Friday Update April 25

April 25, 2014 

                                                

Dear Parents,

It was another busy week in Pre K! We continued our insect unit (focusing on ants), had a wonderful field trip to see Rapunzel, and celebrated Secretaries Day with Ms. Rosita (she liked our card! J)

This week we…

*learned the sound, hand motion and letter formation for the letter Yy.

*added yellow yarn to our feely letter Yy.

*brainstormed words that began with Yy and added them to our alphabet journals.

*chopped and diced mango, bananas, peaches and pineapple and mixed in yogurt to make “Yummy, Yellow Yogurt”. (Can your child sing the song to you? The tune is “Apples and Bananas”.)

*learned about Vincent van Gogh and painted yellow sunflowers just like his famous painting. 

*caught and counted little yellow ducks in the water table.

*sang “Mr. Sun,” “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” “6 Little Ducks,” and “You are My Sunshine.”

*used great speaking and listening skills as we shared the contents of our “Yellow Day” show and tell. I am VERY proud of how the cuties did on this!

*helped set up and make props for out “Ant Hill” dramatic play area. 

*played Buggy Bingo and practiced writing our numbers to 20.

*reviewed what we know about bees and wrote in our creative writing journals.

*made ant habitats/colonies/hills with many different rooms.

*learned about the life cycle and jobs that ants have, and compared them to what we know about the bee life cycle and their home and jobs.

*cut out bugs and made different patterns with them.

*made a “What is an insect?” book that the cuties can read to you!

*Mr. Pearson came to visit and talk to us about personal safety. (For example not going with or taking anything from someone you don’t know.)

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK

Next week we will introduce the letter Xx and continue with insects, focusing on butterflies.

2 IMPORTANT THINGS COMING HOME TODAY IN ZIPPY POUCHES

1)    SHHHHHHHH!!  The first one is hush hush.  It is a surprise for Ms. Johnson.  Please see the note and follow the directions—we really want to surprise her, since it is the end of her last year as Director of the ECC before she moves to India.

2)   FIELD TRIP FORM!  (Another one!) We are going to Sungei Buloh—please sign and return—we WILL need chaparones on this trip, so please indicate on the form if you can join us to look for insects!

REMINDERS/INFORMATION

*Return library books and blue bags (these are not coming home this week-they will come home next week) on Monday.

*Return field trip forms/forms for Ms. Johnson.

*Check the blog for pictures from this week!

*Tuesday, April 29^th: Teacher Appreciation Day J YAY! J

*Thursday, May 1^st:  Labor Day—NO SCHOOL

*Thursday, May 8^th: FIELD TRIP to Sungei Buloh

*Tuesday, May 13^th: Vesak Day—NO SCHOOL

*Friday, May 16^th: PORTFOLIO SHARE 8:15-9:15 (please put this on your calendars for sure!  Your cutie will share their portfolio and I will have a slide show of our year.)

*Friday, May 23^rd:  Parent Tea and Sing a Long

*Thursday, June 5^th:  Last Day of School!—11:30 dismissal

Thank you!!!  Have a wonderful weekend!!!!  Lynsey and Aidah

Pictures from this week

Our entomologists!!!

And Happy Easter from the cutest bunnies in the world!!

Pictures from this week:

Friday Update April 14 to 17 (On Thursday :-))

April 17, 2014 

                                                

Dear Parents,

This week we continued our insect unit and learned all about Spring and Easter.  We read many beautiful stories, and ended the week with some pre-k fun! We dyed eggs, did puzzles, played Easter games, and wore our cute bunny ears! We also found A LOT of insects outside around the school! J We celebrated Akshita’s birthday today!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY AKSHITA!!!! J

This week we…

*learned the sound and letter formation for the letter Ww.

*rolled wheels of cars in paint over our feely letter Ww.

*cut out pictures things that start with the letter Ww and put them in our alphabet books.

*sang “Willaby Wallaby.”

* compared humans and insects and found ways they are similar (living creatures, both have 2 eyes etc.) and how they are different (humans have 2 legs, insects have 6, insects have antennae, etc).

*played Buggy Bingo!

*went on an insect hunt in the Memory Garden.  We brought clipboards, pencils and magnifying glasses (we were REAL entomologists!) and found ants, dragonflies, butterflies, moths, beetles….WOW!!! We were hot and sweaty, but so pleased with ourselves for finding all those insects!!!!!

*played an insect game with dice and tried to see which insect would get to the top of the graph first.

*put together bug puzzles.

*made cute bunny ears to wear during our Easter activities.

*made an Easter card for you—it is a duck that turns into a bunny. J

*read some beautiful Spring and Easter books, and learned about why this holiday is celebrated, and how eggs are a symbol of new life in spring.

