Pre-K News!
September 28th, 2012
Sarah's birthday!
Dear Parents,
Our week seemed to fly by! Children are now comfortable with routines and expectations, and maneuver about our classroom with confidence. It is exciting to see! Here are some of the highlights of this week:
Pre-k quote:
“Ow, my throat hurts.”
Teacher: “Does it hurt when you swallow?”
“No, just when I scream.”
We hope you have a nice weekend,
Sue and Sarah
Our week seemed to fly by! Children are now comfortable with routines and expectations, and maneuver about our classroom with confidence. It is exciting to see! Here are some of the highlights of this week:
- We worked on the letter ‘F’. We explored objects that float and sink, went ‘fishing’ for F’s, measured a length in our hall using forks, frog jumps and feet, and practiced our handwriting. We also made a list of ‘F’ words, rhymed names, and counted fingerprint flowers.
- We took a shape walk around the school grounds, looking for shapes in nature and in our school environment. Sarah and I took pictures of the two and three-dimensional shapes which we will share in a hallway display.
- The children created elephants out of pattern blocks, then counted and graphed the pieces. Some children recreated the puzzle without the template! We talked about more, less and same as we compared number of shapes.
- We manipulated translucent colored magnetic shapes on a light table to build three-dimensional creations and to see the effect of the light.
- We worked in our writing journals for the first time. The children created an illustration then dictated a few words about their picture. This process will transition to writing over the next few weeks.
- We made ‘Creations’ out of recyclable materials (thank you for your donations!), after reading Not a Box, and Not a Stick, by Antionette Portis.
- We attended an 'All School Gathering' on Monday for songs, announcements, and birthday greetings. This is an every Monday occurrence and helps solidify us as a community. It is also a lot of fun!
- In addition, we celebrated Jackson’s and Teacher Sarah's birthdays!
- We will have a math focus week with games, dice, cards, patterns, counting, etc.
- Our library visit is Wednesday. Books should be returned if you are finished – children may not have more than two books out at one time.
- Our letter of the week is 'E', with 'E' Show and Tell on Thursday or Friday. Letters are presented in the order of writing ease.
- Specials:
- Monday – Gathering, Spanish
- Tuesday – Music, PE
- Wednesday – Library, Music
- Thursday – Meeting for Worship, Spanish
- Friday – Art, PE
- Friday, Oct. 5th - 11:45 dismissal
- Monday, October 8th - No school
- Tuesday, October 9th at 8:15.- informal parent coffee
- Saturday, October 20th - Homecoming
- Wednesday, October 24th – Class trip to Ramsey’s Pumpkin Patch
- Wednesday, Oct. 31st – Fall Social:
- 8:45 Halloween Parade
- Parent and class gathering back in the classroom following the parade
- NOTE: Please let me know if your family does not celebrate Halloween. There is so much to celebrate this time of year and we don’t want anyone to feel left out! Sarah and I will make a special effort to include all of the children. Thanks!
- Children should refrain from climbing on the elephant in the circle.
- Families picking up half-day friends should not park on the circle.
- Please have your orange carpool cards ready on Friday, October 5th, when school is dismissed at 11:45.
Pre-k quote:
“Ow, my throat hurts.”
Teacher: “Does it hurt when you swallow?”
“No, just when I scream.”
We hope you have a nice weekend,
Sue and Sarah
Pre-K News!
September 21st, 2012
Dear Parents,
It was wonderful to meet with so many of you today. It is important to hear your perspectives, thoughts, and ideas, and I appreciate your time and willingness to share.
Here is a list of this week’s activities:
http://wfsgeoghegan12.weebly.com
and the password is prek2013.
Have a great weekend,
Sue and Sarah
It was wonderful to meet with so many of you today. It is important to hear your perspectives, thoughts, and ideas, and I appreciate your time and willingness to share.
Here is a list of this week’s activities:
- We enjoyed reading all about Wuzzy’s adventures! Thanks for your participation.
