I Think, I Feel!

 Hey everyone! I hope this week has been a wonderful one for you all. It has gone by really quickly! Oh, wait! How could I forget. HAPPY FALL!!! It is finally here! We can't wait until all the leaves start to change along with the weather. Friday has been absolutely beautiful! Now let's talk about what we did this week.

Monday we had parent teacher conferences. We had a lot of families come in and were able to talk to their child's teacher. I know the teachers were excited to have this time to get to know families and tell them how their child is doing in school. It's a great feeling to know you can have such great communication with the teachers whenever needed.  

Tuesday we really wanted to help the children understand feelings and how to navigate through them. Being a kid with big feelings can be so hard to work through. As educators our job is to help guide them. So the classes created a "Feelings Station" for whenever they are; angry, sad, confused, frustrated, or even happy. They can come to the "Feeling Station" and show their teacher what they are feeling. Some classes read stories about how colors can show emotion. Where they pick a color that relates to them the most on that day. Some had pictures of different faces of each emotion along with clothes pins with the child's face on it to pin on. It was nice to see how excited they were to participate. 

Well, Wednesday was the day before fall so classes read the famous story, "There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves". Watching them actively listen to the story was so cute to see. I'm really excited of what's to come for the rest of the season. 

Now Friday was an exciting day for everyone! Independence High/Middle School had their parade and everyone got to come out and watch them! The music was so upbeat and lively. All the children were so excited to see all the creative floats that the students helped create. We also had homecoming kings and queens pass by in their cool cars! 

With this week being a busy week. We hope you all have a wonderful and relaxing weekend!

My Senses!

 Hey everyone! I hope everyone enjoyed the week! We especially appreciated the beautiful cool weather. It's starting to feel like fall! Yay! The beginning of the week, families brought in all kinds of; flowers, leaves, and sticks in that the children had went out and searched for to help make their class wreath. The older classes really enjoyed helping out putting it together later in the week. They were all in awe of the things that were found. 

It's "My Senses" week! All teachers were so excited to feature Shawn Brown's song, "Five Senses" into their circle time! To see everyone dancing and laughing to this song was the cutest. It even got stuck in a lot of teachers heads when they got home. You never realize the power learning new things through song can make such a difference until you see it in action in the classroom. 

With it being "My Senses" week, we set up a smell station for families at the front. There was so many smells to pick from! It was so hard for me (Ms. Abby) to decide what smells to use for our station. I did some yummy smells and not so yummy smells, I even grabbed ones that were a little harder to figure out. Watching not only the kids play the "What's That Smell" game, but the parents as well, was really fun to watch. Who would've thought that smelling and guessing would be such big hit with everyone. Some even talked about playing the game in their own home. Which is absolutely awesome!

Near the end of the week, we celebrated National Playdough Day! The younger kids really enjoyed being creative with playdough. Most pretended that they were cooking something for each other. Thankfully they pretended to eat it instead of actually putting it in their mouths lol. 

We're basically one week away from it being the first day of fall! Who's ready?!? I know we are! 

Physical Me

 Hey everyone! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! Some might admit that it wasn't long enough :p. This week was Physical Me. With the Labor Day break, all the children were ready to get out there and run all that energy out! This week, we really wanted to claim the season of fall. With all that heat, we're ready for the cooler weather. We also wanted to start thinking about what we are thankful for. Each class created leaves for our tree in the front. The younger friends took pictures and the older classrooms got to think about and decide what they were thankful for. Whenever you all get a chance, take a look at the tree and see what the kiddos had put on there. 

Another memorable day was when the older classes went on a nature walk. The sun was out, not a cloud in the sky, the breeze blowing just right. It was wonderful to see the kids explore nature that was around them. Who would've thought they would have so much fun exploring what was just out their window/playground fence. 

We also had a grandparents day Friday morning where everyone can eat breakfast together. It was such a joy watching parents taking the grandmas and grandpas around the school and talk about the teachers as well as the classrooms. So much positivity and love went around that morning and we are here for it!

To be honest, I can't believe how fast this week has been going but we're getting closer to fall each and every day! We absolutely CANNOT wait!