Hi Everyone,

 Monday morning we were greeted by our monarch butterfly!  Over the weekend the butterfly hatched out of its chrysalis. We carefully carried it out to the BCD flower garden and Mrs. Atwater gently scooped the monarch out of the habitat and onto a daisy petal.  Everyone was so excited to see it pump its wings and climb on the flowers.  We think it has started to make its way to Mexico.  Unfortunately, it was apparent that the second chrysalis was not going to mature into a butterfly.  It usually takes around 17 days for a chrysalis to open.  We observed that the second chrysalis has been formed for at least one month and we talked about the fact that it probably stopped growing and it will never turn into a butterfly.  We also speculated that the first butterfly may already have laid new eggs.  Thank you for sharing this special find with us, Henry!

 

 

On Tuesday we had our first Peer Reading with 2nd grade.  The 2nd grade students come to our classroom every other week and we share books.  for the first few times, one of the teachers read to the whole group.  Each preschooler has 2 reading partners.  This first visit was all about imagination, friendship and getting to know each other. Mrs. Olsen read, “When I Close My Eyes” by Ty Jackson.  The preschoolers then toured their peer readers around the classrooms and talked about what types of books they like to read.  We are very excited for our next gathering!

 

 

 On Monday, September 28th, we celebrated Margaret’s Star Day with her mom, Priscilla, Mrs. Freeman and her new baby, Mia, joining us for a special Morning Meeting.  We learned that Margaret was born in Guatamala and adopted by her mom and dad when she was three months old.  Margaret also has an older sister, Lucy, and a neice, Mia, in addition to Mimi and Poppa and a number of aunts, uncles and cousins.  She has one pet named “Moo,” who is a small white dog.  When Margaret was a baby, she loved to play with her baby gym.  Now that she is five, she loves to play on the playground!  Her favorite food is spaghetti and meatballs, but she was very surprised to learn that she also likes to eat lobster.  Priscilla read us the story “Edwina, The Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct,” by Mo Willems.  It is a fun story about a kind dinosaur who made cookies for everyone she met.  Margaret also donated this fun story to our classroom collection.  For a special treat, she brought in mini cupcakes with sprinkles, grapes, cheese sticks and juice pouches.  Thank you and Happy Star Day, Margaret!    

 Last week, we met Dippy Duck in the Letterland Duck Pond.  He has a “D” shaped door on his house and he loves to dip into the water in the duck pond.  He also grows daffodils and daisies around the duck pond.  Among his other interesting friends are dinosaurs and donkeys.  He also has a doll dressed in a dress, which may be donning a diamond!  We learned how to draw Dippy Duck’s “d” shape.  This is the saying to help them remember how to do it:

Draw Dippy Duck’s back.  Go round her tum.  Go up to her head.  Then down you come! 

On Wednesday, we painted dragonflies with glitter paint and on Friday, we dipped apples and crackers in honey.  This week we met Eddy Elephant.  He thinks it is very exciting to go to the Letterland fair!  In his story, we learned that he likes to show everybody how he can juggle eggs.  Although he’s not yet exactly an expert, he keeps on trying.  At the Letterland Fair, he also met Mr. E, the Easy Magic Man.  We also spied the “Entrance” and “Exit” signs on the tents at the fair.  We learned how to write Eddy Elephants “e” shape.  The saying to help us remember is:

Ed has a headband.  Draw it and then stroke round his head and his trunk to the end. 

 On Thursday, the children traced triangles and cut them out with scissors.  Before we began, we talked about what scissors are made out of, what it is okay to cut (paper) and how to use them in a safe manner.  We practiced positioning them on our hands and then cut along the lines of our triangle.  Today, we decorated the triangles, along with two strips of paper.  Once assembled, they made Eddy Elephant hats!  We will continue practice cutting and snipping all sorts of paper. 

For our Yoga poses, we added “Dinosaur”, “Dog”, “Dolphin”, “‘Do Nothing'” Pose, “Easy Pose” and “Elephant.”  The children are getting very proficiant in their yoga moves and enjoy the relaxing music that is played during yoga time.   

Friday was filled with excellent “e” activities.  We did an experiment with oil, water, salt and food coloring. The children observed that if you stir really fast, the oil and water will mix, but if we let the mixture sit, they separate!  A few children predicted that the oil would indeed “float” on the water!  We tried adding more water to one mixture and more oil to the other mixture: nothing helped as they observed; no matter what we did, the two liquids would not join together.  We plan on adding more simple experiments each week.  We also cooked eggs in 2 ways: hard boiled and scrambled.  This was a yummy experiment.

On Tuesday, October 18th, we will join the Kindergarten class for a trip to Ioka Valley Farm in Hancock.  We will travel by bus and will leave BCD at 9:30a.m.  We will have an early snack before we board the bus.  Once at the farm, we will visit the petting zoo, go on a hay ride to the pumpkin patch, select a pumpkin to take home and have some time to play on their playground.  We will also bring our lunches to eat at the farm.  Please be sure that your child is dressed for walking about a farm and spending the morning outdoors.  Pants, sturdy shoes and layers work great.  Regarding lunches, please be sure to send forks, spoons and water bottles.  We will not be able to heat anything up in the microwave.  

Friday, October 21st is a very special day at BCD.  As you may be aware, it is Grandparents’ and Grand Friends’ Day.  On this day, parents should send lunch and beverages for all of their children and grandparents in the morning.  Please remember to send in a separate snack and beverage for your child for earlier in the morning at our 9:30 a.m. snack time.  Grandparents and Grand Friends will be escorted to the Preschool classrooms at 10:30a.m.  Preschool students, Grandparents and Friends will have a quick Welcome Meeting and then have time to play and explore the classroom together.  Lunch will begin for Preschool at 11:45a.m.  At 12:30, we will all go to Fitzpatrick Hall for a special choral presentation.  Grandparents will be dismissed at 12:45p.m.  Let us know, in writing, if your child will depart with his or her Grandparent or Grandfriend.  Parents may pick children up at the wall at 1:00p.m.

Some Guests will have more than one grandchild or grand friend to visit.  Our time together will be exploratory and informal.  These families have a number of options:

  • Families with multiple Grandparents and multiple siblings may choose to divide their time equally, between different siblings’ classes, and then join together (preschooler included) in the oldest siblings’ classroom for lunch.   In this case, grandparents should return to the Preschool classrooms to collect the Preschool child and have lunch with the older sibling in their designated lunch area.
  • Some families may choose to have one grandparent stay with one child and another grandparent visit his or her sibling.  For lunch, everyone can join together in the oldest student’s classroom. 

Please let us know ahead if your child’s guests will be in need of any special accomodations.  We would like them to be as comfortable as possible.   

Thank you so much for helping us coordinate this very special day.  If you have any questions, please let us know.  We are happy to help! 

Halloween is also fast approaching!  We will celebrate this fun day 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 organizing Halloweeny treats.  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!  

A huge thank you to everyone who ordered from this past Scholastic book order.  We were able to purchase 18 new books for our class library!  The next order will be in November for holiday shopping.  I will again send home paper fliers and you are always welcome to order on line with our class code to help earn even more books for your children to enjoy while in preschool.

Reminders to Note:

  • Please be sure to send in a refillable drink container for us to fill with water as children need it.  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  
  • 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:

Monday, October 10th, No School, Columbus Day

Friday, October 21st, Grandparents’ and Grand Friends’ Day, all school dismissal at 1 p.m.

Friday, October 28th, Pizza Lunch

Monday, October 31st, Preschool Halloween Party

Have a Nice Long Weekend!

Ellie and Joni