May Newsletter
2015 - 2016 Academic Year
Of all the special joys in life, The big ones and the small, A mother's love and tenderness Is the greatest of them all.
Mother's Day Tea
On Friday, May 6th, The Cottages will be hosting a Mother's Day Tea for all the loving Mommies that we have at The Cottages. Moms are invited to spend time with your child in their cottage at 3:30pm for a special tea to honor this holiday. Sign-up sheets will be posted in your child's cottage if you are able to attend this event. We wish all of the wonderful Moms and Grandmothers a very special Mother’s Day!
Teacher Appreciation Week
Teacher Appreciation Week is scheduled for the week of May 2nd - 6th. We feel so incredibly blessed to have such an amazing 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. Be sure to check you child's communication folder for a letter and/or your inbox for a flyer from Smore for more info. TCMLC teachers are the BEST!!!
Spring Portraits & Class Pictures
Class pictures will also soon be posted in your child's classroom! Be sure to sign up for the picture # that you want to order and pay for the class picture in the front office.
Summer Camp Is On It's Way!
As the academic year comes to a close, preparations are underway for Summer Camp. The summer calendar is almost completed and it’s looking like it’ll be another fun-filled summer at The Cottages! Keep an eye out as a Summer Camp Info Packet will be coming home later this month in your child's classroom folder. You will want to keep it handy throughout the summer as it will outline special field trip days, water play days, theme days, and much more!
Memorial Day - School Closed
Just a friendly reminder that The Cottages will be closed on Monday, May 30th in observance of the Memorial Day holiday. We will reopen on Tuesday, May 31st. We wish you a fun and safe holiday weekend!
May Birthdays!
” Wishing you a day filled with happiness and a year filled with joy.”
- 5/3- Dymitrik T.
- 5/6- Owen K.
- 5/7- Reagan B.
- 5/8- Atticus G.
- 5/13- Taylor J.
- 5/13- Cameron C.
- 5/15- Ms. Christina
- 5/15- Grayson C.
- 5/23- Sophia C.
- 5/23- Abigail L.
- 5/23- Christopher H.
- 5/25- Ms Elizabeth
Happy Birthday to our friends born in May!
Cricket Cottage News
Mother's Day
We want to start off the month by saying Happy Mother's Day to all of our amazing cottage moms. We appreciate and value what you do each and every day. we are so glad to have such a great group of mommies! To show our appreciation, we will be working with our friends on a very top secret project from us to you.
Sign of the Month
During the month of May we will be learning the sign "more". Place your hands/fingers as shown and tap 2 of them together 2 times.
Beyond Twinkle Twinkle: Rebecca Parlakian with Claire Lerner
For very young children, music has power and meaning that go beyond words. First, and most important, sharing music with young children is simply one more way to give love and receive love. Music and music experiences also support the formation of important brain connections that are being established over the first three years of life. Thoughtfully planned music experiences can support and nurture each of the domains of development such as social/emotional, physical (motor), cognitive, language, and literacy development. To read the full article, check out http://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/201003/parlakianweb0310.pdf.
Sensory Play- Splish Splash!
This month with our younger infants we will be introducing water play by having them splash water with their feet and with older infants splashing using their hands. This helps in the development as we talk about how it feels and sounds when splashing.
At Home Play Activity
In a clear bottle, combine 2/3 cup light corn syrup with 1/3 cup water. Sprinkle in some glitter and hot glue the cap on the bottle. Let your child shake and swirl the glittery mixture.
Ladybug Cottage News
April in Review
Last month the children really enjoyed outside time and exploring many wonderful things in nature. The children are beginning to recognize the birds and airplanes as they fly overhead. We have also talked about the way the wind moves and flows through the trees. Inside the classroom the children were very interested in the recycled materials with lids. They worked hard trying to figure out how the lids opened, closed, and screwed on. Overall we had a great month learning through play together.
