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Christ the King Community Daycare
68-02 Metropolitan Avenue,
Middle Village, NY 11379
718-417-6770
www.ctkny.org
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We are happy to say goodbye to the month of March which came in like a ferocious lion and continued all month with a freezing blast of frigid air right through the very last week. Everyone is eager to run and play in the warm sunshine.
Spring is here, and so begins that time of year when we are on the lookout for April showers, clouds, and rainbows. We will take nature walks around the campus and watch for signs of Spring. On Monday April 22nd, we will make our campus beautiful for Earth Day. Each class will get a section and each child will get to plant colorful flowers outside in our garden next to the big playground. The children will then learn about the parts of a plant, as they carefully observe how their flowers bloom and grow. We will also learn about the Earth, Sea, and Sky. We will learn about how to protect the Earth and recycle. Each class will make a creative art project using recycled materials. We will have a contest and display these projects, and tally the final votes to announce on Friday, April 26th! To conclude the month, our 3K and Pre-K have been invited to the Christ the King NHS Carnival. This will be the third year we get to participate in it. The children get to play games created by the NHS, jump in bounce houses, and even get a visit from Mr. Softee! We look forward to all that April has in store for us!
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- As the weather becomes nicer, the children will be spending more time outdoors. If your child is outside when you are picking up, please remember to come in and sign your child out first. We would also like to remind parents to please refrain from picking your child up over the fence. This is for the safety of the children.
- If you have not yet done so, please return your child's re-registration packet by April 15th.
- When calling the facility, please keep in mind that calls should be ideally be made between 12-2pm while the children are napping. The daycare phone number is 718-417-6770.
- As we move into Spring, please remember to make sure your child's cubby contains weather-appropriate clothing. We also appreciate all of our parents continuing to bring in diapers and a box of wipes twice each month on the 1st and the 15th.
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Colors: Rainbow
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Concepts: Rain, Rainbows, and Clouds; Spring; Recycle; Solar System
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Shape: Oval
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Letters: T, U, V
- Number(s):
Ages (1-2) # 8
Ages (3-4) #'s 15, 16
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Science with the Bunnies
Welcome April! The Bumblebee class is excited for nice weather, outdoor activities, and springtime crafts that April will bring! We will be learning about Earth Day and working together on a fun recycling project. Last month the Bumblebees enjoyed many fun activities. We celebrated St. Patrick's Day with crafts and a parade. The children made a big pot of gold with rainbow handprints, built a leprechaun puppet, and of course colored shamrocks.
Another special thing we did for art last month was decorating a rainbow. We used rainbow colored fruit loops to decorate the rainbow. The Bumblebees had the choice if they wanted to sort the colors out or just decorate it freely. It was really fun for the Bumblebees to decorate with the cereal. Later on we were able to have some as a nice treat! This was not only a fun project but it helped to reinforce colors. Art can be fun, creative, and also a helpful tool for learning.
Science with the Lions
Happy Spring everyone! This month the Lions will be starting their unit study called Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. We'll have an opportunity to learn all about ways that we can reduce waste and help keep the environment safe and clean. This coincides with our Earth Day celebration on April 22nd!
Last month, the Lions showcased their architectural (and demolition) skills during the Building unit. The Lions love to build using all kinds of materials. We were amazed at the attentiveness to detail they devoted to many of their wondrous creations! For science, we talked about what makes a building sturdy and how different materials, as well as the design of our buildings can make some structures stronger than others. We created a STEM challenge where the Lions had to pick from various materials to see who can make the tallest, sturdiest building. They had a choice of which materials to use and challenged themselves to build a structure as high as they could without falling. STEM challenges and experimentation helps promote critical thinking, problem solving skills, and persistence.
Science with the Dolphins
As we March our way into spring, the Dolphins are excited to say goodbye to our Building’s unit and start learning all about our new unit, Recycling! During the month of April we are looking forward to doing so many Spring-time activities! One activity we are really looking forward to is creating a class recycling project after we had so much fun creating our Empire State Building out of cardboard boxes and other recycled materials.
