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.