Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Newsletter 1/28/15

Important Dates to Remember:
January 30th - School Choice Movie Night and Ice Cream Social; 7:00pm-8:30pm
February 12,13,16 - No Preschool; Teacher's Conference and President's Day

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed" by Mo Willems
"Tadpole's Promise" by Tony Ross
"Pie in the Sky" by Lois Ehlert

Afternoon Books
"There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Rose" by Lucille Colandro

PLANNING & RECALL
This week we bring a mixture of fine motor skills and literacy to planning time as children had the chance to write or draw their work time plans on a whiteboard. Some children chose to write letters which represented the area in which they wanted to play and others drew pictures.

BIBLE LESSON
This week we reached the portion in our Bible curriculum where we hear about the Christmas story. Since we already inserted these lessons at the appropriate time in December, and then returned to our Old Testament lessons again, we will be picking up where we left off after the Christmas story. 
There was a wicked king in the land at the time of Jesus' birth named King Herod. When he heard that a new king had been born (Jesus) he was afraid that this king would try and take over the kingship as he got older. He viewed Jesus as a threat and wanted him killed. When his attempts at finding out where Jesus was failed, he made a horrible order to his soldiers to go out into the land and put to death all the baby boys two years old or younger, hoping that Jesus would be killed in the process. God sent an angel to Joseph who warned him to take Mary and Jesus and flee to Egypt, where they would stay until it was safe to return home to Israel.

God had a plan for Jesus. Jesus came to this earth to live perfectly in our place, to suffer and die in our place, and to defeat sin, death, and hell by rising from the dead. All this would not be accomplished if Jesus would have been killed by Herod as an infant. God also promises to be with us always and commands his angels to watch over us. Praise God that his loving plans and purposes always prevail!
Bible verse: Psalm 91:11 "He will command his angels to guard you in all your ways."
Bible song: "Surely It Is God Who Saves Me"

MUSIC 
This week in Music we will be exploring new instruments - handbells! We will be discussing the proper use of handbells and how to control them. As the week goes on, we will work on learning to read music (with color symbols) as we learn to play familiar songs such as "Jesus Loves Me". 

MOVEMENT
We open movement time this week with the song "Penguin Waddle". We then move on to play some new games with bean bags and hula hoops. We are practicing our underhanded throwing technique as well as our aim. We lay the hula hoops flat on the floor and try tossing our beanbag into the center of the circle. As we get better at our aim, we move the hula hoops further away from our bodies to make it more challenging. The children have enjoyed tossing their beanbags in this way. We hear lots of clapping and cheering as children get the beanbag in the hoops or cheer on their classmates. We end with a song called "The Beanbag" where we get to toss the beanbag, catch, turn around with it, and balance it on our shoulders, knees, feet, arm, finger, and head. 

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during Small Group Time, we’re focusing on the Key Developmental Indicators (KDI): Number Awareness and Counting. One Monday we use magnet wands to dip them into a cup filled with magnetic tiles. As we pull the wand out, we pull off and count how many chips we were able to collect. On Tuesday we use unifix cubes to making towers. On Wednesday we include a little one-to-one correspondence work as we count and place buttons on numbered lines. On Thursday we count clothespins as we use our fine motor skills to clip them onto number sheets. On Friday we play a little game with dice. We roll the die and place the corresponding amount of beads onto a pipe cleaner. Whoever fills their pipe cleaner with beads first, wins.

Working on decorating our bodies during our
Body Awareness and Art KDI last week.

 
 
My picture and explanation


We love to paint! 
I could play in the water table all Work Time!

Having a picnic 
We love to dress up!

Playing "Aiken Drum" on his ladle.

The doctors attend to a sick patient.

Work Time can get quite messy! We learn through play and through a rich variety
of materials!

Our Mr. Potato Head play dough creations.

 
 
 
My guy is a little short...

Trying to get his police hat to stay on.

What a funny-looking creature!



Using magnet wands to count magnet chips.



 


Lunch Time!

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Newsletter 1/21/15

Important Dates to Remember:
January 30th - School Choice Movie Night and Ice Cream Social; 7:00pm-8:30pm
February 12,13,16 - No Preschool; Teacher's Conference and President's Day

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"Little Owl Lost" by Chris Haughton
"Not a Box" by Antoinette Portis
"Mr. Tiger Goes Wild" by Peter Brown

Afternoon Books
"Silly Doggy" by Adam Stower

PLANNING & RECALL
This week we used a variety of objects from each interest area in the classroom to represent the different locations in which children could plan to play. If they picked a small block from the basket, it meant they wanted to play in the block area at work time. 

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 forgiven 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: Psalm 56:11a "In God I trust, I will not be afraid."
Bible song: "Surely It Is God Who Saves Me"

MUSIC 
This week in Music we are focusing on how sounds are made. We will be discovering that often you need more than one component to make a sound. We will also be exploring different objects (both musical instruments and regular items found around the classroom). In doing so, we will find out that musical instruments are not the only items that create sounds. Comparing the sounds that items make, whether they are high or low, will also be a part of our musical awareness for the week. 

