Me & My Family

The past two weeks we have been talking about ourselves and our families.  We have been learning about ways that we are all the same and all different.  We have made graphs comparing the number of boys vs. girls in our class, eye color and hair color.  We made a class book called "Our Hands" in which we mixed a paint color that matched each individual child's skin color and used that paint to make our hand print.  The hand prints were then assembled into a book that students can read anytime at school.

Other projects we've been working on:

We've been learning to sort!  This week students learned how to sort by color.  Next week will will try to sort by color, shape and size!

We've been learning about circles, so we made a circle painting by dipping the rim of a cup in paint to make a circle stamp!

We've continued learning about our names.  Students traced their names with glue and then sprinkled Kool-Aid over the glue for a yummy-smelling project!

Students have also been busy during free choice!  The block center is always popular and many students have enjoyed making zoos this week.

We have been learning about concepts of print, including how to hold a book, gently turn the pages, look at the pictures, and look for letters and words we might know on the page.  Every day we have 5-10 minutes of "whisper reading" time where students may read books by themselves or with a friend.

Miss Charlette has played several fun group games with us during the past two weeks.  All of the kids really enjoyed learning how to play "Red Light, Green Light".

This week we will be learning about apples!  We have a great week planned and I can't wait to start!  To celebrate our learning, on Friday we will be having an "Apple Harvest Celebration".  We are looking for several families to share some apple-themed snacks with us on Friday.  Ideas might be apple muffins, apple crisp, apple pie, etc.  We will be making applesauce in class, so please do not bring that.  If you are interested in helping, please sign-up in our classroom.  There is a sign-up sheet on the cubbies near the Sign-In book.  If baking isn't your thing, we are also in need of plates, cups and napkins for the day.  Thank you!

Please see our newsletter this week for a list of upcoming events!

Have a great week!

First Week Fun!

What a great first week in P4J!  We spent most of the week learning about one another, the classroom, and the rules at school.  All of the kids are doing a GREAT job following the rules, adapting to school life, and making new friends.

A large part of our day is spent at station activities.  Students rotate through three activities each day.  Right now it takes us two days to complete a full rotation, but as the school year progresses and attention spans increase, we will work up to completing a rotation every day. 

Last week, our stations were crayon-resist watercolors, putting stickers on the first letter of our name, puzzles, and rainbow tracing our names. 

At the watercolor station, students learned how to correctly use watercolors.  We talked about how to clean our paint brush each time we change colors.  Prior to the activity, I wrote each child's name in white crayon on their paper, so it was fun so see each name "magically" appear when painted over with watercolors!

Students worked on making their first letter with stickers.  Not only is this a great letter recognition activity, but peeling stickers helps strengthen the muscles in our fingers and hands (fine motor skills).

 Students also worked hard practicing how to write their names.  Each student traced over their name with each color of the rainbow.   In P4J, we learn how to write our names in uppercase letters first, and then as students become ready, move on to printing in upper and lowercase.

We opened up our puzzle center this week!  Puzzles are great for learning problem-solving skills, matching, and persistence.  Students learned how to take a puzzle from the shelf, ask for help putting it together if necessary, and how to put it back in the correct place.  Puzzles are always a choice during free play time and they are frequently a "must-do" during stations.

 Miss Charlette (pictured above) is completing her practicum experience with us this fall!  She spent last spring in my classroom as well and is going to be a FANTASTIC teacher someday!  She is in our classroom every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday morning.

Students also learned how to use the block center and art center this week.  During free play, students have the option to choose one of many different centers in our classroom to work and play independently.

 The art center is always a popular place to play and create!  Watch for many masterpieces to come home this year :)

We even like to do art outside!  One of the students made a robot using sidewalk chalk outside.

This week, we will be learning "All About Me!".  We will talk about ways that we are all alike and different. We are focusing on name recognition and spelling, writing our names, and learning each other's names.  Each week we will focus on a color and/or shape.  This week, we are learning about RED.  Don't forget to send a red item to school with your child on Wednesday for sharing time!

Upcoming Events:

Friday, September 13 - Scholastic Book Orders Due

Tuesday, September 17 - Picture Day

Thursday & Friday, October 17 & 18 - No School - Conferences

Welcome New P4J Families!

Welcome to P4J at Cargill!  I truly enjoyed meeting each of your children this evening and can't wait to get to know them better!  We have a fun year planned and I'm excited to get started :)

Enjoy the last few days of your summer!

Ponds

We spent this week learning about ponds!  Of course, the best part of the week was our trip to the Welty Environmental Center yesterday.  Here are the skills we focused on this week:

*Graphing data - We played a pond dice game where students rolled a pond-themed die and then graphed the picture they rolled.  We then discussed our data and used our graphs to tell us what picture we rolled the most, the least, etc.

*Matching written numbers to sets of items - Students counted a group (or set) of items, and matched the corresponding written number.

*Pond words beginning sounds - Students attempted to identify the beginning sound and letter of pond-themed words (dragonfly - /d/, lilypad - /l/, etc.).

