Sunday, September 30, 2012

An Apple a Day...

We had such a great time learning about apples this week!  We spent time thinking of all the things we knew about apples and what kinds of things are made from apples.  We read apple books, sorted apples, and of course, ate apples!

On Monday and Tuesday, we painted with apple peels (these paintings should be up in the hallway later this week), learned how to use the Math Center, and practiced our cutting and gluing skills by cutting out trunks for apple trees.

Later in the week, we experienced apple play dough.

 It was pretty gooey (Miss Katie forgot the cream of tarter)!  


We also practiced sorting by color, shape, and size using apple cut-outs.
 
We made a "Counting Apples" book where students needed to draw the number of apples indicated on each page.  This was tricky for lots of us!


And of course, we ate apples!  We tried yellow, red, and green apples, and also used good descriptive language to tell others how each kind tasted.  Some were sweet, some were sour, crunch, soft, etc.
 




After tasting each kind of apple, we then graphed the results and counted how many students liked each kind of apple best.  Students also colored a page for a class book that showed their favorite kind of apple.



On Thursday and Friday, students used their critical thinking skills to play "What's Missing?"  Miss Briann showed children a group of 5-8 objects, then secretly removed one of the objects from the tray, and the students had to try to figure out which item was missing.  Most everyone did really well!
 

Students were also introduced to tracing this week.  We practiced going REALLY slow, taking our time, and tried really hard to stay on the line!  This is also our first taste of "independent" work time. 



The best part of the week might have been our "Apple Party" on Friday!  Students all helped to make applesauce to have at our party!


Chopping apples is hard work (and great exercise for our hands)!  We used butter knives to cut the apples and some students told us they were not allowed to use knives :) 
 

 We also tried apple pie (with a little bit of ice cream, of course!) and apple cider.  YUM!







Thank you to the families that brought apples for us to use this week! 

We also learned an important skill this week using our Second Step curriculum - focusing attention.  When we focus our attention, we block out all distractions and look at one thing (or person).  We've been practicing focusing attention during morning meeting, when listening to directions, and when friends are talking.  We will send home the practice sheets Monday with some activities for you to try at home.  

This week, we will start to learn about fall.  We will learn about the color orange, and squares.  We will have another show and tell day on Wednesday of this week - please bring a small ORANGE item to share with the class on WEDNESDAY. 

Upcoming Dates:
Friday, October 5: Scholastic Book Orders Due
Monday, October 15:  Picture Day
Tuesday, October 16:  Trip to Hinchley's Dairy Farm - more info coming this week!
Wednesday, October 24: Afternoon/Evening Conferences
Thursday, October 25: NO SCHOOL - Morning Conference times
Friday, October 26: NO SCHOOL
Tuesday, October 30: Cargill Halloween Bash


Sunday, September 23, 2012

Painting, Sorting, and Learning....Oh My!

We sure stayed busy this week in P4J!  We spent time talking about our families and sharing our family pictures with one another.  We discussed how every family is different and the same. 

We also began work in our Second Step curriculum.  Second Step is a program that build social and emotional skills that will stay with children throughout their lifetime.  This week, we worked on the skill of "welcoming" and practiced welcoming a new friend, Paul, to our classroom.  You should have received a packet of information about Second Step in your child's FROG book this week, along with some activities to try at home.  Watch for these weekly!
Hi, Paul!  We are so glad you joined our class!


Some of the small group activities we did this week:

Play-doh!  Working with play-doh builds the muscles in the hands and arms, leading to better fine motor skills and more legible writing.  Play-doh is always a choice during free choice and we use several different kinds of play-doh throughout the year (next week - apple play-doh!).  

Math Movement Game - students chose a card with a movement on it (touch toes, clap hands, rub tummy, etc.).  Students then rolled a die and did the movement the number of times indicated.  We are working on counting, one-to-one correspondence, and following directions!

Students were also introduced to our "wood pieces" this week.  Wood pieces are a part of the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum and are used to build letters throughout the year, but this week we just wanted to take some time to explore.  We used pieces of cloth to polish and shine our wood pieces, and later, some friends wanted to learn how to make letters and spell out their names!  Awesome!




The sensory table is always a popular activity!  This week, we had little plastic pellets and bears in the table.  Students were asked to use large plastic tweezers to remove the bears from the beads, place them in a bowl, and then count how many they found.  Another great fine motor activity!


