Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Newsletter 10/29/14

Important Dates to Remember:
October 30th-November 2nd - Scholastic Book Fair at Faith
November 3rd - Scholastic book orders are due back for personal book orders
November 23rd - Preschool students sing in church at Faith at 11:00AM

Special Notes:
The cold weather is upon us. Thanks for bringing in snow gear and all the appropriate warm clothes for you child. The children are working hard at becoming independent dressers. Putting all that gear on can be a lot of work. It would be a great help for us teachers if you encouraged independent dressing at home as well. The more practice, the better. Check out this article for some valuable information:
Teaching Your Child to Get Dressed

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"The Napping House" by Audrey Wood
"The Doorbell Rang" by Pat Hutchins
"Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale" by Mo Willems

Afternoon Books
"City Dog, Country Frog" by Mo Willems

PLANNING & RECALL
This week's planning and recall activity focuses on name recognition. The children's names are written on a piece of paper, and the children take turns drawing a slip from a hat. We then work together as a group to read the name that was drawn. It's then that person's turn to plan. The children are quite expert at identifying each other's first letter, so some names are quite easy to read. It can get pretty tricky with all the children's names that start with "A" though!

BIBLE LESSON
God's people continued to live in the land of Egypt for many years and were called Israelites. The new king in the land became worried that the large number of Israelites would turn against him and join his enemies in fighting against him. He made the Israelites work very hard as his slaves, making bricks and working in the fields. Finally, the king made a new order to have all Israelite baby boys killed by being thrown into the river. One Israelite woman hid her newborn son at home, but as he grew older it became harder to hide him. She made a basket, placed her son in it, and set it among the tall plants in the river. The baby's sister stood nearby and watched the basket. Soon the daughter of the king came to the river to wash herself. She saw the basket floating in the river and after retrieving it and finding the baby, she felt sorry for him and wanted to keep him as her own. The baby's sister came to the king's daughter and asked if she would like her to find an Israelite woman to feed and care for the baby while he was still so young. The king's daughter agreed and the sister went to find the baby's own mother, who took care of him until he was older. When he grew older, she took him back to the palace to live, and the king's daughter raised him as her son, and gave him the name Moses.

Bible verse: Psalm 31:15a "My times are in your hands."
Bible song: "Consider How the Birds Above" (We'll be singing verses from this hymn for quite a while because we're learning it to sing in church on November 23rd)

MUSIC 
We bring a variety of concepts into Music Time this week. It may seem unlikely, but one of the concepts we're working on is building relationships and cooperative play. One of the chants we learn is called "One to Ten Circle" where we work on moving in a circle cooperatively, without hurting or pulling our neighbors. In the second song called "The Moose Song", we work on a sung call and response. The teacher sings part of the song, and then the children copy and repeat it back. The song is pretty silly. The moose named Fred drinks his juice in bed, and becomes a sticky moose! Finally, we tie literature into Music Time with the book "The Wheels on the Bus" by Maryann Kovalski. 

MOVEMENT
This is our last week of working with scarves during Movement Time. Children have the opportunity to dance to two familiar songs, "Kuma San" and "Caterpillars to Butterflies". We also continue to practice a variety of tossing challenges such as tossing and clapping as many times as we can before we catch it. We've also been working on the tricky concept of making different shapes by folding our scarves. Most of us can do rectangles, squares, and triangles. We add a fun game called "Abracadabra" this week as well. We pretend to be magicians who hide their scarves up their sleeve, or in their pocket, or under their shirt before we shout "abracadabra!" and reveal them.

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during small group time, we’re focusing on the Key Developmental Indicator (KDI): Number Words and Symbols. Young children encounter numbers and number concepts all the time in their environment. They learn to use cardinal numbers (zero, one, two...) and also ordinal numbers (first, second, third...). Children develop what is called "number sense", the awareness that numbers represent the quantity of things in a set and can be manipulated or operated on in various ways. The ways we encouraged "number sense" this week include sticking buttons onto number templates with sticky tack, shaping numbers with playdough and making the corresponding number of playdough apples, sorting dominoes by number, rolling dice and building a unifix cube tower with the same number of blocks as the number we rolled on the dice, and adding blocks to a taped number line on the floor.
I can write my name!

