|
CLASSROOMS - Preschool Kindergarten 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th Computer Art Choir / Band / Music P.E.
|
| ||||
3 Year Old Class
We have finished week 3! We had great weather this week and were able to get out to the playground both days this week. The transitions and routines are getting quicker as the children know what to do for each part of the day. We are also working on learning each other’s names. Next week, we will share our All About Me pages and place the book in our classroom library.
This week we began learning our Zoo Phonics signals. We learned the signals and sounds for letters A - J. Next week we will work on learning the signals K - T. As we begin learning our letters, our focus will be on the first letters of our friends’ names. These are the capital letters: A, B, C, D, E, F, J, L, R, and S. As the children learn these letters, we will begin to add in additional letters. Our curriculum suggests that by the end of the year, 3 year old children should know 10 letters. Some children may know a few more letters and some may know a few less. Children learn and develop at their own pace. I worked with each child this week to assess their letter knowledge of capital letters. I will use this information in planning activities in the next few weeks.
Next week our focus will be on feelings. We will read a book that names different feelings. We will talk about what might make us experience those feelings and what we should do when we have those feelings. We will finish our small group explorations of the room. We will also learn about straight lines, slanted lines, and curvy lines.
Highlights for Week of 9/24/2019
This week we began learning our Zoo Phonics signals. We learned the signals and sounds for letters A - J. Next week we will work on learning the signals K - T. As we begin learning our letters, our focus will be on the first letters of our friends’ names. These are the capital letters: A, B, C, D, E, F, J, L, R, and S. As the children learn these letters, we will begin to add in additional letters. Our curriculum suggests that by the end of the year, 3 year old children should know 10 letters. Some children may know a few more letters and some may know a few less. Children learn and develop at their own pace. I worked with each child this week to assess their letter knowledge of capital letters. I will use this information in planning activities in the next few weeks.
Next week our focus will be on feelings. We will read a book that names different feelings. We will talk about what might make us experience those feelings and what we should do when we have those feelings. We will finish our small group explorations of the room. We will also learn about straight lines, slanted lines, and curvy lines.
Highlights for Week of 9/24/2019
- Books: The Way I Feel; Llama, Llama Misses Mama
- Songs: If You're Happy and You Know It
- Nursery Rhyme - Jack and Jill - focus on print concept of Title = Name of Story; focus on rhyming words: crown/down; hill/Jill
- Jumping Beans - Letter Identification Game
- Number Cruncher - Number Identification Assessment
- Small Group Exploration of Art Area, Sandbox, and Library
- Stamp and Ink Pad Exploration
- Make an Line - Introduce straight, slanted and curvy lines
- Zoo Phonics Introduction - Review A - J and introduce K - T
- Number Cube Roll - Roll the cube and clap your hands that many times.
- Build Your Name - Children will use their name card to build their name with magnetic letters.
- I Feel Happy When...... - Children will draw a response to this question.
4 Year Old Am Class
If I were to choose one word to describe this group is would be joy--they are joyful. They approach all that they do with joyful enthusiasm that is such a pleasure to spend time with. This week we enjoyed two special visitors to our class--Ms. Doyle, our new principal and Fr. Dave. Ms. Doyle came in to be a part of our homework presentations and we learned that she wanted to be a journalist, and was, for a portion of her career, exactly that. Fr. Dave came in and shared the story "A Color of My Own" with the students. Fr. Dave will be visiting our classroom each month, and the children always look forward to his visits. He has a great way with children's stories with lots of fun voices for the characters.
