Preschool

What an adventure filled week! There were more wildlife discoveries this week–frogs, another toad, snails, a newt, and we FINALLY saw a crayfish (also known as a crawfish or crawdad).

We are continuing to practice classroom routines and learn each other’s names. This week PreK class has really enjoyed exploring the creek together, building animal habitats in the block area and playing pretend games on the playground.

We started observing snails and slugs more closely. We learned that snails breathe through a hole near their shells and slugs have a hole on their right side. This means that snails and slugs have lungs like us! We looked very closely at a slug near the creek and saw the breathing hole. We began noticing where we have been finding snails and slugs; in the woods, on plants, in damp places, etc. We have begun to create a habitat for them in our classroom with damp moss, soil and branches!

We read The Apple Doll by Elisa Kleven. The children were excited because they realized that we have a big apple tree on the playground. We ran outside and picked out some apples to make our own apple dolls. We plan to peel and prepare them next week.

On Friday we celebrated Rosh Hashanah with Maximus and Ms. Provenz (Maximus’ mom). We wished each other a “sweet New Year” and ate challah and apples dipped in honey. We also had our first Pizza Friday!

Remember that Monday is Back-to-School night and that there is no school on Wednesday.

If anyone has extra shoe boxes lay around, PreK would love to use them for a project.

Vicky

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What a fun first week filled with activity and adventure! New friendships are forming as the children begin to play, work and learn from each other. It is so nice to witness!

The PreK enjoyed getting to know each other while building huge structures (garages, animal habitats and a sky scraper) in the block area, greeting each other in Morning Meeting and playing on the playground.

One of the big highlights this week was all of the wildlife we have found on BCDs campus (one right in front of our classroom door, inside!). We have found (and released) 2 Red Eft salamanders, watched a red-tailed hawk, caught a toad at the playground, watched a dragonfly, saw a camouflaged fish, and observed ants. We took a trip to the pond where we saw fish and insects as well as played in the sand. What fun!

We took a walk upstairs and visited Mrs. Kruse, Nurse D, Mr. Lindenmaier, and Ms. Provenz. We learned that our building used to be a house and our classroom a library. We even saw pictures! We also had our first specials classes this week, Spanish, P.E., and Music. We will begin having Library in two weeks.

We read The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. At first many of your children didn’t believe that you can make art just from a dot, but by the end they quickly changed their minds. We then made our own art from dots! Please take a look, they are beautiful.

We are also beginning to know some of the bigger students on campus. On Monday we met our “Bigs” in the 5th grade, they even came to our classroom on Friday to walk and sit with us for our first assembly. The “Bigs and Littles” program is one of the ways we foster a deeper sense of community at BCD. On Wednesday we met our 9th grade buddies who will be coming to eat lunch with us once a week.

I’m looking forward to an exciting year with your children!

Vicky