Hello Families,
Last Tuesday morning we celebrated Gabrielle’s Star Day. Her Mom and Dad joined us for Morning Meeting and shared family photos of Gabrielle when she was little. We learned that she was born in Texas and had a cat named Tiny that she loved to play with. Her favorite food is sweet cereal and she likes to make up her own dances. When Gabrielle went on vacation to New Hampshire, she enjoyed playing on the beach. Gabi loves fairies and shared a wonderful book of poetry titled: The Complete Book of the Flower Fairies, by Cicely Mary Barker. The book inspired us to make our own woodland fall fairies on Wednesday.Gabrielle brought in delicious chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, sliced apples and angle food cake to share for snack! It was very delicious. Thank you Gabrielle and Happy Star Day!
Last week we met Firefighter Fred on our trip to Letterland. He is famous for putting out fires with foam! Near the farm, Firefighter Fred has friends and they are the fox, the frog, and the finch. On Thursday we learned how to write the letter “f”. The little phrase to help learn to write his shape is:
First draw Fred’s helmet. Then go down a ways. Give him some arms and he’ll put out the blaze.
We also finger painted with foam paint on the tables. Using large white paper, we took prints of their creations before washing the gloppy mess up. They are posted in the Berkshire Room. Posted in the Long Room, are colorful feathery collages the children made using glue and feathers. Inspired by Gabrielle’s Fairy book, we made Fall Fairies from clothespins, acorn caps and silk Fall leaves.
Last Thursday, Mr. Uhas came and read to our class. He is a middle school teacher and former preschool librarian. Mr. Uhas read: The Great Gracie Chase Stop That Dog! by Cynthia Rylant. The children loved this funny tale of a dog who likes things to be quiet. He also read: What’s Your Sound Hound the Hound? by Mo Willems. We will continue to invite other faculty and staff members to be guest readers, as the children really like to meet other members of our BCD family.
Last week Reem, one of the 6th grade girls, helped out in our class and played with the children on the playground. The children loved running with her on the playground and she is a great puzzle builder. Perhaps she will join us again, soon!
This week we met Golden Girl from Letterland. Golden Girl loves the color green and she has long golden hair, which she actually uses as a swing. Her grandparents think she is a great gardener. She grows tasty green grapes in her greenhouse. She also has a pet goat. Here is the phrase we learned when learning to write “g”:
Go round Golden Girl’s head. Go down her golden hair. Then curve to make her swing so she can sit there.
We also made a welcome banner for our Grandparents and Grand Friends tomorrow. In addition, we talked about what we like to do with our grandparents and we read a number of Grandparent books. Today, the children traced hearts, cut them out and glued photos of themselves on to the hearts. They decorated the hearts with fall leaves and the teachers wrote their messages to their grandparents on the back. The children will present their creations to their special guests tomorrow. If your child will not be with us or he or she will not have a grandparent joining us, they can give it to them at another time, or even mail it to them via the U.S. Postal Service.
Earlier in the week, the children created new Self-Portraits. They will always be posted on the same bulletin board in the Berkshire Room.
One of our old friends, Jack, who was in Pre K last year, sent us a brand new Letterland puzzle. He really loved meeting all of the characters and reading their stories. In order to thank him, we drew pictures of our favorite Letterland characters and put them together to make a book. We will send it to him in the mail. Thank you, Jack!
We would like to thank Jacob’s family for preparing and serving our first Lunch Bunch! The children enjoyed mac n’ cheese, apples, chocolate chip cookies and rice krispy squares. Our next Lunch Bunch is scheduled for Tuesday, November 15th.
As tomorrow we will be very busy with Grandparents and Grand Friends, we decided to post our newsletter today. We will post seperate blogs about our fantastic trip to Ioka Farm on Tuesday and our special day tomorrow next week. Much thanks to Paul, Jenny and Terri for joining us on our trip to Ioka. It turned out to be a bit chilly, but fun! Everyone got a pumpkin. We also road on hay bales in the pumpkin wagon and we fed goats, geese, chickens and turkeys. They also had some very interesting looking bunnies. After spending a good amount of time sliding down the giant slides, riding the go-carts and playing with the ducks and the hand water pumps, we ate lunch at the gazeebo. We would also like to thank Mr. B. for driving the bus and spending the day with us.
As stated in our last newsletter, we will celebrate Halloween on Monday, October 31st. On this day, children are invited to wear their costumes to school. Costumes should be easy to put on and allow children to move about freely. Please do not send irreplaceable accessories, as we cannot ensure that they will return home in the same condition that they arrive. We know that the children may have other events to attend. In addition, please refrain from allowing children to bring any pretend weapons, masks, or overly scary costumes. Weapons are against classroom policy and masks hinder vision and coordination.
Our Class Parent, Priscilla France, will be helping us organize Halloweeny treats. A sign-up sheet will be posted in the coat room next week. We will have a “trick-filled” Morning Meeting and then we will go on our annual Halloween Parade around the BCD campus. Parents are welcome to join us for the parade. Once we return to the classrooms and we say good-bye to parents, we will have our own celebration with special Halloween activities. Special treats will be served for snack time and after lunch. Please be sure to send in a set of clothes in a labeled bag for your child to change into whenever he or she is ready. This should be a fun-filled morning!
Reminders to Note:
- Please send in the green paper leaves with your family photos on them. We would like to decorate our Preschool Tree.
- Please be sure to send in a refillable drink container for us to fill with water. In our efforts to be green, we try to refrain from using plastic cups.
- Forks sometimes work better for pasta dishes.
- A variety of snack items is encouraged for young growing children.
- Please be sure to return Library books on Wednesdays.
- If your child needs to have an item warmed up, please be sure it is in a microwave safe container.
- Please be sure to replenish extra clothes and please leave an extra warm layer in case your child is chilly.
- Leaving an extra pair of sneakers in school is a good idea for the days when we play in the wet grass in the morning.
Dates to Remember:
Friday, October 28th, Pizza Lunch
Monday, October 31st, Preschool Halloween Party
Tuesday, November 1st, Family leaves with photos are due
Thursday, November 3rd, Parent Teacher Conferences 3:30 -7
Friday, November 4, No School for Preschool, Parent Teacher Conferences 8a.m. to noon
Have fantastic weekend!
Joni and Ellie
