12/2 Classroom Update

Important Dates/Reminders

Snow Gear: Please make sure that all of your child's snow gear is labeled. Many items look similar and preschoolers are not always sure which items are theirs. If it doesn't fit in your child's backpack easily, please send in a non plastic bag to help keep it all contained. If you would prefer to send in a set of snow pants/cold weather gear to keep at school, we are also happy to keep their items hanging from their hooks ready to go! 

Pajama Day: Thursday, December 15th will be a pajama day for PM classes, and Friday, December 16th will be a pajama day for AM classes! Friends are welcome to wear their pajamas and hard bottom slippers to school. If your child chooses to wear slippers, please send a pair of boots or shoes in case we go outside!

Winter Break: There are no preschool classes Monday, December 19th through Monday, January 2nd. Preschool classes will resume on Tuesday, January 3rd. 

MWF 3's Class:

This week, we read the classic story The Gingerbread Man and engaged in lots of fun gingerbread themed learning experiences. During circle time, we read different versions of the story, practiced retelling and discussed how popular stories can have many different versions! During centers, we made gingerbread men with gingerbread playdough, sorted gingerbread men by color and size, decorated gingerbread men, and painted gingerbread men with special puffy paint! We practiced one-to-one counting while making Gingerbread Counting Stew, built gingerbread men letters, and worked on extending patterns. We also learned about the letter J and turned our hands into jellyfish for our letter books. Our social skill theme for the week was "How is your Engine Running?" We discussed how we each have engines inside that can run too slow (feeling tired, lethargic, or sad), just right (happy, calm, ready to learn), or too fast (wound up, upset/angry, feeling out of control). We practiced identifying how our engines were running and practiced some strategies we can use to slow our engines when we're going too fast or too slow (i.e. deep breaths, squeezing our hands together, taking a walk, taking a sensory break, stretching, etc.). On Friday, we enjoyed lots of dancing and winter fun along with a light show during music class with Ms. Lori! Next week, we will engage in more gingerbread learning fun and learn about the letter K. Here are some picture highlights from our week in 3's:

PM 5's Class:

This week in 5's, we learned all dinosaurs! We  learned basic facts about dinosaurs (i.e. how we know about dinosaurs, when they lived, what they ate, about different types of dinosaurs, etc.). We also learned about what paleontologists do, what tools they use, and how they piece together dinosaur bones like a giant puzzle. We pretended to be paleontologists digging for dinosaurs in our classroom sandbox, and dug up and sorted uppercase letters, lowercase letters, and numbers in the sand. We compared our feet to the footprint of a T Rex and were surprised to find that all of our feet put together were still smaller than a T Rex footprint! We explored some of the different theories as to why dinosaurs are extinct, and simulated a volcanic eruption. We created our own salt dough dinosaur fossils and explored a model T-Rex skull! This week, our focus letter was the letter S and we turned the letter S into a snake for our letter books. On Thursday, we had a blast having a dance party with Ms. Lori! Anyone who wanted to was able to come up and show off their awesome dance moves for the group during a light show. We have lots of amazing performers! Next week, we will learn about winter and winter weather. Here are some picture highlights from our week in 5's:

Have a great weekend!