Valentine Exchange February 14th

Students are invited to bring in valentines to exchange with their classmates on Thursday, February 14th.  Participation is optional.  Have/help your child write his/her own name on the valentines but please DO NOT fill out who each valentine is for as it makes it too complicated for delivery of the valentines.  Per school policy, NO CANDY please!  Please note that we have a total of 20 students our class.

Have fun!

Miss Julie  and Miss Jen :)

Theme 5 ~ Imagine It, Make It!

Dear Families,

“Imagine It, Make It” is the title of our new theme, which is an exploration of imagination and creativity. Children will share their feelings and ideas through art, dance, dramatic play, building, and music—all of which are important aspects of your child’s development.

Here are a few ideas you can use to encourage art appreciation and creative expression at home.

• Listen to different types of music with your child and talk about how the music makes both of you feel.

• Set up a large pad of drawing paper with crayons, markers, chalk or paint so your child can create artwork. You can also use brown paper sacks from the grocery store for children to draw on.

• Help your child make up imaginative “Once upon a time” stories.

• Hang up a sheet for a stage curtain and have your child put on a play with friends or siblings.

We will also encourage children to take initiative during the theme. This will help them develop the life skill of being willing and eager to try new things. Sing, move, draw, paint, build, and make music with your child!

Literacy Tip

Literacy Tip In the early stages of learning how to write, your child will draw scribbles and symbols instead of writing letters and words. Ask your child to tell you what the scribbles and symbols mean.

Connecting School to Home

Children will be making patterns in math with two different colors, shapes, or objects. Identifying patterns is important for many areas of the curriculum, including the creative arts.

Set aside time for imaginative play with your child, for example, play school, doctor’s office, or grocery store together using simple props.

Big Day for Pre-K Book Suggestions

Alphabet City by Stephen T. Johnson

Block City by Robert Louis Stevenson

It's Picture Day Today! by Megan McDonald

A Day with No Crayons by Elizabeth Rusch

All You Need for a Snowman by Alice Schertle

Shape Space by Cathryn Falwell

The Toolbox by Anne Rockwell

Farmer Dillo Shapes Things Up by Jesse Adams

Yesterday I Had the Blues by Jeron Ashford Frame

The Squiggle by Carole Lexa Shaefer

The Big Blue Spot by Peter Holwitz

Patrick Paints a Picture by Saviour Pirotta

All About Sound by Lisa Trumbauer

Museum ABC or My First ABC by The NY Metropolitan Museum of Art

Alphabet Adventure by Audrey Wood

We finished up our unit on "Awesome Animals", and it was....AWESOME! We had so much fun learning about the different habitats of animals, and even created them in our classroom. We created an ocean habitat with all kinds of sea life, a rain forest habitat with creatures great and small, and a desert habitat, too! Take a look at some of our adventures along the way:

We created giant leaves for our rain forest habitat and we colored many different animals to hide in the leaves. 

We used lots of different kinds of blocks to build animal habitats.

We created animals during Art

We completed Ant Mazes

We also took care of animals in our Dramatic Play Veterinarian's Office 

We used fine motor skills to feed the animals

And, of course, we read books about animals

Ryan visits our classroom on Wednesday mornings. He is from the Best Buddies Program. 

Some other skills we worked on this month, were letter matching and spelling our names.

We are learning about rhyming!

We have been enjoying the chilly weather, too!

January was so much fun! We are ready to jump into February with our new unit, "Imagine It, Make It!"