“5-2-1-0” is the theme of a national campaign on obesity prevention and wellness.  This slogan corresponds to the concept that in a day, children should consume 5 servings of fruits and vegetables, spend 2 or less hours watching tv, 1 or more hours doing exercise and should consume zero soda or sugary drinks.  By practicing the “5-2-1-0” approach, kids should be well on their way to a healthier lifestyle!

Marlo met with the students at North Shore where they all practiced the hands signals for 5-2-1-0, helped determine what foods and activities led to this healthy lifestyle and created their individual worksheets to take home. Great handouts on healthy snacks and ways to achieve 5-2-1-0 were provided.  Additionally, Marlo coordinated with the teachers to be on board and North Shore will be working with our students to make 5-2-1-0 a motto for them to follow! We hope you will do the same at home.

After all, our commitment is the same as yours – keeping our North Shore students and families healthy and fit!

Not too long ago at school, our students dressed their best for our mid-day dinner activity where Miss Lindsay taught our students proper etiquette to use before and during eating at the dinner table. (The kids ate penne pasta in vodka sauce with garlic bread and had watermelon & cantaloupe for dessert!)

When you teach a child good table manners, you are giving them important tools for social interaction that will serve them for the rest of their lives.  Laying the groundwork for good etiquette at the dinner table now means your children will more likely become pleasant dinner companions for family meals in the future!

Some of the things we talked about were:

• Placing your napkin on your lap
• Wait until everyone is served before eating
• Never, ever chew with your mouth open
• Never over-stuff your mouth with food
• Do not interrupt when someone else is talking
• Never reach across someone to get something. Ask them to pass it to you instead.
• Push your chair in when finished
• Always pick up your plate
• Always remember to say “please” and  ”thank you”

TODDLER PROGRAM
Dot Painting – The children really enjoyed stamping the different colors onto the paper.  Little did they know that they were creating a beautiful piece of art.
Tissue Paper & Make-up Pad Art – The first step was to glue on makeup pads to the canvas.  After that dried each child put tissue paper over the makeup pads to give it texture.  When the watered down glue was applied the colors ran into each other, which made it look like an abstract painting.
Paper Towel Sculptures – They painted paper towel tubes and glued on the flower and eyes.  To give it a special touch their traced hand was attached.
Painted Frames – Each child picked out a color for their frames.  After they painted it they glued glass stones to it.  They did a wonderful job in matching  the stones to the paint.
Finger Painting – They used the dot paints again in this project but instead of stamping they smeared the ink onto the finger painting paper.  This paper has a gloss on it so the ink is easily smeared on.  Since the children made frames, I put their picture in the frame.

NURSERY PROGRAM
Robot Faces – VCR tapes and milk containers came in handy for this project.  The children did a lot of work on these faces.  They had to paint the circle first, glue on the eyes and mouth and then decorate it.  It was worth all the hard work because they came out awesome!
Kandinsky Circles – This was a good exercise in determining the size of the circles and which one will go next in order to make it look smaller and smaller.
Paper Sculpture – The children had to decide on two things for this project.  The first step was to choose which side of the paper they wanted to use.  The second step was to decide whether the paper would go over or under the other papers.  This was a good decision making project.
Jungle Animals – This was a fun project.  The children had to first make the jungle scene out of tissue paper.  Then they had to create their animal to put into the jungle.  To make it really cool, they put a yellow moon up in the sky.

PRE-K PROGRAM
Block Printing – The children had a choice of several wooden blocks to stamp with.  Each block had something different on them.  They chose what color to use for each block and then proceeded to make their pictures.  They were fascinated by the designs such as seeing a bunch of rubber bands make a weaving design or a piece of string that was in a  squiggly shape that looked like a  slippery eel.
Miro Painting – This was a long process but the outcome was worth it.  I showed the children pictures of Miro’s artwork so they could get an idea of what they would be doing.  We drew the picture all together on the canvas with a pencil.  Then they painted their design.  Once the paint was dry they took Q=tips and dipped them in a white paint to add some dots.  They also used a Q-tip dipped in black paint and drew a few stars.  The finished product was beautiful.
Robots –It’s amazing what you can make out of a milk carton.  The children had fun decorating and creating their own robot.  Using your imagination is fun.
Sole Necklaces – We took a piece of clay and pressed it into the bottom of each child’s shoe.  There are so many cool designs on the soles of your shoes.  They painted their medallion and two beads and made awesome sole necklaces.

KINDERGARTEN PROGRAM
Stencil and Ink Printing – Each child made a stencil out of Styrofoam.  Then they used black India ink and painted on their stencil.  They flipped it over onto the paper and pressed it with a rolling pin.  They peeled off their stencil and came out with a picture of their design.
Paste Painting – This was an awesome project.  We took modeling paste and swished it around on the canvas.  After it dried the children had to paint over it.  The results were awesome!
Futuristic Cities – This took a lot of time and patience.  As you can see the outcome is fantastic.  The children took a lot of pride in their work.  They wanted it to be just right.
Book Sculpture – We worked on this project together.  First they started out finding the middle of the book.  Then we proceeded to fold, bend and cut the pages to make a book sculpture.

Our students also made their own space ships and decorated them in the classroom. Miss Alicia, Miss Lisa, and Coach You had a rocket that they launched too! It was so much fun watching the children use their minds to explore the great galaxies that are beyond and far away!  As quoted by the ever so famous character Buzz Lightyear in “Toy Story,” “To infinity and beyond!”

