9/27 Classroom Update

This week, we learned about the four seasons with a focus on fall! We identified signs of fall, things to do in the fall, weather in the fall, etc! We also began our exploration of letters by starting with the letter L. Instead of learning letters in ABC order, we will be learning about letters in a sequence that makes sense developmentally in students' ability to form letters. Our first set of letters will include all letters comprised of only straight lines as they are developmentally easiest to form! Here are some picture highlights from our week in preschool:

We read the story The Leaf Man and created our own leaf men using real leaves!

We practiced writing both upper and lowercase Ls using the multi-sensory approach of Wet-Dry-Try form Handwriting Without Tears.

Playing the sticks with Ms. Janet!

Making play dough numbers and apples for apple trees!

Playing in the corn sensory bin!

 Sorting fall leaves by color!

Reading about signs of fall! We focused on the sight words "I" and "see."

Painting fall leaves!

Matching the beginning sounds of words with letters! 

Important Dates/Reminders:

A Look Ahead to October:

3's Class Book: We made a book in class called Children, Children, Who do you see? to help us learn each other's names. Each child will have a turn to bring it home to read it with someone at home. When it is your child's turn, please read it with your child and return it back to class the following class day. 

5's Class "All About Me" Book: Thank you for helping out with our "All About Me" Class Book! It was so fun to learn more about all the friends in our class. Each child will have a turn to bring it home to read it with someone at home. When it is your child's turn, please read it with your child and return it back to class the following class day. 

Picture Day: Picture Day for both the 3's and 5's classes is Tuesday, October 8th. Pictures will be taken at the beginning of class. 

Preschool Fall Field Trip: Our fall field trip is to Schwallier's Country Basket on Tuesday, October 29th. The morning class should plan on arriving at Schwallier's at 9:15 am for a 9:30 am tour, and the afternoon class should plan on arriving at 12:15 pm for a 12:30 pm tour. Permission slips are due by this coming Tuesday, October 1st. You can also email me to confirm whether or not your child will be attending at kbillmei@egrps.org.

Halloween Parade & Parties: Join us for a Halloween Party on Thursday, October 31 from either 10:30-11:15 am for the AM class or 2:15-3:00 pm for the PM class. Costumes are encouraged :) Please meet in the gym at 2:15 for our Halloween parade, followed by our party in the classroom afterwards! I will send up a sign-up for parents to volunteer to help out with the parties closer to the date!

*This blog features information for both the T/Th 3's class and the PM 5's class. Information pertaining only to the 3's class will be in blue, and information pertaining only to the 5's class will be in red. General information for both classes will be in black/grey.

Have a great weekend!

9/20 Classroom Update

This week, we learned all about feelings! We discussed how our faces look, our bodies feel, and things that cause certain feelings. We also talked about how it is normal to have all sorts of feelings and learned some strategies to calm our bodies down and problem solve when we are feeling mad or sad. We are also working on being able to identify how other people are feeling by looking for clues with their faces and bodies. Here are some picture highlights from our week in preschool:

We read the book "Glad Monster, Sad Monster" and made our own monsters!

We learned about different feelings and how to tell how someone is feeling based on their face/body. We sorted pictures of people based on how they were feeling. 

Decorating our monsters and deciding how they were feeling! 

Our finished monsters are on display in the hallway! 

After reading "Glad Monster, Sad Monster," we painted our own monsters and 

We played Feelings Memory and had to decide how the animals were feeling and if they were the same/different. 

Finishing up our monsters!

At the playdough center, we built different feelings on faces!

 

We enjoyed a birthday treat outside on Thursday!

Next week, we will begin learning about seasons with a focus on fall and learn all about the letter L!

Important Dates/Reminders:

Spirit Week: Next week is Spirit Week here at Woodcliff in anticipation of EGR Homecoming on Friday! Students may dress up each day if they wish. Here are the themes for each day:

• Monday 9/23 - Pajama Day
• Tuesday 9/24 - Favorite Character
• Wednesday 9/25 - Favorite Sports Team
• Thursday 9/26 - Crazy Hair/Hat Day
• Friday 9/27 - East Spirit/Blue & Gold Day

3's Class Book: We made a book in class called Children, Children, Who do you see? to help us learn each other's names. Each child will have a turn to bring it home to read it with someone at home. When it is your child's turn, please read it with your child and return it back to class the following class day. 

5's Class "All About Me" Book: Thank you for helping out with our "All About Me" Class Book! It was so fun to learn more about all the friends in our class. Each child will have a turn to bring it home to read it with someone at home. When it is your child's turn, please read it with your child and return it back to class the following class day. 

Picture Day: Picture Day for both the 3's and 5's classes is Tuesday, October 8th. Pictures will be taken at the beginning of class. 

Preschool Fall Field Trip:  Our fall field trip is to Schwallier's Country Basket on Tuesday, October 29th. The morning class should plan on arriving at Schwallier's at 9:15 am for a 9:30 am tour, and the afternoon class should plan on arriving at 12:15 pm for a 12:30 pm tour. Permission slips are due by Tuesday, October 1st.

