Wednesday, January 3
On our first day in 2024, we updated the calendar and began making the room over for January. We had fun celebrating National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day by "messily" making our own. After lunch, we learned that the first month of the new year was named January by the Ancient Romans, after their god, Janus, who is depicted as having two faces - one looking back and one looking ahead. We also came up with New Year's Resolutions that we'll strive to achieve at the center, like drinking more water, being more active during movement activities, not letting "drama" bother us too much, and knowing when to be silly versus when to focus. We can do all that, and more! Bring on 2024!
Prepping our calendar squares for a busy January!
Brand new crayons!
Using "winter colors" for our decorative letters.
Goodbye, December and 2023!
Hello, January and 2024!
Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries! Enjoy the joy!
Dipping cherries (and/or pretzel sticks) into melted chocolate.
It was kind of messy, but we had napkins! Happy Chocolate Covered Cherry Day!
Choice Time
We are missing Xavier this week as he travels with his family to New Orleans, where he visited the aquarium! This is the first time Xavier has missed full days since he joined the program in 2017! He set an attendance record, for sure!
Janus, the Roman god of beginnings and endings, and for whom January is named.
Thinking about New Year's resolutions.
Preparing our displays for the resolutions wall.
So much to think about!
We have great goals for 2024!
Thursday, January 4
Today we celebrated National Spaghetti Day, World Braille Day, and Trivia Day. What a fun combination! We had a visit from Tracy, too, and she had exciting news for us.
We watched a short biography about Helen Keller for World Braille Day, and followed it up with some brain work activities. We had to solve crossword puzzles and scrambled words, and follow two-step directions to complete one of the tasks.
We enjoyed a lively game of pool noodle and balloon volleyball for a mid-morning movement break!
Next, it was time for lunch preparations. Kate and Patrick gathered our bread supplies and also got the spaghetti into the oven so it would be heated through by the time we ate.
A watched pot never boils, Nan and Liz! (They were in charge of cooking gluten-free pasta.)
Alexis and Sam (with Laura's help, but she missed the photo) rolled our silverware and sealed it with colorful napkin rings!
Michelle, Devin, Carol, and Drew put together gorgeous salads!
Our baked spaghetti, salad, and breadstick lunch was delicious! Many thanks to Erik's mom, Diane, who sent extra baked spaghetti for our holiday party in December. We froze it and tah-dah, reheated it for Spaghetti Day today. We did this last year, too. We think we've started a tradition...hint, hint, Diane! Unfortunately, Erik had the misfortune to develop a case of conjunctivitis, and couldn't be with us today. He was missed!
To further celebrate Spaghetti Day, we read a story about a girl who has the courage to be herself. It's title is Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun, and we followed it up with brain work where we focused on character traits. Laura helped find the book at the JRES Library yesterday, and checked it out for us to borrow!
Be sure to check the Parks & Rec catalog Tracy sent home with us today. She's offering fun field trips that we can sign up for on Mondays over the next few months!
All the info for "Exceptional Expeditions" can be found on p. 17-18. Tracy hopes some of us will join her for these exciting adventures!
For our final activity today, we celebrated Trivia Day with a couple of games of Animal Trivia and Disney Song Trivia. Abraham got excited when "Hakuna Matata" came on and ran up to cheer with the Lion King water bottle Sam gave him for Christmas! (In case you are curious, Lisa and Carol had to cover the tv screen with blankets so we couldn't see the clues during the Disney song game because we couldn't get our Bluetooth speaker to connect!)
During "Tale As Old As Time," we got this sweet video of Laura singing. Her voice is beautiful! (It moved Michelle to tears. 💖)
Not long after, "Step in Time" was the song, and Devin and Sam had to move to the music. They are pretty energetic, but they couldn't have kept this up for the whole 8 minutes of that song! What a fun way to end our day!
Friday, January 5
As we wrapped up our first week of 2024, we sent a crew to work at Pet Supplies Plus and kept a crew at the center to organize our supply tubs, prepare JRES Library books for discard, and cook lunch so we could celebrate National Bean Day, which is on Saturday. Later we had fun celebrating National Bobblehead Day, which is Sunday, and wrapping up our week with Jaime and yoga.
Drew and Abraham measured water for the bean broth.
Sam and Michelle cubed ham to add to the beans. We were getting hungry as we prepped this lunch!
Kevin helped get the seasoning just right.
We sorted and reorganized all the colored pencils and markers in our supply tubs!
The JRES Library gets a lot of new books, so we help them prepare others to be discarded. Some of these will be donated to a community yard sale.
Meanwhile, at Pet Supplies Plus, there was dusting to be done. Tessa and Annmarie were a good team getting the high and low spots! Liz can be seen sweeping, too.
Devin and Liz dusted, too!
Scott was happy to have Laura help with inventory of the frozen food section.
Before leaving PSP the gang wanted to remind everyone that there are still holiday treats and toys available, and they are on sale at clearance prices. Stock up for next year!
Yummy! Bean soup and corn bread!
January 6 is National Bobblehead Day. Click on the pic for a link to a fun and interesting video about how they came to be!
We made our own bobbleheads.
Aren't we destined to become collectibles?!
Our favorite way to end the week...
Time for the weekend! We are pretty sure we will be ready for a four-day week when Tuesday rolls around! 😉 Here are our plans:
Tuesday: We'll go bowling today and enjoy pizza for lunch! Thank you to Sam's grandmother and our friend, Nina, for sponsoring today's pizza from Domino's! After lunch we will begin a new read aloud and also celebrate Static Electricity Day with a lesson...and fun with balloons! Please wear Arc shirts!
Wednesday: This morning we will volunteer at Grove Christian Outreach Center, so please wear Arc shirts again. We will also make a cute penguin craft for decorating our windows. After lunch we'll celebrate Save the Eagles day with a lesson about our national bird. Lunch on your own. JRES Cafeteria is available for Cheesy Pasta Supreme or Sub of the Day.
Thursday: We'll spend the morning celebrating Milk Day with a lesson on pasteurization, and milk samples. We'll have lunch a bit early so we can head to Freedom Park to check on the garden, and then over to the Colonial Parkway to look for eagles. (If the weather cooperates.) Lunch on your own. JRES Cafeteria is available and is offering Domino's Pizza, Deli Sub, or Chef Salad.
Friday: We'll kick off our vocational work at Eaton for 2024 today, so please wear Eaton shirts and bring a bagged lunch. We will end the week with yoga, so dress to stretch, too!
Did you know The Arc of Greater Williamsburg is presenting an "Arc"tic Pickleball Frenzy on January 27? Click the image below for more information or to register!
Have a great weekend!
Lisa, Carol, Nan, and the AoA Gang
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