Fri, 17 May 2024 02:52:50 -0400WeeblySat, 04 Jun 2016 12:54:25 GMThttp://thelittlebrownschool.com/class-of-2016/week-52-may-30-june-3Thank you all for such a wonderful year! I have enjoyed teaching your children and look forward to spending more time with them this summer.

Please check your child's cubby for artwork and books to take home. Their mats and loveys will stay here. Swim lessons start Tuesday, so if you have not returned the forms and check, please do so by Tuesday morning. It will be easier to keep their swim things (bathing suit, towel, Crocs/sandals) here as we will also be doing Water Day on Fridays.
Have a great weekend!

Our photos are here.
]]>Sat, 28 May 2016 13:26:26 GMThttp://thelittlebrownschool.com/class-of-2016/weeks-50-51-may-16-27I can't believe the school year is coming to an end!

We hope you all enjoyed Portfolio Night. The children worked very hard to prepare, and I know they were excited to share their performance with you.

We have been practicing our songs for our upcoming graduation! Please plan to attend the luncheon at noon and the graduation ceremony at six pm on Thursday June 2. We will have more details early next week.

We enjoyed our last class visit to the Helena House and made special flowers for our grandfriends. We also made an extra to take home! They were happy to see us as always, and we practiced our graduation songs for them.

We are CLOSED Monday for Memorial Day. Have a great weekend!

Our photos from the last two weeks are here.
]]>Sat, 14 May 2016 12:07:42 GMThttp://thelittlebrownschool.com/class-of-2016/week-49-may-9-13We've been busy this week rehearsing for next Friday! If you would like to rehearse your child's lines, there are copies on the table as soon as you walk in our classroom. Thank you! Please plan to be in our classroom around 5 pm so you can look at the portfolios before the show starts at 5:30.

We have spent time under the sea while talking about the Pout Pout Fish and jellyfish. Be sure to check out our display in the hallway! Our field trip with Mr. Bender really sparked our interest in ocean life.

In Spanish this week we talked about the directions arriba and abajo (up and down). We put objects in a big glass jar filled with water to see if they would float arriba or sink abajo.  Students took turns making predictions and then seeing what really happened.  We discovered that el papelito, la hoja, and el palito (paper, leaf and stick) stayed arriba, and la moneda, crayon, y piedras (coin, crayon, and stones) went abajo. They were good at making predictions!

Have a great weekend!

Our photos are here.
]]>Fri, 06 May 2016 21:03:18 GMThttp://thelittlebrownschool.com/class-of-2016/week-48-may-2-6Happy Mother’s Day! We hope you enjoy the necklaces that we made for you. After our field trip to the Sands, we showed so much interest in sea critters, so we decided to do starfish. I read them a little quote from a song (“I love you like a starfish loves the salty water”), and then the children came up with the next line. I loved their responses!

We had such a great time on our field trip to the Sands- Mr. Bender showed us how to find creatures at the estuary and placed them in our tank. We had the opportunity to sketch them while observing them in the aquarium. He also brought us some coloring pages of the animals we found. Our field trip morning ended with a fun picnic with our friends.

Our rehearsals for Portfolio Night are going well, and we are excited to perform for you on Friday May 20! PLEASE tell Mrs. Fastenau if your child will NOT be able to attend this event. We have been finishing up some of the portfolio work such as tracings, cuttings, student interviews, and name samples. I cannot wait to share this compilation of work with you. The portfolios remain at school until graduation.

Thank you so much for the flowers, cards, and treats for Teacher Appreciation Week. I’m so glad to have your children in my class! Have a great weekend.

Our photos are here.
]]>Sun, 01 May 2016 13:21:04 GMThttp://thelittlebrownschool.com/class-of-2016/week-47-april-25-29We are going “under the sea” in the pre-K class now! We’ve been busy taking care of the land part of the Earth, but now we’re going to help the water part. In preparation for our field trip on Monday with Mr. Bender, we will be talking about the ocean. We have some new centers including a mermaid cave, ocean animals in the water beads, and a fish/bubble activity.

