Weeks of Dec. 10-14 & 17-19

Weeks of Dec. 10-13 & 17-19

Theme: Winter & Holidays

Show and Share: Dec. 14 Letter G

Dec. 19 Letter S

Last week was full of exciting activities. Our 50th day of school celebration included many fun and exciting activities including: root beer floats, a sock hop, putting 50 items on a large number 50 and counting a variety of 50 objects. Everyone looked so great in their 50's attire. 

We also had our Hibernation Celebration. The children had fun all week talking about hibernation, making their cave/den and the most fun of all wearing pajamas to school. On Thursday we played with our bears, had a Teddy Bear picnic while we watched a brief movie about hibernation and winter and then put our bears to sleep for their long winter nap. While the children were watching the movie St. Nicholas visited and left little surprises in everyone's shoes. 

Next week we will continue our discussion of winter and move into the holidays. We have several snowman crafts planned. The children will completing projects  that they will bring home as holiday gifts. We will also be working on making "snow" play-doh malls that match a certain number. On Thursday, December 13th we will have our holiday celebration, the a.m. class will have their party from 10:00-11:00 and the p.m class will have their party from 1:30-2:30. Parents you are welcome to attend the party and join in on the fun. If you will be attending the party and then will be taking your child home after the party please notify the bus drivers because some buses have few students on them and therefore would not need to make a preschool run to pick up the children at Hilton if they will be going home with a parent. 

The week of Dec. 17-19 is our last week of school before winter break. We are going to be doing an activity with our Third Grade Buddies and a Pete the Cat story on December 17th. On December 18th we are going to have a Christmas around the world celebration with the other preschool classrooms so the children will have the opportunity to visit other preschool classrooms and learn how different countries and cultures celebrate the holiday season. On Wednesday, Dec. 19th it will be Polar Express day. We will be participating in several Polar Express themed activities as well as watching some of the movie. Please make sure to wear pajamas to school on Dec. 19th, everyone who rides the Polar Express is wearing their pajamas.

School will resume on Wednesday, January 2nd. Please have a happy and safe holiday season.

Week of December 3-6

Week of December 3-6

Themes: Hibernation/Winter

Letter: Q

Last week was full of excitement with the Gingerbread Man running away. I want to thank everyone for sending in letters and those who had relatives or family that sent in letters that allowed us to track the Gingerbread Man on the map as well as learn of his many adventures across the country and the world. For those of you haven't heard the Gingerbread Man visited: Ohio, Minnesota, Michigan, Alabama, North Carolina, California, Korea and he finally ended his journey in the North Pole where he is helping Santa's elves make toys for Christmas. He has promised to return to preschool this school year to visit the children, so don't be surprised if you hear about him later in the school year. 

Next week is going to be a busy week filled with a variety of activities. Tuesday, Dec. 3rd marks the 50th day of preschool, so to celebrate we have created a variety of activities that we participate in with the other preschool classrooms. On that day we will be wearing 50's attire so if you have something at home such as rolled up jeans, white T-shirts, etc. please feel free to wear it that day but please do not go out and purchase something special to wear. We are going to have a sock hop, drink root beer floats, count 50 of a variety of items and make bundles of 50. 

This week we will also be discussing winter and hibernation. We will have "snow" in the sensory table so make sure to ask how it felt and looked. We will be making den's for our very special bears to sleep in over the long, cold winter. For this activity please have your child bring in a brown paper bag or shoe box that will fit a bear or stuffed animal they have at home, we will need that brought in on Monday. We will use these supplies to make the den and then on Thursday please have your child bring in their bear that they will put to sleep for the winter. Your child will then bring home their bear and den on Thursday. We will celebrate this long winter sleep by having a pajama day at school so your child can wear or bring their pajamas and slippers to school that day.

We will also begin discussing how different cultures and country celebrate the holidays. We will start at our Hibernation Celebration with St. Nicholas Day. While the children are wearing their pajamas at school we will place their shoes outside by their lockers where they will receive a gift that will be placed in their shoe from an unexpected visitor, St. Nicholas. We will continue this discussion with a variety of learning activities throughout the next two weeks. 

Again I would like to thank everyone for their help and participation in our Thanksgiving Day Feast. I am including some photos of the Feast.

  I am thankful for such caring, supportive parents and such wonderful children to teach. Thank you for all you do to support your children in their growth and development.

