9/28 Classroom Update

This week, we had so much fun learning about fall! We reviewed all the seasons, with an emphasis on things we see and can do in the fall! In preparation for our field trip to Schwallier's Country Basket next week (on Thursday!), we now have an apple orchard in our classroom for our preschoolers to play in during centers and free choice time. We also learned about the letter L this week, practiced matching words to letters based on their beginning sounds, and much more! Here are some picture highlights from the week:

Learning to write the letter L using Wet Dry Try - a multi-sensory way to practice handwriting!

On Monday, we read the story of The Leaf Man in which all the illustrations are made from leaves!

After reading, we created our own leaf men using real leaves!

Working on our leaf men!

On Tuesday, we went on a nature walk and looked for signs of fall! 

We started our letter books this week and transformed the letter L into a ladybug!

We practiced writing the letter L in our HWT workbooks! 

We have been learning all the sounds the letters make. This week we practiced making those sounds at center time!

After practicing the sounds, we matched words with letters based on their beginning sounds!

We painted fall trees using paintbrushes for the trunk and foil balls for the leaves!

At the playdough station, we created numbers out of playdough and built that number of playdough apples for the apple tree!

We had so much fun exploring fall objects and playing in our fall sensory table!

Important Dates/Reminders:

Spirit Week: Next week (October 1-5) will be Spirit Week at Woodcliff to get ready for Homecoming in East! Each day, there will be a different theme for students and adults to show their East spirit!

    

     Monday: Pajama Day!

     Tuesday: Hat Day!

     Wednesday: Favorite Sports Team Day!

     Thursday: Mismatch Day!

     Friday: Wear your East gear!

     

Scholastic Book Orders: This week, I sent home Scholastic Book orders in your child's folder. October book orders are due by Friday, October 5th. 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.

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 Friday, October 5.

Country Basket Field Trip: Our field trip is coming up this week! On Thursday, October 4th, we will be visiting Schwallier's Country Basket for a fun afternoon learning about the farm, pollination, and growing apples and pumpkins. At Schwallier's, students will get to pick a pumpkin and apple, pet and feed baby goats, and explore different outdoor play stations. 

• Plan to get to class a few minutes early on 10/4. We will be leaving promptly at 12:00 pm.for our tour at 12:30 at Schwallier's. 
• If you are not driving your child on the field trip, please bring your child's car/booster seat labeled on the day of the field trip.
• Right now the forecast is for occasional showers with a high of 69 (fingers crossed it will improve!). Dress in layers and footwear that can get muddy!
• If you are interested in driving on the field trip, please sign up on the bulletin board outside our classroom indicating the number of children you can drive or send me an email at kbillmei@egrps.org.
• There is a fee of $5 per child that will be charged to your monthly preschool account. Adults attending will pay $5 at Schwallier's.
• All children will need to be transported in a car seat. Please bring booster seats pre-labeled with your child's name on the day of our trip. 

Field Trip Drivers:  There is still time to join us on our field trip! Any adult transporting a child other than their own will need to fill out a self-reporting form and provide proof of insurance, driver's license and registration in the WECC office. All parent volunteers for the field trip must fill out a volunteer form. This form can be found at www.egrps.org under Quick Links. If you have signed up to drive and have not filled out your forms yet, please do so ASAP!

Picture Day: Picture day is Tuesday, October 9th! About a week after pictures, we will send home a proof to view and order photos. Picture retake day will be Wednesday, November 14th.

Halloween Party: Join us for a Halloween Party in our classroom on Wednesday, October 31 from 2:15-3:00. Costumes are encouraged :) More details to follow!

Have a great weekend!

9/21 Classroom Update

Good Afternoon! This week, we had so much fun learning about feelings and how to identify how we or someone else might be feeling. We learned that our bodies will feel different when experiencing different feelings, and that different facial expressions are associated with different feelings. We also discussed how when can solve problems when we are feeling mad or frustrated while working or playing with friends. Here are some picture highlights from the week:

We worked on identifying how someone is feeling by looking at clues on their face and their body!

After reading Glad Monster Sad Monster, we created our own monsters!

Our monsters are currently hanging in the hallway for all to see!

On Tuesday, we played Feelings Bingo with Ms. Rebecca and talked about what makes us feel different ways!

On Wednesday, we worked on pre-writing and coloring skills like making straight lines, curvy lines, and coloring things the right color. 

We also used pattern blocks to build letters!

At the playdough center, we made faces to show different feelings.

On Thursday, we talked about things that make us feel silly. During center time, we made silly mismatched faces!

Important Dates/Reminders:

Scholastic Book Orders: This week, I sent home Scholastic Book orders in your child's folder. October book orders are due by Friday, October 5th. 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.

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 Friday, October 5.

Country Basket Field Trip: On Thursday, October 4th, we will be visiting Schwallier's Country Basket for a fun afternoon learning about the farm, pollination, and growing apples and pumpkins. At Schwallier's, students will get to pick a pumpkin and apple, pet and feed baby goats, and explore different outdoor play stations. 

• Plan to get to class a few minutes early on 10/4. We will be leaving promptly at 12:00 pm.for our tour at 12:30 at Schwallier's. 
• If you are interested in driving on the field trip, please sign up on the bulletin board outside our classroom indicating the number of children you can drive or send me an email at kbillmei@egrps.org.
• There is a fee of $5 per child that will be charged to your monthly preschool account. Adults attending will pay $5 at Schwallier's.
• All children will need to be transported in a car seat. Please bring booster seats pre-labeled with your child's name on the day of our trip. 

