Dinosaurs! Roar!

 Roar!!! Dinosaurs!!!

The students in room 1 have been learning all about dinosaurs this week! Here they made some beautiful sunset dinosaur paintings! Each child was able to pick a dinosaur of their choosing to trace and cut.

5 Little Dinosaurs!

5 little dinosaurs heard a loud roar.

One ran away than there were 4.

4 little dinosaurs running by a tree.

One stayed to eat leaves, and then there were 3.

Three little dinosaurs deciding what to do.

One went home, and then there were 2.

One little dinosaur wanted some fun.

It went for a swim, and then there were none. 

Build a stegosaurus / T-Rex puzzles! 

Dinosaur small world play! 

A fun mix of sensory and imaginative play.

Dinosaur mini books to practice writing / reading skills.

Dinosaur yoga! 

Keeping their bodies and their minds active. 

Sorting dinosaurs by plant eaters (herbivores) and meat eaters (carnivores). 

Learning lots of big vocabulary words too!

Dinosaur bingo! 

Learning the names of the dinosaurs, paying attention to details and taking turns with their peers. 

Dinosaur memory game. 

Taking turns with peers, using visual memory skills, learning dinosaur names and making connections.

Dinosaur puzzle! 

Once completed the teachers challenged the students to match the dinosaurs to the larger dinosaur of the same color.

Lots of dinosaur related questions 

for question of the day this past week!

Dinosaur dominoes! 

Matching and working together!

Dinosaur coding!

Dinosaur crayon rubbings!

The crayon rubbing technique can be repeated over and over using a variety of materials. The process of looking for detail strengthens essential visual discrimination skills, the same skills children use to learn the differences between letters.

Building letters with dinosaurs!

Dinosaur dig in the sand! 

Discovering dinosaur bones and fossils!

Dinosaurs are always such a wonder to learn about! These were just a few of the great hands on activities going on this week! When children can use all of their senses, be engaged in various learning style activities, and have discussions with their peers and teachers they can truly be engrossed in their learning. 

Teacher Appreciation Week 2021!

 Teacher Appreciation Week 2021!

It has been a whirlwind of a year with all the new regulations and cleaning procedures and our teachers have absolutely been amazing! They have risen to the occasion time and time again and we really just cannot commend them enough. We do our best to treat them throughout the year and let them know how much we appreciate them but this week we really wanted to step it up. With the help of our amazing parents and families we were able to really spoil them this year! Thank you so much to everyone who donated to make this such a great week for the teachers! We couldn't do it without you!

Monday: Muffin to do but appreciate you!

Coffee, muffins, donuts, fruit, yogurt and juice for the teachers so start their day!

Tuesday: Just popping by to say, nobody is "butter" than all of you!

Popcorn bar! So many toppings to choose from and a lovely tray of chocolate dipped fruit to boot!

Wednesday: No worries Wednesday! 

Lunch is on us!

Today we ordered lunch for all the teachers from Carbone's Kitchen! Salad, pesto mac & cheese and chicken broccoli alfredo! Yummy!

Thursday: We scream how great our staff is...you scream for ice cream!

You can't go wrong with an ice cream bar with all the fixings! 

Friday: Favorite things & Show me the money! $

Today many of the families signed up to bring in a teachers favorite drink and snack as a nice treat! We also gave the staff a nice bonus as a monetary show of how much they are appreciated this week and everyday. 

We wish all the teacher's far and wide a very happy teacher appreciation week! You are all difference makers!

St. Patrick's Day 2021!

 The leprechaun made his yearly appearance here at Haverhill Daycare Center!

He escaped our traps once again!!!

He spread some shenanigans by tipping over chairs and throwing glitter, streamers and shamrocks all around the classrooms! 

He left all the rooms a nice treat for all their hard work on the traps and wished them all good luck!

Such creative traps!!!

Maybe next year we will catch him!

A little treat for all their hard work!

That silly leprechaun!

Beautiful artwork!

Letter practice and matching!

A little treat (and much needed caffeine) for the teacher's too!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!!!

2021 Winter Fun

 Winter Fun at HDC!

Snowmen and snow-women everywhere!

The Pre-K class has a winter wonderland set up in their dramatic play center where the children can build a cardboard box snowman, throw cotton ball snowballs and pretend to skate on the ice. 

The older Pre-K/K class have been working on their writing skills! Here they labeled the parts of their snowmen and snow-women. 

The Pre-K chose the words for their winter word wall and painted some beautiful snowflakes.

They have also been working their fine motor skills (pincer grasp) and working on name recognition by using snowball gems to build their names.

Ice painting!!! A fun art and sensory activity! Sonia & Mimi froze toy people and animals to let the children pretend they were skating on the ice! This lead to great discussions about how to stay safe on the ice.

Music and poems are a big part of our morning meetings! Here is a cute Snowflake poem to share.

The Kindergarten class is finishing up their author study of Jan Brett. Here is a fun poem they have been learning using the different animals from the book, The Mitten.

The Mitten in the Snow

The Mitten in the Snow

Help us please so we won't freeze

The Mitten in the snow

A _____ squeezes in

A _____ squeezes in

Help us please so we won't freeze

The Mitten in the snow!

Mittens! The children chose how they wanted to decorate their mittens, some glued paper onto them, some used the bingo markers and others chose to paint them. 

Our younger preschool class had fun painting snow for their snow globes, posing for pictures outside and helping Marcie & Destiny put them together!

They have also been working their fine motor skills and working on color recognition with this fun snowman pom pom press game.

They have done lots of winter painting too! 

Mittens at the easel and hats on the table.

When children paint at the easel they are working their gross motor skills and crossing the mid line which aids in their overall development. When they are seated at the table it is more of a wrist movement than a whole arm and it works a whole different muscle group. 

Click here to learn more about why crossing the mid line is so important!

We believe a print rich environment is crucial for helping children with literacy skills. It shows them that there is another way to communicate...through print. Here the children are putting their pre reading skills to use by looking at the picture and connecting it to the written word. 

The preschool children had a ball making snow! They had to measure the ingredients with the teacher and work their math skills by counting how many scoops of water versus the "snow" to make the right consistency. Such a fun sensory experience!

These are just some of the great activities going on at HDC this winter!!! 

Stay healthy everyone!!!