Week of November 26-29

Week of November 26-29

 The Gingerbread Man

Letter: O

Show and Share: November 29 Letter O

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving Break and enjoyed time with their families. I would like to thank everyone for their contributions to our Thanksgiving feast and for participating with your children in our feast. I think a good time was had by all.

This week we will be doing a variety of activities centered around the story of The Gingerbread Man.  We will read the original story of The Gingerbread Man as well as a newer version called The Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett. We will retell/re-enact The Gingerbread Baby using props and everyone will get a turn to be a character in the story. We are also going to measure using a gingerbread person as our form of measurement, we will measure how tall we are in gingerbread person measurement and compare it to traditional measurement. We will decorate a gingerbread house with fruit loops and then use the fruit loops to do a sorting and graphing activity. We are going to create and decorate our own gingerbread person.

During the week we will play two learning gingerbread games. One is a version of musical chairs in which the children match their gingerbread color to one that is placed on a chair, in this version everyone remains in as they change and match new colors. We will also play Gingerbread BINGO, matching letters that we have learned so far in the school year as a review. We are going to be making a class book entitled "If I Was Made of Gingerbread.." and then the children will choose what they would be and how they would look. When this book is completed look for it to come home with your child when it is their turn.

This week we will be reading the letters we received about the gingerbread man and where he has been spotted. We will be using map skills to find the different locations the letters have come from. Thank you to everyone to sent in letters, wrote letters or had family and friends send in letters. I think this activity will be intriguing for the children and very exciting when we finally find the Gingerbread Man on Thursday. 

On Tuesday the children will be attending a holiday concert that will be performed by the children in older grades.

Our letter this week is letter O so each class will be making their own variation of an owl.

We will be adding two new friends to our morning class, one will start this week and one will start next week. These new friends' names are Myrrah and Maddie, we are excited to welcome them to our class. One of our friends in the a.m. class will be leaving us shortly, Austin and his family are moving to a new house and will no longer be attending our school system. We are sad to see him go but wish him and his family good luck in their new home.    

Week of November 12-15 & November 19, 20

Weeks of November 12-15 & November 19, 20

Theme: My 5 Senses (hearing, seeing, touch)

November 15th Show and Share Letter C

No new letter the week of November 19 & 20.

This week we started exploring the five senses beginning with the sense of taste and smell. We played a smelling game in which the children took turns smelling a variety of items and then looking at pictures to determine the smell. We also read a cute story called "Little Pea," in the story Little Pea has to eat five helpings of his dinner (candy) before he can have dessert which is spinach, a little twist on the traditional theme. The children then had the opportunity to try at least one bite of 8 different foods and then chart whether they liked each food item or they did not like it. I was very proud of the children for at least trying somethings that they thought they may not like. After the tasting activity they were allowed to choose more of those foods for snack or we had alternate snack choices for them.

The a.m. class had the opportunity to attend a school wide assembly that featured an author/illustrator. He demonstrated to the children and allowed them to participate in making animals from numbers and letters. The p.m. class had the opportunity to get together with their Third Grade Buddies in the computer lab and try some preschool games on the computer. In physical education this week the children practiced catching using scarves. They tried a variety of techniques and enjoyed all of them.

This coming week we will be talking about Thanksgiving and the sense of hearing, seeing and touch. We are going to be playing a Listening Lotto game in which the children listen to the sounds and search their card to determine if they have the picture of the items that makes the sound. We are also going to be working on shape patterning which is more practice with patterning. We are going to be making a sensory craft that includes mixing shaving cream and glue to make a cloud and then identifying what they think their cloud looks like, this is to go along with our story "It Looked Like Spilt Milk." Some other stories we are going to be reading are often already some of the children's favorite due to their repeated phrases, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?" and "Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You Hear?" 

To go along with our Letter of the Week letter see we are going to be making a cookie and a caterpillar craft.

I want to thank my two parent readers this week: Lindsey Hatherill and Diane Havranek. The kids loved having you come in and read to them on the carpet. Next week our parent readers will be Shannon Long in the a.m. and Monica Polcen in the p.m.