We had so much fun during the month of March including our St. Patrick’s Day celebration! We also had fun hunting for eggs at our Easter party! Last month, the Dolphins focused on the topic of “Buildings.” One activity our class enjoyed was creating their own version of cement! We used shaving cream, glue, and black paint to create puffy paint that resembled cement. While learning about buildings, we learned about the different people involved in creating these buildings. One person that stuck out to the class was a brick layer, as the children have never heard of a brick layer. This made them extra curious as to what a brick layer does! We investigated and found that they use cement to place the bricks on the outside of the building. We decided to make our own cement and practiced laying our own bricks using the puffy paint! The class got to help create the mixture and loved the look of it after it was dried! We can’t wait to create more things similar to this for our Recycling unit!!
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Math with the Kitties
Welcome to April! This month the Kitties will learn the number 8 and letters T, U, and V. We are also looking forward to learning all about spring.
Last month the Kitties learned to identify the start shape and the number 7. We enjoyed a fun art activity to help reinforce the number of the month. Each friend took a bunny-shaped stamp, dipped it into purple and blue paint, and then we stamped the bunny seven times on our paper, counting each time. We also had a blast during our Easter egg hunt, searching the entire playground to find each hidden egg and placing them all in our baskets. We particularly enjoyed counting as we found each egg, placing one egg in our buckets at a time until we reached ten. Then there were no more Easter eggs left to find. The Kitties have also been practicing counting during Circle Time every day, using our fingers to count all the way up to 10, and then we all shout "10 hurray!" We look forward to more fun and learning throughout the month.
Math with the Chipmunks
During the month of March, we discussed what materials buildings were made of, the different features of a building, who helps build a building, and how they are made. We created our very own blueprints using white paint and different length index cards to make straight lines. We reviewed our shapes and painted with different shaped foam blocks to create our own buildings.
Later in the month, we learned about the different materials buildings are made with by listening to the story “The Three Little Pigs.” The Chipmunks recreated the houses made with straw, sticks, and bricks. The Chipmunks also did a number matching activity to create fences. The children were given popsicle sticks with numbers from 1 to 10. They then matched the numbers in order with the numbers on their papers to “build” their fence. Finally, the children loved sharing their home-to-school connection project with their friends and seeing all the creative buildings everyone made. The building unit was so much fun!
In April, we will begin a new unit on Recycling just in time for Earth Day! We will be discussing the different ways we can Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. We will be sorting trash into the appropriate bins; paper, plastic, and metal. We will be creating ABC patterns using different types of recycling materials. Another fun activity we will be doing is creating our own garbage trucks. Then we will roll dice and the children will count how many dots and add that amount of trash to the truck. We will then ask them to identify the number and glue it to the truck. We are looking forward to all the fun activities and the different ways we can help our Earth!
Math with the Turtles
Looking back at March the Turtles had a lot of fun learning about buildings. Buildings require a lot of math knowledge. We did a lot of measuring, resizing and calculating to create various building structures including houses, schools and libraries. We also created some amazing puzzles that became famous landmarks once they were created. We did some patterns of our favorite places and we counted the number of blocks it took to create our structures in the classroom. We also learned that sand and gravel are the first materials needed when building any structure and that the foundation of any building is an important part of making a building that will stand strong. We really enjoyed our St. Patrick’s Day parade and party as well! It is always nice to see our friends happily dancing and singing along in celebration!
For the month of April the Turtles are going to learn all about recycling! Math comes into play with recycling when we think about what recycling means; it means using something a number of times to not let it go to waste. We will use old materials and reuse them to create brand new things. The children will count the number of toilet paper rolls, and milk carton tops and count how many things we can make out of the old materials. We will also observe the recycling poster and count how many objects are able to be recycled. The Turtles are also looking forward to planting some plants on Earth Day! We will count how many flowers we can plant!
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Art With the Puppies
Happy April! Our Puppies will be very busy this month learning about the weather, our planet, and Earth Day. Last month we were so excited to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and Easter! The Puppies also enjoyed so many arts and craft activities during the month of March. We introduced money and had the children glue paper money to our banks. Additionally, we made “fruit loop flowers” to sell for our CTK Little Shops event. The Puppies did this by gluing the fruit loop cereal on flower cut outs. The results were colorful and unique.
