Friday Update November 18

Another fabulous week of learning. We celebrated another new 5 year old! HAPPY BIRTHDAY FLORENCE!!!  We also celebrated Ms. Aidah’s birthday today—she says she is 4, or 17…the kiddos are not sure what to do with that information! We also had a very special visitor—Sadie, Olivia’s cat!!  What an amazing time (and the calmest cat I have ever seen!!) We learned so much!

This week some of our learning included…

*continuing to delve into the student’s interest and passion of animals, particularly cats and dogs (kittens, kitties, cats, doggies, dogs, puppies!)

*interviewing Ms. Jo about her cats –she brought pictures to show us and we had a lot of questions!

*drawing and writing about some of the things we now know about cats and dogs.

*really looking closely at pictures and videos of real dogs and cats and drawing and labeling.

*beginning a very interesting conversation about housing for cats and dogs..we will continue with that one next week.

*talking about what “being thankful” means, and brainstorming some ideas about what we are thankful for (we have so much!)

*checking on our pumpkin plants. We have been watering them and talking to them—they are growing rapidly! And the weeds are amazing!  They will come home next week for the students to continue to observe.

*exploring shapes and pattern blocks. Several of the students made some very cool designs, and were talking using all of the names of the shapes.

*a visit from Ms. Sarah—she talked to us about FEELINGS-I have included her write up on our lesson at the bottom of this.

*practicing our letters and numbers, and really looking at how to make our names neat when we write

*patterning, counting, one-to-one correspondence, measurement activities

*..and much, much more! 

REMINDERS / UPCOMING DATES

*Wed, November 23^rd: Thanksgiving Celebration-12:15-1:15.  We look forward to seeing many of you next Wednesday in our courtyard-please let me know if you plan to just take your child home with you after our meal or if they are going on their normal bus.

*November 24^th and 25^th: NO SCHOOL-Thanksgiving Holiday

*Thursday, December 15^th: HOLIDAY PARTY and Sing A Long 8:00-9:15- Our wonderful room parents will be organizing the party part (similar to Halloween) and then we will end with a cuddly Sing-A-Long.

*December 17^th to January 8^th: NO SCHOOL-WINTER BREAK

*January 9^th: Late Start—10:00am start for school

From Ms. Farris-Our Pre K Counselor

Ms. Sarah and Carl the Counseling Cat had so much fun visiting each of the pre-kindergarten classes. We reviewed allergies and three ways to keep our friends safe (wash our hands for “foody fingers,” do not share food, and tell an adult if our friends aren’t feeling well). During our last lesson, we played “Just Like Me.” This lesson we tried a new game called “Catch My Beat.” Ms. Sarah said, “Here’s my rhythm, now catch my beat,” and then made a beat with her hands and/or feet.  The boys and girls then copied the beat.  We repeated this several times. This is a great way to practice listening, memory, being part of a group, and following a simple pattern. You can try this at home and have your child come up with their own beat! After the game, Ms. Sarah told the boys and girls that she noticed smiling with her eyes, and laughter with her ears. How were the boys and girls feeling if there was lots of smiling and laughter?  Happy! Ms. Sarah then showed the boys and girls a poster of 12 different feeling faces (angry, disgusted, scared, etc.) and the boys and girls practiced making each feeling face. Often boys and girls at this age often refer to their feelings in three ways: sad, bad, happy. Please model how you are feeling and name the feeling. It’s important for boys and girls to be aware of their feelings and, by helping your child name their feelings, you are using empathy and teaching them how to use their words and not bottle up their feelings. Ms. Sarah then read the book The Way I Feel by Janan Cain.  This is a fun book and a great way to talk about feelings with your child.  This book is available in our Elementary School library. Ms. Sarah will be back in the ELC in December to talk about problem-solving.

Week 14 November 14 to 18

Building

Building allows children to express their own creativity and ideas through construction. Students problem solve, invent and learn about balance, stability, symmetry. They also learn to negotiate and communicate with each other and with their materials. Through exploration in building with wooden blocks, magnatiles, legos, castle blocks and many other mediums, children have a chance to be a part of “shared episodes rich in sustained shared thinking and offer opportunities for joint wondering, problem solving and reciprocal learning.”  Woods, A (2013), Child-Initated Play and Learning

“We need to make the longest and biggest Star Wars ship, right guys? The magnatiles will make it really strong too! It has to have different areas for the different people.” –Marcus

“It has to be this long. Like these blocks.” (Working quietly for awhile.) “See guys? Marcus and I made the long train so we know how long the ship can be.”

-Lachlan

“This is an important structure. All the little structures have to go around the big one. The big one is the big defense. The little parts have to attach to the big one to distract the other ships. It is strong if it is big and put together correct.”  -Siddharth

“Should we add more to the top?” AJ asked. “Will that make it stronger too?”

“Strength comes from the bottom first. If the bottom isn’t strong, the top will just fall in and it doesn’t matter how awesome it is.”  -Samay

This group has worked hard on various ships over the past couple of weeks. Other students come in and out to add parts or involve themselves in the conversations. The students then decided to draw what they were building, and although some of the structures changed in the drawings, the thread of making strong, intricate structures continued.

