Caring for Cambodia

CFC ART KITS

Volunteer Service Opportunity!

Over the Thanksgiving break; a team of 25 SAS teachers will be travelling to Siem Reap as part of an annual Caring for Cambodia (CFC) Teacher Training project. This year, the SAS team has been asked to share teaching methods in problem solving for math with the Cambodian teachers. In the past, SAS students have also assembled hygiene kits for the families of the CFC schools. This has been a wonderful tradition for our Pre-K to 5th Grade students for the past nine years. As of this year, the kits will now be provided through the generous donations of Unilever, but we have taken on a new project to help the children of the CFC schools---Art Kits!

How can you HELP? Creativity is an invaluable resource, and to generate inspiration in the CFC students we want to provide them with the tools to express their imaginative spirits. Our goal is to create and transport 1,000 Art Kits to Siem Reap. If every student brings in enough items for one kit, we will be well on our way of reaching our goal. This activity is optional. If you would like to participate please have your child bring in the following items by Friday, November 14^th.

one watercolor paint set  

one box of colored pencils  

one set of colored markers

          The students will assemble the kits in their classrooms and write a personalized note to put inside the art kit. The SAS team will bring the kits to Cambodia in November. Thank you in advance for all of your support. The children love making these kits, and it is amazing to see how their efforts can make a difference in another child’s life. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Warm regards,      

Pre-K Teachers

Friday Update Oct 27 to 31

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  Thank you to all of the parents who helped out or joined our party this afternoon!  The cuties (and Aidah and I!) had a blast!  Thanks to Priyanka and Carolyn for all of their hard work in planning and organizing.

It was another fun week in the Pre K yellow starfish class….lots of PPPPPPPumpkin and Halloween activities!!! 

This week we…

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

*brainstormed word that started with or contained Pp and wrote them/drew them in our alphabet journals.

*added purple and pink pieces of paper for our feely letter Pp.

*we explored our pumpkin—rolled it, talked about what might be inside, how tall/heavy it was, measured it, drew it….and then cut it open to explore some more!  There were a lot of “wonderings” going on, and I think it might continue for awhile!  Our cuties were VERY interested in this pumpkin!

*estimated and counted the number of pumpkin seeds there would be in our big orange pumpkin!

*Painted symmetrical pumpkins and decorated them with a spooky Halloween scene.

*Created and copied patterns using Halloween characters

*ordered pumpkins from smallest to biggest

*Read a nonfiction book about pumpkins and sequenced pictures of the lifecycle of a pumpkin. (We will continue this next week J)

*learned the song Pumpkin Man and decorated the song sheet.  A copy of the song will come be in the Poems and Songs book. (I will send the Poems and Songs book home next Friday—I thought today would be a little too crazy J)

*Made a caterpillar out of circles, and wrote how “many circles long” their caterpillar was.

*played a listening game with jack-o-lanterns (tried to find different shapes for eyes….)

*Played a “draw a pig” game where they added different parts of the body to a pig depending on what number they rolled on the dice.

*Decorated a 5 Little Pumpkins page for our room.

* Made pumpkins to hang from the ceiling—lots of cutting involved and our cuties did a wonderful job!

* we were GOING to draw the Pigeon from Mo Willems’ books, but we ran out of time so we will do that next week!

The Little Orange House

This week, I told the students the story of the LITTLE ORANGE HOUSE. They loved it so much they wanted to show you.  There was a copy in the zippy pouch on wed—the story requires adult help---have fun!

REMINDERS/IMPORTANT DATES

Wednesday, November 26^th:   Faculty Inservice Day, No School for Students

Thursday, November 27^th and Friday November 28^th:  THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY.  NO SCHOOL

*Please remember to turn in lunch forms to school

*Remember to return red library bags and blue Friday Folder bags every Monday

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

Wednesday Update :-) Oct 13 to 15

Although this has been a short week, it has been a busy one!  We celebrated Yan’s birthday—HAPPY BIRTHDAY Yan! We have continued learning about families, where we live, the seasons, and we started talking about Halloween! We also had two special guests come in and talk to us about Divali! Thank you Priyanka and Nidhi—we loved the story, putting sparkles on our Diyas, and decorated Diya cards with rangoli rice!