Pounding golf tees into pumpkins. 

Concentrating so I don't hammer my fingers.

Scooping rice with spoons.

Working to stick buttons onto number templates.

I love working with the sticky tack.

Lining up those buttons just right.



Cheese!

Molding play dough into numbers.

One done, on to number two.

I really loved this activity!

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Newsletter 10/22/14

Important Dates to Remember:
October 24th - Faith's Harvest Carnival; 6:30PM-8:30PM
October 30th-November 2nd - Scholastic Book Fair at Faith
November 23rd - Preschool students sing in church at Faith at 11:00AM

Special Notes:
The PTF is still asking for donations for our upcoming Harvest Carnival.
Candy donations can be brought at any time and left in the school office. Cakes, cupcakes, caramel apples, and any creations fit for our Cake Walk can be brought to school from Tuesday, October 21st and left in the kitchen. Please label items left “For Cake Walk”.

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"Time to Sleep" by Denise Fleming
"Caps for Sale" by Esphyr Slobodkina
"Pete the Cat Rocking in My School Shoes" by Eric Litwin

Afternoon Books
"Franklin's Canoe Trip" by Paulette Bourgeois

PLANNING & RECALL
This week we use a variety of colored, plastic animals to plan and recall. Each child is given an animal, and when their animal is called they put it in a cup and then share their Work Time plans.  

BIBLE LESSON
Joseph became a very important ruler in Egypt, the man in charge of gathering and storing enough food for the years of famine in the land. Joseph's family lived in a land where there was little food to eat during these years. One day they traveled to Egypt to buy some food. Joseph immediately recognized these men as his brothers, but instead of revealing his identity, he wanted to see if they had changed. He gave them some grain, but made them promise to return with their youngest brother Benjamin if they ever wanted to buy more grain. Before long, their first supply of grain ran out. They returned to Egypt with Benjamin to buy some more. This time when he sent them away with more grain, Joseph planted one of his silver cups in one of the brother's sacks of grain. He sent his servant after the brothers to get the silver cup. The brothers denied having the cup and vowed that if it was found, the brother in whose sack it was found, would die and the rest of the brothers would become Joseph's slaves. Sure enough, the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. The brothers threw themselves on the ground before Joseph, willing to work for him the rest of their lives. They realized their wickedness in selling their brother Joseph many years ago. When Joseph realized that his brothers were truly sorry for what they had done, he could no longer keep his identity a secret. He told his brothers who he was. After overcoming their fear of him, the brothers realized that it really was him and were overjoyed to be reunited. They returned home to get their father Jacob and bring him back to Egypt so that he too could be reunited with his son Joseph.

Bible verse: Romans 8:28 "God works for the good of those who love him."
Bible song: "Consider How the Birds Above" (We'll be singing verses from this hymn for quite a while because we're learning it to sing in church on November 23rd)

MUSIC 
This week's music songs continue to explore the fast and slow tempos. "Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush" provides a chance for children to sing while they move their bodies quickly and slowly around the bush. We also sing songs such as "The Hokey Pokey", "Here are Grandma's Spectacles", and "Slippery Fish". The children especially LOVE the song "Slippery Fish".

MOVEMENT
We open Movement time with our review song "Toss and Catch". By the second week we do this song, the children know it pretty well and can anticipate what actions come next. We catch our scarves on our backs, hair, foot, arms, and with our hands. We also clap and catch, and spin and catch. After a few rounds of Simon Says and trying various scarf challenges, we close with the song "Animal Action". Children move around the room like elephants, snakes, birds, frogs, and cats. The scarves help us get into the characters of the different animals - especially the bird!

