Week 4 In Pod B!

Hello CDLL Friends and Family!

Our Monday of week 4 at the school was full of interesting new discoveries and fun!  Our caterpillars turned into butterflies over the weekend and the children were delighted to look at them with the magnifying glass!

Outside the children were continuing to enjoy the summer weather and playing with the “wood cookies.”  Some students created numerous paths to walk on and considered the grass around the cookies as “lava.”  If you fell in the “lava” you had to start from the beginning!  It was fun to watch and the kids enjoyed themselves.

Also while inside many kids explored different areas such as the Construction with building and creating train paths while others enjoyed the “snap toys” at the table toys center.

We had a wonderful day and look forward to the rest of the week!

Sincerely, Miss. Lepine

Early Learning Expectation: Children experience growth in gross motor development and use large muscles to improve a variety of gross motor skills in both structured and unstructured settings.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Hello Families and Friends! Like everyday, today was a great day! Pod A enjoyed this great day sunny day with multiple activities to keep us busy and smiling! This Thursday we had pajama day! We also had a picnic in the Zen Garden and enjoyed some fun inside! Outside, we had parachutes, balls and different varieties of other activities going on! Inside, we enjoyed the new addition to the pretend center; the tent. And also, one of our butterflies came out of its chrysalis today! The children were very excited about that!!

A few of the Pod A children in their Pjs! : ) 

Pajama day did the opposite of what its normal job, the students were actually pretty busy today! The picnic in the Zen Garden was FANTASTIC!! The children enjoyed the sun, ate lunch and began their post lunch activities! We brought out TWO parachutes today! The parachutes were so much fun! But that was just the beginning! Ms. Keck played kickball with a group of children! Also, there was another group of children playing duck duck goose! This kept everyone busy and happy!

Pod A excited about the new butterfly!

During center time, there was a roar of excitement in the walnut room. A group of students crowed Ms. Potter because she was holding the first butterfly to come out of its chrysalis!

This week had been a exciting week and I am definitely looking forward to next week with the children! Until next time,

Ms. Armstrong : )





Michigan Standards of Quality for Pre-K : Physical Development 2:3
Children show increasing abilities to coordinate movements (e.g., throwing,

catching, kicking, bouncing balls, using the slide and swing)

End of the week in Pod B

TGI-Thursday everyone! :)

It was another beautiful day (making up for the weather we had last week!). There was a lot going on, but probably the most exciting for the children was that it was Pajama Day! A majority of the children were dressed in their snazziest P.J.s; what was even more fun for them was that Ms. Weller and Ms. Gursky even came wearing their bedtime outfits. 

We also were able to go further into campus for our sack lunch picnic and so we went between the buildings Pearce and Anspach where there was a nice grassy courtyard. 

 There were a few planned activities for the children to participate in at the courtyard after they finished eating. There were jumping bags, different types of balls to throw or kick or invent games with, books to read, and even bowling!

A lot of the kids just seemed happy enough running around in the grass and playing on the large rocks that were around.



Another activity to get some children outdoors was weeding the “Rainbow Garden” with Ms. Weller and Ms. Nims. The children watched both teachers very carefully so they knew what was okay to weed and what was going to stay.

The “Rainbow Garden” is starting to come together more each day, and a lot of different children continue to get involved.

The caterpillars are still in their chrysalises, but many of the kids have predicted that they will finally be butterflies by the time we come back Monday; we’re all anxiously awaiting to see if that is what is going to happen!

I am looking forward to another full week with the children, and can’t wait to 

plan more fun activities for the weeks to follow!

Best regards,

Kyra Ziehmer

Michigan Standards of Quality for Pre-K : Physical Development 2.3

Children experience growth in gross motor development and use large muscles to improve a variety of gross motor skills in both structured and unstructured settings.

Pod A

Hello Everyone! 

            Today we had beautiful weather, blue skies and sunshine. The weather worked out great in collaboration with our picnic lunch and the outdoor centers that were put in place this week.

            We had a picnic today at the large maple tree in front of Sweeney which is the dorm that faces the CDLL. The children and teachers sat on blankets enjoying a lunch of turkey sandwiches, coleslaw, pears, and, all of the children’s favorite, chocolate milk! After we ate, the children enjoyed playing popcorn with the parachute and kick ball. 

In the outdoor centers, there are two wood working centers. The first center is a large circular piece of wood or “the large stump” as Zachary refers to it as. The children can use a hammer to hammer in nails to the stump, while wearing protective woodworking goggles.

The second woodworking center consists of assorted wood shapes and wood glue. The children use paintbrushes to dip into the wood glue and glue the assorted shapes in many different ways to design a wood sculpture. When asked what she was creating, Emerald replied, “I’m making hearts. I’m gluing the purple blocks onto the heart shape.”

There are also two discovery table centers. The first discovery table is filled with different types of beans, small shovels and laundry soap tops. Some of the children were using the laundry soap tops as ice cream cones and used the beans as the ice cream. The children at the bean discovery table were making specialized ice cream orders, such as gummy worm, chocolate, strawberry and pineapple ice cream throughout outdoor playtime.

The second discovery table was filled with water, soap, sponges and baby dolls. The children washed the dolls with a sponge in the soapy water.  “We got to get all the germs off and make him clean,” said Marc as he scrubbed a baby doll.

I am sure that the children went home exhausted after all of the fun we had outside today. I hope the gorgeous weather continues for the rest of the week.

Sincerely,

Katie Murphy

Pod A Student Teacher

Greetings from Pod B!

Kailey steering her train off the tracks

Today was another busy day in Pod B! Today some of the children went to plant flowers with Ms. Potter and Ms. Weller on campus. Many of the children played with the trains in the construction area, which are always a big hit, and some played the board game Trouble with friends. Today Ms. Voyles, Kyle, and myself played a game and other children quickly joined in.

Jonathan, Hailey, Ambrosia, Alana, and Kyle playing Trouble

Although it was windy, the children still enjoyed their sack lunches. Today we ate next to the covered walkway that leads into the CDLL. The children really had to hold onto their lunch because it was so windy out today! After lunch a few children enjoyed playing with the parachute and maneuvering small balls on top of the parachute. Other children played kick ball with Mr. Jonaitis and Ms. Lepine, had races using the jumping bags, and also read books on the grass. 

The Pod is still anxiously waiting for the chrysalises to change into butterflies and the children check on them everyday. The children are very careful when looking at them and know that if the chrysalises fall they will not change into butterflies. The children enjoyed the nice weather the remainder of the day by constructing art projects and also playing outside. 

Tanayah made an alligator at the clay table today

I look forward to the remainder of the school year and the many discoveries with all of the children.

Michigan Standards of Quality for Pre-K 2-3: Children show how they feel, what they think, and what they are learning through experiences in the visual arts. 

Until Next Wednesday, 

Ericca Peters