Helping your Child through Tragic Events

Good Morning,

I am not going to spend time discussing anything about the events that took place last Friday in Connecticut.  However, I do want to share with you a website that we (at MAES) have found very helpful in teaching educators and parents how to help young children process tragic news and events.  Please take some time to read through the article on the following website.  It has many great pointers as well as discusses things your children may be thinking.  

http://www.fci.org/new-site/par-tragic-events.html

I am wishing you all a happy holiday season.  We are all very blessed. 

Ms. Brittany

Christmas

Greetings,

With the hustle and bustle of preparing for Christmas, I ran out of time to update our blog this week!  Thanks for being patient!  This week and next week we are learning about Christmas and focusing on the letter "Ii."  Some of our projects include our letter book, preparing for our Christmas program and making many Christmas presents for the special people in our lives!  :)  The kids have been working so hard on learning all of their Christmas songs!  Before you know it, everyone will be all dressed up and ready to perform! 

I wish all of you a wonderful holiday season and a prosperous new year!  Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your child's life!  I enjoy working with each and every one of them!

Happy Holidays,

Ms. Brittany

UPDATES AND REMINDERS:

**Our theme (in January) will be Arctic Animals.

**Our Christmas Program is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 19th and Thursday, Dec. 20th at 10:30 A.M. in the MAES gym.  There will be refreshments afterwards as well as some special gifts you will need to pick up in our classroom!  If you are taking your child home, please remember to sign him/her out.  The sign out sheet will be in our classroom near the door!

**We will be having our Christmas Party on Wednesday or Thursday before the Christmas program.  Please have your child bring in a $5.00 gift as soon as possible to ensure all children can participate.  Please remember, if this would be a hardship for your family this year, please contact me as soon as possible to make other arrangements for a gift.

**There will be NO SCHOOL for all grades Monday, Dec. 14th through Tuesday, Jan. 1st.  School will resume Wednesday, January 2nd.  

**Our next Families Being Involved workshop is scheduled for Friday, January 18th.  Please look for more information to come home in January.

Cookies and Christmas Trees

Greetings,

This week in Pre-K we will be talking about Cookies and Christmas Trees.  Our letter of the week will be "Cc" and we will be wrapping up our numbers by learning about number 10.  Please continue to practice identifying letters and numbers with your child at home.  Some of our projects this week include making a shape, cookie book, sequencing four pictures, playing name bingo and beginning to work on some "special" Christmas gifts! 

Our Pre-K Christmas program is right around the corner, and we are working extra hard on practicing our Christmas songs while at school.  The children are very excited to know that most parents and maybe some other family members, will be coming to school to watch them perform.  Please look in your child's folder today and tomorrow for information coming home regarding the Pre-K Christmas Program!!



UPDATES AND REMINDERS:
**Our theme for the next two weeks will be Christmas.

**Our Christmas program is scheduled for Wednesday, December 19th and Thursday, December 20th at 10:30 A.M.  For more information, you can refer to the form sent home today in your child's folder.  Please return the bottom portion as soon as possible. 

**There will be no school for all grades on Monday, December 24th through Tuesday, January 1st due to Christmas break.  Some will resume on Wednesday, January 2nd.  

**In your child's folder, you will find a half sheet of information on our class gift exchange.  This information is in the Classroom News as well.  If purchasing a gift would be a hardship for your family this year, please let me know as soon as possible.

**On Wednesday, December 5th, our Monday/Wednesday group will be walking over to the high school to work with our high school buddies.  We will be leaving school around 9:45 and returning a little after 11:00.  Please contact me if you need to take your child out of school during those hours.

Winter Clothes

BRRRRRR....these past few days have been awfully cHiLlY out, meaning winter is just around the corner!!  This week in Pre-K, we will be talking about "Winter Clothes."  The children will learn a song to help them get dressed for recess and home.  At school, we work to have the children be as independent as possible and we encourage you to do the same at home.  Although it does take a little bit longer to allow them to zip their own coats and put on all of their own winter clothing, it helps them grow and learn.  Before you know it, they're pretty quickly getting dressed for the outdoors!  :)

This week our letter is "Ww" and our numbers are 8 and 9.  Please continue to work on counting and recognizing letters and numbers at home.  In our classroom, we are beginning to test on Quarter 2 skills.  If there is any skill your child did not receive a "B" in from Quarter 1, those skills will be re-tested for Quarter 2.  If you have any questions about your child's progress, need advice on things to work on at home, or are wondering how you can strengthen certain areas, please don't hesitate to ask.  I certainly appreciate all of the help you give your child from home!