This week we added a step to our sign-in practice--moving our pictures to the "Safe Place" poster. The students, by moving his/her photo, is agreeing to help make our classroom a safe-place both physically and emotionally. We are all committed to helping each other be happy at school. If a student is absent or feeling sad, he/she may place their photo in the "We wish you well" heart and we will them in our prayers. We opened our discussion of the virtues, an ongoing lesson introducing a new virtue each month. This month's virtue is "Kindness". We are working to catch each student in an act of kindness and adding a heart with his/her name and act of kindness to our kindness virtue display on the window next to our door. I have also given each student a paper bracelet when he/she receives the first heart for each monthly virtue. They really get excited about having us recognize their kindness. One of the first hearts was for a student who gave up her seat because another student wanted to sit there. They all want a heart and bracelet so badly that I could hardly get them to sit down--they are all giving up their seats! In small group we introduced the concept of the three fingers that like to play (pointer, middle man and thumb) and the two sleepy fingers (ringman and pinky). When we write we are giving the sleepy fingers a pillow by having them hold a cotton ball in the two sleepy fingers forcing them to use the playing fingers in a tripod grip. It is a new habit and can be difficult for some students. It would be helpful if you could reinforce that concept at home. We were unfortunately not able to have our music class as Ms. Draeger is still ill. Homework did go home in backpacks on Friday and is due on Wednesday, Sept. 18th.
This week we will continue to work on our names. You have probably noticed that each morning at tabletops I have them work on the first letter or their names or a portion of their names. I try to mix it up to keep the work fun and playful. For those who are writing names well, we will work on having them use the format of just the first letter upper case and those that are ready for it on their last name. We have been working on adding to our classroom skills, using markers, using glue sticks, using white glue, using the proper pencil grip and this week we will begin adding on scissor work. For some students this can be a very difficult skill. We will be using our first snippings to decorate a picture of the first four letters of our names. We will also be introducing a graphing activity in small group--graphing how often we roll each of three shapes.
Our week in a glance:
This week we added a step to our sign-in practice--moving our pictures to the "Safe Place" poster. The students, by moving his/her photo, is agreeing to help make our classroom a safe-place both physically and emotionally. We are all committed to helping each other be happy at school. If a student is absent or feeling sad, he/she may place their photo in the "We wish you well" heart and we will them in our prayers. We opened our discussion of the virtues, an ongoing lesson introducing a new virtue each month. This month's virtue is "Kindness". We are working to catch each student in an act of kindness and adding a heart with his/her name and act of kindness to our kindness virtue display on the window next to our door. I have also given each student a paper bracelet when he/she receives the first heart for each monthly virtue. They really get excited about having us recognize their kindness. One of the first hearts was for a student who gave up her seat because another student wanted to sit there. They all want a heart and bracelet so badly that I could hardly get them to sit down--they are all giving up their seats! In small group we introduced the concept of the three fingers that like to play (pointer, middle man and thumb) and the two sleepy fingers (ringman and pinky). When we write we are giving the sleepy fingers a pillow by having them hold a cotton ball in the two sleepy fingers forcing them to use the playing fingers in a tripod grip. It is a new habit and can be difficult for some students. It would be helpful if you could reinforce that concept at home. We were unfortunately not able to have our music class as Ms. Draeger is still ill. Homework did go home in backpacks on Friday and is due on Wednesday, Sept. 18th.
This week we will continue to work on our names. You have probably noticed that each morning at tabletops I have them work on the first letter or their names or a portion of their names. I try to mix it up to keep the work fun and playful. For those who are writing names well, we will work on having them use the format of just the first letter upper case and those that are ready for it on their last name. We have been working on adding to our classroom skills, using markers, using glue sticks, using white glue, using the proper pencil grip and this week we will begin adding on scissor work. For some students this can be a very difficult skill. We will be using our first snippings to decorate a picture of the first four letters of our names. We will also be introducing a graphing activity in small group--graphing how often we roll each of three shapes.
Our week in a glance:
- Focus Question: What should I do if I get scared at school?
- Books: Grumpy Pants, My Many Colored Days, Monster Knows Shapes & The Way I Feel
- Religion: Church visit in preparation for first class mass.
- Songs: Jesus Loves the Little Ones, God Made Me, Where is Thumbkin
- Games: Making Shapes, Shape Monster, Race to 20, Emotion Mix Up Game
- Journal: Drawing Shapes--Square, Circle and Triangle
- Special: Music with Ms. Draeger
- Small Group: Graphing Shapes and Snipping with Scissors and Journal work
Kindergarten Prep PM class
We have finished week 3! On Thursday, Mrs. Carey and I noticed the children playing together so nicely. They had worked together to build a large train track. They extended the track by including some wooden unit blocks. It was so nice to see them engaging in great imaginative and cooperative play so close to the beginning of the year!
