Teacher Appreciation Week 2022!

 Teacher Appreciation Week 2022!

We always appreciate our teachers, but we really like to kick it up a notch on Teacher Appreciation Week! With the help of our amazing parents, we have set up the whole week with fun ways to show our teachers how much we love them!  

~ Monday ~

Anyway you slice it...you're amazing!

Lunch for the staff today! 

~ Tuesday ~

You're appreciated a waffle lot!

Breakfast is served! 

~ Wednesday ~

A nice big bonus was awarded to all of our teachers as a monetary show of our appreciation!

Breakfast and a caffeine run from my little 4 year old who loves all of his teachers so much!

Flowers from the students! How beautiful! 

We had a staff meeting tonight where dinner and dessert was provided.

~ Thursday ~

HDC has "nacho" average teachers!!!

~ Friday ~

Yummy treats for the sweet teachers at HDC!

Thank you so much to our teachers for all the hard work they do everyday! 

You are all appreciated so much!!! 

You are all difference makers!

A great big thank you to all of our parents for their many generous donations this week, we could not have done this without all of you! 

We appreciate all of you too! 

What a great week!!

Lemons

Last week we learned 

all about lemons!

As a part of our mix and make science lesson we are practicing making mixtures, this week the mixture is lemonade! The children have been testing different ways to make it. For example, using fresh squeezed lemon juice with and without sugar and using different powdered mixes and measuring out the ingredients. They are comparing methods and taste testing to discuss their results. They are also exploring volume, as they count how many scoops it takes to fill a jar with different sized materials and liquids and so much more. They are having so much fun and the learning is so natural. 

Question of the day: Do you know where lemons grow?

Painting a lemon tree at the easel!

What do lemons taste like?

Oh my goodness, the faces they made when trying the lemons was priceless! LoL

Lemon print paintings! 

How many segments can you count?

Will a lemon sink or float? 

Both! If the lemon is peeled it will sink, if the peel is left on it will float!

Here the children are washing the table using the lemons and their juice! So many great uses for lemons! 

The classrooms all smell amazing! 

Lemon Estimation! 

A great way to help children build their number sense.

The children made their own lemonade!

 They squeezed their own lemons and added sugar to taste. 

Practicing self help skills by pouring their own drinks!

After tasting all the different types of lemonade, the children discussed the results and which one they liked the best. 

What a sweet week of learning!!!

Teacher Training Day!

Teacher Training Day!

3/7/2022

Our staff had a great day learning all about the Blueprint curriculum! This is a new curriculum that we have adopted this year that focuses on literacy. 

Our blueprint coaching leader Lindsey came in to run our training day yesterday. She walked us through a typical blueprint day and gave the teachers lots of great hands on learning ideas. 

We learned some great behavior managements techniques too!

The Power of 3 is a behavior management technique that replaces the standard idea of rules and instead focuses on building a positive classroom culture. The Power of 3 conveys the ways that, as community members, we “take care of ourselves,” “take care of each other,” and “take care of our environment.” 

Here the teachers are doing an open-ended art project and learning about great guiding questions to ask the children as they create to deepen their understanding. 

Some great learning / science centers!

How can you pop bubble wrap using a block? The children will have to use trial and error to find the best method. Should they press on the bubble with the block, use force or try rolling it?

How many words can you use to describe a sensory experience such as washing toys with water and soap? A great way to use descriptive vocabulary in a meaningful way and to experiment with how to create more bubbles. 

Here they are using pipe cleaners to create bubble wands. A great activity for building fine motor strength and for asking open ended questions to get their creative juices flowing such as, "I wonder if the shape of the bubble wand will change the shape of the bubble...what do you think?"

The teachers learned some valuable time management skills. They also gained insight on how to set up a schedule to be sure to reach all the content provided in the curriculum. 

Charting is a big part of the curriculum too. 

Here are some of the charts they gave for examples and explained how to help the children gain the most from them. 

The teachers did a great job sharing and taking in all the information from the training today. We wanted to thank Lindsay and Allision from CLI for being such great partner's to HDC! 

Snow fun!

 Snowy fun at HDC!

We borrowed this idea from Littlepinelearners. 

We used plates with circle cut outs of various colors of cellophane to explore colors in the snow. Unfortunately, it was a bit overcast so we were not able to see the colors reflected onto the ground, but the children loved them nonetheless. They named the colors and we discussed how the wind makes them move in a spinning motion. They had so much fun watching them move and trying to look through to see the colors all around them. 

In room 1, the teachers have brought the snow inside for some fun and exploration. Using various tools to weigh and measure the snow the children were able to put their science skills to good use. The children even had opportunities to paint on the snow with watercolors. 

In room 3, our youngest learners made snowmen using the potato head toys! Great for building up those fine motor muscles and sharing materials with peers.

In room 2, the children were learning Arctic animal yoga poses! A great way to get the children moving and stretching throughout the school day while learning.

Thank you Kidsyogastories for the free printable! 

In room 5, the students have been busy counting snowballs (cotton balls) for the sight word numbers shown on the snowman cards. They have been using tweezers for extra fine motor (grasp and release) skill work as well. They have also made illustrations about their favorite thing to do in the snow.  

After reading the book, Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner the students were able to paint a snowman at the easel and discuss what their snowman or snow woman would do at night if they could come alive.

Room 4, made melted snowman pictures! 

A great lesson in cause and effect. For example, if a child uses more force with the paint brush the background color shows through making the white paint look more gray than white. 

Lots of Winter fun here at HDC!