Week of September 19-23

Ryder and Britney after reading "Caps for Sale"

Last week we focused on the letter C.  We created play-doh Cs, rainbow wrote letter C, and wrote Cs in our journals, on white boards, and with goldfish and raisins.  We talked about shoes and laced up pretend tennis shoes, we played a game of memory with sock pictures.  The kids learned to sign the words shoe and touch.

We also talked about why people wear different hats (police, construction, royalty, baseball, etc).  We created a "match the hat" game, and read "Caps for Sale" then balanced "hats" on our head.  We also talked about shirts and the kids created their own shirt with buttons.  The children played an apple counting game and read great fall stories.  We talked about the importance of wearing protective gear while riding bikes & scooters.  They then made "brains" in a helmet and experimented with hitting the helmet and then checking the brains to see if they were safe.

We sang songs in chapel and the kids danced and jumped around.

Week of September 12th- 16th

Abby, Sydney and Rowan making letters.

 The kids enjoyed learning about the letter b this week.  They made the letter with goldfish and raisins, as seen in these pictures.  They also finger painted it in shaving cream!

Ryder's b.

Britney's b.

Makena's b.

Grady's b.

Grady, Makena, Britney and Ryder

Abby & Sydney

This week we focused on touch and textures.  The kids created their hand prints with several textures surrounding the prints.  We worked on patterns and discussed smells, too.  We attended chapel on Thursday and the children LOVED singing and dancing to Ms. Barbara's wonderful guitar playing.  We also started a physical education unit on soccer on Tuesday.  The children are settling into a nice routine and are making friends with each other.  On Friday, we created a dinosaur zoo.  We sorted out the carnivores from the herbivores and made sure that each had food and space.  The kids enjoyed our creative venture!

September 9th

Britney, Ryder & Makena

Rowan, Grady, Abby & Sydney

Abby & Sydney

Rowan & Grady

The children continued to learn about the body last week as we focused on the legs and eyes.  We began talking about the 5 senses and how we use our senses to gather information.  The kids used touch to try to discover a mystery object (a sock) and used words to describe it.  We played body bingo and sang songs and read books about the body.  They created a puppet, matched circles and made circle pictures, and learned a few Spanish words (ojo & zapatos).  They searched for a word objects in a rice sensory bucket.  All the monthly themes were continued in every activity (colors pink & brown, numbers 1 & 2, letters a-d, shape of circle, the amazing body and senses).

With the older children we focused on the proper formation of the letter a.  They wrote the letter, searched for it, and brainstormed words that start with a.  We are really working on strengthening their hand muscles to facilitate writing so we spend time drawing, writing, and cutting.  As the year moves along, they should be able to write more and more!

Hope you enjoyed the darkness last Thursday, my boys and I sure did!

Welcome to the new school year!

Ryder

Dear Elm Park Parents,

We've had a great first week and a half of school.  The children have started to get into a schedule and are learning the rules and routines, they are already making friends, and they have learned a lot already!

I will use the blog this year to give weekly updates, post pictures, and keep in contact.  Please check here weekly and feel free to give the blog address to friends and family so they can check on the progress of our children too.

Our Class Llama

Britney

The first week we assessed the children.  We were looking for letter recognition, counting, fine motor skills, attention span length, and getting to learn the children's personalities.  We read "Llama Llama Misses Mamma" and completed activities counting and drawing with our class Llama.  We also met our class bear Brownie.  Brownie spends each week with a different child.  When it is your child's turn with Brownie, he/she gets to take him everywhere and write about their experiences.

Himani

Abby

During the month of September we will focus on the theme of "my amazing body", the numbers 1 & 2, the letters C, A, & P, the colors pink and brown, and the shape of a circle.  This week we worked on identifying our names, discussing different parts of the body and what they do, identifying and sorting circles (pink and brown), we made a body out of snack food, wrote in our journals, and created skeletons (among many other art projects).   

Sydney

Makena

With the four year olds, we practiced writing the letter A and the number 1.  All the children began learning/reinforcing the letter sounds A through G.  We practiced finding and circling the letter A and the number 1. 

Britney

Rowan

Ryder

The children are doing great and are adjusting well.  Thank you for all helping contribute to a smooth beginning.  I can tell we are going to have a spectacular year.

Ms. Jen

(PS- Sorry I missed getting Grady in a picture!!  I took most of these the first day.)