Happy Father's Day

SMART START friends loved making a surprise present for their fathers for Father's Day! The children made colorful picture frames using watercolor and paint brushes to make them extra special. We had so much fun taking adorable photos with the children. Their smiles were just perfect! We hope the children surprised you on Father's Day and that you treasure it now and always!

A special thank you to our SMART START fathers for sharing your wonderful children and allowing us to contribute to their education and care. Today and every day you deserve all the best. Enjoy your day with your families!

Here are the pictures we took for our SMART START fathers:

Emma

Mickey

Theo

Nora

Kaylee

Avery

Cody

Benny

Isla

Michael

Zoe

Wyatt

Kinsley

  

💙 Mary and Francesca 💙

Birthday Celebrations

Happy 2nd Birthday, Nora!

     We had the absolute pleasure of celebrating Nora's 2nd birthday here at SMART START. Nora was very excited to celebrate her big day with her school friends and teachers. We are so pleased to have Nora here at SMART START with us.  Nora is a bright, kind, and fun little girl that adds so much to our group.  We have watched her blossom so much during her time spent here and look forward to seeing her continued progress.  To celebrate and honor Nora we gave her a book to add to her home library and enjoyed hoodsie cups and cupcakes!

Nora opening her birthday present!

Our Birthday Girl!

SMART START friends enjoying Nora's birthday treats!

Look at those smiles!  

Happy 3rd Birthday, Emma!

     Emma was thrilled to celebrate her 3rd birthday here at SMART START with her friends and  teachers. Emma brought in cupcakes and goody bags for the festivities. We absolutely love having Emma as a student! She is always full of smiles, positive energy, loves to learn and she is a kind friend. The younger children look up to her and she continues to serve as an excellent role model. We look forward to spending more time here with Emma and watching her grow. To celebrate and honor Emma we gave her a book to add to her home library.

Emma opening her birthday gift!

Happy Birthday Emma!

Birthday fun and giggles!

Opening goody bags!

💙 Mary and Francesca 💙

Tadpoles

  We have two new friends at SMART START, Lucy and Luke. They are tadpoles that live in a clear plastic tank with a removable ventilated cover.  The children are very excited about the new editions and are eager to learn about the life cycle of a frog.  The frog metamorphosis may take up to 12 weeks so we will periodically update during the different stages.  SMART START friends are learning about the frog cycle which has four stages: egg, tadpole, froglet, and frog.  

                                                                               
     During the tadpole stage the children are learning how to help care for the tadpoles in their habitat.  They help feed Lucy and Luke and maintain a clean and safe tank. The children find great joy and feel a sense of accomplishment when they assist with Lucy and Luke. We have been integrating some fun activities into our unit on frogs. The children have enjoyed playing a frog game and practicing their number recognition by using a counting chart with frogs. They are making a lot of progress with their counting and it is so rewarding to the older children encouraging our younger learners and attempting to teach them. Here at SMART START acting like frogs is a must. The children were eager to put their hopping abilities to the test and hop, hop, hop just like the frogs. We witnessed a variety of frog hops- big hops, little hops, long hops, short hops, silly hops, fast hops, and slow hops.

     During art & crafts the children worked on a frog project. SMART START friends painted a portion of an egg carton to represent a tadpole and used circle tissue paper to represent the eggs. Once Lucy and Luke become froglets, the children will add legs to their tadpole craft. The children also decorated a frog. They used a party blower for a frog tongue. Of course the children enjoyed blowing the party blowers and being silly together- giggles galore! The children created their masterpieces using crayons, markers, glue, paint, sparkles, bonkers, and google eyes. Each project is unique and that's what makes them extra special! The children had a lot of fun getting messy and using their imaginations. We love to sit back as educators and watch their young minds at work!

Busy little hands working on their frog projects

Cody, Nora, and Kaylee are having fun testing out their frog tongues

     Be sure to ask your child about Lucy and Luke at home!  We can only imagine how excited your children will be filling you in on what they have learned so far!

Curious minds observing Lucy and Luke!

