ECS Pre-K Classroom News

A Peek at the Week
This week we spent some time talking about “action words”, and how these words tell us what someone or something is DOING. We also continued our unit on farm animals, practicing the sounds the animals make, identifying them, and also giving the names for the male/female and baby animals.

The changing leaves were also a big topic this week. For centers, the children colored a leaf mural, using autumn colored chalk. These murals are hanging both inside the classroom and in the hallway. Other centers included practicing cutting with scissors, and the computer program “Little Brown Bear on the Farm”, which practices clicking the mouse. The children made cards for Mrs. Camosci and Stephanie in the paper fun center (see notes below).
Speech and Language
This week “Matt and Molly” had three pumpkins. Using the pumpkins we practiced the concepts of large, medium and small. We also began to make comparisons. The students are getting very good at rapidly naming the alphabet numbers. Please practice this at home. If you do not have a set of letters, please write Mrs. Mishou (me) a note and I will send some home. The children are now learning to rapidly name the sound that each letter makes. They are also very good at rapidly naming the numerals 0 – 10. For articulation we practiced our “skinny air”, the /s/ sound. The children created rhyming words for the is, as, us, families. They are all amazing! During the “Matt and Molly” lesson we also practice “wh” questions, and sequencing up to 4 events. The children are taught to look at the pictures for clues to help them remember
when things happened in the story.

PT Group
Leaves were falling in PT Group this week. The children used autumn colored scarves as leaves…throwing them up and catching them with one or two hands, catching them on their heads or elbows, and scrunching them up inside one hand. For the group game, each child had a turn being the “tree” with leaves (scarves placed on the child’s head, arms, and tucked in pockets). The other children were the wind, blowing slowly, quickly, up, down, and around, making the leaves fall off the tree. This was lots of fun.
Please remember to send your child to school in sneakers on Wednesdays for this PT group. Thanks.

Reminder:
We’re trying to collectively read 100 books for the Scholastic Classrooms Care event. If we read 100 books, they will donate books to children who need them. So, don’t forget to send us a note when you read some books, we’ll color in the boxes on our chart. We’re up to 14 so far…keep ‘em coming!

Looking Ahead
Next week’s theme will be Autumn and Halloween Fun. On Friday we will be having our classroom party from 2:00-3:00 While this party is for the children only, we will be having parties in the future for which parents will be invited. The Kindergarten classes have invited us to the “Witches Brew” event, held in a Kindergarten classroom. Also, the school costume parade will be at 1:45pm. If your child will be wearing a costume that day, please send in a change of clothes in case your child wants to change out of his/her costume at any time. Remember to dress in layers that day, since the parade is outside.
Thanks for helping us with this party through the items you are sending in for that day. It should be LOTS of fun…I’ll be sure to take plenty of pictures to post on the class website.

In November, we’ll be learning about positional/place words, furniture and utensils, and Thanksgiving.

Thoughts of Sympathy
We’ve been thinking of Mrs. Camosci as she deals with the loss of her Stepfather. He passed away last Saturday, and therefore Mrs. Camosci has been out this week. We miss her, and send her our love.

Get well soon…
Garret was absent last week and this week due to surgery. We have missed him, and hope he gets better soon.

Words to songs we’re learning:
Leaves, leaves, falling down,
falling to the ground,
red, orange, yellow, brown,
falling to the ground.

Classroom News October 17, 2003

A Peek at the Week
This week we learned about the animals that live on a farm. These included: pigs, horses, cows, chickens, goats, sheep, dogs, cats, and mice, among others. For centers, the children enjoyed playing with the farm animals and barn in the block center. Here they could drive the farmer around in his tractor, set up fences, and care for the animals. Other centers this week included: cutting out a sheep and gluing on cotton balls, the kitchen as a farmhouse, listening to the stories “I Went Walking” and “Baa Baa Black Sheep” on tape, and playing with play dough.

Vocabulary words this week: Pig, piglets, cow, calf, horse, chicken, goat, kid, sheep, lamb, dog, cat, kitten, mouse, rooster, hen, duck, ducklings, milking, working, silo, barn, and barnyard.

Speech and Language
This week Matt and Molly made pancakes. The students practiced “is” in the context of a sentence. They also learned the signs for pancake, spatula, hungry, sorry and angry. This story introduced the concept of sorry and angry. For the second week we worked on the /l/ sound. This week the students thought of words that start with the /l/ sound. If they needed help we gave them hints. Because of the beautiful trees we also talked about the different colors in the trees and the different types of leaves. I shared the book Autumn Leaves by Ken Robbins. This book allows the children to match the leaves they found to the picture of the leaves in the book and learn the names of the different trees.

