Thursday, April 29

 Group Meeting:  Today is the day we have been waiting for all month: Ice Cream Party Day!!   We celebrated by dancing to Koo Koo Kangaroos "Double Scoop".

Story:  The last Ezra Jack Keats book for the week was Jennie's Hat.  Jennie is waiting for the delivery of a hat from her aunt.  When she receives it, she is disapponted that it is so plain.  She tries thinking of other things that should could wear as a hat, but nothing seems right.  On Sunday, she sees many ladies wearing fancy hats while she wears her plain hat.  Then,  a few friends arrive to help her to decorate it.  Ask your child to tell you who the friends were and how they helped her decorate.

Let's Find Out Magazine:  The magazine for this week was all about wearing helmets while participating in sports.  With the weather getting warmer, children will be outdoors riding bikes, skating, and skate boarding.

Letter Learning:  The sight word that we looked for today was "look".

Snacks:  The snack for today was vanilla and chocolate ice cream, chocolate syrup, sprinkles, juice and water.  It was delicious!

Group Meeting:  In your child's folder, you will find a note announcing that we have met our goal of reading 1500 books.  To celebrate, we will have ice cream sundaes tomorrow.

Story:  The Ezra Jack Keats story that we read today was Pet Show.  The community is gathering to show their pets.  Everyone will receive a prize.  Archie wants to bring his cat, but he can't find it.  He decides to bring a different pet.  Ask your child to tell you what it was.  I like this story because Archie is very kind to an old lady who is at the pet show.  After the story, we talked about how we can be kind to each other and how it can lead to friendship. 

Write the Room:  Following the story, I taped pictures of pets around the room with the name of the pet printed below.  The children were given a paper that had the same pictures.  They found the matching pictures and printed the beginning letter.

Letter Learning:  The sight word that we circled today was "you".

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

Tuesday, April 27

 Group Meeting:  We are starting to realize that we can do a lot of things that we couldn't do before.  We can come to preschool by ourselves, play with friends, print our names, etc.  Everyone has grown a lot this year!

Story:  The Ezra Jack Keats story for today was Peter's Chair.  Peter has a new baby at his house.  He notices that his cradle, crib, and high chair have been painted pink for the baby.  He worries that everything will soon belong to the baby.  He takes his chair and decides to run away.  When he gets outside, he decides to sit in his chair and notices something.  Ask your child to tell you what he discovers when he sits in the chair.

Writing Journal:  After the story for today, we talked about things that we had learned to do.  Then we talked about things that we can't do yet, but will someday.  Some examples were drive a car, cut food with a knife, and go for a walk all by themselves.  In our journal, the children drew what they will learn to do when they are older.  At the top of the paper, we printed, "I can_____.  I can't ______, but I will."

Letter Learning:  We circled the word "we".

Snacks:  The snack for today was Belvita bars, milk, and water.

Monday, April 26

Group Meeting:  The author/illustrator for this week is Ezra Jack Keats.  We've already read one of his books, The Snowy Day, back when it was cold and snowy.   

Story:  The story for today was Whistle for Willie.  In this story, Peter, same character from The Snowy Day, is wishing he could whistle.  He would like to be able to whistle for his dog, Willie, but he can't.  Outside, Peter twirls until he is dizzy, draws on the sidewalk with chalk, and chases his shadow.  At the end of the story, Peter tries one more time to whistle.  Ask your child to tell you what happens.

Science:  After the story, we went outside and did the same things that Peter did.  We twirled and got dizzy.  We looked at our shadows and talked about what makes a shadow.  We used sidewalk chalk to trace our shadows.  

Letter Learning:  We looked for the sight word "to".

Snacks:  The snack for today was Triscuit crackers, cheese, juice and water.

Thursday, April 22

 Group Meeting:  The children were surprised when they came into school today.  We started putting up the art show display last night.  They were excited by what they saw.  We hope you will enjoy it, too!

Story:  The story for today was My Many Colored Days.  This is a Dr. Seuss book, but it is probably a lesser known book.  This book is about colors and feelings.  Sometimes a color can describe how you are feeling inside.  