*dyed Easter eggs, and went on a “mini” Easter egg hunt in the classroom. J

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK

We will introduce the letter Yy, as well as continuing with insects with a focus on ants.  NEXT WEDNESDAY IS YELLOW DAY!  YOUR CUTIE IS INVITED TO WEAR YELLOW AND BRING IN YELLOW SHOW AND TEACH! (See paper bag with note coming home today.)

REMINDERS/INFORMATION

*Return library books and blue bags on Monday.

*Return field trip forms.

*Check the blog for pictures from this week!

*Friday, April 18^th: Good Friday—NO SCHOOL

*Wednesday, April 23^rd: YELLOW DAY! Wear yellow and bring your show and teach.

*Thursday, April 24^th: FIELD TRIP to see Rapunzel

*Tuesday, April 29^th: Teacher Appreciation Day J YAY! J

*Thursday, May 1^st:  Labor Day—NO SCHOOL

*Thursday, May 8^th: FIELD TRIP to Sungei Buloh

*Tuesday, May 13^th: Vesak Day—NO SCHOOL

*Friday, May 16^th: PORTFOLIO SHARE 8:15-9:15

*Friday, May 23^rd:  Parent Tea and Sing a Long

*Thursday, June 5^th:  Last Day of School!—11:30 dismissal

Thank you!!!  Have a wonderful weekend!!!!  Lynsey and Aidah

Pictures from April 7 to 11

Insects, a focus on Bees :-)

Friday Update April 7 to 11

April 11, 2014 

                                                

Dear Parents,

We are continuing our unit on insects, and our cuties are getting it!  They love to play “insect” in our dramatic play, look for insects outside, and tell everyone they see all about insects!!! (Ask your child about insects—six legs, two eyes, antennae, 3 body parts (head, thorax, abdomen), exoskeleton, etc.)  We have been focusing on bees this week. J

This week we…

*learned the sound and letter formation for the letter Qq.

*added “quilt pieces” to our feely letter Qq.

*read the story The Kindness Quilt and each decorated a paper quilt square to add to a class quilt.

*learned the song 5 Little Ducks and practiced making the /qu/ sound as it was sung and we subtracted our ducks!

*read books about the life cycle of a bee and created our own bee hives complete with eggs, lavae, pupae, queen bee and worker bees. Can your child tell you the life cycle of a bee?

*pretended to be bees collecting pollen and necter and learned how honey is made.  Can your child tell you how bees make honey? (We used sweets to be nectar and cheezels to be orange pollen, and the cuties had bee finger puppets to dive in and get the goods J)

*watched Magic School Bus in the Bee Hive as a treat! (The children loved it…have your child tell you about it!)

*used hexagon blocks as cells and created a “buzzing beehive” to focus on shapes as well as how insects work in a colony.

*painted pictures of bees and insects and talked about the number of various body parts they have.

*used alphabet stamps to sound out some simple words.

*Made insects with pattern blocks and graphed how many pattern blocks we used for our insects.

*practiced writing our name in lowercase letters.

*made AB, AABB, ABC patterns with insects of all kinds.

*had bee costumes in our dramatic play (the cuties LOVED this!)  There were a lot of bees buzzing around.  (And I loved hearing the vocabulary being used by the kiddos!  Entomologist, honey, thorax….it was so much fun!)

*looked at an actual honeycomb and then spread honey on bread to eat…yum!

*Played an insect game

*Sang “Bringing home my baby bumblebee and our other insect songs.

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK

We will introduce the letter Ww, read books about and talk about Easter, and participate in some fun Easter activities, as well as continuing with insects.

REMINDERS/INFORMATION

*Return library books and blue bags on Monday.

*There is a field trip permission form coming home in your child’s zippy pouch today for Rapunzel.  Please sign the second page and return it to school—you can keep the front page for your reference at home.  Please make sure if there are any changes in contact information etc that you go onto the SAS website—I can’t change that information for you.

*Check the blog for pictures from this week!

Some dates to keep in mind for the rest of the year….  More details to follow on many of them, but mark your calendars!

*Wednesday, April 9^th:  LATE START—School starts at 10:00am (and Alternate Dress Day)

*Friday, April 18^th: Good Friday—NO SCHOOL

*Thursday, April 24^th: FIELD TRIP to see Rapunzel

*Tuesday, April 29^th: Teacher Appreciation Day J YAY! J

*Thursday, May 1^st:  Labor Day—NO SCHOOL

*Thursday, May 8^th: FIELD TRIP to Sungei Buloh

*Tuesday, May 13^th: Vesak Day—NO SCHOOL

*Friday, May 16^th: PORTFOLIO SHARE 8:15-9:15

*Friday, May 23^rd:  Parent Tea and Sing a Long

*Thursday, June 5^th:  Last Day of School!—11:30 dismissal

Thank you!!!  Have a wonderful weekend!!!!  Lynsey and Aidah