Update for Wednesday

Pre-k will be singing in the Pre-k classroom at 11 AM. Please wait in the hallway until we open the doors. After songs feel free to share some cookies and milk (coffee) with your child.  Wednesday is not an official half day so it is your choice if you would like to take your child home at 1130. 

Last Week:

 We learned about letter Jj with Jungle Jim the Jellyfish.  We had so much fun playing, " Jump, Jog, or Jiggle!".  We also enjoyed Jelly Bean Math! We used jelly beans to measure items around our classroom.  As you can see in one of our pictures on the left, the children then recorded the length of a pencil and scissor using jelly beans.  At the end of our lesson we sorted jelly beans by color to find out there were the most red jelly beans in our jar.  During our Afternoon Art the children made little elves which you can see on our classroom bulletin board.

This Week:

We will not be starting a new letter or number this week.  We will be having plenty of holiday fun making jingle bell bracelets, Christmas cards, a special ornament, a reindeer headband and decorating cookies.

On Wednesday, the children will be having a special snack at 10:30.  We will then being singing a few short songs at 11 AM in Ms. Jamie's room with the 3's class.

Just a reminder, we are closed this Thursday and Friday.  We will reopen January 3, 2012.

Friday fun!

Today we made edible Igloos!
We also made reindeer books!

12/5-12/9

This Week:

This week the children will be learning all about letter Ii with our friend Isabella Inchworm.  We will be discussing measurement this week and we will be measuring using inches.  A great way to enhance this at home would be to use paperclips that are an inch long to measure things at home.  We will also be talking about Iguanas and Insects.  We will be introducing number 6 on Wednesday.  On Friday, we will be making an edible Igloo out of mini marshmallows and vanilla icing.  If you would like to donate either of these items please let me know by Wednesday. During the week, we will also be discussing winter holidays and we will be practicing our holiday songs.

* Please remember to check out our class pictures on the left side of this blog.  I recently posted a few pictures from the Breakfast with Santa.

*  Dec. 21st - Holiday Party 11AM- 11:30AM  LAST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR THE HOLIDAY

So far this week we have learned about letter Hh with Henrietta Hippo and number 5.  Today we prepared for the first day of December (tomorrow) by making a Christmas Countdown.  You can read the poem on the star with your child and tear off or cut a link in the chain each day until you reach the star (Christmas Day).

I would just like to remind everyone that this Friday 12/2 is our Hat Day for letter Hh.  Please send your child to school wearing a hat.  The hat could be of their favorite sports team, silly hats, winter hat, anything your child likes. :)

We are thankful for...

Please check out our video we made for our families!

Each one of us said what we are thankful for before we went to our Thanksgiving Feast!

You can click "our video" above or click on this link to view the video:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26911668@N03/6383972569/

11/21-Thanksgiving Feast!

Today we had our Thanksgiving Feast with Ms. Jamie & Ms. Barbara's class!  Before the feast half of the children made Indian headbands while the other half made Pilgrim hats.  The children had a wonderful time singing silly turkey songs (I am in the process of finding out how to post videos).  Today we reviewed why Thanksgiving is an important day and how very thankful we are.  We also made a video of the children saying what or who they are most thankful for!  Hopefully I can share that with you soon!

Just a reminder, we are closed Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday this week.  When we return to school we will be learning letter Hh with our Hippo friends and we will focus on number five. 

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Last Week

Last weeks fun photos

Painting was so much fun! We loved playing Find the Feather  outside with a partner!

Weekly News 11/9

Last Week:

Last week we learned about letter Ff with Funny Fish.  The children read and sang the story Funny Fish on Monday to learn what the letter Ff looks like and the sound that it makes in words like fast, fireman, fox,  and fun. During Afternoon Art, the children made fish puppets.   On Wednesday, we really focused on how to write the letter Ff.  We also learned a few more letter Ff words while reading our small book, " Looking for Letter Ff".  We really enjoyed making our two art projects for the Artware for You fundraiser.  Each student made a handprint flower painting as well as there own watercolor paintings.  Each student also was able to share a little bit about their family while they shared their homework.

This Week:

We will be learning all about letter Gg with our silly friend Gus the Goat.  Gus the Goat is a goofy garbage man who likes to eat all of the garbage that starts with letter Gg! On Monday we will be discussing Thanksgiving and what it means to be thankful.  We will be learning a "Let's be Thankful" song.  During Art they will make a goat puppet and will make a colorful shape turkey.  On Wednesday, we will introduce the number four and we will learn how to spell the word and write it. We will be learning about the first Thanksgiving and we will focus on the similarities and differences  between the pilgrims and the indians.  On Friday, we will review both Gg and number 4.  We will begin to get ready for our very own Thanksgiving Feast, which is on Monday 11/21. 

