We were all very happy with our performance on Portfolio Night! Thank you for coming out and supporting us on our final show, and we hope you learned a little something about sea creatures!
We are finishing up our unit about ocean critters with some sea star crafts, including making the clay/dough ourselves. It takes concentration and fine motor skills to shape the sea star's five arms. These will be coming home next week as well as other projects that don't fit in their portfolios. Be on the lookout for all of that. Next week will be full of fun, science experiments, and maybe a little treasure hunting as we wrap up Pre-K. Everyone has completed their Handwriting Without Tears workbook, and we'll finish numbers before graduation. I'm so proud of the kids' hard work this year, and I will love hearing their success stories in kindergarten. ¡Yo Veo! In Spanish class we reviewed some of the major concepts we've studied such as feelings, colors, calendar and clothes. We then used a spyglass or catalejo to play "I Spy!" (Yo Veo). It was challenging to find a color and not say who was wearing it. What a fun year we've had together in Spanish! It has truly been a pleasure to teach your sweet children. Our photos are here.
0 Comments
Thank you to all of the families who came out to support your children on Portfolio Night. We were all so proud of the way they performed on stage, and we know that they enjoyed sharing some of their work from the year with you. Don't forget to go ahead and take your child's canvas watercolor home with you.
Spanish update: ¡Grande y Chiquito! In Spanish this week we reviewed the concept of grande y chiquito (big and little). We cut and pasted pictures to match the words. We also reviewed shapes and colors. We are closed on Monday in observance of Memorial Day. Graduation is still scheduled for Friday, June 5 in the early evening (5:30). We will also have a luncheon that day (Friday) that will start at 12:30. More details will be sent home soon. Our photos are here. With Portfolio Night next week, we've been hard at work preparing for our performance! Our class presentation will be focused on our current study of sea creatures, but we'll also have some Spanish, Music, and Sign Language skills to show off. Please join us Thursday May 21 at 6pm!
I don't want to give away too much about our performance and the art work that will be on display, so just know we are very excited about it! Your child might need some practice at home with spelling their name in Sign, so let us know if you want help with that. I can't believe how close we are to the end of the year and how much we've done together. I'm so thankful to have been your child's teacher! Have a great weekend! Spanish update: : ¿Es GRANDE o chiquito? This week in Spanish we talked about big and small. We studied pairs of objects made up of something big and small: a big whale and small whale, big school bus and small one, big tiger and small one, etc. The children caught on to these words quickly and pronounced them easily as well! We also reviewed colors, sang songs, and began reading the book, Ricitos de Oro y los Tres Osos, "Goldilocks and the Three Bears"- the perfect book for talking about big and little! At home, make big arms and say GRANDE, hold up your fingers an inch and say chiquito : ) Our photos are here. Thank you to the moms, dads, and grandparents who accompanied us to the Sands last week! We had such a great time, and Mr. Bender found us a blue crab (female) to keep in our aquarium at school. She's pretty good at hiding, but she's in there!
We are loving our Under the Sea unit and learning so much about ocean creatures. At Portfolio Night on May 21 you'll see what we've been discussing. Mrs. Neese is incorporating our ocean unit into Studio for a project that will be displayed on Portfolio Night. We'll keep it a surprise until then. Mrs. Julie brought us a suitcase full of clothes and accessories for us to learn how to sign. We are also learning how to sign our names and ages, so encourage us to practice at home. Ms. Fripp brought a banjo this week and played along with us as we sang. She also had a kazoo and showed us how we could make them out of paper cups. We thought that was pretty cool to make instruments out of every day objects. We hope you have a very happy Mother's Day and enjoy the gifts we made. We love and appreciate you! Have a great weekend! Spanish Update: ¡Me gusta! In Spanish this week we continued talking about how to express likes and dislikes. We read a story called ¿Qué te gusta? (What do you like?) and did an activity involving cutting and pasting animals (and teams!) we like or dislike on a chart. Unrelated, we also learned a super fun song/dance called "El pollo" (the chicken). Here is the link if you'd like to look at it! https://missmaryliberry.wordpress.com/2014/09/10/el-pollo-aka-the-most-fun-movement-activity-en-espanol-ever Our photos are here. We're really enjoying our study of sea life and so excited for our field trip to the Sands! This week we focused on hermit crabs and their shells. After reading the book "Miranda's Beach Day,'' we used water colors to design our own hermit crab shells. Then we utilized our gross motor skills in moving like sea creatures including crabs, and we posed like hermit crabs. As we did these movements, we sounded out the letters of the sea creature. Learning and playing all at once!