On November 19th we are going to be having a preschool feast. The room parents are in charge or contacting you regarding supplies that will be needed for that day. The children will be making dessert to share. All parents are invited to attend the feast, the children will be making formal invitation this week to bring home but so that you can place it on your calendar I wanted to let you know that it will be Monday, November 19th at 10:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

We do not have school November 21 and 22nd for Thanksgiving Break.

Week of November 5-8, 2012

Week of November 5-8, 2012

Theme: 5 Senses (smell & taste)

Letter: U

 

The Halloween party was fun for the children and successful. We were able to go trick or treating throughout the school building and paraded through several classrooms so that the other grade levels could see the children's costumes. We played a pumpkin beanbag toss game, played a decorate the pumpkin game on the IPad and played Halloween darts. We made a Frankenstein as well as a spider in a spiderweb. We also had the opportunity to carve pumpking. We used a string to measure how round our pumpkins were and then used a yard stick to find out how long our string was. We also estimated the number of seeds that would be inside the pumpkin. The a.m. class had 374 seeds in their pumpkin and the p.m. class had 278 seeds, most of the student guesses were in the 20's, they were amazed when we counted them how many there really were. The a.m. class seemed more adventurous as far as putting their hands inside of the pumpkin the children in the p.m. class were not very excited about how the inside of the pumpkin felt so I had fewer volunteers in that class.

Next week we will begin exploring the 5 senses. We will start with the senses of smell and taste. We are going to read a story called, "Little Pea." In the story Little Pea has to eat his five helping of candy before he can eat his dessert, fruits and vegetables. We will follow the story by exploring the tastes of different fruits and vegetables and charting which ones we liked and which ones we didn't like. We will also be playing a game for the sense of smell. We will have six different smells for the children to smell and they will have to identify the smell from the pictures that are given. 

Next week's letter is the letter U so we are going to explore the concept of under. We are going to go for a U hunt and look for the letter u's that are hidden under things in the classroom. You can play this game at home hiding different objects under things and then having your child find them and identify what they are. We are also going to be talking about animals that hibernate underground and we will make a craft with pictures of animals that live underground.

On Monday we are having an Author Assembly at school in the a.m. so we are going to attend this event with our Third Grade Buddies. In the p.m. we are going to the computer lab with our Third Grade Buddies to play some preschool games. This Wednesday is our first Parent Reader day. If you did not get a November calendar with a scheduled day on it and you volunteered to come in and read don't worry I will be adding you to the next month's calendar.

Just a reminder that school starts at 8:30 and 12:00. It is important that your child arrive on time because we start classroom activities promptly, and this can be very unsettling for your child to arrive in the middle of an activity. If there is a day or time you will be picking your child up from school and they typically ride the bus please be sure to send in a note with your child or send an email. If we do not have the note or email we will assume that they are going home on the bus. I hope everyone who lost power during the storm will have it restored soon so that you may resume your daily routines.

Week of October 29-November 1

Week of October 29-November 1

Theme: Halloween

Color: Black

Letter: I

This week we finished up community helpers. Officer John came and visited the a.m. and p.m. classes. He read a story to each class and showed them some of the equipment he uses for his job such as his handcuffs, radio, flashlight and light stick. The children were very attentive to him while he was talking to them. On Monday the Brecksville Fire Department visited preschool. They showed the preschoolers some of their equipment as well as let them climb inside the firetruck to see what it looks like inside. The weather was great and everyone enjoyed this experience.

 





This week we will be celebrating Halloween and all things Fall.  We will be working on hand strength using large tongs to pick up Halloween eraser and placing them into small pumpkin pots. We will also be playing several Halloween games requiring the students to practice patterning and matching like objects. The students will be working on tracing lines and cutting straight and curved lines to follow a vine in the pumpkin patch. They will also be using string to paint a spider web and then will use their fingers to make the legs on their spider who will be in the spider web. The students will also be sorting Halloween shapes. We will follow directions to make a green Frankenstein monster .

We are going to read the story "The Chocolate Chip Ghost," and then we are going to make our own class book of "The Chocolate Chip Ghost." We are also going to read several other Halloween stories that the children will get to choose. We are also going to play a pumpkin beanbag toss game as well as practicing a pincer grasp to play a magnetic Halloween dart game.

On Monday we will be carving a pumpkin at school. We are going to measure how round our pumpkin is, we are going to weigh out pumpkin and we are going to estimate  how many seeds out pumpkin might have in it. Since the children will be participating in this even it may be a good idea to send them in clothes that you don't mind getting dirty or goopy.

