Note du mercredi: Pre-K 3 - English Teacher's Note
June 14, 2017
Here it is your last Wednesday Note! I can’t believe the year has flown by so quickly. The children have accomplished so much. I am very proud of them! It has been amazing to see them grow in their individual development, friendships, and knowledge. It has been a pleasure to have your children in our class. We could not have had such a successful year without your support. Thank you for volunteering and sharing your time and talents with the class. Your generosity is truly appreciated.
We have been having fun by staying cool with our ocean theme.
Have a great summer vacation. I can’t wait to hear all about it next year in PK4!!!
Safe travels!
Thank you!
Karen
June 7, 2017
Here it is your second to last Wednesday Note! The year has flown by so quickly. The children have accomplished so much. I am very proud of them! It has been amazing to see them grow in their individual development, friendships, and knowledge. It has been a pleasure to have your children in our class. We could not have had such a successful year without your support. Thank you for volunteering and sharing your time and talents with the class. Your generosity is truly appreciated.
We have been having fun by staying cool with our ocean theme. The class bubble blowing project was just as messy as expected. The children loved using berry baskets to blow bubbles as well!
We have been finishing our sea murals! We have been playing with bubble wrap! Pop, Pop, Pop! We painted it and made a print to set the scene! Next we glued on our textured sea star that we have finished in crafts this week. Lastly, we added seaweed prints onto the mural along with our 5 sequencing sand dollars numbered 1-5!
Have a wonderful week.
Karen
May 31, 2017
I hope you all enjoyed your long weekend and are ready to finish this school year!
We are having an underwater adventure exploring the ocean and the sea creatures that call it home. The class has been counting fish, sea horses and sea turtles. The students did a great job cutting out their starfish patterns. Next the students added dried oatmeal onto our cut out starfish to give it that texture we discovered during circle when we passed around a real starfish. The children described the texture as “bumpy”. It was amazing to see their faces as they examined the starfish one by one. We will finish painting these starfish when they dry later in the week. We have also made some neat seahorses this week as well!
The children are looking forward to field/game day on Monday the 5th! Please make sure they have an extra set of clothing at school. They may be participating in water activities.
Have a great week!
Karen Marles
May 24, 2017
We are nearing the end of a wonderful year and we are very busy! I can’t believe the end of the school year is right around the corner. The children’s excitement is building!
We finished our House for Hermit crab book and explored some real shells. The children also decorated their own hermit crab shell with paint, stickers, sequins, cotton balls and more! They've decided not to live in them but to admire them.
The class has been counting fish, sea horses, and sea turtles. They will be cutting out their starfish patterns. Next we will glue dried oatmeal onto our cut out star-fish to give it that texture we discovered during circle when we passed around a real starfish. The children described the texture as “bumpy”. It was amazing to see their faces as they examined the starfish/ sea star one by one. We will finish painting these starfish when they dry later in the week.
The class sorted fish into small, medium, and large by color coding them by size. They were very successful.
Here is a song we sang during circle time:
Five Little Seashells
Tune of-5 little monkeys jumping on the bed.
5 little fish swimming in the sea
Teasing Mr. Shark
No you can’t eat me
Along came Mr. Shark
Quiet as can be
And snapped that fish right out of the sea.
May 17, 2017
I hope you had a wonderful weekend! The class has been busy planting flower seeds. We will take good care of them and watch them sprout. We will transplant our seedlings into the big garden and become a bigger part of that community garden!
We are going to keep watching our plants bloom and start our new unit on the sea. The class started the week off with reading The Rainbow Fish. They made their own rainbow fish by adding their own tissue paper scales and some shiny aluminum foil scales to share with friends. We also made our own handprint octopus and we counted the eight arms. The children have also been fishing for numbers and letters!
We have also been practicing for our Spring Show. You are in for a special treat!