Michael and Avery are all smiles watching Lucy and Luke!

Cody and Mickey-Frog hopping fun

Counting frogs

Cody amazed when Luke swam over to him

Nora and Theo watching Lucy have her snack

Here's a cute song you can sing at home with your child...

💙 Mary and Francesca 💙

Rainy Day Fun

   Rainy days don't stop the fun and learning here at SMART START! There is always lots of sunshine with the smiles on their faces! We love seeing the children dressed in their rain gear. There is something exciting about rain when you are young. Best of all is puddle jumping! If you have a chance, let your little one jump in the puddles and sing and dance in the rain! They are only little for so long and it brings them so much joy.

Kaylee sporting her Minnie umbrella with a big smile!

     When it is a rainy day at SMART START, we go about our usual indoor routine and add indoor activities to the day to keep our young learners minds and bodies active. SMART START friends jump, dance, roll, crawl, hula hoop, stretch their bodies, play musical instruments and more.

     

SMART START Orchestra! 

Pike stretch and toe touch.

Butterfly stretch

Forward fold and touch your toes

Climbing, crawling and rolling

Parachute games

Making Popcorn with balls

Emma crawling through the tunnel

Isla shaking her tambourine and dancing around!

     We truly enjoy the rainy days here at SMART START and hope you have the chance to take advantage of some rainy day activities with your children. Whether it be singing the classic song, " Rain, rain, go away", reading or telling a story, baking cookies, working on an art project, building towers, playing outside in the rain and so on. Your children will treasure these moments because they are spending quality time with you!

Rain, rain, go away.

Come again another day.

    Little Johnny wants to play.

Rain, rain, go away.

.💙 Mary and Francesca 💙

Show and Tell

   Mickey was so excited to bring in something special from home for show and tell! He chose to bring a ball and bat to show his friends. Mickey did a fine job and was very sweet by sharing his ball and bat with his friends. He answered questions his friends asked while passing around the ball and bat. Following show and tell we all went outside to play ball!

SMART START friends enjoyed having a turn with Mickey's bat and ball!

Mickey's show and tell was a big hit!

Batter up!

Swinging for the fences!

Team SMART START playing ball!

     Theo and Nora were both super excited to bring in their favorite toys from home to share with their SMART START friends.  Theo chose to bring a drum and enjoyed showing the children how to make music.  He did a great job answering questions and letting friends beat on his drum!  Thanks for sharing, Theo!  

     Nora chose to bring in a top and loved showing her friends how it worked.  The children thought it was super cool and made it spin around and around!  Nora did a fantastic job sharing.  Thank you for sharing, Nora! 

Theo showing friends his drum.

Theo and Emma beating on the drum together.

Nora showing friends how the top works.

Nora helping Cody spin the top.

💙 Mary and Francesca 💙

Weekend With Barny the Barn Owl

     We have a new friend that recently joined our SMART START family, Barny the Barn Owl! He is a fun and cuddly addition. SMART START friends are all anxiously awaiting their turn to bring Barny home for the weekend. When it is your child's turn we will send home a checklist for you and your child to complete and send back to school the following week.

     Cody had a lot of fun bringing Barny home. He kept Barny very busy completing the checklist. Barny's favorites were puzzles with Cody and Kinsley, homework with Cody and going for a walk! Cody brought Barny back to school the following week along with his beautifully colored checklist that he and Miss Francesca shared with the class!

Barny doing puzzles with Cody and Kinsley.

Cody and Barny doing their homework.

Miss Francesca showing Cody's checklist to the class.

Thank you Cody for taking such good care of Barny.  He had so much fun!

     Emma and Isla were the next to bring Barny home. It was wonderful for the girls having Barny for the weekend and letting him in on their sister fun! Barny and the girls kept busy by completing all on the checklist. An extra special outing for Barny was going to a sheep shearing festival with the girls. What fun they all had! 

Emma sharing what she did at home with Barny to her friends.

Miss Francesca showing Emma's checklist to the class.

Emma and Barney, friends forever

💙 Mary and Francesca 💙