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:

Fall and Leaves

This week in Pre-K we are learning about fall and leaves.  At circle time, we will talk about what we see in fall, as well as things we can do in fall.  We will discuss how animals use this time to prepare for winter, and will also talk about why fall is an important time of the year for farmers.  These little minds never cease to amaze me!  They know more about the world than we think!  

Our letter this week is "Ll."  Please work with your child to identify the letter.  Writing it is good practice too!  While at school, we will make a festive fall leaf using tissue paper and vinegar, will complete a cutting practice sheet (I will show you this at conferences), and will continue to strengthen fine motor skills by writing in My Ll Book.  When the kids are at school, they are very proud of the work they do in these letter books.  I hope they take the time to show it to you at home.  Encourage your child to read the story to you, if time allows.  :)

Last week Thursday the Medford Area Fire Department sent a few firefighters to MAES to show us how a fire truck works and to show us all of the clothing firefighters wear when in a fire.  The Tuesday/Thursday group had a blast!  Unfortunately because of busy schedules, the firefighters could not come back until this Wednesday for the other group.  I will post both class' pictures after Wednesday!

Please remember that there is NO SCHOOL on Monday, Oct. 15 as we will be having Parent/Teacher Conferences at school.  You will be receiving more information about The Classroom Giving Tree in your child's folder on Wednesday or Thursday.   I look forward to showing you work your child has produced this year, as well as hearing your thoughts on your child's first year of school.  See you all then!

I hope you have a wonderful week, and please remember, if you have questions or anything to discuss regarding your child's education, my door is always open.

Ms. Brittany

Fire Safety Week

Hello Pre-K Families,

I hope you all enjoyed the beautiful fall weather this past weekend.  This week in Pre-K we are learning about Fire Safety, the purpose of firefighters and what to do if there is a fire.  We will be having special visits from a few firefighters this week, Thursday and next week, Wednesday.  Due to their busy schedules, they could not fit both visits in this week.  During their visits, they will show the children what it looks like to be dressed in their firefighting gear, the children will get to feel how heavy it is, and will learn that under all of that clothing is a normal person who wants to help them.  They will also get to sit inside of a fire truck and will learn about all the gauges and gadgets firefighters use.  

During circle time this morning, we discussed when and how to Stop, Drop and Roll.  The children even got to practice!  :)  We talked about the importance of calling 911 ONLY if there is an emergency, as well as how sometimes firefighters can look scary, but we must not hide from them.  I taught them about how every family should have a "meeting spot" in case of a fire and should talk about it regularly.  I gave them the homework of asking each of their parents to help them create an escape plan.  Here is a detailed example of how it could look, but just talking and practicing is good too!

 

I'd like to take a minute to thank you for the hard work you do with your children!  Most days everyone comes back with completed homework!  I really appreciate you taking the time to reinforce these skills at home with your child!  Please remember that the homework is optional and if you find it is too much for your child, please let me know.  Also, if you are too busy and unable to get some of it completed, you are always welcome to return it at a later date.

UPDATES AND REMINDERS:

--Parent Teacher Conferences will be held Monday, October 15th and Friday, October 19th.  Reminder slips were sent home today so please be on the look out for your time!  Please remember that there is NO SCHOOL on Monday, Oct. 15th.

--Fluoride Varnish forms are due back by October 5th.  Please be sure to return it even if your child will not be participating.

--Our first Families Being Involved workshop will be Friday, October 19th.  Forms were sent home today in your child's folder.  Please return them to school if your family plans to attend.

--There is no school for Pre-K on Thursday, Oct. 18th due to Child Development Day.

--There will be no school for all grades on Friday, Oct. 26th.

-- Our theme next week will be "Fall and Leaves."