September News

September 25, 2017

Dear PreK Families,

We have finished our projects for All ABout Me, please look for your child’s book in his or her backpack. It will be a fun booklet to read together at home.  

We have started an integrated unit of study on apples. The students will do language, math, science, social studies, art, and cooking projects around the topic of apples. We will be reading fiction and nonfiction books about apples. Some of those titles are: Ten Apple up on Top, My Apple, Welcome Fall: Apples, Apple Grows, Ned’s New Home, and Ten Red Apples.

We have also been counting and sorting a lot. These are two activities that you can do with your child at home. They can sort coins, legoes, buttons, socks from the laundry, and other small items. We count every day in class. There are also many opportunities in the day for counting. One strategy to model is to count one item at a time by moving the items as your child counts aloud. If your child can already do this, encourage your child to count higher, or to count in sets.

The students have really enjoyed singing “Way Up High in the Apple Tree,” as a group at circle time. Singing songs is an important part of literacy development in young learners and is a foundation for reading readiness. “Singing helps to build vocabulary and develop sound discrimination. Both skills are crucial to the development of literacy. The size of a child’s vocabulary and his or her ability to discriminate sounds are strong predictors of how easily a child will learn to read when he or she is older. Oral language and phonological sensitivity (sound discrimination) are not the only skills that are developed when children are exposed to songs, chants, and rhyme.  They can also develop listening and thinking skills. Oral language (vocabulary), phonological awareness and comprehension (thinking skills) are the building blocks of literacy. With conscious effort, songs, chants and rhymes become a perfect springboard for developing all three of these critical skill areas” (http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_home.aspx?ArticleID=478).

As part of our study, we will be doing an apple taste test and making applesauce. We would use your help in this project. Please send in an apple with your child sometime this week. We hope to cook our sauce on Friday or early next week.

We also wanted to touch on birthdays. Many children will celebrate their birthdays on a school day. Parents are welcome to send in a special snack for your child to share with his/her classmates. Just please make sure that it is a nut free treat and check in with us before sending anything in for the class. Parents are also welcome to visit the class to read a special or favorite story/song with the group on the birthday.

Thank you,

Mrs. Zayas & Mrs. Paronto