Our focus for this week was learning the rules of the classroom. Our rules are to keep everyone safe and help everyone learn. We have 3 rules: use kind words and inside voices; use kind and safe hands; use walking feet. We discussed what each individual rule would look like. We sorted examples of behaviors into safe and unsafe categories. Finally, all the children signed the rules poster to promise to follow the rules in class.
We also had our first specials and visits this week. We went to the music room for music class with Miss. Draeger. We sang some new and old songs with her. On Thursday, Fr. Dave came by for a visit. He followed up our discussion of the Creation Story by reading, Designed by God and we talked about all the things that God made.
We introduced and learned all the signals and sounds of our Zoo Phonics friends. We will continue to learn and review all the uppercase and lowercase letters over the next few weeks. As children are mastering all the letters, we will move into letters sounds. You can help your child learn these letters by practicing at home.
Next week we will introduce our journals and begin writing in our journals. As we begin writing in our journals, our first focus will be on 2 things. First, we will work on pencil grip. We teach the children that they have working fingers and sleeping fingers. Ringman and Pinky are sleeping fingers. They are tucked into our hands and are sleeping while we write. To help build these muscles, we give them a pillow (cotton ball) to hold in those sleeping fingers. Middle Man, Pointer and Thumb are the working fingers that hold the pencil when we write. Developing this pattern of pencil grip helps them be more efficient writers as they get older. The other focus will be on writing their name. We instruct the children to write with the first letter capitalized and lowercase letters afterwards. When writing all our letters, we always start at the top. I will be working with children on writing their names this week.
Highlights for the Week of 9/23/2019
Our focus for this week was learning the rules of the classroom. Our rules are to keep everyone safe and help everyone learn. We have 3 rules: use kind words and inside voices; use kind and safe hands; use walking feet. We discussed what each individual rule would look like. We sorted examples of behaviors into safe and unsafe categories. Finally, all the children signed the rules poster to promise to follow the rules in class.
We also had our first specials and visits this week. We went to the music room for music class with Miss. Draeger. We sang some new and old songs with her. On Thursday, Fr. Dave came by for a visit. He followed up our discussion of the Creation Story by reading, Designed by God and we talked about all the things that God made.
We introduced and learned all the signals and sounds of our Zoo Phonics friends. We will continue to learn and review all the uppercase and lowercase letters over the next few weeks. As children are mastering all the letters, we will move into letters sounds. You can help your child learn these letters by practicing at home.
Next week we will introduce our journals and begin writing in our journals. As we begin writing in our journals, our first focus will be on 2 things. First, we will work on pencil grip. We teach the children that they have working fingers and sleeping fingers. Ringman and Pinky are sleeping fingers. They are tucked into our hands and are sleeping while we write. To help build these muscles, we give them a pillow (cotton ball) to hold in those sleeping fingers. Middle Man, Pointer and Thumb are the working fingers that hold the pencil when we write. Developing this pattern of pencil grip helps them be more efficient writers as they get older. The other focus will be on writing their name. We instruct the children to write with the first letter capitalized and lowercase letters afterwards. When writing all our letters, we always start at the top. I will be working with children on writing their names this week.
Highlights for the Week of 9/23/2019
- Books: Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late; Saint Story - St. Elizabeth Seaton; Dinosaur Starts School; Have You Filled a Bucket Today?
- Song: God Loves Me; Hickory Dickory Dock
- Nursery Rhyme: Jack be Nimble - Replace Jack's J with different letters and recite rhyme.
- Journal Introduction and Free Choice Writing
- Counting and Shape Assessments
- 8 Little Letters Went out to Play - Letter Identification Game
- Let's See How Tall We Are? - Children will measure a string to their height and find something taller and shorter than themselves in the classroom.