Here is an octopus chant to sing at home:
Octopus
An octopus has Eight long arms (Hold up four fingers on each hand)
It lives in the sea, but don't be alarmed (Wave hands back and forth to show no worry)
He squirts out ink (Clap hands), when he is the prey
And grows a new arm when it’s torn away.(Hold up arm as high as you can)
Have a great week!
Karen
May 10, 2017
The class has continued to look at Caterpillars and their life cycle! The classes drew, painted and have been paper punching leaves with our paper punchers while pretending to be a hungry caterpillar. We have used 4 different types of pasta to represent their life cycle!
The class has learned the four stages of the metamorphosis. The stages are: egg, caterpillar/larvae, Chrysalis/Pupa, Beautiful butterfly.
The children are naming the body parts: head, thorax and an abdomen. The butterflies have a proboscis that helps it to eat and drink nectar. Their body has six legs, four wings and two antennae.
We have learned a great song to help us remember these facts!
We are also working on beautiful butterfly art to share with you at home.
Song/Rap lyrics:
Butterfly Song
The first stage of a butterfly is the egg
The second stage is the caterpillar, larva
The third stage is the chrysalis, pupa
The fourth stage is a beautiful butterfly
A butterfly has three main body parts
They have a head, a thorax, and an abdomen
A proboscis that drinks food from a straw
Six legs, four wings, two antenna
Butterflies drink water and nectar
Eating leaves when they’re growing as a caterpillar
Spiders, ants, wasps are the predators
Why? Because they like the taste of butterfly
The life span of a butterfly is one month
If it’s flying at night it’s probably a moth
Butterflies see ultraviolet light
There are Swallowtails, Brushfooted, Skippers and Whites
Butterflies drink water and nectar
Eating leaves when they’re growing as a caterpillar
Spiders, ants, wasps are the predators
Why? Because they like the taste of butterfly
A butterfly is a cold-blooded insect
They can fly if their temperature is 86
A butterfly has bones on the outside
Exoskeleton of the butterfly
May 10. 2017
We have been enjoying Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The class has been using our small, medium, large vocabulary a lot in class. We are sorting things by size and also cutting and pasting them into the correct columns. The children are also deciphering between hot and cold items. We made our very own story puppets to share with you at home. The kids were very excited to retell and sequence the events of the story with you.
We have been working on a few art projects to share with you along with a new song about the three bears we will be singing at the show. It is to the tune of Three Blind Mice. We can’t wait to sing these songs for you!!!
Have a great week!
May 3, 2017
We have started our next bilingual book in class. We will be doing the same book as the French class, Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
The children are having fun sorting and comparing small, medium and large items. They have had a yummy time retelling the story with their own story pieces and teddy graham bears too.
We have been working on a list of things that are soft and hard as well.
Together we made a class graph to see who has tried porridge before. Not too many!
We have been reading different versions of the story and comparing the differences in the sequences.
Songs we are singing:
Ten in the Bed Tune:
There were ten in the bed and RED one said,
“Roll over, roll over.”
They all rolled over and the (color) one fell out.
Last line.....
There was one in the bed and the RED one said.
"I'm lonely, I'm lonely.."
Tune: The Muffin Man
Can you find the (color) bear, the (color) bear, the (color) bear.
Can you find the (color) bear. Get it right now.
Have a great week!
April 26, 2017
We have been rehearsing for our own songs for the Spring show and are very excited to perform for you soon!
We have finished our farm art projects and they will be hanging in our Pre-K 3 lunchroom for all to admire!
The class is beginning to look at caterpillars and their life cycle! The class has learned the four stages of the metamorphosis. The stages are: egg, caterpillar/larvae, Chrysalis/Pupa, Beautiful butterfly.
They are naming the body parts: head, thorax and an abdomen. It is a proboscis that drinks food from a straw. Six legs, four wings and two antennas.
Have a great week!
Karen
April 19, 2017
We have continued our farm theme. The class has been finishing their egg art project. The have also been matching plastic egg colors and numbers. The children have been placing the correct number of eggs in a nest as well.
