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 💙

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 💙