Weekly News 11/4

This Week:

This week we reviewed letters A-E.  We focused on the sounds each letter makes and we did a few games to increase recognition of both the uppercase and lowercase letters.  On Wednesday, we also had some fun painting mini white pumpkins! Today we had so much fun singing our Halloween songs, playing Boo Bingo!, and dancing to Halloween party music.  We also loved our Halloween Party and Parade!  Thank you to all the families that donated our food and for all who participated during the Parade!

Next Week:

We will be closed on Tuesday,Thursday, & Friday next week.  We will be starting letter Ff on Monday with Funny Fish.  We will also start to discuss Thanksgiving and what it means to be thankful.  Next weeks homework will be the letter Ff tracing page and the letter Ff page in the ABC Journal.  Both are to be completed and returned on Wednesday.

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Last Week:

Last week learned all about letter Dd.  We read and sang "Daisy Doll" and learned how to write letter Dd with Mr. Pencil.  On Monday, we made Daisy Doll puppets for letter Dd in Art.  During Science we talked about signs of Fall.  We read " We're Going on a Leaf Hunt".  On Wednesday, we learned about number two.  We read the book, "TWO" and learn that the words twins, doubles, and pairs mean two. During science we made a leaf wreath and learned a leaf song "Leaves, Leaves Falling Down". In Art, we used Do-A -Dot Dabbers to make dot art.  On Friday, we reviewed letter Dd and number two. We had so much fun collecting leaves outside to make our beautiul leaf rubbings!

This week:

We are working on letter Ee with Elmo the Elephant! This week we are learning what the words excited and enjoy mean.  We will learn about number three on Wednesday and Thursday.  During the week will will also be reading many Halloween books like "Trick or Treat", " Go Away Big Green Monster", and " The Night Before Halloween".  On Friday, we will also make our Halloween trick or treating bags for our parade on Monday.

Weekly News 10/14

Last Week:

Last week, we reviewed letters Aa, Bb, & Cc.  During the week we read books about fire safety.  We learned what we should do in case of an emergency.  We learned how to use different phones(cell, cordless, etc..) to dial 9-1-1.  We all took turns practicing how to Stop-Drop & Roll.  On Thursday, we were able to meet real firefighters and step through a real fire truck.  After the firefighters left, a few of us went to Dipiero's Farm.  We enjoyed a nice hayride, picked pumpkins, and tried apple cider and apple cider doughnuts!  On Friday, we had a lot of fun singing Halloween songs and making tissue paper pumpkin sun catchers.

This Week:

We will learn all about letter Dd with Daisy Doll.  We will learn about number two.  We will also learn about leaves and fall during Science.  This week the children will use Do-A- Dot Dabbers during Art to make beautiful pictures.  This weeks homework is the letter Dd page in ABC Journal, Dd tracer page & number 2 page.

Weekly News- 10/7

This week:

We had a wonderful week learning about letter Cc with Cathy Cook.  In Science, we learned about clouds and how they form.  We also conducted cloud observations for three days.  Each day we went outside looked at the clouds and drew them with chalk.  We had a lot of fun making black cats and candy corn creatures during art this week too.

Next week:

We will be closed on Monday, October 10th.  With the short week, we will be reviewing letters A,B, & C.  We continue to discuss our monthly themes.  On Thursday, we will have a visit from the local firefighters to speak to the children about fire safety and we will also be meeting at the farm at 11:30 to go on a hayride and pick pumpkins.  If your child attends school on Thursday, please arrange to pick them up by 11 am.

Weekly News 9/30

This Week:

We had so much fun learning about letter Bb with our friend Benjamin Bunny.  We learned how to write letter Bb, the sound it makes, and many words that start with Bb.  We learned about bears, bunny rabbits, and birds.  The children enjoyed participating in making blueberry muffins for our Back to School Night.  On Friday, the children loved making blue bubble bottles by mixing water, soap,  and blue glitter.  We also used buttons to make letter Bb's at the end of the day.

I am excited to say that our homework journals are here!  Please send in a sturdy folder that your child will use to transport homework and classwork to and from school. Rest time blankets were sent home.  Please wash them and send them back in to school on Monday.

