We had a wonderful week of learning and excitement in the PreK classroom. This week the children were ready to integrate some of their own inquiry and interests into small group learning time, and we had a lot of fun exploring the questions they proposed! We also continued explorations of numeracy during group time, worked on our understanding of "peace" and collaborated with the school community for our Peace Day Assembly, and had fun engaging in some dinosaur pretend play over the course of the week.
During small group work, some children created an interactive game based on a simple game that had been shared with us from another school. The idea was to create a print using an every day object, then ask the person playing the game to guess what made that mark. In this way, we looked to engage the CAC community playfully, while working on emergent literacy skills, collaborating to create a group project, and using our core value of creativity to think about objects and how they can be perceived in different ways.
Another group worked to create a "PreK Restaurant" where we would serve real food items to the community. We opened on Wednesday, serving lemonade to the Kindergarten teachers and office staff. The students worked to name their restaurant and create signs for the restaurant including the name (Yummy), open and closed signs, and a sign advertising what the restaurant would be serving. They made pink lemonade by squeezing the lemons, scooping and squishing pomegranate seeds, and mixing the juice with water and a bit of sugar. When the restaurant opened, they greeted guests and served them.
Students made "spiders," "jellyfish," and "monsters" with an open-ended play dough provocation.
An engagement with pattern blocks during exploration time.
Wild cats in the spotlight!
Finding dinosaurs in the dramatic play area, the children decided to create their own costumes.
"Brontosaurus"
"Triceratops"
Next Week:
In our upcoming week the study groups will continue their work on relationships within the school, learn about who works at our school, and learn how to develop positive relationships. The restaurant group will continue to offer food to the CAC faculty, and the riddle group will create some new game cards and bring the game to more teachers and other classrooms to allow them a chance to play. We will explore the concepts of "one more," "more," and "less" while playing math games.
We will have an announced fire drill on Tuesday, September 26th. The students have practiced what to do in case of an emergency and we have talked about it in child-friendly language. They know that we usually never have a fire in our school, but it's responsible to have a plan for staying safe. We talk about plans a lot in PreK, so this makes sense to the children! We practiced as a class, and on Tuesday they will know what to expect when they hear the fire alarm and go outside with the whole school. If you have any questions, please be sure to email me.
Reminders:
Please be sure to pack your child's library books and bags each Sunday. Thank you!
We all appreciate when families send in healthy morning snacks! This helps your child focus on learning tasks and routines, as well as supports them eating their lunch at lunch time. The PreK morning routine is to drop off their separate morning snack in the serving bowls at our door. Most students are doing this independently now. Some great snack ideas include: apples, melon, carrot sticks, cucumber, peppers, grapes, mango, pomegranate, and more! They will be eating lunch just one hour after their snack, so it shouldn't be a big meal- just a mid-morning pick-me-up. Thanks for supporting nutritious choices with our youngest learners at CAC!
Upcoming Events:
Monday, September 25th will be an early release day; students are dismissed at 11:30. We will still be eating lunch in the PreK classroom on early release days. Thank you in advance for making arrangements for your child's pick-up at 11:30.
Tuesday, September 26th is our first house event for PreK! The students will be accompanied by their fifth grade buddies throughout the event. We will leave our classroom by 7:50 in order to arrive at the field before the event starts at 7:55. If you arrive after we have left the classroom, join us at the field and help your child find his or her house color. Any teacher you see will support the PreK students in finding their buddies.
Click here to review your child's house color. Our official house shirts haven't arrived yet, so you can encourage your child to dress in his or her house color with any clothes you have at home. We earn points for our team by wearing our house colors on house event days!
We will have an all-ES Respect celebration on Thursday, September 28th. This month, we have been talking about the CAC Core Value of Respect. In PreK, respect means letting other people know you care about them and making them feel important. It means treating other people the way you'd like to be treated, and using manners. We have been talking about this during circle, as well as throughout the day. On Thursday, elementary schools students and staff will gather at the end of the day (2:45) to have a walk through our self-portrait banners and celebrate respect, as well as the creativity and diversity of all of our students. At 2:55, each class will be offered a popsicle treat from the PTO. Students will be dismissed at 3:05 as usual. PreK after-care students are invited, and students who are dismissed from the core program at 1:00 are welcome back to join us at 2:45. Thank you.
Please be sure to check the calendar to the left of this blog post for important PreK dates.
After-Care:
Last week the children explored the color purple with an art activity, play dough, and tasting purple fruits and vegetables! Next week they will investigate the color pink. Not only are these investigations fun and engaging for the children, but they are multi-sensory and provide wide opportunities for language usage.
Taste-testing plums and beets!
During quiet time, some students rest after our busy morning while others look at books or engage in a quiet activity.
Circle Solutions:
In our past week we talked about the idea of peace while continuing to introduce the Circle Solutions framework to the children. Next week we will be talking more about respect, and we hope to welcome our fifth grade buddies to circle with us on Thursday.
Parents' Corner:
Consequences and rewards can be a big factor in behavior management strategies with children, but are they effective? They often work in the short term, but to help our children as social and emotional learners we have to take the time to truly teach them the skills we hope to see manifest in their behaviors. This week's article in our parents' corner: Stop trying to find the "perfect consequence."
