Hi Everyone,

We would like to thank those of you who were able to join us for Back-to-School-Night.  The children thought that it was very funny to hear that their parents had an “Evening Meeting,” instead of a Morning Meeting.  We have also posted your Hopes and Dream clouds on your child’s painted heart.  If you did not have the opportunity to make one last night, we are happy to give you a cloud on which to write your Hopes and Dreams for your child this school year.

One of the highlights of our week was on Thursday, when author Ty Jackson visited Preschool and our Kindergarten friends to read his new book When I Close My Eyes.  Before reading the story, Ty spoke with the children about how he came up with the idea for his story.  His daughter is very imaginative and is always pretending she is doing all sorts of different things.  The girl in this story also loves to imagine she is in all different parts of the world and universe, interacting with all sorts of creatures and people.  He also shared that he had to search far and wide for someone special to illustrate his stories.  He finally found his good friend Jonathan Shears.  He also shared that he founded the company Big Head Books, so that he could publish his own books.  As quoted in his bio, “his mission is to introduce children of all cultures to the fun and empowerment of reading.”  Madame Whalen held up large copies of the illustrations on each page as Ty read the story to the children.  After reading it, he answered lots of questions and he had the children share ideas from their imaginations.  As a thank you, the children created an “Imagination Book” to send to Ty.  We truly enjoyed his visit and hope that he will return to read us his new book that will be coming out in the Spring.  He also handed out bookmarks designed to look like $1,000,000.00!  Danny Dollar, a character in one of his first books is on the bill.  We encourage you to visit his website dannydollar.com or bigheadbooks.com. 

 

 

As noted, this week the children met Clever Cat from Letterland.  Clever Cat lives near the Letterland Castle, where she likes to drink cups of cocoa and do her crossword puzzles.  She also likes to drive around in her car and help people with their problems.  She is very clever.  She also likes to cook carrots and cauliflower.  We also made Clever Cat masks.  Our yoga positions for the week included Candle, Cat, Cobra and Chair.  Next week we will meet Dippy Duck!

The children drew their first Self-Portraits of the school year.  Before starting, we talked about the fact that a self-portrait is a drawing of one’s self and it should include a head, a body, arms, hands, legs and feet.  We also asked them what we could add to the head.  Children were encouraged to look in the mirror to see what color their eyes and hair are, so that they can use those colors in their drawings.  The results have been posted in the Berkshire Room.  We will do new self-portraits every six weeks, or so.  Also related to our Self-Awareness unit of study, the children made paper figures of themselves.  This activity introduced glue sticks, as well as, what we call, “Gooey Glue.”  These beautiful creations will be posted in the classroom next week. 

On Tuesday, the children colorfully decorated squares of paper which were made into peace pin wheels.  In honor of International Day of Peace, we gathered with the entire school community around the Peace Pole.  The Third Grade students had also decorated pin wheels and we planted them all around the Peace Pole.  Mr. Frantz shared some reminders of living peacefully and taking care of one another.  Earlier in the day, we read Todd Parr’s story The Peace Book.            

Some of the Books we Read:

The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein

Have You Got My Purr, by Judy West and Tim Warnes

The Peace Book,  by Todd Parr

The Little Kitten, by Judy and Phoebe Dunn

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, by William Steig

Little Bear’s Friend, by Else Holmelund Minarik and Maurice Sendak

When I Close My Eyes, by Ty Allan Jackson and Jonathan Shears

 

Dates to Remember:

Thursday, September 29th, No School, Rosh Hashanah

Monday, October 10th, No School, Columbus Day

Friday, October 21st, Grandparent and Grandfriend’s Day, dismissal at 1 pm, details coming soon!

Friday, October 28th, Pizza Lunch

Monday, October 31st, Preschool Halloween Party, details TBA

Have a Nice Weekend!

Ellie and Joni