Week of January 20-22, 2015

Week of January 20-22, 2015

Theme: Let's Investigate

Making Comparisons

Focus Question: How can I compare things

Letter of the Week: S

Dear Families,

This week, our class will learn how to make comparisons. We will read a book titled Nature Spy. In addition to teaching children about fascinating and beautiful objects in nature, the book introduces the concept of sorting objects by attributes such as size, color, and texture. Children will have opportunities to use their sense of sight and touch to sort items in the classroom. they will also learn to put items in order according to length.

Learning Together

• With your child, become "Nature Spies" in your neighborhood. Closely observe natural objects such as twigs and stones, and compare their sizes, shapes, colors and textures. You could also do this while playing in the snow and making snowballs in a variety of sizes.
• Together, compare characters in stories such as "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" or "The Three Little Pigs." Talk about how the characters in each story are similar to and different from one another.
• Assemble items that can be sorted by color, size or purpose, and have your child arrange the items in groups. Socks, plastic eating utensils, and crayons are good items to use.
• While at the grocery store compare fruits and vegetables describing how they look or feel the same and different.

Activities:

• We will make a Snowman for our S craft.  
• Each child will choose an object in the classroom to measure. They will use conventional (ruler) and unconventional materials (paperclips, links, unifix cubes) to measure their item and record the measurement.
• We will be practicing our names in a variety of multi-sensory ways.
• In the gym we will be doing an obstacle course touching on a variety of skills such as jumping, hopping, balancing and throwing.
• Our story this week is Nature Spy and we will also be reading a Scholastic magazine about Penguins.

Upcoming dates:

• January 22-Show and Share letter S
• Report cards will be coming home on January 29th. If your child was in preschool with us last year you will notice that the reports will look a different. We have rewritten the report card to align with the new State Common Core Standards. There are also different reports cards for children who are 3/4 and children who are 4/5.  Please note the new reporting symbols and their meaning.
• February 16-No School-President's Day