Program Update

I apologize for my inconsistent postings on our blog, but hopefully will be able to do more updating now that we are getting a little more organized.

We have taken time off from most of our curriculum planning for the month of June in order to spend as much time outside as we can and have some free play time. Also with the transition of losing Christian and Olivia and gaining little Malia, it takes a bit of time to get everyone back on a schedule. So next week will be our last week of full free time. Then we will be getting back to the grind of our curriculum during the hotter summer months.

Starting July 1, we will be starting a new curriculum based program for preschoolers and toddlers provided by Reach for the Stars. The author of this program is also the President of the Child Care Share group for the Omaha area. Her program is very in depth and laid out day to day on things to learn and topics to teach. It covers not only the favorites like ABC's and 123's, but it also encompasses each learning subject such as cognitive, creative, fine and large motor skills, vocabulary and verbal, etc. I think it will be a great program for our kids and it will also help keep us on track when it is already laid out for us!

We will still of course have our free play time with toys and our outdoor recess time. Many of the day to day activities that go with the program include, art, exercise, physical activities, dancing, singing, playing, motion, coloring, etc. If you have ANY questions about what we will be doing, please don't hesitate to talk to me. Also with this new program in place, I feel I will be able to better evaluate your children's progress as they learn and be able to better report to you the things that they are accomplishing!
Also as a reminder I will be closed Friday July 4 at 4pm until Tuesday July 8. I will be back from vacation and reopen on Wednesday July 9.

I still have one full time spot available during the day for any kids you may know that need child care for ages 18 months - 5 years. So please send them my way if you know of anyone!

I wish you all a happy and fun weekend! Here are a couple of fun pictures of our "crazy" days at daycare!

Zoo Days!

Last Friday we made our annual field trip to the Henry Doorly Zoo, which I think turned out great. It was supposed to storm in the morning but ended up being one of the most beautiful days of the year so far.
We toured the whole zoo minus the elephants and rhinos, which frustrates me because they are a zoo favorite in my opinion and that is one complaint I have about the Omaha zoo, is the placement of these animals. They are way out in the boonies! Anyways, despite this fact the kids didn't really seem to miss them this year.
We at a picnic lunch in Bear Canyon and then finished our day touring the inside exhibits.
The kids were well behaved and very active and enjoyed the trip, I think. We took our wagon and the double stroller but really no one rode in it, so they got lots of exercise. I got some good pictures of the group.

In other news: Christian and Olivia will be leaving our daycare after this week. After two years of being here they are moving on. Olivia is starting Kindergarten in the Fall and Christian will be starting a preschool closer to home. So we will miss them, but that will leave me with one available spot for any kids over the age of 18 months if you know of anyone looking for full-time daycare Mon-Fri.

We will also be doing some "All About Me theme" stuff this week where we will learn about ourselves, our names, our parents' names, our address and phone number. These are things kids should really know before they start kindergarten. So we will begin working on them. Maybe you can help them practice at home with so that they can memorize these things and teach them a code word so they don't go tell strangers these important things.

Happy Mothers Day

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The Week

This week has had some absent kids so we have put off the letter L for the rest of the week and will finish it and start the letter M next week. We did get some good outside playtime in this week and I think the kids really enjoy stretching their Winter feeling from their bodies and adventuring into the warm spring air. We've been playing games and exploring and simply running and playing very hard the last couple of weeks.

Unfortunatley we also have the fifth disease rash spreading around which is aggravated by the sunlight and heat, so we won't be in the sun as much probably next week simply to avoid becoming itchy. Though the rash is harmless and there is no side affects, it is still a long pain for us outdoorsy types!

I wanted to post some pictures of us playing over the last week! I hope you all have a great weekend!

Something Fun for Kids

Welcome Malia!

Congratulations to Jared's family for the arrival of their new baby girl today. Malia Slechta was born today to Jeff and Amanda, parents of our friend Jared. We are all very excited for you! I can't wait to meet her! Welcome to the world!

Rainy Days

Last week we played alot outside, trying to take advantage of the warm weather and the spring air. One day we even grilled hamburgers and ate outside at the table. The kids had a lot of fun with this. When we play outside the kids can play on the swingset, run around the yard with toys, play with the playhouse, and we also play games.

Then when we had a rainy day, we learned about rain and played some rainy day music in the playroom. We tried to have some fun and make instruments and music out of the toys in the playroom, and Owen and Raymond had their harmonicas. It was a jamboree of music! The kids had a lot of fun.
This week we will be working on the letter K and the number 13! We will also be working more on our workbooks and if it warms up a little more, will have our recess time at a scheduled time this week. All of the time we spent outside last week was more than we usually will in a day unless we have scheduled activities or a free day, but I wanted the kids to shake off some that old winter feeling by being in the warm sun! So have a great week.

The pictures are of our bee craft and our rainy day music!