April Showers Bring May Flowers
This month we are excited to bring some color into the classroom through real and artificial FLOWERS!!! The flowers will spark conversations about colors and textures and we will also incorporate them into an art project for the month. Our library books will be swapped out for more books relating to spring time an all of the beautiful colors it brings to us. Any items that you would like to donate involving spring time or flowers will be happily accepted.
Inspiration
Your mind is a garden.
Your thoughts are the seeds.
You can grow flowers,
Or you can grow weeds.
Play Doh
We recently introduced the children to play doh and they LOVED it!!! We gave them plastic animals to press into the dough to make paw prints. They caught on very quickly and enjoyed pressing, pulling, picking, and squishing the doh. This is a great activity to use at the table or high chair at home to engage your child. Below is a link to a homemade recipe that is safe for when they feel the need to taste a little as well.
Caterpillar Cottage News
April Recap
Spring has Sprung in the Caterpillar Cottage! During the month of April we created flowers for our Reading Garden, caterpillars, and raindrops. The children also had a blast with "oobleck" and our "flower soup".
May Topics
As the weather is beginning to get warmer, what better way to stay cool than playing with water. The Caterpillars will have lots of experiences with water this month including the water table, pool noodle wall, an painting with watercolors. We will also be exploring ice and bubble foam.
Science
We will be creating a Rain Cloud Science experiment this month. The materials needed for this experiment are : a cup, water, dropper, shaving cream, and blue food coloring. The shaving cream represents a cloud and the water is the atmosphere. As we add the food coloring through the shaving cream, it will appear as streaks of rain falling down the cup. Be sure to check out the pictures on Shutterfly.
Circle Time
Our circle times will be blooming this month as we add new songs and games. The children will be feeding the "bunny" carrots, singing animal songs with finger puppets, and sing "wheels on the Bus" with our peek-a-boo school bus prop. We will also be discovering new items in our mystery box.
Pool Noodles
During our water exploration this month we will be creating a water wall on the playground using pool noodles. Pinterest has so many super fun ideas using pool noodles that we would like to create. Please help us by donating some to our classroom. They are available at the dollar store. THANK YOU!
Handling A Tantrum
Tantrum Tips from the Book, Stress-Free Discipline
- Remain Calm
Tantrums are a natural reaction to frustration and anger for little kids
- Don't give in
Do not let your child do or get whatever caused the tantrum. Giving in only reinforces the behavior and makes it more likely to happen again.
- Let it Run its Course
They need to run out of steam on their own
- Don't Punish
That's like pouring gasoline on a fire
- Don't Show Anger
...or disgust. You will not be able to shame your child out of the tantrum
- Don't Talk
Your child is in no frame of mind to listen to logic or reason
- Do- Name and Validate Your Child's Emotions
"I can see how mad you are"
"It sounds like you are frustrated"
"What you are feeling right now is anger"
- Minimize Physical Interactions
Stay nearby
Seclude yourselves
Create Safety barriors
Don't spank
Remember, your child is not the enemy. Your child needs to know you are there for them and will help them gain control. Be a role model for how to properly express anger and upsetting feelings.
Butterfly Cottage News
April Recap
Thank you for such an amazing last month. The children, Ms. Claudia and I welcomed Ms. Jessica and are loving her kindness and warmness. We only got to garden things during the month of March. We planted seeds on our window and sadly only 3 opened up and made roots. We did learn that too much water makes your seed smell really bad, haha. We also got to play in dirt with worms and make beautiful homes for them. The garden is looking beautiful because the children have been out everyday planting seeds and watering. We watered ourselves to see if we would grow as well! We are waiting to see when our butterflies and ladybugs will come out of their chrysalis.
May- Our Last Month Before Summer Fun!
During the month of May we will be learning and exploring our Florida Gulf and all it's special animals. It's sure to be an exciting month!
The Gulf
The first week we will learn all about the gulf. How the water is warm and not cold like other oceans, why the sand is so white, and what makes up the beach. In our sensory bucket we will have beach sand, shells, and some fun beach animals. We will be doing art with sand and making our own beaches. Please bring in any shells your child has collected and if you are at the beach this weekend, please bring us a bag of sand.