- Inspired by Karen Katz’ book, The Colors of Us, we named and explored the variety of beautiful skin tones we have in our class, and drew pictures of ourselves.
- In an accompanying class discussion, we shared ways in which we are special, and how we let our inner light ‘shine’. We made pictures and dictated ideas about what makes us unique and special.
- We introduced, Handwriting Without Tears, a handwriting program that supports proper pencil grip, pencil control, and proper letter formation. We practiced our grips and crayon control with work in our handwriting journals.
- We introduced the letter ‘L’, with activities:
- Finding pictures of objects and creating lists of words that begin with the letter ’L’
- Making lollipops on ‘L’ for a page in an alphabet book we are creating
- Sorting ‘Letter Leaves’ and counting ‘Ladybugs’ for math
- Lining up for specials using our ‘L’ names: Cole=Lole
- We met with Science teacher, Tim Dalby, to explore noise and vibration. Children struck various materials with pencils and listened to the noises that resulted. Mr. Dalby taught us that the contact creates vibrations that cause noise. We put our hands on our throats to feel vibrations as we talked and sang.
- We introduced the primary colors and mixed them together using finger paint, food coloring, and oil and water. We graphed our favorite colors and tallied the results. Red is most popular! We are also making color posters for our hallway.
- We held our second Show and Tell. Thank you for your help finding ‘L’ items! The children did a great job presenting!
- We had ‘Buddy Recess’ on Thursday. It was fun reconnecting with these special friends.
- The letter of the week is ‘F’
- We will continue our color and shape focus
- ‘F’ Show and Tell will be held Thursday or Friday (children can choose either day)
- Our library visit is Thursday
- Our specials:
- Monday – Gathering and music
- Tuesday – Spanish
- Wednesday – PE and Art
- Thursday – Meeting for Worship, Science and Library
- Friday – PE and Art
http://wfsgeoghegan12.weebly.com
and the password is prek2013.
Have a great weekend,
Sue and Sarah
Pre-K News
September 14th, 2012
Dear Parents,
It was nice to see many of you on Tuesday. Thank you so much for coming and sharing the evening with us. If you were not able to attend, I will fill you in during conferences. Sarah and I are excited about the smooth beginning we are experiencing here at school and feel lucky to work with such a great group of children and parents!
Our activities this week centered on strengthening the bonds that are forming in the classroom, becoming more familiar with class routines, and playing together. Our activities focused on bears, and our bear activities included:
Have a nice weekend,
Sue and Sarah
Notes:
“Teacher Sarah, I changed my name. Now it’s Princess Rainbow Unicorn Queen. Queen is my last name.”
It was nice to see many of you on Tuesday. Thank you so much for coming and sharing the evening with us. If you were not able to attend, I will fill you in during conferences. Sarah and I are excited about the smooth beginning we are experiencing here at school and feel lucky to work with such a great group of children and parents!
Our activities this week centered on strengthening the bonds that are forming in the classroom, becoming more familiar with class routines, and playing together. Our activities focused on bears, and our bear activities included:
- Going on a Teddy Bear Picnic to the middle school track
- Creating and decorating Wuzzy Bears that will come home today to spend the weekend with you
- Counting bear balloons
- Sequencing bears from biggest to smallest
- Reading a variety of bear books
- Creating a class version of Brown Bear, Brown Bear
- Completing bear puzzles
- Graphing Teddy Grahams by flavor preference, and gummy bears by color
- “Going on a Bear Hunt” around the school grounds and eventually finding a big, bear (Teacher Annette!)
- We introduced the children to ‘I-to-I’s’, a process of talking and listening to others, to help children resolve conflict. Happily, we have not had too many in the classroom!
- We met our second grade buddies on Thursday and created artistic masterpieces together! We were inspired by, 1) the book, Let it Shine, by Ashley Bryan, and 2) a discussion about the power of our inner light and what makes it shine. Afterward, we enjoyed Meeting for Worship together.