On Wednesday, October 31 we are going to have our Halloween Party at school. This party is for the children only although parents will be invited to other events throughout the school year. Please send your children in their costume or send their costume with them to school that day. On that day we will do several fun activities including a parade around the school and up to the Board of Education Office (weather permitting). It is a fun filled exciting day for everyone.

If you are planning on placing a Scholastic order please remember that they are due by November 1st.
November 1st please have your child wear something Black to school.
November 1st Show and Share is something that starts with the letter I.

Week of October 22-25, 2012

Week of October 22-25

Theme: Community Helpers & Fall

Color: Brown, Wear Brown on Thursday

Letter: T

October 25 Show and Share: Something that begins with letter T

Last week we began our theme of Community Helpers and Fall. We had the opportunity to explore some fall items in the sensory table. There were large leaves of different colors and acorns, the children could use magnifying glasses to examine these objects. There was a post office set up in the classroom so the children had the opportunity to use coins to purchase paper, stickers and envelopes in order to make some mail. Some of the children brought their mail home and some of them mailed their envelopes in the mailbox at school. We played Firetruck Bingo to match letters them painted our Firetruck red when we found the matching letter. We played a community helper magnetic tool matching game and Community Helper Bingo. The children also played a Picnic Basket Game to practice manners and completed an acorn craft. Everyone made a Hot Dog for our letter of the week H. The morning class got a visit from the Brecksville Library and did a pumpkin craft with their Third Grade Buddies.

       

  

      

     This week we will continue to talk about community helpers. On Tuesday Brecksville firefighters and the fire truck are coming to visit us at preschool. They will show us some of the equipment the firefighters use as well as giving the opportunity to see the fire truck. We are going to practice positional words such as next to, above, below using a community map and locations in the community.  We will also make a mouth as we talk about dentists. We are also going to play a police officer game that will have the children match license plate letters to garages. The children are going to practice completing patterns using leaves. and will make a leaf person using real leaves. Please take the opportunity to explore some outside fall items this weekend and have your child bring in 4-5 leaves that we can use to make leaf people and to do leaf rubbings. We are going to practice some fine motor skills and work on hand strengthening by playing a squirrel game where the children pick up acorns using tongs and matching acorn color to the appropriate spot in their tree log. Some stories we are going to read include: "Leaf Man, " and "Pumpkin, Pumpkin."
     This week we have a new friend starting in the morning class, his name is Aarav. We would like to welcome Aarav to our class.

     This week I resent invitations to those parents who had not accepted the previous invitation that was sent for LifeCubby. I will update cubbies this week with new pictures from our activities.

Upcoming Dates:  

   Our Halloween Party will be on October 31st. This party is just for the children. Please have your child bring or wear their costume to school that day.  Please choose costumes that are kid friendly and not too scarey. Please leave any weapons that go with costumes at home for that day, they are not permitted in school.

  Preschool picture retake day is November 13.

  Hilton Family Reading Night is November 16.

Have a great weekend.

Week of October 15-18

Week of October 15-18

Themes: Community Helpers & Fall

Color: Purple

Letter: H
Show and Share: Oct. 18 something that starts with letter H also wear purple.

 

Last week was a great week. We did several activities with apples. We sorted apples by color and made an apple "pie" graph showing our favorite apples. In the a.m. class is was even between green and red apples in the p.m. class the red apple pie piece was larger. We also did a group activity about what apples have, are and make. At the end of the week we made applesauce together. The rule in preschool is that everyone has to try three bites of something new before they are allowed to say they don't like it.  I am happy to say that everyone tried the homemade applesauce, not everyone liked it but atleast everyone tried it. We also did several activities for Fire Safety week like making a firetruck. Last week the p.m. class got the opportunity to participate in a learning activity with their Third Grade Buddies. Every child had a Third Grade Buddy and they played a number/counting game in order to color in an apple basket.

 

This week we are going to continue to talk about characteristics of fall. We are going to make an acorn craft. We are also going to be talking about community helpers such as firefighters, police officers, doctors, dentist, librarians, veterinarians, etc. We are going to play a community helper matching game matching the appropriate tools to the community helper. We will also make a doctor kit craft. This week the a.m. class will get the opportunity to do a learning activity with their Third Grade Buddy. They will also get a visit from Brecksville library, one of our community helpers that we will be talking about. With the fall weather here,please take some time to go outdoors and make some observations about the weather and how things are changing.