PT Group
This week the children had fun acting like the different animals on the farm. These included: a horse galloping, a pig, a cow, and a chicken, among others. Also, each child got a turn being the “farmer” (see pictures on the website) where they had to chase the animals on the farm. This was a “farmyard” version of freeze tag.

Reminder: Please check backpacks each night, so you don’t miss out on important information. Thanks.

Also, as long as the weather is “nice” we will be going outside, even if it is a bit chilly out. Please send your child to school with a jacket for playground time. Thanks.

Thanks to Gabriel Fletcher and family for donating the book “Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!” to our classroom library. It’s nice getting a book from our wish list. Also, thanks to Hannah's family for the book, "Scaredy Mouse". It's great getting books from our wish list.

Looking Ahead
Next week we’ll continue to talk about farms, action words, and the next week will be Halloween fun. We will be planning a simple Halloween party for Friday, October 31st.The party will be a small event, taking place from 2:00-3:00. Our room parents, Mrs. Kobos and Mrs.Fletcher, will be contacting you to discuss items to send in. As always, please feel free to call and leave a voice mail, send a note in your child’s backpack, or email me if you have any questions/concerns.
knagy@cromwellct.org

The classroom website has been updated, and I will do my best to update it weekly. You can visit it at www.geocities.com/ecsprekclass@sbcglobal.net

Classroom News October 3, 2003

A Peek at the Week

This week the children participated in many activities involving shapes. They painted with watercolors, and watched as outlines of shapes “magically” appeared. Shapes were first drawn on the white paper with a white crayon, so that when the children painted on the paper, the outlines of shapes remained white. Making pictures by gluing on different colored paper shapes was also an activity this week. Stringing foam shapes, using shape sorters, shape puzzles, a shape/color game, and using wikki stix were some of the centers this week. They children were able to make shapes with the wikki stix, which are wax sticks that stick to themselves and each other. At the flannel board, there were many shapes and colors to build things with. Also, 8 circles, starting small and getting progressively bigger, were mixed up on the flannel board. The children were asked to put the circles in order from smallest to the biggest. We continue to observe the worm farm for activity, but so far it’s been a bit disappointing: the worms are hiding pretty well.

Vocabulary words this week: circle, square, triangle, rectangle, heart, diamond, hexagon, trapezoid, oval, cross, and egg were the most talked about shapes this week. We also discussed small, medium, large, smallest, and biggest.

Speech and Language
This week “Matt and Molly” fed a hungry Turkey. While doing this they practiced using the words do not in a sentence. They also worked on the concept of again. During these stories we also talk about what the characters faces tell us about how they are feeling. Our sound of the week was /th/. This week we tried rhyming with words that have /th/ at the end. Please practice the th sound at home. During rapid naming we worked on the numerals and names of alphabet letters. The students are getting very good at this and are almost ready for the next step.

PT Group
This week the children had fun going through a shape obstacle course. Large wooden shape cutouts in stands were placed throughout the AP Room floor. The children crawled through these shapes, and as they did, they had to name the shape and color of the shape they were crawling through it. They also practiced going backwards through each shape as well.

PLAYGROUND UPDATE
The playground is now free of bees, and we have been able to go outside a few times this week. While outside, the children enjoy riding bikes, climbing and going down slides, riding on a mini roller coaster ride, playing in the sandboxes, playing with the pretend kitchen materials, and raking/weeding the garden, among other things.

Reminder: As long as the weather is “nice” we will be going outside, even if it is a bit chilly out. Please send your child to school with a jacket for playground time. Thanks.

Looking Ahead
In October, we will be discussing Self-care, farms, action words, and Halloween. We will be planning a simple Halloween party for Friday, October 31st. More information will be available, as the time gets closer.
As always, please feel free to call and leave a voice mail, send a note in your child’s backpack, or email me if you have any questions/concerns.
knagy@cromwellct.org
The classroom website has been updated, and I will do my best to update it weekly. You can visit it at www.geocities.com/ecsprekclass@sbcglobal.net

Classroom News September 26, 2003

WOW! The family collages were great! The children were all very eager to tell the class about their family pictures, and did a great job doing this! We will have them displayed in the class all next week. This week we read “Mortimer”, another book by Robert Munsch. In this story, Mortimer’s mother, father, sisters and brothers each try to get him to be quiet at bedtime. Each time, Mortimer sings a noisy tune. The children really enjoyed singing this each time it happened in the book. This book, along with last week’s “Mud Puddle” book will be sent home with each child starting next week. Your child can share this book with you, and should be able to tell you much of the story.
The afternoon class made a worm farm on Wednesday. This required scooping soil, sand, and leaves into a clear box, and then adding the worms. We will continue to observe the farm for signs of worm tunnels and other changes. Centers this week included: dollhouse with multicultural families, blocks, making family finger puppets, and coloring family books.
Vocabulary words this week: We learned the hand signs for these words: family, mother, father, sister, brother, grandmother, grandfather, child. Other vocabulary included: soil, sand, upstairs, downstairs, and tunnel.

