Room for Growing Newsletter

Chisago City

Dates to Remember

The teachers will be scheduling spring conferences during the last week in April and the first week in May.

Quote of the Month

"The educator is like a good gardener, whose function is to make available healthy, fertile soil in which a young plant can grow strong roots."
--E.F. Schumacher

Curriculum Update

May's theme is Spring time, Story Book Characters and Fantasy. The infants and toddlers will be exploring nature through all 5 senses, planting in the flower shops set up in their dramatic play areas and reciting various nursery rhymes to develop their language and social skills. They will be talking about weather for science and practicing matching and sorting for math.

The preschool groups will be reviewing all the Zoo-phonic letters and characters. In science they will be studying weather, life cycles and rocks. For Math we will be reviewing skills with Money, Patterns, and the concept of Whole vs. Half. We will be reading various fairy tales and nursery rhymes that we will web into puppet shows and other language building activities.

Parent Partnership

Tuesday, May 6th is Teacher Appreciation Day. This is a great time to take a minute or two to just thank your child's teacher for all the love, time and attention they give to your child each day. Something as simple as a little note goes a long way in making a teacher feel appreciated and recognized. To show our appreciation, Michelle and Kim will be buying each classroom lunch one day this week. We will cover their classroom for and hour so they can go out to lunch.

Friday, May 9th we will have muffins and juice for Mom's. From 6:00-9:00a.m. Mom's are invited to join their child for breakfast. We hope you can make it.

Community Activities

If you shop at Lakes Floral for Mother's Day be sure to pick up one of our Mother's Day cards. If you make a purchase for mom then you can get a card for your child to make to go with it. A great way to add that personal touch that mom's love so much!!

Spring Conferences

The teachers have set up dates and times to conduct spring parent/teacher conferences. This is a perfect opportunity to have some one on one time with your child's teacher. They will show you how your child is developing accademically, physically and social/emotionally. They will discuss what goals they have met throughout the year and any new goals you may have for your child. Please be sure to watch your child's classroom door or parent information area for sign-ups. If you have a conflict with a date please see your child's teacher about a time that would work for you both.

Cooks Corner

Caramel Corn

Pre heat the oven to 250 degrees. Combine butter, brown sugar, and light corn syrup in a 2 quart sauce pan. Cook on medium heat until mixture has melted. Add the baking soda (this will cause the mixture to foam). Pour the puffcorn into a large roaster pan then pur carmel mixture over the puffcorn and mix well. Place in oven at 250 degrees for 45 min. Stir every 10-15 min. Remove from oven and pour onto wax paper. Break apart and let cool. Enjoy!!

Summer Calendars

Summer packets should be out by Monday, May 5th at the latest. We are really excited about some of the new programs we have available for the summer like the Homeward Bound Theatre Company, How to draw classes and trip to Adventure Park. Activity sheets will be due back by Friday, May 16th. If you have any questions please let us know.

Staff Training

Kim, Deb, Rose and Katie attended the Early Childhood Conference at Stout College last weekend. They learnt a few new things and reinforced some things they already knew. This month we will be focusing on preparing for our visit from NAEYC (National Association for the edcation of young children) They will be visiting our program some time between June 2-20 to validate us for our renewal. Therefore if you see an unfamiliar face observing in your child's classroom, that is probably why.

Spring Has Sprung

Well, trying to at least. As our spring fever prompts us to burst out into the warmer weather, it isn't always the best conditions to do so. Please be sure your child has appropriate clothing for outdoor play and a extra set of clothes for those days we decide to go diving into the puddles not realizing how wet and muddy we will get.

Also, if you have not already done so, please sign the sunscreen permission forms posted on each classroom door. That sun can be intense in the early season and we don't want any sunburns going on. If you preferr to bring in your own that is fine too.