We have read so far:The Big Red Barn, In a Barn in the Country and The Egg. The children loved the animals’ special voices. We are having a special visit from Whatt-Knot farm here on April 21th weather permitting.The animals will include: goats, pig, skunk, baby chicks, turkey, rabbits big and small, a chinchilla and hens. The children always love seeing the animals here at the school. Look for pictures to be posted of the visit! The week could not be complete without singing “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” a few dozen times.
Have a great week!
April 5, 2017
We have finished our strawberry unit and have jumped right into our week talking about the farm. The class has been discovering which animals live on a farm and what sounds they make.
The kids are taking turns on the computers in the lab this week working on a six piece puzzle of baby chicks. The children had to manipulate the mouse and finish the puzzle. This was a difficult task. We are also working on our counting as we stamped yellow chicks with paint and counted them. The class made a chick counting book showing the quantity and number. This is a great resource made by your children to use everywhere! The children also decorated fingerprint chicks with faces and feet, and have been counting and sorting plastic eggs.
We have read so far: Moo, Baa, La La La, Hattie and the Fox, and a farm pop-up book. The children loved the animals’ special voices. We will have a special visit from Whatt-Knot farm here after break. The animals will include: goats, pig, skunk, baby chicks, turkey, rabbits big and small, a chinchilla and hens. The children always love seeing the animals here at the school. Look for pictures to be posted after the visit! The week could not be complete without singing “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” a few dozen times.
Have a great break!
March 22, 2017
The class has started on our strawberry theme. We read: The Little Mouse, The Big Red Ripe Strawberry and The Big Hungry Bear. This is a story about a mouse who has a big strawberry and tries to keep it from the Big Hungry Bear who "loves red, ripe strawberries" from eating it! The mouse tries locking it up, hiding it, and in the end, the Mouse ends up cutting the strawberry in two and sharing it with the reader!
The joy of this book is the anticipation of the Big, Hungry Bear, which we never get to see. This book provides a lovely and engaging way to teach anticipation. The children enjoyed this book so much that we read it twice! We tasted our own red, ripe strawberries and the children described them as sweet. We also counted plastic ones.
The children finished their own strawberry counting book from the numbers 1-5. We made 5 basket prints with green paint, and then the children drew the stem with a green crayon. Next we identified and stamped the correct number of strawberries next to the correct quantity. The books look great! I hope you enjoy reading them at home. We also had our own disguises just like in the story! Check out our photo and see who you recognize!
We also used strawberry baskets and placed the correct quantity of strawberries in each numbered basket.
We also have been counting up to 25 and making a special art project with the number!
Karen
March 15, 2017
We have continued discovering about St. Patrick’s Day and the colors of the rainbow. We read the books What Makes a Rainbow and The Colors of the Rainbow and an Irish Folktale.
In art we have been making a fun project with mixed media. I can’t wait to see the finished project.
We have been counting Leprechauns, shamrocks and rainbows. The children loved learning about prisms. They thought it was very magical when we made our own rainbows in the classroom. We also learned what colors are in a rainbow and that you need the sun and rain to make a rainbow.
The children have also been discovering what happens when we mix colors. Ask them what they have learned.
We also went on a shamrock hunt in the classroom too. We are seeing green all over!
Have a nice week!
Karen
March 8, 2017
We have been talking about St. Patrick’s Day and the colors of the rainbow. We read the books: What Makes a Rainbow and The Colors of the Rainbow and an Irish Folktale.
In art we have been making a fun project with mixed media. I can’t wait to see the finished project.
We have been counting Leprechauns, shamrocks and rainbows. The children loved learning about prisms. They thought it was very magical when we made our own rainbows in the classroom. We also learned what colors are in a rainbow and that you need the sun and rain to make a rainbow.
Have a nice week!
