*CIPCC NEWSLETTER*
From the Director
Hello families,
Happy New Year!
First off, I want to say I am very excited about the new and fun things to come in
the 2015 year. We have new fundraisers that we have added to our list of events
this year and I am excited to share all of the details with you when they become
available!! 
The month of December was full of many winter and holiday fun. We made gifts
for our families and, when we could, played outside in the snow! Speaking of snow
and cold weather, our center policy is that we will go outside as long as the
temperature (including wind chill) is 15 degrees or above. So please make sure, you
bring in warm clothes (hats, boots, mittens, ski pants, and coats) to school every
day or leave them in your child’s cubby.
Please help us keep the center hallway clean by taking home your child’s artwork
and extra materials.
Please know that I am always available for you to come to me with any questions or
comments. When I am at the center, my office door is always open and you can
reach me anytime at [email protected].
~Jenn
Closed
We will be closed on Monday January 19th in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Day.
Spirit Day
We are warming things up for this month’s spirit day. On January 30th, we will be
having our Tropical Beach Day! Bring your beach towel and wear your best tropical
attire (no bathing suits please, WAY to cold!!)
Important request
As you know, we are a non-profit organization and have a Board of Directors that
oversee and assist in the success of the center. If you or know someone that
might be interested in joining our board, please email me ([email protected])
or David Carter, Board President, at [email protected]. We look forward to hearing
from you soon!
Duckling News
~Bonnie and Kendra
Hello everyone welcome back, I hope everyone had a great holiday break.
There are some new things that we have seen since we have been back: we have
crawlers, children that are now sitting up, hugging and kissing, trying to escape
when the door is left open, and eating different foods!
December was a very busy and short month, we have tried to get in all our
activities, and I can say I am pleased to say Kendra and I did a good job. We talked
about the cold temperatures; we painted with frozen paint, and played in the snow
in our classroom.
During this month, we will be spending some time talking about our 5 senses,
saying goodbye to some friends and welcoming others to our classroom.
Just a few reminders: please check your child’s communication sheet to see if they
need something for the next day, sign your children in and out, make sure your
child has a blanket we send blankets home on Friday, and snow gear. We don’t go
out if temps are below 20 degrees.
Chipmunk Chatter December
~Becky & Erin
Happy winter!
We have had lots of fun during December! The kids have shown a huge
interest in the book Brown Bear Brown Bear! For most of the month, we have been
focusing on that book and the animals in it. We made every animal in the book and
hung them around the room. The kids enjoyed pointing out all the animals on the
wall and making their noises!
We enjoyed playing in the fresh snow after the big snow storm! All the kids
got in sleds and preschoolers pulled them around the playground! That week we also
made our classroom look snowy by putting contact paper on the windows and
sticking cotton balls to them.
Toward the end of the month we did a lot of sensory play. We brought real
snow inside and colored it with paint. We played with “clean snow” made out of
baking soda and conditioner (also a fun one to do at home), we made ooblick
(cornstarch and water) the kids thought that was the most awesome thing to let
drip off their hands, and we also made silly putty (glue and borax) and of course
played with shaving cream!
Thank you to the parents and grandparents who donated some of these fun items
to our classroom! We wouldn’t be able to do it without you. That being said we still
have a short wish list of items we hope for, for the classroom.
Looking ahead: In January, we plan on sticking with the snow theme and the kids
have showed interest in the book Five Little Penguins Slipping On The Ice, so we
will expand on that some as well.
Turtle Talk
~ Misty and Carolyn
The Science of Feelings: A Colorful Approach
For the month of December the Turtles hit on three important topics for
any toddler working towards preschool- “feelings”, “science (in the form of
experiments!)” and “colors”. These are topics we always have incorporated into our
classroom, but decided to really focus on this month.
