Hello, Toddler Families!
During the month of November we reflect on all the things for which we have to be grateful, including our friends, families, and our wonderful school community here at Chai Tots. We work hard to instill a sense of community in our classroom as well as within our whole school.
The children have been practicing mealtime routines including washing their hands, getting their own containers and water bottles, opening and closing lunch boxes and containers, arranging their food on plates if needed, and cleaning up after themselves when the snack or meal is through. This helps them foster more independence and self-confidence as they learn to care for themselves and their environment. We certainly have our share of messes in the toddler room, but we like to focus on progress over perfection, and we’re seeing LOTS of progress with these skills!
In our classroom, we engage in "community snack" with a table of four available seats. We specifically have only four seats so that we can create a designated opportunity for patience and waiting should a child be ready to eat but no seat is available. Often times your children will pull up a "waiting chair" and we are seeing such growth in patience! Community snacks are also a great way for the children to bridge the gap between home and school. Good table manners are important for your children to have in many settings throughout their life and reinforcing these behaviors and skills at home and at school will help to prepare them for all those opportunities.
Community snack offers an opportunity to work on fine motor skills as some of our snacks may need peeling (oranges) or cutting into pieces (bananas). We will model and then allow the children to practice using child-safe tools to cut and peel their foods as necessary. Please feel free to allow your children to practice these skills at home to reinforce what they’re learning at school. Cooking is a great family activity and a wonderful way to spend time together!
As always, please let us know if you have any questions or would like any recommendations on what knives or kitchen utensils to purchase!
Warmly,
Morahs Megan, Sarah, and K