 

I have several parents contact me to participate in thee reading activity I described last week. I am still looking for some volunteers in the morning class, so if anyone is able to come be a guest reader for 20 minutes on a Wednesday please let me know so that I can add you to the schedule I am developing.

 

I have also heard from several parents that they have had difficulty accessing their child's cubby on LifeCubby. I am going resend invitations and hopefully this will help anyone that is having difficulty logging into their child's cubby. I have let them know of the difficulty we have had but please feel free to use the "contact us" link at the bottom of the page and send them an email describing the problem. They will respond to you quickly and hopefully will be able to resolve the issue, at this point I am only able to resend invitations to help with the problem. I want to thank everyone for hanging in during this process, since this is the first time this program is being used in the preschool it will take all of our cooperation to work out any bugs. Please contact me with any suggestions you may have so that I can make this process more smooth for everyone. 



October 8-11, 2012

Week of October 8-11

Themes: Fall and Fire Safety

Color: Orange

Letter: E

Last week we focused on communities and beginning to talk about fall. We made a community on our train table which included making houses without addresses on them and reading environmental print. We used signs that children would see out in the community such as restaurant and store names, the children cut them out and them put them on block buildings in the community. They were then able to use cars to drive around the community to different locations. We talked about using maps to help us get places and used a map key to find a dog that was lost in our story "On Our Street." The children used apple cut outs to make apple prints, if you look closely you can see the star they make in the middle of the print.  We also did some sorting and comparing of Flowers (our letter of the week.) We also reinforced our color of the week which was red.

Next week we will continue to talk about Fall and Fire safety. Fall has so many things to discuss and explore that we will be incorporating a variety of fall activities over the next several weeks. Next week is also Fire Safety week so we will be talking about fire safety as well. Show and Share on Thursday is something that starts with the letter E. Wear the color orange on Thursday.

Next week we are going to be doing a fine motor task of stringing beads to make an apple necklace and we wil be making a tissue paper apple cut out. We will also be using the apple counting box and making an apple tree book to practice counting. We will also be fingerpainting and combining the colors red and yellow to make our color of the week orange. We will use this fingerpainting as the backdrop to our firetruck which we will practice some cutting skills to make as well as following directions to put the firetruck together. We are going to be tasting red,  yellow and green apples to determine our favorite and then we will use that information to make an apple "pie" graph looking for the biggest slice. To help facilitate the apple tasting activity please have your child bring in one of their favorite types of apples on Monday. We will also use these apples on Friday to cut up and make homemade applesauce. The children will help me write a recipe for the applesauce we make.

The Brecksville Library is coming to visit school. They will visit the p.m. class on Wednesday and they will visit the a.m. class next week on Thursday, October 18. This year we will also have the wonderful opportunity to collaborate with Mrs. Haluch's third grade class. We had this opportunity last year and the preschoolers and third graders were able to learn from each other and were excited when they would see each other throughout the school building. On Monday Oct. 8 the p.m. class will be doing a counting math game to make an apple basket and on Tuesday Oct. 17 the a.m. class will have the opportunity to play a direction following game to build a jack o' lantern.

Research has shown that reading to children helps them gain better language and literacy skills from an early age. In an effort to facilitate this for our preschoolers I would like to offer parent volunteers the opportunity to come in once a week to read with the children. I would need approximately one parent a week to come into school on Wednesdays 8:30-8:50 and 12:00-12:20. This is an easy way to be part of your child's preschool day while providing all of the children with the opportunity to have someone, other than their teacher and own parent, the experience of having someone else read to them. It is really simple all we need is for you to come in to provide a warm lap for them to sit on while you read to one child at a time a book that they choose. The teachers will be there with you as well reading to other children. If this is something you would be interested in doing please send in a note or send me an email letting me know so that I can develop a schedule starting Wednesday, October, 24, 2012. If you have certain dates that work better for you in your schedule please let me know that so that I can try to accommodate that. I would like to thank everyone in advance for being a part of our class and coming to read with the children.

