This week we read Friendshape by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld and discussed our friends and school community.  

In the Art Center the children had an opportunity to make pictures of themselves with their friends.

In the Math Center we measured all of our friends to see how many hands high they were and to find out who was the tallest and shortest in our class.  We will be watching all year to see how we grow!

In Dramatic Play the children acted out family life using props and materials, including food, babies and work items.  We also voted for and will be transforming our Dramatic Play into a beach vacation!

Next week we will be looking more closely at the seasonal changes and Thanksgiving traditions.

Weekly Letter 11.22.19

Family Engagement 11.22.19

This week in Pre-K we explored what makes our families unique and important! We read The Family Book by Todd Parr and learned that there are many ways to be a family and that families can include many different people. We also read I love Saturdays y domingos and observed that families have their own unique traditions and favorite activities!

At the Math Center we counted how many people are in our families and drew a picture to represent the people we love. We created a family number chart for our Math Center.

At the Art Center children drew pictures illustrating their families’ favorite activities to do together. We also used recycled materials to create “people” toys representing different family members to play with at our Block Center.

At the Writing Center children continued to practice writing their names. They also used family vocabulary when labeling their drawings.

Weekly Letter 11.15.19

Family Engagement 11.15

Next week we will explore the many ways our classroom is a unique community of friends who help and care for each other!

This week we started our new unit on All About Us by reading the book Little Elliot Big City written by Mike Curato. This story spoke about challenges the character faced because the world was too big around him and the feelings that he had throughout.

The children practiced their feelings by continuing to use their words more when experiencing situations throughout the day.

We also took a close look at ourselves and saw that we all are all unique! We have unique qualities, such as different color eyes, skin and hair, some kids wear glasses, and our names are all different!

The children were introduced to their name cards in the writing center so they can sign in every morning and practice writing their names throughout the day. We also looked at the letter that our name started with and how many letters are in our names.

Next week we will be focusing on how our families are unique.

Weekly Letter 11.8

Family Engagement 11.8

This week we reviewed what we have learned about our five senses.  We read I hear a Pickle by Rachel Isadora, and discussed how our senses help us understand the world around us and keep us safe. 

In the Art Center we continued to explore our sense of touch by making texture collages.  We also followed a recipe to make our own playdough together.

In the Science Center we continued to sort objects by which sense we use most, and in the Math Center the children were using their eye-hand coordination to pick up pumpkin seeds with tweezers and count them.

Next week we will be starting a new theme on All About Us by focusing first on the concept of how we are each unique.

Weekly Letter 11.1.19

Family Engagement 11.1.19

This week we read the book Press Here by Herve Tullet.  The children enjoyed an interactive experience with the book by using their sense of touch to make the book change as we read along. 

In the Science Center we carved our pumpkin and felt all the different parts (stem, skin, seeds, pulp).  

We guessed what was in our “feely box” by using only our sense of touch and we also went on a ‘touch’ scavenger hunt around our classroom to find objects using our new vocabulary, including soft, hard, rough, smooth, bumpy, spiky.

At the Art Center we used textured materials to create our October self -portraits!

We also read My Five Senses by Aliki and reviewed how we use all of our senses to help us learn.

Next week we will complete our Five Senses unit, as well as continue exploring seasonal changes!

Weekly Letter 10.25.19

Family Engagement 10.25

This past week we continued our unit on the five senses by focusing on our senses of smell and taste.

The children had an opportunity to smell and comment on what they smelled in different scent containers in the Science Center.  We continued this discussion at circle by talking about what things have good smells versus bad smells. The children used feelings words on how these smells made them feel.

We also explored the properties of apples at the Science Center.  We observed how each apple has a different shape and color on the outside but is the same inside, with seeds and flesh.  We tried tasting apple products and created a class chart by voting on our favorite.

The children also discussed how certain foods at meal times tasted (yummy, sticky, juicy). They explained why they liked or disliked something that they ate.

Weekly Letter 10.18.19

Family Engagement 10.18.19

Next week we will continue our senses by focusing on our sense of touch.

This week we continued our theme on The Five Senses by focusing on our hearing.  We read Tap Tap Boom Boom by Elizabeth Gluemle and enjoyed acting out rain storm sounds from the story with our bodies and with instruments.  

We also went on a listening walk around the school to identify sounds using our sense of hearing.  We used new vocabulary such as loud, quiet, soft, silent and also learned about sign language.

We created instruments in the Art Center with recyclable materials to compare sounds with real instruments.  The children discovered many innovative ways to use familiar materials to create their instruments!

Next week we will be focusing on our senses of smell and taste.  We will be smelling and tasting different things to compare and describe them.

Weekly Letter 10.11.19

Family Engagement 10.11.19

This week we began our new unit all about using our five senses to explore Fall!

We started by focusing on our sense of sight and discussed all of the things we can see with our eyes. We played the game “I Spy…” searching for all the things that can be seen with our eyes within our classroom. 

The children discussed how glasses and contact lenses are worn by some children and adults to help their vision. Additionally, we learned that people who are blind use walking sticks or guide dogs to help them. We explored the challenges of not being able to see through a special art activity!

We felt excited to go on our first nature walk and used our sense of sight to learn about the area around our school. We observed a variety of people, objects, colors and shapes on our walk. At the Science Center we recorded our observations using a combination of drawing and dictation.

Weekly Letter 10.4.19

Family Engagement 10.4

Next week we will discuss our sense of hearing!

This past week we have continued to practice our routines in the classroom, as well as introduce new routines such as our classroom jobs.  We have been continuing discussions on how to be safe in our school (classroom, outside play, fire drills, stairs, etc).

We read On Monday When it Rained by Cherryl Kachenmeister. This book focused on different types of feelings.  The children had an opportunity to act out different feelings and have also been encouraged to talk about them, especially when something upsets them, such as not sharing toys.  We have been learning about how our actions can make others feel.  

We also introduced our class mood meter/feelings chart.  This is an area where the children can put their picture on the emotion that they are feeling.  They are welcome to move that picture to another feeling as the day progresses. 

Weekly Letter 9.20

Family Engagement 9.20