Dear families,

Whether or not spring has sprung in New York, we are moving full steam ahead with our seasonal curriculum; the sun will catch up one way or another.  As the ever-fluctuating weather has been on everyone's mind this year, it is only fitting that our curriculum capitalizes on its ubiquity.  We continue our phonetic awareness practice (this week, the 'w' sound) with the poem:

Whether the weather be fine, or whether the weather be not,

Whether the weather be cold, or whether the weather be hot,

We'll weather the weather, whatever the weather, whether we like it or not!

Another great way to help students master additional letter sounds beyond the first letter of their first name is to have them study and use their last name.  Students will introduce themselves (first and last names) and then play a game where they will be asked to identify other students based on the phonetic sounds of their last name: "I'm thinking of a girl with a bow in her hair with a last name that starts with M....can you tell me her last name?"

Our story, Red Sings from the Rooftops will help us review the seasons and practice visual discrimination (colors, trees, animals) while allowing us to introduce the idea of a color representing something else (in the book, a heart is represented by the following: "And Red? Red beats inside me: thump-thump-thump").  This is a fun and educational game you can play at home that helps develop advanced language and reasoning skills.  

Math units will reinforce basic math skills like counting (one to one correspondence), quantity, and number recognition.  Students will build their own 'trees' out of blocks and attempt to place 'Red' higher and higher in the treetops.  We will chart the tallest tree and count how many blocks we can stack before the tree topples.  Instructors will also place four colored dots (each numbered 1-4) on the floor as they lead the class in a game of "Jump the Seasons."  Students will roll large dice, jump to the corresponding number/color, and then be asked to add or subtract one. 

A discussion of everyone's favorite seasonal activities (pumpkin carving in the fall, going to the beach in summer, etc) will lead us to one of our favorite spring endeavors: planting a garden!

We take the first step towards the creation of our New York Kids Club Garden: Beans vs. Grass when we introduce clouds (cirrus, stratus, cumulus) and rainfall. After students create their own watercolor tree and cotton ball cloudscape, we discuss what it takes for a plant to grow (soil, sun, water, time) and begin to connect the dots between the clouds/precipitation and vegetation growth.  Students will each be given three lima bean seeds to soak overnight between wet paper towels.  The following day, each child will plant his or her own lima bean seeds as well as the grass seeds for our communal grass garden. Students are responsible for watering their own plant and instructors will chart the growth of each plant and blade of grass for the remainder of the month. 

Green thumb, or no, we are excited to welcome spring back to New York so please come see our Kids Club Garden the next time you visit a location.  I sincerely hope everyone had a great Spring Break.  I have returned from my own travels to South Africa so please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

 
Warm Regards,