Mrs. Neese has us experimenting with light art and using different muscles to draw. After choosing a shape to place on the overhead projector, we traced the shadow onto a piece of paper taped to the wall. It was great practice for our upper arms and shoulders. Mrs. Julie taught us signs for a variety of animals, and we sang and signed ''Five Green and Speckled Frogs." We also started working on our performance for portfolio night, but we won't give that away yet! Ms. Tina taught us a Cowboy Dance that we really enjoyed. She brought shakers, rhythm sticks, and clackers for us to play with which we always like. It is so sweet to hear us sing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight!" ¿Te gusta? In Spanish we learned the question ¿Te gusta? (Do you like it?), and how to answer it: Sí me gusta (yes I like it), or No me gusta (I don't like it). I showed the children pictures of certain animals, foods, and toys, and found out they have very strong opinions on some of these items! : ) At home: this is an easier expression to pronounce and the children did a great job with it! If you are comfortable, you can practice saying it at home, especially at meal times.......me gusta (along with thumbs up, or a "yummy" pantomime) or no me gusta (along with thumbs down, and a "yucky" face). Have a great weekend! Our photos are here. Happy fifth birthday to Emmett! We celebrated him on Wednesday with singing and cupcakes.
We are diving into a new unit this week with the theme "Under the Sea!" With boat and beach season upon us, we've been talking a lot about the ocean and creatures that live there. Our study will include art activities, math fun, and letter/word recognition. We have been working our gross motor muscles by moving around the room like certain sea creatures, and we are beginning to sound out the words for ''crab, shark, starfish,'' and more. You can practice these with us at home! Check out our crowd of octopuses when you come to the room- we practiced our counting and tying skills while making them. Mrs. Neese introduced us to an overhead projector this week as we played with light and objects on the glass. Using sand and items found in the room, we experimented with different shapes and textures. She will guide us down a new road with this photo-art! Ms. Tina brought back the big drums, and we worked on our steady beats with mallets and our hands. We are really enjoying this activity, and of course, singing ''The Lion Sleeps Tonight'' along with the ukelele. Our field trip to the Sands with Mr. Bender is next Friday, and we'd love for you to join us. You can find more details in your email. Please let us know - LBS is planning to add picnic lunches for all of the grown-ups who come along. You may learn something new too! Have a great weekend! In Spanish this week we continued practicing the question ¿Dónde está? We played Perrito, perrito, ¿dónde está tu huesito? (Doggie, doggie, where's your bone), where each child got a chance to steal and hide the doggie's bone. We also read ¿Dónde Está Spot? (Where's Spot?), and learned a new verse to the song Los Pollitos. Did you know that in Spanish, chicks say "pío, pío" rather than "peep peep?" : ) new words: el maís (corn), el trigo (wheat), el huesito (bone) review: ¿Dónde está? ¡AQUí!! (Where is it? HERE!) Our photos are here. We've had an unusual week with so many friends off on spring break, but we've had fun anyway!
Mrs. Brittany came Monday and let us guide the Yoga practice in the direction we wanted. We like having this control over our bodies and learning new poses. Ms. Tina brought rhythm sticks for us to use, and we practiced our steady beats. We also took turns drumming and singing "Do Ray Mi." As a new project we'll be making our own drums from repurposed materials from school! During center time "Grocery Store" has been a very popular choice, and we love dramatic play. We get to use and identify play money, and soon we'll attempt to make transactions in the real world! We've spent a good bit of time with the 3s class this week, and we talk about being good role models with our words and our actions. This is the last time we'll be the biggest kids for a while, so we are using that as motivation to help the younger children. Have a great weekend! Our photos are here. We had a great time during our Easter egg hunt at the Helena House! Our grandfriends watched us find the eggs hidden all around the building, and then they gave us treat bags. We gave them painted eggs that we made using pompoms and clothespins. It is so great for us to be involved in our community!
