Thursday, December 22, 2011

Wed/Friday class change of plans.

Dear Wed/Friday class.  I'm sorry for the short notice in the change of plans for our party.  We have had to move our party time up to 10-11 a.m. due to an appointment I must keep in the afternoon.  For selfish reasons I wanted to make sure I could be at the party.  You should have received a note about it yesterday.  Sorry for any inconvenience. 

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Updates!

We welcome Kaley to our Wed/Friday class.  We are all very excited to have a new friend!

Santa's workshop is going on all week.  This is a place where you child can shop for people in your family.  You received a note about it last week. 

Winter Wonderland is being held this Saturday.  See flyer in your child's folder for more information.  My husband, son and I will be there for the last half hour.  Hope to see many of you there.

Holiday Parties!
Next Thursday and Friday from 1 p.m. -2 p.m.
You are invited to join us for some play time in the classroom.  We will have a special snack, participate in a craft activity and sing some songs. 

Currently we are reading Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett.  Our dramatic play center is a bakery.  We are acting out the story using masks.  Photos to come soon! 

We will continue to go outside to play when weather permits.  Please make sure you dress your child accordingly.

Remember never hesitate to call, write or email with any questions!

Monday, November 28, 2011

Check out some of the awesome things happening in our class!

This is one of the books we read last week and will continue to read this week.  It's very engaging and has many rhyming words. 

This is our writing center!
                                          
 Dramatic play has turned into a grocery store!


Our long path math game.
                                                

Using a balance scale to compare and contrast.
                                       
 Practicing scissor skills by clipping coupons and ads.

 The grocery store is full of activity.

                                                         
One of our language charts. 

Encouraging writing at our grocery store.

The light table!

Guess what we used to paint with?


Pepper and Carrot Painting!














Friday, November 18, 2011

November 18, 2011

We welcome Sydney to our Wednesday/Friday class.  So happy to have another new friend!

Reminder-no school 11/24 and 11/25!

Check you child's backpack for a note about rest items.  We will be keeping them at school now and sending them home periodically for a wash.  Any questions contact me.

We are in need of- napkins, disinfecting wipes, paper towels, baby wipes (for messy hands and mouths), tissues, clean/empty food containers (see below for more info), fake credit cards (the kind you get with junk mail).

Looking ahead:  Our next "theme" will be Market.  Our dramatic play center will turn into a grocery store.  We would love to have empty and clean food containers (i.e. cereal boxes, juice containers, etc...)  It is very important that the containers are clean due to the food allergies in our class.

Never hesitate to call or email me with any questions or concerns!

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Tactile Letters

In preschool we learn about letters in many ways.  We sing songs, we read books, we write with markers, pencils, and we use all sorts of other fun tactile ways including salt, play dough, shaving cream, clay etc..  Tactile refers to touch.  Many students learn best by doing.  Today we used our fingers in salt to form letters.  It's a fantastic sensory experience but also a great way to practice writing and drawing.  See photos below.

There are many stages of writing.  Did you know scribbling is a developmentally appropriate stage of writing?  In preschool we celebrate all stages of writing whether it's scribbling, writing mock letters, copying print or conventional writing.   See your child's folder for a copy and explanation of the developmental stages of writing.  Remember don't worry if your child isn't writing letters yet.  He or she may not yet be there developmentally and that's absolutely okay.  The most important thing to remember that exposure to all types of ways to write is what is important.  Supplying your child with various types of paper, pencils, crayons and markers on a daily basis is important and crucial to their literacy development.  If you want to get adventurous get out some salt and put it on a tray, or roll some playdough and form letters with your child, or even put some shaving cream on a tray and let your child play in it.  I'd love to hear about your adventures.





Friday, October 28, 2011

Updates, conferences and welcome!

We welcome James to our Wed/Friday class!  We are very excited to have a new friend to play with.

Conferences:  Conference slips went home this week.  Please check backpacks and sign up for one if you'd like.  If your child receives speech and language therapy please sign up for the 15th since this is the day Ms. Peggy will be here.

Reminder:  Our class is a peanut and nut free environment.  It is imperative that all student lunches are peanut and nut free.  If you have any questions please contact me.  Also, for birthday treats please talk to me prior to sending in a treat.

Picture Retake Day: Thursday November 3rd the Tues/Thurs class will have their pictures taken at school.  Please fill out form if you'd like to purchase pictures. 

No School: November 8th and November 11th.

Scholastic Due: November 10th.

Coming up Curriculum:  Apples, apples and more apples.  We will paint with apples, create an apple orchard in our dramatic play, read fiction and non-fiction books about apples and so much more!

Here are a few snapshots from our Tues/Thursday class carving a pumpkin.








Friday, October 21, 2011

Fall is here!

Fall provides a fantastic opportunity for learning. 

Here is one of our language charts we have begun learning.  The students sit on their knees and act out being a bushy tailed squirrel.  While that may not sound very educational, it is.  We do this during group time so the children are working on following directions which is a key component of school for years to come.  This also incorporates the muscles in the legs for kneeling.  It incorporates reading because as we are doing this I am pointing to the words.  It includes action words such as "swish" which leads us into discussing more action words (verbs).  As you can see, our learning is really through play. 
 Our dramatic play center is fully equipped as a Pumpkin Farm.  Here is Caiden trying out one of the wheelbarrows.  In the dramatic play the children are encouraged to sort the pumpkins by large, medium and small.  Sorting is a key component in early math skills.  We also have a cash register, paper for writing receipts and play money.  The amount of language we hear in dramatic play is amazing.  It's one of the first places in a preschool class children use new learned vocabulary words such as (large, medium and small).
  We currently have two science centers.  This one Scarlet is using tweezers to pick pieces of corn off of Indian corn.  This may just seem fun for the students (as I want it to be) but this helps build those fine motor skills crucial for beginning writing. 
  Our block center is usually a pretty busy center.  Blocks are an important part of a preschool classroom.  Block play incorporates math and problem solving skills.  As the year goes on we end up seeing more and more complex block structures which indicates to the teachers that the children are making progress developmentally.  Nicholas has created a pretty complex building which took a good amount of problem solving and math skills.
  We've introduced our listening center this past week.  The listening center is a place for a student to practice not only listening but turning pages in a book, following along with text and we often see some emergent reading skills.  The listening center books are always read at group first and then moved for the children to access druing center time.  Ellie is really enjoying reading along while listening to our new story.
  This music/language chart is a class favorite pretty much each year.  I think it's a favorite because we incorporate playing the rhythm sticks with it. 

These photos are just a snapshot of what we do in the class but I hope it helps you communicate with your child about what is going on at school.

This coming up week we will also paint with apples, play with corn in the sensory table, scoop out the insides of a pumpkin, read new stories and so much more.

Remember to never hesitiate to call, email or write a note if you ever have any questions or concerns.