Spring and Easter

Greetings,

Our theme for the next two weeks will be spring and Easter.  We will be doing many fun activities including making bunny baskets, "hatching" chicks, painting eggs and sponge painting flowers for our bulletin board.  Our letter this week is "Bb'' and our letter for next week will be "Ee."  Please continue practicing the letters and their sounds.  After letters "Bb" and "Ee" we only have one letter left until we have gone through them all!!  Where has the time gone!?!

Thank you to those of you who donated to the fundraiser for firefighter, Jamison Kampmeyer.  The 2nd graders were able to raise over $2000 that will go to his family and to the Medford and Colby Fire Departments in his memory.  Newsline 9 was at MAES on Friday to document the fundraiser.  If you missed it on the news, here is the link: http://www.waow.com/story/17242830/second-graders-sell-cookies-for-kampmeyer-memorial-fund

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

• Reminder that there will be no school for all grades this Friday, March 30th due to teacher inservice.
• There will be no school on Friday, April 6th and Monday, April 9th for all grades due to Easter break.
• We will be going on a field trip to the Medford Veterinary Clinic on Wednesday, April 11th and Thursday, April 12th.
• Cans for Kids will end on May 4th.  Please remember to take aluminum cans to Reliable Recycling and tell the workers who your child's teacher is so they can be recorded.  More information is in the Classroom News.

WEEK OF THE YOUNG CHILD:

Here are the events going on during The Week of the Young Child.  More information will be coming home with your child as the dates get closer!

***Monday April 23 - Live with Colleen and Uncle Squaty!  Shake it Down and Turn Around!
Performances at 1:00 and 4:30 in the Medford Area Elementary School Gymnasium.  All children and parents are encouraged to attend. 

 
***Thursday April 26 - Potluck Dinner and Dance
Dinner at 5:00 and Dance at 6:00 pm at Medford Area Elementary School.  DJ Scott Woller will be providing the tunes for the children and parents to dance along with.  MAES will be providing hamburgers, hot dogs, buns and punch and each family will bring a dish to pass.

***Saturday April 28 - Movie at Broadway Theatre
Special movie for early education children and families at Broadway Theatre in Medford at 11:00 A.M.  $5.00 admission and 50% off soda and popcorn.  Kid Friendly Movie to be determined.

Dress up days during The Week of the Young Child include:

Monday = Crazy Clothes Day
Tuesday = Sports Day
Wednesday = Pajamas Day
Thursday = Beach Wear Day
Friday = School Colors Day

Have a fantastic week,
Ms. Brittany

Honoring A Hero

There are so many amazing things happening at MAES this week, that I can't seem to keep up with the blog updates!  On Wednesday and Thursday our Pre-K classes were given the opportunity to participate in such a wonderful fundraiser put on by the 2nd graders and their teachers.  

As many of you may know, from the note that was sent home previously, the 2nd graders are hosting a fundraiser to show sympathy for Colby firefighter, Jamison Kampmeyer's family, after he lost his life fighting the Abby Theater fire.  Since the all school event is on Friday, when Pre-K doesn't have school, Mrs. Klingbeil invited each Pre-K class down to her classroom for cookies and lemonade on a day that our students were here!  Families were asked to pay for the number of cookies they'd like and for a glass of lemonade.  If a child did not bring back a donation slip, they were still able to participate by choosing one cookie and a glass of lemonade.

A portion of the proceeds from this event will be given to the Kampmeyer family and the remainder will be donated to the Colby and Medford Fire Departments in Jamison's memory.  This will be used for training and/or equipment to further the safety of our local heroes.  

Thank you to those of you who contributed to this wonderful cause by sending money for cookies and lemonade and/or extra money for a donation.  Experiences like these are of such learning value to the children!  Below are some pictures of each class enjoying the event!

Spring Time Fun

Monday and Tuesday of this week the children were given time to journal about their favorite spring time activity.  They began by writing the words "In spring I like to" and then Ms. Teresa and I filled in the rest with their responses.  Here are a just a few pictures of their work!  Enjoy!  :)

Mya likes to grow flowers in the spring.

Tony likes to play basketball.

Devyn likes to play on the swing set.

Mason likes to go to Hayden's house.

Lily likes to play with her dog, Chiefy.

Kyrissa likes to walk her kitty.

Seeds and Flowers

Hello Pre-K Families,

I hope you all enjoyed the beautiful weather we had this past weekend.  I spent a lot of time outdoors and celebrated my husband's birthday, which was Friday.  

This week in Pre-K our theme is "seeds and flowers."  We will be planting some flower seeds and setting them on our window sill to grow.  We have many fun activities planned including: finger painting flowers, making a pussy willow plant out of puffed rice, and journaling about their favorite things to do in the spring.  Our letter this week is "Uu."  Please work on identifying the letter "Uu" as well as the letter sound, with your child.  

IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND UPCOMING EVENTS:

~ Our theme for the weeks of March 26th and April 2nd is Easter.

~There will be no school on Friday, March 30th for all grades due to Teacher in-service.

~There will be no school on Friday, April 6th and Monday, April 9th for all grades due to Easter break.