*This blog features information for both the T/Th 3's class and the PM 5's class. Information pertaining only to the 3's class will be in blue, and information pertaining only to the 5's class will be in red. General information for both classes will be in black/grey.

Have a great weekend!

9/12 Classroom Update

This week, we focused on friendship and how to be a good friend. We read lots of friendship stories, came up with ideas about how we can be good friends to others, and discussed potential solutions for when problems with friends arise. We also introduced all the letters in the alphabet, met the ZooPhonics letter animals, and learned the sounds/motions each letter makes. Here are some picture highlights from the week:

Working in our classroom "Flower Shop." Our florists took orders, wrote cards for friends, built bouquets, and even planned for a wedding! 

We read the story "Have you filled a bucket today?" and made our own buckets. We practiced giving each other compliments to fill each other's buckets!

We learned how to use a tripod grasp when holding a crayon and practiced it by coloring a night sky and fireworks!

We practiced using scissors to cut card stock scraps! 

Admiring our beautiful bouquets in the flower shop! 

We practiced writing our names in title case and measured our names using fun classroom materials!

We engaged in "buddy building" to practice working together with a partner!

Both classes enjoyed making music with Ms. Janet!

Preschool Fall Field Trip: Tuesday 10/29 to Schwallier's Country Basket!

Our fall field trip is to Schwallier's Country Basket on Tuesday, October 29th. The morning class should plan on arriving at Schwallier's at 9:15 am for a 9:30 am tour, and the afternoon class should plan on arriving at 12:15 pm for a 12:30 pm tour. Due to state licensing changes our field trips must now be done differently. We can no longer arrange transportation to and from our trips or assist in carpooling arrangements. All adults who transport children to the field trip must also attend. There will be NO preschool classes held on 10/29 - the field trip will be our preschool class for the day. If your child is in Childcare, it is your responsibility to transport them to and from Schwallier's and childcare. This week, I sent home an information sheet about the field trip with a permission slip at the bottom. Please sign and return the permission slip by October 1st indicating whether or not your child will be attending the field trip. You may also email me your response if you prefer. You can find more information about Schwallier's Country Basket here.

Important Dates/Reminders:

Scholastic Book Orders: Last week, I sent home Scholastic book orders in your child's folder. September book orders are due by this Friday, September 13th. 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 mail 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. September orders need to be placed by tomorrow Friday, September 13th.

3's Class Book: We made a book in class called Children, Children, Who do you see? to help us learn each other's names. Each child will have a turn to bring it home to read it with someone at home. When it is your child's turn, please read it with your child and return it back to class the following class day. 

5's Class "All About Me" Book: Thank you for helping out with our "All About Me" Class Book! It was so fun to learn more about all the friends in our class. Each child will have a turn to bring it home to read it with someone at home. When it is your child's turn, please read it with your child and return it back to class the following class day. 

Picture Day: Picture Day for both the 3's and 5's classes is Tuesday, October 8th. 

Preschool Fall Field Trip: Tuesday 10/29 to Schwallier's Country Basket! Our fall field trip is to Schwallier's Country Basket on Tuesday, October 29th. The morning class should plan on arriving at Schwallier's at 9:15 am for a 9:30 am tour, and the afternoon class should plan on arriving at 12:15 pm for a 12:30 pm tour. Permission slips are due by Tuesday, October 1st.

*This blog features information for both the T/Th 3's class and the PM 5's class. Information pertaining only to the 3's class will be in blue, and information pertaining only to the 5's class will be in red. General information for both classes will be in black/grey.

Have a great weekend!

9/6 Classroom Update

This week, we read the classic story Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and focused on our names! In 3's, we worked on recognizing our names and naming the first letter of our names. In 5's, we are working on writing and building our names, as well as letter recognition in our own and friends' names.  Here are some picture highlights from the week:             

Playing a "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" letter recognition game!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, will there be enough? Our names climbed the coconut tree.

Finding and building our names in the same table!

Building our names with playdough!

Exploring a coconut with our 5 senses!

Adding our names to our coconut tree!

Watercolor hidden name paintings!

Important Dates/Reminders:

Scholastic Book Orders: This week, I sent home Scholastic book orders in your child's folder. September book orders are due by Friday, September 13th. 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 mail 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. September orders need to be placed by Friday, September 13th.

Parent Surveys & Blog Permission Slips: Thank you to everyone who has already returned your parent survey and blog permission slip. I sent home extra copies to those I still need them from. Please return the completed forms at your earliest convenience.

3's Class Book: We made a book in class called Children, Children, Who do you see? to help us learn each other's names. Each child will have a turn to bring it home to read it with someone at home. When it is your child's turn, please read it with your child and return it back to class the following class day. 

5's Class "All About Me" Book: Thank you for helping out with our "All About Me" Class Book! It was so fun to learn more about all the friends in our class. Each child will have a turn to bring it home to read it with someone at home. When it is your child's turn, please read it with your child and return it back to class the following class day. 

Picture Day: Picture Day for both the 3's and 5's classes is Tuesday, October 8th. 

*This blog features information for both the T/Th 3's class and the PM 5's class. Information pertaining only to the 3's class will be in blue, and information pertaining only to the 5's class will be in red. General information for both classes will be in black/grey.

Have a great weekend!