Sand cakes, anyone?  The children of Hazel Drive (and their teachers, too!) had a wonderful season of fun, friends and laughter at our Hazel Drive Camp! It was a summer filled with the simple pleasures of childhood!

Weekly themes created a framework for our fun and learning! 

 Our campers created dimensional crabs with sand paint, fish with colorful, glittery scales and beautiful sand castle art to go with our beach theme. 

We celebrated our nation's birthday with songs and projects:  "Three Cheers for the Red, White and Blue!" 

Dragonflies and ladybugs adorned our walls and many refrigerators during Bug Week.  Of course, real dragonflies and ladybugs are frequent visitors to the playground and our pool towels! 

Picnic Week inspired fun art projects like watermelons (with the seeds, thank you!) and yummy-looking hot dogs.  But wait!....Do I see some uninvited guests on my plate?  The children had a lot of fun making ants with their fingertips and some black paint!  We were also inspired to have our morning snacks picnic style out on our plush green lawn!

Camping Week was so much fun!  A tent was created by suspending sheets from the ceiling.  With the help of Miss Gloria's electric pretend campfire, we toasted delicious pretend marshmallows on pretend sticks and told funny, spooky stories around the "fire."  We sang camp songs like "Hello, My Name is Flo" and "The Frog Song..."  We all know frogs go "(clap!) La-dee-dah-dee-dah!"  And weren't those camo-painted tents just adorable with their little faces peeking out the doors?

Yo, ho, ho!  Ahoy, Mateys!  The children enjoyed making sailing ships, pirate flags and paper plate pirate faces.  The theme culminated in a treasure hunt that led us all around the Hazel Drive campus!

Our end-of-summer Carnival generated a lot of excitement as the children played games like "Pin the Patch on the Pirate," "Goin' Fishin'," "Rubber Duck Match," and many more!  They collected their tickets for playing the games, and were very pleased with their pinwheel prizes!

We enjoyed a generous harvest of tomatoes this year!  We'd watched as the plants grew throughout the spring and early summer, seeing the flowers bloom and the tiny green fruits take their places!  When the tomatoes finally ripened to an appealing red, we marched out to the garden to enjoy nature's bounty.  The teachers cut the tomatoes in half for safety, and the children ate them enthusiastically and asked for more! As Hazel says, "Eat your veggies," and nothing inspires this more than growing and picking your own! 

                                                                                    We had many opprtunites for music, art and outdoor fun, both wet and dry!  The children played a lot of games that evolved throughout the summer weeks.  They lined up for their daily  "Car Wash" and were delighted when Miss Gloria declared them "THE WINNER!!!" for being wet from head to toe!  They enjoyed doing splashy "cannonballs" in the pools, pretending to be mermaids and mermen, and making "water angels" in the pools - think snow angel in a bathing suit!  Each day after swim time, the boys and girls eagerly anticipated the ringing of the bell that announced the arrival of the ice pops!  Made from orange or grape juice, this wholesome treat cooled us off on the inside after our outsides were cooled by the water play!  Wonderful!   

Well, all things must come to a close, and the Summer of 2013 is no exception.  But is was a summer that will truly live on in our memories!  We look back with gladness, and look ahead with the happy anticipation that always accompanies the words "Back to School."  Enjoy the last, lingering days of August, and we'll see you soon!

Love,

Miss Laura and Miss Gloria 

Happy faces, singing and dancing filled the room as we celebrated the end of the 2012 -2013 school year at Hazel Drive Early Childhood Center!  Moms and dads, sisters and brothers, grandmothers and grandfathers, aunts, uncles and cousins smiled with pride, their hearts filled with love as they watched the children put on a great show.

We began with "A Big American Hello," as the boys and girls marched in.  The Pledge of Allegiance was led by a little guy with a BIG flag who was selected for that honor by virtue of being our longest-term student present!  This was followed by a medley of songs about America and its flag that evolved by adding a song each month to our Circle Time repertoire.  

The children showed off their dance moves as we did the "Twist." The faces of their families were priceless as they pointed and smiled at the cuteness of it all!  The kids just had a lot of fun! This was followed by the "Hazel Drive Stomp" which is a dance that was created one day as the music played on...Steps were suggested by the music and a new dance was born, a favorite of children and teachers alike!  It's so heartwarming to see all the children, from the youngest to the oldest, doing the "Hazel Drive Stomp" together!

Along with Miss Laura's accompaniment on piano or guitar, the Hazel Drive singers performed other fun and familiar songs such as "This Land is Your Land,"  "Mi Carita" (My Little Face), "The Colors Song," and "If You're Happy and You Know It" in English and Spanish!   

It was a festive culmination to a beautiful year of loving, learning and growing.  None of it could be possible without the kindness and diligence of a dedicated group of teachers. The children would all receive diplomas and certificates, but before they did,  the teachers got "diplomas" of their own. I'd like to share that with you now as a public "Thank you" for a job well done: 

To my:                            

Loyal

Devoted

Happy

Joyful

Playful

Loving

Nurturing

Hard Working

Reliable

Team Mates

I love to see you with your heads together, working something out, laughing together, sharing stories.

I’m gratified to see you hustling to keep things running smoothly.

I enjoy your unique personalities and each one of your unique contributions to our beautiful school.

The children are blessed to be in your care, to learn from you, to laugh with you, to be nurtured by you.

