Learning Through Play in Pre-K!

Hello Families,

We had a great week in our classroom. The children have been having fun in the classroom and outside at recess. We have been noticing many changes outside now that it is fall. 

On Tuesday, Fireman Nick came to school to talk to us about his job and fire safely. He told us his day starts out like ours with an important Morning Meeting. He demonstrated how he puts on his gear when he gets a call at the fire station and explained that underneath it all it was still him. He also talked about the importance of fire safety at home and coming up with a plan for your family if there is ever an emergency. 

This week's Reading Street book was Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! by Candance Flemming. "Tippy, Tippy, Tippy, Pat! That's the sound three hungry bunnies make when the sun goes down and the moon comes up and Mr. McGreely's garden smells yum, yum, yummy. While he's dreaming of his mouth-watering carrots, the bunnies are diving over fences and swimming trenches to get the veggies first! Hammer, hammer, saw! That's the sound Mr. McGreely makes when the sun comes up and the moon goes down and he sees what those twitch-whiskers have done.... Nibbled leaves! Empty stalks! Mr. McGreely will build something bigger and better, sure to keep even pesky puff tails away. Children will cheer for the bunnies or Mr. McGreely--as they delight in Candace Flemming's clever sound effects and G. Brian Kara's vibrant funny illustrations." Make sure to ask your child what Mr. McGreely built to the bunnies out and how they still got in!

Our Reading Street song was I Want to Plant a Lovely Garden. Vocabulary words were plant, enormous, stem, stalk and vegetable. 

We also read Leaves Change Color, I'm (almost) Always Kind and listened to Sixteen Runaway Pumpkins. 

Our Letter of the Week was E. Our Letter Sound Song was Let's, Let's, Let's Pretend. 

There were many new things at Centers this week:  

Pretend Center: You many have heard, it is now a Construction Site! This is very popular. There are all different tools to use along with aprons, toolboxes, hard hats and safety googles. 

Sensory Table: Corn, beans, farm, animals, cups and spoons.

Discovery Table: Microscopes with slides. 

Play Doh:  Is now orange and there are leaf and pumpkin cookie cutters available. Along with jewel leaf and pumpkins to use.

Art Easel: White paper and watercolors 

Project Table: Fall wreaths-I hope you enjoyed the beautiful wreaths that were made. The children worked hard at gluing pom poms, tissue paper and leaves.

Farm pictures-peeling stickers, gluing craft sticks and hay

Runaway pumpkin pictures-Drawing and stamping pumpkins with sponge.

Writing Table:  E Worksheets, tracing a fire engine, thank you cards for Firefighter Nick. 

Math Table: Fall patterns. Counters were at this table, and we talked a lot about patterns and extending them. 

Extended day students-for the Letter of the Week we have been learning to write the Letter of the Week both in upper case and lower case. We also have been working on letter size, formation and last names! Our grasps are looking great! One of my favorite parts of the day is after rest when they say "we need to go do our work".  

Looking ahead, Show and Tell for Letter H will be on Thursday. 

Enjoy the long weekend and I will see you on Tuesday.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Kelley