Play and Learning in Pre-K

Hi Everyone,

Important reminder: Book Grams are for sale! If you did not purchase one at the Fall Festival, please stop by the middle room at drop-off next week and pick out a book for your child. The cost is $5. The children whose families purchase books will receive them via special delivery in our classroom in November.  

We started a new Reading Street Unit called Going Places. Our book this week was The Seals on the Bus by Lenny Hort. "Two children and their parents board a city bus on their way to a party. At the next stop, who should get on but a group of seals  who holler "errp, errp, errp" at the top of their lungs. Each time the bus stops a new kind of animal joins the passengers". The children loved it! Make sure to ask them about the animals that boarded the bus and what ends up happening that causes the people to say "help, help, help". Our Reading Street song was Monkeys on the Bus. Vocabulary words we talked about were bus, monkeys, party, seals, town and vipers. 

We also read The Berenstain Bears Come Clean For School and The Berenstain Bears And The Truth. We listened to Tippy-Tippy-Tippy, Splash in which the bunnies & Mr. McGreely that we were introduced to in Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! were back.

Our Letter Sound Song this week was Tam Put on a Tank. The children are LOVING our songs. 

Other activities included: 

Math: Animal pattern puzzles

Writing Table: Cutting practice, T Worksheets and books

Project Table: Our Project Table is very busy every week. We started the week making scarecrows which will be on display on our bulletin board in the hallway. 

Then we made Name Trains. The children counted out how many letters are in their name, then wrote each letter on a square and created a train. After one friend made their train into a "space train" there was much talk about planets and more space trains were created. 

Art Easel: The children dipped cookie cutters into paint and then pressed them onto black paper. They could also use writing utensils to decorate their creations. 

Discovery Table: We continue talking about senses and this week we played a sense of sound shaker game. This involved matching pairs of shakers based on the identical sound they make when shaken. 

Pretend Center: The construction site is still busy EVERY day. It is so nice to see the enjoyment the children are having here. 

Listening Center: How Big Could Your Pumpkin Grow? by Wendell Minor. 

On Thursday, we had a visit from another Community Helper. This week it was Soldier Sean who is in the United States Army. He spoke to the children about his job, the importance of listening and respect. He also spoke of all the ways the children can play without pretending they are using a weapon. 

On Friday, we were very lucky to have a visit with Mrs. T. For those of you unfamiliar with Mrs. T, she has been a monthly visitor to Jack and Jill for years. She provides wonderful stories and songs and is always a hit with the children! We had a lot of fun singing and dancing along with her. 

Looking ahead, our Letter of the Week will be I. Show & Tell will be on Thursday. 

I hope you have a nice weekend!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Kelley