March 1, 2017
We enjoyed working in the computer lab. The children all worked on an individual technology project that will be displayed during next month’s Parent Conferences. They had a blast discovering our website: www.abcya.com
The class has jumped right into the week with Dr. Seuss and his works. We will be talking about Dr. Seuss this month and his gift of rhyme as we celebrate his birthday on March 2nd!
We started the week with One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish. We enjoyed counting fish and using our number fishing rod game. The class is working on our own Dr. Seuss art project. We painted a red and white stripe background and decorated our fish.
We also finished reading The Cat in the Hat and made our own patterned red and white striped hats to wear. Dr. Seuss has so many great books it has been tough for me to choose which ones to read.
I am looking ahead to Parent Conference time. Please don't forget to sign up online! I will do my best to make it to as many as I can. If you have any questions or concerns. Please email me. marles@frenchschoolphila.org
Have a great week!
February 15, 2017
The class has been busy working on our shape of the month the heart. We made a wonderful road map of our heart with drawings of things we like inside the heart. It was water colored and will be on display in the hallways next week. We celebrated Valentine’s Day on Tuesday.
We have also had a wonderful time celebrated Black History Month. The class learned about the famous Garrett Morgan who invented the traffic light. We colored our own traffic light with played some Red light and Green light.
Have a wonderful February Break!
Karen
February 8, 2107
The class is excited to celebrate Valentine’s Day/ Friendship Day with the class next week on the 14th! Thank you for sending in cards for the class ahead of time. We are also preparing for Valentine’s Day. We decorated our envelopes with hearts of course! There are two updated lists emailed to you. Pick your child’s class list. Valentine’s day is looked at as FRIENDSHIP DAY. The children will be decorating their own mailboxes in which to place Valentine cards from their friends.
Here are some songs we have been singing:
Big Lacy Heart – to the tune of BINGO
I made a big red lacy heart
That I will give to you
Here is your Valentine,
Here is your Valentine
Here is your Valentine,
I hope you’ll be my friend.
Seven Little Hearts- Rhyme
Seven little hearts nice and bright.
One jumped in the bag and said, “Good night.”
Six little hearts nice and bright.
One jumped in the bag and said, “Good night.”
Five… Four… Three…Two…One…
No pink hearts nice and bright.
All are in the bag sleeping tight.
Have a great week!
Karen and Martin
February 1, 2017
The class has been looking ahead toward Valentine’s Day. We have been reviewing the shape of the heart. We have been counting and sorting pink and red hearts. We learned a counting rhyme: seven little hearts. The class looked at mail during circle time and identified the numbers and shapes on each and placed them in the correct mailbox
We read the story Valentine’s Day Grump and Little Bill’s Super Fine Valentine.
We are preparing for Valentines Day. I will be sending home a list of all the children in the class so you can help your child make a Valentine for each classmate. The children are decorating their own mailboxes in which to place Valentine cards from their friends.
Have a good week!
Karen and Martin
January 25, 2017
We have been wishing for some snow! We have read The Mitten and The Hat and have been mastering putting these clothing items on and off daily! We have been extending our story The Mitten in class by making a huge mitten out of masking tape on the floor and tried to get in the mitten as a whole class. The children enjoyed counting their friends to see how many could fit inside. Please ask them how the kids exited the mitten. Hint*- A really big sneeze! For a special snack on Thursday the children had a mitten placemat and they used animal crackers to see how many could fit inside! A very yummy equation in the end! We also really enjoyed making our own snow scenes inside our classroom. We have been sizing snow balls small to large and making our own snow people in art. We loved listening to the book Snowballs.
We have worked on tracing and cutting out different size circles and sorting them.
We finished three worksheets as well. One tracing small snow circles, the second size matching and our last one was a snowman sequencing worksheet.
We are looking forward to having a paper snowball battle next week and creating special snowman art to share with you at home.
Here is a new rhyme we have been learning!