Ms. Tina Fripp brought some big drums for us to play today, and we did an awesome job using teamwork. We took turns using mallets and fingers on the drums, and we had a little competition between two groups. Ms. Tina was impressed with how quickly we picked up on the rhythm and beats. Over the past couple months multiple children have mentioned and been interested in George Washington, so we've decided to really dive in to a unit about him and related topics. Several of us had heard different stories about George cutting down a type of fruit tree, so we did some researching to learn more about this. Then we used our imaginations to illustrate George chopping down a cherry tree, but we learned that this story probably isn't real. This prompted some discussion about what makes a story real or not real, and we will continue to investigate this. Additionally we have introduced the topic of money, coins, and transactions (George Washington popping up again!), and we are planning our trip to Parkers for a drink soon. A new grocery store center has been added in our room to help us practice! ¿Dónde está el perrito? (Where's the doggie?) In Spanish this week we learned how to answer the question ¿Dónde está? (Where is it?) with ¡Aquí está!!! (here it is!!!). We played hide and seek with a stuffed animal perrito (doggie) hidden under a blanket and under a cup. We also began learning a new song for springtime, "Los Pollitos," or "the Baby Chicks." This is a sweet song about how a mother hen takes care of her babies. At home: If you are comfortable, you can practice hiding a toy with your child and asking ¿Dónde está? and then helping your child shout out ¡Aquí !!! or ¡Aquí está!!! when they find it. We hope you have a great weekend! You can find this week's photos here and last week's here. Mrs. Fastenau and Mrs. Cook Thank you for donating all those cardboard tubes for our rain stick instrument project! We are reinforcing the concepts of reducing, reusing, and recycling throughout the day, for example, by saving energy when we're not in the room. Next week we'll begin composting!
It's been great to incorporate the lessons we're learning into our other classes like Music and Sign. Mrs. Julie reviewed A, B, and C and introduced D. She taught us the signs for dirt, water, sun, seeds, flower, and more. We also learned a song about planting flowers which we can sing to the seeds that we've planted to help them grow! Our herbs and flowers have mostly sprouted in their recycled containers. We were glad to see Mrs. Carol and her bubbles for Music! We practiced beats, name recognition, and being in control of our bodies. She also told us a listening story about friends using teamwork that we really enjoyed! Next week we will visit the Helena House to see our grandfriends and a big furry friend who has long ears and a fuzzy tail! We'd love for you to join us Wednesday, April 1 for that. We'll be leaving at 9:30. from Señora Zoe: Buenas Noches, Luna (Goodnight, Moon)-- In Spanish this week we read the book Buenas Noches, Luna (Goodnight Moon). The children were all excited to see this well-loved book! They matched cards with objects from the room in the book. Then they made their own night skies with sponge paint stamps in the shape of the moon and stars. Expressions: buenas noches (good night), la luna (the moon), las estrellas (the stars) We are closed Friday, April 3 for Good Friday. Have a great weekend! Our photos are here. St. Patrick's Day came along right as we're talking about "going green!" We incorporated shamrocks and leprechauns into our discussions about helping our planet. Lucky the Leprechaun visited our classroom (and escaped our trap) during our Helena House visit, but he left us some treats and trouble! We looked at some beautiful pictures of Ireland and made several types of four leaf clovers. Mrs. Neese has us making shamrock prints with paint and styrofoam, and we are doing a great job with that activity.
Our seeds have already begun to sprout in our recycled containers! It's very exciting to watch and document this process. We will be decorating the school with our herbs and flowers! In addition to recycling bottles, we would like to recycle cardboard toilet paper tubes for Music class. Ms. Fripp introduced us to rain sticks, and now we want to make our own. Please bring some tp tubes if you can! Thank you! Have a great weekend! You can see the photos from our week here. |
Details
Welcome to the Researchers: LBS Class of 2015Archives
May 2015
Link to Photo Galleries from Entire Year (since August 2011)
Categories |