*Pond words writing - Students first traced and then attemped to write pond-themed words on their own.  Our printing is getting much better!

*Tissue paper snails - Students glued tissue paper to construction paper to make a colorful shell for the snail!

*Jack and Jill Frogs - Students made two frog puppets using popsicle sticks to use during our new rhyme:
         "Two little frogs sitting on a hill,
          One named Jack, one named Jill.
          "Jump!" said Jack.  "Jump" said Jill,
          And they both jumped off down the hill.
Ask your child to show you the rhyme using the puppets :)

And finally, here are some pictures from our trip this week:

It was a little chilly, but we all survived :)  Students spent the morning doing a creek study, fishing little critters out of the creek with nets.  In the afternoon, we went on a scavenger hunt through the woods.  We saw a squirrel nest, a bee hive, deer bones, geese, and lots of different plants.  We had a great time!  Thank you to all of the parents that were brave enough to go with us - we couldn't have done it without you!

A few reminders to get us through the end of the year -
     *Our school carnival is this coming Tuesday, May 28.  Dinner from the Italian House will be available for a cost of $5.00 per person beginning at 5:30.  The carnival games will begin at 6:15.  A $5.00 bracelet will allow children to play all of the games as many times as they want.

     *Graduation will be on Tuesday evening, June 4 at 6:30 PM.  Students should be in our classroom by 6:00 to get ready for the ceremony.

     *The last day of P4J is Wednesday, June 5.  We will be spending the day at Huron Park.  Permission slips will be available next week.

I hope you have an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend!  See you Tuesday!

We have been so busy lately in P4J!  We have been busy learning about spring, plants and seeds, and bugs and butterflies!  We are finally appreciating the sunshine and warm weather and have spent a great deal of time outside.

We have a few upcoming events that I want to let you know about.  Kindergarten Orientations are being held next week.  You should have received notice from your child's elementary school regarding the day and time that you signed up for.  I always enjoy hearing about "big school" from children the next day :)

Spring conferences are coming up on Wednesday, May 15 and Thursday, May 16.  The sign-up sheets will be available tomorrow for you to sign up for a time that is convenient for you.  There are limited evening times available, so please only sign up for an evening time if you cannot attend during the day.  We will be working hard on our spring assessments over the next two weeks to get ready for conferences.

We also have a field trip coming up to the Welty Center in Beloit on Thursday, May 23.  We will be leaving Cargill at 8:30 AM and returning around 1:30 PM.  Students will need to pack a lunch and chaperones are welcome to attend but will need to drive themselves or carpool.  More information will be sent home soon!

Finally, a bit of sad news.....Miss Briann has accepted a position as a personal nanny for a family and will be leaving us.  Her last day is next Friday, May 10.  I hope you get a chance to tell her good-bye and let her know how appreciated she is.  I am not sure yet who our new assistant will be for the remainder of the school year, but when I know, I'll will let you know :)

Our practicum student, Miss Charlette, will also be finishing up her practicum on May 15.  She has done a fantastic job and the students just love her!  She has done some amazing things with the students and I know she's going to be a great teacher!

As we finish up the school year, please continue to remind students to follow our school rules and use their listening ears :)  As the weather gets nicer, it gets harder and harder for students to spend their days in the classroom, but we still have a lot of learning to do to get ready for kindergarten!  We will finish up the school year learning about dinosaurs and pond life.

Finally, here are just a few pictures from the last couple of weeks:

Fairy Tale Fun

We've spent lots of time in the last few weeks welcoming our practicum student, Miss Charlette, to our classroom.  She's been busy getting to know all of the students and learning our classroom routine.  Miss Charlette has been slowing leading more and more activities and is doing a great job!

 Miss Charlette led the students through a discussion of poisons and the children were able to sort pictures of foods and poisons into the appropriate bags. 

 Last week we did a simple experiment where we place three Skittles in a bowl of water and observed what happened.  The colors dissolved and the "S" on the Skittles floated to the top of the water!  The students then drew a picture of their observations and of course got to enjoy a few Skittles for their hard work :)

 We've really enjoyed our unit on Fairy Tales!  We spent a week reading about The Three Little Pigs.  We sequenced the events in the story, retold the story in our own words, and even got to act out the story!  This week we turned out attention to the story Jack and the Beanstalk.  Miss Katie happened to find some Magic Beans on her way to school on Tuesday, so we decided to plant them to see what would grow.

By Wednesday, there were little white stubs sticking up through the soil. 

By Friday, they'd grown in to real lollipops.  Talk about amazing :)

Of course, we also planted some real bean seeds.  We'll be keeping a close eye on these over the next few weeks.

 Since it was Fairy Tale week, we thought it would be fun to make our very own king and queen costumes.  Students made crowns, magic wands, and robes.  

We had to show everyone our costumes!

 We ended our week with a trip to the bowling alley!  I think we have some future bowlers amongst us :)  Thanks to all of the family members that came with us - extra hands are always a blessing!