Week of October 27-30, 2014

Week of October 27-30, 2014

Theme: All About Fall & Halloween

Letter of the Week: H

Dear Families,

This coming week we will be celebrating fall and doing some fun Halloween related activities. We are going to be working on our fine motor skills while we pick up small fall erasers with tongs and sort them by type. We are also going to use the small fall erasers to practice counting and placing the correct number of erasers in the numbered pumpkin. We will also be Q-tip painting bats and making a tissue paper candy corn.  

One of the stories we will read this week is the Chocolate Chip Ghost.  We will use props to retell the story and then we will create a book page about what our ghost ate and what color it changed to.  Some other stories include: Big Pumpkin, and If You're a Monster and You Know It.  Both of these stories are fun and allow the children to be part of the stories through movement and cooperation. 

In the gym this week we are going to play a Halloween movement game and play a spider web game.  The children will have to walk on the lines of the spider web to capture all of the spiders in the spider web games.  In the Halloween movement game the children will draw cards and use their bodies to move like different things. 

On Thursday is our Halloween party.  Please have your child wear or bring their costume to school if they are choosing to wear one. Please remember not to send in any pretend weapons as they are not allowed at school. This party is just for the children as there are some children who become quite overwhelmed when there are many unfamiliar faces in one place.  There will be opportunities at the Thanksgiving Feast, the Holiday party and the end of the year party for parents to come participate with their children at a school event.  If at anytime you would like to visit the classroom to see what your child is doing at school please contact me and we can set up a date and time.  Please know that often times when you visit your child will act differently then they typically do during a school day. 

The afternoon class would like to welcome our new friend Pradyush to our class.  In the housekeeping area I have placed small notebooks and pencils and both classes have been really engaged using these materials in a variety of ways. The morning class has been pretending to be reporters "writing" stories about what is happening, so if you see small sheets of paper coming home with "writing" on them please ask your child what his/her news story is about.  The afternoon class has been using them to take orders and make lists.  Both of these activities are fabulous imaginary play and demonstrate developmentally appropriate early writing skills. 

Upcoming dates:

October 27th-Please send in non-edible treats for the Halloween Trick or Treat at school. 

Show and Share: Wednesday, October 29th (typically Show and Share is on Thursday but because of the party I have moved it to Wednesday for this week.)

Special Snack Letter H-October 29th provided by Zach

October 30th-Halloween Party

Week of October 20-23, 2014

Week of October 20-23, 2014

Theme: Our Bodies

Letter of the Week: E

Dear Families,

During the week, the children will learn the names of parts of their bodies. They will explore the different actions that they can do with each of these body parts. They will listen to a story about children using parts of their bodies to yawn, blink, reach, wiggle, and so on. Through stories, songs, and activities, children will practice identifying and using different body parts. They will become more aware of their own bodies, sense and personal boundaries.

Learning Together

• Visit the playground together. Have your child show you actions or activities he or she can perform. Ask your child to name the body parts he or she uses to do each one.
• Explore things together you can see, hear, touch, smell and taste. Have your child identify which body parts help them use these senses.
• Sing the "Hokey Pokey" with your child and perform the actions together:

            You put your right hand in. You take your right hand out. You put your right hand in and you shake it all about. You do the Hokey Pokey (Holds hands in the air and shake them.) And you turn yourself around. That's what it's all about.

Repeat using other body parts, such as feet, knees, head, and "whole self."

Activities this week include:

• Science investigations involving the five senses. Using our five senses to describe a variety of everyday items and/or food. 
• We will be making Elmo for the letter E.
• We will be watching a movie about the five senses and playing a matching game on the SmartBoard.
• Some books include: Five Senses; Eyes, Nose, Fingers, and Toes; Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
• We will be using props to act out the Three Little Bears. 
• In the gym this week we will be working on balancing.

Upcoming Dates:

October 23-Show and Share Letter E

October 30-Halloween Party for the children only. Please have your child wear or bring their costume to school on that day. We will be making trick or treat bags at school and then trick or treating throughout the school.  We would greatly appreciate any non-edible treat donations for our trick or treating, this could include: pencils, rings, erasers, etc. 

Week of October 13-16, 2014

Week of October 13-16, 2014

Unit: All About Me

Focus Questions: What are my feelings?
Fire Safety

Letter of the Week: F

Dear Families,

Last week we had a special visitor at preschool. Kathy Roderick came to share with us some learning resources from the Natural History Museum. The children got to see and touch a variety of animal pictures, animals pelts and skeletons of animals. They also got to participate in an activity to determine what type of beak is best for picking up different objects. We also want to welcome our new friend Hayden to our morning class.
 
