Grandma's House Daycare

We have had a fabulous week and I was so glad to see all my little ones after being gone last week. Ms Cassima reported that all went well and they were able to accomplish all the scheduled activities I planned. Wow, I am so pleased. We welcomed a sweet little girl on Monday who will be with us for two weeks. Her name is Mylie Henderson and she is 2½ years old. She has been a great addition to our boys and interacts with them like she’s been here always. We will hate to see her go when she leaves. But I just have to give a word of praise to the wonderful God we serve. I had only the one opening which was made when Xander left but will be filled in two weeks with Jett’s baby sister. Two weeks is exactly how long Mylie will be with us. Is our God great or what!!!!!!!!

Joshua is sitting alone extremely well and loves to play with Samantha and Walker. Even Zachary is getting in on the action with the assistance of the bumbo! I call these little ones my “next generation”! hahaha! I can just see these little ones bonding as friends the way the others have. It’s fun to watch.

On Monday the toddler group thanked God for creating families and we talked about our families. “Family” seemed to be a difficult concept so I explained it as everyone who lives in your own house. We learned “we are our brother’s keeper” … in other words we must always try to be kind to our neighbors, family and daycare friends who are also our brothers in Christ. We did some coloring sheets and we did a marker freestyle drawing of our own family. I have to say Preston did particularly well showing a lot of distinctive figures in his freestyle drawing and able to explain exactly what each were. Monday afternoon we had some great outside time.
Tuesday’s Science & Health day were a lot of fun. In the morning we talked about our sense of smell and enjoyed smelling the ten different smells Ms Karen had prepared to smell. We talked about all the various shapes of noses on animals, etc. and made a “nose” collage! In the afternoon we talked about our beautiful smiles, counted our teeth, and made a nice collage of our teeth. And BTW … your toddler child is becoming very accomplished at pasting. I am now able to give all their own glue stick and they are able to glue medium to large pictures. They are all getting so big.
Wednesday was our first show and tell day using the letters of the month which are A, B, and C. These little guys are so proud to get up in front of everyone and show off their prized possession to their friends. Thank you to the parents for helping your child participate in this fun activity. Show and tell day will always be the fourth Wednesday of the month after we have had a chance to study the three letters of the month. I will send an email reminder on Monday of that week and post a reminder note on the door the day before. We started out the day reviewing A, B, & C. We went on to practice letters with finger paint and then gluing small pieces of paper to the letter. After the letter review, we had our show and tell and practiced the sound of the first letter of each item. Bryce brought his blue Bible book so when the show and tell was over, I read to everyone. Samantha and Zachary were still asleep but Walker and Joshua were able to enjoy the fun. What a great morning we had. Wednesday afternoon we played A, B, C recognition games and then I was able to work with each child individually while the others paired up to play in the centers. I’m very proud of these little guys for their retention skills.

Thursday morning we completed our final page for our “I Can Be Me” books. We’ve made these books in such a way that, with a little help from the parent, they should hold up for a few years. Children love to admire their own work and will love looking at these books over and over. We will make 4-5 books throughout this school year. These books will take the place of the year end book from the past two years. Better quality and cuter subject matter. On Thursday afternoon we practiced our math skills using animal cookies and the laminated animal cage placemats. How fun to eat and play with the animals on the laminated cages and learn at the same time as Ms Karen instructs to “add one more cookie to make three…”, etc. The plan for Friday is to make a black and white collage and do scissor practice.

This week we recognized the first day of fall and the weather outside these days is just lovely. Please check your child’s cubby to make sure they have a size and weather appropriate change of clothes for accidents and maybe even a sweater for a mid-day change in the weather. We will continue to go outside unless it is wet or muddy. I’m sending this email on Thursday evening as I will not be here tomorrow or next Monday. Dave and I are flying to Chicago to visit his family. In my absence, Ms Cassima will carry on our planned activities.

Have a blessed weekend and I’ll see everyone next Tuesday.