We worked on tracing and cutting some sea creature shapes such as a starfish, sand dollar, and more. These will go in our portfolios to demonstrate our growth and development since the last tracing activity. During circle time one day, we read a book about FLOATING and related it to our swim lessons.  When we are stretched out and flat like a piece of bread, we float in the water. When we curl up in a ball like if we squish the bread, we sink. We know that rocks, even small ones, sink. Someone asked whether crabs float, and when Mr. Bender came to feed the critters, he answered that for us. Some crabs have special “paddles” on their back legs to help them swim, but they don’t float.

We did our own experiment about floating on Thursday. Using a big tub of blue water and a variety of objects, we tested buoyancy. We reviewed what we learned at swim lessons about floating and applied it to these objects- napkins (spread out and smushed up), a crayon, different types of paper, a flower petal, a marble, and sea animal toys. Then the tub was used during center time for the children to experiment by themselves. They had fun!

We had such a great time at swim lessons the past two weeks! The children were so well-behaved and enthusiastic. I have been very proud of them.

La Casa:  This week in Spanish we talked about la casa (the house) and learned the words for different parts of the house:  el techo (roof), las ventanas (windows), and la puerta (door).  We learned actions for each of these words and put together our own house on the feltboard.  Students chose how many ventanas and where to put them, as well as which color puerta and the weather (sol/sunny or nublado/cloudy.)  Enthusiastic learners as always!

MONDAY- field trip to the Sands with Mr. Bender. Please let us know if you are going to attend.  

Our photos are here.
]]>Mon, 25 Apr 2016 01:05:57 GMThttp://thelittlebrownschool.com/class-of-2016/april-24th-2016I have had such a great time working with all the 3s and 4s over the last few months. Starting Monday April 25 we will be splitting back up to finish the school year. This way each class has time to work on their Portfolio Night performances, and the 4s can get ready for graduation! I am thrilled with the compassion, growth, and imagination we’ve seen since January, and I’m looking forward to getting the 3s in June! Thank you all for your support and involvement- we appreciate you.

This week we worked on the concept of symmetry and drew our self-portraits. We looked in mirrors and sketched what we saw, and then we talked about who we are as people. I loved their answers.

We celebrated Earth Day with our grandfriends today- to be festive we made and wore grass crowns on our walk, and they looked funny on our heads. Using scissors and careful fingers, we snipped blades of “grass” along the edge of the crown. We also made a beautiful painting of a scene from “The Lorax” to leave at the Helena House! Each child made their own Truffula tree.

Mrs. Cook has been pulling aside some children for Handwriting and also leaving activities and books for the others to explore during center time. We are having fun writing and drawing with new dry-erase crayons, which are great because they don’t dry out!

We are loving swim lessons at the Y, and we will be going back Monday-Thursday next week.

In Spanish this week we continued working with me gusta and no me gusta, or likes and dislikes.  The students this age have very strong opinions about things, but I was impressed that they said me gusta to the wide range of foods we discussed! 

Have a great weekend! Our photos are here. 
]]>Sun, 17 Apr 2016 01:13:42 GMThttp://thelittlebrownschool.com/class-of-2016/week-45-april-11-15We enjoyed a book called “Ten Seeds” which told a story of ten sunflower seeds being planted. Only one of the seeds made it to a flower as the rest were pulled up by animals or broken. Then we talked about what seeds we want to plant in our garden out front, and we listed vegetables, herbs, and flowers.

Our compost bin needed some more worms to make dirt, so we bought a cup of them. Each child was brave enough to handle a worm and place them gently in the compost. We know they will help break down the cantaloupe rinds, shredded paper, and more.

We worked on our art gardens this week, and they are hanging in the windows of the 3s and 4s rooms. I love that they are all different because the children had choices while making theirs.

