Friday Update January 30

January 30, 2015 

                                                

Dear Parents,

We started our Fairy Tale unit this week with The Three Little Pigs, continued with our love of Todd Parr, and started Chinese New Year and 100 Day activities.

Here are some things that happened this week. We…

*learned the name, sound, and formation for the letter Ff.

*brainstormed/ listed/cut out words that begin with Ff and wrote them in our alphabet journals.

*added feathers to our feely letter Ff.  Please remember to add this to your feely letter ring and review all of the letters.

*learned the song Five Green and Speckled Frogs and made a book based on the song to practice taking one away.

*played with pretend frogs in the sensory table along with our moon sand.

*caught numbered frogs in the water table and ordered them 1 – 20

*painted with feathers. 

*used magnetic fishing poles to catch the letters that the words on our mat started with.

*made our own books! There was paper, crayons/markers and staplers set out and this was completely optional.  Our cuties RAN to this table to make a book! Look for them in their bags (many of them have my writing inside as each cutie told me their story) and the kiddos shared some of them with Ms. Jo during library as well.

*Read many different versions of The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf.  We will continue with this fairy tale next week. Ask your cutie what a book should have to be a fairy tale J  (Once upon a time, a good guy/bad guy and happily ever after (or a happy ending of some sort.))

*Painted what we thought we would look like when we are 100 years old.

*Went on a number hunt and started making 100 day headbands.

*Measured our feet with cubes after reading “How Big is a Foot?” about a king making a bed for a queen.

*finished our Chinese New Year lanterns, cherry blossoms, and dragon puppets.

WOW WE WERE BUSY!!!!! J

NEXT WEEK

Next week we will be learning the letter Ll and concentrate on getting our lemonade stand ready, as well as continue with our Fairy Tale unit, Chinese New Year, 100 day activities, and Valentine’s Day activities.

REMINDERS/INFORMATION

*Return library books and blue bags on Monday.

*Check the blog for pictures from this week!

Pre- Kindergarten Lemonade Sale!

Proceeds will go to the SPCA and Caring for Cambodia

THURSDAY, February 5^th (we had to change the day)

9:00-9:50

 (by the High School Office)

50 cents a glass

(correct change appreciated)

Next week the children will squeeze lemons to make fresh lemonade. We thought it would be a fun to open a lemonade stand and sell it to the Middle and High School students.  Our profits will go to the SPCA and Caring For Cambodia.  If you would like to donate to the lemonade cause, please send a bag of lemons with your child on Monday or Tuesday.  Ifyou are around campus on Thursday you are welcome to stop by our lemonade sale.

Upcoming Dates and Things to Remember:

*Monday, February 9^th:  100 Day!!!  Details to come.

*Friday, February 13^th:  VALENTINE’S Day Activities—wear Valentine’s dress to school (red, pink, white, or something with hearts J) and we will be passing out Valentine’s…details to come…

*Thursday, February 19^th/Friday, February 20^th:  CHINESE NEW YEAR—NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

*Monday, February 23^rd:  LATE START 10:00am

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

Friday Update January 23

January 23, 2015

                                                

Dear Parents,

We have had another exciting and fun week of learning in the yellow starfish classroom!  We celebrated Savanna’s 5^th birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAVANNA!) visited with the AMAZING author and illustrator Todd Parr, and continued with nursery rhymes.

The cuties wanted me to give you this link to One Direction singing about the letter U.  (They love their beautiful song, so of course they love this one!) You can also just type in Sesame Street letter U into Youtube. J

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Dwm7-aSpxs

Here are some things that happened this week. We…

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

*added umbrellas to our feely letter Uu.

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

*moved little umbrellas up and down to practice the sound.

*we started learning about Chinese New Year and made red/gold lanterns for good luck (2 each! J)

*continued with our Nursery Rhymes, which included Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Hickory Dickory Dock, The Muffin Man, Humpty Dumpty and many more. J

*painted a picture of cherry blossoms

*practiced our Nursery Rhymes and acted them out

*had fun in our new outside centers with water and sand!

*explored shells, magnets, rice, and some 3D shapes (rectangular prisms and cylinders) just for fun.

*had an AMAZING time with Todd Parr—he read many of his books to us (the favorite of course was his “UNDERWEAR” book! He showed us how he draws his illustrations, and then we got a chance to try ourselves!!!!  An absolutely wonderful author visit!

*made pattern necklaces

*used ABC stickers to try and spell out simple words for fun

*we also had some good quality time with Mango and Jelly J

VIP CALENDAR

Let me know what dates work for you to come in!  I sent the calendar home last week.

NEXT WEEK

Next week we will be looking at the letter F, we will be starting our unit on Fairy Tales, and be learning about Chinese New Year.

REMINDERS/INFORMATION

*Return library books and blue bags on Monday.

