Newsletter January 25-29 

      This week in Pre-K we started perhaps one of the most popular themes imaginable; Dinosaurs! It was amazing how much the children already knew about dinosaurs and they are really enjoying learning more of the details. Dinosaurs will continue into next week, so don't be surprised when the roaring and T-Rex talk continues!

      We celebrated Reese Harryhill as our person of the week. She is 4 years old, with white-green eyes and golden hair. She loves, fudge, cake, meat, ice cream, crackers, kittens, and her sister. She does not like work! J When she grows up, she wants to be a mom and an ice skater. Her wish would be for a car that she could drive! Along with the responsibility of being line leader, Reese really enjoyed the pictures the children drew for her. Next week, our person of the week is Scarlet Hayes. We are all excited to learn more about her!  

Monday, January 25

We started our week introducing dinosaurs. As you probably know, not much introduction was necessary!  The children shared what they already knew about dinosaurs and we talked about some of the different kinds. We sang "All Around the Swamp" and "We Will Stomp You". Both songs were a hit! We also talked about our letter of the week "P" using objects from the letter "P" bag.

We counted the calendar and talked about how January is almost over (wow!) and that the next month is February.

We changed helper jobs and had some great sharing from Cleo and Jack Twining Freeman for our letter of the week! Cleo brought in Purplicious and Princess Penolope and Jack brought in Lost and Found, a book about Pirates. The children loved the books! Thanks Cleo and Jack!

Books we read:

Rex, Catch Me If You Can, Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp, Tyrannosaurus Was a Beast, Dinosaur Bob, and My Visit to the Dinosaurs. 

Tuesday, January 26

Today the children learned the word extinct. We taught the children that under the right circumstances, bones may turn into fossils and that fossils are how we are able to learn about creatures that lived so long ago. The kids had a great time doing the "fossil dig" activity that Erin provided. They used brushes and tools to dig out the Triceratops fossils. Even though most of the "fossils" ended up in pieces, the kids really loved it.

Books we read:

Dinosaurs, Edwina the Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She was Extinct, The Big Book of Dinosaurs, Dinosaur Skeletons, and Fossils Tell of Long Ago 

Wednesday, January 27

Today we learned that dinosaurs are reptiles. We briefly discussed the other types of animals, including talking about what kinds of reptiles are alive today. Because part of being a reptile is laying eggs, our activity today was making dinosaur eggs! A nice, messy project the kids could really get their hands into. We mixed salt, flour, used coffee grinds, sand and water, stirred it up, hid little surprises (small dinosaur figurines), and shaped them the best we could into eggs. The hardest part was explaining that the eggs would have to dry over the weekend! Come Monday, each child will get an egg and get to "crack" the egg to see what's inside! Should be fun!

We also took a class poll about our favorite dinosaurs. Not surprisingly, T-Rex and Anklyosaurus were the big winners. There's something about fierce dinosaurs and ones covered with spikes that the kids just love!

Books we read:

Big Old Bones, Whatever Happened to the Dinosaurs, Prehistoric Pinkerton, and Megatooth 

Thursday, January 28

During circle, we explained that scientists have to use the fossils they have found to make guesses about what dinosaur's skin might have been like because it was the soft tissue that was perishable and did not fossilize. For the art project, the children chose a dinosaur outline and had a variety of art supplies to make the dinosaurs "skin". We love when the children are so creative! You can see their brains whirling right along!

Books we read:

Dinosaur Bones, Captain Flinn & The Pirate Dinosaurs, Magic School Bus in the Time of the Dinosaurs, and The Big Book of Dinosaurs

Friday, January 29

Today we continued talking about an idea that's come up a few times; what dinosaurs ate. The children learned the difference between carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores. We used one of the numerous picture books we have to show some examples of each. During free choice time, the children made dinosaur hats. The framework was already there, but they chose if they wanted to put sharp, pointy teeth on their hats so they'd be carnivores, or flat teeth to be an herbivore. Again, most children went the carnivore route!

Ian brought in The Pigs Picnic for sharing. It was a fun book to read, because it fit dozens of "P" words into the story! The children were laughing as we went and really enjoyed it. Thanks Ian!

Books we read:

 The Littlest Dinosaur, and Dinosaur Train