Text Box:   Get comfy, cozy with a good poem… April is National Poetry Month!   Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky are two great children’s poets!  If you get a chance, give them a read with your child!  Enjoy the smiles, giggles, and laughter that you’re sure to get! Text Box: Put Something In By Shel Silverstein from A Light in the Attic   Draw a crazy picture, Write a nutty poem, Sing a mumble-gumble song, Whistle through your comb Do a loony-goony dance ‘Cross the kitchen floor, Put something silly in the world That ain’t been there before.     (Enjoy all the “crazy pictures, nutty poems, mumble-gumble songs, loony-goony dances, and silly somethings,” your child brings to the world!  The innocence of childhood goes by too fast, so love every moment!  And don’t be afraid to add something crazy or mumble-gumble to the world yourself!  Your child will think you’re the best “loony-goony” EVER!)

                   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

             THEME

Text Box: BUNNY SHOW!   PreK Wed., April 8th at 11:15   Nursery Thurs., April 9th at 11:15   NO LUNCH BUNCH Text Box:   Mark Your Calendars Text Box:   Medfield Children’s Center Pleasant Street APRIL 2009 NEWSLETTER www.medfieldchildrenscenter.com              

Text Box:   Under the Sea                                                                       

                                

 

 

             

         Nursery Class

       Star of the Day

                                

Text Box: School Closed   Friday, April 10th (Good Friday)   Spring Vacation April 20th – 24th                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

        

Text Box: Beginning this month, each child in our Nursery Classes will be assigned a day when he/she may bring in a special item from home as part of our “Star of the Day” program.  Please allow your child to bring in an item on his/her assigned day only.  The teachers will send home a note when it is your child’s turn.      

                                                                         

Text Box: Class Pictures with Lisa Hull   Nursery Thurs., April 30th   PreK Monday, May 1st                  

 

            

Text Box: Future date…   PreK Graduation   Wednesday, June 10th at 1:00

 

 

 

Text Box:  Now that our classes are settled into school routine and have comfort separating from mom and dad, we will begin Circle Time promptly at 9:10.  We would like to wait for everyone to be at school before starting, but in fairness to the children who arrive at 9:00 or shortly after, we will begin our good morning song and circle time discussion at 9:10.  It also helps, and prevents distractions, when parents leave the classroom once their child is comfortable and he/she has said good-bye.  Two and a half hours goes by quickly, so we can’t wait for the day to get started!   We understand that some days circumstances don’t allow you to arrive at 9:00.  On those days, please say your good-byes at the classroom door and allow your child to walk independently to his/her class.  It allows the teachers to continue Circle Time without interruptions and distractions to the other children.   Thank you!                        2009-2010 Enrollment                                        Arrival

                 

Text Box: NURSERY – In the next several weeks, forms for next year’s files will be sent home.  Look for them in your child’s mail pocket.   Our fingers are still crossed for afternoon classes!  Please tell anyone you know who may be interested.    Thank you!               

Text Box: There was LOUD excitement and LOTS of energy this month as the children were on the lookout for the tricky leprechaun shadows.  Some were extra sneaky and camouflaged themselves on something green, but they couldn’t hide for too long from the keen eyes of our detectives!    Did any tricky leprechauns find their way to your home?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            Looking for Leprechauns

 

 

 

                                                                                                      

 

 

                                                                                                  

 

 

 

 

 

           Nursery Class                                                                                                                 

       Music with Miss Elaine

Text Box: It was hard to get office work done when Miss Elaine was here!  I had to keep peeking in the classroom to see what all the laughing and silence was about!  I saw puppies on the kids’ heads, ears, wrists, bellies, and backs!  What silly puppies!  And when Miss Elaine showed the class how to wrap their puppies in a blanket, you could have heard a pin drop!    We had so much FUN and can’t wait for Miss Elaine’s visit this month!                        PreK Class                              

                                                                             Stony Brook                                                                  

Text Box: Miss Jessica talked to the class about snakes and other reptiles.  Do you know what a turtle’s shell is made of?  Ask your child? Don’t be surprised if you hear wood, plastic, or metal!  In case you’re wondering what the answer is…it’s bone!   Miss Jessica also brought the cutest little real  painted turtle!  He has a long name, Archimedes, but she calls him “Archie” for short!                      