Painting is always a favorite activity with the Puppies. We made shamrocks by painting our hands green and placing it on the paper three times. We counted aloud as we pressed our hands, reinforcing the color green and numbers 1 through 3. We even made Easter bunnies by painting over a bunny cut out and then peeling it off once it dried (this one was our favorite one.) We look forward to more crafts and creations as we continue into Spring.
Art with the Bumblebees
Welcome April! The Bumblebee class is excited for nice weather, outdoor activities, and springtime crafts that April will bring! Last month we spent time learning about community helpers. We delivered mail to other classrooms and decorated police cars. We also celebrated St. Patrick's Day with a four leaf clover hunt and parade. The Bumblebees love to do arts and crafts for all of our monthly themes. In the month of March we included a lot of shape and color matching into our art! One project that the children especially enjoyed was making colorful fishbowls for Dr. Suess week. The children painted the fish bowls blue. Then they selected colorful fish and pasted them over the matching fish shown. The children had so much fun gluing that we had them glue matched shapes on a teddy bear the following week. Art can be fun, creative, and also a helpful tool for learning.
Art with the Pandas
In the month of March, the Pandas learned all about the theme, Buildings. The Pandas enjoyed learning about this theme and creating their very own buildings. The Pandas used various items to create their own building structures such as: hospitals, police stations, post offices, houses and more. We read various books about buildings from around the world and how they look very different in shape. In the Art center, the Pandas used cut out shapes to create their own buildings. The children identified the shapes triangle, square, rectangle, circle, hexagon and trapezoid and glued them on paper. Using their creativity and imagination, they created their own type of buildings.
Also in the Art center, the children created many Easter projects as they are excited for the Easter Bunny's arrival. The Pandas used different water colors and painted their very own easter egg as well as dyed their own real eggs using shaving cream and food coloring. The children were excited to kick off the Easter week with these activities.
Next month we look forward to Spring activities and learning about recycling. We also look forward to our Earth day planting activity as we plant beautiful flowers on the Christ the King property and learn all about plants!
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Music with the Angels
Happy April! We would like to say a great big thank you to all of our parents that contributed eggs and treats to help make our Easter party a great success! We all had a great time wearing our bunny ears and searching for eggs.
The children all really love to sing and dance to music each day. We use music to help us remember our ABCs and to help make Clean-Up Time fun. There are so many different ways music makes the Angel room fun! One song we really enjoy is called “Listen and Move.” There are fun sounds that play as the singer tells you which action to do. For example, the singer says “hop” as a spring sound plays and says “run,” and the music will play faster. In between each action we all freeze in place. Beanbags are another fun activity the Angels love to do with music. One game we play is called pass the beanbag. All of the children sit in a circle. We listen to the music and the directions of the song as we pass the beanbag to our friend sitting next to us. When the music stops, the friend that is holding the beanbag gets to sit in the middle of the circle. Each time we play this game we pick a different color or shape beanbag. These fun activities allow us to work on our gross motor skills by getting our bodies moving as well as our listening skills by following the instructions of the singer. Great job Angels!
Music with the Sunflowers
The Sunflowers are excited to welcome the new month of April! In March, the Sunflowers had a lot of fun celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and with our Easter Egg hunt. To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, the children listened to Irish music and paraded around the hallway. On March 27th, we had our Easter celebration. The Sunflowers had a blast going around trying to gather as many eggs as they could find.
During our unit of study on Buildings the Sunflowers had many great conversations about buildings and enjoyed the variety of books we read. They especially enjoyed the story “If I Built a House,” by Chris Van Duren which talked about what features and themed rooms that the child in the story would add to his dream house. The students also enjoyed working together to use the various classroom materials to build all types of buildings and structures.
In April, the Sunflowers will begin a new unit called Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. During this month we will also celebrate Earth Day which perfectly ties into our theme. We will practice sorting types of materials and seeing what we create with all types of recycled materials. To help the Sunflowers explore this topic they will be introduced to the following song:
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
It's very easy to do
It's simple to remember
Recycle what you use!
Separate glass and paper
Separate plastic and tin
Then put them their places
In the recycling bin!
Music with the Ducks
April is a rainbow month, of sudden springtime showers. Bright with golden daffodils and lots of pretty flowers. We have finally reached April; before you know it, our school year will be complete! With all this warm weather upon us, it is only right that we learn all about Mother Earth and how to take care of her. The Ducks are looking forward to our Earth Day celebration.
