Can you believe there are only 7 days of school left???
Even though the school year is winding down, the Pre-K students are still hard at work!
Nolan is working with the Fraction Circles.
Kent is using the Metal Insets to practice
writing lines correctly and improve his
handwriting skills.
Kevin is fastening snaps.
Malayka is showing quantities for 11-19.
Blaine is matching capital and lowercase letters.
Dominic is working on his addition skills.
Alexa is using the Movable Alphabet to fill in missing
initial sounds.
Caleb is working with the Constructive
Triangles to make equilateral triangles.
Cameron is using the Insta-Learn Board to spell three
letter phonetic words.
Tatum is practicing buttoning.
Addie is using the Movable Alphabet to fill in
missing ending sounds.
Priya is fastening buttons.
Marianne is using the Movable Alphabet to spell
three letter phonetic words.
Jonathan is using the Insta-Learn Board
to spell four letter phonetic words.
Maddie is using the Insta-Learn Board to add quantities.
George is using the Movable Alphabet to
write sentences.
Tristan is counting out quantities.
Our friends in first grade presented their biography projects this week. The students chose a person to study, read books about their person, and then dressed up as that person and presented his/her "autobiography." They visited us and paraded through the room to share some information about the person they chose. Pre-K students were very impressed - and are already talking about doing the project when they are in first grade!
Priya and George were so proud of their older siblings,
Maya (Amelia Earhart) and Emmet (Benjamin Franklin).
Our Nursery 2 friends came over one morning for a "party in the Pre-K." All of the students worked and played together so nicely! Some Pre-K students were even giving lessons to their younger friends.
Some reminders:
There is NO SCHOOL on Monday, May 28 (Memorial Day).
The last day of school is Wednesday, June 6.
Forms for pizza lunch on the last day of school were sent home this week. If you would like your child to purchase pizza that day, please send in $3.00 by Monday, June 4. Please pack a drink for your child, but we will provide them with dessert. If your child does not eat pizza, please pack a lunch for him/her. Cafeteria service will not be available that day. Half-day students are welcome to join us as well!
Enjoy the long weekend!
Marianne and Addie found some purple flowers
on the playground. After some investigating
and talking with Mr. St. Cyr, they found out
they came from chives in the HCA organic garden!
Yesterday, Kindergarten celebrated pet day. Blaine's older brother is in Kindergarten and his parents were kind enough to bring their dog, George Bailey, over to Pre-K to meet everyone after his Kindergarten visit. George Bailey definitely seemed to have a great time sniffing around Pre-K and giving some doggie kisses to the students! Blaine told us all about his pets at home and Dr. Lewis (who is a veterinarian) let all the boys and girls listen to George Bailey's heartbeat. A big thank you to Dr. and Mrs. Lewis for coming to visit!
George Bailey snuck in some extra kisses for Blaine!
This week, we did another author study. We learned all about Todd Parr. Todd has written more than 40 children's books including titles such as It's Okay to Be Different, The Feelings Book, Be Who You Are, The Feel Good Book, The Family Book, It's Okay to Make Mistakes, and The Thankful Book. Todd signs all of his books "Love, Todd" at the end of the story.
Todd started out as an artist and his books are full of colorful pictures. We completed a directed drawing activity where we drew Todd himself!
Todd's stories include wonderful messages for kids of all ages. One of our favorite stories was It's Okay to Be Different. As Todd says, "It's okay to be different. You are special and important because of just being who you are." The students (and teachers) had a great time making their own illustrations of themselves, just like Todd would do.
The Pre-K students love listening to Todd Parr's stories so much, so we decided to investigate more about him. We investigated his website here. There are so many fun things to do and learn. The boys and girls wanted to email Todd and let him know how much they love his stories, so we did! We even sent him some pictures of our projects from this week. Fingers crossed that he answers us back!
A reminder that there is NO SCHOOL on Friday, May 25, and Monday, May 28, for the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
The Pre-K students participated in a Q & A session with
our 8th graders yesterday. All of the students asked great
questions to our future graduates about their experience
at HCA and what they look forward to in high school.
We saw a bunny on our walk this week!
The Kindergarten is learning all about pets! Mrs. DeBardino brought her dog, Bella, to school. We loved meeting her!
This week, we introduced some new Montessori lessons - the Golden Bead Material and Large Number Cards. These lessons are designed to help the children recognize and name units, tens, hundreds, and thousands. While we have been using the Golden Beads all year long to count how many days we have been in school, now we are using the material as a separate lesson to take a more in-depth look at the concepts.
Caleb, Kevin, and Alexa learned how to match the numeral
to the correct quantity.
Nolan, Kent, and Priya counted by units to 10, by tens to 20,
by hundreds to 1000, and by thousands to 9000.
The Golden Bead Material and Large Number Cards are also used in the Bank Game, where children learn to exchange smaller quantities for larger ones (e.g.: 10 units for 1 ten bar, 10 ten bars for 1 hundred square, 10 hundred squares for 1 thousand cube). We have introduced this concept to the students when we count the days of school each morning, but this will give them more opportunities to work on it. The Bank Game is something our friends in Kindergarten enjoy in their math classes.
The Pre-K students have especially loved STEAM class the past few weeks. Two weeks ago, the students had investigated water with the Sphero robot and learned that water is made up of different things. Last week, they guessed how many drops of water would fit on top of a penny and were surprised how many drops the penny could hold. They discussed surface tension and were able to examine it up close. (Learning about surface tension at 4 and 5 years old? Only at HCA!)
This week in STEAM class was extra fun. Mrs. Zwilling held class outside and we got to blow bubbles! She told the students that adding soap to water helps the water stick to itself to form the bubbles. She made various shapes (triangles, squares, rectangles, and cubes) using the Zometools from the lab. The students were amazed that even though there were various shapes, all the bubbles that they blew from them came out as circles!
Can you see the square inside?
It formed because of the
surface tension!
The bubbles were just as much fun to wash
up with!
The beautiful weather this week has given us so many chances to play outside with all our early childhood friends!
The Class of 2027 loves playing
together outside!
Bet you didn't know we could run
in slow-motion 😉
Just a reminder that there is no school on Tuesday, May 15 (Election Day). The teachers will have an in-service day.
Congratulations to our friends in 2nd grade who made their First Communion at the Ascension Thursday mass yesterday. It was a beautiful liturgy and we were so happy to be able to celebrate with everyone.
God bless, Quinn, Blaine's big brother, who
made his First Communion!
Have a great weekend!
Pre-K friends are the best!
Hey, 76ers! You might want to sign Kevin now!
Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful moms! We hope you have a great day with your families!