We reviewed the Three Rs- reduce, reuse, and recycle. We are looking forward to teaching our community what we have been learning about our earth. Using pictures, a game, and an activity, we will demonstrate our environmental knowledge.

During circle time this week we were exposed to a different type of reading material with newspapers. We used our eyes to identify the letters of our name and some words that we know. Then we circled our letters with a marker until we spelled our whole name. Mr. Fastenau is a newspaper writer, so we were able to find his name and picture, too!

We spent time in the front garden planting herbs and watching the wind blow. We will be able to watch our seeds sprout in their container in the Studio!

MONDAY- we start swim lessons! Please send your child with a towel and swimsuit. We will be walking to the Y after lunch Mon-Thurs.

In Spanish this week we learned the traditional song "Los Pollitos," about baby chicks and their mother, and the hand motions which go along with it.  We also talked about Me gusta  (I like) and No me gusta (I don't like), and took a tally of likes and dislikes in the class.  We learned that most of the class likes el brócoli (broccoli), los huevos (eggs), and la sandía (watermelon)!

Our photos are here.
]]>Fri, 08 Apr 2016 13:44:06 GMThttp://thelittlebrownschool.com/class-of-2016/week-44-april-4-8We reread the Lorax and talked about the ways we are already helping him. Our composting project is going well.  Each classroom has a green bin for collecting waste during the day, and then we dump it into our garden compost. We also are feeding the birds with repurposed milk jugs and carefully sorting items into trash and recycling. We are hoping to cut down on a lot of waste leaving LBS!

We are using coffee filters, markers, and water to create pretty Earth images. Since we learned that the Earth is mostly water, there will be a good bit of blue on them! The green represents the land, which is where we live. Using a spray bottle of water, we misted our coffee filter Earths and watched the marker spread. They look realistic now!

We were excited to listen and watch a song from “The Lorax!” We pointed out the differences in the fictional Thneedville and real-life Beaufort/Port Royal such as our flowers aren’t made of plastic. We also don’t start glowing when we’ve been swimming because our pools aren’t full of yucky chemicals! We wrote the Lorax a letter letting him know what changes we have already made to our lives to protect the Earth. We also made predictions about more things we will do to help him. He will be happy!
Maybe he’ll bring us some Truffula seeds to plant! We will be taking over some of the front garden and planting some herbs and vegetables. We’ll be digging and playing with the soil, so please make sure we wear clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty.

We really enjoyed visiting with the Riverview kindergarteners! They were working on a service project, so after they read to the little children, they sang to us in Spanish. Eight of our friends from the pre-k class last year came and were so happy to see us.

After that special visit we got to work being gardeners. The book “The Curious Garden” illustrated how when people work together, they can make huge improvements in their environment. We took ice cream cones, filled them with dirt, and pressed flower seeds into them. We will keep the fragile seeds safe inside until they start to grow. Once they sprout we will be able to plant them (ice cream cone and all) in a plot in the front garden.

We went on a litter walk through our neighborhood to pick up trash. We found so much just in a couple blocks! It was so neat to see the children be so enthusiastic about cleaning our community. We wore gloves and spoke multiple times about only picking up items we recognized and weren't sharp, and the children were very conscious of this.

In Spanish this week we reviewed emotions (feliz, triste, enojado, cansado) and numbers (they were introduced to addition expressions in Spanish such as seis y seis son doce or 6+6=12).  We also did calendar activities: Hoy es lunes, Es abril, Hace sol, y Es primavera (Today is Monday, It's April, It's sunny, it's spring!)

THE SANDS FIELD TRIP- next Friday April 15 Mr. Bender will be presenting a critter lesson at the Sands, and we would love for you to come with us. We will be walking and then having lunch there.

SOFT SHELL CRAB FESTIVAL- Saturday April 16 we will have a booth to share our conservation knowledge and composting project. We would love for the 3s and 4s to volunteer some during that day. Please let us know if/when you can come!    