Next week:

We are excited to begin October and talk about Halloween and our costumes.  I can't wait to hear what everyone will be this Halloween!  We will be learning about letter Cc with Cathy Cook.  The children will be making spooky black cats, candy corn characters, and Halloween sun catchers.  In Science, we will doing a celery stalk experiment and we will be learning about clouds.

Weekly News 9/23

This Week

This week we introduced our first letter of the alphabet.  We had a lot of fun reading and singing about all different things that begin with “Aa”.  We learned that the letter “Aa” can make two sounds and we learned how to write it in uppercase and lowercase.  In the beginning of the week, we made Apple Annie puppets during Art Time and used our senses to describe real apples during Science.  We also learned about each part of an apple, the apple lifecycle, and we even had an apple tasting at the end of the week.  Our class favorite apple was the Granny Smith apple.

Next Week

Next week we will be learning about letter “Bb” with our friend Benjamin Bunny.  We will continue to discuss fall and the changing of the seasons.  On Wednesday, we will be baking a special treat for you to enjoy at Back to School Night, which begins at 7PM.  Please try to have at least one parent attend this meeting.  I do understand that it may be hard to find childcare so please see me or let me know if you will not be able to attend so I can provide you with all of the information I will be discussing.

Reminders

·         Back to School Night- Wednesday, September 28^th at 7PM.

·         Please return homework to school by Friday.

·         If your child receives the Show and Tell Backpack, please return it to school by Friday morning.

Weekly News- 9/19 -Colors

This Week:

This week we had so much fun learning about colors and color mixing.  We read many books like       "A Color of His Own" by Leo Lionni and "Mouse Paint" by Ellen Stoll Walsh.  The children enjoyed listening to " A Color of His Own" pointing out all the different colors the chameleon turned as well as discussing friendship at the end of the story.  We then had a great day working and playing with our very own chameleon color buddies in the classroom and outside during our color buddy relay races.  "Mouse Paint" was a book about three white mice who jumped into three different paint jars (red, yellow, and blue). through the story these mice then jumped into other paint puddles learning that when you mix two colors together you can make another completely different color.

During the week enjoyed doing different experiments on color mixing during our Science time.  Our first experiment was with three water bottles one with red food coloring, one with blue, and one with yellow. The children were able to predict  what might happen when certain colors were mixed then they were able to mix their own colors. Our second experiment was called color exploding milk (check out the pictures on the left to see what we did!)  The third experiment was called Jello color mixing.  Each child choose two colors of jello to mix in the plastic bag, they closed the bag and mixed the jello from outside the bag, saw their new color they made and then ate it! They all loved this!

We also had a wonderful time using watercolor paint while listening to classical music just the same way that Leo Lionni did when making the book, "  A Color of His Own".

Next Week:

Next week we will start learning about our alphabet with our friends from the Frog Street Press Curriculum.  The children will be introduced to the letter Aa with the help of Apple Annie.  They will learn how to write the letter A in uppercase and in lowercase.  They will learn about the two different sounds the letter A can make.  Through the story of "Apple Annie" the boys and girls will learn many words that start with letter Aa.  During this week and the next week we will also learn all about apples.

The boys and girls will learn about the parts of an apple, they will conduct an apple tasting, and learn about Johnny Appleseed. Please talk to me if you would like to donate some apples to your child's class for the apple tasting that will be on Wednesday.

Reminders:

Please remember to wash and return your child's blanket to school on Monday.  I will be sending their blankets home every other Friday so please check their backpacks.

Our Parent Back to School Night is on Wednesday, September 28th.

Check your child's white mailbox in the hallway for art work and for notices from Ms. Liz.

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND AND ENJOY THE NICE WEATHER!  SEE YOU ON MONDAY!

Sincerely,
Ms. Kristy

First Day of School

We had a wonderful first day of Pre-k getting to know each other! We started the day by singing songs to learn about our friends.  We then had our first circle time with Alyssa as our first Leader of the Day!

We enjoyed reading "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" by Bill Martin Jr. & John Archambault.  We learned that there are 26 letters in the alphabet while we sang about each letter going up the coconut tree.  We then made our very own coconut trees and used special letters to make our names on our tree.

During Science we passed around a real coconut and used some of our senses to describe the coconut.  When we were finished we drew a picture of a coconut too.

Towards the end of the day we made name necklaces during Art.

What a great first day! See you all soon!