The days are getting shorter, but it’s not stopping the kids from

their endless exploration of play and discovery. We’re still

spending plenty of time outdoors, please make sure to pack

your child warm clothes including jackets, rain pants, gloves,

and hats.

Our Farm & Forest school is a hit! The children spend their busy

mornings taking care of chickens, gathering vegetables from

our garden and preparing healthy dishes, and learning about

local plants, animals, and habitats. It runs Monday through

Friday from 9am-1pm for ages 4-7 years. Please inquire if

interested! You are always welcome to tour.

See you at school!

Welcome to December!

Follow us on Instagram: @sequoiastreehouse

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December 2019

Hello Friends,

November was a lot of fun in the Sprouts Room. We painted and explored leaves & stick, talked about colors and practiced connecting Duplo bricks and sorting them by color. Our weather is getting colder! We play outside from 10-10:45 and again from about 3:45-4:45. We highly recommend hats and mittens! Also, please be sure shoes are going to stay on, wet socks outside make little feel cold! December’s theme is friendship. We are excited to use this time to talk about how we treat our friends in class—gentle touches, sharing toys, taking turns, giving hugs and high-fives.

-Ashley & Chris

Sprouts Room

Seedling Room Hello!

I am so excited to be in this classroom and I have been enjoying getting to know all of you and your amazing babies. I’ve been working in Early Childhood Education for twenty-eight years, almost all with infants and toddlers. I also have three kids of my own. I have been at Sequoia’s Treehouse since April 2018 as the Lead Teacher in the Sprouts Room, so I am familiar with the center and it’s philosophies. If you have any questions, concerns, or need to chat, please feel free to approach me. I’m looking forward to working with you to make your baby’s time here the best it can be! This month has been a transition both myself and the babies, we are working on getting to know each other, getting routines down, and having fun. Next month we will begin to explore all things winter! -Sandy & Andrew

Parents: Please make sure your kiddos have winter jackets, boots, tuffos, and two changes of clothes because winter is here! Hats and gloves are great too

Trusting new teachers Learning routines Toys with sounds

Snowflakes Winter Sensory bottles Painting in a bag

We’ve been exploring: Looking forward to:

Leaf paintings Leaf colors & shapes Pumpkin exploration

Gentle Touches Songs about friendship New Books!

We’ve been exploring:

Looking forward to:

Hello Shoots Families, This month we have been exploring autumn. The weather has noticeably changed as it has been raining and getting colder. Every morning we have been putting our shoes on and our winter jackets but on rainy mornings we get to wear our tuffos. Everybody has been having fun splashing in puddles and playing in the wetlands. We love taking natural materials from the wetlands and bringing them into the classroom. We did an art project with dirt and glue, using water to explore how mud is made. The changing seasons brings so many opportunities for sensory exploration. Wind, cold, mud, and changing leaves are fascinating to young minds. -Ira & Maria

Shoots Room

Please make sure your kiddos have winter jackets, boots, tuffos, and two changes of clothes because winter is here! Hats and gloves are great too!

Family Notes

Sand art

Painting

Colors

New art projects

Participating in F.I.N.D.

New toys

We’ve been exploring:

Looking forward to:

Hello Families! The children explored food and baking this month. They baked a delicious batch of chocolate chip cookies and got messy learning how to form balls from dough. Outside we explored scooping, pouring, and measuring in the kitchen dry food sensory bin. We learned the first letters of our names through painting with Kiana, and learned the days of the week while dancing to the fruit song. We also created beautiful artwork with seeds and glue and learned about seeds and how they grow. The children loved stretching their bodies and imagination through yoga classes with Aly Long. -Yarden

Shoots Two Room

Please make sure your kiddos

have winter jackets, boots,

tuffos, and two changes of

clothes because winter is here!

Hats and gloves are great too!

Family Notes

Visitors

-Aly Long Yoga 12th & 19th

Food and baking

Learning first letter of names

Days of the week and seasons

Days of the week & seasons.

