December Newsletter

December 5, 2016

Hello Pre-K Families,

Welcome to winter! I’m sure that the children are excited to play in the snow. To make sure that everyone is comfortable in the snow please send your child with snow gear every day. This includes the following: snowpants, snow boots, jacket, hat and mittens. We only stay inside for rain or temperatures below 10 degrees F. Your child may need a bigger backpack to accommodate all of the gear. You may leave indoor shoes at school in your child’s cubby. Please label all of your child’s gear clearly. We have lots of mittens and boots in the same sizes!

School Delay or Cancellations: In case of bad weather, school may be delayed or canceled. If there is a delay, there will be NO AM Pre-K that day. Please check on WCAX for school delays or cancellations: http://www.wcax.com/link/257090/school-closings.

There was a mistake in the note about the report card key. There was no explanation of the W. The other ratings are as follows: E is for exceeding expectations, M is for meeting expectations, W is for working on the skill, N is for not yet meeting expectations and NA is not applicable. If there is a blank spot that means we have not yet covered that skill or is has not been assessed.

Last week, we completed a study of magnets. The students had so much fun exploring the properties of magnets and finding out which items in our classroom were magnetic and which were not. We read several nonfiction books about magnets and made a class chart. This week, we are writing a class book about our activities.

This week, we will be beginning a unit on Gingerbread. We will be reading several different gingerbread man stories and comparing how they are alike and different.  Students will also be making gingerbread craft projects and playing math games.  We will be baking our own gingerbread man too!

Holiday Activity: On December 22nd we will be doing a special holiday activity. We will be reading The Polar Express and having a pajama day at school. At snack time we will drink hot chocolate with our snacks and listen to the story!  Your child should still bring their snow gear for outdoor play.  

Upcoming dates to remember:

December 16th: NO SCHOOL Teacher In-Service

December 23rd: NO SCHOOL Winter Vacation starts

Thank you,

Pre-K Team

November Newsletter

November 14, 2016,

Dear Pre-K Families,

Thank you to all families for coming in for PTC. It was great to have time meet and discuss your child’s growth and development in Pre-K.

Our class has begun a social development program called Second Step.  You can learn more about it here: http://www.cfchildren.org/second-step/early-learning. This year we will be covering topics such as: skills for learning, empathy, emotion management, friendship skills, and transitioning to kindergarten. We will be doing activities from the program several times a week.

This week, we did a short science unit on force and motion. The children were very excited to explore how different object move with different forces. They constructed ramps and rolled cars, and balls down them. We also used trucks to push sand in the sand table and were able to stretch and pull flubber (a play doh like sensory activity). In conclusion, we will be writing a class book about our explorations.

This week, we will be doing work around the Thanksgiving holiday. We will read stories, sing songs, and do arts and crafts projects about turkeys and Thanksgiving. Next week, on Tuesday, November 22nd, WRS will be having the Thanksgiving Feast. The whole school enjoys a turkey dinner together in the gym.  On that day, both the am and pm Pre-K classes will be together for lunch time. The am class will come to school from 10:00-1:00 that day and the pm class will come at the regular time 12:00-3:00pm.  If you don’t think that your child will eat the turkey dinner, you can send in a lunch that your child can bring to the meal.

Our class is responsible for bringing in applesauce for everyone to eat at the feast. Please bring in a jar of applesauce to the classroom this week.

We have been working with patterns a lot in our Math activities. We have been practicing AB patterns such as red, blue, red, blue, red, and so on. We have also been building our own AB patterns. At circle time, we have noticed our clothes that have patterns. We will be making a pattern museum. We can use your help from home in this activity.

Pattern Museum:  please send in an item that has a pattern for our pattern museum. Some ideas are: a toy with a pattern, a bead necklace with a pattern, fabric patterns, wallpaper patterns, You can also send in a photo of a pattern your child made, or your child wearing a pattern.

Important dates:

NO SCHOOL: Friday, November 18: Pre-K In Service

NO SCHOOL: Tuesday, November 23-25: Thanksgiving Recess

Thank you,

Pre-K Team

October Newsletter

Hello Pre-K Families,

We have some very Important dates that are coming up  in the next few weeks.  

Pre-K Inservice for the year will occur on the third Friday of the month. The dates for the school year are as follows: 10/21, 11/18, 12/16, 1/20, 2/17, 3/17 and 5/19. There will be no Pre-K on those dates.

There will also be no Pre-K on the PTC dates: 11/3 and 11/4 in the fall, and 3/23 and 3/24 in the spring.  We will put a sign-up sheet out next week for fall conferences.

The school nurse, Mrs, Hutchins will be doing hearing and vision screenings this month. If there are any issues with your child’s hearing or vision, she will contact you about following up with your child’s pediatrician.

Picture retake day is 10/28.