Science Experiment:  After reading about colors, we did an experiment using liquid watercolor.  The children were given pie plate with about an inch of milk poured into the bottom.  They used eye droppers to put drops of the liquid water color on the milk.  The color would spread a little but mostly stayed on the surface of the milk.  We used red, blue and yellow liquid watercolor.  Next, the children took a Q-tip and dipped it in liquid dish soap.  When they touched the surface of the milk with the dish soap, something very interesting happened.  Ask your child to tell you what it was.  

Letter Learning:   The sight word that we looked for today was "a".

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

The Art Show will take place tomorrow night.  The morning class can attend from 5:00-6:00, and the afternoon from 6:00-7:00.  Name tags went home in the children's bags today.

Wednesday, April 21

 Group Meeting:  The children are enjoying the Dr. Seuss stories.  Today we learned that Dr. Seuss did not illustrate all of the books that he wrote, including the story for today.

Story:  The story for today was I Wish that I had Duck Feet.  In this story, a boy wonders what it would be like to have features that are usually found on animals.  Duck feet would allow him to swim.  Antlers would allow him to carry many things at one time.  An elephant trunk would allow him to reach things off of high shelves.  At the end of the story, he decides that the best thing to be is himself.

Writing Journal:  After the story, we talked about what animal feature the children would like to have.  We drew pictures of ourselves in our writing journals and added things such as wings, antenna, long tails, etc.

Obstacle Course:  The children participated in an obstacle course.  They rolled on a mat, jumped over a hurdle, climbed over a table, crawled through a tunnel, and balanced on a balance beam.

Letter Learning:  We circled the sight word "the".

Snacks:  The snack for today was apples, peanut butter, milk, and water.

Tuesday, April 20

 Group Meeting:  We watched a short video about Dr. Seuss.  We learned that Dr. Seuss' real name is Theodore Seuss Geisel.  We learned that Dr. Seuss wasn't a real doctor.  We also learned that his first book was rejected by the publisher, but he kept on trying.

Story:  The story for today was There's a Wocket in my Pocket.  In this book, a boy is telling about creatures that are living in his house.    All of them rhyme with where they are in the house.  A Wasket in the basket, a Fink in the Sink.  

Class Book:  Following in the story, we decided to make our own book similar to There's a Wocket in my Pocket.  The children picked an area of their house and drew it on paper.  Then they created a creature and gave it a name that rhymed with where it was in the house.  We will put these papers together to make a book.

Letter Learning:  Sight word can

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

Monday, April 19

 Group Meeting:  This week's author/illustrator is Dr. Seuss.  Dr. Seuss has written many wonderful books for children over the years.  We will pick a few to read aloud.

Story:  The story for today was Ten Apples Up On Top.  In this story, three animal friends are trying to balance apples on their heads.  However, other animals are trying to make the apples drop.  Ask your child to tell you what happens at the end of the story.

Counting Apples:  The children were given a paper that had the animals from the story printed at the bottom.  Below the animals were boxes with numerals on them.  The children had to identify the numeral and make that amount of apples on the animals head using a dabber.

Letter Learning:  Today's sight word was see.

Snacks:  The snack for today was a cheese stick, Goldfish, juice and water.  

We are getting very close to our goal of 1500 books read!

Thursday, April 15

Group Meeting:  We are getting very close to our goal of 1500 books in the month of April.  I'm guessing we will meet it sometime next week.  Thank you for all of the reading that you have been doing!

Story:   Our Eric Carle book for today was 10 Little Rubber Ducks.  Eric Carle wrote this book after hearing about a shipment of rubber ducks that landed in the ocean.  In this story, he guesses what happened to the rubber ducks and the animals they met in the ocean.  Ask your child to tell you what happened to the last little duck.

Let's Find Out Magazine:  The magazine for this week was about ducks, mainly Mallard ducks that live around our area.  We also learned the word habitat.  

Letter Learning:  The sight word for today was my.  We can now read the sentences "I like my..."

Snack:  The snack for today was crackers, cheese, turkey, milk, and water.

 

Wednesday, April 14

Group Meeting:  This week, we are learning about Eric Carle the author and illustrator of many children's book.  On Monday, the story was The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  Yesterday, the story was The Tiny Seed. 