Gentle Creatures
The second week of May will be all about manatees and sea turtles. Ms. Erin has a few great books and songs she will bring that are all about manatees and sea turtles. For a group project, we will be making a huge sea turtle out of paper mache. We will have fun learning about what each animal eats and we will even try some manatee food (lettuce).
Sharks
The third week of May we will learn about sharks, hammerheads, bull sharks, and tiger sharks. We will make masks and pretend to be sharks. Water fun outside!
Fishy Friends and More!
The fourth week we will continue learning about sea life. We will learn about mullet, grouper, sheephead, and seahorses.
Bumblebee Cottage News
Topics
Can you believe our year together is almost done? It went by so fast! During the month of May, we will be reviewing a lot of topics we’ve learned this year. Letters, numbers, and phonological awareness skills will be discussed and different activities will be planned to see how far we’ve come. All year long our main goal was to help in your child’s developmental milestones to assist and prepare for a confident and creative VPK child. Our school year may be coming to an end, but the Bumblebees are leaving us and gaining their Dragonfly wings.
Thank You
We just want to say thank you to every Bumblebee family! It was a pleasure to teach your children this year and we are very proud of them all. We have come so far in only a short fast moving year. Our parents were amazing all year round and we are so grateful for all your donations, patience, and love throughout our school year together. Thanks again “Bee” friends and families. You guys rock!
Portfolios
We have been working on each child’s portfolios throughout the year. They all should be completed for you before May ends. All children will need a 3 ring binder and sheet protectors if you have not handed one in yet, please do so. Thank you!
Mother’s Day
Mothers are very special to our Bumblebees! We will explore the wealth of knowledge that each Bumblebee possesses about his or her mother. Special activities will be planned by the students and dedicated solely to mothers. Happy Mother’s Day!
A Love for Nature
The Bumblebees loved the plant and bug themes so much that we had to extend the topics a little longer. The discussions about plants not needing, sunlight, soil or very little water for growth appeared to be very fascinating to our Bumblebees. The Bumblebees have yet to capture and observe every species of bugs from the playground. Watch out nature, the Bumblebees are coming!
Dragonfly Cottage News
Graduation
Can you believe it’s the end of the school year and graduation is almost here! We will be practicing our graduation performances a lot this month, so it is really important to be here on time. Please remember that VPK starts at 9am, so your child should be at school by this time each morning.
Graduation is scheduled for Friday, June 3rd and the ceremony will begin at 5:30pm. Please note, all Dragonfly Cottage students must arrive by 5pm so they have time to get prepared for the ceremony. The ceremony will take place in Church of Motion’s Sanctuary located across the street. Pastor David Gibson with Church of Motion was kind enough to allow us to use this space for the ceremony again this year! Keep your eye out this month for more information from the school and the graduation committee.
Review, Review, Review
This month we will be reviewing. A lot. We will review letters, numbers, sets, sounds, patterns, and so much more! While we review we will be sending home art made by your child throughout the year.
Spring Assessments
During the month of May, we will be working on completing your child's assessments. The assessments we will be completing are your child's VPK assessment and the Creative Curriculum: Teaching Strategies Gold assessment, and the Kindergarten Readiness Checklist. These are the last assessments that will be done before your child goes off to Kindergarten.
Extra Clothes
We will be sending home all of the children’s extra clothes before they graduate. If your child is staying throughout the summer, please replace their extra clothes (your child has grown since the beginning of the year!) We will be happy to store them throughout the summer. We just want to ensure all the children get their clothing returned.
We Give You Back Your Child...
We give you back your child, the same child you confidently entrusted in our care last Fall. We have lived, laughed, played, studied, learned, and enriched our lives together this year. We wish it could go on forever, but we must give your child back to you. Take care of your child, for your child is precious. Thank you to all our families for a great school year and we wish all of our Dragonfly friends and families the best of luck in all future endeavors. We will truly miss all of you!