Back to School

 We are Headed back to school! 

The Summer has been full of excitement as we explored different interests and themes! It is with mixed emotions that we say goodbye to summer and welcome fall to our halls! Fall means back to school! This week children continued to get to know their new teachers and classmates. Many faces around our school are familiar to all of the children and families. We see this as a perk to our small school family. Regardless of if you are in Prek or Tods, your child will have had many opportunities to meet and know our Aocs teachers. This makes transitions times a little less intimidating for our students. nonetheless, new spaces and routines are hard so we take this time of year very seriously. Teachers spend time exposing children to new classroom norms, building community with games and activities, and filling their walls with the work of the classes newest members. We strive for all children to trust that they are taken care of, safe, and loved. That is always the goal of our back to school week - ensuring them that they belong and we are happy they are here with us! 

A very familiar face to even the youngest of our learners ... we all know and love him.... is Pete the cat! He kept it groovy this week putting smilies on all of our faces. We love incorporating Pete books this time of year. The series does a fantastic job addressing common worries and provide children with coping mechanisms in a silly fashion. 

Thanks, Pete! 

Summer Wrap Up Celebration!

 FOAM PARTY!!!

This summer has been one for the books! It was a special moment spending the morning laughing with the children. The joy of a child goes a long way & witnessing them enjoy their foam party with their friends and teachers is something we won't soon forget. 

    We have loved every second of learning and playing together this summer. Incorporating weekly themes keeps things fresh and new for the kids and certainly plays apart in their engagement over the course of the summer. We couldn't have had such a fun summer without the involvement of our special guests, our family volunteers, and the thoughtful planning from our teachers. As we say goodbye to summer, we are already planning for the wonderful memories coming our way this fall! 

Happy Campers at Camp Academy

 The summer is quickly wrapping up, but we are remaining fully immersed in our few final summer themes. This week is Camp Academy. We've seen a lot of dramatic play and imaginative learning. This requires children to access their cognitive thinking skills and encourages them to make connections to reality. They think they are just having fun and playing (that's the goal!), but they have no idea how hard their brains are working and how much development is taking place while they play with friends. We feel fortunate to have teachers that put the extra thought and attention into purposeful lessons and activities to prompt children in making these strives towards learning. 

Lantern Making:

Campers love to fish: 

Map Making: 

Fireside Tummy Time (Tent Version):

Literacy Development enriched with dramatic play:

Language Exposure exploring what can be seen while camping:

Making Forts and Manipulating Shapes:

A snack after a long day of Camp:

Wild Things - A visit from Animal Tales

Animal Tales did a wonderful job presenting to our Pre K classes this week! The children were so engaged with the discussions and then followed up with really well thought out questions. I was super impressed at their higher order thinking skills and their ability to formulate on-topic questions that added depth to their understanding. They learned about habitats and predators, but seemed to be most interested in the diets of each animal and how they eat their food. Mr. Grant, with Animal Tales, shared so much information with them in the time that we spent together. He was engaging and patient and facilitated a very memorable learning experience for the children.  

Black Tailed Prairie Dog (Barks to communicate with relatives, builds dens with real rooms, and gets crackers on Mrs. Robin's Carpet!!!)

Madagascar Hissing Beetle (Makes hissing noises out of holes on its' side)

Jaguar Iguana (a super fast Iguana that can even JUMP!)

A Snake that we were all very amused by!

Hedgy the Hedge Hog ( we talked a lot about similarities and differences between Hedgy and Sonic the Hedge Hog) 

Sugar Glider (He was so exited that he kept using the bathroom on Mr. Grant and he was super active and wiggly! He made us giggle the most!) 

All About The Arts!

 

All About the Arts week was a busy one at AoCS! Each day was filled with self expression and creativity! Pictured here is our school wide activity "Artist Inspiration". During this activity each class chose a different artist, discussed and analyzed their work, and created their own pieces using the same styles and techniques. We hung these in the halls labeled with each child's name to mimic an art gallery. It has been really special witnessing the children take pride in their work and show them off to their families as they pass by. Anything school wide bring such a sense of community and we are all grateful to be apart of ours here at AoCS.

Andy Warhol - Pop Art

Henri Matissee - Collages 

Monet - using water color

Van Gogh - The Starry Night

Picasso - Choosing cut outs to create a portrait 

Let's Build It!

A visit from an Excavator  

We see excavators on the road, we read about them in stories, we hear them & watch them move, they're on our shirts, they're everywhere we look....

BUT IT DOESN'T COMPARE TO SEEING THEM UP CLOSE! 

  Children discussed how each part of the machine helps construction workers get the job done! They learned about scooping and digging, moving dirt, and how the tracks keep the machine from getting the stuck in mud. 

The horn was so funny! We loved to hear it beep! Why does an excavator need a horn, we wondered. 

If a whole kid can fit inside the scoop, imagine how much dirt it can move! 

We had so much fun exploring the equipment! 

Thank you Hot Water Heater Pros for spending the morning with us!