Good afternoon JK parents!

We have been talking about the Pilgrims and the Native Americans this week, learning about how different things were for children when the Mayflower came to America. 

Math & Science:
The children have been working on measurements this week, measuring their names with a specific beginning and ending using different objects. We have been working on number identification, especially numbers from 11-20. 

Science/Social Studies:
We talked about the Native Americans and read many fiction and non-fiction books about various tribes in the midwest.  We watched a video about the Wompanoags and the things they taught the pilgrims. 

Language Arts:
The children wrote/dictated journal pages about what their Thanksgiving dinner would look like.  They used inventive spelling or dictated their stories to us.  In our reading groups we practiced our zoo phonics letters and letter sounds.  We read our "Letter C" book and made a list of words that begin with the letter "C".  We read books while practicing underlining each word as we read.  Learning the flow of the words on a page and being able to follow the sentences from left to right and top to bottom, along with being able to turn pages in the correct direction, are all necessary skills for beginning literacy.  As we read in the classroom, we discuss the setting, characters, sequence of events and make predictions.  We read "There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Pie" and the children fed each item as it was read by placing it in our puppet's mouth.  They love feeding her and taking turns stuffing her with all of the items! 

We read a non-fiction book about the creation of the Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York.  The parade actually began with puppets held by wooden poles, but they couldn't be seen by all of the people attending.  The creator then designed balloons to float hight in the air so everyone could see them! 

Gross Motor:
The children ran, skipped, walked on stilts, and played many games where they are practicing bilateral and crossing the midline skills.  When a child skips, they read.  It's amazing the connection between skipping (where both sides of the brain are being used) and literacy.  The ancient Greeks realized the correlation and connection between the physical body and the brain/academic.  It's incredibly important to encourage crossing the midline, which is

Fine Motor:
The children have been making turkey pictures and playing with play dough and clay.  We are making foot print pictures for Grandparent's and Special Friends Day.  I painted all of their feet and tried not to tickle those toes!  It was pretty funny.  We also used pastels to decorate tee pees, and even made little Native American people to go inside.  They learned some of the symbols that represent weather, animals, and even the symbol for "many fish", to alert their tribe to plentiful places to catch their dinner. 

We will have a short week next week, so I'll save photos from Monday and Tuesday for the week after Thanksgiving's blog. 

Have a wonderful holiday, if I don't see or chat with you in person before then.  I am very thankful for each of your children and the opportunity to influence their lives.  It is a gift for me and from me to be their teacher.  Lila will be at her grandparents for Thanksgiving, but I will be celebrating with close family friends and plan to watch lots of football, eat loads of butter loaded food and hopefully get some shopping done.  I hope you all make some lovely memories and enjoy relaxing. 

Ms. Massey

Hi JK parents!

We were so lucky to have Myraa's mom Sumi come to share with us a wonderful story and video, along with snack, treat and art project about Diwali.  The children created fire works paintings using straws taped together and tempera paint.  We learned about the celebration and enjoyed seeing their pretty dresses and experiencing the customary treats!  The children loved it.  

Math & Science:
We practiced categorizing different items again by size, color, and even warm and cool colors with pom pons.

We played a counting game with Pete the Cat and wrote and ordered numbers, again working on the one to one correspondence.

Fine Motor:
The children created paintings beginning with pastels and finishing with water colors to produce "Starry Night" as we learned about the great artist Van Gogh.  They experimented with the different illuminations the starts show on the painting and how the town at the bottom of the page looks so dark but the stars shine so brightly!

We all completed Sunflower Observation Drawings looking at live sunflowers and recreating the image with colored pencils. The children were amazing capturing the images and even adding multiple vases to their drawings.

 Catching snowflakes on our tongue!

Literacy:
We talked about beginning and ending sounds in words and matched upper and lower case letters in our literacy center. We talked about curvy versus "stick" or straight letters.  We identified them and took turns writing them on the white board.

Some groups practiced their popcorn words, spelling them out and them jumping up to pop as we spelled each word.


We read Katie and the Sunflowers (along with many other art and painting books) and talked about how fun it would be if we could actually step inside a painting.  The little girl finds a treasure and gets to keep some of the gold

Social Emotional:
We talked about the approaching holiday and all we have to be thankful for.  We are truly all very fortunate to have such a wonderful experience this year.  We will be preparing for Grandparent's and Special Friend's Day next week.

Have a great weekend!  We are celebrating Lila's birthday at a trampoline park tonight.  She is now 10.  She was just four it seems a few days ago so I am trying to embrace her growing up but it's so hard!

Ms. Massey

Hi JK parents!

We have loved all of our Halloween festivities and learning about bats!

 This is my STEAM class I teach on Mondays with Ms. Taylor Pines.  I modify these activities to teach in JK, with differentiated instruction according to each child's needs and developmental level.

 Using manipulatives to count and play-so fun!  This game provided different groups of items to categorize as well!

 Clay is exceptional for fine motor muscle building.  The thickness and pliability along with it being such an open ended material means amazing creativity along with physical advantages!  I love using natural items for them to create art.  Bringing the outside inside is always fun!

Math & Science:
The children studied the skeletal system of bats ad then worked to recreate them using pastels and pipe cleaners to first draw and then glue the "bones" on a bat.

We played a counting game with leaves, squirrels and acorns and worked on the one-to-one ratio while using the manipulatives in the game.  Items are easier and less abstract when counting to give meaning to the numbers.  We also worked on writing those tricky teen numbers at the writing table with a number line for referral.

Language Arts:
We added new words for writing on the vertical white board to include words from home.  Labeling objects around your house is helpful to encourage literacy.  We are playing games to match the upper and lower case letters.  We are consistently reminding children during their sign in time to begin from the top of letters and using a dot as a point from which to start.  Encourage them as they are practicing their writing at home to always begin at the top of their letters.

Fine Motor:
The children made November calendars by glueing turkeys and feathers to their paper and then writing Thanksgiving, and things for which they are thankful.  They copied words or used inventive spelling as they used "stretchy snake" to pick out each sound in the words.  I was happy many of them wrote they are thankful for JK!  (It's also pretty easy to write!)  We painted on fall leaves we gathered using water colors, and made pictures using crayons and water color paints.

Social/Emotional:
We talked about different feelings and role played scenarios in the classroom, providing them with Bugs and Wishes and other words to use when struggling with tough situations.  We began playing "Yes Please, No Thank You" game as we pass around different traditional Thanksgiving food photos on plates and ask each child if they would like some, to which they answer either "yes, please" or "no, thank you".  It's great practice for table manners and developing the habit of always following yes or no with a please or thank you!

We are finishing our bats theme and moving onto Van Gogh next week!

Have a lovely weekend!

Ms. Massey