We have begun working on the alphabet using the Fundations Literacy Program. Each week, we will learn about 2 new uppercase letters.  We also did initial letter knowledge assessments over the past 2 weeks.

Our Five Sense unit is well underway. Please send in any paper towel holders that you have collected at home. We still need a few more. You will find a Five Senses Home Activity in your child’s cubby on Friday.

As we finish our study of the Five Senses we will be starting to include topics in our next study about Seasons, such as leaves and pumpkins. We will read many fiction and nonfiction books, sign songs, and do art projects. We will also incorporate many early literacy concepts, such as retelling a narrative story, introducing the concept of print, and rhyming. In science, students will learn about the plant life cycle in fall leaves and how a pumpkin grows. In math, we will be doing activities around sorting and classifying along with counting and numbers 1-5.

Later this month, we will be looking for pumpkins of different sizes, shapes, and colors. If you have one that you would like to send in, please let us know. We would love your help.

In the next few weeks, students will be assessed in beginning math concepts: counting, quantifying, numbers, geometry, comparing, and patterns. These are informal assessments. Students will play math games with their peers and teachers.

We will have a special snack on Halloween, Monday, Oct. 31st. We do not dress up in the classrooms at WRS. We will put out a sign-up sheet closer to that date for snack contributions.

Please make sure to update your contact information and e-mail address if there are any changes. 

Thank you,

The Pre-K Team

September Newsletter

September 22, 2016

Hello Pre-K Families,

We have started a classroom blog to communicate news about the classroom. We are printing this first newsletter and will be adding it to the blog. You can subscribe to the blog by adding your email address to the blog on the top right area of the webpage. Please visit our site at http://www.wrsprek.blogspot.com/.  There is also a link on the WRS website under the Pre-K Classroom tab.

We have had a wonderful start to the new school year. It has been so much fun getting to know all of our new students and seeing our returning students again. We began the year with a unit of “All About Me.”  The children love looking at their family photo collages. If you are still working on yours at home you can send it in any time. Please let us know if you need more construction paper or supplies.

We are continuing to establish routines in the classroom. The students are showing improvement everyday. We have also started to phase in the related arts schedule. Each week, we will visit Library, PE, Music, and Art. 

Next week, we are starting a new unit in the classroom about the Five Senses. The Five Senses is part of the Vermont Early Learning Standards in the Life Science area around  learning about the parts of the body and how people use their senses. The class will also explore topics about Physical Science standards around sound.  This unit will also integrate other learning standards in Language and Literacy. 

The class will be participating in activities around the Five Senses and exploring materials through inquiry activities. Your child will learn about their five senses and the organs that perform the functions of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. They will understand how each sense helps them to navigate the world in their everyday lives. Students will also learn how their five senses help to keep them safe.  Students will participate in a variety of learning activities including literature, songs, hands on science activities, group discussions, and videos. Children will make projects, compose illustrations, learn new vocabulary, practice oral communication skills as they listen, observe and share ideas with their peers and teachers in conversations.

Some of the books that we will be reading together are:

My Five Senses by Aliki

Five Senses by A. Ciboul

Farley Follows His Nose by L. Johnson

Too Much Noise by A. McGovern

My Five Senses by M. Miller

The Listening Walk by P. Showers

You Can’t Taste a Pickle With Your Ear by H. Zeifert

We would like your assistance with our senses unit. Please send in an apple for your child to share with the class. We will use our senses to compare the apples, by looking at them, feeling them, smelling them, and listening to them getted chopped. Afterwards, we will be making applesauce to smell and taste! Yum!  Later, in our study we will be asking for empty paper towel rolls to make sound sticks later in the unit.  Please start setting some aside for your child to bring in for our collection.

 There are many other ways that you can help your child learn about their senses at home. As you take a walk in your yard or neighborhood, pay attention to your senses and talk about what you see, hear, smell, and touch. When your child is playing, ask him or her what senses he or she is using to play. For example, when digging in the sandbox, your child sees the sand toys, hears the shovel digging, smells the sand, and feels the sand in his or her hands. But, your child doesn’t taste the sand, because sand isn’t food!

During inside time, ask your child about how our senses help us to know the things that we like and we don’t like.  Your child could make a picture, collage, or journal about his or her favorite things.  Your child could pick something to represent each of the senses: favorite color, favorite song, favorite spice, favorite food, and favorite texture.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions you have about our unit of study.  

Thank you,

The Pre-K Team

We hope that you had a great summer. The first day of school is coming soon!

We can't wait for you to see the classroom. There have been more improvements made to the classroom and our school over the summer. New flooring has been installed and our room has been painted. Don't forget, we moved down the hall. 

Pre-K Open House will be on August 31st!
Pre-K AM Class: 9:00-9:30 am
Pre-K PM Class: 10:00-10:30 am

First Day of School for Pre-K will be September 1st!

NO SCHOOL on Labor Day, September 5th