- We are creating a password protected website in which to post photos of the children (their names will not be given). Sarah and I have found that this is a great way to share our activities with you. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.
Have a nice weekend,
Sue and Sarah
Notes:
- Next Tuesday is picture day – please return the picture form that comes home today.
- Please send Wuzzy back on Monday with your child’s dictation
- We will explore shape and color.
- Our ‘Letter of the Week’ is ‘L’.
- Show and Tell will be on Friday, (and will be held every Friday thereafter). Children are invited to share an object from home that begins with the letter of the week (‘L’ for next week).
- Monday – Gathering, Art, PE
- Tuesday – Science, Library (and Picture Day)
- Wednesday – PE, Art
- Thursday –Meeting for Worship, Spanish
- Friday –Music, PE
“Teacher Sarah, I changed my name. Now it’s Princess Rainbow Unicorn Queen. Queen is my last name.”
Pre-K News
September 7th, 2012
Dear Parents,
Our short first week has flown by! We are busy getting to know each other, and learning names, routines, faces, and expectations. It is a lot of fun and work, and it will take a while! We have enjoyed each other and have learned that this is a wonderful class. Much of our time has been spent playing and socializing, talking, sharing facts about ourselves, learning to raise our hands to speak, and how to be a respectful listener. We visited five of our seven weekly ‘Specials’ including PE, Art, Meeting for Worship, Music and Library. We will go to Spanish and Gathering on Monday. It has been exciting and probably a bit overwhelming. Please reassure your children that it WILL become easier as time goes on and Sarah and I are proud of them! AND have a restful weekend!
There are a few items, corrections, and answers to questions that have come up this week:
Next week we will begin a short Bear unit. Your child may bring a stuffed bear to school to stay with us if they would like. Please let us know if the bear needs to come home at night. Lastly, please send in a baby picture if you have not yet done so. We will add it to our “Guess Who” poster.
Many thanks! We hope you have a wonderful weekend,
Sue and Sarah
Our short first week has flown by! We are busy getting to know each other, and learning names, routines, faces, and expectations. It is a lot of fun and work, and it will take a while! We have enjoyed each other and have learned that this is a wonderful class. Much of our time has been spent playing and socializing, talking, sharing facts about ourselves, learning to raise our hands to speak, and how to be a respectful listener. We visited five of our seven weekly ‘Specials’ including PE, Art, Meeting for Worship, Music and Library. We will go to Spanish and Gathering on Monday. It has been exciting and probably a bit overwhelming. Please reassure your children that it WILL become easier as time goes on and Sarah and I are proud of them! AND have a restful weekend!
There are a few items, corrections, and answers to questions that have come up this week:
- Parent night is scheduled for next week - Tuesday evening, September 11th at 7:00. Sarah and I look forward to meeting with you to address what I’m sure are lots of questions. If there are particular issues or questions you have in the meantime, please let us know through email, classroom phone (576-6784), or by writing a note in your child’s folder. We check folders first thing in the morning.
- The Home and School Picnic will be held Friday night (tonight) at 6:00 on the Jones’ Lawn if you are interested.
- CORRECTION: Individual slices of pizza, for those of you who order on Wednesdays, are now $2:00 – I’m sorry for the incorrect information!
- We provide snack for your child each morning, so you do not need to pack an extra snack.
- Next week’s specials:
- Monday – Gathering, Spanish
- Music, PE (wear sneakers)
- Wednesday – Music
- Thursday – Meeting for Worship, Spanish
- Friday – Science, Library
Next week we will begin a short Bear unit. Your child may bring a stuffed bear to school to stay with us if they would like. Please let us know if the bear needs to come home at night. Lastly, please send in a baby picture if you have not yet done so. We will add it to our “Guess Who” poster.
Many thanks! We hope you have a wonderful weekend,
Sue and Sarah