Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Newsletter 4/30/14

Important Dates to Remember:
May 2nd - "Are We There Yet?" School Musical at UAA Music Hall; 6:30PM 
May 22nd - Last day of Preschool; noon dismissal with picnic immediately following

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"There is a Bird on Your Head!" by Mo Willems
"A Color of His Own" by Leo Lionni
"Zoo-Looking" by Mem Fox

Afternoon Books
"This Old Man" by Pam Adams

PLANNING & RECALL
This week we use a hula hoop during planning and recall time to act as a bird's nest. We take turns being the bird who sits in the nest and shares work time plans.

BIBLE LESSON
On the first Easter Sunday evening, Jesus' disciples were gathered together in a locked room. They were afraid of what Jesus' enemies might do to them. They had heard the message from the women that Jesus was alive, but they had not seen him with their own eyes yet. As they were talking together, Jesus suddenly appeared in the room with them and said, "Peace be with you!" He showed them the nail marks in his hands and feet, and the place in his side where the spear had cut him. The disciples were overjoyed to see Jesus! One of the disciples, Thomas, had not been there that evening when Jesus appeared to the rest of the disciples. After hearing the news from the others, Thomas would not believe them. He said, "Unless I see and touch the nail marks in his hands and the wound in his side, I will not believe Jesus is alive." One week later, the disciples were once again gathered in the locked room. This time Thomas was also there. Again, Jesus appeared with them in the room and said, "Peace be with you!" Then he approached Thomas and told him to feel the nail marks in his hands and touch his side. Jesus told Thomas to stop doubting and believe. Thomas then believed that Jesus was alive. Jesus told Thomas, "You believe I am alive because you have seen me. Blessed are the people who have not seen me and still believe."

Bible verse: Mark 9:24 "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief."
Bible song: "I Know That My Redeemer Lives"

MUSIC
In music this week, we use the song "Eency Weency Spider" to explore the concept of phrases in melodies. Most melodies are comprised of several short segments called phrases, and the children work on identifying these phrases through actions. Each new set of actions in this song establishes where the phrases are. Another new song we learned this week is "This Old Man."

MOVEMENT
In Movement Time we explore and manipulate bean bags. We practice our balancing skills as we place them on our knees, shoulders, elbows and feet. We also practice some tossing skills while sitting in a large circle. We toss our bean bags slowly and quickly, and low, middle, and high. We warm up and cool down with the songs, "The Bean Bag" and "Balance It".

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during Small Group Time, we’re focusing on some Key Developmental Indicators (KDI) that have to do with Personal Care and Physical Development. We work on skills such as threading shoe strings through a lace pattern card and zipping zippers on jackets - which also brings in some great fine motor skills. At the end of the week we add a sensory aspect to physical development as we crack eggs and whisk them with forks. We've also spent some extra time this week preparing for our opening songs for the Spring Musical on Friday night. 

Last week's letter hunt outside





Enjoying an Olive Garden lunch with our preschool families

Building a "huge" tower!



Posing with our unique superhero masks. 
Butterflies, princesses, friends

L. loves doing puzzles!

Making a quick phone call to "Elsa" from Frozen

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Newsletter 4/23/14

Important Dates to Remember:
May 2nd - "Are We There Yet?" School Musical at UAA Music Hall; 6:30PM 

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? " by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague
"Ernest the Moose Who Doesn't Fit" by Catherine Rayner
"The Odd Egg " by Emily Gravett

Afternoon Books
"Run, Dog! " by Cecile Boyer

PLANNING & RECALL
Planning time is important because it encourages children to articulate their ideas, choices, and decisions and promotes their self-confidence and sense of control. This week at planning and recall time children use plastic links or Unifix cubes to add to a chain when it is their turn to plan.

