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Sailing into the Second Week News & Future Plans!
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Happy second week of school everyone! We have had a wonderful week in pre-K. Our children have been working hard to learn all of the routines and procedures of school….especially our classroom rules. During circle time, we created a giant class chart that asked: “Why do we come to school?” There were some pretty interesting answers!
We had a discussion about how to line up during a fire drill and on Wednesday we practiced our first fire drill! We have been talking everyday about walking in our line safely, especially on the stairs. Everyone is still working on cleaning up after center time, children have been hard at work for sure!
Children have begun signing into pre-k in two ways: with our name/photo cookie AND this week, with their own “sign in books.” As the children arrive at school, they “check in” to school by doing these activities before and after circle time & morning meeting. Children will be guided as they work on writing their names independently every day….which brings us to our first theme in our pre-k curriculum…
"Welcome to School"
Our first two weeks of the WTS unit have focused on discovering what school and pre-k- will be like each and every day. In the beginning of this unit study, we acknowledge that everyone has emotions and feelings. Children have already listened to many stories that addressed this concept. Next week, our children will identify times when they felt happy/sad/proud/embarrassed/shy etc. Our projects will be on display in our classroom soon!
To begin our Math Curriculum, children have been learning that Math is numbers and shapes, math is everywhere! In our math center, we worked on building small groups of two and counting how many. We focused on finding the numbers around us and in one of our stories “Where’s One?” that we read this week.
Stories We Read This Past Week:
On Monday When it Rained (1989) Kachenmeister
Lots of Feelings (2003) Rotner
I Like Myself (2004) Beamont
Where’s One?
(McGraw Hill, Building Blocks Math Curriculum Book)
As children have begun to adjust into their new world of school, they have had and will continue to have, many opportunities in learning how to share. This led us to sing the ‘Hand Song’ many times!!
Looking Ahead…
Over the next few weeks, we will begin to delve into all of the marvelous things that will help us create a positive classroom community. We will focus on a few key ideas:
~Everybody has a name, some are different some the same.
(We will be making our own class book of our classmates!)
~ We are part of a classroom of friends; we must treat each other kindly and with respect.
~We will use kind words towards each other.
(Ask your child to tell you about Our Class Brownie Points Pan: Sweet words & actions earn brownie points, when the pan is full Mrs. Celente will bake brownies for everyone!)
Our children will also be working on identifying what their whole-printed names look like. Children will examine the shape and form of the letters within their names everywhere in our classroom: from the playdough center to morning meeting, the writing center to their cubbies; opportunities to identify children’s names are everywhere! To begin, we will start with the first letter of the children’s names. Children will observe how many of us have the same first letters of our names (or even the same names) and how many of us have different first letters in our names.
Children need many opportunities to work with letters and see letters in their environment as they begin to make the connection that spoken words can be communicated through print. There are a variety of activities for children to build literacy and develop print awareness. One of the most effective ways for young children to learn language is by allowing them space to explore letters in a hands-on tactile way.
Building on this idea, letter stampers will be added to the playdough center, letter shells have been added to the sensory table and magnetic letters & tiles will be in the writing area. The alphabet robots in the table toys centers are a huge hit already. We will be working with loads of letters all year!
If you would like to have your child practice writing their names at home you can check out this website here:
You can print your child’s name to trace letters anytime at home for extra practice!
Next Week We Will Read:
Chrysanthemum (1991) Henkes
Have You Filled a Bucket Today (2006) McCloud
Say Please Little Bear (2011) Bently
Be Polite & Kind (2004) Meiners
Mrs. Celente’s “All About Me” Book!
Written by: Mrs. Celente
Songs We Will Be Singing:
Magic Words Song (Please & Thank You) Tune: Freres Jaquez
If You’re Happy and You Know It
Calendar Songs:
Days of the Week (Tune~ The Munsters Theme)
There’s Sunday & there’s Monday
There’s Tuesday & there’s Wednesday
There’s Thursday & there’s Friday…
And then there’s Saturday,
Days of the week (cluck cluck)
Days of the Week (cluck cluck)
Days of the Week, Days of the week days of the week! (cluck cluck)
Our Coconut Hallway Song:
Shimmy, shimmy coconut
Shimmy, shimmy coconut
Shimmy, shimmy try it
Shimmy, shimmy try it
Shimmy, shimmy coconut
Time to be quiet!
Hands Song:
Hands are for Loving
Hands are for hugging
Hands are not for pushing & shoving
Hands are for Loving
Hands are for hugging
Hands are not for pushing & shoving
Raise your hand say hello or goodbye
Don’t use your hands to make someone cry
You’ve got a left and you’ve got a right
Don’t use your hands to get in a fight.
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Reminders:
OUR SCHOOL BLANKETS HAVE ARRIVED!
Starting next week, we will be using our beautiful, brand-new, green school blankets. Napping items will be sent home every Friday to be washed and returned for Monday. Thank you for your help!
Cold season is here!
If your child has a temperature or is feeling under the weather,
please exercise good judgement in sending them to school.
We have been working very hard to remind children how to cover coughs & sneezes.
Have a nice Sunday everyone!
<3 Mrs. Celente