Just a few quick reminders for the good of the order:

Halloween party on October 31st. Children can wear or bring their costumes to school that day. Please try to avoid scary costumes and any costumes that have any types weapons that go with them, the weapons need to stay at home. That party will be for the children only, we will play games and go trick or treating. For some children new and unfamiliar adults can be overwhelming during a new situation like a party so this party will just be for the children, however, there will be other opportunities throughout the school year for parents to come in and participate.

Pick up and drop off. Please make sure during pick up and drop off to stay in your car in line so that we can bring the children out to your car. It would be helpful if your child's car seat was placed behind the passenger seat so that we are better able to get them in and out of the car efficiently. If you are going to get out of your car please make sure you park in a parking spot so as not to disrupt the flow of traffic. Also with the amount of car and bus traffic during this time we really need everyone to be cautious, watch out for others and drive slowly for every one's safety.

Lastly everyone should have their InfoSnap information, it either was given to you at parent orientation or came home last week in your child's folder. The district needs everyone to go online and fill out this information promptly, so if you have not done so already please do that this weekend.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and enjoy the great fall weather and colors.

Hello Neighbor

Last week was a fun, family celebration week. The children brought their family trees to school and we used them for several activities. We used them to graph the number of brothers and sisters we had total in the classroom, there are more sisters than brothers. We used the family trees to make a book page that says the number of boys and girls that live in our houses. We also completed several projects that will be ongoing throughout the year and will be a surprise for parents some time this school year. We learned about letter "L," the sound it makes and what words start with that sound. We were able to make a letter L list from these words that the children came up with, doing our Show and Share helps with this weekly activity. The morning class had a great day celebrating Clifford's birthday with him and they even got to meet the author on the live webcast.

Next week we will be talking about our community and neighbors. We are going to make a large map in the classroom on the train table and we will be coloring our houses to place on the map. Using environmental print that children see out in the community we are going to cut out several of these signs and place them on blocks so they can help build a community on our large map. We are going to read a story entitled "On Our Street," in this story a dog gets lost and the children are looking for the dog. The children are able to use a map to see where the dog has been and then locate him. We will use several types of maps and map keys to find animals and locations on a map. Using our large community map we are going to play a game with the dog from the story and using location words try to find where the dog is hiding.
Next week's letter is the letter F. We are going to do a Frog on a Log counting activity, some fine motor finger strengthening with the hip hop frogs and counting frogs. Don't forget Thursday is Show and Share bring in something that starts with the letter F. This weeks color is red so make sure you wear Red on Thursday.
We will have several new friends joining our a.m. and p.m. classes soon. In the morning class we will have two new friends: Aarav and Austin and in the p.m. class we will have one new friend Aidan. We would like to welcome our new friends to our class.
On September 30 the online portfolio that I use for the class, Lifecubby, updated and "improved" its software. In the process of doing this several of the editing features were not restored and some pictures that were originally rotated into the proper position were switched back to a sideways angle. I have been in contact with them regarding this and they have advised me to wait until the end of this week before adding any additional entries to cubbies in order for all of the bugs to be worked out, so because of that although I have entries to make I am holding off until all of the glitches have been worked out.  
One last reminder if you are placing a Scholastic order I will need your order by October 4th. Please make sure when you are filling out orders that you are sending in to school (not online) that you carefully review your order and totals.

Week of September 24-27

Weekly Theme: Meet My Family

Color: Green

Letter: L-Show and Share-An item that starts with the letter L

Last week we had the opportunity to talk about our classroom and to develop a set of classroom rules. The children did an activity in which they chose pictures and decided if the people in the picture were making good choices or bad choices. After sorting the pictures we used the good choice pictures to develop classroom rules. The rules that we developed include:

1. Be a listener.

2. Use a quiet inside voice.

3. Use gentle hands.

4. Keep hands to self.

5. Use walking feet inside.

6. Wait your turn.

Hopefully this activity will give the children ownership of the rules and will be make it easier to remind them.

We made a yellow sunshine for yellow week and the children made a picture of themselves from a small cardboard cutout. The sunshines are hanging in our window in the classroom and we are going to use the cutouts on another wall in the classroom to create a circle of friends.

Next week we will be talking about our family. On Thursday I sent home a family tree, please fill this out and return it ASAP we will be using the information for some sorting activities and to create a classsroom counting book.

