12/21 Classroom Update

Thank you all for such a wonderful first semester and all of your generosity this holiday season. It is such a gift to be able to teach your children each day, and I am so very thankful that you share them all with me each day. Thank you as well to all of the parents who donated their time and resources to our winter party - our preschoolers had a blast!

This week, we read the classic story The Mitten by Jan Brett and practiced retelling the story through song and play in the snow table. We worked on using adjectives/describing words to describe things, and described our own mittens that we designed and stitched. We also read our The Mitten mini-books that follow a pattern. Your preschooler can practice reading it at home too! We also began working on simple addition! I apologize for my lack of pictures this week with being out due to illness on Monday and Tuesday, but here a couple of pictures from our mitten exploration:

We wrote our own class book of The Mitten where each preschooler picked a different animal to climb into their mitten.

After coloring and describing our mittens, we stitched the outside of our mittens with yarn. 

Important Dates/Reminders:

Winter Break: School will be closed from December 21st - January 4th. Classes resume Monday, January 7th!

No School 1/21: There is no preschool on Monday 1/21 in observance of Martin Luther King Day.

Mid-Winter Break: There will be no preschool on Monday 2/18 and Tuesday 2/19 for a mid-winter break. School will resume on Wednesday 2/20.

Happy holidays from my family to yours! Wishing you all a relaxing, wonderful winter break full of holiday magic and blessings!

See you in 2019!

12/14 Classroom Update

Thank you to all the parents who came to Parent Teacher Conferences on Tuesday night. I really enjoyed meeting with you all and sharing your child's progress so far this year. I can't wait to see how they continue to grow over the course of the year!

This week, we read several versions of the classic story The Gingerbread Man. We continued to practice sequencing story events, focusing on the beginning, middle, and end. We sequenced the steps to making gingerbread cookies, then worked together to bake real gingerbread cookies! Luckily ours did not run away :) Here is peek at our week in preschool:

After reading The Gingerbread Baby, we made our own gingerbread houses for our gingerbread babies.

We reenacted the story of the Gingerbread Baby in the snow table. 

In our classroom bakery, preschoolers could take each other's cookie orders, bake cookies, and decorate cakes!

We practiced recognizing quantities by playing Gingerbread Roll & Cover.

We identified and wrote the beginning sound of different holiday words. 

At the writing center, we wrote several gingerbread words using many different tools!

 

We "ice skated" around the classroom on paper plates!

On Thursday, we worked together to bake gingerbread cookies!

We all got to help by adding in the different ingredients.

Cutting out our own cookies!

At the playdough center, we rolled and cut out playdough cookies.

After baking our gingerbread cookies, we decorated and ate them at snack time! They were a big hit! If anyone is interested in making quick and easy gingerbread cookies at home, this is the recipe we used to make ours at school: https://www.lilaloa.com/2013/12/no-chill-gingerbread-roll-out-cookies.html. 

Important Dates/Reminders:

Pajama Day: WECC will be having pajama day on Thursday 12/20 next week! Students are invited to wear their pajamas and slippers (make sure to bring shoes/boots for outside) to class!

Winter Party: Please join us for a fun winter party from 2:15-3:00 pm in our classroom this coming Thursday, December 20th! We are looking for volunteers to help make our party special for our preschoolers. To sign up to help, please go here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0F4DACA62AA2FE3-pm5s1.

Winter Break: The last day of preschool classes before Winter Break is Thursday, December 20th. School resumes Monday, January 7th!

No School 1/21: There is no preschool on Monday 1/21 in observance of Martin Luther King Day.

Mid-Winter Break: There will be no preschool on Monday 2/18 and Tuesday 2/19 for a mid-winter break. School will resume on Wednesday 2/20.

Have a great weekend!

12/7 Classroom Update

This week, we began learning about winter and discussing fun things to do in the wintertime! We read lots of great stories about snow and snowmen, including Snowmen at Night. After reading Snowmen at Night, we practiced retelling the story with a beginning, middle and end. Here is a glimpse of more winter fun from this week in preschool:

We made dalmatian doggies for our letter books!

After reading Sneezy the Snowman, we painted melted snowmen and wrote about how our snowmen melted!

At the playdough center, we built snowmen out of snow playdough!

We added buttons, eyes and other decorations to our snowmen!

We built snowflakes with pattern blocks!

We practiced writing our letters and quizzing our neighbors on etch-a-sketches before working on the letters D and B in our Handwriting Without Tears books!

After reading The Snowy Day, we used special snow paint to paint our own snowy day scenes. 

In the sensory table, we played with polar animals in the "snow"!

Important Dates/Reminders:

Parent Teacher Conferences:  I'm looking forward to meeting with you all on this coming Tuesday, December 11th in the Woodcliff Board Room. This week, I sent home a pre-conference form in your child's folder. Please take a few minutes to fill it out and return it on Monday. To sign up, change or check your conference time, please visit the following link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0F4DACA62AA2FE3-pm5s.

Winter Party: Please join us for a fun winter party from 2:15-3:00 pm in our classroom on Thursday, December 20th! We are looking for volunteers to help make our party special for our preschoolers. To sign up to help, please go here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0F4DACA62AA2FE3-pm5s1.

Winter Break: The last day of preschool classes before Winter Break is Thursday, December 20th. School resumes Monday, January 7th!

Have a great weekend!

