September 24-28, 2018

Important words to remember from Mr. Rogers!

Last week, we began our first directed drawing activity. Directed drawings are ways for students to create their own artwork by following step-by-step instructions. They help to strengthen students' confidence and listening skills while encouraging student to pay close attention to details. Check out our super scarecrows for fall!

The Pre-K students continue to LOVE working in their handwriting books! This week, we learned how to write left to right lines. We practice together as a group before the students work on their own in their books. 

Unfortunately, the video doesn't mirror their work, but I promise they were going left to right! They were so proud of themselves and love to see themselves on video, so I had to share.

We had our first science lesson this week - we explored apples with our 5 senses! The boys and girls described how the apples felt, looked, smelled, and tasted. 

We then made a graph of our favorites! They were great science explorers and already asking when we can do science again!

Miss Hoffman, our 3rd grade teacher, shared a great post last week on her blog that I also wanted to share with you. The article is called 50 Questions to Ask Your Kids Instead of Asking "How Was Your Day?" It has some great ideas for specific questions to ask:

• What was the best thing that happened today?
• Who did you play with today?
• What was the book about that your teacher read?
• What made you feel happy?
• Can you tell me an example of a kindness that you saw/showed?
• Who did you play with today? What did you do?

For the full article, click here.  Another great idea, is to refer to our class schedule that we gave out at Back to School night and ask about specific classes during the day.

Our first class bulletin board is complete! The Pre-K students made
some unique crayons to help decorate.

Reminders:

There is no Show and Tell next week. We will have Show and Tell on Day 6 of the cycle.

Please join us on Thursday, October 4, at 8:15 am for the Blessing of the Animals. (Rain date is Friday, October 5, at 8:15 am. Bring your pets! 

Save the date for our Halloween Mission Party on Wednesday, October 31. More information will be coming soon!

We love lunch time, but please don't forget to pack
spoons/forks and napkins!

Please remember to have your child wear
sneakers everyday!

Have a great weekend!

September 17-21, 2018

We are already into a great routine with our Montessori work period. Often, we end circle time with a group lesson on one of the Montessori materials. This week, we focused on the Sandpaper Globe (where the students learned the difference between land and water), the Painted Globe (where the students learned about how the land is divided into the seven continents), and the Knobless Cylinders (which are used to distinguish between size and shape relationships and also build patterns).

Cory is adding some Knobless Cylinders to finish our
green-yellow-red pattern.

During the Montessori work period, the students are working very well, both with each other and with the Nursery students. They enjoy getting lessons on the materials from the teachers, practicing the work, and then teaching one another. We are working for a full hour already - the possibilities are endless!

Austin is matching and sorting by color with Color Box 2.

Braela is working with the Geometric Solids.

Marcus is matching capital and lowercase letters
on the Insta-Learn Board.

Mira is counting with the Number Rods and Cards.

Kellan is matching shapes in the
Geometry Cabinet.

Lily is building with the Pink Tower
and Brown Stair.

Scarlett is sounding out words and matching them to the
correct picture with the Phonetic Word Cards and Pictures.

We introduced handwriting to the Pre-K students. At this age, we begin by teaching proper pencil grasp. Then, we start working on the various lines used to form letters. For our first lesson, we worked on top to bottom lines and the students practiced tracing them and writing their own. They loved working in books like the "big kids!"

We love going to the library to check out books! Each child is able to select a book of his/her choice and keep it in the classroom library for the week to read and share with the class.

In gym class, we focused on our jumping skills, while following multi-step directions. The children were asked to spin their hula hoops, wait, jump in, and then jump back out. It took several tries and lots of hard work, but by the end of class, everyone was able to do it. Following multi-step directions is an important developmental skill for all Pre-K students to learn.

Our first Show and Tell was fantastic! We were amazed at how well the students were able to stand in front of the class and share about their favorite things! We are sure Show and Tell is going to be a favorite among the Pre-K students this year.

Some reminders:

• Our first school mass will be next Thursday, September 27, at 1:00 pm. Please feel free to join us if you are able.
• Our next Show and Tell will be on Friday, September 28. The topic will be "My Family." Please have your child bring in a picture of his/her family (if you do not have a photo, your child may draw a picture). Please have your child prepared to talk about the picture, including naming the members of his/her family and one thing you like to do together.

Have a great weekend!

Welcome Back!

Welcome to the Pre-Kindergarten classroom blog! This is where you can find all important information pertaining to our classroom. Please be sure to "follow by email" so that you can receive notifications when a new post is made. 

We had a wonderful first day of school and the fun has continued each and every day! The HCA Class of 2028 is ready to learn and have a great year in Pre-K!

We have spent much of the past week and a half getting to know one another. We have played and learned inside and outside of the classroom. We took a nice walk around the neighborhood. We even had our first school-wide fire drill and did an excellent job!

We discussed our rules and routines and everyone "signed" our Classroom Contract.

The boys and girls have been eager to build friendships with their new classmates.

The students have been working so hard during the Montessori work period!

We took turns practicing tweezing.

Concentrating on spooning

It's hard work to tweeze and sort by color!

Same or different?

Some reminders:

• Scholastic Reading Club catalogs will be sent home today. All orders will be due by Friday, September 21. Orders may be sent into school or you can order online at https://orders.scholastic.com/H7WXZ with class code H7WXZ.
• Please remember to send in your "Meet and Greet" Questionnaire, emergency form, and supplies if you have not already done so. Also, please empty and return your child's folder every day.  
• Please send in a pair of inexpensive, basic headphones in a Ziploc bag with your child's name. We will be introducing the children to the iPads in our classroom shortly. We will keep the headphones in the children's cubbies so they can use them independently.
• Rest towels will be sent home on Fridays to be washed over the weekend. Please return them on Mondays. Only one towel is needed for rest time.

Looking ahead:

Our first Show and Tell will be next Thursday, September 20. The topic will be "My Favorite Thing." Please prepare your child to tell the class what they are sharing and why it is their favorite thing. We are eager to see what the children have to share so we can continue to learn more about one another! For all Show and Tell items for the year, please try to keep the item small and please do not send expensive things to school!

Happy 5th birthday, Scarlett! We celebrated
with some delicious, allergy-friendly cookies!

Have a great weekend!