The Colors of Us

The Colors of Us
The study of self has been part of an investigation the children have been a part of since the beginning of school.  Representing ourselves through different artistic mediums has been an ongoing interest.This semester, our goal is to extend this project in many ways. With the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's birthday on Monday, we celebrated by reading the book The Color of Us by Karen Katz. 

The story depicts a young girl named Lena, the young daughter of an artist who wants to paint a portrait of herself. Her mother teacher her how mix paints to make "the right brown" for her skin tone. Her mom shows her that if she mixes the right combination between red, yellow, black, and white, she can have the right brown for the color of her skin. The children were encouraged to make their skin tone by combining the colors Lena's mom showed her to use in the book. 

The process of mixing the paints was long. The children were persistent with mixing colors to find the right color of their skin. Pouring less and more of one color or another and defining if they needed to make it darker or lighter, were among the trial and error comments made during the process. The results of the colors mixed by the children were simply beautiful.

Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day this year is on a Sunday and many have been asking about bringing in Valentine's, if you choose to participate please have the child sign their name on their Valentine's. Do not worry about writing names of classmates as that can be a struggle when passing Valentines out. Children will decorate their Valentines bags at school Monday the 8th and Tuesday the 9th. Children can start bringing in Valentines Wednesday the 10th through Friday the 12th. We will not be celebrating Valentines Day with a party but passing out Valentines and reading them during small group reading.

Important Dates

• January 27th Pizza Kit Orders Due 
• February 29th - March 4th School is closed for Spring Break 

Meet Our Intern

As many of you have noticed, we have many new faces in our classroom. University students are part of our culture here at the ECEC and as a new semester starts, new student teachers become part of our classroom community. The children seem to accept new faces and are comfortable with building new relationships.  This winter semester we have one intern we would like to introduce to you. We are extremely excited to work with Ms. Juliann Ruelle. She was part of our classroom last semester and is familiar with many of the children and our classroom routine.

Dear Families,

       I wanted to take the time to introduce myself. My name is Juliann Ruelle and I will be interning this semester with Ms. Smith and Ms. Sanchez. I will be in your child’s classroom Mondays (8:00am-4:00pm) and Wednesdays (8:00am-3:30pm). In April I will be receiving my Bachelor’s degree in General Studies: Children and Families, so this is my last semester here at the University of Michigan- Dearborn. I am currently a Director at a Before and After Care program where I have been working with children for the past 5 years. I have always been around children and had a love for educating and working with them. I also have experience caring for children with cerebral palsy which takes place every summer during my workplaces’ Summer Camp.  I have two dogs named Caesar and Jack. With that being said, I am a HUGE dog lover. If I could have hundreds of dogs, I would! I often run in various 5ks and 10ks for fun and in the future I plan to be able to run a whole marathon. My goal for this semester is to investigate with the children and learn as much as we can together. I am very excited to see where their minds take us and eager to meet you all and get to know the children and their personalities!

Sincerely,

Juliann Ruelle 

Thank You

Thank you parents who responded to my email in regards to the co-teaching model we practice at the ECEC. We will share them at our professional development meeting on Monday. This is another way you are volunteering your time to our school and classroom community. We are grateful for your time.

Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day this year is on a Sunday and many have been asking about bringing in Valentine's, if you choose to participate please have the child sign their name on their Valentine's. Please do not worry about writing names of classmates as that can be struggle when passing Valentines out. Children will decorate their Valentines bags at school Monday the 8th and Tuesday the 9th. Children can start bringing in Valentines Wednesday the 10th through Friday the 12th. We will not be celebrating Valentines Day with a party but passing out Valentines and reading them during small group reading.
 
Reminders
Please remember to bring all snow gear for cold, winter days. We go outside everyday unless there is precipitation or the temperature is below 20 degrees (or feels like less than 20 degrees). All children need to bring gloves, hats, snow pants,coats, and snow boots to school when we have snow. We would like to inform you we cannot keep children inside if you request. Due to ratio policies, we do not have staff to accommodate your child to stay inside. If you child cannot go outside than he/she should stay home.

Important Dates

• NO SCHOOL next Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
•  January 20th Presentation on “Gluten Free Diets Help Children with Autism” 
• January 21st Parent Association Meeting @ 8:30am 
• January 27th Pizza Kit Orders Due 
• February 29th - March 4th School is closed for Spring Break 

New Year!

It feels great to be back! We truly missed all the children and are excited about the new year plans we have for the rest of the year.  The children have grown in many ways since their fist day of school. I saw them come into the classroom with a sense of comfort, a comfort that displayed their classroom and school environment as their second home... a place they missed. The children have built positive relationships with each other and it was noticed how much they missed each other during the break.

As the new year begins, we reflect on each child's accomplishments thus far and think about what goals we have for each child. There have been some changes to our environment as well as our schedule to reflect the needs of the children. Our morning meeting will start at 9:00 am (2:10 in the pm) and it is crucial for your child to arrive before this time. During morning meeting and afternoon meeting, the children will participate in literacy and math activities that will aid towards growth in these areas through out the year. Starting our day early will also allow us to have 20-25 minutes of small groups that will incorporate writing or reading mini books. Mini books will be sent home at the end of the week. We encourage you to read the books with your child at home.

Lost and found.
We have placed a  lost and found basket in our parents sign-in shelf. Please check the basket for lost items. There are two or three sweaters and more items in there now that we know belong to children in the classroom. Please check at your convenience.

Thank you to Mr.& Mrs. Karagatsoulis!
We didn't get a chance to thank Khristos' parents for coming into the classroom and making Koulourakia cookies with the children. The experience was memorable and enjoyable to the children. Thank you again for your time. We strongly appreciate your involvement with our classroom community.