12/11 Classroom Updates

12/11 Classroom Update!

This week, we had so much fun learning about winter, animals in winter, and hibernation. We began the week reading stories about and learning about snow. We made our own snowy day paintings after reading the book The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. We used special fluffy paint to show Peter on another snowy adventure! Several of our paintings are on display in the hallway. 

During centers, we pretended to write in "snow." We practiced writing our names, our letters of the week, and drawing all the parts of a snowman. We also use doilies to paint beautiful snowflakes while practicing our song "Snowflake, Snowflake, Little Snowflake." You will get to hear the song at our Holiday Sing Performance! We ended the week talking about animals in winter and what they do to survive. We read books about hibernation, discussed the pattern of hibernation and learned how snow helps keep animals warm like a blanket. 

Next week, we will be reading The Gingerbread Baby, and participating in many Gingerbread themed literacy and math centers. We will bake real gingerbread babies, play Gingerbread Roll & Count, build with gingerbread play dough, sort gingerbread men according to size and colors, and play in our classroom bakery and cookie shop! We also have several important upcoming events next week listed below. 

Important Upcoming Events:

• Tuesday, December 15th is an ugly sweater day at Woodcliff. You will see many staff members dressed in their ugly winter sweaters, and students and families are welcome to join in on the fun!
• Thursday, December 17th is our annual Holiday Program. The AM class will perform from 10:00-10:30 AM, and the PM class will perform from 2:00-2:30 PM. Following the performances, we will return to the classroom for cookies, punch, and a holiday celebration!

• Friday, December 18th will be a pajama day. Students are welcome to wear their pajamas a slippers to class. If your child wears their slippers, remember to send a pair of shoes/boots to play outside!

• Winter Break - Preschool is closed for Winter Break from December 19, 2015 to January 3, 2016. Class resumes on Monday, January 4, 2016.

Have a great weekend!

12/4 Classroom Update

12/4 Classroom Update

Weekly Recap:

This week, we learned all about germs and how some germs can make us sick. We talked about how to stop the spread of germs, the importance of washing our hands, covering our mouths with our arms or a tissue when we sneeze or cough, and brushing our teeth so that we can stay healthy. 

This week, preschoolers had the opportunity to work in our classroom Doctor's Office. At our Doctor's Office, they used a stethoscope to listen to heartbeats, administered vision tests with a letter chart, took patients' blood pressures, and much more! Ms. Mackenzie and I received lots of shots this week from our eager and caring doctors!

  

We made mouths using marshmallows for teeth, and we also used toothbrushes to "brush" yellow teeth to make sure they were clean and white! 

Next week, we will be focusing on the letter W and talking about Winter. We will be learning about why it snows, animals in the wintertime, and discussing winter clothing. We will make snowflakes, practice writing our names and letters in "snow," and talk about our favorite things to do in the snow. 

Scholastic Book Orders:
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. 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 fliers. 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. December Orders need to be placed by Wednesday, December 9th.

Important Upcoming Events:

• Thursday, December 17th is our annual Holiday Program. The AM class will perform from 10:00-10:30 AM, and the PM class will perform from 2:00-2:30 PM. Following the performances, we will return to the classroom for cookies, punch, and a holiday celebration. 

• Friday, December 18th will be a pajama day. Students are welcome to wear their pajamas a slippers to class. If your child wears their slippers, remember to send a pair of shoes/boots to play outside!

• Winter Break - Preschool is closed for Winter Break from December 19, 2015 to January 3, 2016. Class resumes on Monday, January 4, 2016. 

Have a great weekend!

WINTER REMINDERS

As we enter the winter months with snowy weather and cold temperatures, remember that students should bring the following items to school daily: 

·         JACKET/COAT

·         SNOWPANTS

·         HAT

·         GLOVES

·         BOOTS

PLEASE label all articles of clothing with each child’s name.

Children without snow pants and/or boots will go outside but will stay on paved areas only.  Children who do not have proper attire cannot stay inside during outside play as both preschool teachers and teacher assistants must be outside supervising the children.

Classes go outside for play as long as the wind chill is above zero.  When the wind chill is below zero or weather conditions are not conducive to outside play, students will stay inside.

11/20 Classroom Update

11/20 Classroom Update!

This week, we learned all about the first Thanksgiving and why we celebrate Thanksgiving today. We discussed friendship and teamwork, and how the Native Americans helped the Pilgrims grow maize and other crops, as well we hunt and fish to survive. We drew pictures and wrote about what we are thankful for, as well as completed turkey number puzzles, built turkeys using pattern blocks, and made name turkeys and corn patterns.

