Jan 22 - Feb 1 Eagle Class

 

The last few weeks with the Eagle class was spent learning about animals that we would see on a safari.  We learned about elephants, giraffes, rhinos, lions, and zebras.  The children worked on their journals, practicing the letters e, z, and s.  We studied the numbers 9 & 10 and the shape oval as well.  We practiced math as we pretended to enter a natural preserve and count out admission fees.  The children made a lion puppet, an elephant mask, and a zebra picture.  We practiced –it words and read the book “Can It Fit” daily.  We searched for items in a jungle picture and pretended to act like animals.  We talked about observing in nature and picked flowers during a nature walk to press in a flower press.

I’m looking forward to our February themes.  We will be covering food and fitness.  The letters of the month are j, l, and g, the numbers are 11 & 12, colors are red and pink and the shape is heart.  We will be learning a lot about healthy eating and getting up and moving!!

These pictures are from when I brought in corn snakes.  I was surprised as we shattered sex stereotypes with each girl fighting to hold the snakes and the boys screaming or dropping them.  They all enjoyed the experience and learned a lot!

Hawk Class Week of 1-14

The Hawks had a blast showing off their stuffed animal friends to their school friends, and hearing about Christopher Robin and his friends. We also learned about new ZooPhonics friends--the Hawks can now do the signals for letters A-N--and got to know Bubba Bear better this week. "Friend" is a new and very important concept to the young preschooler, and so everyone is very excited about the new friends who are joining our class. Center time has changed a bit since we got back from winter break, we are working more as a group and playing a lot of "games". The Hawks are really enjoying it and learning a lot. We will not be doing journals any more but I wanted to assure you that the same concepts are still being covered, there is just less paper work now.

January 7-11

The Hawks were getting to know Allie the Alligator this week, along with some of the words she says (apple, ant, astronaut). During circle times we counted to 9, identified ovals, and found green things in the classroom. The book of the week was "Caps for Sale" by Esphyr Slobodkina; a classic preschool tale of a peddler and some silly monkeys. Also, this week the Hawks embarked on our Backyard Safari. We had a discussion about all the amazing creatures in nature, and that nature is all around us. We made a backpack to take some of these creatures home in. On Thursday we used scissors to cut-up green paper and used the pieces to make a "grass collage".  Encourage our child to investigate the grass around your home or the park.


In the Eagle class the children began to learn about travel and visiting other countries.  We are learning about the colors green and yellow, the number 9, the letter e, the shape of an oval and the concept of travel and safaris.  The children worked in their journals, made the letter e in play doh, goldfish, and on paper, created green art, and made and looked for the number 9.  Be sure to ask your little ones about "naughty nine"!  I brought snakes into class to share with the children on Friday.  We learned about the difference between mammals and non-mammals and created a chart to remember the differences.  We discussed how snakes are cold blooded and talked about what that means.  The children made safari hats and we discussed the animals that might be seen on a safari, next week we will make some of those animals.  The children made pretend passports and learned about why we need passports to travel.  They get a stamp with each country that we talk about.

I took some really great pictures of both classes and they are not loading at the moment.  I'll try later in the week.

Hope you have a wonderful week, and remember, there will be no school on Martin Luther King Jr. day- 1/25.

Ms. Jen

November

The themes of November included the colors black and orange, the numbers 5 & 6, the letters c, w, and t, triangles, and the concept of "on the go"- transportation.  The children learned a lot about the traditions of Thanksgiving and why they come to be.  They also made many Thanksgiving crafts, sang songs, and talked about what they are thankful for.

The Eagles learned about different modes of transportation used by children around the world.  They were pretty excited to learn that kids in Thailand take boats to school!  We continued to weave transportation in our daily discussions all month.  We read a book each day called, "We Go To A Star".  This book went home last week, feel free to continue having your child "read" it to you.  I hope that some of the site words are looking familiar to them at this point.  We worked in our journals daily writing the colors, shape, numbers, and letters of the month.  The journals went home today.  We completed an experiment outside where I explained what happens when pressure builds up and we blew up a bottle of soda up by adding mentos.  I am encouraging the scientific method (not calling it that though) and we are really focusing on making predictions right now.  Needless to say, the kids enjoyed the soda geyser.  In addition to our turkey themed art, the kids made projects with streets & signs. 

The Hawks worked on the same themes, just at a different level.  The Hawks made a wreath craft, train art, bus art, dried pasta necklaces, and a Thanksgiving plate collage.  They worked on math while counting turkeys 1-5 and by sorting orange and black shapes and gluing them to a sheet.  The kids traced the letter w with paper, practiced making the sound for t, and played with train dominoes.  The kids ready many transportation books and sang many wheel/vehicle related songs!

Both groups helped make a nutritious Thanksgiving themed trail mix for our Thanksgiving feasts.  They also both worked on road safety, practicing when to walk and when to stop while crossing the street.

 

 

Pictures of the Eagles' feast are above, if you took pictures of the Hawk feast, please email them to me so I can post them to the blog!

 

Have a great week,
Ms. Jen

Oct 29th - Nov 2nd in the Hawk Class

Jackson taking the lead!

Jackson, Rintaro, and Paige





Captain Grady with Princess Gabby

Maddox as Spider-Cowboy



Layla as Minnie Mouse



Princess Paige



Gabby

Kids Trick or Treating

The Hawks enjoyed trick-or-treating at Elm Park Preschool last week.  We talked about safety on Halloween night and practiced our manners while knocking on doors.  The kids were so excited going from door to door on campus, the looks on their faces were priceless!!

 

We made Halloween crafts and continued with our monthly themes in class.

Oct 29- Nov 2nd in the Eagle Class

Elm Park Kids trick-or-treating

Awesome treats brought
in by Hilary and Heather



Santa mixed up his holidays!!



Last week at Elm Park the Eagles had fun celebrating Halloween.  The kids practiced the protocols for safe trick-or-treating and showed off their costumes on Wednesday.  They looked awesome in their costumes!!

We continued with our monthly themes and studied -ig words.  Don't forget to continue reading their books at home!

Logan, Grady, Roway, Sydney, Abby, and Shabnam

October 15-19 & 22-26

Here is the big catch up on blogging!!

The past few weeks have been busy and gone fast at Elm Park.  Our themes have included: Halloween activities, apple orchards, apples, the colors green and brown, the numbers 3 and 4, the shape of the rectangle, and Johnny Appleseed.

The Eagles started their book "Go, Go, Go".  They've completed the book and are reading it daily.  They completed their journals, which reflected all monthly themes up to this point.  They completed a tree project, creating a trunk with fall colored leaves glued on.  They've been practicing writing their names.  They've made apple crafts, have worked on identifying numbers 1-10, and have completed a few pumpkin crafts.  We talked about -ad words (sad, mad, bad, rad, etc.).  We talked about Johnny Appleseed and made a little Johnny doll.

The Hawks made spider webs, created magic wands, and colored a spider sheets.  We talked about Johnny Appleseed and made a little Johnny doll.  The kids explored in the rice bucket, created an apple core project, and worked on fine motor skills while coloring and squishing play doh.

We all enjoyed a trip to the Pumpkin Patch.  The highlight was the hayride on the tractor, waving to scarecrows!

Parents, please send me pictures of the Pumpkin Patch so I can post them online!  Emailing them to me would be great...

:) Ms. Jen