Week of January 28-31

Week of January 28-31

Theme: Build With Me

Letter of the Week B

Show and Share January 31 Something that starts with the letter B

Pirates and Princess was so much fun for everyone. Thank you to the Brobst family who donated large boxes that we were able to convert to a pirate ship and a castle. On Thursday we dressed as pirates and princesses and used treasure maps to find the pirate's treasure chest. It is a good thing all of our pirates and princesses are so good with maps because they were able to find the treasure and bring it home. The a.m. class also got the opportunity to work with their third grade buddies using play-doh to make their name and then they listened to stories. 

Next week we are going to working on building. We are going to build houses and match shapes on houses. We are going to use a measuring box to measure a variety of objects using conventional items to measure, rules and measuring tape, and unconventional tools for measuring, unifix cubes. We are going to use magnetic letters and match uppercase letters in the alphabet. We are going to play a graphing game to graph tools that might be used for building. We are also going to work on a book page for our book "I Want to Build." This week the p.m. class will go to the computer lab with their third grade buddies to work on Reading Eggs.

Please continue to send in recyclable items such as small boxes, small plastic containers, paper towel tubes, toilet paper tubes etc. During the week of February 4th we will be getting together with our third grade buddies again to construct robots with them. While your child is at home help him think of what his/her robot might look like and have them draw a picture. If they bring it to school they could use it with their third grade buddy to construct their robot.

As we think ahead to Valentine's Day please save an empty cereal box at home for your child. I will send home a piece of chart paper that you can wrap the box in, leaving an opening somewhere on the box. Please send in your child's wrapped box the week of February 11th and we will use the box as a mailbox for Valentine's Day cards. 

I am working hard to finalize the parent/teacher conference schedule and will get the final times and dates set up this week. Also this week look for report cards and data collections sheets for those students on IEPs to come home on Thursday. If you have any questions regarding your child's report card or data collection sheet we can discuss them at conferences or if you would like to send me an email I will respond as quickly as possible.

Upcoming Events:

No School-February 18-President's Day 

Week of January 22-24, 2013

Week of January 22-24, 2013

Theme: Pirates and Princesses

Letter of the Week: P

Show and Share January 24 Something that begins with letter P

Special Activities: January 23rd the morning class will be getting together with their third grade buddies for some play-doh fun and reading. January 24th Pirate and Princess day: Have your child wear or bring to school their favorite pirate or princess like costume to wear. We will be finishing all of our pirate and princess themed activities with a big treasure hunt. 

This week we concluded our exploration of animals. We practiced many skills such as sequencing, sorting, graphing and estimating. We also introduced the letter D and had a special letter D snack on Thursday.

Next week we will be exploring the letter P with our theme of Pirates and Princesses. We have many exciting activities planned. We are going to sort princesses and pirates. We will make a graph of the princess items we roll on the dice. We are going to follow the pirate path to get to the treasure (pre-writing strokes) and we are going to be looking for differences in pictures. We are also going to do some princess and pirate patterning. We will end the week with a Pirate and Princess day. You child may dress as their favorite pirate or princess for the day. On that day we are going to be following the clues to go on a treasure hunt to find the pirate booty. The sensory table will have pirate treasure buried in it that the children must find and dig up. One of the pirate books we are going to read is "Pirate Pete."

We have also begun a new literacy initiative at Hilton Elementary that includes the literacy framework of the Daily 5. This is a research based approach to reading and literacy. It was originally designed for the elementary grades K and up, however, we are beginning to take some of the concepts and ideas of the approach and apply them to preschool. Two sites that you can visit include: http://www.thedailycafe.com/  www.the2sisters.com/the_daily_5.html. This framework has then been adapted to meet the developmental needs of children who are 3-4 and then those who are 4, 5, and 6. For those children who are older we have been able to put different programming in place that meets their developmental needs and I have included that in a separate letter that will be going home this week.

I would also like to welcome a new friend to the p.m. class his name is Parker Anderson and we look forward to seeing him at school on Tuesday.
Special Readers this week are: Sarah Amick in the a.m. (8:30-8:50) and Wendi Glovna (12:00-12:20)

As I get responses back I will also be confirming and setting up conferences regarding report cards and the progress your child has been making.

Week of January 14-17, 2013

Week of January 14-17, 2013

Theme: Animals & Pets

Letter of the Week: D

Show and Share Jan. 17 Letter D

Last week we began talking about animals especially those that live in cold weather. We especially liked learning about penguins, how they take care of their eggs, how they move and what they eat. 

Next week we will continue to talk about animals that can be pets. We will do a variety of sorting, estimating and graphing activities including sorting animals by type (farm, zoo, jungle, pets) and by animal using animal crackers. We will also work on sequencing pictures and using them to tell a story. The sequencing activity will also relate to retelling stories. We are going to read animal stories and then use the pictures to retell the story. We have been learning that there are three ways to "read" a book: you can read the pictures, read the words and retell the story. We have practiced the first two and this week we will be practicing retelling the story. At home when you are reading books with your children you can also try these strategies, sometimes read the words another time have your child tell the story with you by looking at the pictures and then have them retell a story you have read before. Some books we are planning to read this week include: Harry the Dirty Dog, If You Give a Moose a Muffin, Is Your Mama a Llama?, and One Moose, Twenty Mice.
Special Readers this week on Wednesday, Jan 18th: a.m. (8:30-8:30) AnnMarie Kavinsky and p.m. (12:00-12:20) Chris Fishman.

