April Teacher of the Month!

​Our March teacher of the month is… (drumroll, please)… 

Ms. Darian in Pre-K 1!

Ms. Darian has been with us for about 7 months now. During that time, she has made such a wonderful impact on our school and on our kids! She is always so involved in our daily calendar activities. She is patient, kind, and an all around wonderful teacher! 

She says her favorite thing about her job is “hearing all the crazy and funny things my kids say and getting to see the world through their eyes”. 

A couple fun facts about Ms. Darian include that she has a bachelor’s in music and she’s lived in both Japan and Germany! 

We appreciate you, Ms. Darian. If you see her in the halls, make sure to congratulate her on winning teacher of the month for April! 

Blog Buzzer Answer: For the last few weeks, we’ve been adding blog buzzers at the bottom of every blog. The answer was… 203 eggs! Our winner will be announced on Instagram! 

Easter Festivities

​Last Thursday we celebrated Easter with Easter egg hunts on our playgrounds and inviting the Easter bunny to visit! 

The kids had so much fun finding all the Easter eggs. There were a LOT to find! 

We even had some kids dress up in Easter attire. Look at our Pre-ker in his outfit! 

In the afternoon, we invited the Easter bunny to visit the classrooms and say hi! 

Even our teachers got a treat! 

As you can see, we had a BUSY day full of fun!

 Blog Buzzer Pt 3 - Last week Jesse took 80 eggs out of the 250 Easter eggs that were left. Uh oh! Jesse put 33 eggs back! How many Easter eggs are left at the school? 

Fine Motor Skills 👐🏼

​Did you know that our kids, even our toddlers and infants, are working on their fine motor skills and preparing for writing every day? 

Fine motor skills are skills that require the precise movement of the small muscles in your hands, including your thumbs, fingers, hands, and wrists. 

We are intentional about encouraging our children in all our classrooms to work on fine-tuning their fine motor skills in different ways. This includes every time our infants pick up a toy or when they start holding something with one hand, rather than using two. Our toddlers draw with chalk on the playground or crayon on paper. Our preschoolers start gluing and drawing shapes. Our Pre-Kers cut with scissors and even start tracing letters. 

Here are some examples of our kids working on their fine motor skills! 

A pre-ker cutting along a line with scissors! 

A couple of preschoolers using their fine motor skills to put together a tower! 

Here we have an infant holding up a cylinder toy! 

Here we have an even NEWER baby reaching up to grab the mobile toys! 

There really is no shortage of activities for your child to do to be strengthening those hand muscles. You’ll be presently surprised at how naturally these activities occur! Our kids are learning every second of every day! 

Blog Buzzer Pt 2: Last week Veronica found 50 of 300 Easter eggs. This week, Jesse found 80 more! How many eggs are left to find? 

Stay tuned for more in next weeks blog! 

Mother Goose Visit!

​Today our older classrooms had a special guest; Mother Goose! 

Mother Goose frequents all The Academies because we LOVE it when she visits! She comes with so many different finger and hand puppets, stuffed animals, and pictures to tell different stories. 

This time, Mother Goose told spring themed stories through songs with hand motions. The preschoolers and pre-kers were so involved and they participated in all the songs she sang! As one of their teachers, I am so so proud for how well they used their listening ears and how respectful they were of our guest. 

We always look forward to seeing Mother Goose again. She loves us just as much as we love her!

Blog Buzzer Question Part 1: The Easter bunny dropped off 300 eggs at our school, 203 Powell Place in Brentwood, TN! Veronica found 50 of them. How many were left? 

Hold on to your answer! There’s more to come! 

Skittle Rainbows

 Skittle Rainbows

This week we did an experiment in each classroom (Toddler 1 and up) to see if we could SEE the rainbow rather than taste the rainbow.

We lined a bowl with skittles and sprinkled some warm water over them to watch the colors bleed into the center of the bowl.

It made so many beautiful colors!

Our kids were really impressed with the results of the experiment. The only downside was that we didn’t get to eat the skittles! 

In March, We Recycle

 Reduce, Reuse, RECYCLE!

It’s Recycling Week at AOPP and we’re Going Green! Every March we take out time to practice recycling and making on things new. 

On Monday our friends too old magazines and all types of scraps from class and created free art to go on their walls. 

Our PreK One friends were really creative. Not only did they paste things to paper but they watered down old paint, added water and painted stamps on their papers too! The art work was so amazing! 

Leprechaun Trap Contest!

 Leprechaun Trap Contest!

This week, in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, we’re holding a contest to see who can lure in and catch a leprechaun. We’ve opened this contest to classrooms as well as families who want to try it at home.

Hm, I wonder what sorts of things would lure in a leprechaun? Our families are using rainbows, bridges, ladders, clovers, and gold coins on their traps!

Our students and families have been so creative in their trap-making. From using paper and cotton balls for rainbows to using Legos and popsicle sticks for bridges and ladders! They are sure to catch an unsuspecting leprechaun!

Don’t forget to stop by the table in the Enrichment room and vote for your favorite!