Fall Fest at AOFC

 Thank you so much to all of our families who came out to enjoy all the fun Fall Fest had to offer! We had an absolute blast! Upon entering, families were able to stop at our welcome table to enter into a raffle for some awesome prizes! A free week of tuition, a fall baking basket, and a book basket we’re all up for grabs. Congrats to all of our winners! Past the welcome table, we had tons of outside activities set up for kiddos and parents to enjoy. A petting zoo (with the cutest alpaca I’ve ever seen), train rides, the bounce house, pumpkin painting, and tattoos and face painting. My goodness that’s a lot! But we’re not even finished! Step inside the enrichment room and you’ll find the best balloon guy we know making any balloon creation you can think of. There was also a delicious chili bar, a popcorn bar, some yummy sweet treats and a book fair hosted by our own Assistant Director, Ms. Rachel! This Fall Fest was one for the books. It was our biggest turn out yet. We had so much fun and are already looking forward to next years festivities. Check out the pictures below to see some of the fun in action. 

Another popular attraction: Bubbles and Chalk!

Our littles really love getting creative outside. 

Look at that cool tattoo! 

Face painting and tattoos were a huge hit. 

The train is always a crowd pleaser. 

No fall fest is complete without a train ride. 

Look at that alpaca!

The petting zoo was so much fun! 

Popcorn bar with all the toppings you could ever want!

I can smell the butter!!

Welcome to Fall Fest!

Guess how many pumpkins are in the jar for a chance to win an awesome prize!

Check out the book fair!

Our very own Assistant Director wrote some awesome books!

Visit the balloon guy for a cool creation!

Pumpkin painting station!

You should have seen some of the awesome creations the kiddos made. 

Fall into a good book!

We love a good book here at AOFC! We also know that books are essential to a child's learning and development. Literacy is one of the most important skills a child learns. Did you know that 90% of brain development happens between infancy and five years of age? This rapid growth makes language skills a critical part of a child’s development. Promoting early literacy sets the foundation for learning, encourages higher performance reading, and introduces social-emotional development. We choose books that are written with the intention of promoting imaginative thinking and creativity. These carefully chosen books also include key vocabulary words to encourage the development of language skills. Lets check out some of this reading in action!

It is never too early to introduce literacy to a child!

Look at one of our sweet littles engaging in "Little Boy Blue"

The PreK kiddos have had years of reading exposure at this point.

Some of them are even reading back to us!

Reading as a group can be so much fun!

This allows for awesome Question and Answer after the book which, in turn, helps with memory retention and the ability to follow a story line!

Our Preschool Class is diving into one of our Frog Street curriculum books. They're all so engaged!

How sweet! Look at how into this book she is!

We love seeing our littles so interested in reading!

This PreK friend is reading the book out loud!

Way to go buddy!!

For infants, reading is more than just literacy development.

This babes are able to help turn the pages and develop their fine motor skills!

Trunk or Treating

If you asked a child what the best part about Halloween is, they would most likely say "Trick or treating!" and who can argue with that! Walking around dressed as your favorite character, collecting candy.. sounds like a dream to me! That's why Trunk or Treat is one of our (and the kids) favorite events that we host! This year the rain tried to ruin our fun but a little weather can't stop us. We moved the "trunks" inside and set up tables and booths for the kiddos to visit. Our AMAZING parent volunteers went ALL OUT on their decorations, themes, and creative ideas. Each year we host a competition for the best trunk that our teachers get to vote on. It was so hard to pick a winner, everyone's trunk really blew us away! But our winner is officially Candy Land complete with a real life Gingerbread Man! Check out the pictures below to see all the fun that was had! 

One of our awesome "Trunks"

 This one really transported us to Disney World.

This trunk really showed their Halloween spirit! 

I especially love the cute balloons! 

Our winners of the trunk or treat decorating contest! 

They really went all out with their decor! 

Even the babies got to participate! 

They loved getting to wheel around and collect their goodies. 

So many cool costumes! 

These trunk or treaters were ready for all the fun. 