MOVEMENT
We open movement time this week with the old familiar song "Popcorn Calling Me". We then transition to working with beanbags again as we try to move our bodies in front of, behind, and next to our beanbags as they sit on the floor. We then leap over the beanbags forwards and backwards and straddle it between our legs. We play a game called "Switcheroo" where we walk around the room with the beanbag balancing on our backs. When the teacher shouts "switcheroo!" the children find a partner and switch beanbags. We end movement time with the song "Balance It On My Head", as it challenges us to tiptoe, skip, walk, or dance around the room while balancing the beanbag on our heads.

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during Small Group Time, we’re focusing on the Key Developmental Indicators (KDI): Art and Body Awareness. On Tuesday we use markers to color on coffee filters and watch what happens when we spray water on them. On Wednesday and Thursday we use large pieces of paper to trace the shape of our bodies and work on decorating them with a variety of materials. On Friday, we combine aspects of art and body awareness as we use play dough to create human shapes, even adding Mr. Potato head pieces to make them more realistic.




 


















Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Newsletter 1/14/15

Important Dates to Remember:
January 19th - Martin Luther King Jr. Day; No Preschool

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"The Bag I'm Taking to Grandma's" by Shirley Neitzel
"The Littlest Owl" by Caroline Pitcher
"A Perfectly Messed Up Story" by Patrick McDonnell

Afternoon Books
"Franklin's Bicycle Helmet" by Paulette Bourgeois

PLANNING & RECALL
This week we use a toy train or airplane, which parks in front of each child when it is their turn to share work time plans. 

BIBLE LESSON
God anointed a man named Saul as the first king of the Israelites. After becoming king however, Saul began to disobey God and stop trusting in the Lord. God chose someone to take Saul's place after he died. A young man named David was the person he chose to be the next king. David was a shepherd and a musician - spending time in the fields at home and also at King Saul's palace playing music on his harp. One day David's father sent him to bring food to his brothers who were soldiers in Israel's army and to find out how the battle with the Philistines was going. When David arrived he saw a large Philistine soldier named Goliath who was over 9 feet tall. Goliath was taunting the Israelite soldiers and mocking God, claiming nobody could defeat him. David decided that he wanted to fight Goliath, and knew that God would be on his side. Using a small stone and his sling shot, he managed to hit Goliath in the center of his forehead. Goliath fell to the ground, dead. After seeing him die, the rest of the Philistines ran away and God granted the Israelites victory against their enemies.

David trusted in God's protection, help, and strength to defeat Goliath and the Philistines. We're reminded that God is also our protection, help and strength in times of trouble. After all, God has taken care of our worst problem by sending his Son, Jesus, to take the punishment for our sins by dying on the cross
Bible verse: Psalm 56:11a "In God I trust, I will not be afraid."
Bible song: "Surely It Is God Who Saves Me"

MUSIC 
In Music this week we continue to explore the concept of pitch. A third concept of pitch is introduced this week: middle sounding pitches. We now practice matching pitches that are low, middle, and high. Children begin to understand that pitches can be played or sung in any order. In the song, "I Can Sing High", we practice hand motions and body motions to indicate high, middle, and low pitches. This also begins to lay a background for learning to read musical notation.

MOVEMENT
 We enjoy using bean bags again this week during movement time. It is quite the challenge to get the bean bag to balance on our head without holding it, as we march around the room to the song “Bean Bag Parade”. This week we’ve also included the game “Help me, Please!” which provides for some more social interaction and practice using manners by saying please, thank you, and you’re welcome. If the bean bag falls of our head while we’re marching, we ask for help from a friend to pick it up. We end movement time this week with the song “Toss and Catch”. 

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during small group time, we’re focusing on the Key Developmental Indicator (KDI): Fine Motor Skills. Experiences that develop strength, coordination, and endurance in using their whole hand to manipulate materials include hole punching and threading with string, cutting and gluing, using tweezers to grip and sort beans and tiles, tearing paper and magazines, pinning clothespins on a clothesline and using Q-tips to paint.


Hammering golf tees into styrofoam.

Play with our new magnetic dress-up dolls.

Sorting fruit into the pie.

Getting messy while fingerpainting.


This stuff feels wet!

Look how messy my hands are! 
Sorting shapes by color.

Construction princess?

Playing with our pets.

Colored rice and animals were in the
 sensory table this week.

Building forts and caves with big cardboard boxes.



Baking together in the kitchen area.

I love to paint!

Hiding out in our fort!

I see you in there!

What a cozy house.

It's the perfect size for me.

Building a track.

What a colorful painting.

Cheese!

Pumpkin head stickers.

Practicing fine motor and scissor skills.

Working to cut along the lines.

Cutting takes concentration!