Miss Morgan and Miss Ana’s class represented Vermont. They brought in french toast and delicious Vermont maple syrup for the other students to enjoy. We also learned the state song of Vermont, “These Green Mountains” by Diane Martin, as they sang it to all of our students. 

Miss Kathleen’s and Miss Evelyn’s state was West Virginia. They performed “Country Rose” (the unofficial West Virginia state song) and made quilts and a mountain mural featuring the state animal, The Black Bear.  They also painted drinking glasses because West Virginia is known for their wonderful glass blowing trade.

Miss Mindy and Miss Joanie’s class showed us The Pine Tree State, Maine!  They spoke about Maine’s Capital (Augusta!), the Governor (Paul LePage!), and the State Bird (the Chickadee!)  Maine is also famous for their homemade whoopie pies which everyone was delighted to sample!

After that delicious snack, Miss Lisa and Miss Diane’s class taught us about Alaska.  They made chocolate mousse for everyone (moose is the state animal and we figured that eating chocolate moose would be better than eating real moose!), and they also talked about Alaska’s capital and the unique geographical location where it is located, separate from the rest of the states.

Miss Lindsay and Miss Joanne’s class took us to sunny Hawaii and gave us a great show in their costumes and hula dance.  Miss Annette and Miss Mercedes class took us down south to Louisiana where they wore custom Mardi Gras Masks.  Finally, Miss Jennifer and Miss Melissa’s class made Chicago’s famous deep dish pizza, which made the great state of Illinois a huge hit with all the students and teachers!  What better way to learn about all the different sates that make-up our great country!

Pauly and Dino showed us how to sit still and open wide so that Dr. Samantha could show us how she counts our teeth, and how to brush and floss our teeth the right way. Eating sugar, as you already know, is a major cause of tooth decay. Pauly reminded us that “brushing our teeth two times a day, morning and night, will keep the sugar bugs away.”

By the end of our visit with Dr. Samantha, we learned that the most important part of caring for our teeth actually happens at home! Brushing and flossing properly, along with regular dental checkups, can help prevent us from getting cavities.  All our students went home with happy, bright smiles on their faces, eager to practice brushing & flossing their teeth!

Miss Lisa read a Dr. Seuss favorite, The Cat in the Hat.  However she did it in style – wearing The Cat in the Hat costume for all to enjoy!  Our students also had the opportunity to make their very own Cat in the Hat headgear to wear in celebration of this fun day.  After the book reading, the students danced to “Oh, the thinks you can think” from Seussical the Musical.  Just another fun filled day here at North Shore Day School!

And for some added fun,  check out Seussville online for some games and other Seuss activities!

Each day the students discovered a new sport with Coach You, learning how to play Newcomb Ball (a variation of volleyball), as well as tennis, and European handball. We also had Sensei Andrew come in to teach us the discipline and concentration that is needed to learn Karate. Coach Deena from Jump Bounce also stopped by to teach us how to punt, pass, and kick a football!  Boy, were we active!

Arts & Crafts with Miss Joanie was also a big part of LOV.  She had two wonderful art projects for the students where they got to make Van Gogh sunflowers and scrap paper art!

Each day ended with a special activity for our friends: Monday we watched The Sound of Music and learned about the major notes that are also the song title of “Do-Re-Mi.” Tuesday we had a special performance by Miss Morgan. Rock and Roll Bowling on Wednesday was a blast with Miss Morgan and Coach You – there was lots of dancing & bowling while we all slurped our freshly made strawberry smoothies, compliments of Miss Alicia! Western Thursday was spent listening to country music, having fun pretending to ride on a tractor, and learning how to make a horse lasso. The day ended with Miss Diane and Miss Alicia making S’mores for everyone. Mardi Gras Friday ended our February LOV in style, where each student made their own masks with feathers and colorful jewels. Once again we had a special snack – Banana Fontaine.  We ended the week with our very own Mardi Gras Parade wearing our handmade masks!

Our extra special visitor, Postman Tony, stopped by to tell our students how our “Special Valentine Deliveries” are mailed.  The whole school brought their Valentine’s Day cards to Tony and everyone took turns in depositing their cards into Tony’s letter container. He explained to us how the mail gets delivered from the moment we place our letters in a mailbox until it arrives at your recipient’s front door. Every class also made a special card for Tony, thanking him for delivering our very important and special cards.  Thank you Postman Tony!

Miss Lisa and Miss Diane’s class also hosted a special Valentine’s assembly where we sang our hearts outs! The students practiced for weeks to impress their excited classmates and parents in the crowd. With everyone dressed in their best Valentine’s Day red, they performed The Beatles’ “All You Need is Love”, Annie Lennox & Al Green’s “Put a Little Love in Your Heart”, and “Do You Love Me”.

Everyone here at school wishes you lots of love and happiness today!  Happy Valentine’s Day!

Coach You showed us how to use our moves to weave in and around the other team during the “Toss The Football Obstacle Course.”   When it came time to take a break, the NSDS Marching Band performed a Half-Time Show, led by Miss Lisa Constantine! The students played their instruments while marching their way to V-I-C-T-O-R-Y!  It was a true touchdown for everyone and every child went home as a winner!