On Monday the a.m. class will be celebrating Clifford's birthday. Scholastic is broadcasting a celebration of Clifford's 50th birthday party at 10:00 so the a.m. classes are participating in it and making Clifford dog ears to wear to the party. This broadcast is only at 10:00 so unfortunately the p.m. class will not be able to participate it this activity. There will be other opportunities for the p.m. class to participate in a variety of activities.

We will be using Legos for letter L to replicate designs, make patterns and paint prints. We will also be making Lid Ladybugs.

We are going to be reading the story "The Napping House" and we will do several activities such as sequencing the events of the story. On Thursday please have your child bring their Letter L Show and Share item and because it is green week please have them wear the color green on Thursday.

Last week I entered journal entries into everyone's cubby on Life Cubby. You should have received an invitation to join so that you can view your child's cubby. If you did not receive one please let me know so that I am able to go back and send one to you. I will be updating cubbies with more pictures soon.

Week of September 17-20 Our Happy Classroom

Last week was a great week at school. We talked about and practiced identifying emotions. We labeled feelings and identified reasons why someone may display those emotions. We did some role playing with a variety of peer interactions identifying the feelings and what the appropriate response may be to positive and negative peer situations. The children made a school or a bus and placed pictures of their friends on it. The children were able to bring this home so that they could share their new school friends with their family. This week we will be talking about our classroom and working together. The children will participate in developing classroom rules. Identifying rules that we need to have to keep everyone safe at school such as: use an inside voice, use walking feet, and keep hands and feet to selves. We are going to read "Pirates at School."
Next week will be yellow week and we are going to make a yellow sun. On Thursday, September 20 please have your child wear some yellow to school.  We are going to read "Pete the Cat, Four Groovy Buttons." This story reinforces, repeated  phrases, colors and counting. We have read two other Pete the Cat stories at school. These books have some repeated phrases and a rhythm that the children enjoy. Visit Pete the Cat at: www.harpercollinschildrens.com/feature/petethecat/.
We will also be making figure of ourselves which when finished will be displayed in the classroom for a while. The children will bring them home when we are finished displaying them at school.
Thursday is Show and Share and this week your child need to bring a picture of their family.
I have entered journal entries into each child's cubby on LifeCubby.me. I have come across some editing problems during this process and have contacted the company to get those resolved, I hope this issue will be resolved quickly. When this issue is resolved I will begin sending LIfeCubby invitations so that you can begin accessing your child's eportfolio or "cubby." Currently some of the journal entries have been placed in the wrong cubbies and in order to maintain privacy I need to resolve that issue before sending invitations to view your child's cubby.
Classroom Reminders:
-Please return any forms you have not returned yet. If I do not have your permission slip to begin your child's eportfolio I will not be able to send you an invitation to access your child's cubby or begin entering entries into your child's cubby.
-Please remember to be prompt at pick up and drop off.  We begin getting children out of cars at 8:20 in the a.m. and 11:50 in the p.m. and due to safety concerns we have to close the doors at 8:30. in the a.m. and 12:00 p.m. If you arrive after these time you will need to go to the office and sign your child in. It is important to be on time because we begin classroom activities promptly and when your child arrives later it can make them feel a little disoriented because the day has started and they still have to complete the check in process. At the end of the day we begin taking the children to their cars at 10:50 and 2:20.
-The children have begun bringing home the classbook to share with you. Please take the opportunity to look at this with your child. If your child has not brought this home yet they will be soon.
 

Show and Share for September 13th will be to bring in a picture of a friend.  If you do not have a picture of one of your child's friends they can draw a picture of their friend. Please make sure you include the friend's name with the picture.

Week of Sept. 10-13 Friends and Feelings

We had a great first week of school. Everyone came to school happy and they are getting use to the classroom routine. We are all meeting new friends and getting to know our new friends. This week everyone completed a page for our book, "I Am Special." Each class made a book and every child will get the opportunity to bring the book home and share it with their family. Please take the time to sit down with your child and look at the book, talk about it and see some of their new friends at school. There is a paper at the back of each book that is for comments, please feel free to share any comments you have regarding the book or just sign your name. We will continue to make different books throughout the school year and everyone will get the opportunity to take the books home and share them.  When your child has a school book at home please be careful with them, all of the students take pride in their work and we want to be able to share them with everyone.

