25 days and counting!

Well, April has been quite the ride thus far.  Unfortunately we have had a bunch of viruses rattling their way through the room.  PLEASE talk to your child again about germies and how to NOT share.  This is one time we don't allow sharing. LOL!

On a happier note, we finally had our adventure downtown to the Chicago Symphony Center.  The children saw Jack and the Beanstalk that was accompanied by a harp, bassoon, viola and flute.  There was a story teller and the children were able to sing and dance.  I highly recommend seeing one of their family productions.  They are quite fun!

We continue to work on community helpers and vehicles.  This unit will bring us right up to community night.  Please be sure to attend that evening, May 12.  That will be the parade of vehicles by the 4's and kindergarten.  PLUS the rest of the school will have their awesome community projects displayed as well.

In Reading we are finishing up our tale: TUG OF WAR.  Be sure to ask your child all about the silly turtle.  The children have really taken a liking to Jolly Phonics.  We are learning a sound and a tune a day.  I surely hope you are hearing some of these at home.  You should have received 1 set of sounds and this week you will receive the next 6.  I hope to make it through all 42, so we may have to double a couple of days.

Math we have returned to patterns.  We are adding on making more complex patterns as well as continuing to develop our addition skills.

IF YOU HAVE NOT SIGNED UP FOR SCIENTIST OF THE WEEK WITH YOUR CHILD, THERE ARE ONLY A FEW DATES LEFT! EMAIL ME!

Below are the biggie dates coming up.  Please be sure to mark them down.
May 5 Cinco De Mayo Lunch
May 6 May Crowning and 2 pm dismissal
May 12 Community Night
May 21 TALENT SHOW...yes, we are doing an act with all the prek 4 kids
NO SCHOOL May 22 and 25

JUNE 4 Prek Program in am.  TIME is TBD very soon.

Man... the next time I blog with pictures it will be MAY!!! I can't believe what an amazing time I have had.
Let's make those final 25 count!

TB

It's April? WHAT??? It's catch up time.

We have been such busy little "Whos"! Here are some bullet points on some amazing March moments.

• We learned all about St. Patrick and St. Joseph.  On St. Patrick's Day, we all backed some delish Irish Soda Bread and even made our own butter. 
  
   
  • We learned about Georges Seurat and Pointillism. They looked at his art near and far to see how his style of using "dots" actually created complete pictures.
    
    
    
    
    
    • LM was our scientist of the week.  He tested acids and bases in order to to see which combination created the best volcanic "erruption".
  
  
   
• We read Mouse Paint and learned about primary and secondary colors.  From that point we created color mixing bags.  They predicted what color they would get based on the color mixing chart on the board. 
  
  
  
   
  
  
  •  For 2 weeks, we talked about all kinds of weather and weather words. One week, they even experiences 3/4 seasons! LOL.  They even wrote these amazing weather books without assistance.  I have not sent them home yet as I am showing them off! Look for them soon.
    

    

    windy

    
    
    
    
    

    

    Wind with bubbles

    

    rain and water cycle

    
    

    

    the Sun's role in our weather

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    

  •  In Math we worked a lot with whole and part and sorting.  You can do this at home with a simple pair of dice or even just one die and a segmented plate.  Roll the die or dice and put one group in one part, the other die in the other part then put together in the whole section.  It's best to use legos, or rocks or some other small countable objects.
  
  
  

  

  Using simple links to create patterns and to sort.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  
  • We created new word and letter centers out of simple everyday things from my home! K-cups are now alphabet and number cups that students can put in order. Easter eggs have word families on them that they have to find and rhyme.  I also took 10 and put numbers on 1 half and dots on the other.  The students need to match! Get them while they are so cheap!
    
    
  
  
  
  

  

  Practicing word families

  
  

  
  

  • In Religion we specialized in Lent and Easter.  We did talk about all the events that led up to Jesus dying and rising again.  One day there was sadness in the classroom.  We talked about how it was ok to be sad because it was a sad event for Jesus and his family and friends.  We then focused on how it would become joyful and happy when Jesus rises.  Our next focus is really going to be on prayer.  They will be learning an echo version of the Our Father, so you may start to hear it!
  
  
  • We had 2 friends of the week since my last update! 

    

    MR

    
    

    

    JC

  • Just enjoying some new dress up fun stuff!
    
    
    
    
  
  So What's COMING UP?? (Some Math and Reading will vary among students)
  
  1. Two week study on music in preparation for our field trip to the CSP
  2. Two week study on Community and Community vehicles.  (Have you started the project with your child?)
  3. Some 1:1 assessments in sounds and rhyme
  4. Focus on drawing 2D shapes and more identification of 2D vs. 3D shapes
  5. writing number words
  6. Most exciting for me... I will be introducing Jolly Phonics.  This program teaches the 42 SOUNDS in the English language. Your child will learn 1 sound a day.  You will get a little packet at the end of every 6th sound so you know how to help them at home too.  Again, this will be accompanied cute little songs.  
   
 

Well, is that enough for awhile? PHEW! 

I will see you all soon!

TB