Two year old are really beginning to develop as individuals, which can trigger
more complex emotions than the standard “happy”, “sad”, “hungry”, and “sleepy”
that dominate the first two years of their emotional development. Not only are
they beginning to become more complex individuals, they are beginning to become
more interested in trying to play with their peers, which leads to feelings about
having to take turns/share/etc. Some things that we tried to work on during our
focused week on “feelings”: recognizing facial expressions, appropriate ways of
showing anger (such as roaring at our own reflection or stomping our feet), and
putting words to our own feelings and feelings of others. One favorite activity was
a “muffin tin feeling toss”. The bottom of the muffin cups each had a picture of a
different facial expression, and we worked on our gross motor skills of throwing
and aiming by tossing a pom pom into the tin to see which facial expression we got.
The Turtles did wonderful at taking turns!
Taking the Learning Home: As your two year old approaches three, he/she can
handle explanations of rules which may have previously caused frustration and
anger, but were a necessary part of their lives. For example: “If you get your coat
on yourself, then we can spend more time at the park.” Try using simple
explanations of how his/her behavior affects the feelings of those he/she
interacts with.
From “feelings” we moved on to a week of “Science Fun”. We chose simple
experiments that provided quick results to the question “What will happen if….?”.
We used eyedroppers and vinegar to cause little bubbles and fizzing in mixtures of
baking soda and powdered paint, and then created a bigger reaction by allowing
them to pour more vinegar into their baking soda mixture. We used vinegar to turn
pennies green and we moved water from one cup to another by using a paper towel
that created a bridge between the two. We hope to use these experiments again,
and add in some new ones, to provide exposure to and examples of “why things
happen?” and “how things happen?”.
To finish up the month, we spent some time working on our colors. Not only
did we do things that focused on individual colors, but we spent time talking about
how two colors can be combined to make a new color. Check out our ORANGE
creations, made by mixing RED and YELLOW paint, on the wall next to our block
shelf. We also used the Dr. Seuss favorite My Many Colored Days for both this
topic and the previous topic of “feelings”. Check out our “colored people” on the
wall above our cubbies.
CUB News
~Saania and Christina
Happy New Year! We hope that you enjoyed your time with family and friends over
the holiday season. Before our vacation we enjoyed curriculum on Snow and Ice.
We turned our classroom into a winter wonderland with paper snowflakes, iced
windows, winter storm puffy paint pictures, and snow in the sensory table! We
enjoyed a variety of science activities, like growing ice using a popsicle and ice-cold
water. We also experimented with melting ice with both salt and pepper. The Cubs
enjoyed many sensory experiences this month, such as painting snow with water
colors, toilet paper snow, snow play dough, ice “hockey”, writing our names in salt,
cranberries and salt, and water.
We also enjoyed a visit from Robert Nadal (Nic's dad) who read “The First
Day of Winter” to the class in Spanish! The children enjoyed listening to this
familiar book in a different language and they were fascinated that Robert grew up
speaking Spanish instead of English. The children learned that “snow” in Spanish is
“nieve.” We all look forward to Robert coming in more frequently to read to us in
Spanish!
In December we also worked a lot on our fine motor skills. We practiced
writing our names on our artwork; moreover, we are mastering the correct pencil
grip! We are very curious about letters, and because most of us can recognize all
of the letters we are beginning to learn how to write them. Cutting paper has
become a popular activity in the Cub classroom, and they all did a great job cutting
the wrapping paper that they used to wrap your holiday presents.
As the cold weather sets in we still enjoy getting outside! We often take
turns sledding down the hill (even the teachers participate in this fun)! We also
have built many snowmen and have used the spray bottles to paint the snow – what
great works of art we can create! We have noticed that many of our students do
not have water-proof gloves. When the snow is wet our gloves are getting wet, and
are often too wet to put back on for our afternoon trip outside. We ask that, if
possible, your child have water-proof gloves to wear at school. Please also be sure
to label all of your child's winter gear, as it often gets mixed up and we are
unsure whose is whose.
Thank you for helping us reinforce the center's no toy policy in the
classroom. We want to remind everyone that stuffed animals for nap (must stay in
cubby until nap) and books to share with class are always welcome!
In December we also welcomed two new students to the Cubs class, Kade and
Connor. In January we look forward to continuing our winter themed activities,
reading and doing activities related to Jan Brett's “The Mitten,” and having a week
dedicated to everything we can do with paper!