Five Little Snowmen (action rhyme)
Five little snowmen standing in a row.
(Hold up five fingers; stand up straight like soldier.)
Each had two eyes and a carrot nose.
(Point to eyes; point to nose.)
Along came the sun and shone all day,
(Form sun with hands; wipe sweat from brow.)
And one little snowman melted away.
(Hold up one finger; slowly "melt" to the ground.)
Four little snowmen...
Three little snowmen...
Two little snowmen...
One little snowman...
Have a great week,
Karen and Martin
January 18, 2017
The class did a great job participating in the Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration. They had a lot of fun doing the activities and helping others. Thank you to all our parent volunteers! This day would not run so smoothly without you. You are all so wonderful.
The children enjoyed going to St. Joseph’s Bluett Theatre for the Children’s production of Alice in Wonderland. We made a graph of our favorite character. Ask the children who was the class favorite.
We have continued to work on counting mittens. The kids are finishing their own Where Are My Mittens books for you to read with them at home. We strengthened our fine motor skills by hanging up paper mittens on a clothesline with clothespins. This was very difficult for them but with some practice they improved greatly! We are beginning a wintry art project. You will surely get the chills when seeing the end results!
This week we read two great winter books: Dream Snow and Snowballs. In art we have been working on our own winter scene. We are ripping paper which is a great way to strengthen our fine motor skills--they look great! See them in the classroom.
Here is a song we have been singing:
Snowkey Pokey
(Hokey Pokey)
You put your mittens in, you put your mittens out.
You put your mittens in, and you shake them all about.
You do the Snowkey Pokey and you turn yourself around.
That what it's all about
Have a great week!
January 4, 2017
Happy New Year!!! I hope you all had a wonderful break. Thank you so much for the warm wishes and the very thoughtful and generous gifts.
We have jumped right into the New Year making our own New Year’s Hat. We used shape stickers and pom poms to complete them. The class was quiet as they used their fine-motor skills to take the stickers off and place them. The class loved Jan Brett’s book The Hat. This is a great book about Hedgie the hedgehog who wears a hat by mistake and can’t get it off. The other animals tease him at first because he looked silly. He convinces them that they will be cold when the wind blows. The other animals get their own hats in the end and finally the hedgehog is free of her hat and tells them they are silly because animals don’t wear clothing. We also read Jan Brett's, The Mitten, the class loved this classic story about a single lost mitten that eight animals decided to climb into. We will be sequencing the events in the story next week. Today the class sorted colors, shapes, and identified numbers using the mittens. They are enjoying hanging up their hats and mittens on the clothesline with clothespins. Great fine motor activity and they were so focused during this activity.
Have a great week!
December 14, 2016
Thank you for attending our first show in the classroom! The children did an amazing job! They were very excited to share this moment with you! Thank you for all your support of our classroom. It has been such a wonderful year so far, thanks to you!
We have been busy counting down to winter break. The latest and most accurate count is only two more days to go. Our week has flown by and it is time to write you the last note from me in 2016!!!!
We worked until the last minute on special project for home! Shhh …it’s a surprise!
Have a wonderful holiday and enjoy your break! Please be sure to travel safely. Happy New Year & we will see you in 2017!
Karen Marles
December 7, 2016
We have been busy counting down to winter break. Our week has flown by and we have finished learning about Hanukah and are beginning to explore Kwanzaa.
We learned that Kwanzaa has its own candle holder called the Kinara. It has only seven candles compared to our Menorah with nine. The Kiara’s candles include one black, three red and three green that each stand for one principle. We learned that one candle is lit each night.
The class discovered that Kwanzaa means “First Fruits” in the Swahili language, and it is celebrated for seven days. The children learned that there is a special mat called the mkeka (em-KAY-kah), the mat that we place on the Kwanzaa table.
Thank you so much for coming to the PK3B show! The children did an amazing job on their very first show! We are very proud of them all! Looking forward to our PK3A show next week!