As always, we thank each one of you for your cooperation and all you do to help keep our classroom successful. In March, the Ducks learned about "Building." During our music time, as a class, we sang the song, "When I build My House, Sing-A-Long." This song described to the children how to build a house and what you need to make a home. First, we used our musical egg shakers, trying to keep to the beat of the songs. Then we sang the song in a low voice and then in a high voice, proving to the children that our voices can change the way the music sounds depending on our volume.
During the month of April, the Ducks will be learning about "Recycling." In our Music Center, the Ducks will dance and sing to Danny Go “Gimme That Garbage.” This song will help educate the children about helping keep the neighborhood clean, helping the students learn how to throw away garbage and keep the earth clean. This song takes the children on an adventure by pretending to drive a garbage truck, throw away trash bags, and roll trash cans. They will also make sure they hold onto the trash cans tight as they play the pick-up game, using our large motor skills.
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Athletes in Training &
Technology Tots
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Gym with the Snugglies
Happy April! This month, we are going to learn about plants and play outside in the playground. Last month, the babies enjoyed celebrating Dr. Suess with green eggs and celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. We rode in the parade and made shamrocks from our handprints. We also made rainbows last month. The teachers painted footprints to create the clouds at the end of the rainbow.
The Snugglies also had fun going to the gym each morning. The babies are learning how to walk in while the teachers guide them. In the gym, we listened to many songs and we danced. We also were practicing kicking and rolling the balls. The teachers would put the ball in front of us and help us kick our legs. The teachers also sat with us and rolled the balls back-and-forth to us. Some of the children also enjoyed riding in the toy cars and sitting in the boats. We would sing “Row Row Row Your Boat” together as they swayed back and forth. We look forward to more fun as the weather warms up and we can spend more time outdoors.
Gym with the Monkeys
The Monkeys are so excited to welcome April. March was full of so many fun activities for the Monkey class! We celebrated St. Patrick’s Day and had a fun Easter party, which included an egg hunt. We also enjoyed going to the specialty rooms, especially the gym. The Monkeys love using the equipment and working on their social skills. They practice patience and sharing by taking turns on their favorite blue bike. As this is the class favorite, we make sure to take turns and give each child 2 minutes. The Monkeys also love using the boats in the gym. Four children go in the boat and we sing, “Row Row Row Your Boat.” Once the song ends another group of friends take a turn.
The Monkeys also enjoy riding the bikes and cars around the gym, as Ms. Mariah and I give them directions. Some of our Monkeys use their imagination as they would go through a drive-thru and purchase yummy treats like coffee and ice cream for us. In addition, last month we played a game of red light and green light as we used the bikes and cars around the gym. This month, the Monkeys will continue to work on our social and motor skills. We are so excited to learn more about Spring, our planet Earth and recycling.
Tech and Gym with the Bears
The Bears are excited to enter the new month of April. It will be a fun filled month, full of learning and celebrations. Our new theme is “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” and we have many lessons and activities planned. Children are fascinated by what is inside of trash cans and sometimes pick up items we consider trash. They also show interest in the types of things their family members throw away. This natural curiosity provides a good start finding out what happens to trash after it is thrown away and exploring the concept of reducing, reusing, and recycling. The children are excited to explore recycled items and create a sculpture in the art center.
Last month’s theme, "Buildings" was explored throughout all of the centers in the classroom. The students were able to engage in many multi-sensory activities. On the Smartboard the children played a game where they had to match up buildings to its shape. Children encourage each other to guess the correct answers. This was a good team building activity for the children to support each other in guessing the correct answer.
We also brought the the theme of the month into the gym. The Bears enjoyed a stretching video where they stretched and bent like the buildings they saw on the t.v. The children were excited when they saw different buildings they have been to.
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Spring has finally arrived! The children are so excited to be spending more time outdoors. For your child’s comfort and safety, please have your child wear sneakers or rubber-soled shoes to school. This will enable your child to run, jump, and climb with less falls, bumps and scratches.
