ECS Pre-K Classroom News

PM Edition December 17, 2004

A Peek at the Week

This week we talked about holiday fun and worked on some holiday projects. Each day the children enjoyed talking at circle time about their Christmas trees (it seems everyone in class has a tree at their house). We heard about the special ornaments and lights on the trees, and how holidays are special at their houses. The children are VERY excited for the upcoming holidays. When we ask, “what day is it?” the response has been “Christmas”. What month is it also gets the same response! : )

Centers: Foam blocks and balls and ramps at the rainbow rug, train station/tracks, coloring on mural paper on the floor, “writing” letters to family/friends or Santa, holiday crafts, and painting on the easel.

Vocabulary: holidays, family, special, important, ornaments, tree, giving, sharing, kindness.

PT Group: This week the children participated in a fun, creative holiday activity. The children worked in pairs…one was a reindeer, and the other Santa. The reindeer pulled Santa on his/her sleigh (scooter) to deliver a package to the houses. Colored foam blocks were the presents, and colored hula-hoops were the houses, so they had to match the correct shape with the correct colored house. This was a great teamwork activity, and the children enjoyed pretending to be reindeer and Santa. We did take a few photos of this activity, and will try to post them on the website this week.

Speech/Language:

Bowen-mishou@cromwellct.org

THANK YOU’s!: Thanks to Nate and Mrs. Schmidt (in the AM class) for getting crickets for our frogs this week.

Looking Ahead: We will be having our Holiday class party on Wed December 22, since there is no school on the 23^rd. This is sure to be a fun time! When we come back, January will be a month of learning about many winter topics, including projects with snowmen, snow, and animals. The end of January will be Dinosaur fun.

Does your child play with the same toys every day? With the holiday gifts approaching, now is a good time to look at your child’s play habits. Does he/she play with the same toys in the same way during play times? To help expand your child’s interest and play skills, it’s a good idea to “rotate” your child’s toys. For example, if you have a train set up for daily play, you could pack it away in a closet for a while, and put some new toys out in its place. This way your child is given opportunities to learn how to play with new, different materials. Maybe your child doesn’t typically seem interested in art activities such as painting. By providing them with an easel and the paints each day, they will begin to try new things with these materials. Something to think about…

Reminders: Class meets Mon, Tues, Weds next week. Have a nice weekend!

ECS Pre-K Classroom News

PM Edition December 10, 2004

A Peek at the Week

This week we learned MORE about manners and our feelings. The children are now applying these manners to our daily routine, and commenting on actions saying, “that was nice manners” or “that’s not good manners”. During circle we played a game “what is different?” The teachers change one thing about a child or teacher at the circle, and the students have to look at everyone and see if they can determine what changed about someone. This is a great activity for practicing getting your child to visually attend to what is happening around them.

Centers: Computer, Kitchen, Chalkboard coloring, blocks, Happy/Sad face “masks”, Look What I Can Do, Journal writing, an emotions sorting/grouping activity, and coloring.

Vocabulary: please, thank you, sorry, you’re welcome, no thank you, excuse me, and can I have a turn?

PT Group: This week the children continued practicing with the balls. They sat on the floor and rolled the ball around their bodies. Then they rolled the balls around their waists while standing, as well as around their heads and their knees, as well as many others. Then they were paired up with a partner, and passed the ball to each other while standing back-to-back and sitting back-to-back.

Speech/Language:

Bowen-mishou@cromwellct.org

Looking Ahead: In December we will be learning about Feelings, Manners, Holidays with Families, and Food/Meals. We will be having our Holiday class party on Wed December 22, since there is no school on the 23^rd. The room parents will provide more information, as we get closer to that time.

Reminders: Have a nice weekend!

PM Edition December 3, 2004

ECS Pre-K Classroom News


A Peek at the Week
This week we learned about manners and our feelings. During circle time we talked about the way we should treat other people, and how the way people treat us makes us feel. We read various books about our manners and feelings, and practiced using good manners throughout our school day. We carried over these good manner habits into our center time, practicing good manners in all of various centers.
Centers: kitchen, puppet theater, blocks, science with magnets and paperclips inside water bottles, Look What I Can Do, Journal writing, an emotions matching game, and coloring.
Vocabulary: please, thank you, sorry, you’re welcome, no thank you, excuse me, and can I have a turn?

PT Group: This week the children practiced using balls. They sat on the floor and rolled the ball around their bodies. Then they rolled the balls around their waists while standing, as well as around their heads and their knees, as well as many others. This required good listening to the directions and holding the balls with each hand.

Speech/Language: This week Matt and Molly were exercising. The children worked on concepts of print, yes/no and “wh” questions, and sequencing. On Thursday they acted out the story. They all did a great job.
During our phonological awareness activities we continued to practice rapidly naming alphabet letter names and sounds. The children also enjoy singing and signing the ABC song. They need to slow down for L,M,N,O,P. Finally we worked on rhyming with our sound of the week /r/. The children call /r/ a “back lifter and the growling dog sound”. We have been careful to say /car/ not /cah/.
Each week I try to give the children time to share an experience so that they can practice using expressive language in front of a small group. Everyone seems to enjoy this.
Bowen-mishou@cromwellct.org

THANK YOU’s!: Thanks to Hannah and Mrs. Perry for sending in a package of Velcro... it is put to good use every day.


Looking Ahead: In December we will be learning about Feelings, Manners, Holidays with Families, and Food/Meals.



Reminders: Have a nice weekend!