Where in the world has this year gone?! I absolutely cannot believe that I am writing about our last weeks of school. As exciting as summer is and time off, it also makes me sad to think of sending my little friends off to their "big schools" without me! After over 150 days with your children, they are like my own. I will miss them terribly! I have a knot in my throat every time we practice for our end of year program and graduation. They are precious little beings!
We enjoyed our unit on camping and I loved hearing about real camping trips, backyard camping and even camping in the house. Evelyn says camping definitely means eating s'mores! I agree!
This week we are learning about bugs and have read some good books about real creepy crawlies and learned some interesting things about ants. We will also learn some cool things about butterflies in preparation for our trip on Monday, the 14th, to the butterfly farm. How would you like to taste things with your feet?!
We will finish the year learning about seeds and plants and take some time to also read some wonderful books just for fun.
We finished our reading series. We have some amazing little readers. I love seeing those little hands and fingers pointing to the words as they read our books and homework. I hope that you will keep the homework notebook and throughout the summer do some re-reading with your child to keep those reading skills top notch.
Your children are adding and subtracting, and telling time to the hour, making 3 part patterns, graphing, and using great reasoning skills in our "teddy bear math."
We have a busy end to the year. Be sure to be at school at 9:00 in the morning to go to Westchester Country Day School to see "The Jungle Book." On Monday we will go to the butterfly farm, and on Friday to pick strawberries (if there are any left).
Don't forget two very important dates. Next Thursday is our school wide end of year program in the sanctuary. Our children give me goose bumps everytime they practice. Then on Wed. of week after next, May 23, we will have our pre-k graduation program at 11:00 in the fellowship hall. Be sure to invite grandparents, siblings, and anyone that is special to your child. After both of these programs our school day will be over and you may take your child with you.
I love your children so much and will miss them lots. I am so thrilled with all their accomplishments and know they will be great kindergarteners. What a blessing these 5 year olds are in my life! They give Ms. Candice and me lots to smile about every day.
Ms. Libby and Ms. Candice
March has certainly started like a whirlwind, not only weatherwise, but with all the fun and excitement of the Festival of Friends on Thursday evening. Thanks to all the parents, children and community members that made it a success!
Our first unit coming up in March will be Dr. Seuss with all his humor, silliness and rhyming. Then we will talk about St. Patrick's Day and spring, then Kings and Queens and we will end the month with a unit on Farms. We will celebrate our study of farms right after Easter break with a super field trip to Homeland Creamery. More info later in the month on that...
Reading skills are really coming along and we are moving right along through more little books. We will finish our letter study with Vv and Xx. Then the middle of March we will start on the long vowel sounds. We are really working on rhyming families and trying to help the children see how many words they can write by just changing the beginning letter of rhyming words.
In math we continue to practice recognizing and writing numbers through 20, extended patterns, reasoning skills,and solving problems with manipulatives.
Please check the March calendar for Show and Tell dates and other special events. The school year is flying and your children are really growing and blossoming just like we are already seeing with so many trees and flowers. They amaze us every day! What a joy they are!
Ms. Libby and Ms. Audrey
The day the children have wished for and talked about since they saw the first day of winter posted on our Dec. calendar has finally come! A snow day!!! Child Enrichment will be closed tomorrow. I hope they got to go outside and catch some snowflakes on their tongues before going to bed. Maybe they even got to romp and stomp in it a bit. I hope so! I've been out to get a taste of fluffy snow and hear it crunch under my feet. I love it too!
Enjoy your day tomorrow. Have fun in the snow while it's still here!
Libby
Where in the world did January go?! Your children got right back in the swing of things after Christmas and we are sailing right along! We had to make our own winter weather with our snow art work.
The children's reading amazes me! They are really using those skills. We are working on looking for little words in words we don't know, then adding that beginning sound; for example, finding it in sit and just adding that s sound to it rather than sounding out every letter. We also talk about using words we know, such as got and that we can also read hot and pot because we only changed the beginning sound. We have also started "making words" with little letter cards individually. How exciting for them to realize they can spell!
We will continue with the little reading books at about the same pace as we have been since the conferences. We are reading Garden now. Our upcoming books will be Baseball, Good Pup, The Sun is Up and Pets. We will finish our current unit of letter sounds and will do an evaluation on several days next week.
In math we are continuing to work on numeral recognition and will reach 20 this month. Other math skills continue to be fine tuned and expanded upon. We have added a nickel to our use of coins and talk about what coins they trade for. We will add a quarter in a couple of weeks.
