Newsletter May 5-6, 2009

Last Week
A spontaneous art project was born after Audrey came across some spring-themed foam stamps in our supply box. The children experimented with print making by dipping the stamps into paint trays and imprinting on a large roll of paper. Voilà, another garden was born! They also made turtles using nylon, soil, grass seed and construction paper. When watered regularly, the kids will witness the grass growing out of the turtles' backs.

We discussed our planting project for next week and the kids got to feel pea and green bean seeds. We hoped to speed up the germinating process by having the seeds sprout in wet paper towels. This week we will plant those seeds and watch them grow. Our special planter will allow the kids to see the roots in the soil as their plants grow. The kids also took turns pretending to be seeds that grow into tall flowers.

On the playground, we met several groups of other children and our kids did a great job socializing. They were by far the youngest, but enjoyed sharing and interacting with the older kids.

Back inside, we read "My Daddy is a Pretzel, Yoga for Parents and Kids", by Baron Baptiste and practiced some of the new positions mentioned in the book. For snack, the children made their own fruit salads and enjoyed choosing their own fruit and mixing it on their plates.

This Week
**New Location - Soren's House

As mentioned above, we will plant our pea and green bean seeds. The children will also see how the grass they planted a week ago has really begun to grow.

A new group activity will include a variation of duck, duck, goose. We'll call it -- Flower, flower, butterfly! With our new space, we will make a few adjustments by removing some of our regular toys and focusing on choice activities that will include the sewing/lacing activities and dress-up. We'll also have a dress-up dance party.

Outdoor activity (weather permitting) will include more print making on the roof. We'd like do some vegetable printing using potatoes, cucumbers, radishes, and any other veg. we can carve. **Parents please bring a couple of vegetables we can carve. If you have any baby spoons or sporks, please bring to use for carving. The children will make some hand and foot prints.

Important for this week:
We will meet at Ali/Soren's house. Their address is: 270 21st Street, #2, between 5th and 6th Avenues. (212-851-6445)
Below is the volunteer schedule. Please let me know if anyone needs to switch days. I switched days with Deepa, so let me know if this doesn't work for you.

Also, please keep in mind that we will be out of town for the week of May 18, so the location for that week is TBD.

Tuesday, May 5 Amanda
Wednesday, May 6 Alise

Tuesday May 12 Maya
Wednesday, May 13 April

Tuesday May 19 Amber
Wednesday May 20 Krisztina

Tuesday May 26 Emily
Wednesday May 27 Deepa

PLEASE BRING:
*A couple vegetables for print making & baby spoons/sporks if you have
*Labeled sippy cups
*Diapers or change of clothes we've used the ones we have

*Last call for baby pictures. We will plan do the self-portrait project next week so please email me one baby picture and one recent picture of your child for our self-portrait project. We don't want any of the kids to be without a portrait. Please email jpg's to apriljenkinsnyc@gmail.com

* Drop-off time still 9:10 am - Pickup at 11:45 am.