11/30 Classroom Update

I hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving break! It was quite the surprise to wake up to a snow day on Monday, but all of the snow made for lots fun during outside time this week. This week, we really enjoyed learning about dinosaurs! We learned about many different types of dinosaurs, how paleontologists study dinosaurs, about dinosaur eggs, and why scientists think dinosaurs are extinct. During center time, we worked on matching dinosaur beginning sounds, came up with our own theories about what happened to the dinosaurs, dug for dinosaurs in the sand table, acted as paleontologists by putting together the puzzle of dinosaur bones, and more! Here are some picture highlights from the week:

Building dinosaurs with pattern blocks!

Painting our Jellyfish for our letter books!

Digging for dinosaurs in the sand table!

Putting together dinosaur skeletons!

Music with Ms. Janet!

We made a playdough volcano erupt!

Watching the volcano erupt!

Important Dates/Reminders:

Parent Teacher Conferences:  Preschool conferences will be held in the Woodcliff Board Room from 3:30-6:30 pm on Tuesday, December 11th. To sign up, change or check your conference time, please visit the following link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0F4DACA62AA2FE3-pm5s.

Winter Party: Save the date for a fun winter party from 2:15-3:00 pm in our classroom on Thursday, December 20th! More details to follow!

Winter Break: The last day of preschool classes before Winter Break is Thursday, December 20th. School resumes Monday, January 7th!

Have a great weekend!

11/16 Classroom Update

This week, we learned all about turkeys! We learned about the parts of a turkey, where turkeys live, what they eat, the life cycle of a turkey, and much more! In preparation for Thanksgiving, we also began to discuss things we are grateful for. Here are some picture highlights from the week:

We played in our new grocery store dramatic play area! In the grocery store, we wrote grocery lists, hunted for the items on our lists, checked out with the cashier, and used coupons for extra savings! :)

We also made Indian corn - a symbol of the fall harvest!

After reading the story Run Turkey Run, we used "turkey feet" to paint turkey tracks as the turkey ran away from the farmer!

We made striped snakes for our letter books!

We learned about the life cycle of a turkey! They grow from an egg to a poult to a Jake or Jenny (young adult turkey) and finally into a full grown Tom or Hen!

We had so much making music and dancing with Ms. Janet on Wednesday!

This week, we also discussed things we are thankful for. Our thankful turkeys are on display in the hallway!

Important Dates/Reminders:

Scholastic Book Orders: Last week, I sent home Scholastic Book orders in your child's folder. November book orders are due by this coming Tuesday, November 20th. You can order books online by completing the steps below. You may also turn in your paper order and payment to me and I will input and send in your order for you. This will be the last Scholastic book order until January, so if you are ordering books as a gift, please let me know so I can get them to you discreetly!

1. Go to the Scholastic Reading Club Website here.
2. Click Connect to your Teacher and enter our class activation code: PJFBX.
3. 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 flyers. You can view more details about each book and add them to your cart by clicking on them in the flyer. 
4. After selecting your items, click on the cart to create an account or sign-in to your existing account in order to check-out.  
5. October orders need to be placed by Tuesday, November 20.

Thanksgiving Break: There is no school November 21-23 for Thanksgiving break. Classes will resume on Monday, November 26th.

Parent Teacher Conferences: Save the date for preschool conferences on Tuesday, December 11th. Please sign up for a conference using the following link:
 https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0F4DACA62AA2FE3-pm5s.

Winter Party: Save the date for a fun winter party from 2:15-3:00 pm in our classroom on Thursday, December 20th! More details to follow!

Winter Break: The last day of preschool classes before Winter Break is Thursday, December 20th. School resumes Monday, January 7th!

Have a great weekend!

11/9 Classroom Update

This week, we explored ocean life! We learned about lots of different animals living in the ocean, including the difference between mammals and fish. We also learned about the parts of a shark and especially enjoyed looking at a bull shark's jaw and all of it's teeth! Thank you for sharing it with us Mrs. Hakopian! At center time, we worked on identifying the beginning sound of many ocean words, as well as counting the syllables we hear in ocean words. Here are some more pictures from our week in preschool:

We learned about ocean animals and sorted animals that do and do not live in the ocean. 

We practiced writing our letters in sand. 

We played with ocean animals in the water table!

We learned about the letter O and made an orange octopus for our letter books!

We read the story Mr. Seahorse and painted our own seahorses!

We also made hand print crabs after reading the story A House for Hermit Crab!

Important Dates/Reminders:

School Picture Retakes: If you would like your child's photo retaken, please let us know and return the proof to school. Picture retakes will be on Wednesday, November 14th.

Scholastic Book Orders:This week, I sent home Scholastic Book orders in your child's folder. November book orders are due by Tuesday, November 20th. You can order books online by completing the steps below. You may also turn in your paper order and payment to me and I will input and send in your order for you. This will be the last Scholastic book order until January, so if you are ordering books as a gift, please let me know so I can get them to you discreetly!

1. Go to the Scholastic Reading Club Website here.
2. Click Connect to your Teacher and enter our class activation code: PJFBX.
3. 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 flyers. You can view more details about each book and add them to your cart by clicking on them in the flyer. 
4. After selecting your items, click on the cart to create an account or sign-in to your existing account in order to check-out.  
5. October orders need to be placed by Tuesday, November 20.

Thanksgiving Break: There is no school November 21-23 for Thanksgiving break. Classes will resume on Monday, November 26th.

Parent Teacher Conferences: Save the date for preschool conferences on Tuesday, December 11th. Please sign up for a conference using the following link:
 https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0F4DACA62AA2FE3-pm5s.

Winter Party: Save the date for a fun winter party in our classroom on Thursday, December 20th!

Winter Break: The last day of preschool classes before Winter Break is Thursday, December 20th. School resumes Monday, January 7th!

Have a great weekend!