January 2024
Honeybee
Hello!
We are so happy to be ringing in the new year, Honeybee familia! The new year is a great opportunity for everyone to hit refresh and reset. New beginnings are always something to celebrate, especially when we have a great community to flourish in!
Firstly, we’d love to congratulate Ms. Maria on the birth of her happy and healthy baby boy, Efrain! ♡ Ms. Maria is on maternity leave and will return to the Honeybee classroom after Spring Break. We are sending her and her family well wishes on their newest addition to the family! In the meanwhile, Ms. Kathya is stepping into the classroom in her absence. Ms. Kathya has been a wonderful support to the Nido classroom since September and we are lucky to have her.
As everyone around us settles back into their normal routines, we are taking new steps in life. We are setting ourselves up for the upcoming milestones of infancy and early childhood. As we look forward to accomplishing them all, we’d like to gently remind parents that each child learns at their own pace. Understanding and supporting these milestones enable us as adults to create environments that nurture each child’s unique capabilities in alignment with their developmental needs. By acknowledging and respecting these milestones, we are able to cultivate a strong foundation for these children!
Our community is evergrowing! We have some new faces in class, so please welcome them with open arms. We are looking forward to this semester’s upcoming events so mark your calendars!
February 2 – Re-enrollment due
February 6 – Nido Community Meeting @ 5:30 PM
February 16 – Half day @ 11:45 AM, All/All in session
February 19 – School closed, President’s Day
March 1 – Nido/Toddler Classroom Social @ 5:30 PM
March 8 – Half day @ 11:45 AM for all school
March 11-15 – Spring Break, All/All in session
As always, Honeybee familia, please never hesitate to contact our team at Susan@creoschool.org or Nido@creoschool.org. Thank you for being a part of our wonderful community!
With love,
Ms. Susan, Ms. Maria, & Ms. Roseanna 💌
Butterfly
Happy New Year my Butterfly Families,
It is great to be starting off the new year with a full classroom. We have so many students and so many personalities. It still amazes me to watch how our 2-3 year old’s lend a helping hand to the youngest and newest of the group just as we, as adults, demonstrate every day.. The humility and selflessness that they give each other comes from within each child; it is not forced and it is not corrected.
Be on the lookout for our next Community meeting. We are trying to make these hour-long get togethers, not only informative, but collaborative, so please brings stories, questions, concerns to share with others. As we all know, raising a toddler is not always so easy! We might all be struggling with the same problem or might have even been in the same situation you might currently be facing so it’s a great way to vent about your troubles!
We have made a great effort to remind the class to care for our environment and care of self this month. Reminding children our plants, bird, and fish need care just like we do; our plants drink water every day just like we drink water and our fish eat food daily just like we do. We observe the wet table and feeling it is wet, the drips falling off our hand when we touch the wet table makes a bigger difference than just saying it is wet—we bring our senses into it. Making those connections daily reinforces a child to incorporate it into their daily routine without a reminder. Try it at home! Something as small as helping load the dishwasher every night after dinner will begin a daily routine and without asking, your toddler will begin taking the dishes to the dishwasher on her/his own in no time.
Warmly,
Ms. Rebeca and Ms. Daisy
Hummingbird
Dear Hummingbird Families,
We would like to extend a warm welcome to Ivy and Parker who joined our Hummingbird Familia this spring semester! It has been a wonderful start to the new semester. We have established our routine again, and everyone seems to be very productive. It truly amazes us how the children show their endless energy to discover and repeatedly work to master themselves. The children have been tirelessly working on improving their communication skills and seem to enjoy collaborating with us.
We started the spring semester with kind yet firm reminders of the classroom freedoms and limits. Our older children are learning to show more grace and courtesy to our new students as they learn about how the class functions. We have a certain set of limits to establish order and help the children orient themselves to the environment. These limits help the children feel safe and respected. Some of the classroom freedoms/limits are as follows:
We show respect to ourselves, each other, and the environment.
We walk in the class.
We sit at the table to eat food or drink water.
We wait for our turns for snack or for a “work/activity” that is not available.
We can observe our friends working without touching/interrupting their work.
We take our work to the table or use a rug on the floor.
We use our words to talk to our friends instead of using our hands.
Each child is different and takes their own set of time to grasp these freedoms/limits and put them into practice. The children can develop their levels of concentration by being given the freedom to observe. Through observation, the children learn so much.
As adults, our role is to practice being a positive role model by offering limits clearly and firmly yet with understanding and overall love. Role modeling is key. All adults can show children the freedoms or limits by practicing with them, either by doing it together or letting them observe you. We need to be aware of the power of the child to observe and absorb their environment. We can support them by being fully present and engaged with them. When we are present with the children it helps us to form a bond and establish trust in each other.
Upcoming in February, we are eager to host a community meeting solely for Hummingbird parents. It will be held in the Hummingbird classroom on February 7th, 2024 at 5:30 PM. Be on the lookout for a sign-up email next week. The topic we will be discussing is Toilet Learning!
Thank you for your constant trust and support,
Ms. Kat and Ms. Claudia
Squirrel
Hello Squirrel Toddler families!
The beginning of a new year and semester has been filled with excitement! It has been amazing to see our beloved toddlers get immersed in their work of the day.
“Playtime for them is a time of learning by practice. Every new movement which a little child makes is tried first of all tentatively and then repeated until the first clumsiness is gradually refined to an exact movement. Every plaything he uses is a tool for his work.” Maria Montessori
What we have focused on this month is to respect the work/material/toys of others. We use phrases such as:
When your friend is done you may use it.
It looks like ___ is using it, you can use the (other material) that is on the shelf.
Let’s go find something available to use.
We can ask your friend when they are done, they can let you use it.
We have a class favorite song called El cocodrilo y El orangutan.
https://youtu.be/5UhnMcBkl0Q?si=7jXdNATgT_oqYUW8
There is even a little dance we have learned, maybe your child can show you! It is so fun to hear them sing in Spanish!
Warmly,
Ms. Nadia and Ms. Bri