I will display more photos when I am able to download them and transfer them to the blog. 

During this week, the children will identify and talk about feelings that are common to everyone. They will learn words that name feelings, such as happy, sad, serious, and excited. they will also learn that how they feel affects the way they behave. For example, they are likely to smile when they are happy and frown when they are angry or unhappy. Additionally, children will talk about recognizing and responding to the feelings of others. 

Learning Together:

• Ask how your child is feeling when he/she comes home from school. Encourage your child to share reasons for these feelings.
• Look through picture books and have your child try to identify characters' feelings. Ask your child what clues helped him or her determine each character's feelings.
• Tell your child what makes you happy. Talk about things that make you both happy. Play a guessing game with your child. Take turns using facial expressions and other forms of body language to pantomime a feeling for the other to guess.

Some activities this week include:

• Finishing our All About Me books. Thank you everyone for sending in information about your child, if you have not yet set in information please have your child bring the following information to school on Monday: 1-2 pictures of themselves and their families, pictures which can be photographs or cut from a magazine of something that is their favorite color, their favorite toy, their favorite food and something they like to do such as a sport or hobby. If you are unable to find any pictures of the last items please write them down and we will work together in class to find them. 
• We will also be finishing up our address books and the children will be bringing them home this week. 
• We will be reading a book titled, Lots of Feelings, in it we will identify by labeling in a variety of feelings, come up with hypothesis about why that person may feeling that way and then play an emotions identification game on the Smartboard.
• We will also read The Three Little Pigs. We will read this story and interact with it on the Smartboard, we will listen to this story during centers in our listening center and then each child will have the opportunity to help us re-enact it in class.
• We will also be learning our new letter F and listening for differences in F and L words, identifying which words begin with F and which words begin with L.
• We will make a Firetruck for letter the F and for Fire Safety, as well as read our Scholastic Magazine about Fire Safety. 
• We will be identifying which pizza contains a given number of pepperonis by counting the pepperonis. 

Reminders:

• Please send in your child's information for our class All About Me book.
• Picture day is Tuesday, October 14th, forms went home last week.
• Show and Share is on Thursday, October 16th, Letter F.

Week of October 6-9, 2014

Week of October 6-9, 2014

Unit: All About Me

Focus Questions: Who Am I?

Letter of the Week: L

Dear Parents,

During this week, the children will be introduced to the idea that each person is unique and special. They will explore things they can do and things they want to learn to do. They will talk about how being able to do things makes them feel proud. Additionally, children will explore ways in which they are similar to and different from their friends and classmates. They will also compare themselves as they are today and with how they looked and acted when they were younger. 

Learning Together

• Look at magazines together. Have your child point out activities or actions that he or she can do. Ask how being able to do these things makes your child feel.
• The children will also be learning about shapes during the week. Point out things around your home that are different shapes.
• If you have photographs of your child as a baby, look at them together. Talk about what your child did as a baby, and what he or she can do now. If the child has older siblings, talk about things they can do and ask which of those things your child would like to do, too. 

Some exciting activities this week include:

• Making an address book with our names, addresses and phone numbers. Everyone has already provided me with a variety of phone numbers that they can be reached at, please email me or send in a note indicating which or the provided phone numbers you would like your child to learn so that we can put that in their address book and we can start working on that phone number.
• We are going to make an All About Me book for each class. Once it is complete the children will have the opportunity to take it home and share it with their families. For this book you will need to help your child find 1-2 pictures of themselves and their families. Please also include pictures which can be photographs or cut from a magazine of something that is their favorite color, their favorite toy, their favorite food and something they like to do such as a sport or hobby. If you are unable to find any pictures of the last items please write them down and we will work together in class to find them. Thank you for your help and participation with this project. 
• The letter this week is L so we will be practicing making our letter L, making an L word list and making a Lion.
• We will be using the apples that the children brought for show and share last week to make applesauce this week. The children will have the opportunity to help cut up the apples, make a recipe and then help mix up the applesauce which will be our snack that day.  We will also be using our Scholastic Magazine to learn facts about apples. 
• This week as part of all about me we will also be talking about the life cycle and what happens as we grow and change. 
• Throughout this monthly unit there is a Fairy Tale theme that runs through it. This week we are going to read The Three Billy Goats Gruff. We are going to act it out after reading it and then create a fairytale together as a class. 
• When we visit the gym for some gross motor activity we will be practicing throwing and catching using scarves and balloons.

Reminders:

Show and share is October 9th-one things that starts with the letter L.

Send in the phone number you would like your child to begin learning.

Find the items needed for our All About Me book.