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during small group time, we’re focusing on the Key Developmental Indicator (KDI): Fine Motor Skills. In activities that focus on fine motor skills, children have the opportunity to practice and demonstrate dexterity and hand-eye coordination in using their small muscles. Fine motor skills such as writing, drawing, and cutting with precision can be difficult for many preschoolers, so young children are encouraged to explore materials and practice skills according to their own expectations and internal motivation, not to meet the possibly unrealistic standards set by adults. On Monday we used our fingers to pinch tacks and pin them into a pumpkin. On Tuesday we played with a partner in the new sensory bins that were gifted to us over the weekend. Some of the bins had corn, beans, or rice with different themed activities in them like cars, gardening, puzzles, treasures, or farm animals. The children really enjoyed these! On Wednesday we threaded beads onto string to make necklaces that we'll send to children in Africa. On Thursday and Friday we work with pumpkins again as we pound golf tees into the pumpkins and then cut them open to dig out the insides.
I wrote my name!

I enjoyed drawing circles in straight lines. This actually shows a
great concept of print!

Pastor Ewings visits us on Thursday to teach us our Bible Lesson.

The picnic demonstrated the years of plenty and the years of little
in our Joseph Bible Lesson.

After the Bible Lesson we sing "Jesus Loves Me"
in Spanish with instruments.

Last week's measuring activity.

"I am batman!" (He did not want to be called
superman.)

Working together to put tacks into our pumpkin.

 
I was really putting my fine motor skills to work when I tried to pin
my tack into a little mark on the pumpkin.



We made some of our tacks into "mean" faces on the pumpkin.

Exploring a new alphabet and rice sensory bin.

Digging through the colorful rice to find the puzzle pieces.

Our new student digging through the "treasure"
themed sensory bin.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Newsletter 10/15/14

Important Dates to Remember:
October 17th (This Friday) - End of First Quarter; noon dismissal
October 20th - "Making Life Better" class with Pastor Ewings; 6:30PM-8:00PM
October 24th - Faith's Harvest Carnival; 6:30PM-8:30PM

Special Notes:
If you'd like to help donate goods or time to our Harvest Carnival this year, there will be another work night at school this Wednesday the 15th starting at 6:30PM. Another way you may consider helping is by making donations of candy for the goody bags. You can bring them to the school office at any time. You could also donate cakes/cupcakes/caramel apples/cookies for the cake walk. The PTF would like those by 10/23 or 10/24 or as you arrive for the carnival that evening. Thanks! :)

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"Oink! Moo! How Do You Do?" by Grace Maccarone
"Sheep in a Jeep" by Nancy Shaw
"The Mixed Up Alphabet" by Steve Metzger
"Giraffes Can't Dance" by Giles Andreae

Afternoon Books
"Mooncake" by Frank Asch
"Happy Birthday Moon" by Frank Asch

PLANNING & RECALL
This week for planning and recall time we used animal puppets. Children chose which animal puppet they wanted to use, and many of them used pretend voices to share their Work Time plans. Right before we have planning time in the morning, we have Morning Message time, where the teacher writes a special message or reminder for the children. Children really enjoy trying to decipher and interpret my (often terribly drawn) pictures. Messages can include reminders to flush toilets, or use only 1 or 2 paper towels. They can be used to let children know if something different will be happening during our routine such as a visitor or if we move something around in the schedule. If it's a child's birthday or we have a new student, they are often the focus of the message as well.  

BIBLE LESSON
While living in Egypt, Joseph worked for a man named Potiphar, who was one of the Pharaoh's high officials. Joseph worked so hard that he was put in charge of Potiphar's household. But after some false accusations by Potiphar's wife, Joseph was thrown into prison. While in prison, Joseph helped the other prisoners by using his God-given ability to interpret dreams. After spending a few years in prison, the king of Egypt had some dreams that were troubling him. Joseph was brought to him to interpret his dreams and God gave Joseph the ability to interpret them. Seven years of plenty were about to come to Egypt - plenty of food and rain. But seven years of famine were to follow. Joseph advised the king to place a man in charge to make sure that during the seven good years, they could save up enough food for the coming famine. The king liked Joseph's plan and made him in charge of the land. God took Joseph, the lowly prisoner, and made him a ruler in Egypt, second in command to the king himself. 