 We also drew pictures of our families this week.  Students drew their families and Miss Briann helped students write a sentence about what they drew. 


We've been learning all about the color red, and students were able to make a red collage using different materials.  Glitter was especially popular :) 




 We ended the week working on a circle painting activity.  Students dipped the rim of a cup in to paint, and stamped the circles on the their paper.  We used the primary colors of red, blue, and yellow to experiment with color mixing as well. 


 Finally, we worked on our sorting skills by sorting objects by color. Students were given a pile of red, blue, and yellow objects and asked to glue them in the correct column.  Watch for this to come home early next week!
We've gotten off to a great start this year!  Right now, we are really working on following directions the first time, and using our words with our friends.  Please take time to reinforce these skills at home when you are able :)

Next week, we will learn all about apples! 

Monday, September 17, 2012

Playing the day away...



We spend a great deal of time each day in free play activities.  Some people might say we are "just playing", but we are actually learning! 


When children play with blocks, they learn to understand weight, size and number concepts.  Children also improve their social skills by working together!

When children play in dramatic play, they learn to express themselves and better understand the world around them.  Plus, we learn all sorts of new words, like "syringe" and "sphygmomanometer" and "jig saw".  

So, when your child comes home and you ask, "What did you do today at school?" and they answer "PLAY!", that's a pretty awesome thing! 


Wednesday, September 12, 2012

We are RED with excitement!

What a fun day we had in P4J!  All of the students were very excited to show their red items that they brought from home.  Students got sit in the rocking chair and  use the "magical microphone" to help them tell about their item. 








We also finished up a few projects that we started yesterday.  Each day we have small group time where the children are split into three groups, and each group works on a different activity.  Not every group gets to do every activity every day, but over the course of two days everyone does everything.  Today we worked on making Fruit Loop necklaces, which is a great activity for building and refining our fine motor skills.


Students also learned how to use tempera paints today.  After a few more "practice" sessions, children will be able to use the tempera paints independently during free choice time in the art center. 


We also continued our work with our names.  Recognizing, writing, and correctly naming the letters in our name is a HUGE 4-year-old skill!  Students tore small pieces of construction paper and glued it to their first letter of their name.  Tearing paper is a great fine motor activity!

Tomorrow we will start work on our age collages (don't forget to bring items tomorrow if you haven't already!).  We will also start on our classroom "Hands" book, and talk about differences in our appearnances. 

We've also been talking this week about "God's book" aka The Bible, and learning about the Creation story.  Ask your child who made them!



Saturday, September 8, 2012

What a busy first week!

What a great first week of P4J!  We spent a great deal of time learning our classroom routines and procedures.  The kiddos have caught on really quickly and we will be ready to dive in to our first theme, All About Me, next week.

This week children were introduced to a handful of our many developmental centers throughout the room.  We learned how to use the dramatic play area, block area, books and puzzles, table choices, and art center!  In a few weeks, we will have all of our centers open, but for now, we like to focus on the basics so that children are able to successfully learn how to use the materials as well as how to clean up.

                     Friends create beautiful works of art in our art center.
                Our big bricks are always popular in the block center.
                                Hard at work in dramatic play.
                                  Lots of friends did puzzles today!

We also have started the first of several name projects.  Recognizing and writing one's name a huge P4J skills :)
      Rainbow names - students traced the letters in their names with each of the colors of the rainbow. 
  First letter with stickers - students peeled stickers off of sheets and placed them on the first letter of their name.  This is a great fine motor activity!

Next week, we will be working on a few more name projects, as well as making TWO class books!  We will be focusing on the color RED and the shape CIRCLE.  On Wednesday, your child is welcome to bring in something RED to share with the class (no toys, please).

Also, please have your child bring a picture of their family with them to school sometime this week.  We will hang these in the classroom for the rest of the year, so please send a picture that you don't mind giving up :)  If you do not have a picture handy, you are welcome to email one to me and I will print it for you. 

Finally, we will be working on an "age collage" towards the end of the week.  Please send four or five (if your child is already five) SMALL items that he or she can use in their collage.  Items such as buttons, stickers, etc. are ideal.

Thank your for all your help and please don't hesitate to contact me via phone or email if you have any questions or concerns.