Below are a few important Health and Safety reminders:
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Physicals and Immunizations: Child & Adolescent Physical Examination forms must be submitted in a timely fashion. Please stay up to date on your child's physicals and immunizations. Physicals must be submitted after each milestone: 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months, 15 months, 18 months and annually thereafter. We are mandated by the Department of Health to keep records of all physicals and immunizations. Your child will not be allowed to attend Day Care/Pre-School without the appropriate updates and forms submitted. You may download a Child and Adolescent Health Examination Form from our website or obtain a form from the Nurse’s Office.
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Medication Administration: During this time of year, allergies and asthma are one of the most prevalent illnesses children experience. As a preventive measure, it is important for your child to bring an in an inhaler to school. If medication is required for allergies and/or asthma, a Medication Administration Form must be filled out by your pediatrician. In addition, a Medication Care Plan must also be filled out by your pediatrician. You can obtain these forms on the Current Parent Page of our website. For all other medication, a doctor's note must be provided and medication must be in its original box/container. No medication will be administered unless protocol is followed.
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Absences: As per the Department of Health rules and regulations, absences must be called in on a daily basis. Should a health concern arise, please be sure to inform the Directors or Nurse.
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Contagious Illnesses: As a reminder, please remember to inform the school if your child was exposed or diagnosed with any contagious illness. This helps us maintain a clean and safe environment.
Pea
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Nut-Free School: Keep in mind that we are a nut-free school. Please help us to maintain a nut free environment by refraining from sending any such items (nuts, peanut butter, almond butter, any items containing nut oils, etc.) to school with your children.
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Angels
Zayd was building a big block tower when he dropped one of his blocks. His friend Anthony picked up the block and gave it back to him. Good job helping your friend!
Bears
While the children were playing in the block center (Construction site) the children were using the different tools and equipment. The children were talking about what building they were going to build. Jace, Liam, Matias, and Luca decided they were going to build a Bear store. They were only selling Bear things like bear water, bear ice cream, bear pizza ect. Jace said, “We need to make this building bigger because we are going to need a big space because Bears are big. Right Liam?” Liam said, “Matias, Luca we need more wood.” Matias replied, “Okay captain!” and the boys continued to build their Bear building.
Bumblebees
The class was all dressed up in green for our St. Patrick’s day parade. The teachers asked the class if they were leprechauns, and Raelyn proudly said, “I’m a broccoli!”
Bunnies
The Bunnies are learning to be such kind friends to one another. Jake sneezed one day and Mia said, "Bless you Jake" and tried to get him a tissue!
Chipmunks
During meeting time, Ms. Gina asked the children, “What holiday do you think we are celebrating this month (March)?” Emilia raised her hand and said, “Uncle Pat’s Day!”
Dolphins
During one of our holiday celebrations we were talking about how sometimes people make a mistake because one of friends spilled some juice. Teddy went over to his friend and said, “It’s okay everybody isn’t perfect” and comforted his friend.
Ducks
During our dismissal, Deaglan was going to Ninja class, he said, “Miss Diane why don’t you come to Ninja class? Is it because you did not sign up”. Miss Diane said, “I should.” Deaglan responded, “It's lots of fun.”
Kitties
While playing in the classroom Maeve brought a toy to Ms. Lisa and said, "It's broken." Ms. Lisa pushed the “on” button and it started to work. Maeve said, "Yaya! It's fixed! Thank you Ms. Lisa."
Lions
The class built a leprechaun trap for St. Patrick's Day - while we did not catch a leprechaun, he did leave us some treats. Max said, "Wow the leprechaun is really nice!"
Monkeys
The Monkeys know that we always take turns with the blue bike in the gym. As we were walking one day, Emma started telling the class, "Emma blue bike first; then Cristiano blue bike; then Rebel blue bike." She would go through the whole class list as we walked.
Pandas
As the students were engaging in group discussion on the carpet, Peter leaned over to a friend and said, "I went to Manhattan before. They have tall Skyscrapers." Kieran said, “I took the train with mommy and saw a lot of buildings!”
Sunflowers
The Sunflowers were involved in a small group art activity where they created buildings using various art materials such as popsicle sticks and foam shapes. Ella said, “Ms. Christina I’m making a ballerina apartment building!”
Turtles
While spending time in the blocks center, Nathan told Miss Nancy that he was going to get her a Play Station 5! Miss Nancy asked, “How will you be able to afford that?" Nathan responded, “Actually, my mommy will buy you a Play Station 5 instead!”
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