BIBLE LESSON
After Jesus had died that Friday afternoon, a man named Joseph asked Pilate if he could take Jesus' body down from the cross and bury it in a tomb he owned, which had never been used. Joseph believed in Jesus, loved him, and wanted to give him a proper burial. Jesus' body was prepared for burial in the tomb. Two days later, some women went to the place where Jesus was buried to add nice smelling spices to the body. As they neared the tomb, one of the women, Mary Magdalene, wondered how they would roll away the large stone blocking the entrance to the tomb. When they got there, they saw that the large rock had already been rolled away. Mary immediately ran to tell the disciples what she had seen. The other women went to the tomb, afraid of what they might find. Suddenly an angel appeared to them saying, "Don't be afraid! You are looking for Jesus. He is not here! He is alive! Now go quickly and tell his disciples." The women left, still afraid of all that had happened but excited to hear and tell the news of Jesus' resurrection from the dead.

We rejoice to hear our Savior rose from death - defeating sin, death, and the devil just as he said he would. His resurrection from the dead means that one day we too will rise from death to live eternally with him in heaven.
Bible verse: John 11:25 "I am the resurrection and the life."
Bible song: "I Know That My Redeemer Lives"

MUSIC
This week we learn about timbres (colors or sounds) in music. Different rhythm instruments produce various timbres such as jingle (rings), bang (boom), tap (click, clack), and shake (rattle, swish). In early encounters with rhythm instruments, the experience of sound is more important than rhythmic and melodic considerations. Children are very interested in the sounds instruments produces. The song we use to explore timbres is called "Ring and Ring the Jingle Bells".

MOVEMENT
In Movement Time we warm up to one of our favorite songs "Knees Up Mother Brown". Our work with the parachute gets a little more active this week as we add soft balls to the mix. We play a game called "Popcorn" to pretend the balls are popcorn kernels waiting to pop. We also pretend our parachute is a large umbrella that we get under to hide from the rain. We close movement time with the fitting song, "Popcorn Calling Me".

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during Small Group Time, we’re focusing on the Key Developmental Indicator (KDI): Alphabetic Knowledge. Miss Lewis created a very cool tree in our classroom this past weekend and we'll be using that tree later in the week as we go through the story "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom". On Tuesday and Wednesday we decorate paper letters after reading the story. On Thursday we work on attaching the letters we created to our tree and on Friday we act out the story ourselves. 
Singing "I'm Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee"

 


Working with rhythm sticks in Music Time



Our "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" tree


Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Newsletter 4/16/14

Important Dates to Remember:
April 18th - No Preschool; Good Friday
April 21st - No Preschool; Easter Monday 
April 19th - Kid's Day at the Dena'ina Center; 10AM-4PM
May 2nd - "Are We There Yet?" School Musical at UAA Music Hall; 6:30PM 

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"Naked Mole Rate Gets Dressed" by Mo Willems
"Mr. Tiger Goes Wild" by Peter Brown
"Old Black Fly" by Jim Aylesworth

Afternoon Books
"The Nowhere Box" by Sam Zuppardi

PLANNING & RECALL
This week at planning and recall time we use Bananagram letter tiles to draw children's letters from a bag. The children have been enjoying the surprise of seeing whose tile they pick from the bag. This also gives us the chance to practice some letter recognition.

BIBLE LESSON
This week we hear how Jesus was handed over to his enemies to be crucified on the cross. Jesus was taken to stand before the leader named Pilate. Although Pilate saw no valid charges that could be made against Jesus, he was afraid about what the crowd would do if he let Jesus go free. The crowd of Jesus' enemies shouted, "Crucify him!" and Pilate gave in to their demands. Jesus was beaten, mocked, spit on, and nailed to the tree. Around midday, Jesus spoke the words, "It is finished!", bowed his head, and died. 

Hearing about Jesus' incredible suffering and gruesome death makes us sad. Even though he was perfect and didn't deserve punishment, he went through it all willingly in our place. We grieve that our sins put him on that cross, but at the same time we are happy. His death means our life. He paid for the sins of all people for all time. We rejoice that through faith in Jesus, we will live in heaven with God forever because of his death on the cross for us. 