Updates and Reminders:
**Next week our theme will be "Cookies and Christmas Trees."

**Please send appropriate clothing to keep your child warm at recess.  We go outside twice a day.  This includes jackets, hats, mittens, boots, and snow pants.  Please remember to label your child's belongings to help keep them organized at school.  :)

**December's Families Being Involved workshop will be Friday, December 7th at 1:30 in the MAES cafeteria.  If you signed up, we look forward to seeing you there!

**Our Christmas program is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 19th and Thursday, Dec. 20th at 10:30 A.M.  An official invitation will be sent home next week!

**There is no school Monday, Dec. 24th - Tuesday, Jan. 1st as it is Christmas break.

**The Families Being Involved workshop for January is scheduled for Friday, January 18th.  More information will be sent home after Christmas break.

Families Being Involved Bowling

Today was our Families Being Involved Bowling workshop at The Sports Page.  We had a great turn out and families seemed to really enjoy their time bowling.  I was able to capture some really great pictures from the event.  Thanks to all of you who were able to attend.

Rylee watching her ball.  I wonder if she got a strike!

Evan and Laney hanging out while bowling.

Families enjoying time together.

Olivia showing us how its done.  :)

Easton showing his strong muscles as he bowls.

Peyton showing proper bowling technique.  :)

Eli and his dad choosing a bowling ball.

Hayden, his mom and his sister hanging out.

Hanul and mom watching others bowl.

Keaton and Max (Ms. Kirsten's friend) bowling together.

Keaton and his mom pose for the camera.  (It took me awhile to convince Mom to let me take her picture.)

Keegan and Mom spend time together.

Morgan, Dad and her sister work together while they bowl.

Hats for Hope help Sandy

Below is the link to the Newsline 9 story that aired on Wednesday evening highlighting the fundraiser MAES did to help victims of Superstorm Sandy.  Our class was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time!!  I was asked if Newsline 9 could take some footage of our class, and I eagerly obliged!  Please check out the wonderful story by clicking the link.  I would personally like to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who participated.  These opportunities are such great learning experiences and instill many positive character traits in the children.  I am so proud of the kids, their families, and our school!  A special thank you goes out to Kim Fechhelm who organized the whole fundraiser!

Enjoy!!  :)

Hats for Hope help Sandy

Thanks for Thanksgiving

Hello Pre-K Famlies,

I sincerely apologize for not updating our classroom blog last week during our theme of "Scarecrows."  It has been a very busy time in our classroom as we wrapped up quarter 1 testing, prepared report cards, had dress up dates and more!  Thanks for being patient!  

This week and next week in Pre-K we will be learning about Thanksgiving and what it means to be thankful.  The children will be coming up with all different things they are thankful for.  We already had a great list started today including food, families, legos, toys, pets, cousins, and school.  It is so wonderful to hear them come up with these ideas all of their own.  Our letter for this theme is "Tt" and we will be focusing on numbers 5-7.  Please continue to work on letter sounds and counting at home.  

Some fun projects we will be creating include a patterned place mat for our special Thanksgiving treat, a fun water colored turkey, and My Tt Book, to name just a few!  For filling up the PBIS big shield, our classes will get to participate in a movie party.  The movie will take place this week Thursday and next week Monday.  Hooray for great behavior!  Within these next few weeks, each child will also participate in a vision screening at school.  There is a lot of things to fit in before our extended holiday weekend!  :)

UPDATES AND REMINDERS:

**The weather is getting chilly and the children go outside twice a day.  Please send your child to school in warm clothes including a winter hat, mittens, hats and boots.  If there is snow, they will also need snow pants.  We do not have extra mittens/hats to allow your child to wear if they forget.  Please remember to label each child's materials in order to help us keep them straight at school.  Already this year, I have a few pairs of gloves and a few hats with no names that no one is claiming.

