December 2016

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The toddlers of Celeste had a wonderful November.  They enjoyed continuing the exploration of the sensory table and different types of play dough.   A few of their favorites were scooping bugs out of water, exploring large noodles, smelling dough with difference scents, and adding color to some play dough.  Thank you to everyone who contributed these wonderful additions into our classroom.  The beautiful flowers were another wonderful treat, which the toddlers worked on placing into vases and handling very gently. 
 
November also brought a focus onto several grace and courtesy skills, which the older toddlers really enjoyed helping to show the younger friends of Celeste.  The children helped to set our tables everyday for lunch, and helped one another clear spots after snack and lunch.  The wooden kitchen was another area in which grace and courtesy were often demonstrated during pretend picnics where they would serve each other everything from scrambled eggs to ice cream! Hopefully the Thanksgiving holiday gave families a time to see their toddlers practicing these grace and courtesy skills at home with their families.
 
The month of December often goes by quickly with the holiday break, but gives us the chance to work on creating a unique holiday gift with each toddler.  This year the toddler’s of Celeste will use glitter and their wonderful smiles to produce a gift for their families to enjoy!  November brought a lot of goodbyes to our classroom with several children leaving for the EC program, as well as some new friends joining Celeste.  This means December will bring a focus on learning the routines of the classroom more, as well as how to take whole works off the shelves and return them back to their places.  Some of the previous younger toddlers will start to move into older toddler roles, and begin to show our younger friends how to complete tasks through modeling. It’s wonderful to get the chance to see Montessori’s concept of mixed ages shine through so nicely.