We enjoyed seeing the older classes rehearse for their upcoming shows as well.
Have a great week!
November 30, 2016
The class has been busy working on a holiday surprise!
This week we began to discover Hanukah. The class learned about the dreidel game and had made their own handprint Menorah with their fingers being the candles! We are also making cute reindeer that are displayed in the hallway for all to see it. Come and see our “bright” display this week!
We have been busy rehearsing for our first upcoming shows in the classroom! You are all in for a special treat. These first performances are held in their classrooms. You don’t want to miss this!
Karen Marles
November 23, 2016
We are jumping right into learning about squirrels and what foods they eat. We have looked at pictures of different types of squirrels and the class enjoyed the book Earl the Squirrel by Don Freeman. During our morning circle time we played the game "Who's got the nut?" I had three egg carton squirrels and one acorn hiding under one and we had to find where it was. The children loved this game so much that they are making their own squirrels so you can play this game at home. We have begun our Squirrel Counting books which recognize numbers one through five.
We are conducting a science experiment with acorns to find out if they float or sink, and we have also been sorting them into two categories caps and no caps.
Here are some songs we are singing:
A Squirrel Song
Sung to: "She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain"
I'll be gathering all the acorns till they're gone.
I'll be gathering all the acorns till they're gone.
I'll be gathering all the acorns, gathering all the acorns,
Gathering all the acorns till they're gone.
(Children make collecting motion with their hands)
And I'll put them all inside my little home.
I will put them all inside my little home.
I will put them all inside, put them all inside,
Put them all inside my little home.
(children pretend to place nuts in tree house)
And I'll eat the nuts until the winter's gone.
I will eat the nuts until the winter's gone.
I will eat the nuts until, eat the nuts until,
Eat the nuts until the winter's gone.
(children pretend to eat acorns)
Five Little Squirrels
Five little squirrels with acorns to store.
One went to sleep and then there were four!
Four little squirrels hunting acorns in a tree.
One fell down, and now there are three!
Three little squirrels wondering what to do.
One got lost, and now there are two!
Two little squirrels tossing acorns for fun.
One got tired, and now there is one!
One little squirrel playing in the sun.
He ran away, now there are none.
November 16, 2016
Dear parents
The children have continued learning about Thanksgiving. We talked about the words “thanks” and “giving” as our theme. The class also talked about what we are thankful for. We made a class tree and the class told me what they were thankful for and we put their words on the leaves. We read Franklin’s Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving Then and Now.
We counted turkeys and played pin the number hat on the turkey. The children matched colors with clothespin turkey feathers. This was a wonderful fine motor activity. The children did a wonderful job squeezing the clothespins open! We also created a turkey with four movable feathers. They were numbered from one to four and each a different color. The children also completed a turkey and added the correct quantity of real feathers. The magic number for us this week was four.
Please enjoy these two songs we are singing this week:
I’m A Little Turkey
(Tune of I’m A Little Teapot)
I’m a little turkey
My name is Ted
Here are my feathers
And here is my head
Gobble, gobble, gobble
Is what I say
Quick
Run
It’s Thanksgiving Day
(SAME TUNE)
I’m a little turkey
fluffy and brown.
My wings flip flop
When I turn around.
I have a lot of feathers
On my back,
And a big orange beak
That goes “click clack”!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Karen
November 9, 2016
We have finished our leaf projects! Come and see them hanging up in our classrooms! We are enjoying this fall weather and learning about our most wanted friend in November: the turkey!
It has been fun discovering about who was at the first Thanksgiving. We learned how the pilgrims got here and who already lived here. We learned that they became friends and taught each other many skills to survive. We read a few books on being thankful and we found two words we knew in Thanksgiving. Give and Thanks. The children colored their own The Very First Thanksgiving Book. We counted ten turkeys and leaves. We also sorted leaves by color.
