Wednesday, September 28

Group Meeting:  Today was Picture Day.  We started with a class picture.  I can't wait to see it.  Everyone looked so nice.  After that, individual pictures were taken.  When proofs are ready, you will receive an online password to see your child's proofs.

Story:  The book that I read today was What Will We See in the Fall? by by Sian Smith.  This is a non-fiction book of things that we will see in the Fall such as bonfires, leaves, scarves, squirrels, geese flying south, and pumpkins.  We will be looking for some of these things on our trip to the farm.

Large Group:  The children gathered around our parachute to launch cloth leaves into the air.  We shook them off, gathered them up, and shook them again.

Snack:  The snack for today was Berry Cheerios, milk, and water.

Reminder:  No school tomorrow.  The staff will be in Des Moines for the Early Childhood Conference.  We will see you on Monday for the trip to Shady Knoll.  Please read the note in your child's folder prior to the trip.

Tuesday, September 27

Group Meeting:  We used fabric leaves to learn a new song.  We sang along with the music to "The Leaves are Falling Down" and tossed the leaves into the air.  

Story:  The story for today was The Leaf Thief by Alice Hemming.  Squirrel thinks that someone is stealing his leaves.  Bird, mouse, and woodpecker have leaves, but they do not belong to squirrel.  Bird helps squirrel realize that his leaves have not been stolen.  So, where are they going?  Ask your child to tell you what squirrel discovers.

Large Group:  The children went to the Outdoor Classroom.  We noticed that the tree across the street is starting to turn red.

Snack:  The snack for today was cinnamon bread, butter, milk, and water.

Tonight is Family Night.  We have a game for your family to play together with treats to follow.

Monday, September 26

Group Meeting: This week, we will learn about changes that are taking place with the leaves on the trees. We started by learning  the song “Autumn Leaves are Falling Down”.

Story: The story for today was I am a Leaf by Jean Marzollo. This story is told by a leaf.  He explains how he changes from spring to summer, fall and winter. Leaves have a job. Ask your child to tell you what it is. We learned a big word: chlorophyll. Ask your child to tell you what it does.

Small Groups: The children dropped liquid watercolor onto leaves cut from diffuser paper. The paper allows the colors to blend and create new colors. 

Large Group: The children went to the Outdoor Classroom. We are starting to look for leaves that are changing colors.

Snack: The snack was Scooby Snacks, juice and water.

A reminder note about picture day was sent home in their folders.

Thursday, September 22

Group Meeting:  Today is the first day of  Fall.  We have been noticing the change in temperatures.  We've also noticed the acorns falling off of our oak tree.  I know that some of you have noticed this, too:)  We will be learning about Fall changes for the next two weeks.

Story:  The story for today was Love is a Family by Roma Downey.  Lily is getting ready for Family Night at school.  She's a little worried that her family might be different because it is just her and her mom.  Her friend next door has lots of siblings and two parents.  When she arrives at school, she finds that not all families are the same.  Even though there are only 2 in her family, it is a family of love, and that's what families are all about.

We looked at the family pictures that were returned today.  We are looking forward to seeing more.

Small Groups:  The children were invited to participate in an art project using the some of the acorns from outside.  The children put a piece of paper on a cookie sheet.  Puddles of paint were squeezed onto the paper.  Acorns were put on the paint.  The children moved the cookie sheet allowing the acorns to roll through the paint to create a picture.  These will be on display in the hallway.

Large Group:  Our Let's Find Out magazine was about animals using their five sense to explore their environment.  We did not complete the back page.  I thought it was a little hard to do in a large group.  You and your child can complete it together.  Here's the link to go online letsfindout.com  Log in as a student and use the password redeemer.

Snack:  The morning class had English muffins, butter, milk and water.  The afternoon class had bagels, cream cheese, milk and water.  

Wednesday, September 21

 Group Meeting:  The children can paint every day at our paint easel.  Today, we learned how to do this a little more independently.   I demonstrated how to put on a paint shirt, pick the color of paper on which to paint, and how to clean paint off of hands with wet wipes.  

Story:  The story for today was Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCluskey.  Sal and her mother are picking blueberries to can for the winter. But when Sal wanders to the other side of Blueberry Hill, she discovers a mama bear preparing for her own long winter.  Meanwhile Sal's mother is being followed by a small bear who also likes to eat berries! Will each mother go home with the right little one?  Ask your child to tell you how this ends.

Large Group:  We spent a long time in the Outdoor Classroom.  Tomorrow is the first day of Fall and the weather will be getting cooler.  Therefore, we wanted to spend a good amount of time outside while we can.

Snack:  The snack for today was apple cinnamon rice cakes, milk and water.

A little homework was sent in your child's folder today.  We are making a classroom book about our families.  This does not need to be returned immediately, but we would like to have it back within the next week or so.

Tuesday, September 20

Group Meeting:  We started Group Meeting by moving to "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" as sung by the Learning Station.  They add another verse of "Neck, Elbow, Hips and Feet".  The music got faster and faster.

