Hello Spruce Families!

What a busy month it has been! The children (and I!) thoroughly enjoyed the bright, sunny days at the beginning of the month, with the extended day children going on scavenger hunts to Battle Point in the afternoon to take advantage of the gorgeous days. The classroom elders have been busily finishing projects like continents maps, number towers, and seasons books. Kindergarteners have been studying Rube Goldberg and his machines and enjoyed taking part in making their own chain reaction creations!

I wanted to mention something super important that we’ve been practicing in the classroom and that is hearing and respecting when someone says, “No.” or “Stop.” Those words are hard limits for me and we always listen to them. Sometimes this message is particularly hard to hear when a child doesn’t want to stop what they’re doing or they’re having fun. One way that you can support this at home is by listening and respecting when your child tells you, “Stop.” A fun game to play is tickle party or tickle fight, but introduce “Stop.” or even “Pause.” before you start playing and everyone has to stop when that word is used. If you have artsy children, you could take turns coloring a picture and have the other person say, “Stop.” when your turn is up. Even a game like Red Light, Green Light helps reinforce listening to “Stop” words and respecting them!

And finally, I wanted to extend a huge THANK YOU to our Earth Day volunteers: Carolyn, Michael, Dan, Emilie, and Sam – we couldn’t have done it without you! Thanks for donating your time and energy to helping the children have a wonderful Earth Day celebration, your efforts help make the day successful and memorable for all of us!

Here’s to more beautiful Spring weather heading our way!

Sincerely,
Amy