Bible verse: Ephesians 1:7 "We have through Jesus' blood, the forgiveness of sins."
Bible song: "Oh Perfect Life of Love"

MUSIC
This week we continue to explore rhythms and clapping the beat of a variety of rhythms. We clap the basic rhythms to the song "Hey, Betty Martin!" We focus on clapping rhythms that are the same as the ones modeled by the teacher, as well as patterns that are different. Some other songs we sing at Music Time include "Shoo Fly", "Here Is the Beehive", and "Clap My Name".

MOVEMENT
In Movement Time we warm up to the song "Dance Freeze". We continue to explore the parachute this week as we play the game "Color Jump". When the teacher shouts the name of a color, whoever is sitting by that color on the parachute stands up, and jumps in the air. We also practice shaking, rattling, and rolling the parachute as well as standing and working together to move it like a wheel.

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during Small Group Time, we’re focusing on the Key Developmental Indicator (KDI): Art. On Monday we split into smaller groups to paint by rolling marbles in a round tub across the paper. On Tuesday and Wednesday we worked on creating paper chains while also practicing to use staplers and scissors. On Thursday we had the choice to either paint using watercolors, or play with play dough.

Proud of the shapes she had created with the Geoboards.



Happy 4th Birthday!

Drawing two smiley faces 
My turn to be the teacher and read our morning
story!

Relaxing and eating snack

Our twin "Elsa"s playing "Frozen"

Drawing letter tiles from a bag at Planning Time
I'm a fireman!

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Newsletter 4/9/14

Important Dates to Remember:
April 11th - Egg-stravaganza egg decorating at Faith; 6:00-8:00PM
April 12th - UAA Creative Arts Fair 1-4PM
April 18th - No Preschool; Good Friday
April 21st - No Preschool; Easter Monday 

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"That is Not a Good Idea" by Mo Willems
"How to Hide a Lion" by Helen Stephens
"Have You Seen My New Blue Socks?" by Eve Bunting

Afternoon Books
"David Goes to School" by David Shannon

PLANNING & RECALL
This week at planning and recall time we incorporate literacy into the process. Children have a chance to write or draw their plans for work time. Giving children frequent and varied opportunities to write and draw, no matter at what stage they are, increases their concept of print.

BIBLE LESSON
In the church year, we are in the season of Lent and quickly approaching Easter. Because of this, we have made a jump in our Bible lesson from Old Testament lessons to the New Testament. In this week's lesson, we hear how Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem the week before he would die on the cross. After sharing a special meal with his twelve disciples, he went to the Garden of Gethsemane with them to pray. He instructed his disciples to wait for him while he prayed alone. Jesus cried out to his Heavenly Father asking him to take away the suffering he knew he was about to endure. Yet Jesus knew that his Father's will would be done. After praying in the garden, Judas, one of Jesus' disciples who betrayed him, led Jesus' enemies to him to so they could arrest him.

In his time of turmoil, Jesus turned to his Heavenly Father in prayer and knew he would hear him. Jesus knew his Father's will and answer would be the best, so he prayed that his Father's will would be done. We also want to pray that whatever our Father wants for us will be done, because we know that he loves us and wants what is best for us. 
Bible verse: Ephesians 1:7 "We have through Jesus' blood, the forgiveness of sins."
Bible song: "Oh Perfect Life of Love"

MUSIC
This week we learn about rhythm and the concept that rhythm patterns may be either the same or different. A rhythm pattern is a series of several notes that comprise a logical unit. Children begin to develop their ability to hear and perform short rhythm patterns this week. We sing the song "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear" to explore these rhythmic concepts, using our hands and instruments to copy the patterns.

MOVEMENT
In Movement Time we warm up to the song "Work Your Body" which asks us to stretch, bend, squat, climb, bend at the waist, kick our legs, and turn around. We have all really enjoyed using our new material this week: a parachute. In the introduction lesson we explore the parachute by sitting down and hiding our legs under it. We create slow and fast waves, practice rowing the parachute "boat" and rolling up the chute into a ball. To close our lesson we cool down with a song called "Run and Walk".

