Water beads.....

The wonderful world of water bead play!!!

Today was science day with Teacher Rosemary in Rose Room! What better way to introduce science than with water beads? Water beads are like little seeds that are dehydrated. As water is added to the seeds, the seeds drink it up, transforming into soft squishy, smooth marbles. (These are available at Michael's or Dollar Tree in the floral department, and are often used to fill vases instead of using marbles. We use them for sensory and science activities.)








Squishing them with our feet....













The boys and girls had so much fun observing the beads on the light table and using flashlights. We also added some glow sticks to their choices.







Water beads are a wonderful sensory experience for all to enjoy!



The Rose Room

Bubbles, Art/Science Class!!

Bubbles are always a huge hit for our toddlers! Whether the kids are asking us to blow bubbles so they can pop and catch them in their mouths, or asking to blow bubbles themselves, we can't get enough of them! Teacher Richa bought us a bubble machine. We put the bubble bottle upside down in the machine, turned it on, and let the machine do the rest! So many bubbles in the classroom and the kids thought it was so cool!! They were dancing in the bubbles and trying to pop them! Even the teachers had a blast with the bubble machine :)
















Teacher Rosemary, who had been working as the preschool teacher in Purple Room, is now going into each classroom one day a week to do an art or science project with that class. It is great for the kids to have a new teacher come into the classroom and show us a cool art or science project. It's a nice change for the kids and Teacher Rosemary has so many amazing ideas that we are so happy to have her! Thursdays are our days to have Teacher Rosemary with us, so parents please check the white board or the walls for your children's beautiful artwork or a little write up on what we did that day!






















Water beads with glow sticks and lights :)




























More fun to come :)

Love,

Rose Room

Snowcones, Shaving Cream, and Ice Fun!

We have been talking and doing projects based around the cold winter month. We have been getting a lot of rain lately and the kids have been loving coming to school in their rain boots, rain jackets, and all their rain gear! We decided to do some projects with cold ice. The kids had a blast helping their teachers make snow cones! They helped us grind the ice with our snow cone machine and they got to eat the shaved ice with fruit juice on the top! The kids loved the snow cones and even wanted seconds :)






















Continuing on with our snow theme, we have been playing with colored ice cubes, freezing water with our ice cube tray and putting different colors of food coloring on the ice cubes!

























Shaving Cream is a lot of fun for our little ones in Rose Room! We had shaving cream with blue food coloring and glitter in it. The kids had a blast putting their hands and arms through the shaving cream and feeling the soft touch of it.





















Happy Winter!!!

Love,
Rose Room

Welcome new teachers!

Happy new year to everyone and I hope that everyone enjoyed and rested in the holiday season. We are so excited for 2016!

I love the following quote. We try to tell our kids this and it is great for us to follow these ideas too:

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're doing something.

By Neil Gaiman

2016 is off to a wonderful start for us, including some exciting changes. As most of you know, we have been interviewing for a while in our quest to find the right people to join our team. We were looking for a full-time person for Purple Room because Teacher Rosemary needed to reduce her hours, and for one teacher each for Rose Room and Green Room as their enrollments have grown.

We deeply appreciate your patience during the hiring process, and especially those of you who helped refer candidates to us. We are very happy to announce that we are now fully staffed (yay!!!!) and ask you to join us in welcoming our new teachers to the team!

Welcome to Teacher Vianna in Purple Room

Teacher Vianna started substituting for us the last week of December and is now officially the co-teacher with Teacher Rashida in Purple Room. Her hours are 9:30-6:00 daily, so those of you with later pick-ups will get to consistently see her in the evenings. Vianna has a degree in ECE and several years of teaching experience. We are excited to welcome her to the preschool team!

But what about Teacher Rosemary?
Teacher Rosemary has begun phasing out of Purple Room as Vianna phases in, but rest assured, she will still be with us every day. Starting February 1, Teacher Rosemary will become our "Art & Science Teacher in Residence," meaning that she will be rotating through each classroom (probably one day/week in each room) to work on special art and science projects with all of the children. This has always been one of her greatest strengths, so now all the rooms will get to benefit from her curriculum talent!

Welcome to Teacher Kayleigh in Rose Room (and helping preschool and Green Room)

Teacher Kayleigh joined us full-time in mid-October. She is the assistant teacher in Rose Room in the mornings, helps Green Room with their lunches, and then supports preschool in the afternoons. Talk about multi-tasking! We appreciate her flexibility and willingness to serve as the "bridge" or familiar face for children who are transitioning between classrooms. Kayleigh is new to this field professionally but grew up with younger siblings and has worked with young children for a long time in other settings. She is Teacher Ramona's daughter and Teacher Julia's big sister. Welcome, Kayleigh!

Welcome to Teacher Katie (Green Room)
Teacher Katie joined Green Room in mid-November. Her hours are 9:00-3:00 Monday through Friday. Katie has a degree in music and is currently a part-time student working toward her Master's in clinical psychology. She has experience working with toddlers in a summer program and is continuing to take classes in child development as well. She has a specific interest in (and talent for!) working with young children. We are so glad she joined our team!

Referrals are still welcome.

We don't have any more full-time or part-time regular staff openings, but we are always open to substitutes, student teachers, or volunteers. If you know anyone who needs or wants experience with young children, we are always happy to share what we do with the next generation of teachers.

I am very excited to welcome Teachers Vianna, Kayleigh, and Katie to our Creative Minds family!

Richa Kapur