IED PRE-K NEWSLETTER FOR THE WEEK OF:

OCTOBER 12-16, 2009  

  This week we continued our study of the body by exploring the circulatory, respiratory, digestive and nervous systems. Children used their hand muscles to create the pumping action of a heart as they drew up pretend blood from one container and discharged it into another container or forced it through surgical tubing to simulate the blood’s travel through veins. We also tried to approximate the amount of blood that is in a four to five-year-old body so children could see how much is circulating inside their own bodies. They witnessed how the diaphragm draws in air by changing the pressure inside the chest cavity in a pop bottle, saran wrap and balloon model of the lungs. On Friday, Cleo Hahn's mother, Robbyn, gave a great presentation about her work as a speech therapist, explaining how our lips, tongues, teeth, and lungs all play an important part in the ability to speak. She also gave the kids kazoos and talked about how the vibrations made by the kazoo are similar to the ones made in your throat, the kids had a great time, and Robbyn even made us coloring sheets so we could see the various body parts involved in creating speech. Thanks Robbyn, the kids had a great time! 
             

Our hope is that, by providing experiences that involve the child’s physicality, your children will begin to build an experiential concept about their bodies and the amazing way its interlocking systems work. Really is awe-inspiring, isn’t it?              

Next week, we’ll employ the senses as we walk out into the physical world on Monday on a Fall Leaf Walk. We’ll be looking for the changes that occur during this time of year: the temperature and weather, the falling leaves and fruits of trees, the harvest, the preparations and migrations of animals that are all part of the transition from Summer to Winter.              

Please feel free to have your child share what they see or find that has to do with Fall during their sharing times. Or they can bring in collections of leaves or nuts (any owl pellets out there?) to place on the Science Table.  

Thanks, Reminders and Requests:  

*Friday was the last day for school lunches, but milk is still available. Thank you for your cooperation. 

* Fall Conferences will be taking place on Tuesday, November 24, and Wednesday, November 25. They will run 15-20 minutes long. We’ll have sign-up sheets out on the sign-in table near the end of October.  

The Week In Review:  

Monday, October 12, 2009

* Today we sang and signed the Letter Dd, our new letter of the week. 

*We read about the heart and blood from Hear My Heart and Looking Into My Body

* We sang  Ten Horses and learned the poem: My heart is a Muscle

* We learned that the blood is made of a watery substance called plasma, red platelets (which carry oxygen to the cells and carbon dioxide away from them) and white blood cells, which eat bad germs. We also learned that the volume of blood in a 4-5 year old child is about two quarts or eight cups, and children got to see what that looked like with our fake blood in a plastic jug. We also learned that the heart is the biggest muscle in the human body and it starts beating before you’re born and doesn’t stop your whole life. Children held up one fist to see how big their own hearts were.

* We did a quick demonstration to illustrate to the kids how hard a heart works by having the children open and close their fists continuously for one minute. Then they got in line and each child took turns being one heartbeat by squeezing a turkey baster into the blood and moving it to a new jar.

* That was our Special Project today as it took quite a bit of time for everyone to get the chance to pump. Other choices included oil pastels, water colors, magnets, the doll house, the blocks, and coloring sheets of the circulatory system. 
 

Tuesday October 13, 2009

* Books we read today:

Breathe In, Breathe Out (Learning About Your Lungs)

Dem Bones 

* We counted the calendar and were assigned jobs as classroom helpers. 

* We signed the letter Dd and sang the letter Dd song!

* We learned about your LUNGS today! We learned that your lungs fill up with air when you breath in and they send air out when you breathe out. Each child tried doing this. Lungs look like two pink balloons. Your lungs are in your chest and the rib cage protects them. The children learned that oxygen is what you breathe in and then carbon dioxide is what you breathe out.  They learned that mucus catches germs and other things that get sent out of your body by coughing, clearing your throat, swallowing or sneezing.  They also learned what a diaphragm is and that it’s a muscle under your lungs that moves as you breathe.

* They also got to decorate the letter “Dd” using dinosaur stickers. The children were also able to continue experimenting with pumping the blood! The children still continue to play in the dramatic play area pretending to be working at hospital.

* We played the game Doggy Doggy Where’s Your Bone!  

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

* Today, the Letter of the Week and the Curriculum came together nicely as we studied digestion. We read the book, The Gas We Pass, which explained why we burp and sometimes make little bubbles in the tub. The process of digestion is covered in an age-appropriate way in this book as well. 

*We also sang and signed the Letter Dd again and sang and signed the alphabet from A-D!

* The flu does seem to be on the loose, parents, so if your child is just not acting right, crankier than usual, or feeling tired that may be what’s going on. Fever is a feature of the cold that’s been going around, and tummy aches that can turn to vomiting very quickly is the other illness we’re seeing. We’re continuing to really emphasize hand-washing, sneezing and coughing into the elbow and other hygienic practices to minimize the spread of germs, as well as keeping fingers away from our mouths and eyes to prevent contaminating ourselves.  

               TODAY IN PRE-K THURSDAY OCTOBER 15^TH, 2009  

Books we read today:

Eyewitness: Human Body

My Brain 
 
 

We sang the letter “Dd”  song and signed the letter “Dd”.

She asked the children what the brain does and a few responses were; it helps move your body, think, and breathing. We learned that your skull protects your brain. Marcie did a wonderful experiment to show the children that water also protects our brain. She put an egg in one container and shook it up and the egg broke. Then she took another container with an egg and with water filled to the top. The egg didn’t break. She also talked about how nerves send messages to your brain to let your body know what to do. 

We had coloring pages of the brain for the children to color.  

We sang the song Five Dinosaurs 
 

Friday, October 16, 2009

* We concluded our unit on the body with a review of what we’d learned. Things they remembered and volunteered today were: the brain has two ways of protecting itself—a watery cushion and the skull; bones help us be able to move; we see with our eyes; we think with our brain; we breathe with our lungs (or hold our breath when we’re swimming underwater); our muscles help us move; food goes down the esophagus and into the stomach; the heart is a pump made out of muscle. 

* Cleo's mom, Robbyn came to our class and talked to us about the parts of the body that are used to speak. She showed the children a puppet of the teeth and the tongue and talked about her work as a speech therapist. She also talked to us about swallowing and how we use the muscles in our throat. The kids couldn't stop talking about the sour lemon swabs Robbyn gave them to stimulate swallowing; during lunch they were taking surveys (by show of hands) to see who did and didn't like the taste! 

* Songs we sang today: The Letter Dd Song with sign language and The Pirate Song.

* We read Skelly the Skeleton Girl at Closing Circle.