Speech and Language
This week Matt and Molly raked leaves. We worked on the verbs: rake, raking, raked. We also worked on sequencing the four events in the story. For articulation we practiced the /th/ sound. It is called a tongue cooler. During our rapid naming activity we practiced the names of the alphabet letters and numbers.

PT Group
This week the children practiced bouncing and catching balls, throwing them up and catching, as well as doing this with a partner. Following directions was also incorporated since everyone had to listen to Renee to hear when to start, stop, and what action to do with the ball.

Words to songs we’re learning:

Mortimer In the book, Mortimer repeats this each time another family member comes upstairs:
“Clang clang, rattle bing bang, gonna make my noise all day, clang clang rattle bing bang, gonna make my noise all day!”

For our flag time, the children are learning both “Yankee Doodle” and “Grand Old Flag”.

PLAYGROUND UPDATE
We have been having problems with bees making nests in every little spot on our playground. The custodians have sprayed multiple times, and we’ve had professional exterminators here twice. Hopefully we will get them under control soon, since we have not been able to go out for the past two weeks. Thanks for your understanding.

PICTURE RETAKE CHANGE
As of today, picture retake day has been rescheduled to October 6th from 1:30-3:00 in the library. If you would like your child’s picture retaken, let us know and we can bring your child in during this time. If you expected a package and didn’t receive one, this means your child did not have an order form and money to hand in on picture day. Bring your check and order form Oct. 6th, and you can have your child’s picture taken then.

Looking Ahead
Next week we will be learning all about shapes. We will use shapes in various art projects, and practice drawing shapes with our fingers in shaving cream. We will also be using playdough and other fun sensory materials for practicing shapes.

As always, please feel free to call and leave a voice mail, send a note in your child’s backpack, or email me if you have any questions/concerns.
knagy@cromwellct.org

Afternoon weekly news September 19, 2003

A Peek at the Week
This week we were able to finish our color collages, and they look great. We will be displaying them outside our classroom next week. We read the book “Mud Puddle�, by Robert Munsch. In this story, a mud puddle “jumps� on a little girl, and she ends up with mud on many parts of her body. This was a fun way to incorporate our body parts theme. We also practiced identifying the different parts of our body and what they do.
For centers, we had a body part matching/memory game where the children had to look at a card, name the body part, and then look for the matching card. They also played the game as a “go fish� game. Other centers included “building� a large paper face out of individual pieces which were velcroed in the appropriate location. Margaret Root facilitated this center. Coloring pictures of animals and talking about their body parts, and building Mr. Potato Head people were also fun centers this week.
Songs this week included: If You’re Happy and You Know It, and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.

Speech and Language
This week we worked on the concepts of inside, outside, little and big. We also learned to make requests. Little Bear and Big Bear helped us learn how to answer who and where questions. When we work on “Bear� stories the children also learn to follow a sequence of three events.

PT Group
In PT Group this week the children used balloons with Renee. They individually practiced bouncing the balloons using different parts of their bodies, including: fingers, thumbs, head, elbows, knees and feet. They also played a large group game of keeping two balloons off the floor, bouncing them with different parts of their bodies. Thanks for remembering to send your child to school in sneakers on Wednesdays.

Music Class:
The afternoon class has gone to music class with Mrs. Chapman the past two Fridays. During this time, the children sing songs related to the theme of the week. Often times, Mrs. Chapman includes props to involve the children in the activity. We will share the words to these songs with you from time to time.

Looking Ahead
Next week we will be focusing on families. Please remember to work on you family collage and send it in on Wednesday. The weeks after we will learn all about shapes, simple self-care tasks, and then begin our unit on autumn, including farms.

As always, please feel free to call and leave a voice mail, send a note in your child’s backpack, or email me if you have any questions/concerns.
knagy@cromwellct.org

Words to songs we’re learning:

Open shut them (we sing this before we eat snack) Open, shut them, open, shut them,
Give a little clap. Open shut them, open shut them, lay them in your lap. Creep them, creep them, creep them, creep them, right up to your chin. Open wide, your little mouth, but do not let them in.
Weather song What is the weather, what is the weather, out today? I say it’s (cloudy), I say it’s (cloudy), I say it’s (cloudy) out today.

For our flag time, the children are learning both “Yankee Doodle” and “Grand Old Flag”.

We also did a quick song each day using a tambourine. The words are: kaboom tiddly wink, kaboom tiddly wink, kaboom tiddly wink, kaboom! Kaboom tiddly wink, kaboom tiddly wink, kaboom tiddly wink, kaboom!