Pre-K

Winter and Olympics

Hi families!

 

Welcome back after a long break from school! I hope everyone had a great time playing in the snow. I can't wait to hear stories from the children, and if you have any photos you'd like to share of your snow adventures, please do!

 

Since we missed our Valentine's parties and exchanges last week because of the weather, we will be going ahead with our activities tomorrow for T/Th kids and Weds. for M/W/F. As I said before, if you would like to send a holiday treat in for us all to share, that would be great, but you certainly don't have to. I realize that many of you made delicious snacks for us last week and didn't get to send them in, so don't feel like you have to go through a second effort. We will be very laid back about it!

 

For the rest of the week, we will be discussing winter and the Olympics. Next week, we will dive in to a unit on dinosaurs! This strays a bit from the original themes listed out for the year. The kids have talked a lot about dinosaurs this year and have shown interest in learning more about them. We were originally "scheduled" to learn about bugs these two weeks, but as the weather is still too cold to meet many creepy crawlies up close, we will postpone that unit until later in the spring. :)

 

We will resume our show and tell schedule this week as well, so M/W/F friends should bring something in Friday of this week, and next Thursday will be the T/Th group's opportunity to share.

 

Thank you all for your support, and see you at school!

 

Christina

Valentine's and Chinese New Year

Hi families!

 

This week we will be learning about and celebrating two exciting holidays - Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year, which happens to fall on the 14th this year.  Many of you have been asking what the plan is for Valentine's parties. Each class has a different plan, so I will give you the info on my class. We will be having a party in class both Thursday and Friday.  Parents are not required to be there for the parties, but are, as always, welcome to join us. I am planning to lengthen our snack time for the party so that the rest of the day's schedule can remain mostly the same. If you would like to send in a special Valentine's snack or treat for the class, feel free, but it is certainly not a requirement. Your child can bring in valentines for the class and we will deliver them during the party. I will have multiple copies of the class list of names available starting tomorrow for you to take.

 

As we will be making our Valentine mailboxes in class, please send with your child a shoebox or other box with lid for him or her to decorate. If you can, go ahead and wrap the box ahead of time in plain brown paper (paper grocery sack works well) or wrapping paper. (The lid should be wrapped separately so that it can still come off.) This will save a lot of time in the decorating process since it is difficult for our kiddos to wrap on their own. If you do not have a box or paper, don't worry, I have some extra supplies at school. Also, since we will be talking about love and friendship and everything that goes into Valentine's Day, please send in a photo for our "People We Love" board. This can be your child's family member or best friend, anyone they'd like to remember on our photo board at school.

 

On a side note, there are several jackets and sweaters that have been living at school for quite some time. Check the second set of hooks in the hallway to make sure your child's clothes aren't one of the lost. :)

 

Thanks everyone, and as always feel free to contact me with any questions or ideas!

 

Christina

More Notes

Hi again families,

 

I apologize that when I wrote you all my original note I left out a few important updates!

 

Since we will be learning about mail and communication this week, we will be mailing a letter to ourselves! Please send a stamp with your child either Tues. or Wed., depending on your normal class day (just one stamp for 5 day kiddos is fine, unless they want to send more than one letter).  We have plenty of envelopes and will be addressing them in class, so the stamp alone is fine. Thanks!

 

Also, we have another schedule change starting this week. As you know, we have been working with a different schedule this semester from what we followed in the fall. I've run into a few hiccups with the one we set for the spring, and have decided to change just a couple things. As the schedule was written, this was the order of the day: short outside time, circle, centers, snack, journals, small groups, closing circle, outside.  The new schedule will be: short outside time, circle, small groups, journals, snack, centers, closing circle, outside. I don't think this will be too difficult an adjustment for the kids, and I think it will make the day run much more smoothly. Please bear with me as I try to find something that works for everyone!

 

And, show and tell will be on Thursday AND Friday this week! (Next week we will be busy with our Valentine parties/activities. More on that to come.) Please encourage your child to think about any special post cards, letters, magazines, or other mail he or she has received and would like to share with us. ("Off-theme" items are always welcome too.)

 

Thank you all for your support. See you at school!

 

Christina

Communication

Hi families!

 

We had so much fun this past month learning about travel, transportation, and places around the world. This week we will be moving on to learn about communication and messages, and will get to play in our own post office! We will also continue to weave in new learning about places and people around the world for the remainder of the year. So, if you as a parent would still like to share some of your travels with the class, you are more than welcome to do so! We have all had so much fun with this, and the kids have been especially excited about learning new Spanish words and songs.

 

As a final update on our field trip, we will unfortunately have to cancel the trip altogether.  As many of you know, our director Julie has been having some complications with her pregnancy and has been put on bedrest.  This means that I will serve as "director" in her absence for licensing purposes. State licensing guidelines dictate that one of us must be at the school during school hours, so I will not be able to leave the school when she is not also there. I know this is disappointing for the children, but I encourage you to take a bus trip of your own! Below is the link to the DCTA website, where you will find the bus routes, schedule, and map.

http://www.dcta.net/Connect.asp

 

I look forward to a great week! As always, please contact me with any questions or suggestions!

 

Thanks,

Christina

Transportation 2

Hi families!