*SCHOLASTIC BOOK ORDERS went home this week.  If you are ordering books, please send the orders back by next Thursday, January 29^th.

*In library this week our cuties were able to check out TWO books! J  They will be able to check out two every week for the rest of the year.  Just have the books and red bag sent back every Monday.

*We are in need of large cereal type boxes to make Valentine mailboxes.  Please send in any donations. (Just a heads up J)

*Check the blog for pictures from this week!

  

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

TODD PARR!

The SAS Early Childhood Center and Elementary School have been extremely lucky to visit with Todd Parr, an amazing author an illustrator of over 30 colorful books on love, kindness and feeling good. 

We had a group session, where Todd Parr (and the cuties call him TODDPARR--all in one breath--it was so cute) read us some of his stories, told us about himself and his dogs (Jerry, Pete and Tater Tot), and drew the ideas the kids came up with.  He then came into our classroom and read more stories, showed our cuties how to draw, and then our kids had their own chance (with LOTS of help from Todd Parr--he even added to THEIR drawings!) 

What an amazing time! Thank you Todd Parr!  We loved every moment!

DOGGY DAY!

The cuties doggies ever!  I don't think anyone will disagree with me!

Friday Update January 16

January 16, 2015 

                                                

Dear Parents,

Happy New Year again!  I heard about so many fun holidays!!!  It is great to be back with the cuties, and we have had a wonderful week of learning and fun Report cards come home today, --they will be e-mailed to you from the office of learning, so be sure to look out for them!

Here are some things that happened this week. We…

*learned the name, sound, and formation for the letter Dd.

*brainstormed/ listed words that begin with Dd and wrote them in our alphabet journals.

*added dots to our feely letter Dd.  Please remember to add this to your feely letter ring and review all of the letters. (It is coming home in the zippy today.)

*did a dinosaur dig in the sensory table.

*dot painted pictures

*started learning nursery rhymes—Humpty Dumpty and Hey Diddle Diddle.

*estimated and counted dog bones.

*made dog headbands and collars, put on face paint, and made “doggy dinner” for our Dog day today. The dog names that our cuties came up for themselves were hilarious!  And they were ADORABLE doggies!!!!

*decorated stuffed animal dogs (they are yours to keep!)

*read some wonderful dog books—our favorites included Dog’s Colorful Day, Dog in Charge, If You Give a Dog a Donut, and Whistle for Willy.

*practiced writing our numbers to 10

*of course there were gingerbread hunts---after seeing the postcards from the Gingerbread Man, the cuties were SURE they saw crumbs everywhere! I wonder where else the GBM is travelling (hint hint—more postcards please---it is so wonderful!!!!!!! J Thank you for those two!)  

*As I mentioned in a previous e-mail, we started music classes through KinderMusic. Our instructor is Mr. Jed, and the cuties had a great time! These will happen every Tuesday.

                                                                

REPORT CARDS

The school is doing report cards a little differently this year by sending them via e-mail instead of hard copy home. You should have received a pdf copy at some point today.

VIP CALENDAR

I am attaching the VIP calendar to this e-mail—because of music on Tuesdays the VIP time will be from 10:25 to 11:15, and Wednesdays and Thursdays will stay at 8:30-9:20. Just e-mail me with the days that you would like to VIP—I will put them on the blog so everyone can see who is on which day.  It doesn’t matter if there are more than one person on a day—just let me know your preferred days J.

NEXT WEEK

Next week we will learn the letter and sound for Uu, and continue with Nursery Rhymes.

TODD PARR!!!

Todd Parr is an award winning author/illustrator and television show creator from the United States. He has written more than 35 books for children, including Reading Makes You Feel Good and It’s Okay to be Different. He has also created short films for Sesame Street and his own Emmy-nominated show Todd World. His picture books embrace themes such as diversity, acceptance, peace and friendship. His sense of humor and colorful illustrations make his books a popular and enjoyable choice for students, teachers, and parents.

I sent home an e-mail with the order form for Todd Parr books yesterday, and there is a hard copy in your child’s zippy pouch.

REMINDERS/INFORMATION

*Return library books on Monday.

*We are in need of large cereal type boxes to make Valentine mailboxes.  Please send in any donations. (Just a heads up J)

*Check the blog for pictures from this week!

*Healthy Snacks:

Good nutrition and a balanced diet helps kids grow up healthy. Here in the ECC we encourage good nutrition and smart eating habits.

Here is a list of healthy snack ideas to help you to encourage your child to make good choices. (these are just ideas)

·       Fresh fruit and vegetables

·       Dried fruit

·       Nuts

·       Yogurt

·       Cereal, granola or muesli

·       Hummus or bean dip

·       Crackers, pretzels

·       Cheese

·       Sandwiches

·       Sushi

·       Noodles

·       Eggs

·       Water

·       Juice- 100% juice is better

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