This month we will be working on centers. With all our new friends, centers are a great opportunties for the kids to get to know each other in smaller less intimadating groups. By doing the same activity it gives the kids something in common to help build firendships. 
Centers are great ways for the kids to have focus on one activity at a time for more quality play. Having several centers going at a time, the kids have a varity of actvties to choose from, while at the same time keeping their focus on one project at a time.
By giving the kids schedules, they have something to look forward to. They find comfort in routine and pride and indepedence when they know what is going on arround them. They are learning about time, and sequences of activites. It is so amazing to be able to watch them grow. 
This Months Stories are
Arthur- Amanda Graham
Too Many Bananas– Noni
Jack and the Bean Stalk – Jacob Josephs
StickFiggy Series-Jane Marshall
~Bedtime For Stick Figgy
~Thank You Cake
~Let's Dance
~Strong
~Lotts Tea Party
~Makes a Friend
~Stickfiggy Story
Pets-We know that kids learn and grow faster when they feel responsible and are helping others. Our daycare is home to several animals to help the children learn about different pets and their habitats and to learn about empathy for other lives. We enjoy learning Lotus & Lila or cats, Octavius our Beta fish, Our hermit crabs Hermes, Apollo, Eutykhia, & Persephone, Roxie our turtle, and Zuri & Chewy our hamsters. We are also lucky enough to be able to have other pet friends visit our daycare on a regular basis.
Grow Center-We have our mini green houses but now thanks to Path to Quality we have a new root grow system, we can watch our plants grow even at the roots. This years daycare garden will be featuring carrots, radishes, green onions, tomatoes, strawberries, basil, cilantro and sage.
Home Center-It may just look like playing dolls or make-believe but this is very important for them to feel connected to home and the world around them. This is a great center for them to pretend to take care of the baby feed her, change it’s diapers, and rock her to sleep. They can pretend to make meals and clean up. This is where they share their home traditions with the daycare. The kids get to step into the parents role and be mom or dad, or even the wait staff.
Art-The kids are just learning how to write with art we build hand strength and encourage creativity. The kids paint, color with markers, play with play dough, play foam, cutting paper. Not only are they exploring with art but we get to use our sense of feeling with exploring different textures. We are adding two new play tubs in the art center with Instant snow, our own moon sand tub, and we will see the world with new colors with our color viewers.
The Baby Center- There is a big change in the baby center. These little guys are growing so fast and need more room to explore. I am very excited about this set up it feel so much more relaxed and the babies have so much more room to grow and move their little legs. These guys are growing fast we will be adding some big kid toys like cars and a Jumbo Jet Activity center to go along with our train activity center.
Science-The kids take a step back in time with the dinosaurs and investgate the daycare for bugs we have our plastic bugs the kids can play with and now we have real bug encased easy to view top to bottom, with our new books that teach the kids about each of our bugs. The kids become familiar with magnets, and baking. This month in Our Science Center we will learn out our animals. We also have a new Ant farm, we can watch the ants in a see-through habitat. We will also be adding to our plant knowledge with our own 3D solar system and two new floor puzzle about the solar system and our oceans. We also have a "What's Inside of me Apron" we can now learn about our organs and where they are inside our bodies.
Media Center-With stuffed animals to read to puppets toys and two reading chairs this center invites the kids to sit down pick up a book and read. We now have an audio center. With 6 head phone for the kids to listen to their stories on CD's and music.
Blocks Center-Blocks of course are a staple for any center. The kids learn balance gravity creativity how to share how to count it is endless hours of fun and learning.
Music & Dance-We will be working a lot with dance. This is a great way for the kids to express themselves, get a little energy out, and relieve stress.This is where we also learn with Circle time's songs and play with our instruments.
Math Center-We have added to our math center with new tools the kids can work with and a tape measure.