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during Small Group Time, we’re focusing on a Key Developmental Indicator (KDI): Shapes . At first, very young children are not able to consistently differentiate one shape from another, such as triangles or rectangles. Somewhat later, children do form general categories for shapes, but they relate them to their own experiences rather than to identifiable or distinctive properties. For example, they say a figure is a rectangle "because it looks like a door" or something is a circle "because it's like a clock". To encourage children's development in shape recognition we practice shaping and naming 2D shapes, create shapes with pipe cleaners, go on a shape hunt in the classroom, glue and match shapes, and play a guessing game with shapes.

Filling and emptying materials
 into cardboard tubes.

Working together

Filling and emptying water with
spoons and pipettes.

This is pretty fun!

It takes patience to fill up these muffin tins.

"Robin" to the rescue!

My written plan for Work Time.

I am going to the Sand Table at
Work Time.

Making waves with the parachute.

The storm got bigger and the waves get more rough!

Working to create a rectangle shape with the
pipe cleaner.

Trying to wrap the pipe cleaner around the circular block.

I love the soft feel of the pipe cleaner as I work
to make different shapes!

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Newsletter 4/2/14

Important Dates to Remember:
April 12th - UAA Creative Arts Fair 1-4PM
April 18th - No Preschool; Good Friday
April 21st - No Preschool; Easter Monday 

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"Let's Go for a Drive" by Mo Willems
"Sheep in a Shop" by Margot Apple
"Mole and the Baby Bird" by Marjorie Newman

Afternoon Books
"A Funny Little Bird" by Jennifer Yerkes

PLANNING & RECALL
This week at planning and recall time we use a microphone made out of our toy magnets to share our work time plans.

BIBLE LESSON
A man named King Nebuchadnezzar made a rule in his land that all people must bow down and worship a golden statue. Three Israelite believers named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to worship the statue. They knew it was a sin to bow down to the statue and they continued to worship the one true God. When this was reported to the king, it made him very angry and he threw the men into a fiery furnace. Before long, the king noticed that there was a fourth person in the furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He was seeing the angel that God sent to protect his three faithful men in the furnace. After calling the men out and realizing that not even a hair on their heads was singed, he made the decree that anyone who said anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would be put to death. 

Just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we should also keep God as the most important thing in our lives - placing him above any earthly blessing, friends, or family. He has forgive our sins through Jesus and wants us to worship and serve him alone. We ask God to give us strength to do this!
Bible verse: Matthew 4:10b "Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only."
Bible song: "Surely It Is God Who Saves Me"

MUSIC
This week we continue to practice ascending, descending, and repeated-note patterns. We learned the song "We Can Make a New Song" to explore the concept as the pitches go high, low, and repeat. Moving our bodies, looking at visual cue cards, and getting the chance to play the piano ourselves help us to remember these musical concepts.

MOVEMENT
We continue our work with scarves this week as we warm up to the song "Kuma San". We turn around, touch the ground, and reach in the air with our scarves. Some of the scarf challenges we practice include folding the scarf into rectangles, squares and triangles on the carpet, throwing them, clapping our hands, and trying to catch the scarf before it touches the ground. We end movement time with the song "Toss and Catch".

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during Small Group Time, we’re focusing on a Key Developmental Indicator (KDI): Filling and Emptying . The simple act of filling and emptying is a satisfying activity for preschoolers. As they gain experience with putting objects together (filling) and separating them (emptying), these actions eventually help them see objects as together or separated in space. We filled egg cartons with beans, counted how many scoops it took to fill cups with materials such as gem stones, noodles, buttons, and beads, filled empty water bottles with cotton balls, pom poms, and shredded paper, filled toilet role tubes with caps and pieces of wood, and filled and emptied cups with water.