I am looking forward to seeing you on Friday for Parent Conferences.
I have four classes and will be popping in and out of conferences. It is very hard to get to see everyone. If you do not see me in your conference and have a question or concern please send me an email and I will gladly get back to you. marles@frenchschoolphila.org
Please enjoy these two songs we are singing this week:
I’m A Little Turkey
(Tune of I’m A Little Teapot)
I’m a little turkey
My name is Ted
Here are my feathers
And here is my head
Gobble, gobble, gobble
Is what I say
Quick
Run
It’s Thanksgiving Day
I'm a little turkey (SAME TUNE)
I’m a little turkey
fluffy and brown.
My wings flip flop
When I turn around.
I have a lot of feathers
On my back,
And a big orange beak
That goes “click clack”!
Have a great week!
November 2, 2016
The class has jumped right in with our study of leaves! We have examined a variety of leaves. The class used leaves we collected on our nature walk for our current art project. We painted the leaves white and made prints with them on black paper. The children then used pastels to color around the leaves. They look amazing! Come see them hanging up in our hallways! The children also enjoyed making some leaf rubbings. It was a week filled with magical activities. We have read these books this week: Red Leaf Yellow Leaf, I See A Leaf, Pooh’s Leaf Pile, Mouse’s First Fall and The Day the Leaf Blew In.
Here is a poem we have enjoyed at circle time:
Red and yellow, green and brown.
(count off colors on fingers)
Leaves are falling to the ground.
(simulate falling leaves with hands)
We pile them up OH SO HIGH:
'(pile' leaves with hands )
Then we JUMP in!
(pretend to jump in )
My dog and I!
Here is a song we like to sing:
THE LEAVES ON THE TREES
Tune: “The Wheels On The Bus”
The Leaves on the trees are yellow and brown,
Yellow and brown, yellow and brown.
The leaves on the trees are yellow and brown,
All through the town.
The leaves on the trees are falling down,
Falling down, falling down.
The leaves on the trees are falling down,
All through the town.
The leaves on the trees make a crunching sound,
Crunching sound, crunching sound.
The leaves on the trees make a crunching sound
All through the town.
Let’s rake all the leaves into a mound,
Into a mound, into a mound.
Let’s rake all the leaves into a mound
All through the town.
The children in the town jump up and down,
Up and down, up and down.
The children in the town jump up and down
On the leaves on the ground.
Jean Warren
Have a nice week
Karen
October 26, 2016
Dear parents,
Thank you to everyone that accompanied us to Linvilla Orchards! It was a wonderful first field trip and the children loved that you could come and enjoy it with us!
What an excellent week so far! We read the books Go Away Big Green Monster and Glad Monster, Sad Monster. This not so scary book was great for exploring the parts of our faces. We used a small pumpkin and plugged in our very own faces by positioning plastic pieces into the “Mr. Pumpkin Head.” We also tried on our own plastic monster fingers and counted them. We used black glue and pastels to create a beautiful pumpkin worthy of the pumpkin patch. We chose different shapes for the eyes, nose and mouth! The children were excited to take home the story and the face pieces to show you how to build the story!
The children are welcome to come dressed or not in a costume next Monday morning. We will parade around the school for all to see! The children will enjoy a healthy orange and black snack in their class and the parents are invited to a social in the MPR with Mrs Kotchick after the parade.
Karen
October 19, 2016
Our class has been finishing up with our apple theme. We have been sequencing how apples grow: the seed, sprout, blossom, and apple fruit. We have been preparing for our field trip by singing The Wheels on the Bus! We have put together a large floor bus puzzle as a group. We’ve been counting buses and the children who get to ride on them. The class loved reading the book: Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Williams. We made our own pigeons to go with the story! Come and see them hanging up in our classroom!