Here are some of the stories we read below:
     

This week, we also said "goodbye" to our classroom Apple Orchard, and welcomed the "Preschool Market" into our classroom. In our grocery store, preschoolers took turns making their shopping lists, shopping for their thanksgiving feasts, sorting food by category, and checking out customers. The store is a big hit!

Next week, we will continue to review our letters and learn about Thanksgiving. We will continue to discuss what we are thankful for, play Thanksgiving games, and try some Thanksgiving foods. There will be no school on Wednesday, November 25th through Friday, November 27th for Thanksgiving Break. School will resume on Monday, November 30th.

When we return from Thanksgiving Break, we will begin our "Healthy Me" theme and learn about the letter H. As we enter into flu season, we will be focusing on the importance of washing our hands, covering our mouths when we cough, and how germs spread.We don't want any friends getting sick! We will also touch on the importance of brushing our teeth.

 I hope you all have a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving Break!

11/13 Update!

11/13 Classroom Update

Thank you to all of the parents who came out for Parent Teacher conferences this week. I really enjoyed sharing your child's progress with you and getting to know all of you better. 

Save the Date:  Save the date for our Holiday Sing performance on Thursday, December 17th. The morning class will perform at 10:00 am, and the afternoon class will perform at 2:00 pm. More information to follow!

This week, we had so much fun learning about the letter M, colors and participating in monster themed learning activities. This week, we mixed colors to make new colors, found monsters to color the room, and played monster math games. We also planted "monsters" and will be watching them grow in our classroom over the next couple of weeks. We read and discussed the following stories about Monsters below: 

     

Two favorite classroom experiences this week were playing at the sensory center with monster goo and growing a monster. You can make your own monster goo at home by mixing one cup of school glue, one cup of  liquid starch, and a few drops food coloring, Monster goo can get a little messy so I recommend putting down a disposable tablecloth for easy cleanup!

To grow a monster, all you need is a plastic water bottle, a 1/2 cup of vinegar, 4 tablespoons of baking soda, and a balloon. Before starting, I blew up the balloon and drew a monster face on the balloon, then let the air back out. We put the vinegar the water bottle first, then added the baking soda. I quickly put the balloon on top of the bottle and we watched the monster grow! While watching the monster grow, we discussed our scientific observations and talked about what made the monster grow. 

Next week, we will review the letters we have learned about so far: D, P, E, F, B, R, N, and M. We will also begin learning about Thanksgiving. We will talk about how Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks, that people celebrate by having dinner with family and friends, and about the first Thanksgiving. We will also discuss teamwork and how the Native Americans and Pilgrims worked together and shared. 

I'm looking forward to another week of learning and working together!

11/6 Classroom Update!

11/6 Classroom Update

We had a very busy and exciting week learning about numbers and the letter N! This week, we learned how to play a dice game called "Race to Fill the Cup" to practice counting, one-to-one correspondence and taking turns. We used salt trays to practice writing numbers with our fingers, built numbers out of playdough, worked on our own number books, and much more. Many students did not have time to finish their number books during center time. They can finish their books at home by tracing the big number with their finger while you read the rhyme, adding that many number of stickers onto the page, and trying to write their own numbers. 

"Race to Fill the Cup" is an easy and fun game to play at home too! All you need is a dice, one cup for each player, and objects to use to fill your cups (we used cubes, but cereal, beans, small blocks, legos, and other toys would work too!). Players take turns rolling the dice, counting the number of dots on the dice, then counting aloud as they put that many objects in their cup. The first player to fill their cup wins (although I remind them we're all winners because we're all learning!)!

Conferences - I am looking forward to meeting with all of you this week for conferences! Conferences will be held Monday 11/9 from 3:30-7:00 pm, and Thursday 11/12 from 3:30-7:00 pm. If you still need to sign-up for your ten minute conference, you can sign-up using the link below. I can't wait to share all of your child's accomplishments with you!

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0f4daca62aa2fe3-mskaties

Picture Retakes - Picture retakes will be Wednesday. November 11th. Please email me at kbillmei@egrps.org if you would like your child to have their picture retaken on the 11th. Picture order forms are also due on Monday, November 9th. 

Next Week: Next week, we will be learning about the letter M and talking about Marvelous Monsters. We will be making our own Monster planters to plant peas, going on Monster color hunts around the room, mixing colors to make new colors, and playing with Monster goo.

I'm looking forward to another great week!