News – Page 2

September 1, 2016 by Admin Leave a Comment

Back to School 2016

Summer is still happening but back to school time is here!

Many of our afternoon teachers have gone off to college and so new teachers have joined us. New little friends have joined our Caterpillars Babies class. Those bigger babies moved up to the Cubs class.

The Cubs are learning self help skills such as hand washing and helping clean up. Some are even potty training. The Cubs class is full of energetic children. The new playground is enjoyed by all and the playhouse and bar-b-que is a favorite.

The Pandas are also sharing the new playground. We have so many new friends that we have added a new teacher to the class. Miss Jackie has rearranged the room and has new toys to enjoy. The Monkey class and Alligator class have new friends and many children have moved up.

We had over 30 children go to kindergarten and about 30 more going to the various local elementary schools. We transport children to Jessie Hall, Alyce Taylor, Spanish Springs and Van Gordor.

The cooler days are ahead and Mustangs are enjoying their new outdoor class room. Come join Discoveries Preschool this fall and see for your self how fun and educational our preschool is!

April 22, 2016 by Admin Leave a Comment

Discoveries Celebrates Earth Day

Earth Day at Discoveries

Discoveries cares about the fragile earth we live on and try to do our best to take care of it every day. April 22 Earth Day is celebrated all over the world. At Discoveries we did our part and learned more.

Every day we do our part by recycling our plastic, so it’s safe to say we are no strangers to this eventful Earth Day, but we were of course excited and eager to learn more about what Earth Day really means.

Thanks to our daily recycling habits we learned that plastic snack containers, water bottles and glass bottles can be made into new containers. They can recycle blue jeans and turn them into pencils.

We were able to fish for trash in our imaginary Truckee River. We attached paper clips to every piece of trash we could round up from our back playground: juice boxes, Ziploc bags, band aids, etc.

We gave the kids fishing poles and lines. At the end of each fishing line was a magnet and voila! Fishing for trash we go! We filled the water play table with water and then we put in the trash that we caught with our fishing poles.

We watched the trash pollute the water and make it turn muddy and yucky. Considering the fact that water is essential to life, we also learned how to make a water filtration system using sand, small rocks, big rocks, and coffee filters to filter the water that we had put into our water play table.

It was fun to watch the children’s excitement as they learned that paper that would normally be considered “trash” can indeed be recycled and reused. We explored this method in the form making paper out of used paper. We invited a special guest, Ms. Natalie, a retired kindergarten teacher.

She taught us how to put water and scrap paper into a blender and make pulp. Then we made new paper from the pulp by straining it with screen and a hoop. We successfully made new paper out of paper that had already been drawn on and thrown into the trash.

We had an earth friendly lunch of veggies, pizza and fruit and apple juice that families brought in to share.

We all learned that we should take care of the Earth every day. Not just once a year.

April 11, 2016 by Admin Leave a Comment

Spring at Discoveries

Discoveries is Looking Forward to Spring

At Discoveries we are looking forward to spring! Lots of fun crafts and outdoor activities. We will try our hand at gardening. Starting with flowers to watch them grow from seeds to beautiful blooms in our back playground flower box. We are planting a potato patch in the front raised bed. We will learn about how to grow plants from seeds, rooting from parts of plants and established plants. We will discover what it takes to make a plant grow water, sunshine and lots of encouragement. We plan on having a fenced in garden for other crops and have a wonderful tasting party after a harvest. We may even have pumpkins from our own patch for the fall.
Earth Day will be a big part of our month as we learn about caring for our fragile planet. A trip to the University of Nevada Planetarium helped to spark our interest during spring break. We will make paper from recycled ingredients. We will conduct many science experiments and share our results.
We hope to have some visitors to help us learn about the Reno, Sparks, Spanish Springs and Washoe County area we live in.

The weather is getting warmer and the longer days of sunlight are welcome sight after the long weather.
We are planning a graduation celebration for those moving up to Kindergarten at local elementary schools. Before we know it, school will be out and the summer fun will begin.

April 10, 2016 by Admin Leave a Comment

Dinosaur Eggs at Discoveries

Dinosaur Week at Discoveries

The end of February brought Dinosaur week to the Alligator Class. They were Archaeologists looking for the Alphabet in the sand, fossil hunters and of course dinosaur detectives themselves. They even did a dinosaur egg hunt; they went out searching to the archaeology site on the playground for dinosaur eggs. The eggs were made of baking soda by Miss Jessica’s special recipe. A surprise was inside. We even invited the Monkeys and Mustangs to join in our science fun. Before the hunt, the Mustangs invited the other classes for a story about dinosaurs.

After finding the eggs each child got to discover what was inside. To help with fine motor skills and have some science fun, the students used spray bottles to experiment with the different reactions between water and vinegar on the baking soda eggs. We also tried droppers to uncover the hidden secret inside.

The excitement grew as the eggs fizzed and dissolved before our very eyes. Inside was a baby dinosaur. We discovered that the vinegar and water melted the baking soda faster than just plain water.

An amazing time was shared by all.

March 1, 2016 by Admin Leave a Comment

Discoveries in February

February is a Busy Time

The month of February is a busy time for all classes. The babies are growing fast. Miss Sara and team do a wonderful job keeping up with the changes. They have added some new friends to the group. Some of our older babies have moved up to the Cub class. Come see our LOVE BUG bulletin board.

The Cubs room has a new look and feel to it. We have moved the furniture around and developed new learning centers. There is reading center, play toys, blocks and play house. A new fun zebra stripe rug that’s wonderful for playing on with many of the toys. New friends joined us this month. Some off our friends moved over to the Panda’s room. Miss Polly and Miss Olivia keep the Cubs busy exploring and learning thru play. This means we learn by hands on experiences. Potty training is in session all the time and we are proud to say many of the Cubs have mastered this skill.

The Pandas tend to run in the middle of the pack. Bigger than the Cubs and babies, but not ready to move into the Monkeys. They do know how to have a fun time. The dramatic center with fun dress up clothes is the favorite. The Pandas have a fun playing house and keep it in good shape with the help of tools that Miss Jackie bought. The sensory center has the amazing SANDS ALIVE. This sand sticks to its self and molds into many shapes. The things they can create are limitless.

The Monkeys continue to work on the alphabet. They learn about the letters by using them to create animals. S is for snake. They are playing games to learn their numbers and shapes. Fishing game and hunting shapes hidden in the room are a fun way to learn.

Alligators are learning about the ocean and its creatures. Valentine’s Day is a wonderful way to learn about our emotions and feelings. The Alligators are learning how to handle many emotions. The end of the month dinosaurs will entertain them as they become archaeolists, discovering fossils and find their dinosaur names.

The Mustangs are busy learning their phone numbers and addresses. They made cell phones to practice dialing their own phone numbers. To practice their addresses each child created their homes and Miss Dawn wrote their addresses on each house. Now the Mustangs have a neighborhood of all of our friends.

All the classes will have Valentines party to exchange cards and have a fun time. Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone.