Pre-K News!
December 21st, 2012
Dear Parents,
To end the year, please enjoy this poem the children wrote:
Peace
Peace is in your heart.
Peace is quiet.
Peace is where the stars take you.
Peace is saying prayers.
It’s being nice. Hugging.
Running. Sleeping in your bed. Wishing. Sharing.
Playing with people and make them feel good.
When I hug somebody I feel peace.
When you’re playing on the beach.
When I’m with my mommy. When I’m with a friend.
When I show people what letters are called I show peace.
It’s when you’re reading a book.
Helping people. Making new friends.
When it’s my birthday and when it’s Christmas.
Water is peaceful. Sharing food.
Being quiet. Being in my bed. Being on a motorcycle.
Playing with my brother; I share my toys with him.
Taking care of each other is peaceful.
My peace is when I’m sleeping in my bed. It’s comfy.
Peace means that you be by yourself and it’s quiet.
Peace is reading a book in your bed.
Peace is getting a kiss from your family.
Peace is when you have some alone time.
Being kind shows peace. Taking care of each other.
It’s being at my home.
It’s a happy feeling.
By Pre-K
Teacher Sarah and I wish you a happy and restful holiday!
Sue and Sarah
NEXT YEAR (!):
Pre-K is BUILDING after Winter Break!
Please collect the following items for the class to use as building materials. Thank you in advance for you contribution to this fun unit.
Berry boxes
Cardboard boxes
Cereal boxes
Cigar boxes
Egg cartons
Ribbon spools
Oatmeal containers
Paper Towel Tubes
Plastic containers
Styrofoam trays
Shoe boxes
Wood scraps
Tooth Picks
Q-tips
Letter of the week: J
Specials:
Monday - Gathering, PE and Art
Tuesday - Spanish
Wednesday - Library, Music and PE
Thursday Meeting for Worship and Music
Friday - Spanish
Pre-K is BUILDING after Winter Break!
Please collect the following items for the class to use as building materials. Thank you in advance for you contribution to this fun unit.
Berry boxes
Cardboard boxes
Cereal boxes
Cigar boxes
Egg cartons
Ribbon spools
Oatmeal containers
Paper Towel Tubes
Plastic containers
Styrofoam trays
Shoe boxes
Wood scraps
Tooth Picks
Q-tips
Letter of the week: J
Specials:
Monday - Gathering, PE and Art
Tuesday - Spanish
Wednesday - Library, Music and PE
Thursday Meeting for Worship and Music
Friday - Spanish
Pre-K News!
December 14th, 2012
Dear Parents,
Sarah and I sincerely thank you very much for the delicious Teacher Appreciation Lunch! It was lovely ~ pumpkin soup, salad, risotto, chicken, desserts, decorations, and more! It was a feast for the senses. Thanks to Harry Jones and Lori Captain for watching the classroom while we were gone. It was great spending time with the rest of the faculty in such a fun and festive atmosphere!
There is a lot of excitement in the classroom! We created decorations for our room, including a beautiful wall mural inspired by the book, Possible Tree, by Josephine Aldridge. We are working on treats for the special people in our lives – you! We also created decorations for the hallways and Mitten Trees, cards to say thank you to Howard and Mr. Rich who help keep our room in working order, and a card for Teacher Lorrie who’s birthday is Friday.
This week Sarah and I enjoyed sharing the stories of Hanukkah, Christmas, and Eid. The goal was to help the children recognize that people have different faiths and celebrate different holidays and traditions, here and around the world. On Monday, we celebrated Hanukkah by reading the story of the Maccabees, eating Latkes, playing dreidel, and lighting the Menorah. (During recess, the children made up a rousing game of Latkes; the children played the parts of the Latkes and Jackson was the Latke Eater).
On Tuesday, Megan Heganbarth, a teacher in the upper school, told us the story of the Nativity through words, music and figurines. The children laid golden stars near the manger at the end of the story. It was lovely. We sang Christmas Carols and worked on gifts and cards for people we love for the rest of the morning.
On Friday we celebrated Eid with a special visit from Erin’s dad, James, who lived in Iraq for two years and experienced Ramadan and the celebration of Eid. He read us a story about the holiday and taught us about the importance of being thankful for all that we have and to remember to take care of others less fortunate. Thank you, James! Then we fasted (delayed snack until 10:15), broke the fast with the traditional date, and feasted on Pita, carrots and hummus. The holidays we have experience here in Pre-K are celebrated differently, but all share fundamental values of love and peace.
We look forward to seeing you next week at the concert (Thursday, December 20th at 10:00 in the Meeting for Worship room). Please come to the classroom for a celebration afterwards if you can.
Have a nice weekend,
Sue and Sarah
Next week: (No letter of the week)
Specials: Monday Gathering, Music, PE
Tuesday: Library, Music
Wednesday: Spanish
Thursday: Meeting for Worship, Winter Concert (!), PE
Friday: Science, Upper School Sing-Along
Sarah and I sincerely thank you very much for the delicious Teacher Appreciation Lunch! It was lovely ~ pumpkin soup, salad, risotto, chicken, desserts, decorations, and more! It was a feast for the senses. Thanks to Harry Jones and Lori Captain for watching the classroom while we were gone. It was great spending time with the rest of the faculty in such a fun and festive atmosphere!
There is a lot of excitement in the classroom! We created decorations for our room, including a beautiful wall mural inspired by the book, Possible Tree, by Josephine Aldridge. We are working on treats for the special people in our lives – you! We also created decorations for the hallways and Mitten Trees, cards to say thank you to Howard and Mr. Rich who help keep our room in working order, and a card for Teacher Lorrie who’s birthday is Friday.
This week Sarah and I enjoyed sharing the stories of Hanukkah, Christmas, and Eid. The goal was to help the children recognize that people have different faiths and celebrate different holidays and traditions, here and around the world. On Monday, we celebrated Hanukkah by reading the story of the Maccabees, eating Latkes, playing dreidel, and lighting the Menorah. (During recess, the children made up a rousing game of Latkes; the children played the parts of the Latkes and Jackson was the Latke Eater).
On Tuesday, Megan Heganbarth, a teacher in the upper school, told us the story of the Nativity through words, music and figurines. The children laid golden stars near the manger at the end of the story. It was lovely. We sang Christmas Carols and worked on gifts and cards for people we love for the rest of the morning.
On Friday we celebrated Eid with a special visit from Erin’s dad, James, who lived in Iraq for two years and experienced Ramadan and the celebration of Eid. He read us a story about the holiday and taught us about the importance of being thankful for all that we have and to remember to take care of others less fortunate. Thank you, James! Then we fasted (delayed snack until 10:15), broke the fast with the traditional date, and feasted on Pita, carrots and hummus. The holidays we have experience here in Pre-K are celebrated differently, but all share fundamental values of love and peace.
We look forward to seeing you next week at the concert (Thursday, December 20th at 10:00 in the Meeting for Worship room). Please come to the classroom for a celebration afterwards if you can.
Have a nice weekend,
Sue and Sarah
Next week: (No letter of the week)
Specials: Monday Gathering, Music, PE
Tuesday: Library, Music
Wednesday: Spanish
Thursday: Meeting for Worship, Winter Concert (!), PE
Friday: Science, Upper School Sing-Along
Pre-K News!
December 7th, 2012
Dear Families,
This week was centered on Jan Brett’s version of a Ukrainian folktale, The Mitten. It is a story about a boy who drops one of his white mittens in the snow and then one by one animals from the forest crawl in to stay warm. The mitten eventually grows and grows as animals squeeze inside, until finally a bear’s sneeze causes everyone to fly out.
Not only was this story fun to read but it was also the origin of a lot of learning that took place this week! Check it out:
· Math centers broadened our counting skills as we estimated and counted how many objects we could fit in to our own mittens. We discovered that symmetry means when something is the “same on both sides” and then practiced by designing a pair of symmetrical mittens. There was also sequencing of mittens from smallest to largest and a lot of mitten matching.
· Letter recognition and phonemic awareness were practiced during upper and lowercase matching exercises. Children identified which letter came first in character names from the mitten book, as well as recalled how to write letters inside of mittens as they were named out loud.
· We had a class science experiment and created pretend snow from InstaSnow, which provided a fun sensory activity throughout the week as children played with little animals in the “snow.”
· Fine motor skills were exercised as we laced a mitten and embellished it with white cotton.
· We read a different version of the folktale by Alvin Tresselt, then compared and contrasted it to the Jan Brett story and recorded what we noticed was same and different on a Venn diagram.
· Our classroom community worked together to write, prepare, and create their very own rendition of The Mitten in a play. This was a creative and exciting activity that provided each child an opportunity to become a leader, as well as learn the value of teamwork.
We also learned about the Letter G. Activities ranged from handwriting journals, counting gumdrops, painting in gold, and graphing goldfish. Show and tell revealed some wonderful “G” words, such as guitar, giraffe, The Grinch, and graham crackers!
In addition to all of our work and play, we celebrated the birthday’s of Cole and Gabriel this week and learned all about Jackson in his poster presentation. In a busy classroom of fifteen students, each child is unique and precious and it’s wonderful to celebrate them individually.
Looking ahead to next week...
Please let us know by email or note which holidays your family will be celebrating this winter season.
We invite you to participate in the Mitten Tree by donating a new pair of gloves, mittens, or hat.
Letter of the week is S.
The Pre-K Sing-A-Long is Thursday, December 20th at 10:00am. You are invited to a party in the classroom afterwards.
Specials:
Monday – Gathering, Spanish
Tuesday – Special Guest Reader, Art, PE
Wednesday – Science, Library
Thursday – Meeting for Worship, PE, Art
Friday – Spanish
In Friendship,
Sarah & Sue
This week was centered on Jan Brett’s version of a Ukrainian folktale, The Mitten. It is a story about a boy who drops one of his white mittens in the snow and then one by one animals from the forest crawl in to stay warm. The mitten eventually grows and grows as animals squeeze inside, until finally a bear’s sneeze causes everyone to fly out.
Not only was this story fun to read but it was also the origin of a lot of learning that took place this week! Check it out:
· Math centers broadened our counting skills as we estimated and counted how many objects we could fit in to our own mittens. We discovered that symmetry means when something is the “same on both sides” and then practiced by designing a pair of symmetrical mittens. There was also sequencing of mittens from smallest to largest and a lot of mitten matching.
· Letter recognition and phonemic awareness were practiced during upper and lowercase matching exercises. Children identified which letter came first in character names from the mitten book, as well as recalled how to write letters inside of mittens as they were named out loud.
· We had a class science experiment and created pretend snow from InstaSnow, which provided a fun sensory activity throughout the week as children played with little animals in the “snow.”
· Fine motor skills were exercised as we laced a mitten and embellished it with white cotton.
· We read a different version of the folktale by Alvin Tresselt, then compared and contrasted it to the Jan Brett story and recorded what we noticed was same and different on a Venn diagram.
· Our classroom community worked together to write, prepare, and create their very own rendition of The Mitten in a play. This was a creative and exciting activity that provided each child an opportunity to become a leader, as well as learn the value of teamwork.
We also learned about the Letter G. Activities ranged from handwriting journals, counting gumdrops, painting in gold, and graphing goldfish. Show and tell revealed some wonderful “G” words, such as guitar, giraffe, The Grinch, and graham crackers!
In addition to all of our work and play, we celebrated the birthday’s of Cole and Gabriel this week and learned all about Jackson in his poster presentation. In a busy classroom of fifteen students, each child is unique and precious and it’s wonderful to celebrate them individually.
Looking ahead to next week...
Please let us know by email or note which holidays your family will be celebrating this winter season.
We invite you to participate in the Mitten Tree by donating a new pair of gloves, mittens, or hat.
Letter of the week is S.
The Pre-K Sing-A-Long is Thursday, December 20th at 10:00am. You are invited to a party in the classroom afterwards.
Specials:
Monday – Gathering, Spanish
Tuesday – Special Guest Reader, Art, PE
Wednesday – Science, Library
Thursday – Meeting for Worship, PE, Art
Friday – Spanish
In Friendship,
Sarah & Sue