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Text Box: Mrs. Sullivan and I loved reading a book to first grade classes at Memorial school as part of Read Across America week!   I was even lucky enough to see a few “old” friends!  I can’t believe how big they are in first grade!  It’s so nice to see how big, happy, and smart they still are!   The only bad part of the day, was picking ONLY ONE book to read!  We had a hard time narrowing down our favorite books to one!  Mrs. Sullivan chose The Girl Who Hated Books (one of my favorites!) and I read The Recess Queen (a favorite of past classes who requested it over and over again!).   The kids were great listeners!  We could have read for hours!  Text Box: Celebrate and make your child aware of Earth Day (April 22nd) by reading The Lorax by Dr. Seuss!  I just love Dr. Seuss and the wonderful messages in his books.    Take the time to meet the Lorax who “speaks for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.”  He also speaks for the Swomee-Swans, Bar-ba-loots and Humming-Fish too!  And the Lorax leaves behind one word…UNLESS!  Why?  Try to guess!   The Lorax takes about 20-30 minutes to read, but allow more time for the important conversations that the book inspires!  Dr. Seuss is wonderful at creating illustrations and characters that are simple, poignant, and that little listeners can relate to and reflect upon.  Take the time to discuss what is happening as the story progresses.    Hope you take the time to get comfy, cozy (maybe even outside as a way to celebrate Earth Day!) and enjoy Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax!       If you do, would love to know what you think!                  EARTH  DAY                                     Read Across America

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Text Box: Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the surveys that went home last month.  We always appreciate your thoughtful observations and helpful suggestions.  We took to heart all that was shared and your comments will be thoughtfully discussed.   We always love to hear what you have to say.  New ideas and suggestions get us excited for changes, some that can happen this year, and some that are in the works for next!                                Parent Surveys

                   Visitors

Text Box:   The firefighters will be here on April 6th (PreK) and April 7th (Nursery) to visit the kids and talk to them about staying safe from fire! We always learn so much when they come in…we can’t wait!   We also called Miss Lorraine (a dental hygienist) to schedule a visit!  We hope she can fit us into her schedule.  We love her funny puppets who always get the kids laughing hysterically!  They also teach the kids lots about keeping their smiles beautiful and healthy!   Our fingers are crossed that she’ll put us on her calendar.  We’ll keep you posted.

                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                  Summer Program

 

Text Box: Our South Street school has a fun themed Summer Program.  The calendar and applications for the Summer Program are available.  If you’re interested in the summer schedule, please see Sharon.  

 

                                                                   

Text Box: Classroom Art Please make sure you take a peek at the works of art hanging up around the classroom and in the hall!  The kids worked so hard and creatively…Rembrandts, DaVincis, Renoirs, Leightons in the making? Home Toys In fairness to all the children, we ask that home toys be left at home or in your child’s backpack.  We have lots of fun toys to play with at school and would hate to have a special home toy lost or broken.  Thanks for you help!                                                                   

         Charles River CPC Art Show                       

 

Text Box: The Charles River Community Partnership for Children is having their 2nd annual Art Show.  We were invited to be a part of it and were proud to accept the invitation.  You will love the art from our MCC artists!  We can’t wait to see it displayed at the art show!   The Art Show will take place at the Memorial School on April 4th from 10 am – 12 noon in the cafeteria.  Hope you can make it!            

 

 

 

 

 

Text Box: What better time than the sunny days of spring to enjoy the fun of a sandbox with friends!  Because of the thoughtfulness and generosity of our last year’s PreK class, who gave us money for a sandbox for an end-of-year gift, we will soon have a beautiful 7’x 8’ sandbox in the play yard…it should arrive shortly (in the next week or two)! We can’t wait to get digging! Text Box: A teacher asked a PreK boy how he liked the story he just heard and what he was going to be for the upcoming project.  He said a monkey.  The teacher asked him, “What do monkeys eat?”  The boy answered, “Bananas.”  And he added, “They are very healthy.”  The teacher agreed and said, “Yes, they have a lot of potassium in them.”  The boy then replied, “They are one big vitamin!”   On the way back from the bathroom, a PreK boy was singing This Old Man.  He sang, “This old man, he played ten, he played knick knack on my pretzels!”  (I think he had the snack of the day on his mind!)   While washing his hands, a PreK boy remarked about the water temperature, “Ahh, it’s just perfect!”   During lunch, a PreK girl announced to her table, “I threw up 100 times last night!”                        