- Review of Zoo Phonic Signals and Sounds
- Night Sky Names - Children will practice writing their name with white crayon on black paper.
- Number Swat - Number Identification Game
- Tissue Dot Names - Children will fill in an outline of their name with tissue paper.
- Tuesday Music Class
- Number Cruncher - Number ID Game
- St. Elizabeth Seaton Lesson
- Zoo Phonics Charades - Teacher will do a Zoo Phonics Signal and children will identify the letter.
- Masking Tape Designs - Children will create a design of masking tape and paint over the tape. When the paint is dried, tape will be removed.
- Name Writing Instruction - Teacher will work with children on writing their name with capital letter first and lowercase letters after.
- Fill a Bucket - Children will write about kind thing they can do to fill a bucket
- Kindles - Children will read books from Vooks on the Kindle
- Friday Activities
- Books: Chicka, Chicka Boom Boom, Click Clack Quackity-Quack
- Letter People - Children will turn the first letter of their name into a person.
- Chicka Chicka Boom Boom STEM challenge - Children will build a tree and see how many letters they can fit at the top of the tree.
Science Club
Science Club is an optional activity for students enrolled in either the AM-4 or Kindergarten Prep classes. The club meets on the second Thursday of the month from 9:30-11 am at Hemlock Crossing, September through May. Meetings are lead by Hemlock Crossing naturalists and the membership cost is $ 72 for the year (only $8 per meeting).
Parents, or other adult caregiver, are an important part of the program--you will be actively involved in exploring the topic of the month with your child as well as providing transportation to and from the meetings. Some exceptions can be made for working parents, provided you are able to find a member parent who is willing to transport your child and fill in as your designated adult explorer. If you are interested or would like more information, please contact Mrs. Carey at ccarey@slstm.org.
Snow days: if St. Mary's does not have school on a meeting date, the meeting for that day will be canceled. We will not try to reschedule--just too many schedules to try to accomodate. You will not be billed for that month's meeting.
2019-2020 Investigations
Sept. 12th—Nature Navigators
October 10th—Plants & Seeds
November 14th—Art in Nature
December 12th—Nocturnal & Hibernating Animals
January 9th—Snow Shoeing*
February 13th—Tracks & Feet*
March 12th—All About Birds*
April 23rd—Who lives in a Log**
May 14th—Wetlands & Ponds
* Subject to weather—alternative: Food Chains
** Date changed due to Spring Break.
Note: Meetings are held at Hemlock Crossing Education Center at 8115 West Olive Rd., West Olive. Meetings run from
9:30-11 a.m.
Parents, or other adult caregiver, are an important part of the program--you will be actively involved in exploring the topic of the month with your child as well as providing transportation to and from the meetings. Some exceptions can be made for working parents, provided you are able to find a member parent who is willing to transport your child and fill in as your designated adult explorer. If you are interested or would like more information, please contact Mrs. Carey at ccarey@slstm.org.
Snow days: if St. Mary's does not have school on a meeting date, the meeting for that day will be canceled. We will not try to reschedule--just too many schedules to try to accomodate. You will not be billed for that month's meeting.
2019-2020 Investigations
Sept. 12th—Nature Navigators
October 10th—Plants & Seeds
November 14th—Art in Nature
December 12th—Nocturnal & Hibernating Animals
January 9th—Snow Shoeing*
February 13th—Tracks & Feet*
March 12th—All About Birds*
April 23rd—Who lives in a Log**
May 14th—Wetlands & Ponds
* Subject to weather—alternative: Food Chains
** Date changed due to Spring Break.
Note: Meetings are held at Hemlock Crossing Education Center at 8115 West Olive Rd., West Olive. Meetings run from
9:30-11 a.m.
Science Club
Inspired by Saint Mary and rooted in our Catholic faith, St. Mary's School fosters spiritual development, academic excellence,
responsibility to self, and service to others in order that the Gospel of Christ may be known in the world.
responsibility to self, and service to others in order that the Gospel of Christ may be known in the world.