I am blessed to know you and to have the privilege of having you all as my associates.

Thank you so much for all that you do to make Hazel the great bunny that she is!

Spring has tiptoes in 2013 and we have savored every sign that has appeared!  Even now there is still a chill in the air as flowers bloom and the birds delight us with their song. Our Hazel Drive Kids are growing, too, and are as beautiful as spring!  The sound of children laughing and shouting fill the great outdoors as well, as we spend more time out on the playground. 

Spring is a time for newness.  Everyone has been busy learning new skills, making new friends and trying new things. 

During this early spring we've welcomed new friends into our Hazel Drive Family!  New children are greeted with warmth and acceptance, join us happily and form friendships easily.  They are embraced, both literally and figuratively, by Hazel's girls and boys.  They are readily engaged in our inviting setting and quickly sense the joyful atmosphere and the care, comfort and security provided by Hazel's talented staff of teachers. They are curious and enthusiastic about our lively activites, whether they be music, art, stories, or learning about the big, beautiful world around us. 

There is such beauty in the variety of foliage that appears as spring progresses.  There is great beauty, as well, in the combinations of growing things that share space in our yards, gardens and country roads.  So it is with children.  Each stage has a uniqueness, and each child within that stage is unique.  The children of Hazel Drive have a very satisfying way of mixing it up as well:  Big Ones caring for Little Ones by helping with their shoes or holding their hands; understanding that the expectations are different for the very young and the more mature;  enjoying the priveleges and responsiblities that come with being the "big" kids in the school - and those of being "little," too.  It's fun to watch the children in mixed grouping time enjoying a ride on the galloping horses, dancing the twist or singing "You're a Grand Old Flag" complete with waving flags!

Each age group has its own yardstick on which it is progressing.

Kindergarten:

The Kindergartners have grown so beautifully.  They have learned many traditional childhood games from Mrs. B using balls or bean bags or hidden objects, or playing table games like Checkers, Pick-Up Sticks or "Topple."   They can be seen running and climbing at lightning speed (well, there's a tortoise when Miss Laura joins in!) during their games of Freeze Tag out on the playground!  They have had many opportunities to create, whether it be in the artistic realm with paper and markers, glue and scissors, or feats of engineering with materials at hand: Tinkertoy axles and wheels rolling up and down improvised ramps or the most elaborate Duplo creations that can be imagined, for example! Through it all, they are learning about themselves and others, learning respect, good manners, and the all-important skills of negotiation and compromise.

Big Hoppers:

A lot of new growth on these budding plants!  Under the loving tutelage of Miss Gloria, and lovingly assisted by Mrs. Stacy or Mrs. Shirley, the Big Hoppers have become true artists!  Step-by-step they have eagerly learned drawing, cutting and writing skills. The teachers hear the excited, "What are we going to learn today?" almost daily!  Miss Gloria's drawing lessons make use of a very important tool:  the chalk board.  With a chalk board and a piece of chalk, many, many things can be taught and learned, and important skills as well.  The big blackboard is divided into four squares.  The children fold their papers into four squares.  They practice looking from the board to their papers and back again.  They use shapes to create figures.  The results are amazing and very satisfying to the little artists!  While they're about it, they are learning about nature, sequencing, counting, geometry, writing and learning Spanish, too!  And getting that all-important skill of gripping the pencil! 

The Big Hoppers now write their names on all of their papers, some by tracing, and some without - but all have made progress!  They definitely all recognize not only their own, but each other's names as well.

Tools other than pencils can be used to develop our writing muscles:  our own fingers and hands!  The Big Hoppers made lovely pussy willows by brushing on paint for the long twigs and using their little fingerprints for the gray buds.

The Big Hoppers have also progressed in their use of scissors, from snipping edges, to cutting straight lines, to angles and curves.  Do you remember those adorable leprechauns that covered the wall?  

Little Bunnies and Cottontails:

Wow! Our Little Bunnies aren't so little any more!  What a huge growth year between three and four! Their social skills have taken off, and these busy children just love to play together and pretend!  There is a spirit of helpfulness among them.   The great use of burgeoning language skills in the social arena is evident.  Language also enhances our "just plain fun" as we have lots of laughs with the maturing sense of humor of this age group.  Little Bunnies have regular practice with scissors, snipping and fringing and cutting on lines.  They are champs in name recognition and are very interested in learning how to write their names, so they are given opportunities to practice this.  As they've grown, the Little Bunnies have "graduated" to more challenging activities such as jigsaw puzzles and memory games, and more complicated manipulative toys. And they are really great dancers!!

What a delight are our Cottontails!  How busy they are!  How engaged!  This group of little ones love to play with cars, planes and trains!  Not to mention rubber ducks!  They love to get glue-y or paint-y at the art table while creating!  They love to get wet at the water table with its warm, bubbly, softly-scented water. They love to build with the foam blocks and they love to knock 'em down, too! They love our new play sand in the sand box, and making castles or cakes and pushing those construction trucks around!  And we love them !

Miss Laura, Miss Elisabeth and Mrs. Shirley just love working and playing with our little guys.  There is never a dull moment, and we have lots of fun and are on the receiving end of lots of love!

Lots of love is sent your way, too!  Enjoy this beautiful time!

Miss Laura, Miss Gloria, Miss Elisabeth, Mrs. Stacy, Mrs. Shirley, Mrs. B. and our newest staff addition, lovely Miss Linda