October 27, 2011

Announcements for this week:

• Halloween Dress Up is Tuesday November 1st!  Your child may bring treats or items to pass out but this is not required. (there are 15 children in the class, and 3 teachers)
• **Show and Tell will be on THURSDAY instead of Tuesday due to Halloween Dress Up day!

Activities this week:

• Stars of the week were: Andrew and Norah!
• This week our puppet Mortimer introduced the letter C - he had a big carrot in his mouth!  Ask your child to tell you words that start with the letter C!
• We looked at position cards: in/out, over/under, between, open/closed, behind/in front of, up/down, and on/off. 
• We've got mail: This week we found a science experiment about rain and clouds and we tried it!  We had a bowl of water, and some dry cotton balls - we showed the students how the cotton balls (i.e. clouds) absorb the water like a cloud, and if you squeeze them out comes the rain!  We made a prediction about how many cotton balls it would take to absorb all the water - then we counted aloud to see the actual number of clouds needed to absorb all the water!  We made rain by squeezing the water out of the clouds back into the bowl.  We experimented with a variety of objects to see what other things absorb water?  Ask your child about what items absorbed water!
• Art projects this week:  Owl and acorn man!
• Show and tell: Carol brought a real sugar beet from a relative's farm!  We talked about how we can make sugar from a beet!
• Dora's clues: small, medium and large circles...... we found that Dora had a ball in her backpack!
• The students were excused for snack by: 1) The teachers rolled the ball to each child and they rolled it back to be excused for snack; 2) The children positioned a leaf on the squirrel
• Books:  16 Runaway Pumpkins, and Biggest Leaf Pile: Each leaf color thought they should be on the top of the biggest leaf pile, but the bear came along and jumped on top and so the leaves didn't have the biggest pile anymore!  They figured out that was OK because then they didn't have to argue about who should be on top!
• Music: (sung to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know it"):  Put your hands on your hips, on your hips. (clap, clap) Put your hands on your hips, on your hips. (clap, clap)  Take your hands off your hips, put your finger to your lips.  Put your finger to your lips, to your lips - Shhhhh!.  We also sang an action song: "Ha Ha This Away".

October 13, 2011

Announcements:

• There is NO SCHOOL ALL NEXT WEEK:  OCTOBER 18, 20 & 21 for MEA break.
• Thank you for helping with our pizza fundraiser - we raised $960.00 for our school - thanks so much!

School Activities this week:

• Projects: We worked on describing our feelings in our "booklet of experiences"; and the children told a story "On Halloween I'd like to......."
• Stars of the Week:  Laine and Molly!
• We've got mail:  This week we found a pumpkin and a bowl of "Mr. Potato" pieces and hats!  We made lots of fun faces on the pumpkin!!  Ask your child to describe this project to you - we had fun being creative!
• Mortimer the Moose (our puppet) introduced the Letter B - He told a story about how he had a Big Balloon tangled in his antlers!  The children learned about the words that start with the "B" sound!
• Books this week:  1) Growing Pumpkins: The farmer plants pumpkin seeds in a field and they sprout and grow into very large vines!  A yellow flower grows and turns into a tiny pumpkin.  The pumpkin grows bigger, bigger and turns orange, then a family comes to pick some for Jack-O Lanterns!!          2)Pumpkin Patch Puppy: Emily told Clifford they get to go to the pumpkin patch!  Clifford didn't know what a pumpkin patch was - he imagined lots of silly things: playground, beach, laundry room.  When they got to the pumpkin patch Clifford fell asleep in a large carved pumpkin!
• We talked about growing pumpkins in a garden, what else grows in a garden?
• Excused for snack exercises: 1) Place a pumpkin above, below, on, and beside another large pumpkin! 2) We had a pumpkin on the floor and each child got to walk around OR jump over, or walk backwards, etc. around the pumpkin!
• Music: "The Pumpkin Song" (sung to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell"): "The seed is in the ground; The seed is in the ground; Hi-ho the pumpkin patch!; The seed is in the ground."  Continue with these lines: "the seed grows a sprout", "the sprout grows a vine", "the vine grows a bloom", "the bloom grows a pumpkin", " we made a pumpkin pie!"
• Look at the Friday PreK section and photos section for more updates on our activities!!

October 6, 2011

Announcements this week:

• Pizza pickup will be October 13th at the school, from 5:45 to 6:15 PM.  Please make arrangements for someone else to pick them up for you if this doesn't work, as we don't have freezer storage for orders that are not picked up!  Thanks so much!
• The carnival date has been set at Feb 10, 2012 - this will be held at the New Prague Middle School - it is a fun family event - more details will follow!!!

School Activities this week:

• The stars this week were: Brandon and Catie!
• We started working on the letters of the alphabet - Mortimer the Moose introduced the Letter A - he had an apple in his mouth - apple starts with the letter A!!
• Dora's clues were: firetruck. ladder, water bucket...... Dora loves hearing about the fire station!
• We've got mail: There was a blue cob of corn and some blue corn chips (we learned that the blue chips came from the blue corn), and there was a white cob of corn and white corn chips (and we learned the white chips came from the light colored corn)!  We had a taste test to see which type of corn chips we liked the best - blue or white?  Ask your child which they liked - the blue or the white?
• We had a visit from the New Prague Firefighters!  They brought us each a book about fire safety.  We got to see and feel a real firefighters uniform.  Do firefighters wear alot of heavy equipment at a fire?
• We learned to STOP, DROP, and ROLL if our clothes catch on fire, and we also learned if there is smoke in a room you should crawl on your hands a knees so you can breathe and see more easily.
• We had a fire drill - the teachers blow a whistle and when the children hear the whistle they know they have to get outside!  We don't stop for our coats or our school bags, we just get outside and to to the meeting spot outside and wait for the teachers to come.
• Please take some time to discuss important safety measures that apply at home!  Knowledge of fire safety procedures could save your child's life!
• Books this week: "Firetruck", and "I Want to Be a Firefighter"
• Projects: Bouncy cutting art project - we worked on our fine motor skills with this project - ask your child to show you how it works!  We also made our firefighter hats which the children enjoyed wearing!
• This week we dismissed for snack by: 1) Separating small, medium, and large firetrucks, and 2) matching the fire equipment
• Music:  We sang:" Hurry Hurry Drive the Firetruck" - ask your child to sing it for you!  We had some fun actions too!  The words were: Hurry, hurry, drive the firetruck; hurry, hurry drive the firetruck; Hurry, hurry, drive the firetruck; ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!  Repeat this with: "turn the corner", "find the fire", "climb the ladder", and "squirt the water"!
• More photos are updated in the photos section!  Don't forget to look at the Friday pre-K class page! Have a great week!

Pizza sale prize winner!

Congratulations to Braxton's family, they sold 42 pizzas and won the gift card prize!  Way to go!!!