Hi JK parents and friends!

We are finishing up Apples and moving on to Farm/Farm Animals and Fall.

We have been reaching inside our mystery box to find items that begin with the letter "Cc".  It's one of the letters we sometimes have to put into "letter jail" since it sometimes makes the "Ss" sound!

Math & Science:
We played number bingo and practiced recognition and writing each number on our paper as it was called.  We are practicing round robin counting in our circle in the morning.  Beginning counting with your children at the number 11 is most helpful since all of the children know 1-10.  Start with 11 each time you count and they'll all begin learning those as well as the lower numbers.  Most important, is learning the one-to-one correspondence.  The sing song of memorizing the numbers is not as useful at this age as using manipulatives to match each number with an item as you move it and count.  Use Cheerios, beans, blocks, anything, to make it more interesting and help with their understanding of numbers and what "13" really means. 

We are talking about the changing of the season from Summer to Autumn and all that means to our outside world.  We are discussing signs of fall and how that fits into the entire life cycle of the apple tree.

We practiced human patterns again, having the children guess and complete patterns.

We learned how to milk a cow from our Dairy Farm video.  Two children led us around the farm and introduced us to Holstein Cows and many interesting facts about a dairy farm!  We simulated milking a cow with rubber gloves and "milk" (diluted paint).  Ask the children about cows and see if they can remember how to milk one!  Don't squirt any in your eye! 

Literacy:
We began our Handwriting Without Tears" sign in this week, where we work with each child one-on-one to  practice correct letter formation.  We are beginning with tracing each letter as we move away from all caps to just the first letter being capitalized.  If your child's name contains a Y or a G or any of the other "Worm Letters" (since they are underground or under the base line) we are practicing this as they are the most difficult to master.

We are discussing how we read together and underline each word with our "monster" or "witch" finger as we follow words through each sentence.  We are practicing writing our letter "Cc".

Fine Motor:
The children have been painting with paint pens, and are making October calendars.  They have been glueing, cutting, coloring, painting, and writing Halloween and October words, and using stencils to trace scary characters. 

Gross Motor:
We jumped on our mini trampoline as we practiced counting.  It's nice to begin our day with an activity that engages them with their teachers and friends.  They love counting for each jumper! 

We are losing the yard sign contest, so if you haven't picked up your yard/window sign and taken a photo to send in, please pick it up outside the Pre-K room and take it home.  We don't have ANY submissions yet and we could totally win if everyone takes a pic of their sign displayed!  Don't forget to grab it when you pick up or drop off! 

Have a wonderful long weekend!  See you all Tuesday.

Ms. Massey

Hi JK parents.

We began Apples and Fall theme as we finish our, "All About Me" theme. 

We voted on our favorite things to eat made of apples.  The winner was applesauce! 

Fine Motor:
We are continuing our clay center to form all of the letters of our names.  We are still working on our life size paper people.  It's so fun to see how much they resemble the child. 

We are using tongs to categorize "apples" (pom poms) as we move them into trays to separate the different colors. 

We colored super heroes and will add our faces to them for our door display.

Literacy:
We wrote each letter of our name for our, "Ten Apples up on Top" art project, and glued them on top of photos of our heads.  It's important to understand the difference between letters and words and that sounds combine together to make words.  Each child practiced balancing an apple on their head as we talked about balance and posture.  The children are clapping out the syllables in their names.  We are reading stories about apples, the life cycle of an apple, Johnny Appleseed, and other apple related books. 

We sang and danced to our Zoo Phonics letter song and practiced our vowel sounds.  We also sang "Apples and Bananas" and practiced patterns with apples and bananas. 

We practiced following multi-step instructions while learning more about the life-cycle of an apple, and numbered each step. 

We tested each child for pre-writing skills necessary for writing.  There are eight symbols they need to be able to write for full readiness.  Some are not fully developed until Kindergarten.  We had a center on tracing and scissor skills and practiced cutting straight, curvy and zig zag lines. 

Science & Math:
We are acting out the life cycle of an apple, from seed to fruit.  I loved when I ask where apples come from and someone answered, "Whole Foods!".  We are such city kids!  We are also learning the parts of an apple and learning the story of the star inside each apple.  You can cut an apple in half horizontally at home to see this.  We read the story about the little red house with a star inside.  Stories with characters that are introduced one by one are great for sequencing practice.  We acted out each part as the children remembered which event and character came next.  This also encourages reading comprehension, when they are thinking about the different events and ordering them.  It helps them to begin thinking in terms of beginning, middle, end and first, next, finally etc. when reading, retelling and writing stories.

 We made applesauce, and talked about how food changes at it is cooked.  We took turns measuring the ingredients and discussing how the ingredients combine to make applesauce. 

We are learning about all of the different types of apples and did a taste test to choose our favorites.  We used a chart to tally the results.  The children are learning to use tally marks in sets of five.  It's another quick introduction to math components they will learn about later in the year and in Kindergarten.  I love to briefly introduce ideas so when they study these things later they are familiar and not completely new.  It helps them with making connections and scaffolding
 their learning. 

We measured each child using apples.  We stamped Bb's and traced them, and wrote both capital and lower case Bb's on our letters.  Our writing center was full of dry erase sheets and lined paper for those children who are ready.  Some are practicing the top to bottom formation motion making lines while others are ready for writing on lines with complete letters and words.  It's all the wonderful world of 4's and 5's and the range of abilities and development which we differentiate in all of our activities. 

Have a great week!
Ms. Massey