Dear families,

This past week teased us with downright balmy temperatures, but before we know it we will be in the thick of spring.  With that in mind, we will be setting sail over the next two weeks with Toy Boat,  a story about a boy that crafts his own boat and sets it loose in open water.

The book explores love, fear, freedom, and the concept of 'missing' someone.  It will initiate a conversation about the boat's point of view as we ask students: Why did he want to go out with the other boats? Why did the boy miss him? What does it mean to miss someone? Why was the boat excited to return? How did the boat "feel"?

Students will get a chance to create their own boat and oceanscape during the art rotation, cutting triangles for the sails, half circles for the boat, and creating different shades of ocean-blue with watercolors.   Our science units will build on the nautical theme as we discuss wind, water, waves, and the concept of floating vs. sinking.   ­We will examine the shape of a boat and challenge students to create their own boat that will stay afloat.  Math exercises will reinforce the concept of less vs. more and we will work with manipulatives to practice counting, sorting, addition and subtraction.

As we continue to build a strong language arts foundation with letter/word identification, rhyming exercises, handwriting practice, and sentence construction, it is important that we define a few concepts that will be the fundamental focus of our language arts lessons for the remainder of the year:
 
Phoneme: The smallest unit in a spoken word and an individual letter's sound.  There are roughly 44 phonemes in the English language.

Phonemic awareness:  A skill that involves differentiating sounds in oral language.  Developing readers learn to focus on and manipulate the individual sounds in spoken words (i.e. beginning and ending sounds, blending and isolating sounds, adding or subtracting sounds). 

Phonological awareness: This refers to one's ability to identify and manipulate spoken language.  This will be the most challenging aspect of our 3's curriculum as we recognize that sentences are made up of words.  We will generate rhyming words, identify syllables in words, and connect letter sounds with printed letters.

Understanding these elemental concepts will help you to continue your child's learning at home.  Breaking down the basic units/sounds of words and sentences can be fun (poems, songs, and rhyming exercises are great tools) and it allows you to practice new vocabulary while developing your child's language construction skills.

Please note that the NYKC will be open for all regularly scheduled classes and events next week including Presidents Day.

Also, the New York Kids Club spring break will be held from March 21st through April 3rd.  Classes will not be in session but we have a wonderful spring camp running Monday through Friday of both weeks.  Our adventure camp features the best of our one-of-a-kind curriculum. Campers will be introduced to all things spring with an exploration of rainbows, planting, and the life cycle of the butterfly.  They will also participate in gymnastics, art, music, movement, martial arts, yoga, sports, cooking, science, dance, and our industry renowned interactive theater experience.  Registration is available online and at each NYKC location.  If you have any questions please feel free to speak with your location manager.  We look forward to seeing you over Spring Break!

 
Warm Regards,