                Sandbox                                                  Kid Quotes

 

Text Box: Birthday wishes to our friends Patrick (4/4), Grace (4/23), and Jack O. (4/23) who celebrate their birthdays this month!   Hope all your birthday wishes come true!               Birthday Wishes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                           More Kid Quotes…                                                                                       

 

Text Box: At the bathroom, a quiet little PreK girl shut the door, and while Mrs. Sulliva was turning on the faucet, the girl said, “So, what’s up?”   At the writing table, a Nursery girl was drawing her dad.  Mrs. Rull asked, “Do you want to put some hair on him?”  The girl replied, “He has hair all over him!”   When a car got stuck inside the toy castle, a PreK boy said, “We have a violation over here!”   A group of children were playing and barking in dramatic play.  “We’re dogs flying to the Bahamas!” they said, as they continued to bark.

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                          Paint

Text Box: We’re sorry if your child has gone home with hands looking like the Incredible Hulk or Blue Man Group!  The paint bottle says WASHABLE…honest!  The kids love to get their hands in the paint and are having lots of fun creating.  We try our best to wash it off, but unfortunately it doesn’t come off easily.  A good soak in the tub is hopefully doing the trick, because when we see the kids again, there is no sign of the Hulk or Blue Man Group!

 

 

 

Text Box: Nolan Comiskey   My name is Nolan Comiskey, and I am a senior at Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood, Massachusetts.  Instead of enduring the last quarter of my high school career, I chose to experience service first hand, by giving back to the community.  I am from Walpole and will be turning eighteen in about a month.  I play soccer year round, playing for Xaverian in the fall and a club team out of Attleboro during the winter and spring.  I enjoy snowboarding and swimming in my spare time.  In the summer, I am a camp counselor at Sharon Country Day Camp, a two month summer camp that involves a lot of activity with younger children, ranging from ages four to eight.  I pride myself in being very good with children because of my constant interaction with my six younger cousins, the oldest being ten, and the youngest being four.         

              

 

           Xaverian Friends

Text Box:   We hope you had a chance to meet Andrew, Nolan, and Robby!  We are so happy they chose to share their time at our school.  The Xaverian work study program is a wonderful opportunity for the children to experience the guidance and influence of male “teachers.”  They were ready to roll up their sleeves and get busy!  They’ve only been here a few days and have already helped the kids with painting, play dough building projects…!  They’ve also been to the book corner to read a story or two and are sought after in the play yard!   The admiration for the “big boys”, whether huge smiles and wide-eyes or shy glances, is priceless!   Andrew, Nolan, and Robby were nice enough to write a few words about themselves to share with you.  Please read about our new friends…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Text Box: Robby Stack   Hi, my name is Robby Stack and I am a senior at Xaverian Brothers High School.  I live in Medfield, Massachusetts.  I have a mom, dad, and sister who is sixteen years old.  My biggest hobby is definitely sports.  I play soccer and lacrosse on Xaverian’s varsity teams.  I also enjoy almost every other sport there is and play many other sports noncompetitively.  I work well with younger children mainly due to the fact that I babysit in my neighborhood.  I am also the oldest on both sides of my family.  All of my younger cousins look up to me and love hanging out with me.  Next year I am attending a prep school called Northfield Hermon to pursue a Post Graduate year.

Text Box: Andrew Giammarco   My name is Andrew Giammarco.  I am currently a senior at Xaverian Brothers High School.  As a child I went to Medfield Children’s Center.  Still today, I am great friends with a few of my old classmates.  I have two other brothers, Adam and Alex, and Alex also worked at MCC during his senior year at Xaverian.  One of m favorite things to do is go snowboarding and my favorite mountain is Jay Peak located in Vermont.  Although the winter season is coming to a close I still have golfing and going to the beach with my family to look forward to.  After I graduate this year, I plan to attend Bentley University where I will study business.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another addition to our newsletter…CLASSROOM  CORNER

PreK

 

 

MRS. BAKER

The month of March flew by (literally and figuratively) as we learned about Transportation.  We talked about different types of transportation and were amazed at how many different ways there are of getting from one place to another.  We began with air transportation and created airplanes using paper towel rolls.  Our dramatic play area became an airport with flights heading to places such as Disney World and Jamaica.  People worked the ticket counter, acted as the pilot and co-pilot, served passengers as the flight attendant, or just sat back and enjoyed the flight.  Ground transportation was also fun as the children created cars out of cardboard boxes and our airport became a gas station.  We had mechanics fixing the cars and attendants filling the tanks.  It’s amazing what an imagination can do!  Along with discovering different forms of transportation, we also learned about traffic lights, stop signs and safety on the road.  So, if your “back seat driver” reminds you to slow down at a yellow light, you’ll know why.  Learning about the letter M and N were great, but nothing beats the letter P and wearing pajamas to school.  We welcomed spring on March 20th, but only wish it felt like it.  Keeping our fingers crossed for warm weather and lots of outdoor play.  Happy spring!

