection, frequent colds, or asthma, our Dead Sea Salt therapy can help reduce inflammation, open clogged passageways, loosen up mucus, and kill germs and bacteria in your child’s respiratory system.
In addition, salt therapy has been shown to boost the immune system, helping protect your child from future infections and illness. The negative ions in the salt can also help soothe and calm your child, easing hyperactivity and the stresses of illness and/or pain.
Mark Your Calendars! School Calendar is also posted on the school website.
September
2nd (M) School Closed in observance of Labor Day
October
14th (M) School Closed for Teacher Professional Day
31st (TH) Wild Rumpus Parade This is a Regular School Day with a Typical School Daily Rhythm
TBA Usborne Book Fair
November
8th (F) School Closed for Teacher Professional Day
25th‑Dec.1st (M-F) School Closed for Thanksgiving Break
December
20th ‑Jan. 6th (M-M) School Closed for Winter Break
Special Days and Holidays throughout the Year!
August
F 30th Slinky Day
September
Kindness Month
20th Doodle Day
October
4 The Love of Pets
4th World Animal Day
4th World Smile Day
25th International Artist Day
31st- Wild Rumpus
November
1st Cook for your Pet Day
8th-Tongue Twister Day
13th World Kindness Day
20th Universal Children’s Day
December
3rd Giving Tuesday
12th Gingerbread House Day
TerraNichol Academy Of The Arts Innovative Reggio Emilia Preschool
Come and Explore our Reggio Emilia program at TerraNichol Academy acclaimed for the stunning environments, their educators who create, provoke and dazzle the student's senses, invite curiosity and discovery, and most importantly, foster strong, respectful meaningful relationships.
Come learn about the values for children in the program:
Being a home away from home..
connecting children to their families..
helping children to be powerful and active..
being a steward of the natural world..
seeing oneself as a capable learner..
recognizing and being curious about..
We provide a school environment that is beautiful and taken care of with an attitude of care so that parents, children, and teachers want to come to school every day.
It is with intelligent heart and courage that we continue our goals and vision to continue to proceed with the work of a child.
RSVP today for our upcoming Backstage Tours.
Submit a letter of intent and school application by visiting our website if you will be attending the Tour. http://www.terranichol.com/resources
Email: terranicholacademy@gmail.com
Website: www.terranichol.com
Location: 701 Old Englewood Road, Englewood, FL, United States
Phone: 941474-3000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerraNicholAcademyofthearts/
Twitter: @terranichol