So Long September in 4 Day Pre-K!

Hello Families

I can't believe it is the end of September already! The kids are doing a good job getting used to the routine. I spoke with Mrs. Lay about finding a way for me to share more pictures so this is something we are looking into. As soon as we come up with something that works I will let you all know. I take a lot of pictures daily of the children during different activities and I just want to share them with you all.

Our letter of the week was F and it was our first show and tell. The kids all did awesome showing off what they brought in starting with the letter "F". We had a few fire trucks, frogs, foxes, flamingos, footballs, flashlights and even some family pictures! We will have Show & Tell again on Tuesday for our new letter of the week (E). If we aren't able to get through all of them on Tuesday we will do the rest on Wednesday. I took pictures of all the kids with their show & tell. I printed them out and they will be hanging up in the hallway by next week.

Our book this week was called "Night Shift Daddy" and it was about a little girl whose dad worked the night shift as a janitor. It explained about his journey to work at night while she is sleeping and then her journey during the day while he sleeps. The kids really liked it and some of them could even relate to the story because they had family that worked the night shift. We also read another book "Jack Are You Listening" and continued to explain the expectations for the children while at school. Our songs this week included "Where Do You Start Your Letters" (at the top) and "Goodnight Daddy, Goodnight". We also continue to practice the Weather Song using sign language.

At the math table this week we counted apples, we sorted letters & numbers into apple baskets, we used cubes to measure different fall objects and we figured out how many friends like red, yellow & green apples (red was the winner!) This was our last week for sand table and the kids definitely took advantage of that! They all love digging in the sand with the construction trucks and shovels. Next week it will be something new! At the writing table the kids got a lot of practice with the letter "F". We also had these wooden shapes that they could use to make the letter F. They all did AMAZING writing the letter of the week. This was also the last week for teal play-doh! Next week we will have a new color play-doh (either red or orange) for the kids to explore. We will also have some leaf, apple and pumpkins cookie cutters out.

The art table was VERY messy this week as we did a lot of painting, glue-sticks, cutting and finger painting. They made some fall trees using ripped paper (which are hung up in the hallway) and finger painted some trees using yellow, red and orange. We also used mark dots for apples & the letter "F". We also made little books with 4 different words that start with "F". Everyone finished their self-portrait which is hanging up in the hallway on the big bulletin board as well. We will do this activity again at the end of the year to see their progress. Dramatic Play was still set up as a restaurant and baby dolls. Cars, magnet-tiles and people are always an option as well! This week I saw a lot of dinosaurs taking over a house and a farmer working in the field with his farm animals! Blocks are always a busy center because everyone loves to build. We saw some towers that were even as big as the kids!

Another lesson we started this week was "Seeds Of Stem" which is about problem solving. So basically when a problem in the classroom arises we stop and work together to solve it. We usually end up having a few different solutions that the kids come up with to solve the problem, we try them out and see which one works. It can be something as simple as how to fit things correctly into our backpacks or a marker missing a cap. This will be something that we will continue throughout the year.

This next part is REALLY important.. Starting on Monday, October 2nd per the family handbook, all students who arrive after morning meeting has started will need to wait on the benches with their family until morning meeting is over. It is very important that students are at school on time. Morning circle is how we start the day and connect as a class, when students arrive late it is disruptive to the other students and the morning meeting routine. We would like to clarify what this means, anyone who is not ready to enter the classroom when the door opens will need to wait this includes families that are still completing the arrival routine. If you are just arriving at school when the door opens you will need to wait. Please arrive to school with enough time to follow the arrival routine including having your child use the bathroom and be ready to enter the classroom when the door opens. We understand that at times there might be no way to avoid being late and in these cases a phone call to the school is needed.

Have a great weekend and we can't wait to see you all on Monday morning! As always if you have any questions or concerns please don't hesitate to speak with one of us.

-Mrs.Deighan & Mrs.Derbyshire