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Fresh, Wholesome and Beautiful
Scott Andersen | March 28, 2011 | Comment
As you know, all of the food we serve for snacks is organic. The fruits, vegetables and products are all purchased at Whole Foods. I shop for the food each week to ensure freshness. While shopping the other day, I allowed my photographer’s eye to be caught be all the neatly displayed and colorful produce that is arrayed as you walk in the entrance of the Cary Whole Foods.
For my photographer friends, I apologize that the photos are really not photo quality. I took them all on my cell phone…gag. Nonetheless, I still find it visually interesting.
Enjoy the photos!

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Reading and Writing in Pre-K
Shelley Hill | March 27, 2011 | Comment
One of our goals is to make sure that everyone one of our graduates is more than ready for kindergarten and beyond. One of the things we do to achieve this goal is to spend a lot of time reading and writing. After all, from an academic point of view, there is nothing more important than literacy.
I walk in and out of our classrooms throughout the day. Recently I walked into Ms. Misty’s Pre-K class and found her students and her engaged in reading and writing activities. I took a few photos with my cell phone and have included them here.
One of the things I liked about this particular visit is that the students were genuinely engaged with their learning. You can see this in the photos.
Just thought I’d share with you.

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Sink or Float?
Misti Johnson-Olthoff | March 16, 2011 | Comment
Children in my class were given the opportunity to exercise their probability skills when deciding if objects would sink or float.
A piece of flannel was placed over the easel and labeled/divided FLOAT and SINK. Picture cards were placed in the shelf for children to choose from and make a guess based upon their knowledge and experience. The picture card was then placed under their guess of whether the object would float or sink. After making their guess – they then tested it in the water filled sensory tub!
The Lesson Objectives: Teamwork to fill the sensory tub with water, probability skills, testing guesses, cause and effect, exploring with water, float, sink, buoyancy, properties of water, and the effect water has on objects.
It’s fun to see the students enjoy activities with and involving water – that’s why they seem naturally drawn to water puddles, rain, splashing and mixing, basically anything dealing with water!
Children can spend lengthy amounts of time simply pouring, dumping, mixing, and stirring water. From a parental perspective it can be messy to clean up and time consuming. From a teacher perspective it can become a nuisance if children are constantly washing or most often playing at the sink! Capitalize on these instances and use them as learning experiences – provide soapy water, washcloths, and dishes for washing, water babies and sponges for bathing, varying objects to float/sink, cooking materials, or really anything – remember children have imaginations – something we tend to “lose” as we grow older! If a child spills water – provide towels to clean it up. If a child gets his/her clothing wet – allow them time to reflect and problem solve (next time roll up sleeves, wear a smock, change into swimsuit, etc).
Water play is often found to be very calming for children and is very tactile experience. Children need ample time to play in and with water. Sometimes, we as adults, take the pure simplicity and joy of water for granted! Remember it’s just water AND it will dry!

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How Do You Like to Draw?
Scott Andersen | March 11, 2011 | Comment
HOW DO YOU LIKE TO DRAW?
That simple question turned into a fun activity for students in Ms Katie’s and Ms. Shonda’s Early Preschool class at our school. Students identified ways they liked to draw and took turns experiencing all the different methods. They then voted by placing their picture underneath their favorite way to draw. You can see by the chart (photo below) that they preferred drawing while upside down.
Enjoy the photos below.

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A Special Night for Our Students: The Man in My Life
Sarah Strickland | March 8, 2011 | Comment
Students at The Grove School of Cary had a special night Feb. 17 when they invited their dads, grandfathers or another special man in their lives to participate in the Man in My Life event. The students led their special guests in fun classroom activities. Students read with their guest and also had a tower building contest where the teams used recycled products to build a tower as high as they could.
Enjoy the video montage below highlighting some of the night’s events.