 

MRS. MARTIN

March was a fun month for us!  The transportation theme was a hit and kept us very busy.  Our classroom looks great decorated with all the airplanes and hot air balloons created by everyone.  The gas station in dramatic play was a busy place.  The cars, created by our class, needed lots of gas to get around!  We celebrated St. Patrick’s Day by creating mosaic rainbows with a pot of gold at the end.  Some of the rainbows even had two pots of gold!  We introduced the letters M, N, O, and P.  Pajama day was fun.  The children thought it was fun to just get out of bed and go to school.  I bet the parents thought it was a little easier, too.  Should we have more pajama days?  I’m looking forward to our “Under the Sea” theme and some springtime fun in April.  Be on the lookout for fish, sharks, and other under the sea creatures!

 

Nursery

 

MRS. MARTIN

March was a busy month!  Our class learned about many forms of transportation.  The traffic lights look great in the hall, thanks to all our artists!  The children turned fabric, Popsicle sticks and shapes into beautiful sailboats.  Our visiting firefighters will love seeing the fire engines they designed, too.  We celebrated

St. Patrick’s Day by decorating shamrock shapes with “puffy paint,” which is made by mixing shaving cream with a little glue and food coloring (try it at home!).  Miss Elaine came to visit us for music.  Everyone joined

in by singing and dancing around. I’m looking forward to our “Under the Sea” theme and some springtime

fun in April.

MRS. RULL

We have had a busy, fun month learning and exploring our transportation theme.  Our passengers have flown all over the world in our classroom airplane.  We have also repaired some cars and filled up our engines at our gas station.  In our Science area we have been watching lima and wax beans sprouting in moist plastic baggies.  We just finished planting them into some pots and will water them and continue to observe their growth by a sunny window.  This month we have additional classroom jobs including cups, napkins, and mats.  Your children are doing an excellent job with these new tasks!  One of our favorite snacks this month was traffic lights (graham crackers, frosting and red, yellow and green M&Ms).  Music with Miss Elaine was fantastic!  Ask your child about the puppy song!  We have played a dice game several times in which we roll them into the middle of our circle and tell our friends what numbers they land on.  We have even done some adding of the two dice.  Thank you to all the Moms for their volunteer time in the classroom!  We are so excited to finally get outside for some fresh air and playtime!  Spring is here!  Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any concerns or questions about your child.

 

Text Box: This is what our scientists did this month…  ·        Moistened a paper towel. ·        Placed it in a plastic bag. ·        Placed lima bean and wax bean seeds                 on the paper towel. ·        Sealed the plastic bag. ·        WATCHED AND WAITED TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS!   We placed our bags on the classroom shelf. Ask your scientist to tell you about the results of the experiment!   Other seed experiments to try at home… Do the above, but make several bags and place them in different areas, then compare the results.  For example, put one bag of seeds in a sunny spot, one in a dark spot, one in the fridge, etc.   Take the experiment outside and plant seeds in the ground!  Does anything different happen? We predict 2 things will happen…fun and learning!             World of Whimsy and Wonder!

Text Box:   Keep your eyes and ears open… the bunnies will be hopping this month at our school!    In case your child comes home humming the tune or singing the song, here are all the words…   BUNNY POKEY (sung to the “Hokey Pokey”)   You put your bunny ears in, You put your bunny ears out, You put your bunny ears in and you shake them all about. You do the Bunny Pokey and you turn yourself around, that’s what it’s all about!   You put your bunny nose in… You put your bunny paws in… You put your bunny tail in…   (They usually think shaking their little bunny tails is so funny!)         From our classroom to yours…

Text Box: I just LOVE the art of Loren Long!  And the stories he illustrates are as beautiful as his art.  Some favorites are… The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper   Toy Boat by Randall de Seve   Mr. Peabody’s Apples by Madonna Text Box: That’s Good That’s Bad!   by Margery Culyer pictures by David Catrow   A boy visits the zoo and a balloon lifts him into the sky!  At one point he wakes up a daddy lion.  “Oh, that’s bad.”  Or is it? Text Box: Stand Tall,  Molly Lou Melon   by Patty Lovell pictures by David Catrow   A story with an adorable character and with an important lesson about staying true to yourself!