1/22 Update

1/22 Classroom Update!

This week, we learned all about libraries. We discussed library and library book manners, what librarians do, and what types of things you can find at the library. We read lots of great stories about the library, as well as explored our own classroom library. After reading Library Lion, we made our own lion masks using an AB pattern for the manes (yellow, orange, yellow, orange, yellow, orange, etc.). We also learned the "Mat Man" song and built Mat Man during centers. Here are some of the great books we read this week:

      

Next week, we will be focusing on the letter U and participating in "Happy Un-Birthday" themed activities. We will be talking about opposites, and will read many opposite and birthday books as well. In order to acknowledge students with summer birthdays, we will be singing happy birthday to students who do not have birthdays during the school year and will have an "Un-birthday" party in class on Thursday to celebrate everyone's birthday. 

Valentine's Day:
The week of February 8-11 will be spent participating in Valentine's Day activities and discussing friendship. In lieu of a party and students bringing in individual valentines for each member of our class, we are asking for students and their families to create ONE BIG VALENTINE using a heart that will be provided by school. We will be sending home your Valentine's Day heart in Thursday folders this coming Thursday, January 28th. You can use glitter, stickers, paint, yarn, pasta, crayons, or any other materials around your house to decorate your Valentine's Day heart. Please return your “Class Valentine” to school by Monday, February 8th so that we may share them with the class and display them for our school community.

Scholastic Book Orders:
I will be sending home Scholastic Book Order forms in Thursday folders this upcoming Thursday, January 28th. If you would like to order books through Scholastic, you can order books online by completing the following steps:

1. Go to the Scholastic Reading Club Website here.
2. If you are a returning user, you will be able to sign-in using your email and password.
3. If you are a new user, click "Connect to your Teacher" and enter our class activation code: PJFBX.
4. Then click to order from this month's flyer. Our default flyer is the "Early Childhood" flyer; however, you may order from any of the fliers. You can view more details about each book and add them to your cart by clicking on them in the flyer. 
5. After selecting your items, click on the cart to create an account or sign-in to your existing account in order to check-out.  
6. February Orders are due by Thursday, February 11th.

Important Dates/Reminders: 

• There are no preschool classes on Friday, January 29, 2016. Childcare will still be open. 
• Preschool enrollment for current Woodcliff families for the 2016-17 school year begins on Tuesday, January 26. 
• Preschool Open House for enrollment questions is on February 2, 2016 from 6:30-7:30 pm. Open enrollment for new families also begins on Tuesday February 2.
• Preschool Progress Reports will go home in folders on Thursday, February 4, 2016. 

Have a great weekend!

1/15 Classroom Update!

1/15 Classroom Update

This week, we had so much fun learning about the letter K and kites! We focused on writing the letter K, identifying the "k" sound at the beginning of words, and discriminating between the letter K and other letters. We also made kangaroos out of the letter K for our alphabet books! We read lots of fun and interesting stories about kites, and even made our own paper bag and stained glass kites. We are saving our paper bag kites at school to fly on a nice spring day!

Just a reminder that we go outside each day as long as the windchill and temperature are above zero. Please remember to send your child with snow pants, boots, gloves, and hats each day so that he or she is adequately protected from the cold and snow. We were lucky enough to have good packing snow today, and our morning class built many snowman out in the field behind our playground!

Next week, we will be focusing on the library. We will discuss what libraries have to offer, what jobs librarians do, and library/book manners. We will also be talking about positional words (above, below, behind, etc) and opposites.

Reminders: 

• There are no preschool classes on Friday, January 29, 2016. Childcare will still be open. 
• Preschool Open House for enrollment questions is on February 2, 2016 from 6:30-7:30 pm. 
• Preschool Progress Reports will go home in folders on Thursday, February 4, 2016. 

Have a great weekend!

1/8 Classroom Update

1/8 Classroom Update!

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing holiday break! This week, we jumped right back into the swing of things with a busy week learning about the Jan Brett classic The Mitten. We practiced sequencing the story in order, acted out the story for the class, learned a song about the mitten called "The Mitten in the Snow," colored our own mittens and laced them up. We made story retelling bags so that we can tell you the story of "The Mitten" at home! The week we also worked on rhyming by playing rhyming games and completing rhyming sorts. We sorted words that rhymed with "Snow" and "Flake," as well as played a mitten rhyming match game, Below are some of the mitten themed stories we read this week:

 

 

We have been working hard on getting ourselves dressed and ready to go outside independently. Each day, we practice taking off our shoes, putting on our snow pants and then our boots, zipping our coats, putting on our hats, and lastly putting on our gloves/mittens. I have been asking all students to try to zip their coats first, and then tell them that Ms. Mackenzie or I will help them if they still need help. I have already seen big improvement in our ability to get ready in just this week! Practicing zipping coats and other clothing items at home is a great way to strengthen fine motor muscles and to help your child be more successful in getting themselves ready to go outside in the snow!

Next week, we will return to having a letter of the week. Our letter of the week will be the letter K, and we we will focus on kites. We will talk about what makes kites fly, create our own flying kites, practice drawing people flying kites, and play kite themed math/counting games. I'm looking forward to another great week!

Have a great weekend!