10/30 Classroom Update

10/30 Update!

Parent Teacher Conferences: Just a reminder that Parent Teacher conferences will be held on Monday, November 9th and Thursday, November 12th. This week, I sent home a parent teacher conference form in your child's folder. Please fill it out and return it at your earliest convenience to help me plan and make effective use of our time together during conferences. If you have not yet signed up for a conference, please sign up by following the link below:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0f4daca62aa2fe3-mskaties

Picture Retakes: Picture retakes will be on Wednesday, November 11th. Please email me at kbillmei@egrps.org and let me know if your child will be having their picture retaken on that day. Picture order forms are due by Monday, November 9th.

November Calendar: Below is our November calendar with important dates and upcoming letters of the week/themes! Clicking on the calendar will enlarge the calendar to allow you to see all of the important upcoming events.

Halloween Parties: A big THANK YOU to all of the parents who contributed to and helped out with our Halloween parties this week! I cannot get over how ADORABLE everyone looked in their costumes! If you took any pictures at the party, please email them to me at kbillmei@egrps.org so that I may post them on the blog for all parents to see!

Next Week: Next week we will learn about the letter N and focus on numbers. Here are some great ways you can practice counting/identifying numbers at home:

     - Counting objects and rote counting aloud with your child

     - Point out and name numbers on houses, street signs, and buildings.

     - Sing songs and/or rhymes that involved counting (ex. 10 Little Pumpkins)

     - Go on a scavenger hunt: give your child different numbers of different objects to find (ex. Can you find three picture frames?)

     - Easy connect-the-dot pictures with numbers 1-20

     - Stacking blocks and counting how high you can go 

     - Estimate how many objects will fit in something, then count and see how many actually fit

     - Count objects around the house (ex. How many doors do you have?)

     - Play any board game or make your own!

I'm looking forward to another great week!

10/23 Classroom Update

10/23 Update: Conferences, Halloween Parties and More!

Fall Conferences: Fall conferences will be held on Monday, November 9th and Thursday, November 12th after school. Please follow the link below to sign up for one ten-minute fall parent-teacher conference. Due to the short amount of time we have during conferences, I will be asking parents to fill out a pre-conference form to help me make the most effective use of our time together. This form will be coming home in your child's folder next Thursday (10/29). I'm looking forward to meeting with all of you!

Fall Conference Sign-Ups: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0f4daca62aa2fe3-mskaties

Halloween Parties: Thank you to all of the parents who signed up to help with our upcoming Halloween parties! Our PM class will have their party on Thursday, October 29th from 2:30-3:15 pm, and our AM class will have their party on Friday, October 30th from 10:30-11:15 am. Children may wear their Halloween costumes the day of their Halloween party. Before the party begins, we will have a parade through the administrative side of the building to show off our costumes!

Photo Permission Slips: In your child's folder this week is a permission slip for me to post pictures of your child on our classroom blog. Pictures taken will be solely for the use of our classroom blog, and I will never post names of students. Please sign and return the form indicating whether or not you give permission for your child's picture to be on our classroom blog. If you need a new copy of the form, please let me know!

Weekly Recap: This week, we learned all about the letter B and participated in Bedtime themed activities. We read favorite bedtime stories, built bedrooms out of blocks, put babies to bed, painted starry skies, practiced one-to-one correspondence through making "blankets," and sorted things we do/see in the day and night. I loved seeing everyone in their pajamas and learning about their favorite blankets/stuffed animals to sleep with!

Our favorite finger-play of the week was "Five Little Children." It is very similar to "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed." Here are the words so you may do the rhyme at home with your preschooler!

Five little children were jumping on the bed, (show five little children/fingers with one hand jumping on bed/other hand out flat)

One jumped too high and bumped his head, (show fingers jumping up, hold head)

Mother came in and mother said,

There shouldn't be children bumping on the bed. (scold with finger)

Repeat with 4, 3, and 2 children....

One little child was jumping on the bed,

He jumped too high and bumped his head,

Father came in and father said,

There are no more children jumping on the bed. (hands on hips, frowning)

Next week, we will learn about the letter R and focus on theme Royalty. We will learn all about kings, queens, princes, and princesses and make our own royal crowns. We will learn about castles and build our own using blocks and sugar cubes. We will also have our Halloween parties at the end of the week! I'm looking forward to another great week!

10/16 Update!

10/16 Update!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of the parents who joined us on our field trip to Schwallier's Country Basket! Despite the rain in the morning, we had the best time picking our pumpkins, picking an apple, petting and feeding the baby goats, holding the bunnies, and eating the most delicious apple cinnamon donuts. The slide was also definitely a huge hit among the kids!

If you have any pictures from the field trip, I would love to see them! Please email them to me at kbillmei@egrps.org, and then I can also share them with parents who were not able to attend.