Our photos are here.
]]>Sun, 03 Apr 2016 14:47:29 GMThttp://thelittlebrownschool.com/class-of-2016/week-43-march-28-april-1After reading “The Lorax” last week, we decided we want to help him protect our planet. We introduced the concepts of recycling and composting, and we will delve more into that. We will start a school-wide environmental awareness project! As individuals we can still make a difference helping the Earth, so we identified different ways we can be like the Lorax.

We read a book about the three Rs today:  Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. We talked about how we can follow the three Rs to help save energy and protect our environment. We can reduce waste by turning off the water when we brush our teeth. We can reuse an older sibling’s toys. We can recycle cardboard cereal boxes. This book explained composting again, and we’ve decided to start a school-wide composting challenge. Since we already recycle, we will focus on composting to reduce our trash output.
We took a walk through the wetlands and found a snake, alligator, and turtles! We also saw trash in the water, and we don’t want this to happen. We will think how we can solve this problem.  

We decorated our posters to share with the rest of the school about what can be trashed, recycled, or composted. Then we presented our conservation plan to the 1s and 2s classes, and they are going to help us take care of the environment. Our compost bin is located in the front garden, and we even found a worm to add to it! We will be good role models for the younger children as we reduce our waste.

Fischer's mom came to visit on Thursday. She heard that we were learning about our environment and what we (and animals) need for survival. She brought in a frog, toad, lizard, snake, and baby alligator! We got to touch them and ask her questions about them. It was so cool! We are even more excited now to help the environment after seeing these awesome creatures.

¿Te gusta?  In Spanish this week we learned how to say I like (me gusta) and I don't like (no me gusta.) These are easy expressions to practice at home, and we will continue this next week with a fun game.  We also learned the words for several modes of transportation:  barco (boat), avión (plane), autobús (bus), and tren (train).  

Our photos are here. 

]]>Sun, 27 Mar 2016 12:39:31 GMThttp://thelittlebrownschool.com/class-of-2016/week-42-march-21-25This week we discussed what makes Earth a good planet for humans. We made the following list of what we need to live-

air to breathe
water to drink
food to eat
shelter for protection

Earth has all of those things, which makes it a great place for us! We will be learning how we can protect our planet and keep it safe for us.
We learned that our planet is mostly water, so one of our activities illustrated that. We tore green (land) and blue (water) construction paper and glued them together to represent the Earth. We read the book “The Curious Garden” and realized that other living things (plants, animals, trees) have needs, too.

We began an experiment using identical plants (a type of ivy called “Pixie Dixie”). We labeled one A and one B- for plant A, we are going to supply all of its required needs (water, nutrient-rich soil, sunlight, fresh air); plant B will not receive any of those things. We made predictions about what will happen to both plants, and we will observe them over the next week or so.
We read “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss, a prophetic tale about how greed can destroy the environment. We identified that the Onceler took away food, clean water, fresh air, and shelter from the animals who once lived there. Since the Lorax asked for help keeping the world safe, we are planning to do our part!

In Handwriting we have been focusing on the capital letter R (big line, little curve, little line), so today we made rabbits! We used scissors to cut out the rabbit shape then glued decorations to it. It was hard work guiding the scissors with our little fingers.

We had such a wonderful time at our Easter egg hunt at the Helena House! Our grand friends were so happy to see us and watch us run around their courtyard. We each found eggs and got a treat bag from the Easter Bunny, and they can go home with us today.

Hola!  In Spanish this week we learned a new song for Springtime, "Pedro el Conejito" (Peter the little rabbit).   We also learned some insect names in Spanish to go along with the song:  una mosca (a fly), una abeja (a bee), and una mariposa (a butterfly).  See a link to the song here!  http://www.spanishplayground.net/spanish-song-actions-pedro-el-conejito/

Our photos are here.
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