Story:  The story for today was Little Gorilla by Ruth Bornstein.   Just about everybody in the great green forest loves Little Gorilla. His mother loves him. His father loves him. Even Big Boa Constrictor loves him. But Little Gorilla begins to grow . . . and Grow . . . and GROW. And then, when Little Gorilla isn’t so little anymore—everyone still loves him!  We used this to start a discussion about how much we have grown and how our family loves us still.

Small Groups:  The children traced the first letter of their name.

Large Group:  The morning class went to the Outdoor Classroom.  In the afternoon, it was too hot.  We stayed inside and learned how to play London Bridge.

Snack:  The snack for today was cottage cheese, pretzels, and water.

Monday, September 19th

 Group Meeting:  We have been learning two "fall" songs.  Ask your child if they know any of the words to "The Acorn Song" and "Way Up High in an Apple Tree".

Story:  The story for today was The Little Red Hen retold by Bonnie Dobkin.  In this classic tale, the Little Red Hen has found a bag of wheat seeds.  She asks her friends if they will help her plant, harvest, mill the wheat into flour, and bake the bread.  The dog, cat, and goose all have excuses for not helping her, and she has to do all of the work by herself.  When the bread is freshly baked, the friends want to eat it with the Little Red Hen.  Ask your child to tell you if she gives them any bread.

After this story, we talked about helping friends and teachers at school.  At clean up time, I have some really good helpers, but there's always a few that have some excuses :)  We are going to try to be good helpers.

Small Groups:  This week, we will begin working on name printing.  We are starting with the first letter.  The children traced the capital letter that begins their name.

Large Group:  The morning class did not have enough time to go to the Outdoor Classroom, so we played a rhyming words game.  The afternoon class did go to the Outdoor Classroom.  We'll switch tomorrow.

Snack:  The snack for today was applesauce, Sun Chips, milk and water.

Thursday, September 15

Group Meeting:  Today was Birthday Day.  We do not have any September birthdays so we called it Cooking Day instead.  We baked snacks and spent a long time in the Outdoor Classroom.

Story:  The story for today was Peeny Butter Fudge by Toni Morrison.  In this story, three children are going to spend the day with their Nana.  Mom has a list of things for them to do, but Nana has other ideas.  The children do puzzles, read stories, dance, play doctor, and have gunny sack races with Nana.  Now Nana wants to teach the children her secret recipe for Peeny Butter Fudge.  Will they be able to get the fudge done before mother comes home?  Ask your child to tell what happens when mom comes home.

Small Groups:  The children made a snack of cinnamon biscuits.  The children dipped buttermilk biscuit dough into butter and cinnamon sugar.  We baked them in the oven.

Large Group:  The Let's Find Out magazine was about how all of us are individual and unique, and yet we make up a wonderful community.  You can find more resources at letsfindout.com  Log in as a student and use the password redeemer.

Snack:  The children enjoyed the cinnamon biscuits with birthday brownies.

Wednesday, September 14

Group Meeting:  As I mentioned last week, we are counting the day of school by putting a sticker in a 10 frame.  Today, our sticker completed the first 10 frame.  We know that we have completed 10 days of school.

Story:  The story for today was Corduroy by Don Freeman.  In this classic story, Corduroy is a toy bear who lives in a toy department waiting for someone to buy him and take him home.  A little girl, Lisa, would like to buy him, but her mother notices that he is missing a button on the shoulder strap of his overalls.  That night, Corduroy goes looking for his button.  Ask your child to tell you if Corduroy finds his button and who comes to take Corduroy home.

Small Groups:  The children worked on fine motor skills with a choice of play dough and playdough tools or eye droppers with colored water.

Large Group:  The children went to the Outdoor Classroom.

Snacks:  The snack for today was Clementine oranges, milk, and water.

Tuesday, September 13

Group Meeting: We are slowly adding new things to our daily schedule.  Yesterday, we started Math Journals by coloring the apple on the cover.  Today, the direction for the first page was to draw one apple.  

Story: The story for today was Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberly.  This is a book of pages with cut out shapes to help create pictures.  As your turn the pages, a monster slowly appears.  First the eyes, then the mouth and teeth, and so on until you can see a monster face.  Then, the monster slowly disappears as you continue to the end of the book.  I like to read books like this because the children can easily "read" it to themselves the next day in our story area.

Small Groups:  We used the name boxes from yesterday to put the letters of our names in the correct order.  

Large Group: The children went to the Outdoor Classroom.  Tomorrow, we will plan to stay out a little longer.

Snack: The snack for today was apples, Nutella, milk, and juice.

Monday, September 12

Group Meeting: We started the day by learning how to say the Pledge of Allegiance. I have two paper cutouts of hands on the easel. One is red and marked with the letter R. This helps the children identify their right hand.

Story: The story for today was Charlie Anderson by Barbara Abercrombie. Charlie is a cat who wandered into Sarah and Elizabeth’s house one day.  They decide to keep him. Charlie stays in the house at night and explores the woods during the day. One night, Charlie does not come home. The girls worry about him. They go searching through the neighborhood. They find a neighbor who has a cat who looks just like Charlie. Could it be the same cat? Ask your child to tell you how Charlie has two homes.

