Let's Talk Literacy in Pre-K!

 Hi Everyone,

November is Literacy Month at Jack and Jill! We are working as a class on active listening. This enables children to develop vocabulary, comprehension and language skills. These important communication skills are the building blocks of literacy and learning. As Literacy Month kicks off, please try to ask your child some questions about the stories you are reading together at home. 

Our Reading Street book this week was another book from our Transportation Unit. We talked a lot about the 3 ways to travel...by land, by air or by sea. Our story was The Big Trip by Valeri Gorbachev. "What could be more fun than a big trip? Pig can't wait to go, but Goat is worried. How will Pig get there? Bicycles are unsteady, horses can throw you off. Cars can break down and trains can get stuck in tunnels. A trip can be no vacation at all...but leave it to Pig to send Goat's worries packing and turn tricky travel into smooth sailing!"

We also talked about "big trips" that we had been on and what way we traveled to get there. 

Our Reading Street song was Let's Take A Big Trip. Our vocabulary words were land, plane, ship, hot-air balloon, trip and tunnel. 

We also read The Turkey Train by Steve Metzger. We started with a picture walk through this book. The children looked at the illustrations on each page and predicted the content before I read the book. They were so excited that their predictions were correct. This is a great activity to do at home too! 

We listened to Pirates Love Underpants by Clare Freedman. 

Our Letter of the Week was U. Our song was Glub, Glub, Guppies in a Tub. 

Other activities included: 

Project Table: U is for underwater....the children worked on coloring letter U with dot markers and then were able to draw or add sea creature stickers.

Transportation stamps were used, along with crayons and markers. It was fantastic to hear the children talking about travel and that their train was traveling by land, plane by air and boat by sea! Police helicopters, submarines, cars and trucks racing to finish lines were all created.  

On Friday, we made unicorn masks. We even made our own glitter glue which the children were excited to help with! 

Discovery Table:  Spider Web Challenge...the children used tweezers to remove spiders underneath a web. 

Math Table: Sorting transportation vehicles

Art Easel: Watercolors...we started the week painting umbrellas and ended with hot air balloons. There was also white paper available to paint your own creation. 

Writing Table: U worksheets and books. Cutting practice-the children have been working on their scissor skills and keeping their thumb up while cutting. 

Pretend Center: Still busy! The children were still enjoying hammering the golf tees into the pumpkin and stretching elastics. A crew was working on the sink in the workshop on Thursday. 

Play-doh: Leaf jewels, pipe cleaners, googly eyes available along with scissors, rollers and cookie cutters.

New puzzles were available at puzzles and games. 

Looking ahead, we will be taking a break from learning a new letter. The next one is a very important one and we have a shorter week ahead. There is no school on Tuesday, in observance of Veteran's Day. 

On Wednesday, we have our next Spirit Day. It is Book Character Day! Dress as your favorite character from any book. Costumes should be school-appropriate and comfortable for a regular school day. Don't forget to bring your book to show others where your character came from! 

For Show & Tell on Thursday, your child can bring 1 item that begins with any of the letters we have learned so far this year (L, F, E, H, T, I or U). 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Kelley