BUTTERFLIES

Our ice skating trip in November was great! The children did amazing on their skates. By the time we returned to the Learning Tree everyone thought they were expert skaters!

With December we will have lots of changes! Jennie & Kym will both be done working with us. Jennie will be getting married : ) and due to her schedule change at school will only have a few hours that she can work. Kym will be graduating and moving far away. We will miss them both!! We added Jacky Fortin to our staff in November. She has been working in several classrooms throughout the building including Butterflies. She will continue working in the Butterfly classroom with new staff members joining her this month.

WE WILL BE OPEN FULL DAYS FOR KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN FOR THE CHRISTMAS BREAK DEC. 26TH, 27TH, 28TH, 31ST AND JAN. 2ND, 3RD & 4TH. CHILDREN RESUME THEIR NORMAL SCHOOL SCHEDULE ON MON. JAN. 7TH.

A daily schedule of activities will be posted by the check-out book for each of the no-school days.

Happy Holidays!
Miss Kym, Miss Jennie & Miss Jacky

FOR OUR CALENDAR THIS MONTH, CLICK HERE.

FIREFLIES

Happy Holidays!! It’s already December and that means there’s a lot of seasonal festivities and fun in our classroom!! During the coming weeks, we will learn about the customs and traditions of these exciting winter holidays. Please continue to assist with our alphabet homework; the preschoolers enjoy talking about what they got to do with their families and are very proud of their work!

During the day not only do we make fun projects but we are also focused on rhyming words, sequencing numbers and number recognition. Please let us know if you have any questions about ways to practice these excellent math and reading skills at home. Also please practice the sounds of the letters! Watch our calendar to see what letter we are currently working on. It’s also very good practice to go over past letters with your preschoolers! Watch for letters in the community and practice with your preschooler. For example, the McDonalds sign say, “What letter is this? What sound does the letter make?” You could also practice colors and shapes in the style.

Reminders: Please dress your child according to the weather! We try to go outside as much as possible! Hats, gloves, boots, snow pants and a warm winter jacket are ALWAYS a good idea. Writing your child’s name on all of these items is also an excellent idea! Please check your child’s change of clothes and make sure it is winter ready!

Happy Holidays!
Miss Amy, Miss Kaitlin, Miss Becca, Miss Amanda, Miss Chasity and Miss Emily

FOR OUR CALENDAR THIS MONTH, CLICK HERE.

GRASSHOPPERS

The voyage was long for the Pilgrims as they came to America.  The Native Americans and Pilgrims came together to celebrate with a feast that we now call Thanksgiving.  Our Grasshopper friends were the Native Americans who celebrated with our Firefly friends, the Pilgrims.  We learned about the May Flower and how the Native Americans and Indians came together to celebrate this day.  We enjoyed many wonderful foods such as turkey, popcorn, and corn. 

Show-N-Share will be on Friday, December 7.  Please bring a toy to show and share with our friends!  December 14th is Red day! Remember to wear RED!

December is planned with many activities dealing with the winter and Christmas season that is coming upon us.  We will be having a Christmas party for our classroom on December 19th. Please watch for more information on this at a closer date. 

We hope you have a wonderfu; holiday season!
Miss Amanda, Miss Robin, Miss Sammy, and Miss Meagan

FOR OUR CALENDAR THIS MONTH, CLICK HERE.

CATERPILLARS

To celebrate Thanksgiving the kids in the Caterpillar room brought their favorite fruit and we made a friendship fruit salad. The kids loved sharing their fruit and helping cut up and mix our salad. Tasting and preparing foods is a good way to promote development in all areas.

With Christmas just around the corner we will be very busy celebrating the ABC’s of Christmas. We will be having a PJ party on the 7th and a Christmas party on the 19th. Details and times will be coming soon.

As the weather gets colder please make sure that your child has the appropriate outside clothes and that it is all labeled. We will be going outside as much as possible.

This month we would like to welcome Nicholas to our room and we wish a very Happy Birthday to Kadence and Jacey on the 2nd and Zayne on the 20th!

Happy Holidays!
Miss Shelley, Miss Trisha, Miss Sarah, Miss Abby, Miss Ali and Miss Mckenzie

FOR OUR CALENDAR THIS MONTH, CLICK HERE.

DRAGONFLIES

Getting wet and wild with water play helps encourage discovery and stimulates your children. Water tables create a fun space and encourage imaginative play, but mostly we just like to splash, splash, splash!!!!

This month we will be celebrating all the fun Christmas brings. We will be having a PJ day on the 7th, going to the mall for a fun play time on the 14th and having a Christmas party on the 21st along with our usual gym and swim days.

We would like to wish a Happy Birthday to Gannon on the 15th and Kaydence on the 18th, and Amiyah on the 24th. We hope they have a great day!!!!!

Happy Holidays!
Miss Shana, Miss Dana. Miss Niki, Miss Kayla, Miss Karen, Miss Meghan and Grandma Karen

FOR OUR CALENDAR THIS MONTH, CLICK HERE.

HONEYBEES

November was a month full of turkeys. As many of you know we did a lot of projects with the kids using both their hands and feet as turkeys. We also made a corn cob, pilgrims and Indians using our handprints! As December starts you will be seeing a lot of Christmas projects hanging on our walls, please take the time to look around the room to see all the cute art on display.

We will be having a pajama day on the 21st, so please wear your PJs. Also, the Learning Tree will be closed on the 24th for Christmas Eve and the 25th for Christmas.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
Miss Melissa, Miss Crystal, Miss Marissa, Miss Katie, Miss Jamie, and Grandma Mae

FOR OUR CALENDAR THIS MONTH, CLICK HERE.

LADYBUGS

Happy holidays! With all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season we hope you still have a little time to sit back, relax and enjoy time with your family. Last month in our room we were practicing our ‘catching snowflakes skills’ with bubbles. It was very sweet to watch all the little ones in wonderment of what was falling from the ceiling and watching the older babies try to catch them and pick them up as they fell to the floor. Thanks to the Honeybee room for the use of their bubble gun.

Enjoy your December and have a safe and happy Christmas season!
Miss Brandi, Miss Amber, Miss Megan, Miss Dianne and Grandma Arlene

FOR OUR CALENDAR THIS MONTH, CLICK HERE.

AFTER THE BELL

FOR OUR CALENDAR THIS MONTH, CLICK HERE.


WELCOME SHELBY HENDRICKSON!
We are proud to announce Shelby Hendrickson as the new YMCA Youth Outreach Director! She will be taking over the managerial duties of our Y afterschool programing. Shelby has her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and has been working in the Achieve classroom at Simmons Middle School for the last couple of years. Along with her duties there Shelby also worked full-time for us in the summer months and did volunteer duties for Special Olympics. Please welcome her as we are so glad she has decided to use her many talents to make sure that your afterschool child has a great experience in our program! Her many talents will come in useful as we transition into our new building this coming summer!

Shelby can be contacted at (605) 229-1300 or shendrickson@aberdeenymca.org.