We are excited about our first Field Trip to Linvilla Orchards on Thursday. The kids will ride on the school bus and also go on a hayride through the orchards to see where the apple trees grow. We are going to walk through pumpkin land and get to sample some fresh apple cider and apples! This is always a great trip! Linvilla is a great place to visit. You can visit their website at: http://www.linvilla.com/
Here is a song to sing at home:
A Little Apple Seed
(Sung to: Itsy, Bitsy Spider)
Once a little apple seed was planted in the ground
Down came the raindrops, falling all around.
Out came the big sun, bright as bright could be
And that little apple seed grew to be an apple tree!
Thank you to everyone who has volunteered to come to Linvilla Orchards! We appreciate your time!
Have a great week.
Karen
October 5, 2016
The children are becoming comfortable with our classroom routine. This week we are talking about the color red and exploring different varieties of apples. We will be tasting three types and talking about our favorites. The class will make a graph showing our likes and dislikes.
We will also examine the parts of the apple while comparing and counting the seeds in each one. During our center time we will continue the apple theme in art with apple prints.
Here are some songs we have been singing.
An Action Rhyme- A Growing Tree
I start as a seed so small and round.
I spread my roots beneath the ground.
I bend my knees and stretch just so,
To show you how a tree can grow.
I grow so tall, so very high.
My fingers are leaves.
They touch the sky!
To complement our apple discussion we are working on counting and number recognition up to five. Here is another song to sing at home:
5 Red Apples- Counting rhyme with red felt apples.
Five red apples hanging on the tree
Teasing Mr. Worm No you can’t eat me
Along came mister worm
sneaky as can be and ate that apple
Right out of that tree.
Have a nice week!
September 28, 2016
We have been settling into our classroom routines and it shows!
The children have continued our All About Me theme on bodies. The children identified body parts in magazines and they pasted them onto big letter b’s. We read a book about our 5 senses and talked about our eyes, ears, nose, mouth(taste)and hands for touch.
The children have been singing Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes in circle time.
We will be counting and graphing how many of these parts each friend has this week.
We have been busy stringing big buttons on pipe cleaners in patterns and by colors.
The classes will each spend some class time with me this this visiting the Bala Cynwyd library. It’s so wonderful to have one of the best library systems in the country right next door! We will be using this resource monthly during English class throughout the year in different ways.
We have been singing the Bean Bag Boogie song this week where the children have to listen to the song and place the bean bag on the part of the body the song tells us to.
Have a great week!
Karen
September 21, 2016
We enjoyed meeting most of you at Back to School Night last Wednesday! Thank you for spending part of your evening with us!
We are getting more and more into our classroom routines.
The school picnic was a success! The children loved wearing their school spirit t-shirts on Friday!If you still don’t have a t-shirt, please see the office for one. We will wear them to field trips and other community events throughout the year.
We are working on our theme- All About ME! The kids are learning all about parts of the body.,They already know they have two hands from The Kissing Hand! We have been singing Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, graphing our class eye and hair color. The children have a big letter B for Body and we are looking through magazines and finding pictures of body parts to glue on the letter B. We are using big dice with body parts on each side and we roll the dice and point to the part that matches the dice. Our play dough centers are complete with Head shapes that are missing their facial features. Our challenge is to make the missing eyes, nose, mouth etc. The kids are enjoying using Mr. Potato Head and changing his features as well.
Please email us with any questions.
Have a great week!
September 14, 2016
We are off to a wonderful start in Pre-K 3! The children are becoming comfortable with our classroom routine and have been busy making friends.
Our year began with a reading of Eric Carle's The Very Lonely Firefly. The premise of the story is a firefly who is searching for a friend. The firefly finally finds his friends at the end of the book. The children could relate coming to school on their own and finding their new classmates!
We will begin to explore Fall and Apples. The class will examine and compare seeds and taste test different varieties of apples. In art we will use our color of the month to make apple prints! We will be finding a special shape inside the apple.
Looking forward to meeting you at our Back to School Night tonight.
Have a great week!
Feel free to email me with any questions or concerns.