This week, we learned all about the letter P and pumpkins. We learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin, and were able to put the life cycle in order. We also made jack-o-lanterns, worked in our classroom pumpkin patch, decorated "Mr. Pumpkin" heads, wrote about pumpkins and learned how to draw pumpkins. Here are some of the books we read about pumpkins below:

      

Next week, we will begin learning about the letter B and start our new theme: Bedtime! We will be talking about our bedtime routines, learning about why our bodies need sleep, sharing our favorite bedtime stories, and designing cozy blankets and pajamas. We will have a special pajama day on Thursday (10/22), and I invite students to bring in their blankies or a stuffed animal they like to sleep with to share on Thursday.

Save the date: Fall conferences will be held on Monday, November 9th and Thursday, November 12th. Be on the lookout for information about how to sign-up for conferences! I will also be sending home a parent feedback form to fill out before conferences to help guide our discussions during conferences.

Have a great weekend!

10/8 Update!

10/8 Classroom Update!

REMINDER: Field trip permission slips and money are due by tomorrow, October 9th (Friday), for our fall field trip to Schwallier's Country Basket. The field trip costs $5 per student and adult attending.

This week, we had lots of fun talking about fall, playing in our classroom apple orchard, and learning about the letter D. In our discussions about fall, we focused on fall weather, fall clothing, and fall leaves. We read about why leaves change colors, learned the parts of a leave (stem, blade, and veins), and looked at different types of leaves. We read The Leaf Man, in which all the illustrations are made out of leaves and made our own leaf men or pictures out of leaves. We also used Q-tips for painting fall objects to practice our fine motor skills. Here are some of the fall books we read below:

       

At our classroom apple orchard, we were able to pick apples from the apple tree, sort apples by color, make pretend apple pies, and buy/sell goods at the Apple Orchard Cafe. You can see our Apple Orchard was very popular this week and well played in :)

During circle time, we graphed our favorite seasons and discussed what we liked best about each season. Check out our favorite seasons below!

Morning Class:

Afternoon Class:

Next week, we will learn all about the letter P and focus on Pumpkins. We will use our senses to describe pumpkins, explore what is inside a pumpkin, make jack-o-lantern crafts, and play in our classroom pumpkin patch.

Important Reminders for Next Week:

Picture Day: Picture day is Tuesday, October 13th! The morning class will have their pictures taken at 9:00 am, and the afternoon class will have their pictures taken at 1:30 pm.

Field Trip: On Thursday, October 15th, we will be going to Schwallier's Country Basket to taste apples, pick a pumpkin, and pet farm animals. On the day of the field trip, please bring a booster seat pre-labeled with your child's name. Your child should also be dressed in layered clothing and boots for potentially muddy conditions.

10/2 Classroom Update!

September flew by, and I am so excited for all that October has to offer! I have included information below about Spirit Week, Picture Day, our field trip, and Halloween parties. Please check out our classroom calendar below for important dates, our letters of the week, and classroom themes as well.

Spirit Week: This coming week (October 5-9), we will participate in a spirit week for EGR Homecoming! Each day, students may dress up in the following themes:

      - Monday: Pajama Day

      - Tuesday: Dress up as your favorite character

      - Wednesday: Mix & Match Clothes

      - Thursday: Favorite Sports Team

      - Friday: Show your EGR Spirit - Wear blue and gold and/or East clothing

Picture Day: Picture Day will be Tuesday, October 13th. The morning class will have their pictures taken at 9:00 am, and the afternoon class will have their pictures taken at 1:30 pm. Picture Day make-ups will take place on November 11th. 

Field Trip: On Thursday, October 15th, we will be going to Schwallier's Country Basket to taste apples, pick a pumpkin, and pet farm animals. There is a fee of $5 per child and adult attending. Please return the permission form and field trip money by Friday, October 9th. 

On the day of the field trip, please bring booster seats pre-labeled with your child's name. Your child should also be dressed in layered clothing and boots for potentially muddy conditions. 

Halloween Parties: Halloween parties will be held on October 29th (for the PM class) and October 30th (for the AM class) during the last 45 minutes of class. Our afternoon party on October 29th will run from 2:30-3:15 pm, and our morning party on October 30th will run from 10:30-11:15 am, Students may wear their Halloween costumes on the day of the party as we will continue the tradition of a Halloween parade through the Administrative side of the building before our Halloween parties begin.

We are looking for parent volunteers to join in on the fun at our Halloween parties. For each class, we are looking for parents to read Halloween books, bring a snack, bring a drink, plan/bring a craft, and plan/bring a game. Below are links to sign-up to help with the AM & PM parties.

To help with the AM party, please sign-up here: 

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0f4daca62aa2fe3-amhalloween

To help with the PM party, please sign-up here:  http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0f4daca62aa2fe3-pmhalloween

Have a wonderful weekend!