The lesson this week illustrates how God's plan may be very different from our own. Who would have thought that Joseph - sold as a slave to some merchants from Egypt, would become a great ruler? God works ALL things for the good of those who love him.

Bible verse: Romans 8:28 "God works for the good of those who love him."
Bible song: "Consider How the Birds Above" (We'll be singing verses from this hymn for quite a while because we're learning it to sing in church on November 23rd)

MUSIC 
Music time provides not only an opportunity to learn new songs, but it also touches on a Key Developmental Indicator within the Creative Arts section: Music. Young children begin to develop ideas about rhythmic and tonal patterns, beat, and tempo. They also begin to explore music's emotional component and spontaneously use and create music during their free play. According to music educators Cherie Stallacio and Marie McCarthy, "Early childhood years are critical to the development of the child's potential for comprehending and producing music." This weeks' song is called "Did You Ever See A Turtle?" - which focuses on tempo (or speed). We also tie in literature to Music Time as we read and sing the book "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" by Iza Trapani.

MOVEMENT
We open Movement time with the song "Caterpillars to Butterflies”, but instead of using ribbons this week, a new item is introduced -- scarves.  After pretending we're caterpillars and butterflies, we move on to some challenges with the scarves. We practice balancing them on various parts of our bodies such as our knees, feet, elbows, shoulders, and head. We also try to roll our scarves into a ball, balance them on our hands or elbows, and blow them off. It's quite challenging to blow enough air to actually make the scarf fall off! We end Movement Time with some catching practice. "Toss and Catch" is our final song, where we practice our "crab pinch" catching as well as catching with parts of our bodies - head, back, tummy, and hands. 

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during small group time, we’re focusing on the Key Developmental Indicator (KDI): measuring. For preschoolers, measurement is about realizing that things have measurable properties and making comparisons on these dimensions (height, volume, age, time, older and younger, lightest and heaviest, short, medium and tall). We focus more on the length,height, and volume measurements this week with our small group experiences.
Our measuring activities this week include using "pancakes" (paper circles) to measure ourselves. The class average was 9 pancakes placed side by side. We used magna-tiles to measure various objects like blocks, stuffed animals, and yarn. On Wednesday we measure ourselves again - this time using yarn. Keep your eyes peeled for our body measuring activity to be posted on a wall somewhere. On Thursday we measure the quantities of different materials such as rocks, cheerios, beans, and noodles using measuring cups and spoons. On Friday we'll go back to measuring length when we measure the distance we can jump. We'll use tape measures to help us measure the distance of our frog jumps.

Welcome to our new student! He's enjoying
tracing letter shapes in the sand.

Matching up lower case and upper case letters on spoons.

I did it!

Welcome to our 2nd new student!

Working with scarves during Movement Time.

Trying to balance them on our elbows.

This picture makes me laugh every single time
I see it! Balancing scarves on our head.

Toss and Catch

Great mid-action shot!

Measuring with paper pancakes

Let's count to see how "long" he is.

Doing the "Tootie Ta" during Morning Stories.

Wearing Mr. Potato Head's glasses.

