Pre K Parent News April 23, 2010

Hi Everyone!

We had a short, but eventful week in Pre K.  On Tuesday, we started the week with a great surprise.  Many of our radish and sunflower seeds had sprouted over the long weekend!  Our grass had continued to grow really tall, as well.  The children spontaneously brought out the Unifix cubes to see just how much it had grown.  By referring to their drawings from last week, they calculated how many more Unifx cubes their grass had grown.  One of the children discovered that his grass had grown by 5 cubes!

On Wednesday, we visited Hancock Shaker Village with Kindergarten.  It was a fantastic trip!  Mr. Bear even came along for the trip!  On the bus ride (which is always fun) we noticed all of the leaves beginning to open on the trees; bushes blossoming and flowers of all colors in bloom.  Once at the Village, after a brief introduction, the children visited the Round Barn, where we saw mommy and baby sheep, goats, a calf, turkeys and beautiful bunnies.  Upstairs, there were ducks, roosters and antique wagons.  We then moved on to the next barn to see two sets of mommy pigs and their baby piglets, as well as more mommy and baby lambs.  We also took a peek in the chicken coop, where we discovered that a hen had laid two eggs!  In the Discovery Room, the children milked a pretend cow; saw some ducklings in an incubator;  watched bees working very hard in a glass beehive; made paper shaker boxes and seed packets and one friend was brave enough to try on some Shaker clothes.  Before we went to lunch, everyone took a turn weaving on the loom.  Since it was such a beautiful day, we had a picnic lunch on the lawn.  Deb, Charles’ mom, treated everyone to a yummy pop from the Shaker Village Gift Shop.  It was so nice, we didn’t want to leave!  Thank you to Deb, Gail and Alex for joining us on such a short notice.

For Earth Day, we had a special Morning Meeting with the Beginner Threes.  We learned some Earth Day songs, which we sent home, and we talked about what we can do to take care of the Earth.  Mrs. Piasecki joined us and helped us plant pumpkin seeds in soil in a flat.  We will keep them in the classroom windows until the sprouts are strong enough to grow on their own in the BCD Pumpkin Patch.  We also made Earth Day Flags by reusing old cardboard dress shirt inserts.

On Friday Morning, we celebrated Gabrielle’s Summer Birthday with her mom, Kate, dad, Nigel, and sister, Elisabeth.  Her dad showed us a sweet slide-show of Gabrielle growing up.   Her mom read us the story “Skippy John Jones in the Dog House,” by Judy Schachner.  Kate read it with a very convincing accent!  For snack, Gabrielle shared berries, cookies and juice.  Happy Summer Birthday, Gabrielle!

Continuing with the Earth Day theme, on Friday, we reused old drink bottles to make Water Globes.  The children filled the bottles with green, blue and white sequins, foamy shapes and water.  All of the sequins, beads and gems were green, blue and white.  Green represents the land.  Blue represents the water and white represents the snow, ice and clouds.  They were hot glued closed.  We made these with the hope that when the children shake them, it will remind them to take good care of our environment.

On Thursday, we finally met Zig-Zag Zebra!  Leading up to the story, the children and I went through the entire book, naming all of the characters and saying his or her sound.  They did a wonderful job of it!  Zig-Zag Zebra lives in the Letterland Zoo, of course.  She loves to zoom about the zoo.  She is very fast and she has won zillions of prizes.  Once tired, she loves a good snooze.  Don’t look at her stripes too long, you might get dizzy!  During the next few weeks, we will talk about vowels and the different sounds they make and how they help us make words.  We will also work on learning to write the correct formation of the letters.

Ms. Fishman has asked that, if possible, the children wear blue jeans and bring a sun hat or cap to wear for the concert.  As a reminder, the concert will include B3s, Pre K and Kindergarten through Third Grade students.  It will take place Friday, May 7th, at 1:00pm.  Students who do not usually attend Friday afternoons may join the class that day at 12:30pm.  Children who do not usually come on Friday afternoons will be dismissed to parents following the concert.

Some of the Books We Read:

I Stink!, by Kate and Jim McMullan

Let’s Find out About Recycling, by Dr. Mike Goldsmith

Saving Water and Energy, by Philip Steele

One Bean, by Anne Rockwell and Megan Halsey

Curious George Plants a Tree, by Margaret and H. A. Rey’s

Important Reminders:

• As the temperature has changed, please check your bag of extra clothes for your child to be sure everything fits and that there is a complete change of clothes
• Bring Library books back on Fridays
• If lunch items need to be heated up, please be sure the container can be too
• Please be sure to include a spoon or fork when needed
• The Preschool classrooms open at 7:55a.m.
• Remember to have your child wash his or her hands before entering the classroom each morning
• Please be sure your child has sneakers and socks for the playground. Sandals, crocs, cowboy boots, etc. are not safe on the climber.

Dates to Note:

Thursday, May 6th, 7:55am to 9:00am, Preschool’s Mommies’ Day Breakfast (Drop in and grab a bite to eat with us before you start your day!)

Friday, May 7th, Music Concert, 1:00pm (B3s through 3rd Grade will perform.)

Friday, May 14th, Pizza Lunch

Wednesday, May 26th, Fun and Field Day (Dress for outdoor fun and getting wet!)  Details TBA

Thursday, May 27th, Fun and Field Day, rain date I

Friday, May 28th, Spring Fling Day, details TBA

Monday, May 31st, No School, Memorial Day

Wednesday, June 2nd, Fun and Field Day, rain date II

Thursday, June 3rd, Move Up Lunch (we call it “Lunch With Mrs. Patel”, for Pre K , and “Lunch With Mrs. Atwater”, for the B3s)

Thursday, June 10th, Last Day of School; Closing Ceremonies; All School Family Picnic, beginning at noon; dismissal at 1:00pm