PreK-1: Mrs. Antonia Tedeschi

     I can’t believe we are already in the middle of May.  Our school days are going by so fast.  This week we will begin our final unit on Transformation. 
      The children conclude the year by investigating how things change over time. This unit, like all Pre-K for All units, provides opportunities for children to observe objects and phenomena in their environment with increasing complexity. This final pre-K unit is an opportunity to apply knowledge and skills children learned in previous units, and to help children prepare for upcoming transitions.
      To transform means to make a thorough or dramatic change in form, appearance or character. To learn this concept, children will begin the unit by considering the question “What changes around me?” Activities in week one help children express what they already know and extend their learning through play, literature and discussion. Children might notice that trees change with the seasons, or a neighborhood change such as the building of a new store. Children will begin to explore how they are agents of change in a variety of ways, including activities where they can change the shape of an object or objects. Children will also explore how their feelings change and how their actions and words can impact others’ feelings. These discussions and activities will help children develop concepts and skills related to self-awareness, self-regulation and relationship with others that will be key as they transition into Kindergarten. In week two, there are opportunities to investigate how objects change and why. Building on skills they learned in Unit 7: Water, children will explore changes in state (e.g. water to ice) as well as repurposing, reusing and recycling materials. 
      In week three children will build on learning from Units 7 through 9 by investigating changes in nature. There are opportunities to discuss and learn about metamorphosis through studying the life cycle of insects such as butterflies as well as to notice changes in weather and seasons. Neighborhoods throughout New York City provide opportunities to observe change. The activities in this week provide opportunities for embedded literacy development such as learning new vocabulary, storytelling and learning about the relationship between letters and their sounds.  

Weekly focus questions:

• What changes around me?

• How can objects change?

• What kinds of change happen in nature?

• How will I continue to change and grow?

Week 1 vocabulary: 

appearance, change, date, feelings, larger, longer, narrower, objects, state, shorter, seasons, transform, transition, weather

Focus book of the week:

Little Tree by Loren Long
 

Student outcomes: 
Enduring understandings that the student should have by the end of the unit:

Many things around me change.

There are many ways objects can change.
There are many kinds of changes in nature. 
Some things about me change and some things stay the same.

Wednesday May 16: Trip to the park. Please send in completed permission slip so your child can come to the park. 
Monday May 28 & Tuesday May 29 no school Memorial Day