**The November FBI workshop is schedules for THIS Friday, November 16th.  If your family signed up, we look forward to seeing you there!

**There is NO SCHOOL for all grades Wednesday, Nov. 21st - Friday, Nov. 23rd due to Thanksgiving break.

**December's FBI workshop is schedules for the afternoon of Friday, Dec. 7th and will be cookie decorating.  More info came home in your child's folder today.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

The Pre-K Christmas program is scheduled for Wednesday, December 19th and Thursday, December 20th.  The program will begin at 10:30 A.M. with refreshments to follow!

Hibernation and Migration

This week in Pre-K we will be learning about hibernation and migration.  It is going to be a very exciting week as we will be having a pajama day on Wednesday and Thursday.  Please remember that when choosing pajamas to wear, that they need to be warm as we will be going outside for recess.  If your child wants to wear a night gown of some sort, pants or leggings underneath work great!  We will be hibernating as we watch a fun movie!  We will also be learning about what kinds of animals hibernate and which animals migrate.  The children love to learn "big words."  

Our letter this week is Mm.  Please remember to practice identifying the letter with your child.  This week we are beginning to learn about numbers and will be focusing on numbers 1 and 2.  To help the children learn how to write the numbers, we teach them rhymes that go with each number.  Today in your child's folder, you will find a copy of these rhymes.  While practicing numbers at home, please refer to the rhyme sheet.  This will help your child learn and remember how to write each number.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

Our Pre-K Christmas Program is scheduled for Wednesday, December 19th and Thursday, December 20th at 10:30 A.M. in the MAES gym.  More information will be sent home at a later date.

UPDATES AND REMINDERS:

**Please send appropriate clothing to keep your child warm at recess.  We go outside for recess two times per day, unless the weather absolutely does not permit us to go outside.  As the days grow colder, please remember to send your child with hats, mittens and warm jackets.  If the weather is nice, we can always leave items in their backpacks.  Also, please remember to label your child's clothing!

**Next week our theme will be "scarecrows."  We will be having a Scarecrow Day on Wednesday, Nov. 7th and Thursday, Nov. 8th.  Your child can come to school dressed like a scarecrow!

**The next Early Release Day is on Tuesday, Nov. 6th.  The children will be dismissed around 1:52 P.M.

**On the following dates, there will be NO SCHOOL : November 21st - November 23rd (Thanksgiving Break) and December 24th - January 1st (Christmas Break.)

**November's Families Being Involved workshop will be held on Friday, November 16th in the morning.  More information came home with your child this week in his/her folder.

**December's Families Being Involved workshop will be held on Friday, December 7th.  More information will come home at a later date.

Halloween Week 2

Greetings,

I hope all of your families enjoyed the wonderful Fall weather we had this past weekend.  I don't think we are going to be lucky enough to get that kind of weather many more days this year.  This week is our second week of Halloween.  We will be having our Halloween parties on Wednesday and Thursday of this week.  The kids are very excited to bring their costumes in and to go trick-or-treating in our classroom.  Please remember that you may bring a treat to share if you'd like, but it must be store bought and in its original container, due to a peanut allergy in our classroom.  Any candy that does contain peanuts, like candy bars, will be sent home for your child to enjoy there. 

This last Friday was our first Families Being Involved event at MAES.  Families who attended enjoyed punch, Halloween music and were able to carve a pumpkin.  We would like to send out a special thank you to Jim and Judy Sorge who donated the pumpkins for the second year in a row and to County Market for donating a gift card so that we could purchase carving supplies.  Below are some pictures of families from our classroom that attended the FBI.

Our Monday/Wednesday class has the opportunity to work with Mrs. Barb Gelhaus's class from the High School once a week.  Usually, our high school friends come to our classroom on Wednesdays, however this week, they came on Monday to share with us some Halloween activities that they created.  Throughout the semester, our Tuesday/Thursday classes get a chance to go to the High School and work with these friends as well.  The pictures below show some of the fun we took part in today!

UPDATES AND REMINDERS:

**Monday and Tuesday of this week was our first Fluoride Varnish.  If your child participated, s/he will be bringing home a goody bag.

