The Nashville Public Library Marionette's Visit!

We are always so thankful to have the Nashville Public Library visit our school to teach the children about a great story. This month they spoke to us about a young Hispanic boy named Tomas and a sweet librarian who taught him how important books are in our lives. The story was spoken to the kids in English and Spanish which is so important in our multicultural and diverse community. The kids are always intrigued by the marionette's and how life-like they move, and appear to speak. Tomas rode a dinosaur into the library, a tiger helped him look for books and the kids were wowed by the story! A special thanks to the library for filling our children with knowledge and inspirational stories!

Baking Thanskgiving Bread

Our Preschool 3 teachers taught the children how to make banana and pumpkin bread this week. The kids got to mix the ingredients, take turns stirring, watch it rise throughout the day and finally eat it! It was amazing to see how a science experiment turned into something great that tasted so good! It taught them to use all of their senses, and they even took time to share their creation with their parents and teachers!

Thankfulness

We are extremely grateful here at AoHV for our teachers, children, & families so to show our gratitude we had a big Thanksgiving lunch on Friday, November 18 for everyone. We hosted trimmed turkey & gravy, dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, cinnamon apples and four different kinds of delicious desserts! The children got to eat in their classrooms or in the enrichment room with their families. It was a real treat and beautifully set up. The artwork throughout our hallways is adorable and we are thankful for our teacher's hard work and devotion to the children in our care. Our Preschool 3 class taught the children how to make banana and pumpkin bread this week. Family is everything and what we teach our kids is respect for each other and their surroundings, we hope you all have a safe and memorable holiday season.

We Are Learning About Pumpkins!

DID YOU KNOW:

A pumpkin is really a squash?
It is! It's  a member of the Cucurbita family which includes squash and cucumbers.

That pumpkins are grown all over the world?
Six of the seven continents can grow pumpkins including Alaska! Antarctica is the only continent that they won't grow in.

That the "pumpkin capital" of the world is Morton, Illinois?
This self proclaimed  pumpkin capital is where you'll find the home of the Libby corporation's pumpkin industry.

That the  Irish brought this tradition of pumpkin carving to America?
The tradition originally started with the carving of turnips. When the Irish immigrated to the U.S., they found pumpkins a plenty and they were much easier to carve for their ancient holiday.

Fun Facts About The Pumpkin!

• Pumpkins contain potassium and Vitamin A.
• Pumpkin flowers are edible.
• The largest pumpkin pie ever made was over five feet in diameter and weighed over 350 pounds. It used 80 pounds of cooked pumpkin, 36 pounds of sugar, 12 dozen eggs and took six hours to bake.
• In early colonial times, pumpkins were used as an ingredient for the crust of pies, not the filling.
• Pumpkins were once recommended for removing freckles and curing snake bites.
• The largest pumpkin ever grown weighed 2,230 pounds.
• The Connecticut field variety is the traditional American pumpkin.
• Pumpkins are 90 percent water.
• Eighty percent of the pumpkin supply in the United States is available in October.
• Native Americans flattened strips of pumpkins, dried them and made mats.
• Native Americans called pumpkins "isqoutm squash."
• Native Americans used pumpkin seeds for food and medicine.
  
  
  
  
  Our Academy children are learning so much about pumpkins this month! The preschool 3 class is doing an observation on what they think is inside the pumpkin. Their answers are very cute! They think there is: eggs, candy, snacks, a lot of candy, and chocolate. They will get to help cut open the pumpkin to find out what is in it. Children love exploring hands on to learn about pumpkins. They will also be using all their senses to learn as well.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Mr. Bruce Amato Visits!

We always have a great time when Mr. Bruce comes to visit our school! He has new material, and makes the children laugh everytime! He has such a positive and joyful personality and it fills our children with pure happiness and laughter. Thanks again Mr. Amato for doing the best job in the world sparking interest and wonder in the minds of our youth!

 

Apollo the Guinea Pig Visits the Kids

The school age children are on fall break this week and they decided to share their class pet Apollo. They organized a fun fact sheet about what he eats and what he likes to do. They read the facts to some of the classes and even took his bath spray and sprayed it on a bear so they could see what he smells like. The children got to sit in a circle and each brush him. We hoped to teach the kids about responsibility with taking care of a family pet. They enjoyed his company.

Tummy Time!

Academy schools are known for excellence in academics, over the top entertainment, and inspiring playful fun and physical development in the minds of young children. Whenever we have someone new come to tour our facility they say it has whimsical and magical properties that they are always impressed by. We take them first to our infant hallway where we explain how early the curriculum begins at 6 weeks of age. We use an amazing program in the infant classes called frogstreet baby. We begin their developmental learning in that first room and tummy time is part of it! There are many benefits to helping the babies develop this skill such as: preparing them to explore their world, muscle development, and cranial structure. Our infant babies have had some fun doing this exercise, have a look at these happy faces!

Imagination Station Week

We have had such a fun and creative week with imagination station at AoHV. On Monday the children explored their senses through artistic development using ice art. We played visually stimulating classical music while they blended paint with their hands and frozen paint sticks. On Tuesday, we had our friend Mr. Ken come to put on a ventriliquist show. He had a great story about the children using their imaginations, they laughed so much! We had the kids and teachers dress up as what they want to be when they grow up! We had doctors, teachers, artists, princess, pirates and more! The academy schools strive for mental, social, & physical growth, academic achievement, and play using all their senses and most importantly expressing their young imaginations!