Animals in winter

Painting with feet project

We’ve been exploring:

Looking forward to:

Hello Sapling Families, I cannot believe it is December already! We have been having so much fun learning and growing in our class. As a group we have been exploring light and dark using flashlights. Our focus has been on social and emotional development, using our words and being kind, empathic friends. We love visiting the wetlands every Wednesday. The space to run, jump, dig in the dirt, and explore nature is invaluable. We love to stretch our bodies with yoga every other Thursday with Aly Long. We welcomed Ada and Ari to our Sapling class this last month. We are so excited to see what next year brings. - Kayla & Chris

Sapling Room

Please make sure your child has a nap blanket and water bottle every week. Please check your child’s cubby and make sure it has two changes of clothes. Hats and gloves/mittens are so important this time of year!!

Family Notes Light

Music and movement

Cooperative play

Being a kind friend

Social and emotional development

Sensory exploration

We’ve been exploring:

Looking forward to:

Visitors

-Aly Long Yoga

12th & 19th

Visitors

-Aly Long Yoga 12th & 19th

This November has been an exciting month for our class! We went on our first field trip where we explored the autumn woods off the Chehalis Western Trail, climbing trees and throwing leaves. There were two ponds near the trail as well. There we were able to observe ducks swimming and fishing. We experimented with tossing pebbles into the water, watching the ripples we created. We welcomed two parent volunteers, Erica (Alex’s mom) and Amy (Clara’s mom). This made our trip even more special!

The kids had been showing interest in stink bugs, as many have been visiting our classroom as the weather outside has gotten colder, so we decided to focus on insects and spiders this month. We colored our own butterfly designs using different mediums. We worked with colorful beetles that fit together like a puzzle. Insect and spider toys were put in our water tub and sand bowl for sensory play. We matched insect cards and worked on remembering each name. “Head, Thorax, and Abdomen” became a favorite song that taught us the parts of an insect. We read about insects in circle time and individually. Teacher Charis worked with the kids to draw insects and spiders using photo cards as reference. Another exciting thing we did this November was make playdough. We mixed the playdough ingredients then added eucalyptus oil, peppermint oil, and blue/green food dyes.

This month the Young Sequoias welcomed a new teacher to the classroom. Charis is beyond excited to help facilitate your children’s learning alongside Anna. Charis’ background is in children’s mental health. They are passionate about helping build resiliency in early childhood and instilling a sense of safety for children that sets the foundation for future success and happiness.

- Anna & Charis

Young Sequoia Room

Make sure you are bringing your child’s water bottle home each week to wash. Please keep personal toys at home till Friday (show-and-tell day). Check the small whiteboard near the door for updates on daily activities. Always remember to bring plenty of warm clothes and rain gear! Hats and gloves help so much in winter weather. Please keep at least two spare changes of clothes at the center as well.

Family Notes

Fungi

Insects

Spiders

Learning more about insects and spiders Making salt dough, sculpting it and painting our creations Making and drinking hot chocolate

We’ve been exploring:

Looking forward to:

Sequoia Room

Composing song about trains

Creating train tickets

Comparing money from around the world

We’ve been exploring: Looking forward to:

Money Freight & Cargo Trains

Please bring a family picture to school for our family tree if you have not yet done so. Always remember to bring plenty of warm clothes and rain gear! Hats and gloves help so much in winter weather. Please keep at least two spare changes of clothes at the center as well.

Family Notes

Visitors

Hello! This month the Sequoias have been busy exploring several big concepts: freight, transportation, and commerce. We began by making our own money at the art table. We discussed things money can buy and things money can’t buy. Our weekly shopping trip provided us with boxes that the students have been working very hard to turn into a train, which led us to discussing things that a train hauls. Our next step is to make train tickets to buy with money we made. We’ve also been singing songs and discussing writing our own songs. The students would like to write a song about trains together! This project has swiftly turned into an opportunity for the Sequoias to implement various skills like mathematics, language, fine motor, and cognitive as they plan out our next steps. We are very excited to see where this journey takes us as we travel full steam ahead! -Haleigh & Sonya

Trips and Visitors

-Aly Long Yoga 12th & 19th -Discover Aquatics 3rd & 17th -Lunch Buddies every Thursday (except Christmas break