Sunday, October 26, 2003

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.




Monday, October 20, 2003

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



Sunday, October 05, 2003

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