October 29th, 2017

Our Week in PreK:
We had a busy and exciting week in the PreK classroom as the children reviewed some familiar concepts and got ready for the end-of-week Halloween celebration. 

The students were showing us some interesting ideas related to the concepts of buildings including complex and creative structures with lots of features.  We have used their ideas to create some new plans for small group explorations next week where the children will be able to investigate their own ideas about what types of building materials and structures they want to learn more about.

Block house with ceiling lights installed

"Mixed Media" home.

Collaboration in the block area.

 The children worked all week on their Halloween decorations for the classroom, which to them were much more exciting than the decorations the teachers hung up on Wednesday afternoon!  Their feelings of ownership over the classroom are very important at this age.  The students illustrated things such as "spooky carrots" and "haunted houses" to show what they have been thinking about as they got ready for the big day.  We provided mirrors and mark-making tools so that the students could make silly or scary faces and draw what they saw.  The writing center was the most popular choice center all week as the class worked together to prepare the classroom for our celebration.

Of course, the children had so much fun at the Halloween celebration on Thursday.  We played some fun games in the classroom - a million thanks to our room parent, Amani, who worked to put together some amazing activities for the children! 

A Halloween Obstacle Course

Slimy sensory box

Pop! Goes the Pumpkin!

Pin the Spider On The Web

Witch's Hat Hoop Toss

Halloween Dance Party!

 Here are some more photos from our week together:

Emergent writing at the students' dry erase board.

Making marks in a new sensory bin.

Next Week: 
The PreK students will begin some new small group work exploring what types of structures they can build, and what materials they can build them with.  We will work in math groups to explore concepts of numeracy up to 8, and introduce the concept of tally marks.  In our handwriting groups, we will learn about the letter "P" using multisensory activities including play-dough, chalk writing, and block building.

After-Care:
Last week, as the students prepared for Halloween, the aftercare children talked about other celebrations around the world including Chinese New Year, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Chanukah.  Next week the group will talk about animals and build some homes for them.

Circle Solutions:
We have been focused on the idea of responsibility and will continue to talk about it this week during our circle sessions.

Reminders:
Please be sure to pack your child's library books and bag each Sunday.  Thank you!

Upcoming Events:
Tomorrow, Monday October 30th, is an early release day.  Thank you for making arrangements for 11:30 dismissal!

We will be attending a very special puppet show in the theater, along with the rest of the elementary school, between 10:40-11:20 on October 30th.  We will walk back to the classroom just in time for dismissal. For this reason, we will not eat lunch at school tomorrow.  Please be sure that your child eats his or her lunch after dismissal as we ordinarily eat lunch at 11:00.  Thank you!

On Tuesday, October 31st, we will have a House Event in the morning.  Please be sure to wear your house colors!  The children will be working with chalk, so it's a good idea to avoid wearing white or light colors on this day.  On days that we have Assembly or House events, we all leave the classroom at 7:50 in order to arrive when the event starts at 7:55.  If you arrive to school after 7:50, please join the ES students on the field and help your child find his or her house team.  Thanks!

Parents' Corner:
This article was shared by our school's Director of Teaching & Learning, David Chadwell, with all teachers this past week.  I hope you will also find it interesting to read about your child's brain development at different stages of life!