“When we build rocket ships, they are really really awesome. We have to work so hard, right guys? You can’t always just build one by yourself! Sometimes you need to help each other!”  -Lachlan

“The Star Wars Building of magnatiles is really important. It is the middle of all of the activities that are going on. See? You have to use all of the pieces together, otherwise it is just nothing.”  -Siddharth

“Big Star Wars! All people get to go inside their own rooms. Darth Vader, Luke, Storm Troopers, Iron Man, the pilots, guards, more Storm Troopers…the place needs to be big enough to fit them. The construction of a place is really really important, you know.”  -Marcus

Friday Update November 11

There are just some weeks that I am completely inspired, invigorated and in awe a little more than usual at our amazing and capable learners…this was one of those weeks! The communication, elaborative play and focus on learning…I wish I could have had the entire week on a live feed. J I will try to give you a bit of a taste through detailing our learning and through the pictures, and following blog posts.

This week some of our learning included…

*really delving into the student’s interest and passion of animals, particularly cats and dogs (kittens, kitties, cats, doggies, dogs, puppies!)

*brainstorming what we already knew about these animals

*reading fiction and non-fiction literature on cats and dogs

*just scratching the surface in brainstorming what we are learning about them

*taking a little walk to visit one of the campus cats! He was pretty happy to be part of a photo shoot and posed for us for quite awhile before walking off.

*figuring out who we could talk to to get more information-we talked with Ms. Farris and will interview Ms. Jo on Monday.

*using a variety of different materials to make animals (some students chose to draw, some to sculpt, some to build)

*starting to make houses and “pet places” for the animals

*pretending to be puppies and kitties being taken for walks on “leashes” through dramatic play

*playing buggy Bingo and practicing our numbers

*having a visit from Ms. Sarah, our counselor (I have added what she wrote to the bottom of this.)

*taking care of our pumpkin plants—they are starting to sprout!

*making a HUGE house out of a big box sand crate that AJ’s dad donated to our courtyard!

*reading “How Big is A Foot?” after using various manipulatives to measure things in the classroom. A great discussion ensued about different measurements.

*..and much, much more!

REMINDERS / UPCOMING DATES

*November 23^rd: Thanksgiving Celebration- 12:15-1:15.  We invite all parents, siblings, relatives that may be here in Singapore to a celebration in our back courtyard. We have been talking about appreciating how we are the same and different, and how we may celebrate similar or different holidays and participate in various amazing celebrations. Let’s do this together! Please bring a dish (main, snack or dessert) from a country that is special to you (passport country, a place you have lived or called home…) so we can celebrate each other, and our amazing classroom community. We will eat together and have a great time. Students are invited to wear clothes/dress from a country that is special to them.  Manaswi has offered to organize the details so please look out for her e-mail. We look forward to seeing you here!

*November 24^th and 25^th: NO SCHOOL-Thanksgiving Holiday

*Thursday, December 15^th: HOLIDAY PARTY and Sing A Long- Details to come but will be somewhere in the time frame of 8:00-9:30am.

*December 17^th to January 8^th: NO SCHOOL-WINTER BREAK

*January 9^th: Late Start—10:00am start for school

From Ms. Farris-Our Pre K Counselor

Hello from Ms. Farris and Carl the Counseling Cat! We have been in your child’s classroom talking about food allergies.  We started off the lesson playing the game “Just Like Me!” I named different foods, and then students stood up if they liked the food.  For example, I said, “I like noodles.” If the students liked noodles, then they stood up and said, “Just like me!” Some of the foods I mentioned were sushi, peanut butter, pizza, Nutella, noodles, and ice cream.  We had a lot of fun playing this game, but we noticed that not everyone stood up for every type of food.  We talked about why some people can’t eat certain foods. Some of the students had heard of the word “allergy,” and even knew someone with an allergy; however, most students had not heard of the word. The 8 most common allergens (90% of all reactions in children) are: milk, eggs, peanuts, soy, wheat, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish. We concentrated our conversation on nuts, and I showed them pictures of different types of nuts as well as pictures of common foods that contain nuts. We talked about the 3 things students should do to keep themselves and their classmates safe: wash your hands and "foody fingers" often ( for example: before snack/lunch), do not share food, and tell an adult if you think your friend is having an allergic reaction (swollen eyes and lips, rash, coughing, sneezing, difficulty breathing). We then read the book “A Special Day at School” by Anna Munoz-Furlong. Please let me know if you’d like to borrow this book to read with your child at home.  Parents, if your child has a food allergy, please communicate with the school by meeting with your child’s teacher and our school nurse.  Please turn in any medical forms and medications (check the expiration date), and help your child build age-appropriate skills to manage food allergies.  If you have any questions, please reach out to your child’s teacher, our school nurse, and your child’s fabulous counselor. Week 13 November 7 to 11