Pre-K Families,
We had an amazing week last week trying more citrus fruits and making ice cream. We played with our new overhead projector and experimented with different materials on the projector. Thank you so much for your donation. This week we will talk about animals that hibernate as we continue our exploration of winter. We will also start a new unit of study of music. In the month of February, we will have a packed agenda. We will begin our “Acts Of Kindness,” continue Animals in the Winter, and begin our Black History Celebration. We will explore the contributions of African American musicians and artists. During this month we will read books about Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Alma Thomas, Amy Sherald, and more! We will make bird feeders (in which the squirrels will also enjoy…sometimes more than the birds). We will need a few donations: we will need cuties (or any cheap orange/citrus fruit), whipped cream cheese, mini bagels, and 1 bag/container of bird seed (a little goes a long way). If you are willing to donate any of these items, please let us know, we will really appreciate it. Items Needed for Bird Feeders: Mini bagels WHIPPED cream cheese 1 bag of birdseed (a little goes a long way) Valentine's Celebration-Wednesday, February 14th We will help the children make Valentine Bags for receiving cards and will decorate cookies. If your child would like to share a Valentine with their classmates, that would be great, we have 19 students in our room! If you want to bring a small store-bought pre- packaged treat, please make sure that it is a nut free treat. If your child would like to give out cards, please simply have your child sign (grownups are encouraged to help if signing 19 cards is too overwhelming for your child) their name on the cards. Please DO NOT send individual personalized Valentines…we only want your child’s signature. We will assist the children in passing the valentines out to their classmates. Each child will bring home a securely closed bag of valentines to enjoy at home. We will have a small celebration during class time but treats and valentines from classmates will be sent home. Reminders:
Have a great week!
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Families,
I hope you had a wonderful weekend and were able to enjoy your family and friends, as well as rest. Speaking of rest- this a reminder that your preschooler needs 10-12 hours of sleep. It is easier for a child to handle struggles, changes in routine and regulate their feelings and emotions when they are rested. We encourage all of the kids to rest their bodies at rest time and generally they do a great job. We were so happy to see the sun today and enjoyed our outdoor playtime so much. This week we will talk about what animals do in winter. We read "The Mitten" by Jan Brett and are having a fun time acting out the story. We are also reinforcing letter recognition through letter BINGO and developing the children's understanding that letters make certain sounds using our daily question. Today the question was "does your name begin with the same sound as jam?" WE had a fun time brainstorming other /j /words and even came up with a few that began with the letter g and sounded like /j/. We will continue our water study this week by exploring the three forms that water takes: liquid, solid and gas. We read a cute book called "Ploof" all about a little cloud that changes shapes. The children practiced categorizing other items into the three groups LIQUID, SOLID and GAS. This is an easy activity to incorporate into everday activies at home. On Friday we will make ice cream in a bag with our 7th grade buddies. Please donate the following items if you can. Please reply all to the group email so we know what items are being provided. Please bring the items by Thursday of this week.
Have a great week! We had a short but busy week in Room 411. We made a delicious lemonade and spent time playing on the bikes and reading a great book called Lemonade in Winter.
This week we will continue to explore water. We will explore the three stages of water and look closely at how water changes to ice and evaporates. We will use the citrus fruit lime, ice and sweetened condensed milk to make a special sweet drink called Brazilian Lemonade. Made with fresh limes, water and condensed milk, it's both tart and sweet. Brazilian lemonade originated in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil. The drink is believed to have been invented by a street vendor who sold a concoction made from limes, sugar, and water. This week we will retell the Mitten and the Hat, both stories are by author and illustrator Jan Brett. We will also make a number 4 museum, sort upper and lower case letters and sort objects by beginning sounds. We will read several books about the Lunar New Year. Happy year of the dragon! I am thrilled to announce that we got funding for the DonorsChoose project "For the Love of Light." Thanks to all the families that donated! Outside Time: Please remember that we will most likely go outdoors if the weather is appropriate. Please remember to send appropriate winter gear, so that the children can warmly explore outdoors during the long winter months. If anyone has any gently used winter gear (hats, mittens, snow pants, and boots) and they would like to donate them we would really appreciate it. Mittens are awesome for preschoolers! They keep their hands warm and are easier for young children to put on. If mittens are an option for you please send your child in with them. Reminders:
Hello Pre-K Families,
I hope you are having an enjoyable 3 day weekend and were able to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in a special way! This week we look forward to learning about winter and water. We will be looking closely at different books all about winter and writing down what we wonder and what we learn. This week we will be looking more closely at some of Jan Brett's books and discover some of the patterns and similarities she has in all her books. We will retell The Mitten, discuss the beginning, middle and end as well as discuss the problem and solution. Our Pre-K mathematicians will work with a new concept- estimation. We will work on making reasonable guesses about how many counting bears will fit in a mitten. After guessing- we will check our estimations by getting a read count. Students will also work on identifying numerals to 10 by making a hold punch flip book. We will use water to make lemonade this week using water. We will also try some other citrus fruits and talk about where they come from and how we get them in the winter months. We will read "An Orange in January" and "Lemonade in Winter". If you are able to send in a citrus fruit with your child this week for tasting-we would really appreciate it! Reminders:
Have a great week! Dear Families,
Last week we began reading the modern-unique versions of the Gingerbread Man/Girl/Kid! The children have thoroughly been enjoying the stories. The students made predictions about which cookie would crumble the fastest. Crumble was one of the new vocabulary words the children learned during the study. We have also learned the words aroma, sly, cunning, crafty and sly. This week children come up with ways they would get away or catch the fox, create boats to help the Gingerbread Man cross the river and draw our own cookie designs we will recreate on Thursday's Celebration! As a culminating Gingerbread Celebration, we will have a day full of fun Gingerbread activities. We will decorate Gingerbread cookies, play Gingerbread games, and have a dance Party. We are asking parents to donate items for our gingerbread decorating. Please sign up at drop off for any items you are willing to donate. Also, I am looking for 2-3 parents to volunteer from 10-11am to help out. Let me know if you are able.
On Wednesday our class will perform a little song in the winter assembly at 9:30am. Please have your child wear green and/or red or something festive on this day and feel free to join the audience to watch in the auditorium. Please don’t forget about our Spirit Day Activities! Spirit Week Monday, 12/18 - Beautiful or Ugly Sweater Day Tuesday, 12/19 – Books on Video Fun Day Wednesday, 12/20 - Red & Green Day Thursday, 12/21 - Holiday Pajamas & Gingerbread Celebration Friday, 12/22 - No Students Have a great week! Dear 411 Families, We had an excellent week last week. We began our Gingerbread unit of study and the children are having such a good time trying to predict what will happen in each version. We have been using a graphic organizer called a story map to keep track of the characters, setting and events in each story. We have read several traditional versions, as well as The Gingerbread Cowboy, The Gingerbread Girl and The GingerBread Man Loose at School. The children also worked on number recognition during small groups with play-doh number mats and by building number towers. Michelle played a game with the children called hidden numbers, which works on finding missing addends and complements of 5 and 10. This week we will read more Gingerbread stories and start writing our own versions. We will also use gingerbread cutouts to measure how tall we are. The children will be bringing home a gingerbread template and directions for gingerbread homework. Please send these in as your child finishes. Lastly- we are in need of many supplies. Please donate the following items as soon as possible (especially if you have not provided school supplies at the start of the school year):
Thanks to all of the families that donated to our Donors Choose project. It was funded. I can't wait to get the cameras into the children's hands. Have a great week! Families,
Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday break. We had a great week last week ending with a pajama party and making pattern fruit kabobs. This week we will begin our month long Gingerbread Man story theme. We will learn about story elements, as well as practice comparing and contrasting stories. If you have versions of the Gingerbread Man at home feel free to send them in to school to share. Some reminders for the week:
See everyone tomorrow. Heather Hello Families:
We want to thank all the parents who volunteered for our very 1st field trip! We appreciate all the assistance! The children enjoyed the play! We are busy at work making our own version of the book "May There Always Be Sunshine" by Jim Gill. We will finish our individual pages this week. We will also play a game called "Hidden Numbers". The children will used 5 and 10 frames to determine how many objects are hidden by counting the empty frames. The children will play ABC BINGO in Ms. Michelle's small group. This week will conclude our Autumn study by completing a Fall Mind Map and Setting the Turkey’s Free creations. Immediately after Thanksgiving Break, we will begin our month-long fun-filled Gingerbread Story Exploration. Please remember to enter through door 13 and exit through the classroom door and then back out the glass doors. It is helpful for your child to move into the classroom and take off their outdoor wear at the large rug. Please practice with your child so that they can become more independent. The children are encouraged to take care of their belongings throughout the day, so the more you can encourage it at home and at drop off is best. Once the winter weather sets in- we will have children remove their boots at the door and take care of everything else at the large rug- otherwise we have too much congestion at the doorway. Also- please remember that children should not bring a backpack unless absolutely necessary. If you would like to use a tote bag or something less bulky that is fine. The cubbies get quite full with all the winter gear. Have you checked your child's extra clothes stash? Please make sure your child has well fitting warm clothes for the winter season. Upcoming Events: Picture Re-Take- Tuesday, November 14th ** let me know if you would like your child to have a retake Wednesday, November 15th- Wear Green for Spirit Day Friday, November 17th- Pajama Day November 20th-24th- No School Thanksgiving Break Have a great week, Heather Hello Families:
We want to thank all the parents who volunteered for our Fall Festival! We appreciate all the assistance! The children participating in the special activities! Our week was filled with celebrations and fall-inspired activities. We made trail mix, painted pumpkins, decorated a class pumpkin and the Prek and kindergarten teachers performed a reenactment of the Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything. We rounded out our week with pumpkin investigations and retelling of the Little Old Lady story. This coming week will be short and busy week. We will start working on our class book about things we are thankful for called "May There Always Be..." and learn about simple repeating patterns. We will go to the Chicago Children’s Theatre on Thursday, November 9th. If you want to attend this trip with us- you need to let mw know by email or in person and make sure you have completed the CPS volunteer process which involves a background check and TB test. We do not have school on Friday, November 10th, in observance of Veteran’s Day. Applications for Kindergarten are due Thursday, November 9th. Please go to https://www.cps.edu/gocps/elementary-school/ to complete the application. Please remember if you are not living within the Ray Elementary boundaries and you would like your child to apply to attend Ray for kindergarten you will need to apply via the website above. Please go to: https://schoolinfo.cps.edu/schoollocator/index.html if you are not sure if you live in the boundaries. If you have questions, please let me know. Upcoming Events: November 9th- Trip to Chicago Children’s Theatre November 9th- Kindergarten applications are due. November 10th-No School in Observance of Veteran’s Day November 20th-24th- No School Thanksgiving Break Have a great week, Heather We have had another very busy, short, but fun week! We had a visit from the dentist. Some children had their teeth screened and cleaned. The children learned about the life cycles of the pumpkin and the apple and we read another book about that cycle called Pumpkin Jack. The children enjoyed making fall-inspired artwork with paint using the beautiful squash and pumpkins donated by families. We also enjoyed choosing our pumpkin from the Ray “Pumpkin Patch”. Next week we will decorate our pumpkin to enter the pumpkin decoration competition. This year preschool’s theme will be “Monsters”. We have chosen to decorate our pumpkin as the Big Green Monster, inspired by Rachel Bright’s children’s book.
We want to thank everyone for attending the Parent and Teacher Conferences. We always enjoy talking about all the great happenings in preschool! Here are the 2 ABC sound songs we listen to regularly: https://youtu.be/EhnKbLXW0qo?si=P2SudpKTCyVlSXQY https://youtu.be/1dNI74FZ6Vc?si=2ICsiP8p5SuLfRLU We are excited about our Fall Festival! We want to thank everyone who has made donations! We appreciate it! We have 60 preschoolers who will be making trail mix bags! We are still accepting donations! Our First Field Trip! We will go on our very 1st preschool field trip on November 9th! We will go to Chicago’s Children's Theatre to see Beatrix Potter's Holiday Tea Party. This will be a morning trip; details will be forthcoming. We will be needing volunteers to assist us on this trip. Please let me know if you can join us! Please remember to fill out the volunteer application via this link: https://chicagopublicschools.civicore.com/index.php?action=english Help Needed With the weather nice and brisk we are asking parents to help us out and please send your child in mittens (instead of gloves…especially if they can’t get their fingers in the holes). In addition, we need help keeping gloves/mittens with the correct kid. We are asking parents to attach mittens/gloves to outerwear to help keep up with everyone’s mittens/gloves. Here are some links to some options that may work for you: https://www.elasticbytheyard.com/see-how-to-attach-gloves-to-a-kids-jacket/ https://a.co/d/gw8WsyO https://a.co/d/9FEsCN7 https://onelittleproject.com/how-to-make-quick-3-minute-no-sew-mitten-strings/ Zip-up jackets are also easy to assist with! Buttons with tight holes are tough for children and teachers to maneuver! Have a great week! |
Room 411
"Play is the work of children" -Vivian Paley |