BIG NEWS FOR
LITTLE PEOPLE
Griffith YMCA Early Learning Center
201 N. Griffith Blvd, Griffith, IN 46319
March 13, 2015
...
griffithymca.org
LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT WEEK
Director’s Corner…

Theme: Transportation

Letters: Tt Reviewing phonics, handwriting

Numbers: 20: Reviewing, spelling, writing
March 17—St. Patrick’s Day

Wednesday: Use your imagination to wear something transportation
March 20— First Day of Spring
related

Handwriting: Emphasis on names, letters, and numbers

Calendar: Days of the week, months of the year, seasons, & weather

Spanish: car, bus, train, airplane, bicycle

Sign Language: T

Show N Share Friday: Bring an object that starts with T.

Fine Motor:
Important dates
April 18—Preschool Prom
May 29—Spring Program/Preschool
Graduation
We will not take a Spring Break!
Preschool and Child Care will
continue to be open and active!
This is ongoing and will develop the fine motor muscles
Spring is on its way!
DO TELEVISION & VIDEO GAMES AFFECT BEHAVIOR?
Please be aware of what your child is watching on TV and video
games he/she is playing. A program, movie or game may seem innocent and be advertised as family friendly, but may actually promote
violence and fighting, for example. We are seeing children arrive in
the morning play fighting when they greet each other, use everything as weapons, talking about bombs, guns and being generally
destructive. We strongly encourage you to objectively watch what
your child is watching… even keeping a tally of the number of incidents of fighting, weapons, violent acts, language, “adult content”,
etc. Then change what you are allowing your child to see and play.
TAKE A WEEK CHALLENGE: Remove TV and video games for a
week. Substitute reading, creative activities, and family activities. A young child’s brain is not capable of separating play fantasy
from reality, so what they are seeing is what they will act out with
their friends and classmates. With all the violence that is happening
around us, schools have zero tolerance for such behavior. Children,
regardless of age, will be suspended for threatening any kind of violence, using toys as weapons, fighting, etc. HELP US HELP YOUR
CHILDREN.
With the weather warming and the
snow melting, we will be taking the
children outside again for large motor activities… please dress them
accordingly. Coats, hats, boots, and
even gloves/mittens are still a good
idea for a while longer.
Smile for the Day...
“When everything seems to be
going against you, remember
that the airplane takes off
against the wind, not with it.”
~Henry Ford~
Contact Susan Pierson, Director at
[email protected]
Continues on next page ...
1
Continued … LOOK AT ALL THE FUN & EXCITING ACTIVITIES WE’RE DOING!
GREEN ROOM NEWS...
All hands on deck this week in the Green Room . We know
all about our 5 senses now! We did lots of activities to learn
what something smells like, feels like, tastes like, sounds
like, and looks like. We also learned that “soup”, “snake”,
and “senses” all begin with our letter of the week, s.
Rounding out this week, we worked on the number 19, our
sight words, and making sentences.
RED ROOM…
The Red Room had a “Sensational” week. We started with
stamping slithering snakes with the letter S. Then we
moved on to our 5 Senses Teddy Bear. Next we used our
taste buds to explore different tastes on our tongues. We
practiced writing the letter Ss and counting to 19. We are
continuing to work on name recognition and sign language
mastery. We are also hard at work practicing a special
surprise for our Spring Graduation Program.
YELLOW ROOM…
We have been using our 5 senses this week! We used our
senses when we had our popcorn snack: we smelled the
aroma, tasted the salty treat, and of course, touched and
looked at it as we ate. We painted with kool-aid and tea
bags, made texture collages, and painted with bells on our
brushes. We counted to 19 and reviewed our letters with a
fun alphabet squish game! We also had fun with addition
using marbles and paper towel tubes. The children are also
getting really good at recognizing numbers, letters, and
writing their names!
BLUE ROOM…
We used our eyes to see the world around us (around the
block, at least). We used our noses to sniff out some new
and some not-so-new scents. We used our tongues to taste
test sweet, salty, sour, and chocolate… otherwise known as
bitter (it was dark chocolate). We used our ears to hear
funky sounds to march, hop, skip, jump, gallop, and tiptoe.
We found our rhythm using egg shakers to the song “I
Know a Chicken.” We also got to see, touch, and play some
unique instruments brought in by Ms. Monica and Ms.
Shannon. Keep working on those manners! We are
definitely seeing improvement in our room with “please and
thank you.”
ORANGE ROOM…
The Orange Room loved exploring the 5 senses this week!
Trehzur likes to taste jelly beans, but doesn’t like mustard.
Mason likes to hear his feet stomping, but doesn’t like to
hear ghosts. Ava likes to touch her comfy blanket. She
doesn’t like to touch garbage. Austin likes to see rainbows,
but not bugs. Ryan likes to smell bananas, but not
garbage. We experimented with jelly beans to see if we
could use all 5 senses with them. Ask your child about the
results! Come down the orange room hall and see our shiny
pots of gold and colorful rainbows. We are going outside
now. Your child needs inside shoes or slippers and outside
shoes or boots since it is still muddy.
Quote:
“He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to
stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one
cannot fly into flying.”
~Friedrich Nietzsche~
2