Field Trip Drivers:  We are still looking for a few more drivers to join us on our field trip! Any adult transporting a child other than their own will need to fill out a self-reporting form and provide proof of insurance, driver's license and registration in the WECC office. All parent volunteers for the field trip must fill out a volunteer form. This form can be found at www.egrps.org under Quick Links. 

Picture Day: Picture day is Tuesday, October 9th! About a week after pictures, we will send home a proof to view and order photos. Picture retake day will be Wednesday, November 14th.

Halloween Party: Join us for a Halloween Party in our classroom on Wednesday, October 31 from 2:15-3:00. Costumes are encouraged :) More details to follow!

Have a great weekend!

9/14 Classroom Update

Happy Friday! This week, we had so much fun learning more about each other and how to be good friends to one another! We discussed how to fill each other's buckets with kindess, sharing, taking turns, waiting, and other important qualities that make a good friend. Our kitchen was also transformed into a Flower/Card Shop for our preschoolers to create floral arrangements and cards for their friends loved ones - it was a big hit! We also had a special visit on Wednesday from Ms. Dani (a teacher in childcare) and her pet bearded dragon! Here are some picture highlights from the week: 

After reading Have You Filled a Bucket Today?, we decorated our own buckets and practiced filling them by giving each other compliments.

Playing in our Florist and Card Shop!

Reflecting on how we can be bucket fillers!

Celebrating a friend's birthday with donuts!

 Ms. Dani visited our classroom to teach us all about her pet bearded dragon!

 Ms. Dani's bearded dragon!

 We got to pet Ms. Dani's bearded dragon!

 After reading The Day the Crayons Talked, we made our own crayon boxes and discussed teamwork!

Next week, we will be learning about different feelings, how to identify our feelings, and problem solving strategies! 

Important Dates/Reminders:

Country Basket Field Trip: On Thursday, October 4th, we will be visiting Schwallier's Country Basket for a fun afternoon learning about the farm, pollination, and growing apples and pumpkins. At Schwallier's, students will get to pick a pumpkin and apple, pet and feed baby goats, and explore different outdoor play stations. 

• Plan to get to class a few minutes early on 10/4. We will be leaving promptly at 12:00 pm.for our tour at 12:30 at Schwallier's. 
• If you are interested in driving on the field trip, please sign up on the bulletin board outside our classroom indicating the number of children you can drive or send me an email at kbillmei@egrps.org.
• There is a fee of $5 per child that will be charged to your monthly preschool account. Adults attending will pay $5 at Schwallier's.
• All children will need to be transported in a car seat. Please bring booster seats pre-labeled with your child's name on the day of our trip. 

Field Trip Drivers: Any adult transporting a child other than their own will need to fill out a self-reporting form and provide proof of insurance, driver's license and registration in the WECC office. All parent volunteers for the field trip must fill out a volunteer form. This form can be found at www.egrps.org under Quick Links. 

Picture Day: Picture day is Tuesday, October 9th! About a week after pictures, we will send home a proof to view and order photos. Picture retake day will be Wednesday, November 14th.

Parent Information Forms/Blog Permission Slip: Thank you to all the parents who have returned your forms to us so quickly! If you have yet to turn in your forms, please do so at your earliest convenience. If you need another copy of either form, I am happy to send another one home!

Have a great weekend!

9/7 Classroom Update

This week, we read the classic Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and focused on our names! We practiced recognizing our names, identifying letters in our names, building our names, and writing our names. We also had our first music class with Ms. Janet on Wednesday afternoon. Here are some picture highlights from the week:

Playing the "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" letter game!

Our names crawled up the coconut tree!

Building our names with playdough!

We learned the song "Pick Up a Crayon" which helps teach proper crayon grip. Then we practiced while doing an aim and scribble exercise!

Searching for our names and building names in the sand table!

Music and movement with Ms. Janet!

Magic name painting!

We sorted letters that are in or not in our names, built our names with magnetic letters, and tried with our friends' names too!

Magic name painting!

Important Dates/Reminders:

All About Us Class Book: In the coming weeks, your child will be bringing home the All About Us book to read and share with your family. Please return the class book the following day so that a new friend can have a turn to share our book with his or her family!

Country Basket Field Trip: On Thursday, October 4th, we will be visiting Schwallier's Country Basket for a fun afternoon learning about the farm, pollination, and growing apples and pumpkins. At Schwallier's, students will get to pick a pumpkin and apple, pet and feed baby goats, and explore different outdoor play stations. 

• Plan to get to class a few minutes early on 10/4. We will be leaving promptly at 12:00 pm.for our tour at 12:30 at Schwallier's. 
• If you are interested in driving on the field trip, please sign up on the bulletin board outside our classroom indicating the number of children you can drive or send me an email at kbillmei@egrps.org.
• There is a fee of $5 per child that will be charged to your monthly preschool account. Adults attending will pay $5 at Schwallier's.
• All children will need to be transported in a car seat. Please bring booster seats pre-labeled with your child's name on the day of our trip. 

Field Trip Drivers: Any adult transporting a child other than their own will need to fill out a self-reporting form and provide proof of insurance, driver's license and registration in the WECC office. All parent volunteers for the field trip must fill out a volunteer form. This form can be found at www.egrps.org under Quick Links. 

Parent Information Forms/Blog Permission Slip: Thank you to all the parents who have returned your forms to us so quickly! If you have yet to turn in your forms, please do so at your earliest convenience. If you need another copy of either form, I am happy to send another one home!

Have a great weekend!