Story:  Today's story was The Lonely Firefly.  Before reading the story, we looked at the art work done by Eric Carle.  Eric likes to use painted papers to cut and create his characters.  Tomorrow, we are going to try some of his art techniques.  In this story, a firefly is trying to find a friend by searching for lights.  The firefly sees a lightbulb, a candle, a lanturn, and fireworks.  Will he find a friend?  Ask your child to tell you how the story ends.

Sorting:  In small groups, the children were given plastic bugs to sort into groups.  We asked them to think of ways to put the bugs together by things that were similar.  They sorted by color, type of bug, and how many legs.  

Letter Learning:  Now that we have completed the alphabet for the third time, we are moving on to a few sight words.  Yesterday was the word I.  Today, we learned the work like.  We read the sentences on the paper and circle the sight word of the day.

Snack:  The snack for today was bananas, peanut butter, milk and water. 

Thursday, April 8

Group Meeting:  Today we learned about illustrators.  Our story and our Let's Find Out magazine were all about an illustrator.

Story:  The story for today was Last Stop on Market Street by Matt De La Pena.  It is illustrated by Christian Robinson.  This is the story of a boy who goes with his grandma on a bus ride.  He sees and hears many things on the way.  Their destination is a soup kitchen at the end of Market Street.  At the soup kitchen, the boy and his grandmother serve soup to the people who come to the kitchen.  The boy learns that there are many wonderful and interesting people all around us.

Let's Find Out Magazine:  The magazine for today was about Christian Robinson, the illustrator of our story.  We learned how illustrators get ideas for the pictures that they draw.

Letter Learning:  Uu  This is the last letter for this rotation.  Next week, we will start to learn what happens when we put the letters together to make words.

Snack:  Today was birthday day.  Our snack was scrambled eggs.  The children cracked eggs into cups and scrambled them with forks.  We dumped the eggs into a frying pan and watched them change from a liquid to a solid.  The eggs were served with milk and water.  We also had birthday brownies.

Tuesday, April 7

 Group Meeting:  This week, we will be learning about books.  On Monday and Tuesday, we learned the parts of a book; the front cover, back cover, and spine.  Today, we learned that people who write the words for the books are called authors.  

April is Reading Month.  You should have gotten a note last week about how we are challenging the children to read 1500 books to earn an ice cream party.  If you did not receive this note, please let me know.

Story:  The story for today was Abiyoyo by Pete Seeger.  This is a story of a father who is a musician and a boy who plays the ukulele.  The father plays tricks on the people in town.  The boy plays his ukulele a little too loud.  So, the people make them live on the outside of town.  One day, Abiyoyo appears.  Ask your child to tell you what Abiyoyo looks like and how the father and son make Abiyoyo disappear.

Story Writing:  The children worked together in groups to create a story.  They were given a choice of characters, setting, and problem.  They worked together with a teacher to create a story.

Letter Learning:  Oo

Snack:  The snack for today was Chex Rice cereal, milk, and water. 

Thursday, April 1

Group Meeting:  Easter is just around the corner.  We did several fun things today with eggs.

Story:  The story for today was The Great Eggscape by Jory John and Pete Oswald.  This is a new book for me, and I enjoyed it as much as the children.  This story takes place in a grocery store.  A carton of eggs escape (eggscape) from their carton except for one egg, Shel.  The other eggs dip themselves in dye and hide around the grocery story.  It's up to Shel to find the missing eggs.  He finds all but Meg.  Where is she?  Ask your child to tell you if they find her.

Sink or Float:  The children were given plastic eggs, a bowl of water, and some items (puff balls, rocks, marbles, and paper clips) to put in the eggs.  They had to predict what would happen when they placed the eggs in the water.   We discussed what makes the eggs float.

Letter Learning:  Ee

Easter Egg Hunt:  Each child found four eggs, one of each color.   The entire hunt took about 2 minutes!

Snack:  The snack for today was Paw Patrol grahams, juice and water.  Because it is so close to Easter, we gave them a little pastel colored frosting to dip the grahams in.  

Reminder:  No afternoon class on Monday and no morning class on Tuesday.  Parent/Teacher Conferences Monday and Tuesday night.