Next week our theme is Friends and Feelings. We are going to be making friendship bracelets placing a bead on our bracelet for each of our friends as well as practicing those fine motor skills When the children first arrive at school there are three tables set up with activities on them. These activities typically include a fine motor task, a learning task and a cooperative, problem solving task. The children are then given the opportunity to rotate to each of the activities. Some of the arrival activities may be repeated later in the week to provide additional practice with these skills.  We are also going to be completing our self portraits we started on Thursday last week. The morning class will be making a school bus that displays all of their friends at school, this is a great way for you and your child to learn and remember their new friends' names. The afternoon class will be making a school house with all of their friends in it. We will also be reading several stories about how to be a good friend and labeling our feelings.  We are going to problem solve some friend situations identifying how the situation might make us feel and how to solve the problem positively. At this young age children are just learning about friendships and how to navigate them, this is a way to help influence those positive relationships and positive problem solving skills. We are also going to be using photos we took in class to play a Friend Memory game.

Just a few reminders:

       If you have any additional paperwork please turn it in as soon as possible. Once I have all of the paperwork I can put together a class roster. The class roster will be sent home so that you can contact anyone from our class.

      Once I input everyone's email addresses and I have signed consent forms I will begin posting journal entries in everyone's "cubbies"(eportfolio). I have some photos from their first week of school that I will be able to start inputting.

      Thursday is our gym day so please make sure your child wears tennis shoes or shoes that are secure on their feet, not flipflops or slippery dress shoes. This week when we went to gym we practiced the three steps of throwing: step, point, throw. We practiced this by throwing a ball and knocking down the candles on the birthday cake (bowling pins on a box).
      Thursdays are also Show and Share, please check the calendar that was sent home at the parent orientation regarding what is for Show and Share.

 

Dear Parents,

The children have been working hard to make a class book at school.  They would like to share the book with their families, so each child will have the opportunity to take each book home for one night.  While the book is at home please take the opportunity to read and discuss the book with your child, they are so proud of their work.  Please also take very good care of our book so that the next child will have the opportunity to share it with their family. After you read the book please sign the back page and return it the next day.

We hope you enjoy our literature.

Mrs. Shields and Class

All About Me September 4-6

     I am so excited to be starting school and to have the children in the classroom. This week we will get acquainted with the classroom, the rules and the routine. Our theme for the week is All About Me, so we will do some activities to learn more about all of our new friends. We are going to make a thumbprint bus on Tuesday and make a page for a classbook. Our class book will be called "I am Special" and everyone will make a page to include in this book. When the book is complete everyone will get the opportunity to take it home for the night and share pictures of their new school friends. On Friday we are going to paint and then use this painting next week to make their face. 
       We are going to make two graphs this week comparing heights and eye color in the class. Graphs are a great way to introduce children to the concepts of bigger, smaller, more, less and the same.
Our stories this week include, "Spot Goees to School," "Pete the Cat Rocking in my School Shoes," and "I Like Myself."
Reminders:

• We will have gym on Thursday so please have your child wear tennis shoes that day. 
• If you have not turned in your paper work from Parent Orientation please return that as soon as possible. When I receive everyone's permission regarding photos, roster and the eportfolio I will be able to send home a class roster as well as load email addresses into Lifecubby so that I can send the parent request home to you electronically enabling you to register on line.  If you have not yet done so please send me a quick email so that I can add you to the class email data base.
• If you have not sent in your class supplies one suggestion is to send an item in a day with your child so that they do not have to carry so much at one time.

      I want to thank everyone for coming to the Parent Orientation and class visitation. These two events help prepare everybody for school. I am looking forward to having a wonderful school year with you and your child.

Preschool Parent Orientation

Stepping Stone Integrated Preschool

Parent Orientation

Hilton Elementary

August 30, 2012, 6:30 p.m.

Hello and Welcome!

Beginning of the School Year 2012-13

The school year is commencing and I am looking forward to all of the fun and exciting activities we will be participating in this school year. I look forward to some collaborative activities with other grade levels as well  as those within preschool. 

If you are looking for information regarding what has been happening in preschool this is the place to look. I will post the weekly newsletter as well as follow-up to activities we have done in the classroom. If I have your permission to post pictures on the blog I will include pictures so that you can see what has been happening.

If you have any questions or comments please direct them to my email address at shieldsj@bbhcsd.org.