~We will be going on a field trip to the Medford Veterinary Clinic on Wednesday, April 11th and Thursday, April 12th. 

~If your child is currently enrolled in Pre-Kindergarten at MAES, she/he is automatically enrolled in Kindergarten at MAES.

~WEEK OF THE  YOUNG CHILD: During the week of April 23rd, we will be celebrating The Week of the Young Child in a few different ways.  More information will be coming home in the Classroom News as the dates get closer!

REMINDER:

**If your child's end of the day routine is going to be different, such as taking a different bus, not riding the bus, someone different is picking up, etc., please send a note to me.  If there is no note, I will send your child home the way she/he normally goes home.  Sending a note will insure that I have your permission to send your child with someone else or home a different way.  It also helps remind me of the change, as sometimes the days get too busy and it slips my mind.  If the change of plans occurs during the school day, please call the office and leave a message so that I have written documentation of the change.  Thank you in advance!

**Also, please remember to send a note with your child if she/he misses school for any reason.  This helps the office keep the correct attendance records and excuses your child for the day that was missed.

St. Patrick's Day

Hello Pre-K Families,

I hope you're enjoying the rest of your week.  Yesterday was Child Development Days in the MAES gym from 8:00 A.M.-6:30 P.M.  Many of the MAES staff members screened over 160 children ranging from ages 2-4.  It was my first time working Child Development Days, and I enjoyed the experience!

This week, our theme will be St. Patrick's Day and our letter will be "Qu, qu."  Please note that since "Q" can not stand on its own, the Fundations Curriculum pairs it up with "U" to make the /KW/ sound.  Please continue working with your child to identify and write the letters each week.  Throughout the week we will do many fun activities including making a Froot Loop rainbow, an Irish leprechaun, counting gold coins to create a pot of gold, name bingo and letter and rhyming match games.  Some of the skills your child will be practicing include: fine motor, following directions, counting, rhyming, and letter recognition.

Throughout the day, I continue to pull the children aside to test them on Quarter 2 skills.  We have been working really hard on rhyming, number recognition, and recognizing the letters in each child's name.  Whenever possible, please work with your child to identify the letters in his/her name in random order.  A fun way to do this would be to write his/her name on a  piece of paper, have your child cut them apart, and then put them into a hat or bowl.  Your child could pull out each letter, tell you what it is and then place the letters in the correct order to form his/her name.  This activity would be focusing on cutting, letter identification, sequencing, concepts of print (reading left to right) and it would be time spent with your child.  :)  You could also easily do this activity with numbers. 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

~ Book Orders are due on Mon., March 19 and Tues., March 20th.  You may return them before that time as well.

~ The Swimming FBI will be March 16th from 10:30-11:30.  If your family signed up to attend, please look for a note in your child's folder early this week.  

~Quarter 3 report cards will be coming out at the end of March/beginning of April.

~There will be NO SCHOOL for all children on March 30th as it is a Teacher Inservice Day.

Thank you to those families who take the time to read the blog that I post weekly.  I appreciate your extra effort to stay informed about what is going on during your child's school week.  Your dedication to your children and their education does not go unnoticed!  I hope you have a fantastic weekend and a great week!

Ms. Brittany

Below I have posted some pictures of Mr. Joe reading to both classes during Dr. Seuss week!  I must have accidentally deleted pictures of our other guest readers, Mr. Miller and Mr. Woller.  :(  Enjoy!

Night Time

This week we will be finishing up Dr. Seuss for our Monday/Wednesday group who missed out last week because of the snow day.  Each group enjoyed having Mr. Joe and Mr. Miller read Dr. Seuss stories.  We even received a new book for our classroom library!  

On Tuesday and Wednesday we will be talking about night time and animals that are awake in the night.  Our letter for those two days will be "Kk."  Please help your child find this letter or things that start with this letter when you're at home or out and about.  We will be having PAJAMA DAY on Tuesday and Wednesday as well.  Please send your child in warm pajamas. Your child is more than welcome to bring a stuffed animal or blanket to school if s/he would like.  

This past week we received a huge shelf of cubbies for the children's rest time blankets and pillows.  The Tuesday/Thursday class already received a note about the cubbies and the Monday/Wednesday class will be receiving it this Wednesday when we send home their items to be washed.  Please be sure your child's rest time items will fit in the cubbie.  If not, please send a smaller blanket or pillow.  This will help cut down on the amount of items that must fit into their lockers.  The Tech Ed classes from the high school made them for us, so I'd like to extend a special "thank you" to them!

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

~There will be NO SCHOOL Thursday, March 8th for Pre-K and Early Childhood due to Child Development Days.

~Our theme next week will be St. Patrick's Day.

~ Our next FBI will be Friday, March 16th from 10:30-11:30 at the MASH swimming pool.  If your family signed up, an additional note will be sent home early next week to give you more information on where to park and where to enter the building.

~There will be NO SCHOOL on Friday, March 30th for all grades due to Teacher Inservice.

I hope you all have a fantastic week and that you enjoy the warm weather we are supposed to be getting!

Ms. Brittany