This week we also…

*reviewed the sounds, letter formation, and hand motions for the letters Ss, Aa, Tt, Ii and Nn.

*Read “Round and Round the Seasons Go” and talked about Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall.

*Made a painting/craft of the four seasons.

*Listened to some really funny stories in our listening center—there was a lot of loud laughing from there during centers! J

*started talking about Halloween and learned the “5 Little Pumpkins” song

*painted Halloween pictures

*visited the Pumpkin Patch

*read fun pumpkin and Halloween books.

*we spent some time in the block room building some amazing structures!

REMINDERS/IMPORTANT DATES

Thursday/Friday October 16^th/17^th :  Parent-Teacher Conferences: Students DO NOT have school these two days.

Saturday October 18^th to Sunday October 26^th: NO SCHOOL—Fall Break

Friday, October 31^st:  Halloween Party in our Classroom—(12:15-1:10)

*We wear our costumes to school (comfortable enough to wear all day J)

*We will eat lunch early (11:45) while parents set up our room and group room

*Parade around the ECC begins at 12:15

*Party starts at 12:30 (right after parade).  All parents are WELCOME to attend!! 

Thank you!!!  I look forward to talking with you about your cutie over the next two days, and I wish you and your family a safe, relaxing and happy Fall break!

  Lynsey and Aidah

Friday Update October 6 to 10

It was another amazing week of learning in the yellow starfish Pre K class!!!!!!  There are not a lot of pictures this week—sorry about that—my camera died (a black screen where there should be pictures!) so I tried to take some on my phone….

This week we…

*learned the sounds (long and short), letter formation, and hand motion for the letter Ii.

*added ink drops to our “feely letter” Ii

*brainstormed and wrote Ii words in our alphabet journals

*played with ice (in the shape of cubes, spheres and cylinders) in the sensory table.

*practiced writing and decorated our initials.  Can your child tell you his/her initials? How about the initials of a friend in class?

*learned the ways children in our class say hello in different languages.

*played with spheres, cones, cubes, pyramids, cylinders, and rectangular prisms in the sensory table.

*read Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni, and measure things with a ruler

*sang the Itsy Bitsy Spider

*started talking about Fall, Halloween and pumpkins, and learned a 5 Little Pumpkins song

*Used one dollar Singapore coins to buy ICE CREAM from our friendly neighborhood ice-cream man!  We used our manners so kindly when asking for our ice-cream!

Pumpkin Patch: J  Every year, the PTA sets up a section of the kindergarten group room in Halloween/harvest decor and invites us to the "Pumpkin Patch". Our class will visit the pumpkin patch on Monday, Oct. 13 from 9:00-9:25.  I just wanted to let you know, so you had an idea if your child was talking about this! J

REMINDERS/IMPORTANT DATES

Thursday/Friday October 16^th/17^th :  Parent-Teacher Conferences: Students DO NOT have school these two days.

Saturday October 18^th to Sunday October 26^th: NO SCHOOL—Fall Break

Friday, October 31^st:  Halloween Party in our Classroom—details to come!

*Return blue Friday Folder bag and red library bag and book on Monday

*Divali/Deepavali is coming up soon.  If you and your family celebrate this holiday, please consider coming in to talk about it with our cuties J

A Message from Ms. Jo:  Elementary Parent Coffee (Preschool - Grade 5)

The elementary administration will be holding their monthly coffee this coming Monday, October 13th, from 8:30 - 9:30 a.m. in the 5th grade grouproom.  This month they will be explaining the work to date that has gone on with the elementary research and development team.   They will be soliciting input from parents on some of the different educational themes that have surfaced.

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