Our Class Pet, Pilot

     At SMART START we have a soft and cuddly friend, Pilot. Pilot is our class pet and he is a very gentle bunny.  He is loved by all the children and enjoys being fed yummy snacks and spending time outside in the sun.  The children look forward to spending time with Pilot and he looks forward to these social interactions as well.      

There are many benefits of having a classroom pet.  Pets raise self-esteem and teach:

• compassion
• responsibility
• sharing
• teamwork
• empathy

    As you can see, Pilot is so much more than a class pet.  Pilot is enriching the lives of your children in many ways and we are grateful to share this experience with them.  Thank you for supporting Pilot here at SMART START!

Pilot loves when his SMART START friends pet him.

Kaylee giving Pilot a nibble of lettuce.

Snack time for Pilot

Pilot enjoying some love and snacks in the sunshine.

Emma loves giving Pilot hugs.

💙 Mary and Francesca 💙

SMART START Friends

     We are so fortunate here at SMART START to have a lovely group of children! They are all sweet, smart, compassionate, helpful, funny, curious...the list goes on and on! The children have formed friendships and truly enjoy their time spent together at SMART START. It is so refreshing to watch their relationships blossom over time. Play is an essential part of learning! The children have great opportunity to engage in different forms of play throughout the day. These are just a few pictures that we've captured of the children playing together and the captions below each picture really embrace the meaning of what true friendship is at this young age...especially in the eyes and hearts of little ones!

Always there for a friend in need

We didn't realize we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun

You can count on me

Building more than just towers building friendships

Group hug affection

Friends since infancy

We can do it together

I knew I would find you

Good friends

Team work at SMART START auto repair

Always there to lend a hand

Everything is better with friends

Imaginations at work

"Play is the highest form of research."

- Albert Einstein

💙 Mary and Francesca 💙

Happy Mother's Day

     SMART START friends enjoyed making surprise presents for their mothers for Mother's Day! The children painted the picture frames using water color and paint brushes and decorated with stickers to make them look extra beautiful. We had so much fun taking the outdoor photos for this special gift. Ask your children about peekaboo tree and they will have some fun stories to share. We hope the children surprised you and that the gift was enjoyed.

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

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

Nora

Theo

Kaylee

Cody

Isla

Mickey

Emma

Benny

Mickey

Zoe

Kinsley

💙 Mary and Francesca💙

Homework Fun

     Our children at SMART START are given homework once a week and they LOVE it! Homework and love are two words that typically do not go hand in hand, but here at SMART START we have eager, young learners and parental support that makes homework fun! Each child has a homework folder that is sent home with them at the end of their week at SMART START. Homework includes a coloring or activity sheet that reflects an aspect of the curriculum. We have found that homework has been an excellent way for your children to share what they are learning about at school. Please use this opportunity to engage in conversation with your child and ask questions.

     The children love returning their homework folders and are always proud of their work. A sticker is given for a job well done! We have a special board where we hang up homework for everyone to see. We love filling our SMART START space with the children's work. Feel free to hang it up when we send it home. Hard work deserves to be displayed!

Miss Kaylee coloring her homework at home. Nice Job!

SMART START friends putting stickers on their homework for a job well done! 

Check out all of their hard work!

We know that our SMART START friends will always have a love for learning!

A child educated only at school

is an uneducated child

-George Santayana

💙 Mary and Francesca💙

Spring Birthday Celebrations

Happy 2nd birthday, Adelyn!

     Adelyn celebrated her 2nd birthday here at SMART START with all of her friends!  Adelyn has attended SMART START for over a year and a half and it has been an absolute pleasure caring for and educating her.  She has grown into such a smart and loving young girl.  We love having her here and cannot wait to see what the year ahead holds for Adelyn!  To celebrate and honor Adelyn we gave her a book to add to her home library and enjoyed cupcakes and munchkins!

Sweet treats with our friends

Adelyn and Mickey, friends since infancy

Adelyn opening her present

Adelyn sharing her birthday gift with friends

     Happy 2nd birthday, Kaylee!

 Kaylee celebrated her 2nd birthday here at SMART START with all of her friends! Kaylee has attended SMART START since she was 5 months old and we have thoroughly enjoyed contributing to her growth and development. We are so proud of the progress she has made and the loving young girl she is. To celebrate and honor Kaylee we gave her a book to add to her home library and decorated cupcakes and ate them, along with a hoodsie cup!


Kaylee decorating her birthday cupcake

Decorating birthday cupcakes with friends

Birthday girl Kaylee opening her gift

Reading with friends

Happy 3rd birthday, Theo!

     Theo celebrated his 3rd birthday here at SMART START with his friends.  Theo has been a wonderful addition this past year to our SMART START family and we have loved getting to know him. He is such a smart, kind, and inquisitive young boy and the children definitely look up to him. Theo brought in little goody bags to share with his friends on his birthday. They were very excited and thankful for the thoughtful gesture. To honor and celebrate Theo we gave him a book to add to his home library and enjoyed some delicious cupcakes!

                        

                            Birthday boy Theo enjoying his ocean book

Birthday goody bags are so much fun! Thank you, Theo!

Sharing his present with friends

Birthday cupcakes are yummy

💙 Mary and Francesca 💙

Butterflies

   Due to all of our SMART START friends having so much fun learning about the life cycle of a ladybug, we decided to teach them about the life cycle of a butterfly as well. The butterfly life cycle has four stages: egg, caterpillar(larva), pupa, and butterfly. We hatched two butterflies named Caty and Claire. We also read an Eric Carle classic, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. During art the children used soft, squishy balls that they dipped in paint to create a very hungry caterpillar of their own. A new favorite at SMART START is the Very Hungry Caterpillar board game (similar to the game Candy Land). Although the box may say ages 3 and up, as with many educational materials we expose our young learners to they were engaged and understood.  

Observing the growth of our caterpillar larva

Curiosity grows

Making our very hungry caterpillars

Great job Cody!

Isla, cute as a butterfly

Kinsley amazed

Playing The Very Hungry Caterpillar board game

Proud students- Butterfly lifecycle certificates

     It was an exciting time when Caty and Claire emerged from their cocoons. The children thoroughly enjoyed learning about the life cycle of a butterfly and actually witnessing it happen right in their own classroom!

Caty and Claire, our beautiful butterflies

Staring in amazement

💙 Mary and Francesca💙