Preschool Archives - Page 7 of 32 - Berkshire Country Day School

Fifth Grade Book Drive!

Time for the annual Fifth Grade Book Drive!

In conjunction with Reader-to-Reader, a Springfield-based non-profit organization, the Fifth Grade is collecting books!

Reader-to-Reader serves children in rural and underserved communities in the US and around the world. We are excited to continue this community service project in 2016! Last year, Fifth Grade collected several hundred books for this important cause.

Please bring your gently used children’s books (through Grade 9) to the Fifth Grade homeroom in the next week. No textbooks, magazines, videos or reference materials, please!

Thanks for your support!

Grade Five

By BCD Blog|2016-05-16T20:08:32-04:00May 16th, 2016|

PreK Travels!

Dear Families,

PreK has been busy for the past two weeks designing, planning and building a plane in our classroom. We examined books about planes and airports and the children shared what they have seen at airports and in planes. This week our plane was ready for take off! Before boarding our plane we had to go through security, get our seat numbers and get our passports stamped.

Our first trip was to China (Asia). Sophie shared that to get to China you need to take a plane for a long time and that the houses are small. We looked at some pictures in books and reread “Stone Soup.” The children noticed that the buildings looked a little different and that it looked “busy.” Ready to go, we all lined up and went through security. Then waited patiently as one repair was done to our plane’s engine. Then passports were stamped and boarding passes were handed out. Everyone found their seat, buckled their seat belts and we were ready for take off! There was some turbulence on our flight but we landed safely in China. We were greeted by Mrs. Hilliard, who sang airplane songs with us and we sang and danced to Chinese music! That was exhausting and by the time we were done, we were ready for some Chinese food.

The day was extra special because we had a Lunch Bunch. Sophie’s dad and grandmother brought in spring pancakes (which are eaten to celebrate the beginning of spring) and yummy things to fill our pancakes (potato, cucumber, carrots, bean sprouts, and ham). Nicolette’s dad also brought in warm soup and macaroons, perfect for a cold day. Thank you for a great Lunch Bunch! Later we boarded our plane again to return to Massachusetts (North America).

We also ventured to Antarctica. We watched a video of the Aurora Australis, the children excitedly shouted out the colors they were seeing. We talked about how over 98% of Antarctica is covered with snow and that it is dark with no sun for a few months in the winter. We hopped aboard the plane and took off for a cold adventure. Once the plane landed we went out onto the frozen tundra (we had to pretend there was snow covering the field outside). We spotted penguins, seals, and whales. No polar bears since they do not live in Antarctica. Next week we plan to visit France (Europe), Africa and a few other places. PreK is always up for an adventure.

Photos from the Cooperation assembly

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bcdtech/sets/72157663388144039/show

By BCD Blog|2019-01-10T12:04:13-05:00January 31st, 2016|

OPEN STUDIOS is next Tuesday!

Our K-9 students have been as busy as ever in the Art Studios this winter! Grades 5 and 6 have been hand building with Mr. Evans in the Ceramics Studio while Mr. Spitzer has Kindergarten through Fourth grade students working on a variety of collaborative drawing and painting projects next door. Upper School students are sculpting in clay with Mr. Evans and painting with this trimester’s teaching artists Tom O’Neil and Maggie Mailer. We can’t wait to show parents, friends, and the BCD community what we’ve been up to on TUESDAY, MARCH 1st at our Winter Open Studios Event! Everyone is invited to swing by the studios between 4:30 – 6:30PM to see finished artworks, works-in-progress, and a few surprises. Warm up with a cup of hot cocoa and join us in celebrating the students’ hard work this trimester!

By BCD Blog|2016-10-25T15:02:20-04:00January 22nd, 2016|

PreK Explorations

Dear Families,

The past few weeks have been filled with exciting exploration and discovery. We have made play-doh, gak, and oobleck, as well as had three fun color mix labs. There has also been a lot of building in the block area, not just little structures but HUGE (or you might hear your children say “tremendous”) structures. We have had some big events: we welcomed Will as well as Mrs. Oakes into our class, had Friendship Lunch with the TK/K, Thanksgiving Soup with the entire school, celebrated Jetty’s 4th birthday, and attended the Book Fair. I have also learned that the PreK class is incredibly flexible and understanding. They took on the challenge of being displaced from our room for a day (because of the skunk) with enthusiasm and a sense of maturity. I am so proud of them.

We have mixed, mashed and squished three wonderful creations – oobleck, gak, and play dough. Gak was by far the class favorite. I hope you all got to play with the gak your children brought home!

For all who asked, here is the recipe:

-two 4 oz. bottles of Elmer’s Glue

– 1 tsp. Borax (found in the laundry detergent section of the store, or ask me for a small bag)

– Water

– Cup

– 1/2 cup measuring cup

– Bowl

– Food Coloring

Begin by emptying the two bottles of glue into a bowl. Then fill bottles with warm water and shake. Empty them into your bowl. Then add some food coloring (I did three to four drops). Add 1/2 cup warm water to your cup. Add 1 tsp. borax to the water and mix until borax dissolves. Then pour this into your glue bowl. Start stirring and you will notice how it starts becoming stringy. Keep mixing by using your hands and squishing around. You will notice after a few minutes that it has become pretty gelatinous and wonderful. Keep playing with it and it will become the perfect gooey consistency.

In the color labs we conducted the children mixed colors in three ways (more to come!). First they were presented with jars of colored water (primary colors), empty jars and pipettes on the light table. They spend the morning mixing colors and sharing excitement when they made a color with friends. Next we put out a tray of baking soda and jars filled with colored vinegar. The children used the pipettes to put the colored vinegar on the baking soda. The fizzy, bubbly reaction of the two substances was mesmerizing to watch. The last color lab we conducted was using whole milk, food coloring and a drop of dish soap. First we filled a tray with whole milk, then we put drops of food coloring in the milk, then a drop of soap in the middle (the fat molecules in the whole milk move away from the drop of soap). The food coloring swirled and danced around in the tray in a very magical way. PreK was so excited to see this reaction… “Look I see a lollipop,” “I see outer space,” “That is the earth,” “I see a mushroom,” “Look, they are dancing,” “I see a jellyfish,” “I see a whale!”

Please enjoy the slide shows posted below.

Love,
Vicky and Kate

Dates to remember:

Wednesday, December 16
8:15-9AM- Head’s Chat for PreK in the Library
1:30- PreK’s Holiday Party!

Friday, December 18
Dismissal at 3, no PM

November pictures:

December pictures:

By BCD Blog|2020-01-14T11:28:45-05:00December 13th, 2015|