Small Groups: The children were given a container of paper circles that had the letters of  their names printed on them. They had to unscramble the letters to spell their name. A sample was provided to help them with the correct order.

Large Group: The children learned how to play Four Corners.   This is a game played with four cones that are four different colors.  One child counts to 10 while all of the other children move between the cones.  When the counter gets to 10, all of the children must stop by a cone of their choice.  The counter calls a color.  The children standing by that cone must sit in the middle.  This play continues until there is only one child left.

Snack:  The snack for today was cheese sticks, Goldfish, juice and water.

Thursday, September 8

Group Meeting:  We have added a job chart to our clean up routine.  When the clean up bell rings, the children go to the chart to find the area in which they are to help clean.  With everyone helping, it doesn't take much time at all to get things put away.

Story:  The story for today was A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni.  Most animals have a color that is all their own.  Pigs are pink, parrots are green.  A chameleon is always changing colors.  The chameleon in our story wishes that he could stay one color.  He tries sitting on a leaf so that he will remain green, but the leaf changes colors and falls away.  After the winter, the chameleon meets another chameleon.  This chameleon tells him that they cannot keep from changing colors, but they can stay together so that they will be the same.  We used this to start a discussion about friends.

Small Groups:  We are working on name recognition.  I gave the children a paper that had balloons on it.  Some of the balloons had their name printed on them.  Some balloons were different names.  If they found a balloon with their name, they stamped it with a dot-a-dot marker.

Large Group:  Our Let's Find Out Magazine was about trying our best in school.  The video was like a game show in which we had to select the correct answer to questions about how to be polite in school.  You can see the video here letsfindout.com  Sign in as a student and use the password redeemer.

Snack:  The snack for today was Belvita bars, juice and water.  The children are getting very good at pouring their own drinks!

Wednesday, September 7

 Group Meeting:  We started our session by dancing to “If You’re Happy and You Know It”. We discussed all of the feelings that we might feel throughout our day and how to handle the feelings that we have.

Story: The story for today was Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin. Pete has a yellow shirt with four colorful buttons. One of the buttons falls off. Does Pete cry? Goodness no! Buttons come and buttons go. Pete keeps losing buttons until only one is left. Ask your child to tell you about his last button. This is a great subtraction book.

Large Group: We played a name game called “Hickety Pickety Bumble Bee. In this game, we say a child’s name, clap it, whisper it, and shout it. This will help us remember our friends names. 

We went to the Outdoor Classroom at the end of the day.

Snack: The snack for today was yogurt, granola, juice, and water.

The children have notes in their folders today about a field trip coming up on October 3rd.  Please mark your calendars!

Tuesday, September 6

Group Meeting: We are starting to count our school days. Every day, we add a sticker to a 10 frame and count the total amount of stickers. We will count by ones for now. Later in the school year, we will count by tens.

Story: The story for today was Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes.  Wemberly worries about everything.  She worries about her parents, things in her home, and her stuffed bunny, Petal.  Her parents try to help her to not worry.  One day, Wimberly has a new worry, school.  Will her teacher be nice?  Will she make a friend?  What will happen if she can't fine the bathroom?  Ask your child to tell you what happens with the help of Wemberly's teacher.   After the story, the children discussed what they can do at school if they have a worry.

Small Groups:  The children learned the song "Pick Up a Crayon".  This song reminds us of the way to hold a crayon.  We practiced holding a crayon and coloring little stars and fireflies.  In your Parent Orientation folder, you will find a handout on how to help your child hold a crayon.  

Large Group:  The children went to the Outdoor Classroom.

Snacks:  The snack for today was carrots, ranch dressing, milk and water.   We are practicing our table manners by saying "yes, please" and "no, thank you".  

Thursday, September 1

Group Meeting:  We have learned the nursery rhyme "Humpty Dumpty" this week.  We have also learned two songs: Little Green Frog and There Was a Little Turtle.  You may catch your child singing them at home.

Story:  The story for today was Monster Knows Table Manners by Connie Colwell Miller.  In this story, Monster tells about how his family uses manners at dinner time.  They sit at the table and wait for everyone to be seated.  They pass food using please and thank you.  When dinner is over, Monster carries his plates to the counter.  He waits until being dismissed before leaving the table.  These are the same table manners that we use at school.  It will take us a while to get into the routine, but we're doing well so far!

Large Group:  Every Thursday, we will have a Let's Find Out Magazine from Scholastic.  The topics for the magazines are usually social studies or science.  We watch a video about the topic and look at the magazine together.  Today, the magazine was about washing hands. The video topic was catching sneezes and coughs before germs spread.    Parents have access to these online resources as well.  Click on this link, sign in as a student and use the password redeemer.  This works best if you use Chrome on a computer verses an ipad or phone.  letsfindout.com

Snacks:  The snack for today was cheese slices, Wheat Thins, juice and water.

We're off to a great start.  I want to thank everyone for their patience in the car line as we match children to parents, grandparents, and daycare.  Have a great Labor Day weekend.  See you Tuesday!