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

Pics from this week March 31 to April 4

Friday Update April 4

April 4, 2014 

                                                

Dear Parents,

It was so great to be back this week with our cuties!!! I heard all about your break, and whether you were on a trip or stayed here in Singapore, the cuties were excited to tell the class about their activities! We are a lucky group!  Please pay special attention to the dates at the end of this newsletter—we have A LOT of things coming up in this last quarter of Prek, it is hard to keep it all straight!

This week we…

*reviewed and ended our Fairy Tales unit, and began our last big unit on insects!   The insect unit is always a favorite with students.  It is something they can really relate to, especially in Singapore!!!  Our cute entomologists began their introduction this week, answering the question “What are insects and how are they the same/different from other living things?”  Ask your child if he/she can tell you about it! If you see any cool insects about town, take a picture and send it in J  We would love to see what you find. J  

*learned the letter, sound and hand motion for Zz. 

*added zig zags to our feely letter ZZ.

*drew pictures of words that start with Zz in our alphabet journals, and cut out Zz pictures.

*had a visit from “Mr. Z” (Ava’s dad in Ms. Kiran’s class) and he sang insect songs with us.

*built amazing structures in the block room (we were inspired by pictures we found.)

*practiced counting by 10 (Zero the Hero). Can your child count to 100 by 10’s?

*learned the characteristics of an insect and what makes them different from other animals (Have your child tell you some of the differences. i.e.: insects hatch from eggs, insects have 3 body parts, insects have 6 legs)

*learned the songs Head Thorax Abdomen and I’m an Entomologist.  Please have your child sing them to you! J

*played an insect memory game using different insects found in Singapore.  Can your child tell you the name of some of the insects?

*pretended to be entomologists and collected, sorted and tallied different insects (plastic onesJ) in the sensory table.

*Talked about the idea of publishing a class book about insects.  We are compiling information we know about insets to put in the book and are “researching” insects.

*Read a lot of insect books!

*Painted insects we know, did bug puzzles and a bee matching game!

*Began learning a little more about bees, and starting making a bee habitat and bee puppets

*Made a buzzing bumblebees book

*In the science center, predicted if certain classroom things would SINK or FLOAT and then tested it out J

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK

We will introduce the letter Qq do some activities with quilts and continue with insects, focusing on bees.

REMINDERS/INFORMATION

*Return library books and blue bags on Monday.

*Check the blog for pictures from this week!

*SONG BOOKS ARE GOING HOME THIS WEEK!  Please sing some songs with your child as they “point” to the words with their magic pointer and return the song books on Monday.

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

*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

Picture from March 17 to 19

It was a short week because of parent teacher conferences, but here are pictures from our visit with author Peter Brown, and saying goodbye to our dear wonderful Adam!