We had a very exciting week in the PreK classroom! The students were learning a lot about the broad topic of "Living Things and Growth" by pursuing different study questions including babies/chicks and pets/hamsters. Our essential questions include, how do living things grow and change over time, what do living things need to survive, and what habitats do animals live in? Each study group will answer certain essential questions and share their learning with the whole group.
Our "babies" group started off the week with a "wow!" experience when KGB teacher Mr. Balazs' baby, Mina, came to our class for story time. The next day, some newly hatched baby chicks arrived in our classroom. Over the course of the week, the group closely observed the characteristics of the chicks by making drawings, observing over time, using tally marks to record passing days (how old are the chicks?), and reading books.
Of course, all of the children are able to visit the chicks and interact with them, and we all had the opportunity to visit the KG classrooms where the eggs were hatching to learn more about where the chicks had mysteriously appeared from!
Our other study group this week continues an exploration of pets, specifically hamsters. Students have been interested in creating a large hamster home for their pet play, including creating tunnels, bedrooms, and exercise wheels. The children began to collaborate and share their ideas about what they know about hamsters already and what they wish to learn. Each child in the study group created a drawing to visually express their understanding of hamsters at this point in the exploration.
Plans for an exercise wheel.
"Will you fit inside the wheel?" "I don't know, let's try and see."
The children have continued their conceptual counting work by exploring the idea of first and last in various configurations. We played with this concept by pretending we were riding in a boat- first a long, thin one where we sat in a line (the first and last to get in the boat were easy to identify) and then a wider boat where we sat in two rows (the first and last to get in the boat were harder to identify). We also tried to count various objects in circular configurations including the group of PreK students, a circle of dinosaurs, and finally a circle of X's (moving from different objects, to similar, to identical).
Here are some more photos from our week together:
Playing with a new light engagement in the building area.
Color mixing and magic potions as a fine motor invitation.
A hamster and his hamster juice box.
The completed hamster wheel.
During P.E. the children pretended to be eggs and played a movement game.
Next week:
The students will continue with their small group work as they ask questions about living things and growth related to their chosen interests. Math topics will focus the idea of not enough, enough, and "some extra."
Circle Solutions:
The PreK class will have another circle with our buddy class, 5J in the upcoming week. We can't wait to talk more about character strengths and what they might look like to both the youngest and oldest students at CAC Elementary!
After-Care:
The children will engage in some fun sensory art activities this week including fluffy shaving cream paint, reflective paint, and finger paint.
Reminders:
Urgent: Parents, please send extra clothes to school for your child to wear in case their clothing gets wet or dirty! This includes a full change of clothing: shirt, pants, underwear, socks, and even shoes if possible. Thank you! If you have CAC clothing at home, please return it!
Families, we apologize that we are no longer able to offer silverware in the classroom for students to eat at school as all of our school spoons and forks have been taken home and not returned. Please pack appropriate silverware for your child to eat his or her food for snack and lunch. If you have anything from the CAC PreK class at home, please return as this is school property. Thank you.
Guest readers are welcome to our story time on Wednesdays at 10:05. Please bring your own book- you can choose one with your child at home or at the CAC library. If you have any questions, ask Ms. Trillian! Please sign up once- we want to allow every family who is interested to have a chance to come in. If needed, we can add additional days to the calendar to accommodate interest!
PreK Family Guest Reader Sign-Up Sheet.
Looking forward to reading with you soon!
Here is a letter from student intern, Sanne, who began in the classroom today:
Dear Parents,
I am very happy to become part of the PreK class until the end of May. This is my final teaching practice of my bachelor’s degree and I am excited to learn alongside Ms. Trillian, Ms. Salma, Mr. Hussam, and Ms. Mariam, and the children.
Earlier on the blog, Miss Trillian already introduced me a little bit, but please feel free to have a chat with me and ask any questions you might have.
I’ve been welcomed very warmly here at CAC and look forward to the next months!
Ms. Sanne
Upcoming Events:
Parents, we have our parent community meeting scheduled on March 1st at 2:30. I would respectfully request to reschedule to Thursday, March 15th at 2:30. Thank you!
Parents' Corner:
Is your language with your child sending one message, while your actions or expression sends another? Click here to learn about the importance of body language and how non-verbal communication can be a powerful tool with young children.
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