Our themes for the month are Groundhogs and Cowboys, Valentines and Friends, Famous Americans, A Healthy Me, and Nutrition and the Five Senses. Be sure to check the calendar for special days and events. Library Liz has been moved to Feb. 16. We will celebrate the 100th Day of school on Wed, Feb. 15. That is, unless school has to be closed for bad weather between now and then. That doesn't look like it's going to happen though! For the 100th day, have your child bring a collection of 100 things, such as toothpicks, pennies, erasers, gum balls, etc. Please have the collection in a zip lock bag. If it is something to be shared with the class, such as Hershey Kisses, etc. please let me know.
Remember Festival of Friends on March 1. It will be here before we know it!
We look forward to each day with your little ones. They are wonderful children and certainly loved. I don't know what I would do without them!
Have a happy Valentine's Day and a wonderful February!
Ms. Libby and Ms. Audrey
Happy New Year! I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas enjoyed the time at home with your children. It was great to see them again and hear about their adventures during the Christmas holiday.
We are already off to a busy start. Our themes will be Winter and Winter weather, Jan Brett (my favorite children's author), Penguins and Polar Bears. We met a new letter friend today. Ww is the last letter of this sequence, so we will also read the next book, Dog, and do assessments before starting the next sequence of five letters. After conferences your children will begin reading a new book every three to four days. Remember these books use word wall words and the sounds of the letters we have studied, so it's very important to keep up and practice those words. We will also work on learning to write last names, using letter sounds to spell words, three part patterning, reasoning skills, graphing, solving addition and subtraction problems using manipulatives, and recognizing and using numerals through 17.
Parent/teacher conferences will be on Tuesday, Jan. 17. A schedule will come home soon. I look forward to talking with you again about your child's progress.
You should have received your January calendar. Be sure to keep it handy for those special dates, such as Show and Tell. Please help your child select one item to bring and to prepare at least three clues to give to the class to see if they can guess the Show and Tell item your child brings. Be sure it's concealed in a bag!
We are looking forward to a wonderful 2012 with your child as we continue to laugh, sing,, play and learn many new things!
Ms. Libby and Ms. Audrey
Oh my goodness, where is the time going?! I apologize for the tardiness of this blog and the absence of one in November. The Christmas frenzies have grabbed hold of me and by the time I get to the computer after shopping, wrapping and baking, my brain and fingers aren't at their sharpest!
Our class has been like a miniature Santa's workshop. I hope you are enjoying the clay pot Nativity that your child made for you, as well as other holiday crafts. Something special is coming home this week from your child to put under the tree. The children have been busy "crafting" and learning more letter sounds, word wall words, and numbers, enjoying lots of Christmas books and, of course, singing and playing.
We are on our fourth letter in the third unit. That means one more after Christmas before our next book that they will read! We are up to the numeral 13, so please continue to review the recognition of 0 through 13 with your children. They are doing an awesome job with their homework thanks to your help and practice! Keep up the good work! We'll have some wonderful readers going to kindergarten!
I want to compliment you parents, too, on all your children knew about the Christmas story as we began talking about it after Thanksgiving. No one thought the angel was the tooth fairy as has happened in the past. However, Joseph did get called Mosa. They were very knowledgeable about the Christmas story though and that speaks well of the background you parents provide for them.
Please remember our breakfast with Santa this Wednesday. Don't forget to let your child come to school in his/her pajamas! We'll enjoy pancakes and get to visit with Santa. Our class is due to go over to the fellowship hall about 10:45. Feel free to come and join us if you would like to.
This is a wonderful time of the year. Remember to take time to reflect on all your blessings and the real reason for our celebration. On Christmas morning remember to say, "Happy Birthday, Jesus" and know that He is the best gift of all.
Merry Christmas to you all!
Ms. Libby and Ms. Audrey
I hope everyone has had a great summer and that all our new little friends are ready for an exciting year in Pre-K. Ms. Audrey and I are looking forward to meeting everyone and making lots of new friends.
We will begin our year with the theme, My Friends and Me. We will spend some time getting to know each other and learning about each other's families. Be picking out a family picture that you can let your child bring to school during the first week to show his/her classmates.
Our other themes for September will be Apples and Here Comes Fall. If the weather and the apples cooperate we will go apple picking on Sept. 14! There are lots of other fun things planned for September that will be noted on your calendar for the month.
Mrs. Myers has ordered a special Child Enrichment tote bag for each child to use daily for carrying his/her papers and things to and from school. They are just right for hanging in our cubbies too. You will get those at Open House!
We look forward to seeing everyone Thursday at Open House! It will be a great school year! Have a wonderful rest of the summer!
Ms. Libby