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Newsletter 10/8/14

Important Dates to Remember:
October 13th - "Making Life Better" class with Pastor Ewings; 6:30PM-8:00PM
October 17th - End of First Quarter; noon dismissal
October 24th - Faith's Harvest Carnival; 6:30PM-8:30PM

Special Notes:
If you'd like to help donate goods or time to our Harvest Carnival this year, there will be 2 work nights at school (October 8th and October 15th starting at 6:30PM) to start making decorations. Another way you may consider helping is by making donations of candy for the goody bags. You can bring them to the school office at any time. You could also donate cakes/cupcakes/caramel apples/cookies for the cake walk. The PTF would like those by 10/23 or 10/24 or as you arrive for the carnival that evening. Thanks! :)

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"Alaska ABC Book" by Charlene Kreeger and Shannon Cartwright
"Bears in the Night" by Stan and Jan Berenstain
"Cat's Colors" by Jane Cabrera
"The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle

Afternoon Books
"Franklin and the Tooth Fairy" by Paulette Bourgeois

PLANNING & RECALL
Recalling activities involves social interaction on a very personal level. Children have to find the right words, actions, and gestures to convey their meaning to others. The process of talking about their intentions and actions helps children actually create or construct meaningful memories. This week we use playing cards for planning and recall. The children are dealt a card, and when the teacher turns over the matching card, it's their turn to talk. 

BIBLE LESSON
In our lesson this week we hear how Jacob was now an older man, and was blessed with many sons and a daughter. One of his sons was named Joseph, and Jacob gave Joseph a beautiful coat to wear. Joseph was not very well liked by his brothers, who thought their father favored and loved him more than he loved them. One day, they beat Joseph up and threw him into well, with the plan to kill him later. Shortly after that, some merchants from Egypt came by and the brothers decided to sell Joseph to them instead. When they returned home, they told their father that Joseph had been killed by wild animals out in the field. When Jacob heard the news, he wept for his son Joseph, believing he had been killed. Yet God knew what had happened, and it was part of His plan for Joseph to be taken to Egypt. 

Joseph may have been afraid--afraid of his brothers, their intent to kill him, when they sold them to strange people from a strange land, and when he was taken to a new land. Yet God was always with Joseph, and had a special plan for him. God gives us the promise that he is always with us as well and that all things work together for the good of those who love him. (Romans 8:28)

Bible verse: Isaiah 41:10 "Do not fear, for I am with you."
Bible song: "Cast All Your Anxiety On Him"

MUSIC 
Our study of steady beat in music continues this week. We have greatly increased our ability to clap, tap or play instruments along to the new songs we learn. Our songs for this week include "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and "Four in a Boat". We keep the beat by clapping along, or rocking our bodies back and forth. We even play a little game for the song "Four in a Boat" as we pretend to be in a boat rocking from side to side.

MOVEMENT
We warm up our bodies with ribbons to the familiar song “Kuma San”.  We then attempt a variety of ribbon challenges such as making different shapes and letters in the air, and following the leader as we move our ribbons in different ways around the classroom. A perfect tie in to one our morning stories, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", comes in the closing song "Caterpillars to Butterflies". We curl up like caterpillars in our cocoon until we break free, stretch our wings, and fly with our colorful ribbon wings around the carpet.

SMALL GROUP TIME
The KDI for this week’s small group activities is alphabetic knowledge. So much of young children's early literacy learning is connected. Speaking, listening, reading, and writing develop concurrently (together) rather an sequentially (one after the other). Literacy learning is often social as children seek to interact and communicate with others. It also occurs during meaningful interactions, experiences, and activities. We try to create experiences that are hands-on for each child to explore materials and identify letters based on their own level of development. Literacy experiences we explore this week include dot letter painting, identifying matching letters by sticking stickers onto a cardboard tube, tracing different letters with our fingers in salt trays, ordering and matching letters with can lids and plastic spoons, and playing a game where teachers call out a letter, and the children pop the appropriate letter bubble which is made out of shaving cream and glue.
I love my "baby penguin".

Take a picture of me too!

Getting ready to see what happens when we put
a balloon full of pop rocks over a bottle of coke.

The balloon is filling with air!

These were from last week's KDI "experimenting".

Exploding a bottle of Diet coke by putting some Mentos candy in it.

Look at it explode into the air!

Flying our balloon airplanes on a
string across the room.

Look at it go!

A little one-to-one correspondence learning as we practice letter shapes.



Matching letter stickers onto a tube with corresponding letters.