Olaf made an appearance at a couple of our "trunks" 

I even spy a life sized Anna and Elsa in the background! 

We had so many "trunks" we had to extend outside under the awning. 

Thank you so much to all of our dedicated parent volunteers! 

Woah!! Double Trouble! 

This dino duo was totally unplanned but they were so happy to see each other! 

 

Halloween Spirit at AOFC

 We are definitely getting into the Halloween spirit this week at AOFC with lots of fun activities, grab and go's, Halloween spirit dress up day, as well as the long awaited pumpkin decorating contest! This year the pumpkins are some of the best we have had and the classrooms definitely outdid themselves on their creativity and decorating skills! May the best pumpkin win! The kids definitely brought the Halloween spirit out with their awesome outfits that included, ghosts, skeletons, pumpkins, witches and even a few cats! AOFC sure knows how to bring out the Halloween spirit and we can't wait to see what the next week will entail! 

These sweet girls were excited to be twins! 

The cutest pumpkin! 

This little ghost loves to smile! 

Bats, cats, and witches, Oh My! 

This cutie loves to pose! 

She is bringing the Halloween Spirit! 

It's Pete the Cat! 

A little Owl

Finding Nemo 

This is the very first Ms Erica pumpkin and the winner in her book!

Look at all the creativity in those pumpkins! 

Make a wish for the genie! 

Minnie Mouse, a dragon, cute Frankenstein, and Nemo 

Pumpkin Guts Exploration

 Ooey, Gooey, Slimey, Gross! 

Pumpkin Guts explorations make for some SPOOKtacular sensory play! Activities like this always get the kiddos so excited. What's better than getting all messy and exploring something new? Did you know that when a child is engaging in sensory play they are not just having fun and getting messy. They are also building nerve connections to the brain's pathways that, in turn, lead to the child's ability to complete more complex learning tasks. Who knew digging into a pumpkin could be so important! When observing the kiddos during this activity we heard things like "Oh its slimey!", "Wow! There are seeds in here!" "Can we plant these seeds?" "Can we eat these seeds?" This type of play ignites provocation that lead to these awesome, open-ended questions and discoveries. Check out all the fun in action below! 

Look! We found a seed! 

I wonder what we can do with this seed? 

Ms. Yolanda preparing her class for all the fun about to be had! 

So anxious to dig into these pumpkins! 

Toddler Three cant wait to see what's inside! 

Ms. Kristen is explaining things they might see and feel. 

Brave! He stuck his hand right in! 

Can you feel it squish between your fingers? 

This friend is digging out all the seeds! 

Separating the slimy guts and the solid seeds. 

This activity was hands down a school favorite! 

We cant wait to see what else we will explore! 

Fall activities at AOFC

 We had such a fun and busy week at AOFC including lots of fall activities that the kids loved.  There was an apple craft,  hedgehog magnets, a haunted Halloween snack and we topped it off today with Mother Goose and all her animals! This is our favorite time of year as it brings cooler weather, awesome fall activities, and excited talk in classrooms about what they will be for Halloween this year! AOFC loves the fall! 

We love Mother Goose!

Greeting their friends with a smile !

Pretty girl giving a smile to her friends! 

Cheese!

Look at my awesome hedgehog magnet!

Apple crafts are my favorite! 

Friends and family at AOFC

 This month the kids are learning all about friends and family and obviously AOFC would not be the same without our awesome families that we get to see each and every day. Our families are made up of kids, moms, dads, grandparents, aunts and uncles, dogs, cats, fish, and everything in between which makes our school shine with love, lessons, smiles and differences. We love hearing the chatter of parents and children, excitement with grandparents, and playing with friends at school each day. All families are unique and AOFC's families happen to be some of best and our teachers are privileged to love, teach, and learn from all of them. 

One of our special AOFC families! 

Look at all these family and friends! 

Pre k 2 made a drawing of their families! 

Some family examples! 

Mommy, Daddy, and me

We love grandparents at AOFC!

What a lucky girl! 

He loves is grandparents!