Morning and Afternoon Edition March 24, 2005

A Peek at the Week: This week we talked about the start of spring, the four seasons, and weather associated with the seasons.
Centers this week included: At the block center, the children enjoyed a center they haven’t had in a long time: the balls and ramps. It was fun incorporating this into our unit on weather/seasons, talking about how gravity makes rain, snow, and even the balls go down, not up. We ran out of time for our tool theme this week, so we will work on that next week.
Other centers: project: tracing and cutting out an umbrella, which are displayed in the classroom, Look what I Can Do Center where the children traced lines, shapes, curves, zigzags, and some traced their names, rhyming game, sensory table with water and scoops, shelf toys, and coloring.

PT Group: Last week and this week in PT group the classes played “tag”. This involved positional/place words…the children had to stay in the boxed area, and ran around until they were tagged. Once they were tagged, or ran outside the box, they sat down. Each child got a turn being the “tagger” and everyone really enjoyed this game.
Vocabulary words: gravity, down, up, in, out, next to, inside, outside, on top, on bottom, underneath, and beside.

LOTS of Thanks: In the morning class: Thanks to Mrs. Schmidt for supplying us with much needed Velcro and cups. We would also like to thank Jared, Meghan, and Jennifer for sharing the great St. Patty’s day stickers with their classmates, and to Mrs. Savinelli and Meghan for the Irish Soda Bread for snack. The children also really enjoyed the ducks and pots of gold they received from Mrs. Savinelli as well. Thank you to Robyn Cassella for the spring/Easter goodies for each child. Thanks to Jared’s Mom for the raisin snacks for the classroom…the children (and teachers) are sure to enjoy them!
In the afternoon class: Thanks to Mrs. Beck and Ms. Julia for cups as well. Thanks to Mrs. Gallo and Mrs. Polezonis for their help with the St. Patty’s day festivities. The children enjoyed the goodies.

Looking Ahead: Our last week of March will include place words and tools/machines.
In April we will spend the month discussing Spring/Nature/Planting/Weather.

Welcome: The morning class welcomes Christopher to our group. Everyone did a great job making Christopher feel welcome in his new school!

Kindergarten Screenings and Registration will be occurring on April 4th and 5th. However, since your child is currently enrolled in the preschool, you DO NOT have to sign up for a screening appointment. The screening will be done while your child is in school on his/her regular school days. The paperwork required by the office can be sent in your child’s backpack and will be forwarded to the office. If you have already signed up for an appointment, you may call and cancel. Sorry for any confusion this has caused. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Have a nice holiday weekend.
Happy Spring!

Morning and Afternoon Edition March 11, 2005

A Peek at the Week: This week at school we talked about friendship, and heard a story about the Rainbow Fish. We talked about how to be a nice friend, like the Rainbow Fish learns in the story. Each student made their own rainbow fish using paint in spray bottles and bingo dot markers. These fish will be on display outside the classroom for the school-wide art show.

Centers this week included: Shelf toys, train set, sorting and sequencing, painting on the easel, coloring pictures of fish, fish and frogs in the water table, tracing our names at Look What I Can Do Center, and drawing with squiggly pens.

PT Group: This week the children continued to review many of the skills they have learned over the past months, and used their listening skills to follow directions. Everyone did a great job working on their skipping, hopping, galloping, balancing on one foot, and imitating body movements. They also worked on throwing and catching a ball.

Help Needed: We are in need of 5-ounce “Dixie” cups to refill our cup supply. Can you help?

Thanks: To Mrs. Olsen for the rainbow goldfish crackers for our Rainbow Fish week, and Clifford Teddy Graham Crackers for our Clifford week!

Looking Ahead: March we will be talking about Dr. Seuss and Clifford, Birthdays, along with Rainbow Fish and Friendship again. Other topics will include place words and tools/machines.
In April we will spend the month discussing Spring/Nature/Planting/Weather.

Scholastic Book Orders Help Children of the Tsunami: For every book the class orders from Scholastic through March 31, they will donate a book to the affected schools…up to one million books! So, if you were thinking of ordering…now is the perfect time! Everyone benefits!

Special Note: For those of you who have missed your reading days in the classroom due to the snow closings, we will be sending home a new sign up list for April and May very soon.

Kindergarten Screenings and Registration will be occurring on April 4th and 5th. However, since your child is currently enrolled in the preschool, you DO NOT have to sign up for a screening appointment. The screening will be done while your child is in school on his/her regular school days. The paperwork required by the office can be sent in your child’s backpack and will be forwarded to the office. If you have already signed up for an appointment, you may call and cancel. Sorry for any confusion this has caused. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Have a nice weekend.
Think Spring!

Morning and Afternoon Edition March 4, 2005

A Peek at the Week: This week at school topics included Birthdays, Dr. Seuss, and Friendship. The students traced their hands, and cut out the tracing with some help from the teachers. Then, a discussion about the child’s age determined how many fingers needed to be showing for their age on their “age hat”. Each child went home with one of these hats this week. Learning the Month and day of our birthdays was also part of this week.

At the Science Center, our grass hearts grew tremendously over the vacation. We measured the growth of the grass, and then used scissors to “mow” the grass. We will watch it grow and see how long it takes to get tall once again.

Centers this week included: Shelf toys, Blocks, “age hat” project, dollhouse, science, coloring birthday pictures, and cutting.

PT Group: This week the children reviewed many of the skills they have learned over the past months, and used their listening skills to follow directions. Everyone did a great job working on their skipping, hopping, galloping, balancing on one foot, and imitating body movements.

GREAT JOB: We had a great response to the tooth-brushing charts…the children were all very proud of themselves for their good work brushing their teeth. These charts are on display on the classroom’s “Shining Stars” bulletin board.

Looking Ahead: March we will be talking about Dr. Seuss and Clifford, Birthdays, along with Rainbow Fish and Friendship again. Next week will be Rainbow Fish week!

Scholastic Book Orders Help Children of the Tsunami: For every book the class orders from Scholastic through March 31, they will donate a book to the affected schools…up to one million books! So, if you were thinking of ordering…now is the perfect time! Everyone benefits!

Special Note: Today your child is going home with a McDonald’s coupon. This is in celebration of Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Enjoy!

Reminder: Have a nice weekend.