 

We have had a great month so far with our around the world/transportation unit. We have so enjoyed our special presentations from parents on their home countries! So far we have learned about France, Japan, Ecuador, and Canada. This week will bring new knowledge about England and Cuba, along with a transportation focus on cars, trucks, bikes, and buses. And of course, we will be going on a bus adventure this Thursday! Please make sure you have filled out the permission slip left in your child's cubby and have returned it to my mailbox on the sign-in shelf. Both classes are welcome to join us. I will be sending out the specifics of our field trip in the next day or so as they are finalized. For now, plan to leave the school around 9:30 to walk to our closest bus stop, but we will have an important class meeting before then about the trip. Also, be sure to bring exact dollars/change for the bus fare ($1.25 for adults, 60 cents for kids 5+), and your library card!

 

This week is the T/Th group's turn for show and tell, but because of our field trip we will do show and tell this Tuesday instead. The following week we will resume the Friday/Thursday schedule.

 

I look forward to a FUN week! Thanks for all your support!

 

Christina

Transportation

Hi parents!

 

While we are continuing our travel theme this week, we will also be talking specifically about planes and things that fly. This week I have a small airport set up as our dramatic play center, so it would be great if a few of you could bring in any small suitcases or travel bags that the kids could use in their play. I have brought one of mine up but it has been difficult sharing the one piece of luggage! These would just be to borrow, so you will get them back unless you specifically wish to donate them to the school.

 

Also, don't forget about those vacation pictures! There is still plenty of room left on our display board. :)

 

Thanks!

Christina

 

P.S. Show and Tell is this Thursday!

Welcome Back!

Hi Families!

 

I hope you all had a great two weeks of holiday fun and relaxation. As we jump back into our school routine tomorrow, I have a couple of updates for you.

 

For the next few weeks, we will be discussing travel, transportation, and destinations. I would like for every family to send to school a photo of your child on a trip (does not have to be a family picture but certainly can be). We will be making a display board with all the photos from the places we have been. I know several families have taken trips recently, and many of you have visited other countries with your children. Please share those photos with us! If you would also like to send in a photo album with several pictures from your travels, the children would definitely enjoy looking through those photos as well. As we have several kiddos who are especially interested in transportation vehicles, please feel free to share any special items with us on that theme as well. (I am working on a field trip for this month too... more info to come on that!) 

 

Since we will be talking about the places we can travel to and their cultures, I am going to call on our families who have roots in other countries and cultures to share their experiences and history with us. I would love for the children to get a mini lesson on their classmates' family countries of origin... I can think of a few off the top of my head represented in our class - Japan, France, UK, Canada - and any others I may have missed! Maybe you have photos, special artifacts, currency, clothing, foods, and of course languages you could share with us. Please reply to my email if you have something to share. With your help, this will be a wonderfully enriching unit!

 

As you probably know, we have changed our class schedule around a bit for the new semester. We will be starting the day outside (if weather permits, otherwise with a special indoor activity) then will have our morning circle time at 9:10. This should give everyone a few minutes to get to school so that everyone can be present for circle time. We will then have our center time, followed by snack, journals, small groups, goodbye circle, and finally will end the day with our "big" outside time. This should allow the parent helpers more time at the end of the day to get a jump start on their cleaning duties.

 

We will start back with our normal show and tell schedule this week, so M/W/F kiddos plan to wow us with a special item on Friday (maybe a souvenier from a trip?), then T/Th kids will have their chance to share on Thursday of next week.

 

I know many of you probably took home your jackets, scarves, gloves, etc. over the break, so please make sure your child has all those essential warm-ups coming back to school this week. It's supposed to be a cold one! (Obviously, we will stay inside on bitterly cold days.)

 

One last request: we are running very low on newspaper for art projects, so if you have some that you haven't yet recycled, please bring it to the school to refill our stash.

 

Thanks so much to you all, and welcome back!

 

Ms. Christina

December

Hi families!   What a fun time we had last week in our pizza shop, as well as making and baking our own pizzas! Due to illnesses in my family I missed last Friday and was out of touch over the weekend so am late sending out an update to you all for this week and next. I apologize for the delay.   This week we are talking about cookies and other baked goodies as well as getting ready for the holiday season. The children have been so excited about Christmas and have wanted to share their excitement with the class. We have set up a Christmas tree in the classroom for the children to decorate, and will have a wrapping station as well. We will talk very generally about Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa over the next two weeks. We will also be baking cookies this Thursday and Friday in class! We may try to make latkes next week, depending on time.   With all the excitement coming up, I could definitely use your help! For our Christmas tree, we need (for borrowing or keeping): ornaments (please no glass) garland tree skirt For our wrapping station, we need: wrapping paper (lots!) tape small boxes For our cookie baking this week, I need one parent from each class to bring a bag of chocolate chips. This could be the parent helper for the day, but does not have to be.   Also, if anyone has a menorah and/or dreidel we can borrow that would be great.   Show and tell will be Thursday AND Friday this week due to our parties next week.   These two weeks will really be a success if every family can choose at least one thing on the list to bring for our class activities.   Thank you so much! I appreciate all your help and support. Also, if you have ideas for our current unit (or any in the future) please share!   Christina