Upcoming activities: The week of Jan. 22nd will be Pirates and Princesses week. The letter of the week if letter P and we will begin talking about how things are built. During that week and into the following week I would like to build with the children possibly a pirate ship or princess castle, so if anyone has or can get a hold of a large appliance box or two and has a way to get it to school I know the kids and I would love it. On Jan. 24th it will be a Pirate and Princess Party the children can dress up as pirates or princesses and wear their outfits to school. We will go on a treasure hunt following a treasure map throughout the school.

At the end of January report cards will come home as well as data for IEP goals for those students who have IEPs. At the beginning of the school year some parents signed up for Parent/Teacher conferences that will be held in February. I will send home reminder notes this week, at that time if there is a conflict with your scheduled conference or you would rather have a phone conference instead of coming in for a conference we can schedule that also. 

Week of January 7-10, 2013

Week of January 7-10, 2013

Theme: Animals I Love

Letter of the Week: J

January 10 Show and Share: Something that starts with letter J

It sounds like everyone had a great holiday break and that Santa visited everyones'  houses. all of the children were excited to show their special item on Thursday that they got for Christmas.

Next week we will be talking about animals. We are going to be talking about the needs of animals and living things: food, water, shelter. We are also going to be focusing on animal babies and animals in the Arctic. We are going to be making a penguin as our Arctic animal and a Jellyfish for our letter J page. Two stories that we will be reading include: "Animal Babies" and "Where is Home, Little Pip?"

We will also be working on sequencing events and retelling the event using the pictures. The children will sort animals and then make number sets of each animal group, we will be using the  number language of equal, fewer and more.

We have been reviewing letter names and their matching sounds and we will continue to do this as we add additional letters. We have also begun work on identifying and writing names, this may differ for each child depending on where they are developmentally with this skill. Some children are just identifying their name while others are reading to refine writing their names, all of this levels on the continuum are developmentally appropriate for preschool. Next week we will work on stamping the letters in our name, outlining the letters in our names as well as writing our names. Something to practice at home is showing your child two different names, maybe theirs and a siblings and have them identify which one is theirs. 

Thank you to all of you who responded to be classroom readers. Next week on Wednesday, January 9th in the a.m. (8:30-8:50) our Special Reader is: Allison Nehez  and our Special Reader in the p.m. (12:00-12:20) is: Monica Polcen. If your child wants to bring some special books from home to have you read to their friends that is wonderful or you can choose to come in and utilize the books from the classroom library. 

January 10th Show and Share: Something that begins with the letter J

No School on January 18th-MLK Day

Week of January 2-3, 2013

Week of January 2-3, 2013

Getting Back to School

Show and Share: January 3-Something they received over the holiday break

Happy New Year! As we ease back into our school schedule the two days we are in school this week will be a review week. We will be reviewing previously learned letters and numbers as well as reviewing the classroom routine and rules.

Now that the weather is officially cold and snowy your children may be wearing more layers including boots, hats and mittens. It is helpful if you put your child's name inside of all of these items so that when we are getting dressed to go home we can find who stray mittens and hats belong to. If your child is wearing heavier snow boots to school please pack an extra pair of shoes for them to change into while they are at school.

As a reminder school starts at 8:30 in the a.m. and 12:00 in the p.m. All children need to be to school by that time, it allows them to perform their arrival activities and begin centers with the rest of the class. Try setting the alarm possibly 10 minutes earlier this week as they come back to school so no one has to feel rushed as they are getting ready. Another great idea is to set a timer and see if your child can get ready for school before the timer goes off. The timer can also serve as a reminder that when it goes off it is time to leave. I understand that mornings can be a little rough when trying to get everyone out the door but gentle reminders that it is important to be at school on time and that you will be leaving when the timer goes off even if they have not completed everything can be helpful, it also send the message that you think it is important to be at school on time. I appreciate your support regarding this matter.

As we start the new year we have some students that have joined our classes who have not had the opportunity to respond to being a classroom reader. Research shows that child who are read to and engage in reading activities such as listening to reading improve their language skills as well as their early reading skills. Children need to know that in books words are not the only part that tell a story but the pictures also tell a story. While looking at books with your child have them use the pictures to tell what they think is happening in the story, this is a good pre-reading skill. Once a week in the classroom I have guest readers come into the classroom to sit with the children and read books with them, listening to reading is also an important part of pre-reading/reading skills. Typically these guest readers are parents, however, Mr. Martin the principal has also joined us for these reading sessions. Guest readers come into the classroom on Wednesdays, 8:30-8:50 and 12:00-12:20, and sit with the children on the carpet and read books with them. If you are interested in being a guest reader please send me an email so that I can add you to my list of guest readers. If you have previously sent me an email agreeing to be a guest reader please send me another email confirming that you would like to continue to be a guest reader. Once I have the responses I will send out a calendar so that you know when your scheduled time will be.  

I am in need of some empty egg cartons to hold some classroom supplies, if you have any at home I would appreciate it if you could send them in to school.