Irvington Pre-K Newsletter for the week of October 13 – October 17, 2008

We had a great week here at Irvington Pre-K!  The children were introduced to our new theme…Fall is here!   While wrapping up the discovery of our bodies; we began to discover the wonderfully colorful season of Fall.   We have enjoyed learning about this topic through many nature walks, books, and discussions.  We also continued to build and develop such skills as: using large motor skills through our nature walks, having gym with Karen, and singing our interactive songs.  In using our fine motor skills we have continued to trace letters use the scissors to cut lines as well as shapes, used different tools to cut up apples, and used tweezers to prod at sunflower/apple seeds. All the while continuing to use our words to communicate, learning about personal space, giving each other compliments or “put-ups”, and learning how to listen and take turns. 

            Next week, we will continue with the theme: Fall is here.  We will continue exploring the seasons’ weather, color changes, and transformations.  More specifically we will be dialing in on different animals and their habitats.

We also welcomed a new student on Friday…Welcome Jane!  Jane will start full day on Monday and we are so glad she will be joining our wonderful Pre-K classroom.

Person of the week this week… Congratulations Alex!

Reminders:

-          Shares this week will be anything beginning with the letter Ff.

-          New gym schedule will be posted on parent board.

-          On your child’s gym day(s) please have your child wear the appropriate gym shoes.

The Week in Review:

Monday, October 13, 2008

Today, although we were in a different room class went on as usual.  We went over our new letter of the week…letter “Ee”.  We also went over our calendar and talked about our new theme…The Fall! We discussed the season changes, animals, and weather. 

We went on two nature walks, one around the school yard and the other around the neighborhood.  We had a wonderful time talking about the different trees, animals and insects we came into contact with.  The children each had a bag they filled with the many findings of our walk.  We found many acorns, various seeds, and colorful leaves. 

Back in the classroom we read the book, Leaf Man.   After reading the book we took our nature findings and created pictures of leaf people and animals.  We also played with the play mobile, kynex, dress up fairies, and lots of other new games.  The children also had a blast as we held a story telling circle.   At the end of the day we sang a song about a leaf in addition to reading a poem on fall leaves.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Today we continued exploring our new theme…Fall.  The children had lots to say about our new topic…

 

Isabel: “The leaves turn colors.”

 

Alton: “When people go outside for a walk they can pick the leaves up.”

 

Finley: “Then the leaves fall off the trees…then there are no leaves, and

              then it will be winter…it will be cold and snowy.”

 

Lucie: “The leaves fall to the ground.”

 

Charlie: “Yeah, the leaves fall, the leaves fall, the leaves fall!”

 

Leland: “The weather is sometimes rainy.”

 

We all got a chance to go to the gym today, yeah!  We had gym with teacher Karen; who turned the gym into Scooter Town!  Scooter Town was created for the kids to use their individual scooters as we use our cars.  In scooter town there are such places as Safeway, a pet shop, a gas station, a car wash, a drive in movie, and many more exciting places. Wow, the children had so much fun! 

 

At choice time we made paper bag trees, played with the blocks, made a huge train track together, created with clay, and put puzzles together. We also read the books, The Secret Shortcut, by Mark Teague and Leaves! Leaves! Leaves!, by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace.

 

 

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

  Today we went over our letter “Ee”.  The children came up with many words that began with the letter “Ee”, in addition the signing the letter “Ee”.  We also further discussed the topic of Fall.  We asked the children… What changes do we see in the fall? 

 

Leland: “The leaves fall because they are getting ready for Winter”.

Finley: “The leaves fall outside and they are red, and orange, and yellow.  Then it will be cold and snowy”.

Leland: “In October it is really super cold”.

 

We took the children back to Scooter Town today.  On this trip to Scooter Town they each got their own license.  The children had a great time zipping around Scooter town on their own scooters. 

 

During choice time we made two big classroom trees using tissue paper, fabric leaves, and glue.  We also traced leaves on the light table, played with the trains, made more leaf man projects, and continued making paper bag trees.  We read the books, 10 Turkeys, Trout, Trout, Trout, and Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf, Orange Leaf.

 

Thursday, October 16, 2008

 

Today we talked about apples and other fall topics.  We read the book Scare Crow Clock by Eric Carle and talked about how we use clock hands to tell time.  We also talked about being good listeners and giving “put-ups” to our friends.

 

In discussing apples we brought out a variety of apples for the children to see, smell, and feel.  This is what they had to say about apples…

 

Charlie: “You can make apple juice or apple sauce.  You can drink apple

                 juice.”

 

Finley: “It smells like juice.”

 

Cami: “It’s shiny.”

 

Samuel: “It looks like stripes.”

 

Ian: “It’s green and red.”

Amir: “It’s like a circle.”

 

Lucie: “They’re crisp!”

 

Alton: “Sometimes apples are caramel.”

 

Leland: “Sometimes they’re juicy.”

After our talk we decided to play an apple rolling game on the carpet.  We also used the apples to make apple prints by cutting the apples in different shapes.  The children then sliced the apples and put them in a crock pot to make apple sauce.  After this we had an apple tasting and decided which apples were our favorites.  At closing circle we sang the song “Apples and Bananas”.

Friday, October 17, 2008

We talked about personal space; what this means and when we need it.  We also read a book on personal space.  We continued to discuss the topic of fall.  In finding out what the children already know about this topic we asked: What do animals do in the fall?  Here were some answers…

Cami: “The animals hibernate in the winter.  They store food in the fall.”

Jane: “Bears hibernate.”

Together we played the square squat game and sang the song, “Leaves, Leaves”.  We also went to our last day of Scooter Town before it closes on Monday.  During choice time the children, counted and sorted many different shaped and colored leaves, played with the trains, built a block town, put together puzzles, and played in the leaf pile. At snack we enjoyed our homemade apples sauce.  The children were so proud!