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

WELCOME: 2017-18 School Year

Hello PreK Parents,

We have had a great start to the school year and are having a lot of fun in the classroom. All of our returning students remembered the school routines after the summer break. Our new students are adjusting well to our classroom learning environment and making new friends.  

As we mentioned at Open House, the PreK team has professional development days on the third Friday of each month. The first one is next week on 9/15.  The rest of the dates are as follows: 10/20, 11/17, 12/15, 1/19, 2/16, 3/16, and 5/18.

We have started the year with an All About Me Unit. We are having discussions at circle time, reading books in the classroom, and making special memory books.  As part of this project, we need some help from home. Please send in a baby picture of your child for the memory book. If you do not have a printed photo, feel free to send one to me by e-mail at: zayasa@hartfordschoosl.net.  We also have another project for you to do with your child at home.

Family Collage Homework Project

    

    Here is your first PreK homework assignment. Enclosed is a piece of heavy stock paper. Please write “_______’s Family” (ex. Sally’s Family) on the top. Then, you can cut out pictures of members of your family (or others that are close to your child) and arrange them as you like on the paper - using glue, two-sided tape, etc. to adhere them. Make sure to write each person’s name next to their picture so that we can tell who they are. You can also cut pictures out from magazines of things that are your child’s favorites.  We will laminate them and hang them up to view.

    

    Usually the preschool “homework” will not be so involved, but these collages become a very important part of our classroom environment and the preschoolers love to share their family collages with their friends at school.

    Please try to have these done as soon as you can so we can have everybody’s family “join us” in class every day.

Thank you,

Mrs. Zayas & Mrs. Paronto