**There is no Classroom News this week as last week's edition was for both weeks of Halloween.

**Picture re-take day will be this Wednesday and Thursday.  If your child would like re-takes, please send back his/her original pictures.  This will not interfere with our Halloween party, as re-takes will be in the morning.

**Please remember that there is NO SCHOOL for all grades this Friday, October 26th. 

Peyton and his family work on cleaning out their pumpkin.

Keaton, Grandpa Ron and their friend Brody work together to carve their pumpkin.

Mr. Miller helps Hanul and her mom clean out their pumpkin.  This was the first time anyone in their family had carved a pumpkin!  :)

Olivia, her mom and her sister work together.

Sadie and her mom enjoying time together.

Griffen and Mom carving a cool pumpkin!  Mom spent lots of time trying to get Griffen to touch the pumpkin guts.  :)

Thanks Jim and Judy and County Market for donating.  We couldn't do this fun activity without your support!

Pre-K Play Time

As an early childhood educator, I like to also educate parents on what goes on in our classroom.  So throughout the school year, you may find fun picture postings about something fun that went on at snack time or interesting things we did at circle time.  Today I would like to give you a glimpse of what happens in Pre-K during play time.  Many think that play time is just a time for teachers to allow students to entertain themselves while the teachers do prep work.  Sometimes I even have people say to me, "Wow!  It must be hard to just sit and watch kids play all day." Many don't realize the incredible learning that happens through the play of children this age.

One of the main skills we focus on in Pre-Kindergarten is socialization.  We teach the children how to handle conflict, how to talk to their peers and how to interact with others.  Play time is a great way to give kids those opportunities.  Often times while the children are playing in our classroom, I find myself sitting on the floor next to them, giving them the proper words to use in many situations including things like, "Would you like to play with me?" all the way to, "Please stop that.  I don't like when you hit me."  These children learn not only socialization skills through play, but also submerge themselves in an academic environment where they must problem solve and use critical thinking skills to figure out what to do next.  Throughout the year, I like to take pictures of the kids as they play so that parents can see the amazing things that they create and what they accomplish on their own.  Below are just a few pictures that I have taken so far this year.  

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to teach your children.  I love to see the amazing transformation throughout the year, as they become more independent learners.  They never cease to amaze me!

Evan was using connecting pipes to form letters.  Here is the letter "Ss" that he made.

Here, Mykena strengthens her fine motor skills, as well as learns letters as she traces different letters in a dry erase book.

Ariella and Blake put to use what we've learned about "Mat Man" as they practice drawing people.

Sawyer works on fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination as he connects the dots in a dry erase book.

Halloween and Firefighter Pictures

Hello Everyone,

Hopefully your children are enjoying this Monday off of school!  Today I will be meeting with many of you for Parent/Teacher Conferences.  If your conference was not scheduled today, your time will be on Friday, October 19th.  Please contact me if you are unable to make your scheduled conference time and we will find a time to reschedule.  Thank you for being understanding about the conference schedule.  I have 35 children to fit into 8 hours, which can sometimes be a challenge.  I appreciate your flexibility and patience as we try to find a time that works best for your families and for me.

This week and next week in Pre-K we will be learning about pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns and Halloween.  You will be receiving more information about our classroom Halloween parties in your child's folder this week.  Our letter for these two weeks will be "Jj."  Please help your child look for Jj objects around your home, as well as being to identify the letter in his/her surrounding environment.  I appreciate all of your help from home!  

This next Friday we will be having our first Families Being Involved (FBI) workshop!  We will be carving pumpkins from 8:30-10 in the MAES cafeteria.  We will provide the pumpkins as well as all the carving materials.  We look forward to seeing those of you who signed up!

Below are some pictures from our firefighter visit.  Mike Radlinger and Troy Harries so graciously volunteered their time and knowledge of firefighting to teach us about how to be prepared for a fire and what to do if a fire happens in our homes.  The fire truck was a HUGE success.  Unfortunately, we ran the battery dead by turning on and off the lights too many times.  :-S  Overall the children really enjoyed the whole experience!  You can click on the pictures below to enlarge them.  Enjoy: